An Assortment of Things

A number of things have kept me from the blogging world over the last few days. In fact, I have a number of things I have been meaning to blog about, so I'll just post them here in one place to update you on things going on in our household lately.

Sunday night Rebekah earned her last patch for her first year book in Cubbies. I am so proud of the way she has worked to memorize her verses and retained them. All the kids have done a really great job! They have one more week of Cubbies before they dismiss for the summer.

Monday morning Rebekah came to me with a stuffy nose. It sounded like she had come down with a possible cold, but it didn't seem to bother her too much, until around 2:00 when she began to complain that her left ear hurt. I had just gotten Joshua to bed for a nap, although he had not gone to sleep yet. I didn't want to cut his nap altogether, so I took the later appointment available so that Darrin would not have to take off much work and Joshua could stay in bed. We had to drive downtown since our regular pediatrician was booked. My hunch was correct: Rebekah had an ear infection, but it was caught early, so it should clear up quickly. She began the antibiotic that night and I put her on some cough syrup before bed.

The next morning she seemed like she was dragging, and I wondered if it might be best to keep her home from preschool. She really wanted to go, so we prepared for it, but a few minutes before it was time to leave Rebekah told me she wanted to stay home. I knew she had to be feeling pretty badly to make such a request. An hour later she vomited her medicine. After talking to the pharmacist I gave her another dosage of medicine along with some food. I figured she probably was coughing so much from the congestion that it caused her to vomit, and the pharmacist said that taking the medicine on an empty stomach could have made her feel sick as well. About two hours later she threw up again. Poor thing had some weird virus to give her a cold and a stomach bug.

Rebekah played a little bit off and on throughout the day, but she spent a lot of time just laying on the couch and watching TV. By this morning she was feeling quite a bit better, although her nose was still runny and she dealt with some cough. She did have a slight fever last night, but today it never flaired up, and I never treated it with Tylenol or Motrin because it was so low-grade, so it broke on its own. This evening I needed to run some errands, buying gifts for Rebekah's preschool teacher and to also get some things to make a gift for her. Rebekah really wanted to go, and I didn't want to leave her out of helping me since the gifts would be from her. Since she was feeling so much better by this afternoon Darrin and I decided she could help me. It took us a good while to pick up everything that I decided to take Rebekah out for dinner and skip choir practice since I was already going to be pretty late. We had a really nice time shopping and eating together, just the two of us. We went to Steak 'N' Shake, and Rebekah loved the kid things they gave her, especially the paper Mustang you fold together. It was just a really great time for us to hang together and for me to give her some undivided attention.

I never posted this, but we finally finished our unit for The Parable of the Lily. We learned some vocabulary words, reviewed the Easter story, discussed different feelings throughout the book, and read a couple of other books that went beautifully with the theme of seed planting: Zinnia's Garden and The Parable of the Sunflower.

Here are some pictures of Rebekah's lapbook.







Rebekah drew the basic story of Easter. The picture on the left is of Jesus on the cross, and the picture on the right is of the angel in front of the empty tomb with the stone rolled away.


Flower cards for playing Memory


We have now started a new unit for Chicka Chicka Boom Boom. I have not done much planning myself, but I've found a ton of ideas that I want to use. We will probably just play it by ear and spread it out over the summer. The great thing about this unit is that I can incorporate some things to include Joshua as well. He loves the book also, and this is a great way to introduce him to the letters. Not that he hasn't been introduced to them, but he can begin to learn them. Joshua knows the letter 'O' very well and has for quite some time. The other letter names he knows, but he misidentifies them, so he can learn while Rebekah does some other things with the letters.

For our first lesson I spread out the kids' beach towels on the floor and put a bucket of lowercase letters buried in sand in the middle of the towels. Rebekah dug for all the letters. Joshua lost interest pretty quickly, but he did want to play with the sand. Rebekah put all the letters in alphabetical order, counted them, and then we all sang the ABC song. Rebekah is familiar with Chicka Chicka Boom Boom, so she was able to answer some pre-questions about what the story would be about, but we talked a little bit about coconut palm trees, where they come from, and we found some locations on the globe where you would find such trees. I also pulled up some images of coconut palm trees on the internet, and I reminded her that palm branches were used to wave to Jesus when He came riding on the donkey. While reading the story I asked Rebekah some questions about what was happening and why, and then we sang the ABC song at the end. We finished our lesson with a craft recreating the first page in the book. Joshua wasn't as much into putting the glued pieces on the paper, and after a while he finally kept throwing his page on the floor, but I got him to help me finish his artwork. Rebekah got to be a little more creative and color her own images. She was quite creative with her colors.


I had planned to do some more activities today, but I let Rebekah make her teacher Ms. Amy a card instead since tomorrow is the last day of preschool. I also didn't have time to do the activities before Joshua's nap, and I want to include him as much as I can on this unit. I have some exciting ideas planned!

Cubbies Awards Night

The kids have worked hard over the last several months learning their memory verses for AWANA Cubbies, and the parents have worked even harder teaching the verses to their children. Sunday night the children were awarded with a certificate to their parents for their dedication as Cubbies parents, and for those children who completed the book they received a Cubbie bear for their vest. They actually have one more patch to earn next week, and we had the celebration a little early since the older clubs will have their awards nights next week. The Puggles club (for 2-year-olds who are now 3) also joined us for their awards as well, so we had a really large crowd with the entire families attending.



Rebekah sat with her friend Natalee.


Joshua loved playing with the older girls. FLIRT! Of course, they loved playing with him, too.


I got to present Rebekah her certificate and Cubbie bear.




Our class minus two children.


Here are some more pics from a couple other club nights. The second slideshow was from "beach night".

It has been a blessing to work with these preschoolers, reinforcing what they learned at home, and helping out with the various activities in AWANA Cubbies this year. It is hard to believe that this year has gone by as quickly as it has. The children have really developed and improved throughout the year, and they are learning God's Word and what it means. I'm thankful to have had the opportunity to be a part of it.

First Cubbies Award

Sunday night was the first awards night for AWANA Cubbies. After learning their first five verses and the Cubbies motto they earned their first patch for their vest. It is amazing to me how these kids memorize Scripture and retain it. Each week not only do they recite the verse for the week, but they also recite the verses for the past three weeks as a review. During group time when all four of the Cubbies classes gather they have a puppet show and Bible story time that applies the Scripture they learned that week.

Here are a few pictures from Sunday nights' club.

Rebekah's class. There are actually 12 children in the older 3's class, but four children were absent.


Notice that sometimes Rebekah does her own motions during the music time.



Wendy does a great job with the kids!


Yay! Rebekah is following the motions!


Puppet Show


Rebekah was recognized for her birthday.


"Happy Birthday, Cubbie Bear Buddies!"


Rebekah is awarded her first patch.


Congratulations on your first patch, Rebekah! We are so proud of you!

AWANA Starts Back!

Tonight was Rebekah's first day starting Cubbies in AWANA. She could not wait! Most of the other children in her class were also in Puggles last year, and a couple of them didn't want to promote because it was so fun last year, but Rebekah has been so excited for the past few weeks. She kept telling me she wanted to wear her Cubbies life jacket (i.e. vest) around the house, but I had to remind her that we needed to save it for Sunday nights. So tonight she finally got to dress for club.

This week I was recruited to help out as a leader in Cubbies, and I am getting to work in Rebekah's class. I got a few pictures from our first night. It is jam packed with activities, but it is a lot of fun, too! Tonight was just an introduction to Cubbies, so I know it's just going to get better.

All dressed and ready to go!


Rebekah poses for the first day in her class


After making a craft and having a snack they join with the younger 3's for a game.


Rebekah's turn!


After game time all the 3's join the 4's for music time and a puppet show.


We ended the evening back in our original classroom where the kids could color, do puzzles, or play until the parents came to pick them up. Since I am a leader I stay to clean up, so it makes for a later night, but I'm looking forward to taking a more active role in the Children's Ministry and to see first-hand what Rebekah is doing and learning in AWANA.