Abbigail Joy Berube

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SEVEN???? 

I fully expect some tears to flow as I write this post.......cause I'm sentimental like that when it comes to my kids.....

April 15, 2006 - born on Easter Weekend

Gotta love the one year old pudge :)

Crazy Hairs!  2 years old

My THREE year old ray of sunshine

Pure FOUR year old delight :)

Sassy Pants FIVE year old!

Dress up fun at SIX

SEVEN year old shock! WHAT!!!????!!!  There's snow on my birthday??????  It's North Dakota - anything goes!

Oh my darling Abbigail.  What would I do without you?  You are my second pair of eyes around here.  You see what needs doing and jump in to do it often before I even ask you.  You are so responsible and trustworthy and a wonderful example and big sissy to Ella and JoJo.  I love your curiousity and your need to KNOW.  Your love for learning will take you far in life.  

Your DRAMA always makes life interesting.....like the time you totally lost it and were in tears over the fact that I owned no Elmo undies like you did!  We have always giggled about the funny things you say.  Like calling Adam and Eve - Adam and Even!  Or telling us about riding in Grandma's "hiccup" (pickup).  Or how you told us one day that God made some people girls and some people boys and some people dogs!  And everything was "lasterday".  We overheard you reading the Cmas story one days and you said that the wisemen brought gold, myhrr and FRANKLIN!

I am so thrilled to know that you have Jesus living inside of you and that you are wanting to grow to be like Him.  After asking Jesus into your heart I remember us going to Target together and when you saw the big red Target circle in the mall window you said "There's the big stone Jesus rolled away!"

I love you with all of my heart and am thankful God brought you into our life.

Now STOP growing!

Love, Mama

ps. excuse me while I go wipe my tears.....and try to figure out how to raise a seven year old :)

Thursday Thots

And I'm back......STILL wearing socks because alas Spring has decided to skip North Dakota this year!  But that's all I will say about that!  At least I don't have to worry about keeping up with "paint nail" as Ella likes to call finger/toenail polish!

Loving Sweet Potato Cinnamon & Crackers from Back to Nature (walmart)

Okay Mr Jogger Man....is it really necessary to wear shorts OVERTOP of baggy sweat pants?  Some people's children :)

Reading Grace Based Parenting by Dr Tim Kimmel - "You've been handed a piece of history in advance - a gracious gift you send to a time you will not see."

"As mothers, we are building great cathedrals. We cannot be seen if we're
doing it right. And one day, it is very possible that the world will marvel,
not only at what we have built, but at the beauty that has been added to the
world by the sacrifices of invisible mothers."

Why did I even hesitate for one second about getting a new phone????  Oh ya, cause I'm scared of technology.  There.  I said it.  I seriously am.  Once I learn it, I'm good to go.  But it's the learning of it.  Oh how I wish I was more like my Hub.  Anyhow......got a new Google phone and it's AMAZING in every way right down to the hot pink cover and I can't imagine life without it :)

Totally breathing a sigh of relief that the poop and puke are over.....good times.....

Did you know that the Amazon River is actually four different colors?  White, black, blue and brown!

Onsies seem to be my friend.....I'm sure Jonah would prefer them over duct tape.  That was next in line if he kept insisting on being naked EVERY.NAP/EVERY.NIGHT  You can only take so many naked baby pics!  And while they are cute, they did not eliminate the fury as I stormed around getting the bed washed and re-made!

Ella: "Mom can we go climb-walking at the Y?"  (Rock-climbing)

Not a big fan of cauliflower (caulibroccoli as Ella calls it!) but loved this new recipe I tried - steaming it and then whipping it up like mashed potatoes with garlic salt and real parmesan and milk and butter.  But what's NOT good with butter and cheese right?!

Monday Muffin Tins with a twist for Easter

 A fun idea till I had to wash out all 18 eggs....wait Jonah had 12 of his own...so that would be 24 eggs :)

Why exactly is Jonah thinking he can drop his afternoon nap before he is 2?  Does he not know his sisters slept much longer and his mother will be very insistent in this matter?!!

Cannot believe how different Abbigail looks with her teeth missing from the beginning of the year till now!

 

"Nothing is wasted when you walk close to Me.  Even your mistakes and sins can be recycled into something good through My transforming grace."  Jesus Calling - Sarah Young

Off to swimming lessons.....

Toddler Trays

Many of you have asked what I do with my littles while I'm homeschooling.......that my friends is a very loaded question!  Somedays I'd like to tie them to their bed posts but heavens - I would NEVER do that :)  Somedays their baths go extra long....somedays they may spend a few minutes longer in the snow banks.....somedays the TV or Ipad takes over......but when I'm particularly ambitious - I like to break out the:

TODDLER TRAYS

I cannot remember where I got this idea initially but it's basically following the premise that toddlers like to have a space to call their own.  I bought four big plastic trays from lakeshorelearning.com (but you could use a cookie sheet as well) and set to work collecting random things for the trays.  

Think: pouring, measuring, cutting, gluing, stacking, counting, sorting, sifting, beading, patterning, fine motor, etc.

I thought I'd search my pics for the year and pull out a few examples:

Beading on a pipecleaner - great for little hands as the pipecleaner stays stiff!  Could work on patterning here as well.

sorting big/little ladybugs and green leaves

Tutti Frutti!  Scooping pom poms with a melon scoop!

sorting monkeys by color - or in Jonah's case - filling/dumping = making a mess!

cutting and gluing (here we were making teeth for a mouth!)

Tutti Frutti is such a highlight that all three of them like to get it out and "serve" our guests!

Also sorting by color - not really sure what these trays are for but found them next to the icecube trays at the dollar store.  We are sorting colored crafting sticks.

Sorting also works great in muffin tins.  These foam cubes I found at the dollar store as well.

love these math cubes - they work great for patterning as well - or making a mess :)

Fine Motor - hanging the clothes!

more cutting practice with paint chips - cutting apart on the white lines dividing each color.  Then I mix them all up and she sorts them into containers by color.  Great practice working on the shades of various colors.

Saved my milk jugs and then put a foam sticker on top.  Ella likes to put them in order as she sings the alphabet song.  For Jonah I put them into an old wipes container and he likes to push the button and open the lid and put them in and dump them out.

Mr Potato Head is also great fine motor and working on body parts.

Pounding golf tees with a plastic hammer into a foam block and then balancing marbles on top of the tees.

 A rice bucket with plastic animals and gems hidden inside.  Found this little blue garbage can and Jonah enjoys pushing the pedal to open the lid and then pick out animals/gems from the rice and then put them into the garbage.  Ella has learned now how to use the tongs to pull out items from the rice and release them into the garbage.

     

They also enjoy the Lite Brite, Pop Beads, the scale with weights, water play, bead/rock bin, Magnetic dolls, blocks, Peg boards, flannel boards.

I absolutely love Toddlers but in the midst of teaching school I have found them to be frustrating....to be truly honest.  

But these trays have been so so helpful for me.  The kids love them and it has helped keep them entertained while I work with Abbigail.

There are so so many ideas out there and I just keep a big filing drawer full of random things I find to include on the trays.  It helps when you are a pack rat like me cause supplies are always ample :)

I'd love to hear your ideas for Toddlers!

Thursday Thots.....on Friday - cause that's how things get done around here!

So I decided the sliverware drawer needs to be cleaned out more often - ewww!

Oh how my military friends come and go.....love the coming part but not so much the going :(  

Never let loyalty and kindness leave you!  Tie them around your neck as a reminder.  Write the deep within your heart.  Then you will find favor with both God and people, and you will earn a good reputation.  Proverbs 3:3-4 NLT

  

Abbigail - on the way to Resonate (worship night) says, "Mom don't forget we gotta get our smokers tonight!"  She meant steamers from the coffee bar!  :)

Watching the kids swing in the snow was humorous for one day......TIRED.OF.SNOW!

Amazed we only had ONE puker last week - how did this happen?  Thank you Lord.

Does anyone else do their kids' hair purely for their own comedic entertainment throughout the day?!!  HAHAH!  I always have done this with Abbigail but apparently those days are over....

   

Upadee! Upadee!  Upadee!  In one year old language this means "Help me!"  Only a mama would know!

Ella has been obsessed with rainbows.  Now when she smiles for the camera and I ask her to smile big she says "Okay....I'll give you my rainbow smile!"  Whatever works....

Been wanting a "As for Me and My House" sign in my house and yeah for Walmart - they had a cute one the other day!  And that's where "Yeah for Walmart" ends....

Craving Tomato Basil soup again! (I pinned it if anyone wants the recipe)

So me thinks with my dishwasher now I should have oodles of extra time.....alas......this is not the case :(  But I do love my Mr Clean!

Yup....that's right.  I put ear plugs in the other day to drown out the kids' noise/fighting while I did my devos.  Kinda like Susanna Wesley with the 19 children who would flip her apron up over her head while praying.  I am more of an ear plug gal I guess.....    

April 19th can't come soon enough.....I hear the beach calling my name :)

Loving 6 small meals......never have that awful bloated/gassy feeling after eating......helping tremendously with my stomach issues.

Started a new Bible Study with friends - Grace Based Parenting. LOVED.

Can't wait to lay before 300 women tomorrow with a mud mask and cucumber slices on my face and wearing my robe....

cinnamon sugar toast.....ahhhh....reliving my childhood through my children :)

Did you know?  A blue whale could have an elephant stand up in it's mouth?!!  

I want to be so full of Christ that when a mosquito bites me, she flies away singing, “There is power in the blood!”

    

Egg Carton Crafting

The girls and I had fun with this little craft we found in Abbigail's Clubhouse magazine from Focus on the Family.

I first cut out each egg section of a brown carton.  Abbigail painted each one of them a different color and some multi-colored.  

When they were dry she added some glitter glue.

Then I made 4 slits around each one so that it would open up like a flower.

We hot glued them on to a wicker wreath for our front door and a smaller paper wreath for Grandma Berube.

Then the girls picked out pom poms, gems, buttons, and beads to put in the center of each flower.

The cross I just cut out of cardboard and used stickers to write HE IS RISEN.

They were so thrilled with the way they turned out and it looks so SPRING-Y on our front door!

Now......if Spring would just arrive :)