A Day in Pompeii

I did something unusual yesterday. I went on a Mother-Daughter Outing.

What's so unusual about that, you might ask?

It wasn't me and Sarah, it was me and my mother!

About a month ago, we read in our local newspaper about an exhibit that was currently being shown at the Discovery Place Museum in Charlotte.

The exhibit was "A Day in Pompeii". And they were showing many different types of artifacts that had been uncovered in the ruins at Pompeii.

The minute I read the article, I knew I wanted to go. I have been fascinated with Pompeii since learning about the eruption of Mt. Vesuvius in elementary school.

The minute she read the article, she knew she wanted to go.

So, we went together and made a day of it!

After we looked at all the artifacts and the chilling molds made from all the holes left by the bodies that had been covered in lava and ash, we made a Target run and we had lunch together at wonderful restaurant near my old house.

A cool museum exhibit. Target. Lunch. My mom.

Can't think of a better way to spend a Saturday!

Our Thankful Turkeys

Last year we made Thankful Trees and it was a tradition that I wanted to carry on every year while the kids were young.

This year we decided to do Thankful Turkeys.

Peter was being a grump and after writing out three things he was thankful for, he gave up and had me write them down for him.

Sarah wanted to write everyone of hers which is why none of them are legible. I do commend her for the effort though.

Peter's list included the following things:

God
Toys
The Doctor
Telephone
Mom and Dad
Max and Ruby
Himself
Friends
Grandma and Grandpa
The Computer

Sarah's list included the following things:

Family
God
Food
Flowers
Ball
Pumpkins
The World
Clocks
And a couple of other things that I can't remember and can't decipher.

My hope for my children is that they remember to be thankful to God for all that he provides for them. Because really, it's all his anyway.

Happy Thanksgiving!

My Little Pilgrim

On Tuesday, Sarah's 4-year-old preschool class performed their Thanksgiving play.

The class was split up into a group of Indians (Native Americans, if I'm forced to be politically correct) and a group of Pilgrims.

Each student had one line to memorize. Sarah's line was "The boat ride from England was long and hard."

She memorized it with no problems and by the day of the performance she had memorized most of the other kid's lines as well.

She said her line loud and clear and I video taped it all. That evening after dinner, we hooked up the recorder to the TV so that Daddy and Peter could see the show.

Sarah was quite pleased to see herself on TV.

I wasn't able to get a picture of her during the show because I was videotaping it. Although I did try to hold the camera with one hand and the recorder with the other but all the shots were blurry.

Apparently multitasking photography is something I'm not capable of doing well.

But I got a picture of her back in her classroom before she took off her costume.

Doesn't she make an adorable pilgrim girl?

There Was An Old Lady Who Swallowed a Pie...

...and I'm not referring to myself...at least not until tomorrow, anyway. And you can bet I'll be swallowing a lot of pie then.


The turkeys at Peter's Thanksgiving celebration were a bit of a bust but the story and activity that we did were a hit!

I read There Was An Old Lady Who Swallowed a Pie . The kids seemed excited to see what she was going to swallow next and most of them were sure that she was going to die.

Before I read it the second time, I gave each student a piece of the food that she had swallowed. And when I got to the part in the story about the food they were holding, they got to come up and put it in her mouth.

I made the old lady out of poster board and cut out the stomach and mouth.

I then cut the bottom out of a large freezer bag and tapped it to another large freezer bag. Then I taped them both to the back of the poster board where I had cut holes for the mouth and stomach. This way, when the kids put the food in the old lady's mouth it would drop into her stomach and they could see it.

I made the "food" out of clip art that I glued to index cards. I also wrote the name of the food item on the card to reinforce the spelling of the word.

Reinforce the spelling of the word? That sounds all kindergarten teachery doesn't it?

I wasn't sure how they would like this activity but they loved it! But I should have known it would be a big hit because I got the idea from Kristen's Kindergarten. Thanks Kristen!

Mr. Potato Turkey

Yesterday Jennifer and I were in charge of the Thanksgiving celebration in my son's kindergarten class.

We sang songs, read a story and manned 4 centers. One of the centers was the craft center and we made these cute little Turkey Potatoes.

I had already cut the beaks and the wattles out of construction paper and glued them to toothpicks. So all the kids had to do were poke them into the potato along with feathers. They also had to glue the eyeballs on to the potato.

I thought this would be an easy craft for the kids but it turned out to be a little more frustrating for them than I had anticipated.

A lot of the craft feathers broke because they kids were so eager to cram place them into the turkey's back. So I ended up having to help most of them with the feathers.

And even good old Elmer's glue was no match for googly eyes and potatoes.

I guess we won't be making potato Santa Clause heads at the Christmas celebration.

Miracle Monday

It's Monday again! Time for another edition of Miracle Monday.

I have a wonderful friend named Christie. She's not a blogger but let's not hold that against her! Maybe one of these days she'll start one!

Christie has a cousin named Maggie who is battling Lymphoma. Here is an email that Christie sent to all of her friends asking for prayers and help for Maggie:

Maggie is only 25 years old and is married to Shane and they have an 9 month old baby girl, Allison.

Last month Maggie was experiencing a fast heart rate and was scheduled to see a cardiologist for some tests and a 24 hr EKG. They weren’t that concerned, but thought it best to check it out.

Before she ever made it to that appointment, she went to see her primary doctor thinking she had a sinus infection…as well as some shortness of breath…and she was rushed to the hospital on Tuesday evening, Oct. 21st.

A CAT scan revealed fluid around her heart and lungs and a tumor that was attached to her heart and trachea. Maggie was sedated and a chest tube drained 2 liters of fluid from her chest that first night. She spent over a week in ICU…on a ventilator, sedated…fighting for her life.

During that time many tests were done and she was eventually diagnosed with Diffuse Large B-cell Lymphoma. This was terrible news as it is a very aggressive form of non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma. Fortunately, however, this type of cancer responds well to chemo.

They started Maggie on chemo as soon as possible and within days the tumor had shrunk by 1/3! The doctors were amazed! They were able to remove the ventilator and move her out of ICU. At that point she had to be told what had happened to her since she had been unconscious much of the time.

She had a few other complications…blood clots in her arm from the constant BP cuff & needles, low immunity from the chemo, staph infection, etc. She was given antibiotics for the infection and finally released from the hospital on Wed, 11/5. She is now living at her in-laws’ house along with her husband and baby girl.

Although recent news has been good, her ordeal is far from over. She will continue chemo treatments every few weeks for the foreseeable future and will have frequent appointments with her oncologist and other doctors.

This is an ugly form of cancer and often recurs in different areas of the body, so she will probably never rest easy even if she wins this particular battle.

The medical bills are starting to stream in now and they are very overwhelmed with that…I’m not sure how much will be covered by insurance. They were on Maggie’s insurance, but have switched to Shane’s since Maggie can’t work and she didn’t have disability, etc. Shane has missed a lot of work as well with Maggie’s hospitalization and all of her appointments.

Christie is asking for prayers for Maggie and Shane and Allison. And if you can provide any financial help - even $1 or $2 makes a difference. Here is the PayPal link that Christie set up:

https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_s-xclick&hosted_button_id=1304324

And just so you know who you are praying for, here is a picture of Maggie holding Allison. (My friend Christie is in the green).

Please pray for Maggie's healing. I would love to write a post one day that tells that Maggie is free from this cancer!

"Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours." (Mark 11:24)

If you have a miracle you would like to share, it's easy to participate. Just post a miracle on your blog and link it back here using Mr. Linky below.

Please mention "A Mom's Life" and my URL in your post. And if you want, you can use the Miracle Monday button in your post as well.

This edition of Miracle Monday is now closed. Please come back next Monday if you would like to link to a miracle on your blog. If you are looking for other miracles, please check our Miracle Monday archives located on the right sidebar.

As The Kindergarten Turns

An interesting letter came home in Peter's backpack yesterday.

It seems that all four Kindergarten classes are at or over the North Carolina state law limit of 23 children. So the principal is in the process of hiring a new teacher and when the kids get back from winter break there will be five Kindergarten classes instead of four.

How exciting for the kids! And of course I say that with my tongue gouging out of my cheek.

They will be taking 4-6 kids out of each of the existing classes and putting them in the new class.

We don't know yet which kids will be uprooted from their current class and placed in the new class.

We don't know who the new teacher will be. I can only imagine that there are large numbers of excellent teachers to hire from in the middle of the school year. (I hope I'm wrong.)

I'm not even sure where the actually fifth classroom is going to be.

The only positive out of this whole mess is that all of the classes will be smaller and each child will theoretically receive a better education.

I just want to know why they didn't plan for this before now. Last year there were 5 Kindergarten classes. Why didn't they just keep 5 Kindergarten classes this year expecting that new kids would join raising them up to their limit?

I am sure the school was trying to save money. But it seems to me it was at the expense of at bunch of unsuspecting 5-year-olds.

Peter is not happy about this potential change and neither am I. I am trying to keep an open mind and I'm praying for the best possible outcome for Peter.

But why do I find myself Googling "Homeschooling" more and more these days?

The Housewife's Holiday Gift Guide

I normally like to have all of my Christmas shopping done by Thanksgiving so that I can enjoy the Christmas season without all of the stress of shopping.

But at this point, I have done ZERO shopping. And after a quick glance at the calendar, I just realized that I don't think I'm going to make it this year.

But never fear! Jo-Lynne from Musings of a Housewife to the rescue! She has created The Housewife's Holiday Gift Guide. (I've also got a link on my sidebar - it's to your left.)

I'm not sure if I will meet my Thanksgiving deadline, but with this guide, I may get close.

And Jo-Lynne has 13 giveaways going on so make sure you check it out!

Miracle Monday

Is it Monday already? Well then it must be time for a miracle!

Nikke posted a wonderful miracle last week that I wanted to share with you all today.

This past summer, Nikke worked at her church's Vacation Bible School. The woman that helped her was fairly new to the church and at the end of each class, Nikke was able to spend some time getting to know this woman.

She had a rough childhood and her parents died when she was 4. She had been on her own since she was 16.

She had been into drugs and alcohol and got pregnant young. She told Nikke that a few years ago her apartment building caught fire and she lost everything she had, even the few items she had from her childhood.

By the end of the week, they had gotten to know each other pretty well and she told Nikke what had brought her to their church.

She had been really depressed, started drinking and decided to kill herself one evening. She grabbed a 9mm handgun and started driving to a remote place. She failed to use a turn signal and was pulled over by the cops.

She was arrested and taken to jail. She spent almost a month in jail, where she started reading the Bible. One day during her time in jail, a woman from prison ministries came in and they talked to her about God and the Bible.

She said just before the woman left the woman told her "I don't care what you did to get yourself in here, I just want you to know you will be in my thoughts and prayers when you get out."

After she got out of jail she did two months in drug/alcohol rehab. One day, while at a gas station, she bought a few food items and came up short. The man behind her in line gave her the money to pay for her items. She was thanking him and they started talking and he ended up inviting her to church.

After coming to our church a few times, that man's wife invited her to a ladies Bible study class. She connected with several women there and was attending regularly. After one of the studies, one of the women invited her to go to lunch with her and her mom.

They met at the restaurant and she was seated next to the woman's mother. As she sat listening to the mother talk, she thought "I've heard that voice before." Before lunch was up she realized that this voice belonged to the woman from prison ministries!

At first neither one could believe it. The mother leaned over, hugged her and said "I never thought I'd see you again but I have been thinking about you and praying for you ever since I met you!

There are many small events leading up to what would appear at first glance to be a coincidence. Or just another one of those "Wow! It's a small world" moments.

But it was God working all of these moments together to save this woman's life!

Look around you. What other things have you been calling coincidences? Could they in fact be God working small miracles all around you?

If you have a miracle you would like to share, it's easy to participate. Just post a miracle on your blog and link it back here using Mr. Linky below.

Please mention "A Mom's Life" and my URL in your post. And if you want, you can use the Miracle Monday button in your post as well.

PLEASE NOTE - when linking make sure to link to your Miracle Monday post. Do not link to the front page of your blog.

This edition of Miracle Monday is now closed. Please come back next Monday if you would like to link to a miracle on your blog. If you are looking for other miracles, please check our Miracle Monday archives located on the right sidebar.

He may be bossy but I'm the one that acts like a kid.

Peter happened to wander in the room when I was writing his "Six is..." post, so I read it to him.
"Bossy! You can't put that!" he exlaimed.
"Hmmmm...but you just proved that you really are bossy by telling me not to put that. And besides, it is MY blog and I can put anything I want on it. So na na na boo boo!" I taunted.
Sometimes it's fun being the mom.

Six is...

Six is...

smart
funny
shy
talkative
observant
bossy
a rule-follower
a picky eater
tender-hearted
a good tee ball player
loving
Mommy's little man


Six has my heart.

Happy Birthday, Peter!

Love

Mommy

May the force be with me - trying to make a Star Wars birthday cake is harder than you think!

Peter recovered from his bug so we had his friend birthday party on Monday night. That worked out well since the kids were out of school on Tuesday for Veteran's Day so we were still able to do the sleepover.

Peter is into Star Wars The Clone Wars right now and decided that he would like a Star Wars 'theme' to his party. I use the word theme loosely because other than the Clone Wars cartoon, he is clueless about Star Wars.

And so am I.

I saw the first Star Wars movie when it came out in 1977 and I haven't seen one since. I was eight so I don't really remember anything about the movie except that our church youth group went to see it and we were all so excited.

I remember being outside waiting in line and I remember looking down and seeing a plaque on the ground.

The plaque said that buried in that spot was a time capsule that was placed there when the movie theatre was built and it wasn't to be opened until the year 2000.

I was eight. It was 1977. And the year 2000 was incomprehensible to my little mind.

I remember asking one of the youth leaders if I would still be alive in the year 2000. He laughed and said "yes". Then I asked him if he would be alive in the year 2000. He laughed again and responded with "I hope so"!

Good news. We are both alive.

Bad news. I don't really remember anything about the movie. So I had to search the Internet for Star Wars cakes. It didn't take me long to realize that I wasn't going to be able to do it.

Almost every cake I found was shaped to look like one of the characters and was molded using FONDANT.

I've watched enough episodes of "Ace of Cakes" on Food Network to know that fondant is out of my league. Waaaaaaaaay out of my league.

I did discover that Wilson makes a pan shaped like Darth Vadar's head but Peter decided he didn't like that.

Several people had made light sabre cakes. Basically they took sheet cakes and cut them and pieced them together to form a light sabre.

Now that I could do! But Peter's response was, "That's so lame mom. Why don't we get action figures and put them on the cake."

Action figures! I can buy action figures!

So I made a round chocolate cake, frosted it with white icing (both at his request) and put Star Wars action figures on it. And do you know what his response was?

"I thought you were going to put the action figures on a light sabre cake?"

Oops! I guess we had a little miscommunication there.

The cake is not one of my finest cake decorating moments but it tasted good and Peter had a good time at his party.

And in the end, that's really all that matters to a 6-year-old anyway!

A clone aiming his gun at two droids. And yes! One of them has been knocked over for effect. That was Peter's idea. (And why is it so hard to frost a cake?? I used THREE containers of frosting in an attempt to hide all the chocolate crumbs.)

Blowing out the number 6 candle!

Miracle Monday - Keep Believing

It's Monday and I'm ready for some miracles so I hope you all have something to post.

I would like to write more today about Brian and Angie.

I wrote a Miracle Monday post a couple of weeks ago asking you all to pray for healing for Brian who is living with a brain tumor.

It has been a rough couple of weeks. Brian left his job and went on permanent disability and he began to deteriorate further. They made the decision that they were not going to pursue further treatments and that Brian was going to spend as much time as possible at home with his family.

But in the midst of all of this, God was working miracles.

They met with Christian doctor who determined that much of his deterioration could be attributed to fluid on the brain. He placed a temporary shunt in Brian's brain to drain the fluid and because it was so effective, they placed a permanent one on his brain.

The doctor actually prayed with them prior to the surgery! That is so rare and I know it gave them great peace before the procedure.

There were many other miracles that have occurred and Angie outlines them in this post. Please read it.

And please continue to pray the following for Angie and Brian:

• For a miracle in Brian's healing.
• Brian's speech restored and headaches to subside.
• For Brian's white and all other blood counts to stay in normal limits and other minimal chemo side effects.
• God's direction and guidance for Brian's medical team.
• Renewed emphasis in our spiritual/prayer life.
• Brian's right side strength restored and continued healing.
• Giving us grace moments of feeling like a normal family - peace and strength.

Please add Brian and Angie to your prayer list and pray all of these things for them.As you pray, please remember that God is a God of miracles and that he has the power to heal Brian.

"But I will restore you to health and heal your wounds," declares the Lord. - Jeremiah 30:17

If you have a miracle you would like to share, it's easy to participate. Just post a miracle on your blog and link it back here using Mr. Linky below.

Please mention "A Mom's Life" and my URL in your post. And if you want, you can use the Miracle Monday button in your post as well.

PLEASE NOTE - when linking make sure to link to your Miracle Monday post. Do not link to the front page of your blog.

This edition of Miracle Monday is now closed. Please come back next Monday to share a miracle. Thanks!

It's the only way the fridge is going to get cleaned out around here.

Poor Peter. His 6th birthday is on Thursday and he was supposed to have his friend party tonight. We don't ever do big parties around here but he was excited anyway.

Jennifer's four kids were coming for pizza and cake and her two boys, Cody and Colton, were going to spend the night.

But Peter was very sluggish yesterday and was up a lot of the night with a cough. This morning he had a fever and basically never moved from the couch.

So after lots of tears, I called Jennifer and told her we were going to have to reschedule.

And right after I got off the phone with her, I realized that a little milk had been spilled in the refrigerator. I cleaned it up and made lunch.

It was right after lunch that I realized the little bit of spilled milk was really A LOT of spilled milk.

It had run into two of the drawers and behind two of the drawers. It had even puddled up underneath the bottom drawer.

So I spent part of the afternoon cleaning out the refrigerator and Peter spent most of the day curled up in a ball on the couch. Not exactly what either one of us had planned for the day but when life gives you spilled milk, you might as well clean out the fridge!

What Time Is It?

Recently I started using products from Mary Kay's TimeWise line.

I didn't want to do it, but I feel like at my age (39!) I really need to start using something more than the generic moisturizer from Wal-Mart. So I ordered some products from Leigh and have been using them for 3 weeks.

And believe it or not, I do notice a difference in the lines around my eyes. It is a slight difference but it is noticeable - at least to me anyway!

I have been using The TimeWise 3-in-1 Cleanser, the Day Solution with SPF25, the Night Solution and the Age-Fighting Moisturizer. And for good measure, I have been using the Microdermabrasion Set once or twice a week.

It looks like I actually have a skin care regime now. I feel so grown up.

I wanted to post a Before and After picture but failed to actually take the Before shot so I did the next best thing. I perused my photo files and now we have a Before photo. (Please ignore the mortarboard. Sarah wanted my picture in it and pretty much what Sarah wants, Sarah gets. I think it's the whining - that girl can whine. )

BEFORE Mary Kay TimeWise

AFTER Mary Kay TimeWise

Like I said, my lines are still there. And I know they always will be. But, I don't think they look as deep since I've been using the TimeWise line. And my skin has never felt softer.

If you guys want to try the TimeWise Miracle Set, please contact Leigh. She is offering 15% off the set which includes the 3-in1 Cleanser, the Daytime solution with SPF25, the Nighttime solution, the Age Fighting moisturizer AND foundation.

It's a good deal ya'll. And if you decide to use it. Please take a Before and After shot and post it so I can see how great you look!

But please, leave the mortarboard in the closet!

Either I'm having trouble with the embedded comment form or no one likes the way Sarah says her ABC's.

I wrote a post this morning about Sarah saying her alphabet and then I scurried out the door to my MOPS meeting.

When I got back home, I sat down at the computer to check my email and to see if I had gotten any comments on my post.

I was saddened to find ZERO comments. Hmmmm, I thought. I guess everyone is busy voting or perhaps they just didn't feel this post was comment worthy.

After lunch, I checked again and still nothing.

I didn't really think anything else about it until around 4:00 when the phone rang. It was my mom.

She was calling to let me know that she felt sorry for me when she noticed I didn't have any comments and was going to leave one but then realized something was wrong with my comment form.

Phew! I breathed a big sigh of relief. It was my comment form not my post that was causing the lack of comments.

So I removed the embedded comment form and have gone back to the normal Blogger comment form. It appears to be working.

Mom will be happy that I'm using the old comment form again. She reads every one of my comments - every one of them ya'll - so be nice! And she said that she likes to be able to put a face with a name. (The embedded form didn't include profile pictures.)

So feel free to leave me a comment or two. Or three.

And feel free to give a shout out to my mom because she loves my comments almost as much as I do!

Elem Minnow

While Sarah was singing the ABC song several weeks ago, I noticed that she had it wrong.

She sang it as if there were only 24 letters instead of 26.

A

B

C

D

E

F

G

H

I

J

K

Elem

Minnow

P

Q

R

S

T

U

V

W

X

Y

Z

Being the good mother that I am, I immediately corrected her and tried to get her to sing the song correctly.

Being the stubborn daughter that she is, she immediately insisted that she was right and I was wrong.

We argued a bit and then I dropped it.

Last night, she was reading a book with Dan and one of the pages had the alphabet on it. As they were going over it, he realized that she was doing it incorrectly and she insisted with him that she was doing it the right way.

After much discussion, she finally believed Daddy and started saying it the right way!

Sometimes it just takes a little help from Daddy.

Miracle Monday

It's Miracle Monday again and it's the eve of the election. And if you are like me, you are probably feeling a little nervous.

My sweet Mom forwarded me this in an email the other day and it put my mind at ease.

Top 10 Predictions No Matter Who Wins the Election:

1. The Bible will still have all the answers.
2. Prayer will still work.
3. The Holy Spirit will still move.
4. God will still inhabit the praises of His people.
5. There will still be God-anointed preaching.
6. There will still be singing of praise to God.
7. God will still pour out blessings upon His people.
8. There will still be room at the Cross.
9. Jesus will still love you.
10. Jesus will still save the lost when they come to Him.

And God approves this message!

ISN'T IT GREAT TO KNOW WHO IS REALLY IN CHARGE??

If you have a miracle you would like to share, it's easy to participate. Just post a miracle on your blog and link it back here using Mr. Linky below.

Please mention "A Mom's Life" and my URL in your post. And if you want, you can use the Miracle Monday button in your post as well.

PLEASE NOTE - when linking make sure to link to your Miracle Monday post. Do not link to the front page of your blog.

Miracle Monday is now closed. Please come back next week if you would like to post a miracle!

Make sure your kids brush their teeth after all that Halloween candy...

...or this might happen!

My Barbie Princess and My Evil Court Jester

Here are the kids all decked out in their costumes. Sarah dressed up as a Barbie princess and Peter decided to be a skeleton/evil court jester.

Peter loves Halloween and spent weeks pouring over online costume stores. We even went to one of those stores that set up just for the months of October. He was beside himself.

But all of the costumes at these places were $40 or more. So instead of getting one of those, we used his skeleton suit from two years ago and got a $10 mask from Wal-mart.

Sarah doesn't really seem to care about dressing up for Halloween. Maybe it's because she dresses up a lot when she's playing. Whatever the reason, she decided she wanted to go as a Barbie princess.

The dress is one that I got her for her birthday. We did get her a new wand and a new tiara when we were buying Peter's mask even though she already has several.

But everyone knows a princess can never have too many tiaras!