Teaching Toddlers/Preschoolers about Money

I've been wanting to starting teaching the girls about money for some time now. Our church, Rock Springs Church, just finished a big stewardship campaign. The children participated as well with little piggy banks. These banks got the girls really interested in money so we are taking advantage of that to start teaching them about money. I found these great banks from Crown Ministries. Phillip and I took a Crown Ministries class about three years ago and really loved it so I looked there first for some teaching resources.

We just showed them the banks last night and talked about the three different sections. Each of the girls put a quarter in each section of their bank. I was SO surprised when this morning Mara was showing her bank to Papa and she said, "See Papa, the red one is to give to Jesus. The green one is to save to buy a big toy, and the yellow one is what I get to buy candy or little toys with." She said all of that without any prompting from me.

Emily doesn't really understand the whole concept yet. She just likes putting the money in the holes. It won't be long though before she'll be telling Papa about them too.

These little banks are a little expensive ($15 each) but as you can see, I think they'll be a great teaching tool.

Tired shoes

I forgot to add to the post yesterday something Mara said yesterday at the zoo that still makes me smile to think about. It was pretty late and Mara had been walking a lot. She asked Daddy to carry her because her "shoes were tired." Don't you hate it when your shoes get tired? I love it!

Fun in Memphis

We're in Memphis this weekend visiting with Phillip's parents. The girls are loving being at DeeDee and Grand's house, and I even got a nap today!

We started at the zoo this morning. I had forgotten how nice the Memphis zoo was. We got to see the new butterfly exhibit...very cool! Mara was a little freaked out since she loves bugs so much (she HATES anything that even resembles a bug), but she let me stay in there for a little bit. The butterflies were so pretty and it's funny how it was just peaceful watching them, and you could even get close enough to see their little tongues come out when they were on the flowers.


And then we spent a lot of time with the sea lions. There was one young sea lion named Callie who was so playful. She would chase the kids back and forth along the window and even bite at a little toy fish. Emmy was so cute cause every time a sea lion would swim by she's say "EEEEWWWW" with her little lips all pooched out. I'm not sure why she was saying that but it was really cute.


And here's a couple more random pictures from the zoo...












And that's not all the fun we had today. Mara and Emily got to help DeeDee water the flowers (while I was napping!). Emily of course liked playing and splashing in the water (and eventually mud that the water made) more than watering the flowers. Pretty messy but too much fun!










Ok, I'm done fighting with blogspot to get this post to look right. I'm going to bed...Good Night!

Last Day of School

Mara's last day of Mother's Day Out was yesterday. They had a little program where they all sang some songs and the 'graduates' wore adorable little caps. It was fun and Mara loved that Mommy, Sissy, and Becca came to watch her. She was really fidgety and looked shy when they first came out but then she sang her little heart out and did all of the motions. She looks like she has to potty in the picture but it's just her fidgeting. I was going to put some video up of it but it's REALLY shaky since I was trying to get a good view from the back, it was windy, and Emily was pulling on me (I guess the truth is that I'm just really bad at taking video but I'll blame it on those other reasons!). So you have to just look at the picture and imagine about forty preschoolers singing Jesus Loves Me! I can't believe that she just finished her first year of preschool (I'll be saying, "I can't believe she's graduating high school" before I know it!). Now we'll have more time for fun things like lunch dates with Daddy and Nana, playing at the splash pad, and even going to the zoo.

Water Fun

We played outside in the water this week at playgroup...made a mess but had lots of fun! Daredevil Emily of course dove right in. Mara watched for a little bit and surprised me by diving in as well. They rode their bikes through the 'car wash' first...

... but then ended up just standing and running through it (and drinking it as well!).

Red All Gone

Emily fell this morning on the sidewalk and skinned her knees up. Ahhh, that's one of the many joys of summer--skinned knees! Anyway, I brought her inside to wash them up and get some band aides. She was screaming the whole time, "OOOOWWWW, KNEES RED, OOOOOOWWWW, BOO BOOS HURT, OOOOOWWWWW!"

I finally got her calmed down showing her the Dora band aides. I gave her one to play with while I cleaned her up. She was so into the band aide that she didn't notice what I was doing to her knees (a band aide in the hand is a great distraction when you're trying to put one somewhere else!). Then I said, "All done...Boo boo's all better!" She looked at her knees and started screaming again, "RED ALL GONE, WHERE'S BOO BOOS, RED ALL GONE!"

Aaaaaahhhhhh, sometimes there's no pleasing her! She's still asking where her boo boos are four hours later. If I take the band aides off to show her the boo boos, then she'll scream about her band aides being gone. I better just leave well enough alone.

Six Years and Counting

From here....
....to here....
....in just six short years!

Well, I'm two weeks late but I just wanted to say 'Happy Anniversary' to my husband (Happy Anniversary Honey!). Life is sure a lot more complicated six years later, but it's also more fun! I wouldn't change a thing, and just remember I still do. I love you!

Ok, the mushy stuff is over. Everyone besides my husband can stop hurling now!

The Circus is at the Beach!

We are have a blast at the beach....soaking up the sun, eating sand, and loving being together! Mara is very cautious and stays beside Nana (who is even more cautious around the water) while at the pool or beach. Emily is a dare devil walking right out into the ocean so we have to keep a close eye on her. And Becca loves the taste of sand! Here's some pictures....

Pictures....Finally!

This first one's for you Sharon since you've asked a million times for pictures! Dancin' the night away!

Ok, now some more random ones. Here's Mara and Becca hanging out.Here's me being Mother of the Year. Becca Sue was so tired she just fell asleep in her saucer. Poor girl!
And finally, Mara and Emily loving on each other.

Red and Yellow make Orange

Several of you have asked, "What is the Orange Conference?" So I thought I'd take a minute to tell you just a little about this new philosophy of family ministry. Just imagine a parent's influence on children as red and the church's influence on children as yellow. We should all be orange.

The church has an average of 40 hours per year with the children; whereas, parents have about 4000 hours per year. The problem is that many parents feel that it is the church's responsibility to teach their children spiritual things. But God says it's the parents' responsibility. Check out Deut. 6:4-9. So....a church will be most effective if they use their time helping to equip parents and partnering with them to teach children.

Well, that's it in a nutshell. I could probably keep typing a couple more pages, but I need to finish packing for Florida. Did you get that? FLORIDA! We're heading to the beach tomorrow night. I'm so ready....but then again I'm so not ready! I need to get physically ready as I am mentally ready!

Home Again, Home Again, Jiggity Jig!

I'm home and it feel SO good! I didn't realize how much I missed the girls until I was kissing them goodnight last night while they were already zonked out in bed. And even crazier, I think they've all grown in the last three days! We've just been laying around and cuddling today. I better get my booty in gear though cause I've got lots to do to get ready to go to the beach tomorrow.

The Orange Conference was fabulous, and my brain is so full of info and ideas I might have to dump them here over the next couple of days just to get them out of my head!

Oh, and Phillip did SO good taking care of the girls and the house while I was gone! I think he was glad to get back to work but the girls did have fun.

Pray for Phillip!

I'm heading to the Orange Conference in Atlanta today which means Phillip is the ring master of the circus until Thursday. He's a little nervous but he's going to do fabulous. I do need to write a little disclaimer though.... I'm not sure what the girls will be wearing (Mara's shoes might be too small and Emily's too big!) or what their hair will look like, but I do know that they will be having a blast with Daddy! Ya'll pray that they'll all have lots of fun, and if you see them in the next couple of days....offer to hold Becca or something!

Read the Pictures

Emily was reading a book yesterday but it was upside-down. Mara went over to her, turned it over then said, "There Sissy, now you can read the pictures." I love that girl!

I don't think she's getting it.

Emily has been potty training for a little over a week now. She woke up last Tuesday and decided that she didn't want to wear a diaper and told me about it very loudly and with lots of drama. She's been doing fabulous with only a couple of accidents and has even told me everyday when she has to poopy. I was thinking, "Wow I must be really good at potty training. Just call me the potty training guru! Need your child potty trained? Just drop him/her off at my house for two weeks and pick them up potty trained!" Ooooo, a business venture. I could call it The Three-Girl Circus Potty School. "For only $100 a day your child can be a pottying genius too!"

A couple of days ago she had a really big accident (the get your feet wet kind of accidents). She came running to me with a huge grin on her face saying, "I did it! I pottied! I did it!" I didn't make a big deal out of it and just talked to her while she was sitting on the potty that big girls potty on the big potty and not in their panties.

So we've had a couple more successful days but this morning she comes running to me again saying, "I did it!"....well you can just re-read the previous paragraph to know what happened again.

Don't you just love it when reality hits you in the face! I'm still VERY proud of her and she's doing great, but I'm definitely no potty training guru. I'm in it for the long haul though; we are NOT going back to diapers. Ya'll just keep reminding me that in the weeks to come!

Am I a Blogger?

So I've been reading several blogs for a couple of months now. Someone asked me then when I was going to start my own blog. I laughed and said, "Yeah, with all of my free time!" Well, here I am writing my first post for my own blog. How often will I post? Who knows! I'm hoping to share lots of current pictures of the girls (for those who have been bugging me about new pictures....Sharon!) and stories of our crazy 'circus' life. Hope to be back soon!