Month: December 2012

Craft time with mints

If you are on Facebook I am sure you are aware of Pinterest.  I resisted for a long time.  I do not spend that much time on Facebook and figured the last thing I needed was one more thing in my life to take up time.  While recovering from my mastectomy I gave in and conformed.

Randomly I will jump in and find a chuckle at some things, roll my eyes at others and “pin” things that I find very interesting even though in my heart I know I will never, ever do anything with them.  Many of the things I look at are either food  items that I think would be very tasty or craft item.  Madison is a very creative child whose mind is always going.  I try to find things that we could do together.

With the holidays upon us,  the other day I saw something that I thought was perfect.  The DIY peppermint candy serving tray.  The instructions seemed easy enough.  After the holiday show at Madison’s school on Tuesday I took her home with me.  On the way we stopped for the main, and only ingredient, starbright mints.  At home we preheated the oven, laid out the waxed paper on a cookie sheet and crafted our design.  About 8 minutes in the oven and our serving dishes were ready!

Work of Art…no. Fun time with my baby, most defiantly!

 

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To religion or not, that is the question

Tomorrow I have the “Family Celebration” at the Kindergarten.  It is a holiday celebration where the kids will sing.  What I like about it is the fact that unlike many areas of our world right now they are not being told that religion is not alright.  Instead they are learning about different holiday traditions.  I am not exactly sure what the entire line up is for the morning since Madi has tried to keep some secrets but I know We Wish you a Merry Christmas, The Dradle song and a poem about Kwanza are on the list.

I read something earlier which made perfect sense to me.  It was in response to an article that I had read about prisons.  The person wrote that it was interesting that our prisons ensure bibles and other holy books are available to convicts yet we can not mention religion in our schools and maybe just maybe if we open them a little earlier  we would not have such a prison overcrowding issue.  Maybe and maybe not but interesting to think about at least.

At this time of year where every time I turn on the TV to see someone else offended over what someone has done or said, when we argue over Christmas trees or Holiday trees, I am not at all offended that my Catholic child will be singing the dradle song tomorrow or the fact that she thinks it is way cool that they get gifts for several days in a row.  Not sure when it happened or if I am just getting cranky in my older age but it seems that our once strong and proud country has really become thin-skinned.

 

 

Shadows

Megan brought her report card home the other day and we could not be more proud.  Straight A’s, principals list.  This was the first real report card with A,B,C grades instead of developing etc.  Last night she took her report card to Karate class.  The Sensei’s like to make the connection for the kids of disciple on the mind, body soul.  They made a big production for the kids who had good reports and awarded them “awesome grade” strips for their belts.  For the kids who made honor roll they went a step further and gave honor roll medals.21716_306981012739989_1840641645_n

Now Megan and Madison are in the same Karate class and only a few months work separate their belt ranks.  Frank had taken them to karate last night and he thought everything was fine.  By the time they all walked into the house Megan came running through the door to tell me about her medal, she was so excited.  As she proudly stood showing it off, I looked over her shoulder and watched Madison melt into bawling tears. Although her young 6-year-old self was not able to express what was really bothering her, I knew.

I grew up the baby of the family, with the smart older sister who was outgoing and the older brother who everyone loved.  Then there was me, the introvert who struggled early on in school.  Many times I felt like Madison but did not show it because no one really cared.  But seeing my baby just collapse under the weight of her sisters success was almost too much for me.  I grabbed her and pulled her onto my lap and just hugged her until she calmed down.When she was finally calm enough to talk, I told her about my family and how she was just getting started and would make amazing things happen herself.  Our school district does not even do a report card for the first marking period in Kindergarten.  Then until 3rd grade we do the beginning, developing, secure and mastered.  We can discuss my thoughts on this at a later time :-).

It was not long before she remembered how much she loved her sister and they were off playing.  Today Frank worked from home in the morning and did not have appointments until late.  Just a few minutes before her bus was to drop Madi off, Frank had the great idea for the three of us to go out to lunch, something we had never done before.  She came storming off the bus like normal and I told her the plan…my baby beamed!

Sometimes the little things like grilled cheese at the diner can make anyone feel special!