Pre-Mother's Day Acitivities

For a primary activity today, we framed the "Proclamation on the Family". In preparation, we bought mat boards for 8x10 pictures, and printed out the proclamation on normal sized copy paper. We invited families to come and bring pictures of themselves, and provided a table for each family with glue sticks and scissors to make a collage of their pictures on the matboard as a frame to the proclamation. It went really well. The children and parents all worked nicely together cutting out the pictures and figuring out where to place them.
After the activity, I needed to go to the grocery store. Tom being gone, I took all 4 little ones with me, something I don't usually do. When we got there, one of the ladies in the bakery came over and asked me if the children could decorate cookies for Mother's Day. Of course I said sure! They had a table set up with sugar cookies, frosting, and sprinkles. Alan, Sarah, and Kaitlyn had fun decorating them while I did a little bit of shopping. When I was done, they each had their cookies in a tiny bakery box with the writing, "Free Cookie" on it. What a nice store!(It was Publix on Milgen Road for those of you in Columbus.) Now that we're home, the kids are in a "giving spirit". I never said anything about gifts on Mother's Day, they just decided they wanted to do things on their own. They are all going around the house looking for ideas for presents that they can make for me. They were all in the play room and I was forbidden from going in. Now Alan is in the kitchen doing the dishes, and Sarah is wrapping little presents she made.
I never thought I would have much of a Mother's Day this year because Tom is in Europe, but this just might be the best Mother's Day I've had.

Drinking from a cup

I've never thought sippy cups were the best idea. I know they prevent spills and everything, but they also prevent children from learning to drink from a normal cup. I have known 8 yr-olds who couldn't drink from cup without spilling because they were never allowed to drink from a cup without some sort of straw or sipping mechanism.
Sometimes being a mother means knowing when to relax and let children learn. Even and if you have to clean up a few spills along the way, it's ok! So that's my soap box moment for the day. :)

William eating pizza...

I took a video of William eating pizza because I thought it was so funny the way he ate it.You also may notice my 3 other crazies yelling in the background.

Kaitlyn's new bed

We finally traded Kaitlyn's toddler bed for a normal twin size bed this week. Sarah and Kaitlyn already shared a room, but we had to rearrange the room to fit the new bigger bed. She's really excited and loves her new bed.