Search Results for: label/Alphabe Thursday

Away to Asheville-Alphabe Thursday: The Letter A

September 22, 2010 By Deirdre

This weekend I am going to be spending my first night away from JDaniel since he was born to attend the Type A Conference in Asheville. I am really excited about getting away with my husband and meeting other bloggers. Yes, my husband is coming too. He won’t be attending the conference. He will be enjoying so downtime along with so couple time with me.

My sister Michelle and her two sons are coming from Atlanta to be JDaniel. He knows that they are coming. He is so excited about spending time with them. What they will do while they are here has been planned by him already. The children’s museum and McDonald’s are things his cousins will like according to him. He will love time with them no matter what they do. (My sister really wants to go to the zoo. He will love the zoo too.)

JDaniel doesn’t know that Mommy and Daddy are not going to be home for the visit. I have been avoiding telling him. By the time this post is up I will probably have mentioned it to him. When I talk about going away, I don’t think he understands what I am talking about. Mommy doesn’t go away. Daddy has had to visit with Nana several times this year overnight due to his father’s poor health and subsequent passing. Mommy hasn’t done it. Once I month when I go to a sorority meeting my husband puts JDaniel to bed. Bedtime rituals have been totally my job. I love doing the bedtime routine.

There are some of you that may go away for a weekend a few times a year to bond as a couple, attend a retreat, or deal with family things. I think that is wonderful. My sister Michelle has always done that. It is good to get some downtime. I just have never done it before.

I am sure JDaniel will have a great time with Aunt Michelle and his cousins. He may only make a scene when I leave for my benefit. He will be happy to see me come home so that he can tell me what he has done. I know will be true.

How I will fair is a different story. I have really looked forward to learning tons at the conference. My husband and I haven’t really had extended periods of time alone together unless JDaniel was asleep in two and half years. That will be wonderful.

It will be fine. Right?

Yes, Mom is Part of My Name

May 8, 2013 By Deirdre

A few years ago I went to a blogging conference and a lady from a PR agency shared that she wished that so many bloggers didn’t put the word mom in their blog names. “You will not always be a mom,” she said. She encouraged people that hadn’t started a blog to avoid using it. “You are so much more and will write about so much more than being a mom,” she announced.

I sat quietly confused by what she had said. What I write about on this blog may shift over time and JDaniel may decided he doesn’t want me to write about him as much. He will grow up. He has already become a “big boy”. He informed he of that just yesterday. What won’t change it that I will always be his mom! I will always write with a mother’s heart, because that is one of my favorite parts of my heart to share.

I know she meant I am so much more than a mom, but the way she said it hit me wrong. Writing about motherhood is a gift that not all women get the opportunity to write about. Being JDaniel4’s Mom is one of my most favorite things to be.

When I go to pick him up at school or the little boy from next door comes over, the name I am called is JDaniel4’s Mom. I am not Mrs. Smith most of the time. (Though I love being Mrs. Smith just as much.) I am not a blogger or a writer or a teacher or a sister or daughter. (Though I am those things.) Maybe it is because I spent so much of my life as a single school teacher and maiden aunt. I was called teacher or aunt or by my first name or Miss and my last name for decades. It hasn’t been that long that I have gotten to be called mom.When I hear that deepening voice call out for mom or mama or mommy, my heart jumps. It is my favorite thing to hear JDaniel say. Well, I love to hear him say dad too.

Giving my blog the name JDaniel4’s may not have been the best branding or SEO choice. I really didn’t think about that when I started my blog. I just gave it my favorite name so, despite what others think I will with pride respond to the name JDaniel4’s Mom.

Celebrating the differences of Motherhood is brought to you by our host, Inspired by Family, and by the following contributing blogs: Kids Activities Blog, Rainbows within Reach, Powerful Mothering,Fun-a-Day, The Pleasantest Thing, Royal Baloo, Laly Mom, True Aim, Kids Stuff World, Milk and CuddlesThe Imagination Laboratory, Smiling like Sunshine, Teach Beside Me, Kitchen Counter Chronicle, Nate and Rachel, Two-Daloo, Mamas Like Me,Mama Miss, One Mommy.This post is also linked up to Mrs. Matlock’s Alphabe Thursday and Things I Can’t Say’s Pour Your Heart Out.

Science Activity for Kids – Magnetic Heart Jar

February 6, 2013 By Deirdre

Love like magnets can repel or attract. JDaniel is too young at almost five to understand much about how there are some people that we are attracted to and some people seem to repel us or cause us to pull away from them. He has started to understand that there are some things that magnets are attracted to and some that don’t react at all to them. I put together a science activity for kids that I am calling Love is Magnetic and looks at how magnets work together with things that they are attracted to.

Creating This Science Activity for Kids

We created a magnetic heart jar filled with things that magnets are attracted to using the following materials:

red, pink and white pipecleaners
empty peanut jar
paperclips bent into hearts
ball magnets

How did we put the magnetic heart jar together:

I cut the pipe cleaners into thirds and we bent them into heart shapes.

We put all the pipe cleaner hearts and paperclip hearts into the jar

We screwed on the lid.

Once the lid was screwed on, the fun began. JDaniel rolled a magnetic ball that we found in a drawer up and down the jar to see how many items he could lift up. Then he tried rolling the ball around the jar to see how many objects would follow the magnet all the way around the jar.

At first many of the objects clumped together in a bunch. JDaniel has to work carefully to try to just have a few objects follow where ever he lead them with the magnet. The more he practiced the more control he had over them.

It was really fun to watch the hearts dancing around in the jar. The sparkly pipe cleaner stars in particular look pretty flashing around in the jar on the bright afternoon we tried this jar out.

We will be taking the magnetic heart jar out again soon. I think we will add in some Valentine’s Day related hearts that do not contain metal and see how they interact with the magnet. They may not be attracted to it, but that may get stuck under an object that is and end up following the magnet around.

This post is linked to Alphabe Thursday!

Kids Reading- How I’m Growing a Reader

January 9, 2013 By Deirdre

I need to start by saying that I know that not everyone that was read to as a child grew up to be a reader. Reading to your kids or kids reading is so important and and there are many reasons that they may not have grown into be a reader. They could have had reading or learning challenges. They could have had vision challenges. The list could go on and on, but I do think it is possible to grow a reader. I think I am doing it at my house right now.

Kids Reading Step One -Started Reading to Him as a Baby

From JDaniel’s babyhood I read to him. He never wanted to sleep and seemed to be always awake. I sang to him, I bounced him in a bouncy seat, and I read to him. He mostly got to hear the text from picture books and board books. There were times when he got to hear me read the newspaper, cookbooks, magazine articles, and well just about everything I was reading.He really like to hear the tone of my voice and the inflections I made as I read various texts. He seemed to focus on what I was saying.

Not only was he hearing what I was reading, but he was seeing both my husband and I holding reading material. From a very early age he saw that reading was important to us.

Kids Reading Step Two- Books Were Everywhere

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When I packed the car for road trips, I always packed books. During road trips when JDaniel was little I sat in the backseat and read to him. He had favorites like Goodnight Moon , but he loved it when I packed new books. He really loved books that had texture on the pages like Good Night Moon.Books went with us to restaurants, doctor’s appointments, and on picnics. They were just a part of what went into his diaper bag.

Kids Reading Step Three- Visits the Library

Library trips were really important when he was little and still are today. We would go on treasure hunts to find books I thought he would like and then sit among the shelves on the floor and read them.

It was no surprise to me when at just under two JDaniel would crawl over to one of the book baskets spread around the house to pull out a book and look at it. Literally, I had baskets in the bathroom, kitchen, living room, and each bedroom. If I got busy with making a bed or a meal, he just pulled out a book. He loved to look at books.

This past fall on one of our many trips to the library I walked JDaniel over to the juvenile non-fiction section to show him some animal books. He had never even seen this section before. I was like opening up a treasure chest. There were all kinds of books filled with knowledge on animals, plants, rocks and so much more. He sat on the floor and just pulled book after book down to look at it.

Kids Reading Step Four – Picture Walking

Another mom was at the library with her children when we explored the non-fiction section not long ago. She looked at her youngest and told her to not bother looking at books in this area.”They are too hard for you,” she announced. I cringed. A child doesn’t have to be able to read every book they select from a shelf and neither does the parent. Sometimes I picture walk JDaniel through a book. We look at the pictures and I read him the captions under them along with the some of the text. JDaniel and I talk about what we see in the pictures. Picture walking is vital to reading. Being able to use picture clues to help with text is so important.

Kids Reading Step Five – Rotating Books

I try to rotate the types of books I am reading to him. Our library bag is usually filled with a little of both I think it is important for him to have new books that are fiction and non-fiction. I also have tons of books from when I was a teacher. I try to rotate in new fiction and non-fiction books regularly that are on his bookshelves and around the house.

Child reading or reading to your child is so important. It was on of the basic keys to learning in my book.

How have I worked on growing a reader?

access to books of all kinds that JDaniel can reach for
display that reading is important by reading yourself
read regularly at bedtime or other times during the day
bring books with you when you leave the house
exposed him to all types of reading material (fiction, non-fiction, atlases, dictionaries, etc..)
picture walk through books and talk about what he saw in the pictures.
seek out books on topics my child is interested in.

This post is linked to Alphabe Thursday.

What are you doing or did you do to grow a reader?

Christmas Meal- Bethlehem Dinner

December 20, 2012 By Deirdre

I did some reading to find out what might have been served for dinner on that amazing night before Christmas dinner and found that we have been eating many of the same foods they did. Long ago in Bethlehem, Mary and Joseph may have dined on a simple meal filled with bread, a vegetable, fruit, a dip and maybe even a special treat.

Here is what I learned about a Christmas Meal or Bethlehem Dinner:

My guys love to ish. The big guy in particular. I placed a few pieces of fish on the platter above along with placing a few on each of our plates. Fish was plentiful at that time. I won’t be surprised if Mary and Joseph didn’t have some kind of meat. We try to have it twice a week.

I read that cauliflower and broccoli were served at that time too. JDaniel really prefers cauliflower so, he had that on his plate. My husband and I had the fresh broccoli. It was really delicious.

Dried and fresh fruit were server at meals back then. I found some dried dates at the store in the baking section and served them with fresh grapes. JDaniel loved eating a handful of the dates and grapes together. They were delicious he informed me.

Bread was a staple back then and was served at almost every meal. We had french bread with spinach dip to dip the bread into. JDaniel wasn’t keen on the dip, but my husband and I liked it. It was fun to think that were dining on bread the same way Mary and Joseph had.

Our dessert for this meal was created by our niece Emily. She brought baklava she had made to our family Thanksgiving reunion. I froze some of it and served it during our Bethlehem meal. We all adored it. Emily told me it had been a lot of work to make. I am so glad she persevered through making the baklava. It was the perfect way end our Bethlehem dinner.

Here are some more Christmas meal ideas:

Red and Green Layered Dessert

Christmas Soup

Chocolate Covered Cookie BallsThis post is linked to Mrs. Matlock’s Alphabe Thursday.

Yes, Giving Benefits The Giver!

November 8, 2012 By Deirdre

All week long I have written about giving and yes I am writing about giving for one last time this week.

I started the week my asking you to leave comments on my posts. Each comment would be added to all the others left during the week. The total number of comments will be translated into monetary donation to Samaritan’s Purse’s effort to help the survivors of Sandy. You can read more about it in my post called Doing Something about Sandy! Helping Others.

On Monday I wrote about all the All Stars that have helped and are continuing to help the survivors of Sandy. I shared a tribute bento lunch I had made in that post.Yesterday I wrote about another Samaritan’s Purse project called Operation Christmas Child and the fun we had in putting a special box of treasures for a little boy to have a Christmas time.

How does all this giving benefit the my family and other givers?

Seven Ways Giving Benefits the Giver

Giving open our hearts up to others and their needs.
Giving allow us to see all the treasures we have been given in our lives as we shift through them looking for items that you can give to others.
Giving allow us to bestow some of our treasures on others.
Giving leads you to pray for those who will be receiving the items we are giving.
Giving shows our children that their wants can fulfill others needs.
Giving takes our everyday worries and sets them aside while we think of others.
Giving changes our hearts and allows us to see the world as a place you want to make better and not just take from.I know you are givers! I am blessed by you everyday. I hope that when you give you remember the seven things I have listed above. Realizing them as really blessed my life.
This post is linked to Alphabe Thursday!

Halloween Craft- Milk Jug Skeleton

October 31, 2012 By Deirdre

There isn’t an x-ray needed to see the bones in our milk jug skeleton. Last weekend we visited the Roper Mountain, a local science center, near us for a Halloween event. While at the Roper Mountain Science Center, we saw these wonderful milk jug skeletons. They looked so cool. I knew I just had to make a milk jug skeleton for our yard.

Roper Mountain Science Center’s Milk Jug Skeleton

I have been forgetting to put out our recycling on Mondays so, we had enough milk jugs to create one. This skeleton took six milk jugs to create.

Making Our Milk Jug Skeleton

The first milk jug was used to create his head. The Roper Mountain skeleton used the back of the milk jug to create the facial features of the skeleton. I created the face using the jug handle as our skeleton’s nose. They also turned the milk jug upside down so he won ‘t have a cap on his head. Our skeleton has a cap on his head because his mouth would have had to be under the handle if I had flipped our jug upside down.

We used a second jug to create the skeleton’s chest. I cut out ribs and a breast bone out of the second jug. To keep the ribs and breast bone cut out symmetrical I cut a template out of paper and traced it onto the jug before cutting the design out. I didn’t cut out the back of the skeleton’s chest the way they did a Roper Mountain on their milk jug skeleton . It probably would have let more light in. I want to reuse this milk jug skeleton and thought not cutting out the back would give him more stability.I used brace fasteners to attached the skeleton’s shoulders to his trunk. The shoulders were handles cut out of the third and fourth milk jug.

The hip section of the skeleton was cut out of the top third of the fifth milk.

The milk jug caps were then glued on the milk jug sections. When they had dried, I strung fishing line down through the head cap, then through the trunk section, and down through the hips. The fishing line allows the skeleton to rotate and move, but not swing wildly.

The remaining milk jug and the leftover pieces of the other jugs were used to create the bones in the arms and legs, hands, knee caps and feet. Two of the arm pieces and two of the leg pieces had oval holes placed in them to represent the two lower arm and leg bones.

The arm and leg sections all got holes punched in them. Paper clips were threaded onto bones and they were attached to each other.

I think our skeleton came out pretty well.

Did you create Halloween craft at your house?

This post is linked to Mrs. Matlock’s Alphabe Thursday.

Spending Time at the Beach

September 26, 2012 By Deirdre

Last week we headed to my family’s favorite place to vacation in Myrtle Beach. My guys love the Dune Village Resort. It is right on the beach and has two indoor water park areas. JDaniel started counting down to the day we would leave for the beach a week earlier. Every morning started with a call down the stairs asking if it was time to pack his suitcase and go.

He was so excited when I finally set out his suitcase and he could throw in his bathing suit and sun shirt. As you can tell from the picture above, we packed a few more things including his bug repellent hat. We didn’t have water shoes for JDaniel so, we picked some up at the store at the beach.

Our first day of the beach was sunny and warm. We had to apply sunblock multiple times on Monday. All that was on the agenda was collecting shells, digging in the sand and playing in the water. We spent most of the day on the beach. Lunch in our room was really our only foray into the hotel. I really don’t like sand in our food.

The water was placid and warm. It really was a perfect day.

After a perfect day, we had a not so great day. We knew storms were coming, but had no idea that the lifeguard would post signs for no swimming and that we would get to see palmetto trees sway wildly in the wind.

JDaniel wanted to see what it was like on the beach after breakfast. He literally had to hold the hood of his windbreaker on to keep it in place.

Tuesday turned out to be a great day to be in the water park area and to visit the aquarium. The morning was spent in the waterpark area until thunder and a loud crack sent all the parents scrambling for their children and the exit into the hotel. The sides of the water park area are open to the elements and the crack we heard was really loud.

The aquarium was fully enclosed and rain free. We wove around each of the exhibit areas a few times to fully talk in all that was there. JDaniel loved watching the sharks swim over our heads as we walked through a tunnel that was part of an exhibit.

The rest of the time at the beach was wonderful. The temperature was a little cooler, but the water stayed warm enough to play in and the waves returned to being much smaller than we had seen on Tuesday.

We started Tuesday morning with a long walk on the beach. My guys started out walking together ( I was walking behind to take pictures), but after a short time JDaniel walked ahead and seemed to being having a wonderful time. I am not sure if he was singing to himself and moving his arms to the music or what. I love that I could capture the dramatic nature of whatever it was that had him so animated.

Following the storm we expected to find lots of shells on the beach. What we did find were mostly shell fragments. I am so glad we were able to collect some beautiful whole shells on Monday.

JDaniel really doesn’t care if a shell is whole or not. He really loves the different colors and textures they have. He would run ahead and shout, “This is a glorious one!” When I raced to see what it looked like it would be a few ridges of a broken orange shell with rough edges.

I commented to my husband that it is so great that JDaniel can find beauty in small imperfect and broken treasures. As adults we tend to look for the beautiful whole shell that has made it through the rough ways to call beautiful. JDaniel changed the way we looked at and for shells for the rest of the walk.

Other than looking for shells, Wednesday was a time to get as sandy as possible. Yes, when you are four that can be one of your goals for the day.

After getting rid of all the sand and putting on a sand free suit, we worked on our big project for the beach. We built our very own tide pool. I will share with you on Friday the steps we took to build one.It was great fun to all work together to dig and dig and dig.

We came home on the next day and so we didn’t have a full day at the beach Thursday. In fact JDaniel didn’t even want to go onto the beach. We did want to play miniature golf at a tiny course behind the hotel and play hide and seek.

What a joy it was to getaway from our everyday life and just be together as a family! JDaniel is already asking to count down the days until we go back next year.

This post is linked to Alphabe Thursday.

Particularly Loves Microorganisms Lunch for Kids

September 5, 2012 By Deirdre

On the first day of school I stopped by and picked up lunch at McDonald’s to have with JDaniel and my husband. Yes, my husband came home for lunch on the first day. He might have otherwise, but he wanted to check out the work of the men power washing our house.

When we got home JDaniel was so upset, he didn’t want McDonald’s for lunch! “I was supposed to get a muffin tin lunch!” he declared. We hadn’t talked about having a muffin tin lunch this year on the first day, but we did have one last year and I guess he thought it had become a tradition. ( Love to make come up with lunch for kids ideas so I didn’t mind.

“What kind of muffin tin lunch were you expecting ?” I asked him.

“It should have been a microorganism lunch! You know I love them!” he stated.

Well, I do know that he loves microorganisms. He discovered a book about them in the juvenile non-fiction section of the library and he had to have me read it to him. I kind of wish I had kept him in the children’s fiction departments instead of bringing him over to section that would introduce him to lice, bed bugs, and all their relatives.

We have been picture walking through books on this subject all summer. I read mostly the captions that are under the pictures of these interesting creatures. The text about them is very detailed ( JDaniel says that it is boring if there are too many words in a book.) and nightmare causing. (JDaniel thought his bed was covered with them in the middle of one night this summer. He was probably right, but I didn’t tell him that.)

He talks endlessly about microorganisms with anyone who will listen. Most his friends just shake their heads when he starts spouting the details about these tiny creatures. Adults are so impressed he knows about such a unique topic.

Last week we went to a baseball game with my husband’s division at work. My husband’s boss asked him what he wants to be when he grows up. JDaniel told him he wanted to be a microbiologist. Later my husband’s boss commented that it sounds like the times have changed since kids wanted to be firemen and policemen. I think there are still a lot of kids that want to be those things just not my guy.

On JDaniel’s second day of school he came home to a microorganism lunch. This lunch really could have used a microscope instead magnifying glass, but I couldn’t figure out how to make one. Thankfully he was very pleased.

Making This Lunch for Kids

The most microorganisms are really Halloween shapes cut out with cookie cutters from cheese and honeydew. I think they create wonderful creatures for this lunch for kids along with microscopic peas in mac and cheese and granola bits in cinnamon flavored applesauce. Oh! There is shredded turkey too.

Particularly Loves Microorganisms Lunch for Kids

This post is linked to Alphabe Thursday on Mrs. Matlock.

What is one of your favorite lunch for kids ideas?

Pretend Play Open Air Cooking Playdough Cookies

August 30, 2012 By Deirdre

When children pretend, they’re using their imaginations to move beyond the bounds of reality. A stick can be a magic wand. A sock can be a puppet. A small child can be a superhero.

Fred Rogers

Pretend Play Open Air Cooking Playdough Cookies

There are times when I put out craft or learning materials and I just move to the side of the kitchen and watch JDaniel and his friends play. JDaniel and the little boy next door came up with this wonderful pretend play activity all on their own using just few items that have been left on the kitchen table or were available in the kitchen. It was such a joy to watch.

How did the pretend play unfold?

I put out homemade purple playdough, cookie cutters, cooking utensils and a cutting board for JDaniel and the boy next door to play with on the kitchen table.

The little boy next door came up with idea of making cookies with a happy face spoon. JDaniel decided they need to be baked in the oven before they could be eaten.

One boy decided that a child size chair would be a perfect open air oven. The other boy decided that the cookies needed a plate to be baked on. I don’t remember which boy decided on which idea.

JDaniel announced he had fire to bake the cookies with and took his Olympic torch off the refrigerator. I stepped in to provide the tape for the fire.

Both boys had to check and recheck the cookies to make sure they weren’t going to burn.

The boy next door decided when it was time to flip the cookies. I wasn’t aware that cookies need to be flipped. Maybe if you cook them under an open flame they have to be flipped.

After checking them over and over again, they are finally ready to be served. It was determined that I was the official cookie tester.I had to admit to the two chefs after taking a few virtual nibbles on the cookies that purple happy face cookies are really delicious.

The key to their delicious flavor was to hold them a few inches from my mouth and pretend that the scent they were giving off is chocolate chips. In reality I knew they really smelled like playdough, but this activity was all about pretending and so I pretended they smelled wonderful. What wonderful pretend play moments are happening at your house or have in the past? This post is linked to Mrs. Matlock’s Alphabe Thursday.