Weekly catch-up time!

My blog has become a time capsule of my life. I love the feeling I have after I post and know that those memories are somewhere that I can look back on them. It kind of clears my head out! Weird, I know, but I'm also the person who sent her husband out with the kids to the splash park for a couple of hours today so I could clean the house! They had a fantastic time and even splashed while it rained for a bit and I now have a clean house!

Earlier this week, I had lunch at Cracker Barrel with my friends April, Jen, and Jen's daugher, Lyla. We had a great time! 

Wednesday evening while I took B Boy to baseball practice, Tim and C Girl worked on our lawn mower. We bought it last year and were disappointed when it didn't start this year. They replaced the gas and cleaned the carburetor and it was good to go!

I visited the local school that I read with kiddos at on Thursday morning for the final time this school year. It's amazing to see how far they have grown with their reading!

On Thursday evening, we attended our school district's annual Technology Showcase. Every year, teachers can apply for a 21st century technology grant that the district awards to about 25 teachers each year. The teacher is awarded a classroom set of iPads for grades K-2 and a classroom set of laptops for 3-12. B Boy was in a 21C classroom during his kindergarten year. It was really neat checking out what projects that teachers and students are doing with awesome technology. There were two 3-D printers there and it was the first time I had seen one up close. If you do not know much about 3-D printing, you should check it out. They were actually printing objects during the showcase.

 3-D Printer

Another 3-D printer

 an object printed by a 3-D printer

The kids testing out a Lego car that is controlled by code that students input.

We were out of school Friday! We had a relaxing morning and then met up with some friends at a strawberry patch to pick strawberries!

We visited last year as well.

We picked 4 quarts and are very much enjoying eating them!

 We played Dominoes with the kids on Friday night. It's so fun now that they can play lots of games. We are past the Candyland/Chutes and ladders phase! This is one milestone that I am not sad about!

 After our lunch at Cracker Barrel where my friend April ordered pancakes, crispy pancakes were all I could think about. I made them on Friday and Saturday mornings! So good!

We saw Batman at the farmer's market on Saturday morning! B Boy loved this!

We also visited some local antique/junk stores. That is one of my favorite pastimes!

 We had a little Mexican fiesta Saturday night- I made enchiladas and homemade guacamole. Yum!

 We played Phase 10 after dinner outside on the patio!

We went to Sunday morning service for the first time in May this morning. That sounds so bad, but we have had things going on and just haven't made it on Sunday mornings. 

They showed a video during service about remembering what Memorial Day is about. Firstly, I cannot watch anything remotely patriotic without getting emotional. 

Secondly, I feel like it is my personal job to help everyone remember what Memorial Day means. It bothers me when people go on and on thanking people currently serving (nothing is wrong with this), but don't really mention those who have died in service. Those soldiers are why Memorial Day or Remembrance Day was enacted.

This is a great little article about Memorial Day.

So many men and women have sacrificed their lives for our great nation. 

Tomorrow, just for a minute, stop and remember those who have died in the line of service.

Our Memorial Day plans changed today. We are now going to go to my parents house.

We had planned to spend the day here and just hang out, but my brother Kevin is leaving next weekend to train for his new military job and he won't be back until November. 

He is a geo-spacial imagery analyst. The 188th fighter wing, where he works, is transitioning for A-10's to drones. 

So, we grilled burgers tonight and they were good :-) I just love the start of summer!

a showcase, an anniversary, and a play

The end of the school year is coming to a close.

It does make me sad in the fact that my babies are getting older.

BUT.

Hot dog, I'm looking forward to summer!!!

To have days without stuff on the calendar makes me ridiculously happy.

So, this is another long post.  #sorry #notsorry

I've probably mentioned it before, but our district started a 21st century classroom program last year.  It is a grant that teachers could apply for and if they were chosen, they would receive a classroom set of technology.

Last year, C's teacher applied and was a recipient!

We already had planned for B Boy to be in her class, so it was neat that he would get to be a  part of this great new thing!

Grades K-2 receive iPads and all grades above receive laptops. 

The recipients for this year's grant are actually being awarded this morning!

With last year's and this year's recipients, our district will have 47 21st century classrooms next year!

This past Tuesday evening, our district had a Technology Showcase to let these classes show off what they have used the technology for this year.

B Boy participated in his class's station.

Using his iPad that he used all year

Presenting his weather book that he wrote and illustrated online to our assistant principal

The class project was based on learning about weather.  They blogged, had a meteorologist visit, wrote books online and lots more!

Yesterday was our 10 year anniversary, so we actually got to spend the day together kid free!

We finally got the opportunity to visit the Norman Rockwell exhibit that is at Crystal Bridges Museum until May 27th.

I didn't know what to expect, but I loved every minute of it!

 It took us almost two hours to look through the entire exhibit.  I could have easily stayed longer.

First of all, his paintings are wonderful.  

Secondly, to me, it is almost insane to be able to stand right in front of the actual paintings that he painted.

Thirdly, I was shocked at how many covers of the Saturday Evening Post that he had painted for.  They had every single issue that he had done in the exhibit.  It was 362 of them or something.

Fourth, his broad range of styles is very impressive. 

The paintings that he is most known for are the iconic Norman Rockwell style from the covers of the Saturday Evening Post.

But, he also did portraits of presidents, portraits of actors/actresses for movies, true historical paintings, and paintings for propaganda poster or advertisements.

His paintings are so detailed and some are so life like.

I love how a lot of the paintings depict a small moment during regular life.

He used models for his paintings, did lots of research, and did sketches and drawings before he even started a painting!

So, there is your history lesson for the day!

This was one of my favorites-

A Christmas Homecoming -Norman Rockwell, 1948

Last night, B Boy had his end of the year kindergarten Bugz play. 

C Girl had the same one last year.

and now I've watched the videos from last year and am boo hooing!

Sweet little army ant

Such a cute play yet again!

Can I please bottle him up and keep him at this age?!!!

Reflections

I haven't been in the space as much as I normally am, and yes, that does make me sad.  I know that I wrote recently about shifting my focus, but things like that do not always happen overnight.  

I still have commitments right now and I am one of those people who follows through with what they say they will do.  I find that to be a great trait until I'm at this point where I was wishing I could just quit!

This week coming back from Spring break has been super busy.  I've not been home much and my house is a mess.  The new has worn off and it is time to clean this pretty new house.  Boo. 

I told y'all how I had not looked at Facebook for a few days last week.  I had actually de-activated my account and really did not want to re-activate it.  I ended up re-activating it and I do like seeing updates from a few people there, but for the most part I just don't care anymore.  I have noticed since re-activating it, I only go on there maybe twice a day.  I cannot tell you how refreshing that is to me.  

I sometimes feel like all the stuff I see and ingest from online "clogs" up my head.  I don't know if you have any idea what I mean or not, but that is the only way I know how to explain it.

I love blogging and Twitter and Instagram, but sometimes, it is just too much.  Too many opinions and too much negativity.  I really do try to weed the negativity out, but it's hard to get it all.

A friend of mine posted a link to this post on Twitter yesterday.  I was torn from wanting to give her a standing ovation to running in the corner and crying from being guilty.  Seriously, ALL of us have posted a photo to Facebook or Instagram and secretly hoped that we get "likes" on it.  When you really stop and think about it, how silly does that seem?   

Or maybe you have never done that, I don't know.  I know I have.

Today is Good Friday.  I wrote this post about Good Friday last year.  When I really sit and reflect on what Jesus did for us, I almost cannot take it.  Every year, I make myself dig deep and really think about what He did.  It's really hard for me to go to a place to experience such emotions.  

What really gets to me the most is that He did not just die for me and for you.  He also died for murderers and rapists, He died for Adolf Hitler and Jeffery Dahmer, and He died for all the other evil people that have walked this earth.  He died for them.  He died for me.  He loves each and everyone of us so much.  We are all sinners.  Even though we see certain people as more sinful than others, the truth is that we are ALL sinners.  

 ^"But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us." Romans 5:8

Laptop Love

Merry early Christmas to me.  I have been behind the times.  I have been working on a desktop that we bought during the first year of our marriage about 7 years ago.  It still works fine (a little slow sometimes) but it was time to get a laptop.  I am already in love with it!  Now I don't have to be stuck back in the back room to work on the computer! 

Techie Mommy: A is for apple, I is for iPhone. Best iPhone Apps for Preschoolers

I am always looking for new iphone apps for my kids for our iPhone and iPod touch. One reason is to keep my kids busy when there is something important I need to get done.  Another reason is because it is the way the world is headed.   I believe that it is the new wave of the future.  There is going to be an app for everything!  Schools are already using these devices in the classroom.  Gone are the days of using CD games on the computer for the kiddos.  Now, it is all about the iPods, DS's and other such "smart" devices.  The devices that our children will use during their lives will all navigate to the touch screen.  Well, back to the subject at hand.  These are currently the best iphone apps that I have found for kids and preschoolers.

I have broken them down into two categories: Learning Apps and Distracting Apps

Learning Apps

1. Sprout Player (free)

2. Dress Chicka (free)
3. ABC Animals ($1.99)
4. Free Spanish Dictionary (free)
5. Shape Builder lite (free)
6. iwritewords lite (free)
7. Toddler Time (free)
8. Fairies lite (free)
9. istorytime ($1.99/book) this is just one book, just search in itunes for "istorytime"
10. USA Presidents (free)
11. A Wacky Safari (free)
12. 123 Animals Counting lite (free)
13. Animal Memory Match ($.99)
14. Preschool Adventure ($.99)
15. isign Alphabet ($.99)
16. Kidcalc 7-in-1 ($.99)
17. Toddler Teasers Shapes (free) The full package is $1.99
18. Peekaboo Barn lite (free)
19. Word Magic ($.99)
20. Wheels on the Bus ($.99)
21. Tales2Go (free) WOW!
22. FirstWords: Sampler (free)

Distracting Apps
1. Reflecting Pool ($.99)
2. Knots (free)
3. Scribble lite (free)
4. Bubbles ($.99)
5. Bubble Wrap or Bubble Snap (free)
6. Balloonimals lite (free)
7. BabyApps: Dial-a-phone (free)
8. Lego Photo (free)
9. Build a Snowman ($.99)
10. Airport mania (free)
11. iQuarium (free)
12. Tic Tac Toe (free)
13. Checkers (free)
14. Tone Pad (free)
15. Virtuoso Piano Free 2 (free)
16. Feed Me! (free)

Tech-knowledgy!

We have a lot of talk of technology around our house. Tim is an Instructional Technology coordinator for a school district and just a plain lover of technology. We are not up on all new technology by far, but we love to learn new things. Recently, Tim gave me an iPod Touch as a gift. This thing is amazing! We installed a wireless router in the house, so I have internet on the Touch and can do all the things I like to do( ahem, facebook...) without having to sit in front of the desktop. I have all the music I love on it. I have games for the kiddos and for myself. I can check email, news, weather, and of course my twitter! Sunday, I came into the world of podcasting. I had never even been there! lol! There are podcasts for virtually every subject! I have some Sesame Street vodcasts for the kiddos and a few podcasts of a speaker that I love to hear. These are all free too! And it is cool to be able to listen to all of it in the vehicle! There are some other cool things I will have to blog about soon. I also will put up a list of my favorite websites for kiddos.
Have a blessed day!