fun

A Fun Day

Today our church had a church picnic.  Now, I have to admit, I’m not really one for having church outdoors–not my thing.  I do my worshipping best in a church.  Also, trying to get four small children to behave for church outside, especially when we would not have had actual chairs to use for containment, is no small task. So I was not too excited about this event.

Thanks to what was apparently still Tropical Depression Ike when it got to us (never before have I experienced wind like that!  I know for certain that I never want to experience an actual hurricane, and I’m certainly never going to live by the Gulf Coast!), we did end up having church indoors, which was far more comfortable for me, although I do feel bad for all of the people at our church who were looking forward to the annual outdoor service.  The drive to church was certainly interesting, what with some hydroplaning and seeing a car stranded in a ditch submerged in quite a bit of water, and had the winds not calmed some before we left, we might not have braved it, but I’m glad we did!

The “picnic” (if you can still call it that when it was inside) afterwards was so much fun!  I’m so glad we stayed for it.  We really shouldn’t have–because we weren’t sure if we were going to go at all and/or stay after the service, I had no side dish to pass.  I’m still feeling bad about that, especially since our family of six can eat a lot (and especially since Ladybug’s teeth have finally arrived, and she has discovered the joy of eating real food!).  But, here’s the thing–also thanks to Tropical Depression Ike, we had no power when we left for church, and as best as we can figure, it didn’t come back on until after lunch time, so we really didn’t have a way to eat at home.  So, we threw guilt aside, and stayed for lunch. 

The children got to play fun games, and won entirely too many prizes.  Seriously, it’s like Christmas around here with all the stuff they got.  Even Moose got to participate in the sucker pull, and between that and some trading with Turkey and Bunny, he got a small soccer ball, and echo microphone and some M&Ms, all of which he is ecstatic about, and does not want to part with (except for the M&Ms, which he of course promptly ate!).  Turkey and Bunny have no end to new stuff–both a football and a soccer ball, beach balls, pens, bubbles, puzzles, candy, other stuff I’m sure I’m missing.  And Turkey won a prize at the cake walk (actually, Bunny won once, too, but it was one treat per family, and she won second), and much to my delight, picked a beautiful tray of cupcakes, which I’m not too proud to admit I was hoping he’d choose (yum!).  

Oh, and did I mention the food?  There’s nothing like a bunch of Lutheran ladies for providing you with a great meal!  Not to mention their faithful husbands, manning the grills, even in questionable weather.  We discovered that Turkey likes brats, which he had never been interested in before, Bunny likes grilled chicken, deviled eggs are enough like egg salad that children find them delicious, and, of course, desserts are awesome.  It was such a fun afternoon (I only wish we could have stayed for the Bible bingo, but the younger two were very tired and really ready to go), and I can’t think of any group of people I’d rather spend time with than our church family.  Every one of us, from my Mister, right on down to little Ladybug, has people to talk to and spend time with–does it get any better than that?

Ready To Go!

I spent an hour last night rearranging the furniture in our classroom (Ryan wasn’t too happy to find out that I moved the dresser/changing table by myself–I told him I was going to be moving furniture–I don’t know what he thought I meant by that?) and three hours (yes, you read that right, three!) tonight punching stuff out and hanging stuff on the walls.  You don’t realize how many little pieces a calendar set or a “count down to the 100th day doodlebug” set have until you start punching them all out!  I’m really starting to feel like a teacher with all the work I’m putting into this!

Anyway, with the exception of two things, I believe my school room is finished now.  I’m waiting on a second markable map that I ordered from Sonlight–I decided I wanted to just hang it on the wall, and I want to have one side permanently on the U.S., and one on the world, so I need two maps.  (Already, we have one map going mapping the Ingalls journey across the country as we read the Little House books, and I’m going to start a world map “journey of the Olympic torch” as soon as we get the other map.)

I also want to get a church year calendar from CPH.  Getting it isn’t the problem, but deciding when to hang it is a bit tricky.  I don’t need the 2009 one yet, but I also don’t think I’m going to hang a 2008 one at this late date, so I have to decide if I’m going to hang the next one early, or wait until closer to the start of the church year to put it up.  If I do hang it early, we can at least talk about the seasons and festivals of the church year, even if the dates aren’t right.

So, the room is set up.  I moved the bed to one side (it will have to be moved out for guests, but that’s easy enough with the wheels), and put the changing table in the closet, which actually makes sense to me, and creates a nice little separate changing room. There are two bookcases up there, each about half full, and, for the most part, organized.  I have the lamp, phone, CD player and bell arranged on top of the bookcases the way I want them.  The card table and two chairs are set up for my students.  I hung an alphabet and number line around the top of the room on two walls, and hung up the one map I have, marking a space for the other one.  The calendar is up, although I’m not going to put the numbers on until August.  I hung up a clock and the main body of our countdown doodlebug.  I may even post a picture of the room after I get the other map hung up, but no promises.

Wow, I’ve been busy!  I’m still not positive I have all the supplies/curriculum I want/need, but I have enough to get started, and I’ve even written down a daily schedule, which I hope we’ll be able to stick to pretty well. We’re all so excited about this–Turkey and Bunny have watched every step of the way as I’ve tackled this project.  It’s going to be so fun!