Madness I say

I have a new quote that I really like.  Last night I realized just how well it fits our family.  "There is not great genius without some touch of madness." Seneca--not sure who that is (should google that) but s/he is smart.    I realized this is why my home looks the ways it does.  This is why my kids excel at creativity.  Because I let them go mad.  Does it drive me crazy with the mess of it?  YES  The loudness give me headaches? YES.  Does this quote show that it is worth it in the end?  YES YES YES

Here are this month's examples:

Phoebe opened a hospital.  She treated dolls, stuffed animals, and her siblings.  Here you see Angel with a splint of q-tips and ribbon.

 Poor Kanani had to be on a heart monitor.  Phoebe did not get a picture of the "screen" with lines she made.

 Poor Molly was on an IV.  Notice the cup, ribbon, and it is all taped to her nose.  :)

 After an assortment of animals were bandaged and splinted she turned to her siblings.  I was impressed with her compassion and skill level with helping these unfortunate souls.  :)

 Tanner got a gold mine for Christmas.  He was mining his fool's gold and Annika used a the toothbrush to clean it.  Unfortunately I thought they had the old toothbrush, but no it was the new version.

 We put together this cool clock kit that Annika got for her birthday.  The acid of the lemon actually produces enough power in reaction to the copper and the other metal to run that little clock.

 And then we got crazy with the soap.  It has to be Ivory because it is air whipped.

 When you heat it for two minutes in the microwave the air expands and this is what happens.

Pretty cool.  We wet it down and reformed it into little snowball looking soap to reuse.

 Jeff even is a part of the madness.  He was gung ho that he could recreate the potstickers we ate at Coopershawk.  And by golly, he did it!  They were delicious!  And not nearly as hard as I thought.  We had them for the Superbowl and enjoyed them with friends.

Just a Few More

I had a wonderful birthday!  It was filled with so many stories of little things people did all over.  And each and every one warmed my heart like you have no idea.  It was like getting news notifications, but each one was GOOD!  It was amazing.  And I love that so many of you got your kids in on the act too.  I know Tanner keeps asking when he can do more RAOKs.  :)
So THANK YOU!  You helped make it one of my best ever days.

I:  started posting my artwork from journal with inspirational quotes on facebook and will do for awhile
We have planned:  bought a bag of non-perishable healthy food and a hat and gloves--we will give to the next homeless person we see at the bridge, are going to give out bottles of water at Challenge Fitness, are going to tape popcorn packages to the Redbox--might wait for Friday
And you:
Melissa:  fed a stranger's expired parking meter in Detroit
Julie and kids:  took a pot of flowers to the library in Fairview Park (I loved that place!)
Julie and Ayden:  took Nana coffee and donated some clothing
Jamie and kids:  donated coats, gloves and hats to a charity that distributes them to needy families in Ames
Kerri and kids:  bought Dunkin Donuts gift cards--some for the police officers who help at our school and one left on a random car at the hospital for someone to get a treat on either a hard or joyful day, and pumped someone's gas
Brenda:  sent out greeting cards (my art--pretty fun) to people just for fun
Cliff, Naomi,and boys:  picked up trash at a rest stop, paid for carts at Aldi, left a special tip for a hotel housekeeper, bought a balloon for a kid, bought custard for someone at Culvers, taped a dollar bill to a box of Teddy Grahams at Target, paid another person's overdue fine at the library
Craig:  picked up some samples a customer left behind at a store and returned a lost glove to the front desk and is traveling to Iowa to take care of a family issue that he could choose to ignore

And Jeff says his weren't random, but calculated, LOL:  he did ALL the laundry and dishes while I was at my parents so I came home to a CLEAN house!!!  This is HUGE people!  And rarely done because of his schedule, and there was a lot, so I was ecstatic with that surprise.  And he bought me a big bouquet of colorful daisies to brighten the kitchen.  He is such a good husband.  I couldn't have asked for better.

And you are all wonderful friends and family.  I could not ask for better.  Thank you for blessing me.  Thank you for helping me remember how GOOD service feels.  For helping me see the joy in other's faces and heart.
Love you all!  Hugs!

A Few More

For my continuing project, which the kids and I continue to have fun doing.
On Wednesday:
1.  Let a man cut in front of us at McDonald's to refill his coffee.
2.  Opened a door for someone.
3.  Took my kids to play at McDonald's just for fun.
4.  The kids tried passing out candy again at Menards, but it was not very successful.

That was it for that day I got cranky, and then cranky continued into Thursday, so none that day either.

For Friday we decided to brighten the day of anyone who is usually nice to us on errands and told them how much we appreciate their smiles and good service, so we:
1.  Took two bottles of lotion to our post office for their super dried out hands from all the paper.  They are super cranky, but I am hoping this will butter them up.  And I realized the public they deal with and took pity on them.--It worked!  They both SMILED and one even said, "Sweet!"  Amazing.
2.  Took flowers to the receptionist at our dentist.
3.  Took them to the drive thru people at our bank--it was actually one woman's birthday.
4.  Some for the ladies at the library.
5.  One for the woman at the drycleaners.
6.  And one for the teachers at our old school (used to be errand/regular spot).  They are great teachers in a horrible system.  They deserve pats on the back.

The reactions surprised us every time.  Almost all of them had tears.  Huge smiles.  It was so worth it.

I have had two family responses:
1.  She is going to help make blankets for babies.
2.  They made a donation to World Vision for young Thai girls.

Sooo cool.  Thank you!  I understand all the tears--my eyes fill each time I receive from each of the RAOK above.  My heart is overflowing with joy.

Starting Another Year

No pictures this post.  But a few updates.  I am not good at holiday pictures, so really, there aren't any.  But we had a really nice holiday.  Got to see a lot of great family and friends and really enjoy time with them.

Actually this post, and the next few, will chronicle my birthday project.  I am not a birthday/holiday person.  I throw a decent party for my kids because it is expected and I love them like crazy.  Enough to make myself crazy for the one day.  But this year I found on Pinterest a woman who did random acts of kindness instead of getting gifts or celebrating for herself.  That resonated with me.  I also just finished two books One Thousand Gifts by Ann Voskamp and Winter Garden  by Kristin Hannah.  The first helped remind me (always can use this reminder no matter what) that  grace = thanksgiving = joy and that service to Christ is at the heart of all three.  The second helped remind me that we never know another person's whole story, what drives their emotions, but that love and people are the most important gifts on earth we have.  This project seemed a perfect way to practice what I have been reading and learning, share some of God's love and blessings with others, and a way to let my kids celebrate my birthday in a great way.

I immediately had some ideas.  My birthday will fall on MLK day this year, so I decided to stretch the project out and we started today (some of the places I want to go might be closed that day).The kids helped me.  They loved it. Annika said it made her feel warm and toasty.  Tanner was right in on it, he loved helping.  Phoebe is helping me come up with ideas and she loves to watch the responses.  So can I count this as homeschooling on the log???  :)  We aren't doing huge things, just little moments that will brighten another person's day.

I decided to chronicle the project because of the original blog post I read.  It gave me ideas, but more importantly it was itself a random act of kindness to me.  It warmed my heart.  I felt love reading about her RAOK.  And I want to pay it forward, I want to share that love, and I want to remember this feeling.

Today we:
1.  Bought a bag of peppermints and butterscotches and then handed them out to all of the people who work and were shopping at Walmart.
2.  Bought a gift card and then found a young mother in the diaper aisle and gave it to her and congratulated her on her new baby.  She had both of us shedding happy tears.
3.  At the dollar store we bought a truck balloon for a little boy.  I don't know who smiled more, the boy, his mom, or my family.
4.  At Aldi we returned something that was bad when we opened it.  With their double guarantee we got a new item and then asked the cashier to use the money for the next person who came in line.

I will be back with some of the other things we are doing this week.  If you would like to join, please do.  Especially instead of sending me birthday wishes send me a text, email or comment here what YOU did to pay it forward and spread Christ's blessings.
Love to all of you who read this and share our life,
Nicole

We even wore the dog out.

Christmas time, December, the most wonderful time of the year:  for kids.  I have a tendency to feel very rushed and chaotic.  To feel overwhelmed.  But my days and evenings at home with the kids, or quiet evenings with just one or a few friends always help remind me of the joy and gratitude of this season.  I wish I was better at making phone calls, or just talking on the phone in general with friends scattered to the four winds.  Time is hard.  And I have a hard time literally hearing a lot of times (good eyes, bad ears)--so if I do call and don't make any sense I am sorry.  But know that I think of all of you quite often throughout the year.

 So this holiday season doesn't just wear me out...we wore the dog out so much that she laid down on the steps yesterday afternoon and just waited for us to go upstairs to bed.  Too funny.  She was nodding off and I was afraid she would roll right off the step.

 It has been caramels week.  This is definitely one of the kids' favorite things to do with Jeff.  I tried for five minutes to capture these two talking and finally just made them pose looking at each other.  So sweet, the things they said to each other and to me for the pose.  Kinda killed the moment.  Oh well.

 We needed to catch up on science experiments so yesterday while Tanner went to a playdate we got started on the solids, liquids, and gases kit.  It turned into a full day crayon melting, beading, Christmas party extravaganza.  The kitchen was quite a mess!  So much for mopping the day before (at least the crayon couldn't stick to dog tracks anymore).  But I kind of like these big craft days.  We get a lot done and then the mess can be recontained and doesn't stretch on for days on end.

 Saw this on a blog (of course).  Bake rocks and then color on them with crayon and it melts as you go.  Pretty cool stuff, the kids thought it was very interesting so we had to go back out and get more rocks.

 The kit had us make candles.  It said to use crayons, but I forgot to add in the wax included in the kit.  Not sure if that made the difference, but our candles would not burn.  They crackled enough to make me worry and get out the baking soda though.

 Grandma had included some fake snow in our Advent gifts.  A powder that you just add water and then it expands, and then as the water evaporates it dries out later.  They really liked this stuff, but it did not replace the real stuff.  Annika especially is devastated that we do not have snow and that Iowa had a blizzard.

 Tanner had his Christmas preschool program this week.  He knew his words and actions, and he was loud. I was not surprised.  This kid has theater written all over him.  I love the tie and cowboy boots.
 He is such a hoot.

 We also had a pageant for church and Phoebe got to be Mary.  I forgot my camera in the rush, so no pics on here unless I can figure out how to move them from facebook from my friends at church.  She did a great job.  Again, another good little singer.

I hope you are all able to enjoy your busy season and find the God moments in each day.  Enjoy Christmas!

Annika Dominated

 She really did not dominate this month, but apparently in pictures, she did.  Homeschooling is taking a lot of my time and effort, which is good.  I enjoy it from the planning to the teaching, but not a lot of extra time for well, extras.  And I promised myself this month I would read two books instead of being on the computer.  And I did, but I didn't blog. 

Annika did make French toast for us one morning from start to finish.  I love that she enjoys learning to cook so much. 

Gaming on my phone and the Kindle Fires is out of control.  Whenever possible they are on them, so we have contained them to weekends and errands.  I do like them in the car and waiting in line!

We went to free day at the Field Museum.  The kids loved the dinosaur exhibit.  Were freaked out by the mummies.  And just too plain tired by the time we tried to go anywhere else.  It was a great day.  I love how excited and thankful they are for these adventures.

We did a unit in science on volcanoes (and I exploded a bowl, oops), earthquakes, Earth's layers, Pangea, and kinds of rocks.  Pretty interesting stuff.  I think I am learning all of it better this time compared to when I was their age!  This is Phoebe with one of our rocks, I think this was our version of igneous.  Anyways, we melted a whole bunch of stuff together and then ate it.  Well, tried, it was pretty sweet.

Annika's birthday was on Thanksgiving day.  Granny called the Sunday before and told only me she was able to visit.  Everyone else got their pants surprised off that Wednesday.  That was fun.  The next morning we were all up early and headed to State Street downtown Chicago for the big parade.  It was great weather and super busy.  But between Jeff and my shoulders and this light post the kids were able to see everything.  And I mean everything.  We stayed the full 3 hours.  We all had a great time.

Big balloons were the main reason we went and the kids were not disappointed.  They enjoyed the floats, danced to the bands, but the balloons stole the show.

Walking back afterwards we came across the polar bear float (still Annika's favorite animal by far) so of course we had to take a picture quick.

Then we surprised the kids with lunch at Rainforest Cafe which was another big hit!  Lots of animatronic animals, huge tanks of real fish, and delicious food.  We would definitely go back. 

And then home again home again for the smallest turkey feast ever, but just right, polished off with a pumpkin pie for Annika and presents.  It really turned out to be a special day for her. 

So October

This October was busy in a whole different way.  We made two trips to Iowa, each for five days, with only 10 days between.  One for the funeral of Jeff's Grandma Farm, she was 87 and suffered from Alzheimers.  He has very fond memories of her and definitely her cooking.  We visited Reiman Gardens in Ames one afternoon with the cousins.

October was baseball for Annika.  She enjoyed fall ball just as much as last spring and is still keeping up with those boys.  She takes after her Daddy and is an amazing catcher.  The travel league was looking at her, but politely asked them to back off, at least for a couple years.  (That is her on first.)

Her hair is FINALLY growing out.  It has taken us since last Christmas to get this long.  Part of the reason I always got so mad at the stylists that were doing the "trims/hacks" the past couple years.  This length is a good compromise, we both like it.  She wears that hat EVERYDAY.  :)

 I helped plan the Trick or Treat Tailgate at church again for the preschool.  Well, plan is a very loose term this year since a friend and I have done it now three years, or is it four.  Hmmm.  Anyway, another good turn out.  Our costumes were no sew this year (just no time this October, especially being gone and with homeschooling).  But they turned out really well.  Annika was Frankenstein.  She loved the mask.

 Phoebe was Frida Kahlo (one of my favorite female artists--a Mexican surrealist from the 1930's known for her unibrow, traditional costumes, pets, and self portraits).

 Tanner was a knight--Sir Mix It Up A lot, or Kiss Up.  On Halloween he morphed into a fruit ninja (the app game) as the knight pieces got uncomfortable.  It worked out great.

 See?  A good turnout, we usually have 150 people attend.  I am always in charge of the craft.  Which is actually hard for me to plan something easy enough for preschoolers, cheap, and simple for parents to do. :)

The annual jack o lantern fest was wonderful as usual.  They really do enjoy cleaning them out.  And roasting the seeds and then planning the faces.

Jeff is becoming a master carver.

Fangs, buckteeth, and Frankenstein.

Tanner has decided that he loves this truck.  It is a Chevy Silverado, to him.  And this kid is all about naming everything he plays with, so he always refers to it as Chevy Silverado.  That is what he wants when he is big enough.  I don't think Jeff even had to brainwash him to start saying that.

We had our own school party on Halloween day.  Our lunch consisted of mummy juice, goblin guts (peas), werewolf bones (pretzels and marshmallows and almond bark), alien skin (turkey), lizard eyes (grapes), vampire teeth (apples, peanut butter and more mallows) and pumpkin poo (cheetos).  They thought it was sooo funny and great.  I love easy stuff like this.

I had seen this Martha craft on Pinterest and a friend actually made it for a Boy Scout party and let us have the leftovers.  And then we played freeze dance and bingo, always favorites.  They wore their costumes all day.  We did a fun poetry project instead of school.  And then trick or treating ended the month on a high note.