Superior, Superior!!

I love science. I really do. However, when it comes time to work on science projects, I want to run the other way. I never had to complete a science project in school, so it is a new world to me. Thankfully, Hannah's projects have been nonexperimental. Since Hannah attends a Christian school, you have to apply your project biblically as well. It can get interesting.

This year Hannah was blessed to receive a blue ribbon at the school science fair and she was able to go to regionals. She was blessed to receive a superior rating (blue ribbon) at regionals as well. Her topic, by the way, was the platypus. Of course my question for her teacher was about which grade they start doing experimental projects. She is hoping next year they will actually try to teach them the process of doing an experimental project by working on it all year. This would be a huge blessing for the next years to come. It would make my life and the life of our family a lot easier. I think Kevin would be thankful, too. I told him once the projects became experimental, it was his ballgame. When you are a chemistry major, you tend to have a little more experience with experiments. We will see!

Valentine's Day Dinner

Yes, I will eventually catch up on the posts I have been wanting to write for the month of February. I know Valentine's was over a week ago. But I had to share about our dinner on Valentine's. Kevin was actually off that day, so I didn't have to go back to town to pick up the kids at school. He ran the shuttle that day. This gave me the opportunity to get dinner ready at a decent hour.

I chose spaghetti with meatballs for our Valentine's dinner. Hannah loves pasta, so I knew she would be excited. Alli eats just about anything. Aaron eats like a bird most days. I bought French bread, so I knew that would get him interested for a few minutes. So I was excited about cooking the meal for my family. Then all of a sudden it hit me. Wouldn't it be fun to break out the fine china for this wonderful meal? You have to understand that Kevin and I have been married almost 12 years and if I decided to do this it would be history in the making for our family. You see, my china has been in storage since we got married. We have moved several times and I have never had anything to put them in. When we moved in our current home a little over a year ago, we took the china out of the boxes and put it in the cabinets in the kitchen. We have a set of cabinets that have glass where you can see what is in the cabinet. I guess I got accustomed to not using them, so I had not thought about getting them out until Valentine's Day this year. Well, the kids were excited about eating on fine china, especially Hannah and Alli. Kevin laughed when he saw what we were about to eat on and questioned whether I was sure I wanted to let the kids use them. It turned out to be a nice meal. I hope I will think to use the fine china more often. Maybe next time we can add some candlelight!

Lessons on the Art of Shaving

For those of you who know my Aaron and have talked with him on occassion you know the issues we have had with his speech (mainly that he talks when he wants to). Preschool has really helped him improve in this area and he works with a speech teacher once a week. So these days I am amazed at some of the things he says and it is easy to actually have a conversation with him. Well one night a couple weeks ago I didn't expect to have a conversation with him about shaving.

You tend to think that shaving is something he will learn from his father. As you know there are three girls in our household and with my husband working different shifts, Aaron tends to be with his mom and sisters a lot. Well, for Christmas, Kevin's grandmother gave Aaron a Go Diego Go! shaving kit. Aaron loves Diego. The kit came with a mirror you can suction to the side of the tub, a pretend razor, and shaving cream. We had opened the kit to look at it, but we had not used it during playtime in the tub. Aaron was ready to get in the tub one evening and says, "I want to shave my legs". I immediately thought, "He spends way too much time with girls! I am going to have to talk with Kevin about this." Anyway, I quickly explained to Aaron that mommies/girls shave their legs. Daddies/boys shave their "whiskers" on their face. I got down on my knees to where he was in the tub, lathered up the shaving cream, and spread it on his face. Aaron likes to be the one in control of things. He wants to be very independent, so I had to grab his hand along with the razor and show him how to shave his face. He finally got the hang of it. When he was done, I asked him if his face was smooth now. He ran his fingers across his face and quickly told me with a cute proud-of-himself grin that his face felt smooth.

I don't think I will forget this particular moment with my son. The girls and I laughed hard about it. Since telling Kevin about this incident, he has summoned Aaron to the bathroom to watch him shave several times. I am now reading the book, "Bringing Up Boys" by James Dobson!

Queen for the Day

At the school where the kids attend, the first graders participate in Bible character day. Each child is assigned a particular character from the Bible and they research the character to find out what that character did in the Bible. During chapel time they share with the other classes about their character. They also must dress like their character.

Alli was chosen to be Esther. I was excited about this because Esther is one of my favorite stories in the Bible. I could read it over and over again. I can't wait for Beth Moore's new study about Esther.

As my kids will quickly tell you, I am not a seamstress. I am not crafty at all. So I went online searching for a costume for Alli. Thankfully, I found one. All we had to do was write down what Alli would say about Esther during chapel. We probably had about three note cards total. Alli planned to read it off the cards that morning, but on the way to school that morning she decided she would memorize it. This made momma a little nervous. It amazes me the ability she has to memorize things so quickly. When it came time for her to get up in front of everyone, you could tell she was a little nervous, but she finally spit every word out just like it was on the cards. I know the Lord is responsible for the courage my kids have when they are in front of a crowd and I hope they will always remember Who gives the courage just as He gave Esther courage.