Being Creative with Fiona and Emma – Making Cards

I finally found a use for some of the scrapbooking materials I’ve been lugging from one state to another in my big, heavy scrapbook case. Making cards! Anna has actually made quite a few cards in the last several years, as I released my death grip on my beautiful and revered scrapbooking stuff and hesitantly let her cut into the papers and use the stickers and other supplies.

Now I have actually let myself cut into the papers and use them instead of hoarding them. I’m using them to bless others. And it feels good! I’m letting myself take some time to be creative. Always having a baby around was a major deterrent to getting the stuff out, but now my baby is 5, so it’s time! I still had to chase my baby away, because she stepped on one of my pads of scrapbook paper and wrinkled several sheets of it. I also found that there was some water damage to some of them, but they are mostly intact.

I am finally at a stage where I can actually like my finished product, too. What a victory! This is big for me. And I’m having fun.

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Emma making a card for Grandma and Grandpa’s anniversary

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Fiona using real scrapbooking supplies for the first time to make a card for Grandma and Grandpa.

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Fiona’s card

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Fiona’s envelope

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My card for my Mom and Dad’s Anniversary

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My card for Aunt Laura’s birthday. She will be 93 years old!!!

My Birthday! The Big 5-0! Yes, Really.

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Me and my baby. Abby just turned 5 years old on Aug. 6.

Kelsey sent me up to my room so she could make preparations for my birthday.

She had Fiona help the little girls make cards. They were so cute!

Garrett made one, too.

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This one is by Abby with a little (or a lot!) of help from Fiona.

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No doubt about it: children are a gift from the Lord;
the fruit of the womb is a divine reward.

Psalm 127:3

For my birthday dinner, Gary made hamburgers and french fries for the whole family. He is a really good cook. Then Kelsey made me a Hot Fudge Pudding Cake. It was delicious.

Then Garrett asked if I wanted to watch Fireproof. I hadn’t even thought about it, but that sounded like a great idea. So we ended the evening by watching Fireproof together. Gary even sat by me through most of it and watched it with us!

Kelsey made sure I had a good birthday this year. I usually don’t get much attention on my birthday, because I’m usually the party planner, but Kelsey has stepped into a new role, and she is making sure that every one of us gets our moment in the spotlight.

Thank you, Kelsey, for making my birthday so special!

Abby’s 5th Birthday

Abby is our “Strawberry Girl”. For breakfast, she had pink pancakes with strawberries on top. Later, Kelsey baked a strawberry cake and poked holes in it to pour in the 7-Up and strawberry Jello mixture. Then Katie finished it off with Cool Whip and perfectly placed strawberries. See the heart in the middle?

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We had two guests outside of our family. Abby invited our little neighbor girl to her party. So Fama and her mom came. Abby would have invited everybody in Walmart if I had let her. She did tell everyone she met that it was her birthday. She got lots of birthday wishes from many strangers – without even being on Facebook!

She got the Webkinz fish that she wanted and named it Blaze, and I helped her start an account and adopt him and get started playing on Webkinz. She had a nice birthday, and we are so thankful that God continues to provide, even as we survive the financial drought that has come upon us so unexpectedly. We are expecting the floodgates of heaven to open soon. I will report THAT as soon as it happens.

The Wheel on the School is About So Much More Than Storks

The Wheel on the School by Meindert DeJong
Pictures by Maurice Sendak

This story is about storks… and so much more.

It takes place in a Dutch village called Shora.

Shora has no storks. The six schoolchildren of Shora decide to find out why the storks always fly over Shora but never stay there and nest. They discover that storks need trees and wheels on the roofs of buildings to build nests on. Shora has no trees because of storms that come in and spray salt water everywhere and kill almost all of the vegetation. Most of the buildings have sharp roofs, so storks would not choose to build a nest on them. There are no wheels on top of the buildings (for obvious reasons!)

The teacher at their school gives them an assignment to find out how to attract storks to Shora. Through this simple assignment, many wonderful, exciting, amazing things happen to many people in Shora and the surrounding region.

Relationships are strengthened and new relationships are formed. Children learn the history of their town, their families and the people of their town. Families are helped. A community comes together to accomplish something great.

And the children learn that older people really do matter, really do have something to add to their lives. They know things about Shora that nobody else knows! They remember how things used to be, and they are not “miles of years away”, as the schoolchildren thought they were. Before the stork adventure.

The schoolchildren learn so much – outside of the school building! They learn things they could never have learned from books.

I read this story to my older kids when they were younger. It is recommended for children 8 and up.

Now I’m reading it to Garrett and Fiona. They are 9. It is one of our favorite stories. It is very well-written, which is no surprise because Meindert DeJong’s stories are all well-written, in my opinion.

There are so many different ways you could extend this story for a unit study.

Geography – You could use maps to find the flight path of the storks from Africa to Europe, specifically The Netherlands. You could study The Netherlands and the dikes and the land that is below sea level, and the ways people have developed to live in such a naturally inhospitable place. You could learn all about The Netherlands, also known as Holland.

Science – You could study all about storks. You could also study about storms. There’s a big one in the story.

History – Study the history of The Netherlands and the culture, especially of the fishing villages on the coast.

Research Project – You could have your kids do the same kind of thing the kids in the story did. Tell them to think of a question they want to know the answer to, and then have them research to find the answer. If it is something that they want to do, then help them find the materials they need to make it happen.

Creative Writing – Students could write a story about storks or some other bird that children helped to make nests in places where their habitat had been disturbed. Or this could be extended to any other kind of animal that needs help finding a suitable place to live.

There are many ways to extend the story if your children are interested in a particular element from the story.

These ideas could also help you to develop a lapbook based on the story.

If you are looking for a good read-aloud for your family, I would highly recommend The Wheel on the School.