Apple Art

We have been learning about John Chapman also known as Johnny Appleseed, the myths and the facts.  To add some fun today we had art class.  Painting arms, using fingers to make apples on our trees and painted with apples. The kids tried 5 different types of apples and used them to paint with.  Learning which they liked the best to eat as well as learning which were the best to make apple star prints. 

In a few weeks we will make a trip out to a local apple orchard.  Some where they have never been to, me either for that matter.  It should be lots of fun!

 As you can tell the kids had a ball making their paintings!  I enjoyed it too!

Kris' Aircraft

Well he's at it again :) He really does amaze me with his creations. Now he is starting to show Eli how to do it. He has a hard time letting Eli do it alone or create what he wants. Kris' creative mind is always working. This was another creation he made yesterday.

Creations by Kristofer

As you know from previous posts our Kristofer is on the autism spectrum. He is very high functioning and because of God's hand on him and therapy he is doing fantastic. Well one of his favorite things to do is build. We had an IEP meeting this week and I learned that he has been building at school and his special ed teacher of whom I love, has been giving him extra time to unwind with her by building something before heading back to his normal classroom. Of which I am very pleased with! It helps him prepare mentally to contend with the large group setting.
He is my recycling king. Today on Thanksgiving he was constantly asking me when we would have our Charlie Brown Thanksgiving Dinner which equals popcorn, pretzel sticks, jelly beans and toast...minus the toast. I explained to him that we would be having dinner with the Shorts and that seemed to make him happy.
I went looking for him and found him building ... no surprise there :) What did surprise me is that he had found the hot glue gun and was using it...correctly!His newest creation is below. He calls it his stick man robot and hover craft. I think he did an excellent job creating it. To us it may be junk but when he sees odd shapes and items he sees a masterpiece.

Isn't that the same thing God does with us! He picks us up and out of the trash...often times we are throw aways by society's standards or ours, washes us off and there begins the start of a new creation of which He is faithful to complete. Today I am thankful for Kristofer and his building/creating abilities. Love that boy!

My Little Recycling Inventor

Kristofer loves robots. He thinks, eats and sleeps robots. If he has tape or glue what ever little objects he can find will be turned into a robot. Lately he is saving my recyclables and is using them to create his one of a kind robots. The one above is made from a juice bottle, bubble bath bottle, water bottle, soda can, spout off the water bottle and a brownie box. When he is not building robots he is making his own robot costumes (see below). His creativity and excitement to build and create is awesome! He amazes us all the time with his latest creations.

Happenings

So this past week has flown by. My goodness I think this summer has flown by. Next week we take the boys to registar for school. I can't believe it's already that time again. We have been slowly gathering school supplies. So many expenses this year associated with school. Not only have the twins had to have physicals but also eye exams. Which I am thankful for the eye exams. Eli needs glasses. We got the call yesterday and he was so excited he didn't want to wait to go get them. We had to wait till Sean returned from the dentist. Poor guy, had to have a tooth removed. A couple of weeks ago he went to have it pulled and found out it was abcessed. So he had to wait two weeks and take antibiotics. I would have thought he would have been in a lot more pain but he says he wasn't thankfully. So last week he headed to the dentist in hopes to come home without a tooth, instead he returned with half a tooth removed. So yesterday he went to see an oral surgeon and thankfully it was all removed rather quickly. For someone that brushes his teeth 3 times a day I still can not understand how he has had to have two teeth removed this summer. Go figure!

Anyway, so we waited till Sean got home and went to town to pick up Eli's glasses. He is so stinkin' cute with them. It's been interesting getting use to seeing him with them. He is very careful with them, makes sure to put them in their case when he isn't wearing them. He primarily needs them for reading but we have been having him wear them all the time so that his eyes get adjusted and he gets use to wearing them.

So many changes taking place around here. Many that deal with our church and my ministry in it. Starting in September we will start a new Kids program..."All Stars for Jesus" I am looking forward to the program. It is a merit based kids club which the kids will earn badges and other things for. I am beliving it is the first step towards eventually expanding out and starting Mpact and Royal Rangers. For those of you that do not know what Mpact and RR they are girls/boys clubs through the Assmblies of God. Awesome biblical based clubs. I love Mpact and have been a teacher for years. I miss working primarily with the girls. I am praying we will start this again in our church as we grow. Also we are starting a youth group. When your kids start entering the teen years and junior high you need a good strong youth group to continue to minister to them and give them the positive support so many teens lack these days.

So starting in Sept. I will be solely responsible for Children's Church (Jungle Explorers as I call it), All Stars and the youth group. My life is about to become even fuller. Thankfully the twins will start kindergarden and that will give me some free time to concentrate on things for church a bit more. I do plan to be more of a presence in the school this year though. I know for sure that the Kindergarden teacher requests for parents to help in the class room on a regular basis. I wasn't able to do this with Kristofer because that year started the saga with my knees that lead to surgery.

Next week we will be heading for a 4 day getaway. We are so blessed to live here in IL. The IL District Office offers their pastors a 2 night/3 day stay R & R getaway for free. So we are taking advantage of it this year. And taking an extra day to relax and spend time as a family before school starts. We will be staying here at the Lake Williamson Retreat Center. We also plan to visit the St Louis Zoo and Grants Farm. The kids are extremely excited abou tthis getaway as are we. We haven't gone away as a family since last July! Which is WAY TO LONG for a break away.

Here are a few other pictures of the kids doing some crafts this summer:

What's happening!

ALOT! SO MUCH! TOO MUCH! Man am I tired! Ok so if you are not a friend on facebook.com, seek me out and you can be! But honestly I have been very busy! About a month ago I stated praying about what to do for the new year with children's church. This not only affects my kids but others and I want it to grow and I want it to be fun and exciting. Well one night in the middle of the night when I was supposed to be sleeping I ended up waking up thinking about of all things, the rain forest. So I thought about it some more and prayed some more and then I was cleaning out our desk and found a Children's Ministry Magazine and what did I turn to...the Rain forest VBS page. I know strange but I took it as a confirmation and have ran with it.

So I am posting the pictures of the process of transformation. So far I have spent 64 hours combined of research, drawing, painting and making other items that will be hung up around the room. I have a friend that has helped tear up the puppet stage and is taking it on as her project to put it together. This past week she painted it and soon we will be completing it and will fasten bamboo on to it as well as do more painting. I need to make this very clear - I am not a professional, this is the first time ever doing anything like this and will be honest, I did not do the animals, birds or frogs by hand. I made transparencies of art work from Jan Brett's book "Umbrella" but I did do all the painting, creating colors.