Dinosaur Cake ♥

I am doing a unit on dinosaurs for my prek. class ~ and this is our dinosaur cake. After I cut it and laid it out we talked about what type, and colors of skin. They knew it was a stegosaurus and also knew that scientists know the texture of skin from fossils, but not the colors.

They chose the colors, we mixed it up. (I used food color and added milk to the frosting to make it the consistency of a thick glaze)

The children then proceeded to decorated with frosting and sprinkles.

They then got to choose what part of the dinosaur they wanted to eat, and they were picky.

They also made "fossils" and really had fun! I use a baking soda/corn starch mix that is cooked and use (used) coffee grounds to make it look like dirt. To decorated we used dinosaur skeletons and non skeletal dinosaurs and small sea shells. The shells got to stay in the mix, I then put small dabs of glue around the shells if they weren't embedded enough. It really is a fun unit and I have lots of very enthusiastic children!

Friday's blog!

I am not sure why the weeks seem to be flying by lately, maybe I am just doing to much. The dog is doing much better, her blood count shows her red blood cells near where they should be and the anemia is gone! That is good news, she will get her stitches out on Thursday, she must have about 2 dozen. We are putting her outside for longer and longer, but are still bringing her in at night, until it is a bit warmer.

I managed to watched my eating a little better and lost a pound. I am using my WW recepies for dinners now. I am hopoing to find a cookbook about make ahead and freeze meals. Anyone know of one please let me know. It would help, especially on class nights, to have something I can pull out and let D. cook for dinner for him and Keith. Also for those night I just don't want to cook!

Time to get ready for work, we are going to make a dinosaur cake in class today. A stegasaurous to be exact, it is a fun recepie and the children really like it. I will take pictures to post later, if the little dears let me.

Random thoughts

After going into the vets everyday to bring Kandy home, and being told one more night, we got to bring her home yesterday. She is still weak from not eating much and all the meds. I have to take her back Monday for a recheck. This dog was one we had gotten for my parents when she was 8 weeks old, she is now 13 1/2 years old. She has cancer, what do we do? After much thought we have decided not to do the tests or treat her. How do you tell an old dog that you are going to cause her more pain so she (maybe will live another year)? And the treatments can go on and on. We will just make her life as pleasant as we can.
She used to be rather aggressive, and we believe it may have been because my parents were elderly and she was protecting them (she is half Queensland red and half Manchester terrier). Though she has mellowed out considerably since she came to live with us 8 1/2 years ago, I wouldn't trust her around my grandchildren, she is old. She got very used to being around people when Keith and Elizabeth were in high school. We had an open door policy and kids were always in and out for one reason or another. Though there are still a few people she hasn't taken to, she does try and can be very loving. Being an outside dog, she has no house manners and right now I have her in the bathroom until the weather warms a little or she is a little stronger. We have to check on her, give her water, food and her meds and take her for walks so she can do what she needs to.

This week has gone by rather fast. I am now visiting blogs and doing some catch up. Dan is at a men's conference until 2, and K is at a swapmeet with his brother, so I have some time to myself. I need to go to the resource center to do some things for school on Monday, a little housework and a little shopping.

We went bowling again last night. I won't say what my score was, God never intended for me to be a great bowler ~ but it was fun! I am little sore in my legs, muscles I don't use often. I will start back at the gym on Tuesday, so maybe get those muscles working again.
Have a great day & God Bless ♥

Tuesday

We had to take the dog in for some surgery. She has a fatty growth on her front leg on a joint and it has an open wound that does not want to stop bleeding. We have wrapped it and it will stop, but then she tags and pulls the wrapping off and it bleeds again. We are unsure how it opened up, if she tore it, bit it or it burst. The vet said it could have been any one of the three. When we went in today, they weren't going to send her home, she is severly anemic, and we found the growth was cancer. So lots to think about.

This week

For some reason this week seemed to have flown by. It is Friday again and it seems like it was just Friday yesterday. It is amazing how God works in this world.
Tues. we went bowling. I haven't bowled in years and it showed in my score and how the muscles in my legs ached the next day. It was fun, there were 5 of us and we bowled 3 games. I had a coupon so it cost me under $20, total! Of course I also had my own shoes and ball.

Wed. I signed up for a photoshop class. I am excited about learning how to maneuver through the program. I had money in my account at city college from another class I dropped- that I had let ride - so my total registration was a whopping $3.00.

The Extreme home make over has happened, in the town next to us. It is amazing as we listened to all that goes on with that, all week- on TV and in the newspaper. One of the little boys in my class has been to the site, as his dad was a volunteer. He was so excited to share the "blue" shirt and badge his dad had, in class on Friday. He kept telling me the lady had 'no legs'. It will air in early March, but we get to see some on Sat. on the local tv station that airs the program.

Christmas has come and gone in this secular world. But for those of us who believe and know God our Father and have faith and hope it will forever remain. I have been wanting to post this, as I keep hearing on the news how some had no Christmas. Have you seen "How the Grinch Stole Christmas"? Remember where it says he hadn't stopped Christmas from coming, it came, without packages, without ribbons, without bows. And maybe thought the Grinch, that Christmas was a little bit more, and it was! I believe in that thinking, I know that thinking. I can remember telling the Christmas story to my children when they were little, explaing what and who and they whys of it. And during a time when we had very, very little money to spend. We still had Christmas, and we will forevermore. God is good, God is everlasting, God is mighty and we can never forget that. That is a faith that we need to keep on believing and holding onto- especially now as our country will be swearing in a new president, and the economy has done nothing to spark any upbeat stories (according to local and national news casters). Things that can be very depressing can drag you down. Look toward our heavenly father, and the many blessing we have because of Him!

Psalms 9: 1-2
1) I will give thanks to the Lord with my whole heart;
I will recount all of your wonderful deeds.
2) I will be glad and exhult in you;
I will sing praise to your name, Most High.

I am sad that Mervyn's has closed and am sad to hear that Circut City is closing it's doors, and expects to be liquidated by the end of March. That just happens to be where I purchase most (but not all) of my electronics. They have just always had the best deals. Gottschalks has filed for bankruptcy, they opened for business in 1904 and are a locally owned department store. I purchase most of my cloths there and so I am really sad. Hopefully they will be able to reorganize and remain open.

Even though the week has been full, the week end is coming, and I have 3 days off. I will clean house on Sat. and hopefully do some sewing Sunday afternoon and partly Monday. Other then church there are not appointments on my calender. Hopefully I can also catch up on some of my reading and Bible Studies.
Have a good week and God Bless ♥1

God is good ♥

Wow, it is Friday already! I made it back to class and am in routine for school once more. I am missing sleeping in a little longer, but that is the way it will be until summer comes. If all goes well I will be retiring in June, that is the plan!

I look back on last year, and God has been good. So much happened. The blessed thing we made it through was Elizabeth's wedding, and she is now with the love of her life. I pray for their future and that God will walk before Ryan as his plans to re-enlist move forward, and the eventual military career he plans. I pray for God before him to keep him safe.

For the 1st time in all the years we have been married, Dan and I went on a vacation in June for more then 3 days without kids. Seemed really odd to have a family vacation with just the 2 of us. There will be many more coming up. We are planning on driving to Colorado to visit our oldest daughter sometime during the summer or early fall, and possible our youngest daughter - where ever they end up.

There are 3 of us at home now, though Keith isn't here much and would like to move out soon. At 24 that isn't unreasonable on his part. Then we will truly be what is called in this society as empty nesters. Truth is though I feel the lose of their presence, children are meant to grow up and move on, that is a biblical truth. As the beatitudes state there is a time for everything.

Prayfully, the fires in CO. and the floods in Wash. will die down.

God Bless.

New Year

We had an enjoyable Christmas time with our family. It was sad when it was time for our oldest and her family to return to Colorado, but I very much know the feeling of wanting to be home with my family and done with vacation. Caitlin is so like her mom at the same age, very much a homebody, not wanting to be away from her home or her things (familiarity)for very long and wanting it to just be mom and dad and brother.

It was hard to get up this morning and go back to work after being home for 2 weeks. We had an inservice day, and the children start back to school tomorrow - so they had an extra day of vacation. I dread the wet drizzly mornings and cold fog when I am not able to take my class outside for some exercise. (It is a good reason to add on an extra couple days of small group time with the kids.) It is suppose to be sunny on Thursday, I hope so, I am really tired of the dreary, foggy days that the central valley is so famous for. We went out to the school today to rearrange the furniture. The district waxes the floors during the break and whoever does it never puts things back. I will need to go in a little earlier then usual tomorrow, I have another 30 minutes of putting things away before I even start to put things out for the days activities..

Have you every watched the show "Extreme makeover: Home Edition"? We have been hearing much about it lately because they are going to do a local family. There are 5 families in the running and we will find out on Thursday who they are and where they live; there are many small farming towns in the county. It is interesting hearing about how they recruit the help they get, as it is all over the local news stations. I must admit that I am a fan of the show, though I seldom sit through the entire show. I will turn it on and do other stuff. I like to watch the beginning and about the family and the end when they are showing the family the house.
My aide last year said that her family and some others nominated someone for the show,but I haven't heard if they were elected as one of the runner ups. If they were to win the makeover, that is really close to us. Most likely I would drive by to watch some of the building. Sorry to say, I don't have the time to volunteer for them, but admire those who are willing to do so.

God Bless ♥

I hope everyone had a great Christmas and happy new year celebration.
I will post more later, lots of clean up to do!

Christmas Break ♥

Today was the last day of school until Jan. 6th of next year. I do an International Feast for my class, because it is such a diverse class. We do a potluck, where different families sign up for the dishes. They usually bring a traditional food from their culture that they use to celebrate the Christmas season with. We get a very wide variety of foods, and they are all so good. It would have been so easy to indulge, but I was very good today.

The children came into class this morning very excited about today. I think when "Santa" came in (real beard and hair) the children were in heaven, or so they thought. He was one of the grandfathers of one of my boys, who goes to the schools and visits the special needs children. He was just great with the children. They sat on his lap and he asked them questions, answered them and gave each child a candy cane. I liked the way he handled their "requests" by telling each one that there are somethings that they need to tell their mom and dad and that he hopes each one will get what they want, but that doesn't always happen. He spoke to them very gently and they accepted his answers. After Santa left we did show and tell. His grandson brought a creche to share and said it was his grandma's and she said he could share it. He also mentioned that it was the "baby Jesus". I thought that was special.
Working in the public school system we are not suppose to talk about Jesus. However, when a child brings something in to share about Jesus, I go for it. I am impressed with how many children in my class know who Jesus is. Once the subject comes up they like to share about their Sunday school class. I just sit there and let them talk, - ah, I do make them take turns talking and sharing about their SS class.

Break used to be called Christmas vacation, now they call it winter break. I don't, to me it is still Christmas break. It is like going into the stores to shop. My son's birthday was 2 days ago. When I went shopping for his gift I had a sales lady ask me if I was holiday shopping. I told her "No,it is for my son's birthday. I don't holiday shop anyway." she said "You don't" my turn, "No, I don't celebrate many holidays, but I do celebrate Christmas and I do Christmas shop." After that the look she gave me tempted me to reach out and lift her chin up to close her mouth. She then said "Oh" and walked away, no other comment. That statement usually gets me more comments, she just seemed a little dumbfounded. I think I may have missed an opportunity to share Christ with her, but I know I left her with something to think about. Really, it was almost comical.


Now I need to finish decorating and finish my Christmas shopping! My feet hurt just thinking about it. Tonight I will finish my cards.

God Bless

Life moves on and God gives blessings.

I feel like I have been in a fog lately. With the wedding behind us, and our daughter now a married lady, I have been trying to catch up and focus on what needs to be done now. My dental surgery set me back just a little. I had nothing but soup and cottage cheese for a week and do look forward to solid foods now. I lost 4 pounds and hope to keep them off when real eating resumes. The bruise on my face is just about gone now, it was a very deep purple, approximately 1 inch across and 2 inches long and looked hideous, yet it never hurt.

Last Tuesday was a real joy for my class. Through the generous contributions of - hospital and their Angle Tree program, to give to the community, Santa was able to come and give to the families I serve. To see the looks of anticipation and excitement on those little faces was nothing less then pure joy. The children sang 3 songs for them, gave them a (giant) card which my staff had them make (when I was off for the wedding) and necklaces I prepared with their names and pictures; this was the children's way of saying Thank You. There was a short segment on the late news that night, but that doesn't matter. The generosity of this hospital is beyond bounds. This was truly an event that these families will remember for a very long time. What I have to say is "God truly works in mysterious ways."

_________

We turned the heater on when our other daughter was here for the wedding. The weather had still been warm until that week.. It seemed to work alright, even when we helped up the temperature some. Little did we know. Even though it had been going on it wasn't sufficently heating. To make a long story short, there was part of the unit that we had to have replaced, and I dread the bill. However, it works nicely now. Which is really nice as the central valley is known for it's hideous dreay, foggy days. The sun has been seen in the afternoons, so there is still hope.

I love to decorate for the Christmas season. The colors, the lights, the music, the reason for the season just make it all so special. I am sitting here looking at a tree with just lights on it and the box of decorations on the floor. After I finish here I need to finish some other work. I am hoping to finish decorating this weekend.

I am hoping to get my brain out of a fog and get on with what needs to be done here.
God Bless

This week

Going back to class after being off for 2 weeks, I felt like I was in a fog. But it was good to be back and see all the children. I do like what I do.

I had my 6 month dental exam in late October, he found an infected molar and sent me to a specialist for that. To spare the gory details, I needed some dental surgery, no fun. He wanted to do it before the wedding and I said no. I am so glad I did. I had the surgery on Monday, and I look like I have been kicked in the face. My left side has been swollen (doesn't hurt) and I have had a bruise around the side of my mouth and chin the size of a baby's open hand. Looks, well you can imagine. Yesterday I went back in and all is healing well. I go back next week and the week after he will remove the stitches. I ger courious looks from some of my parents as they bring their children into class. So as a few have asked what happened I make sure I say it in a voice that others can over hear. However, I have been on a 'soft or liquid' diet since Monday and look forward to eating real food again, next week.

I have an unspoke prayer request. Thanks

God Bless

After

After all was said and done, and the happy couple were on their honeymoon, we were able to relax and enjoy our visit with our oldest daughter. Since we wouldn't see them again until the day after Christmas, the little one's and I did a gingerbread house.

Brandon had very specific ideas about how the decorations were to go on and decorated most of it. When sis was helping he told her where the decorations went and how they were to stand. They had quite a conversation going. He, being in kindergarten, was more focused on the house then she was. After all she isn't 3 yet, so that's alright.

We did Thanksgiving dinner on Wednesday, as they left Thanksgiving day for their home. It was a good visit and I enjoyed them all.