Picnic with Family

We are on the last few weeks of seeing Bryan and his family before they move to another state. We got together with them on Saturday. It was family, family and more family. The kids had fun playing together & the adults had fun chatting.

Morgan's Rainstick

We talked about rain in Morgan's Friday School class. The children all made rain sticks, and listened to 3 books read aloud:

"The Very Bad Day" by Mary Packard

"Priscilla and the Splish-Splash Surprise" by Nathaniel Hobbie

"Rain Play" by Cynthia Cotton

Jaden's Woodworking Class~ Bird House

I love the things that Jaden has made in her woodworking class at the homeschool coop! She LOVES the class, too! I will have to post the other things she has made later as I don't have pictures of them yet. This bird feeder she made, is her favorite so far. She made it a week ago and then painted it last Friday. She proudly hung it on the tree in the front yard after Friday School. She said she was able to use a wrench and a hammer. I think she did a terrific job!!

Painting Fingernails

The tongue helps you stay within the lines when you are painting fingernails! Bet you didn't know that!

I watched this scene play out. Jaden, Morgan and Grandma Leslie were having a long conversation about the postal workers. I felt like I was hanging out in a nail salon! Where all of the ladies are making small talk.
Check out Morgan's tongue and her complete concentration!

She Cracks Me Up When She Cracks Herself Up!

Morgan has a laugh that always gets me laughing. Watch her eyes- that really cracks me up!! The thing she says at the end of the video is priceless- Kids just say what ever they want to!

A Package from East Africa

For those of you who are not familiar with my non-profit activities. I have two organizations that I started. One of these organizations is Miracles in Caring. Here is some information about the group:

Miracles In Caring is about giving parents the tools they need to provide for their families. In Uganda, for example, a years long civil war has left many children father-less and without homes. These families have moved to the capital city Kampala to escape the violence in Northern Uganda. When the families finally made it to Kampala, they found they had no skills to compete for the jobs there. These women and their families were farmers, and self-sufficient in Northern Uganda. Now, they are without land, and live in whatever home they can put together with the scraps they find.

These hard-working women have found one job that will take them in. This job is breaking rocks from big pieces to smaller piece. They sit down in the rock quarry and hammer at the rocks all day long. For 12 hours of work, they make about 50 cents! To do the math for you, that is 4 cents an hour!!

Because the pay is so small, most mothers HAVE to include their children in the work. Instead of going to school, the children break rocks right alongside their mothers to put food on the table. These are not bad mothers who want to get rich off of their children. These are mothers who have two choices: put their children to work alongside them, or watch their children starve to death!!

Their children should be in school, there is no doubt about that. An education is the key to breaking out of poverty. The problem is that these children are just trying to survive. When you don't even know if you will have enough to eat one meal the next day, it is a matter of survival. What good is an education if you will be dead from lack of food and dehydration tomorrow?

Our organization is going to change the lives of these women and their families. We have set them up with a business that isn't so back-breaking, and gives them more profit. This will allow their children to attend school, and allow the mothers to have the resources they need to take care of their families.

They have already lived through a civil war- Now it is time to restore their peace of mind!

I have been working on this project for a few months now. I was finally able to raise enough funds to get a shipment of goods sent from Uganda to Texas. The goods arrived on Monday, and you can tell be the girls' faces, they LOVE the items!! We received dolls, purses, tote bags, aprons, necklaces, and bracelets. All of it is for sale, so if there is something you would like to purchase, let me know. 100% of the profits go to Uganda to the talented women who made the items.

Once we have sold half of the items, I will get some more sent this way. We are, also, trying to raise money to purchase a tailoring machine so that the mothers can make dashikis and other cloth items to sell.

March 1, 2010~ Jaden Moves on to 1st Grade

Jaden has been bored with her kindergarten work lately, and she flies through it. I decided to order a placement test to see if she was ready for 1st grade. The test was easy to her. She passed. It, also, showed me what I would need to work with her more on. I ordered her 1st grade materials, and got her a curriculum that I thought would be good to improve her handwriting (A Reason for Handwriting). The other subjects I ordered through Rod and Staff (surprisingly!) I didn't think I would want to use Rod & Staff in the higher grades, though Morgan is using it for Preschool. However, I have been very impressed with their preschool workbooks and Morgan just loves them. I will let you know how First Grade goes. I only got the first quarter of 1st grade book work because I want to see if it will work for Jaden.

The things that Jaden needs work on are her handwriting, placement (fifth, sixth, etc), and her higher numbers. She is in the 1st grade at the home school co-op, and loves her classes there- it isn't too involved, but she is able to keep up with everyone.

Fun in the sand & sun

Texas weather, what can I say? It was such a beautiful day!!

Playathon to raise money for Haiti's orphans EVENT

After much preparation, the Playathon was played. All of the kids had fun playing with their friends and the cool games. The most fun by far for most of the children was the birthday themed play-doh. The other games that they enjoyed was Operation, Battleship, Guess Who?, Twister, Silly 6Pins, Lite Bright, Mr. Potato Head, and more!

Jaden and Morgan raised $47.50 in donations for SOS Children's Villages in Haiti!

Jaden's Drawing Class

a snowman (above) & cherries, ice cream cone, baseball, leaf, mug, and comb (below)

practicing designs (above) & a bear (below)

the date (above) & a truck (below)

a bird (above) & her signature (below)

These two pictures are free form

One of the classes that Jaden is taking in Friday School is drawing. She doesn't enjoy it so much because she has to sit still (very hard for her). She is, however, making beautiful pieces of art. It is giving her more ideas of things she can draw. She learned how to write the date, and draw things with shadows. She has only taken 3 classes so far, but I think it has helped her a lot!

5 Little Monkeys Song @ Friday School

This is the hyper version of "5 Little Monkeys". Morgan loves it! Can you tell?

Did you get your "short stack" yesterday?

IHOP had a charity event on Tuesday. I had forgotten all about it because I had so many other things on my mind (one of which was a job interview). Aunt Janet was meeting up with us at a place near the airport, so that I could do my interview that morning. There was, also, talk of snow headed our way. We met up, I did my interview, and I was headed home (several miles to go) when I spoke with my brother Jeff. He reminded me of the pancake event, and the girls and I were starved at that point. We stopped at an IHOP on our way home. We all got 3 pancakes with delicious berry syrup on them, all FREE! Then, as we headed out, there was a clown set up for the fundraising part. Jaden put in the dollars I gave her, and Jaden & Morgan both got an animal balloon bracelet. They had a blast, and it hardly cost me a thing (plus the money went to a good cause)!

Meet Up with Out-of-Towners

I forgot to post these pictures from January. The lady (Neely) that used to watch Jaden & Morgan while LeCount & I worked full-time had moved gotten married and moved to another state 2 years ago. She came into town for a few days, and we met up with her and her 2 new kids. All of us adults were surprised to see how much each other's kids had grown. The kids went right on playing like they hadn't missed a beat or been away from each other.