Move Update

We leave in THREE WEEKS from today!  I can't believe it.  We are excited.  We have a lot to do before now and then, and a lot of friends and family that we would like to connect with.  In a way though, we're just ready to get the show on the road.

There aren't too many updates, but here's some things that have happened since my last update post.

• Michael is now officially done with the quarter!  What a relief.  Now he can focus on tying up some of the loose ends that we have left to do before the move.
• Our house is officially on the market.  While I know and believe that God has the perfect person lined up for our home, I also know He has the perfect time.  We will need to bring over $10,000 to closing to cover costs, taxes, etc.  We don't necessarily have that at the moment.  If it takes a few months for the house to sell, that will actually work in our favor so we can save money.
• We did find out that we CAN rent, and have it be a full year.  There is no date at which the renter has to be in, just a date when the renter has to be out.  We are reconsidering this option.
• The movers are coming on December 28th to pack and load things up.  If they don't finish in one day, they are also scheduled on the 29th.
• Michael will most likely try to find a full time job when we get to Texas and put schooling on hold.  There are two reasons for that.  1) Out of state tuition is about three times the cost of in state tuition, and you can't get in state until you've been a resident for a year.  2) We will need the money.  We are going to have to pay rent down there, which is much more than we pay currently.  PLUS, we are going to have to carry our condo (mortgage and association fees).  On top of that, we need to save money for closing costs, etc.  Plain and simple, we need him to work for the money.  Pray that he is able to find a good job and quickly.
• Our plan is to leave the morning of the 31st and drive to Michael's sister's house in Tennessee.  Her house is almost exactly half way to where our new home is.  We will spend the night there for New Year's Eve and leave the following morning.  We will drive to Texas on the first, and stay in a hotel that night.  We get our keys to our apartment on the 2nd.  The movers are suppose to be coming between the 2nd and the 4th.  The man who came out to our house said that after they pack things up they should be able to give us a better delivery date, but who knows.  We might be camped out in our apartment on an air mattress for a few days!

Dates:
December 13th--My  boss starts her job in TX, so my hours will go back to 50+ hours a week.
December 18th--Our birthday/going away party
December 20th--Michael turns 33!
December 21st--Bethany turns 31
December 22nd--Michael's sister comes to town for Christmas
December 23rd--My last day of work in Ohio!  I will be off from the 24th to January 3rd where I start working in Texas!
December 25th--Christmas!
December 28th--The movers come!
December 29th--The movers return to finish up.
December 31st--We leave town for our two day trip to TX!
January 1st--Huge raise for me kicks in! :)
January 2nd--We start our life in Texas

We are hoping to get in a lot of quality time with family and friends between now and then.  Unfortunately, it's a busy time for everyone.  If you are local and would to hang out before we go, we'd love to see you.  Just let us know!

Word Family Books and activity

Alright, so if you don't know, I am all about phonics.  I learned how to read using phonics, and I taught first graders how to read for six years using phonics.  I know that pendulum keeps swinging back and forth and a lot of schools are leaning more towards the whole language approach currently, but I am still a lover of all things phonics.  I don't think that will ever change.

So when it came time to teach Little Man how to read, I've just been taking a slow and systematic approach.  As I explained earlier, I have no set age where I want him to read.  I want him to learn how to read properly and to love it in the process.  I don't want to force anything on him.  Or have him "reading" at age 5, but by the time he gets to second grade he doesn't really have a good foundation and falls apart.  (That has happened to a number of students in the past, because they were just sight reading.)

Sooooooo.... I started out (long ago) teaching letter recognition.  From there we went to learning the letter sounds.  He has had that down for quite some time now, but has had no interest in putting those sounds together.  Until now! :)  I decided that I would start with having him try to read/sound out three letter short vowel words.  This is a common approach to learning to read.  While looking at the library for books to help me (that he could "read"), I came across a set that I think are awesome!

They apparently come in a box set (for anywhere from $59 to $65 online), but at the library you can check them out individually.  I think teaching word families is great in general, so using books that teach word families was exciting to me.  For those of you non-teachers who may not remember what a word family is--it's words that end in the same two or three letters.  Essentially they rhyme.  But it is taught that they are all part of a "family".  For example, if it's the "IN" family, they would all end in "IN".  Then you can teach that if you know how to spell/read "IN", then you can also spell/read "tin"... and if you know how to spell/read "tin", then you know how to spell/read "fin".  You get the point.

I picked up a few of the easier or more common word family books, broke out the magnetic letters and cookie sheet, and got to work teaching Little Man how to read. :)

First, I explained word families.  He's good at rhyming, and we often play word games like "if you took the b off the front and put a t there then what word would it be".  So he sort of had a basis.

Whatever the word family was that we were reading, I put on the magnetic board.  Then I put letters on top that could be switched out to make sense.  It's ok to make nonsensical words when first learning this concept, but I wanted it to make sense to him.

Then I would have him move a letter in front and read the word for me.

The first time didn't go so great, but after that he got it.  Now he speeds through them.

After we do the activity that matches the book we are about to read, I read and stop at all the words that are a part of the word family we just practiced.  Then Little Man "reads" them.  There are times he just guesses a word, because he looked at the picture and thinks that's what it's suppose to say.  For the most part, though, he's been doing great.  He's even sounded out some four letter words.

I highly recommend picking these up at your library if they are available.

Christmas gifts for Teachers

'Tis the season for buying gifts, right?  Amongst the list of people to buy for is usually your child's teacher.  Even if they aren't in school yet, they may have a teacher of sorts.  People buy for day care teachers, preschool teachers, and even Sunday School teachers.  Of course, you never have to buy for a teacher, but it sure is nice.  Especially the ones that are investing in your child's life for a good amount of time each week.

During the years I have been blogging and reading other people's blogs, I have come across my fair share of "teacher" ideas.  Let me tell you... most of them aren't that great of an idea.  So I thought I'd lend my expertise for anyone who needs to buy a teacher a present this Christmas.

DO
Do think of something meaningful.  Maybe you don't want to spend a lot of money on a teacher gift.  Or maybe you don't have money to spend right now.  Volunteer your time.  You can do this even if you work.  I had many working moms that helped me out.  Some would grade papers for me.  Some would cut things out for me.  It doesn't mean you have to be in the classroom.  If you aren't comfortable with that, write a letter or a card.  Really share your heart.  I have been blessed with some wonderful and heartfelt letters and cards over the years.  One of the best ones I was given was from a dad.  I have kept it to this day. 

DON'T
Don't assume that because someone is a teacher they love apple decor.  I don't want apple erasers, apple stress balls (do people actually use those to relieve stress?), apple towels, apple nick knacks or any other such apple nonsense.  Your child's teacher will most likely not want it either.  (Unless you notice she has an apple fetish).

DO
Do be thoughtful.  Really, it's better to get nothing from a student then to just get crap for the sake of sending in a gift.  (I am not talking about the poor inner city student who can't afford anything and brings in his teacher a gift of a used candle that came from the heart.  I'm talking about an average income family that just skimps.)  Give something you would like to receive.

DON'T
DO NOT give body gel and/or lotion.  Seriously.  First, because people have very particular opinions on what scents they like.  Second, because everyone else is giving the same thing.  Honestly, I actually like Bath and Body Works, and luckily they will exchange scents if you get something nasty.  However, I had more lotion and body sprays and shower gels than a person could ever use.  Think outside the box.


DO
Do find out what type of things your teacher likes.  Some of my favorite gifts were the spontaneous drop offs of my favorite coffee, or the offer to pick up lunch and bring by right before lunch time.  How much does that cost?  $4 for a good coffee?  $6 to go through Cane's chicken.  I'm not asking you to break the bank.

 

DON'T

Don't ever buy a teacher a teacher related clothing item.  Honestly, one year (when I was 25, mind you) I actually got a Christmas sweater with kids sledding down a hill and a school house and a snowman on it.  Are you kidding me?  First of all, there are very few clothing items out there that are teacher related that look cute.  Second of all, you run the risk of getting the wrong size.  Third, a 25 year old is not going to wear a Christmas sledding sweater.  Ever.

DO

Do think about giving gift cards.  It really is the most wanted gift from any teacher I've ever talked to.  I know sometimes it seems "impersonal", but it allows the receiver to choose.  Again, you don't have to spend a ton.  I've gotten $5 gift cards to places like McDonald's all the way up to $50 to Kohl's or a nice restaurant.  I've also received cash.  I know some aren't comfortable with giving that gift, but I can guarantee that when I opened the card to a $50 bill I was thrilled!

DON'T

Don't give coffee mugs.  Really.  Teacher's have enough coffee mugs.  How many mugs could one person use?

 

DO

Do think about pampering your teacher.  She works hard!  If you are willing to spend a nice amount (most likely for an elementary teacher that you just love...someone who is with your child all day/every day), you may consider a gift for a spa or salon.  What teacher doesn't love manicures or pedicures or maybe even a massage?

DON'T

Don't give tacky Christmas decorations.  You will not believe the weird and ugly Christmas gifts I've gotten.  Once I got this giant angel that moved and I think it had music.  You may think, "Oh, that sounds nice".  Again, I was 24 or 25 and it looked creepy.  Let a teacher buy her own Christmas decorations that go with her own style.

DO

Do think about personalizing stuff.  I say this with hesitation, because some people don't understand what type of personalized things would be cute and which are tacky.  Think about getting personalized paper, cards, or bags.  One thing you could do is get a bag from Thirty One Gifts.  I wouldn't have minded one of their thermal lunch boxes with my name or last initial.  You could fill it with goodies too--gum, candy, trail mix, water bottles or soda.  That would be a gift I could go for!

DON'T

Don't buy a teacher a football purse.  Yep, that's right.  I actually got a purse in the shape of a football.  It was an Ohio State football purse at that.  I had just moved here and couldn't have cared less about Ohio State football at that point.  Even if I loved it (or it was a Packer purse), I am not going to carry around a football purse.  Don't give specific gifts like this.  Think more general.  Unless you know that you know that the teacher would love that type of thing.

DO

Do get a little creative.  You could make a date night basket (not recommended if the teacher is single!:) with goodies and a board game.  Or you could get movie tickets or blockbuster gift card along with popcorn and soda.  You could have your child decorate a flower pot and fill it with all the items to plant flowers or a plant of some sort.

DON'T

Don't send in homemade food.  It's very iffy these days.  Teacher's wonder under what condition it was made.  Plus, people have allergies or specific tastes.  It's a nice thought, but not really practical anymore.  If you want to give food, you can think about giving Tastefully Simple foods, or put all the ingredients in a nice bowl to make a meal.  Give the recipe and leave it to the teacher to make it (think theme!).

DO

Do know your child's school.  Does the teacher have to supply all the things for her classroom?  I would have loved to get quality children's books or a gift card to the teacher's store.  I would never pass up stamp pads (scented preferred!:) or stickers.  Heck, I would even have loved if someone stocked my treasure box with cheap, but fun items for the kids.  Some teachers even have to supply the pencils, folders and crayons.  One thing that has been HOT on the blogs is decorating hand sanitizer bottles and giving them as a teacher's gift.  Again, I say know your school.  My kids were to bring in a bottle of hand sanitizer at the beginning of the school year.  We used it multiple times a day and I still had sanitizer bottles coming out the wazoo.  I would not have liked a decorated sanitizer bottle.  Other teachers (who may not get that supplied to them), may love it.

 

So there you go.  A great guide to teacher gifting.  I don't mean to come across ungrateful.  I would have been perfectly fine to not receive gifts.  There were many students over the years who didn't bring in gifts (for various reasons).  But if you are going to bless your child's teacher... follow my guidelines.  Please.  (Your child's teacher can send a thank you directly to me!)

Creamy Italian Chicken

My sister Angella is a recipe scavenger.  I'm not sure she does it now as much as she use to, but she has piles upon piles of recipes printed off the internet.  Back when I was single and living on my own (and really just learning to cook), she would send me recipes that either a)she tried and loved, b)thought I would like, or c)were meant for just two people--perfect for my situation.  I have acquired some of my most favorite recipes this way.  All that to say, I can't take credit for today's recipe.  It came from my sister years and years ago.  I'm sure she got it somewhere on the internet, but I can't credit that person either, because I don't know where she found it.  What I do know is that it is super yummy, very easy, and you will want to give it a try!

It's called Creamy Italian Chicken, and here's what you'll need:

4 boneless, skinless chicken breast halves 

(I just use one pound-sometimes breasts, sometimes tenders)

1 envelope of Italian salad dressing mix

1/2 cup water

1 package (8 oz) cream cheese

1 can condensed cream of chicken soup, undiluted

1 can (4 oz) mushroom stems and pieces, drained

pasta (penne)

This is made in the crockpot.  Doesn't that make it even better? :)

Place chicken in bottom of crockpot

I put it in frozen.  It was just slightly thawed.  If you are using really thick pieces of breast meat, you may want to thaw it out some before you start.  I've had problems with pieces like that not cooking all the way through in the thickest part.

Combine salad dressing mix and water; pour over  chicken

Cook on low for three hours

In a small mixing bowl, beat cream cheese and soup until blended.

Stir in mushrooms and pour over chicken

I know, it sort of looks gross, doesn't it?  Don't worry!  You are suppose to let it cook for another hour or until the chicken juices run clear.  Tenders tend to cook quicker, so my chicken was pretty much done at this point.  I let it sit on low for a few minutes and then just turned it to warm while I made my pasta.

After about twenty minutes it looked like this

Mmmmm.... yummy!!!

Serve over pasta and enjoy!

It really does takes like something you could get at Olive Garden.

Don't worry--if you don't like mushrooms, you could easily leave them out.  Or if someone in your family doesn't like them, but you do, they are big enough to pick out (which is what Michael did).

List o' fun--Metro Parks (and cute art project)

Our local parks and rec (Metro Parks) have programs year round.  I don't think a lot of people know or realize that.  They think that it's a park, so it's outside stuff, and it's only for the summer months.  Wrong!  Almost all of the parks have an inside area or room where they can hold their programs.

 The programs are geared toward preschoolers and always have a theme.  If they are talking about squirrels, they'll read a squirrel book, be able to touch a squirrel fir, do some sort of squirrel craft, and sometimes play a game.  You get the idea.  Each program usually lasts about 45 minutes to an hour.

 Some of the programs are puppet shows or have musicians come in an sing songs related to a theme (usually animals).  The best parks in our area or Highbanks and Sharonwoods.  You do have to register for these programs, but it's very easy to do online.

Plus, after the program is over, you can stay and play on the cool park equipment! :)

I'll admit, sometimes the crafts are a little hokey.  However, last month the theme was bears and the craft was pretty cool.  After talking about bears (and actually getting to feel a real bear-fir, paws, claws and all), we did this craft.  The green piece of paper was the forest.  Then we made the habitat.  First, Little Man ripped paper to cover the toilet paper roll to make it a log.  Then he did the same thing with the styrofoam cup to make it a cave.  (the hole at the top was already made, but we had to rip out the entrance to the cave.  Then he glued on a blue cup cake liner to make the water.  Next, he glued a little picture of a bear to the bottom of a popsicle stick.  Then he could move the bear around from the cave to the log to the lake.  He thought this was the greatest thing ever.  As a matter of fact, it's still sitting out in the living room for him to play with from time to time and we made it over a month ago.  This is something you could easily make at home.  I wanted to share--in case you are learning about bears or habitats. :)

Also, check out your local parks and rec and see if they have any fun programs going on!

(NOTE: The summer months do tend to have the best programs, even though they run year round.)

Melody Carlson books

I vaguely remember reading on a recommended list of authors that Melody Carlson was a good one.  So while meandering the aisle of the library a few weeks ago, I happen to stumble across some of her books (noted with the inspirational sticker).  I picked one up and thought it looked sort of up my alley. 

It was about a thirty something girl who felt stuck.  She had a broken heart and was mending it by watching house shows on HGTV  and eating pints of ice cream.  While I haven't been in that situation personally, I could totally relate to the character.  She seemed like me... or someone I'd be friends with.  She decides to flip a house to make some money and move out of her small apartment.  The book is about the journey it is to flip the house, deal with her dad and one of his construction worker friends that comes to the table with baggage.  This book was an easy read.  It was lighthearted and fun.  It wasn't terribly complicated writing or a plot.  I imagine if I ever wrote a book, it would turn out somewhat similar.  It's a sort of "write how you talk" kind of book, which is my style.

While looking for a picture of this book, I realized that I had listened to a Melody Carlson book on CD.  I didn't even realize I had read or listened to anything by her.  The book I listened to was

(There are two different covers to this book, so it may look a little different at your library.)

The main character is another 30 something girl who is trying to figure out life.  She has a good job and a boyfriend, but ubruptly loses both.  She moves back home to live with her mom and is faced with all sorts of challenges.  Her mom has turned into a health nut babe, while she is gaining weight rapidly.  She needs a job and a purpose.  It's pretty cute.  Here's a description I found online.  "This sassy and hilarious novel leads readers on a romp through the wilds of relationships, romance, career, and spirituality, revealing that, while God’s plans may look drastically different than our own, it’ll always be a perfect fit."

 While at the library, I also picked up another Melody Carlson book.

It's the first book in a series.  I actually read it in about a day and a half this weekend.  It's a totally different style than the other books.  Each chapter is from a different person's perspective.  It's about four girls that decide to live in a house together.  They are all out of college and trying to figure out what's next in life.  They each have their strengths, weaknesses and secrets that they bring to the table. Again, it was a fun easy read.  I was sick of watching TV and this was a great way to pass the time.  I'm looking forward to checking out the next book in the series.  This book sort of built up and introduced the characters, so I imagine the next book will have more of an in depth story to it.  I need some of these easy books to read sometimes.  It helps clear the mind. :)

Turkey in December?

Can you believe it's already December?  I, for one, can NOT.  Holy cow.  Where did the time go?  It seems like summer just ended.  I have a feeling this month is going to fly for us.

Well, I must admit, today's post is a little late.  We did actually make this before Thanksgiving.  Unfortunately, I did not get it on here before I left town.  So here you go... a week late.

Last year we made a Thankful tree.  I knew I wanted to incorporate being thankful again in some kind of craft.  I decided we'd just make a turkey.  I sort of just flew by the seat of my pants.  This is how it turned out.

Some notes about our thankful turkey:

• The feather that is whited out is Little Man's name.  Yep.  He is apparently thankful for himself.  I even double checked!
• I told him to draw eyes and he decided to also draw a smiley face.  Hence the black mark under the beak.
• I was going to cut out feet from construction paper, but he insisted on drawing them ON the body.  It's his turkey--whatever.
• The markers are to represent art projects.  At first he said crayons for art projects, and I said, "You hate crayons!"  He said, "Oh yeah, I meant markers. " :)
• I came in to work the next morning, and he said, "I added your name to my chicken!"  :)  I think mommy made him.  I asked if she did and he said yes.  I said, "So you aren't really thankful for me, huh?"  He said, "YES I AM".  (What mommy doesn't know, is he actually left her name off the list too--I added it!)
• I have no idea why he said popcorn?!  I think it's because he said "My Papa" and he likes to say the words together sometimes and say they both start with "p".  I think he was just going with the flow! Ha!  He hardly even eats popcorn.  Mac and Cheese or oatmeal would have made sense to me.