Memorial Day Weekend w/ the Glupker's (Baby O comes to town)

Our little Wolverine had a fun day at Grandma and Grandpa Glupker's house. Uncle MJ bought Owen a swing, and before it got hung outside on a tree, Uncle Drew and Dad decided to swing him in the living room.
I don't think the setting mattered all that much to baby O....



Wish this little guy lived closer!! I'm glad he came to visit us here in Saginaw; it was so fun to see, in person, how much he has grown since Christmas. Yep, he's still the cutest, smartest, and best-behaved baby around. He was getting a little sleepy while I was holding him in the above picture; wish you could see the close-up picture because his eyes are such a beautiful blue color, and he has the cutest little rosy lips. Love that little guy!

Up above: Daddy is trying to get Owen to laugh by singing to him while Uncle Drew is holding him, Uncle MJ (Michael Joseph!) and Aunt Amanda are looking on.
Glad you came to Saginaw Ben, Kelly, and Owen....miss you and love you..... see you in June!

M&M's: MOPS & Munchkins 2008 (#2)

A few more pics for all of you Moms.....

This is a close up of the Cat-o-The-Day. Last year, I bought a coloring/sticker book full of all different animals belonging in the cat family. There was also information about each various cat throughout the book. Usually, when one of the kids decided to look through the book and match the sticker with its 'shadow' on the page, the kids would ask questions about the animals. On the last day of MOPS, Fletcher and Amber were quite enthralled with the various cats, and I can't tell you how many different cats they wanted me to read about to them. Above is a picture of the Sand Cat ..... and Fletcher's version of the Sand Cat (which, inadvertently, he named "Fletcher"). I encouraged them to draw a picture of their favorite cat, which went over .....well, let's just say that 'it went over....'

Here is Amber acting out her favorite cat, the Cheetah.
Adam S. and his cookie creation at Christmas.

Having fun together!!

M&M's : MOPS & Munchkins 2007-08 (#1)

On Tuesday, May 13th, we had our last day of MOPS at Immanuel for the 2007-08 year. Our group was a little smaller than the norm (usually have 7-8 kiddos), but it was still an enjoyable "last day" with my 4 & 5 yr. olds. Since some of you MOPS moms check out myblog from time to time, I thought I'd give you a little peek at some things that happen in our class while you're off having fun with your Mom-groupies. And, a big 'thank you' for allowing Grandma Viv and I the chance to both teach and enjoy some time with your children.... we count it a privilege. The first 1/2 hour is 'playtime'. There is always a designated clock-watcher who keeps an eye on the Big Hand of the clock to tell Miss Sarah when it is between the 9 and the 10: when it reaches that point, then everybody helps put the toys away. Kelly Sams had all kinds of new additions to the toy selection this year and the kids loved playing with their cool toys. Grandma Viv is great at getting the kids in on imaginary play, and so she held a tea party just about every Tuesday that we met, and even the boys got in on the pretending. Above is Adam Veihl, who is making tea for myself and a couple of other kids sitting at the table. There was always crayons and coloring books or construction paper sitting out for the kids to create their own pictures or to color one from a book. Some of the kids are definitely artistically inclined and it was fun to see what their brains came up with when they decided to create their own pictures.
SNACK TIME!!!! The kids loved the finger Jell-O this day. Between slapping it on the table, looking through it so that everything turned orange, crushing it between the palms of their hands, and actually deciding to eat it..... I'd say it was a raving success.
While sharing is not always the choice thing to do, I loved to see the kids decide to scoot over and invite a friend to sit on "their" carpet square. The kids had a stack of carpet squares, in various colors, to choose from when we all sat down for song and story time. Above are Fletcher and Elizabeth. I believe that this photo was taken just after Fletcher peeled the Bandaid off of his knee to show Elizabeth his war wound, and then follow that up with an action-packed story of how it all occurred. As you can probably tell, she's more than impressed...
Magnet magic!! Just a few of the creations that your kids put together during Play time. I was pretty proud of these guys; they wanted to build a bridge that they saw pictured in a brochure, and by George... they did it! Pretty neat.
We Three Kings: Story time usually involved some sort of way for the kids to get up and be part of the story, or to act it out. They also loved placing the felt pictures on the board. During craft time that day, the kids decorated their own crowns; the basis for that craft was founded upon the life of King David and his kindness towards Jonathan's son, Mephibosheth. I had the kids repeat the name "Mephibosheth" after me, and they had fun trying to sound it all out. I thought it was neat how a little 'kindness' was displayed between Fletcher and Elizabeth....very sweet.

Christmas 2007

We missed you on our last day , Grandma Viv!!! Thanks for being a great helper (and thanks to Jill Peck for being a wonderful sub that day).

Blast from the Past

Have you ever been going about your day and been blasted with an object from the past? Set you back to another time and another place? Well, I have seen a few things in the past couple of months that catapulted me backwards in time and thought I'd share a few of these "things", and hopefully spark some comment.
First: A lady with big, poofy brown hair extending from the back of her head in a nice vertical line. How's this happen?? It's a BANANA CLIP, a nice bright white one. Someone had been saving that in a drawer for the past 2 decades.
Second: A woman walking down the hall with glowing legs. How's this happen?? It's bright neon green LEG WARMERS.... so bright that I think even Helen Keller may have been able to see the glow.
Third: An elderly person with long, grey hair and a hippy-ish bandana tied around the forehead, singing bluegrass/country tunes. It's WILLIE NELSON. I think the only way I know any of his songs is that every infomercial that sold records had him as one of the highlighted artists (You know, those old commercials that scrolled down through a list of song titles, while background music played). There was a patient on my floor recently who had long, scraggly grey hair and wore a multi-striped bandana around the forehead. We called her "Mrs. Willie Nelson", and if she had a beard and sang the tunes, I swear you would've thought she was Willie incarnate.
Anybody else had some recent blasts from the past?

No Small Thing

Sometimes music just "gets" you.... gets you right in the head or the heart, or it stirs you to think through certain aspects of your life in a new way, so as to evaluate and reflect upon how your life is lived and how it should be lived. Sometimes, it is just a reminder of Truth and how it is applied to Life. The following song just "got" me recently, and thought it applied to many places, spaces, and relationships in life.

Loving a person just the way they are, it's no small thing
It takes some time to see things through.
Sometimes things change, sometimes we're waiting
We need grace either way.
Hold on to me and I'll hold on to you.
Let's find out the beauty of seeing things through.

There's a lot of pain in reaching out and trying
It's a vulnerable place to be.
Love and pride can't occupy the same places, baby
Only one makes you free.
Oh, hold on to me
And I'll hold on to you.
Let's find out the beauty of seeing things through.

If we go looking for offense, we're gonna find it.
If we go looking for real love, we're gonna find it.
Oh, hold on to me and I'll hold on to you.
Let's find out the beauty of seeing things through.

Loving a person just the way they are that's no small thing.
That's the whole thing.
Loving me just the way I am it's no small thing.
It takes some time, it takes some time, it takes some time....

Another favorite from artist Sara Groves. You can catch a snippet of the song at her website, www.saragroves.com