I told the kids that since we thoroughly enjoyed our weekend, yesterday was going to be spring cleaning...to which Kensey replied, "It's not Spring, it's Winter!" Tomato, tomahto girl....we're cleanin' this PIT!!!
So, we cranked up the Radio Disney...because that's the only way to motivate Kennedy kids...dancin' while we work!
Can I just say that I did not realize my son had that many fish hooks?? I found fish hooks in his "special" drawer, his sock drawer, Karis' doll house (??!!??), under the bean bags where they play Wii, even in his underwear drawer! (Wouldn't that hurt??! I mean seriously!!)
And, I realized my precious Karis Danae is a hoarder! Her mother is as anal retentive about cleanliness and decluttering as they come and she is an absolute, certifiable hoarder! What in the world?! I had to keep sending her downstairs to put stuff away so I could throw all her "creations" away! We really don't need to keep every drawing you've ever done sweetie!! And, she used an entire roll of tape on all the stuff she had taped on the walls! Really?! Quit taping stuff to my walls!!!! And...when I said "organize your dress-up clothes", I did not mean put the stuff that is preventing you from closing the lid between the box and the wall so I cannot see it!!
It is no surprise that we are missing the match to 3 pairs of shoes!! This child needs help!! How am I supposed to train her to keep her own house clean when she's grown?? I do not want to see her on some reality TV show seeking help from a professional! I am a professional organizer! I owned my own organizing business!! C'mon girl!!
And then there's the ever-independent Kensey...who decluttered her entire room on her own. And even though, when she proudly displayed her work, I found several things I would have done differently...I held my tongue and said, "Great job Sugarbear!!" (Small victories people...I was a little worn out from Karis' room.)
And so it was time for the 4 of us to head downstairs and try to put the laundry away that we had kept going throughout the day...oh but wait...WHAT IS STUCK TO KENSEY'S SWEATER?! Is that gum?! NO...it's silly putty!! And before I could yell at the usual suspect...Koleman, Karis sheepishly says, "I didn't mean to! I forgot!" AUGH!!! Well, you girls start hanging up your clothes while I remove this silly putty with this stinky Goof -off stuff! (awesome...rassum-frassum piece of monkey smack...I was muttering under my breath.)
Thankfully, Daddy came home from work and offered to make his fantastic spaghetti for dinner. I adore that man!!!! So I took off for my walk/run...cranked up the music...and let the stress sweat off of me. Glorious!
And I woke up this morning to a beautiful, decluttered home :)
The End...oh wait...I have to cook and clean today...again...like 3 times...(sigh)
Tuesday, January 18, 2011
Saturday, January 15, 2011
Rah rah rah!
Well, today was Kensey's first cheer competition and can I just say I have traveled into some seriously uncharted territory? Competitive cheer moms are rabid! These teams had chants, lit signs, bells, whistles...you name it! I saw every kind of "Cheer Mom" accessory I could have imagined today! This is a whole new world, people!!
So, our sweet, precious Cornerstone Christian Academy girls came into this crazy arena and shone like stars. We did not win Grand Champions today. There were many things we can fix before we compete in Nationals on Jan. 29th. But our girls were joyful, supportive of each other, MODEST (which was a rarity today), and I was genuinely proud of them!
So, our sweet, precious Cornerstone Christian Academy girls came into this crazy arena and shone like stars. We did not win Grand Champions today. There were many things we can fix before we compete in Nationals on Jan. 29th. But our girls were joyful, supportive of each other, MODEST (which was a rarity today), and I was genuinely proud of them!
Friday, January 14, 2011
Dancing with Daddy
Last night was a very fun family night at the Kennedy home. For some reason, everyone decided they wanted to help with dinner...and so we all crowded into the kitchen, turned on the music, and worked together to make dinner. There was lots of laughing, lots of spilling things, lots of singing, and lots of dancing...SOOOO fun!!
Wednesday, January 12, 2011
Need to vent...
OK, I need to vent for a moment...
Now, before I do, let me be the first to admit that my children are not at all immune to this problem...
OK, so that being said, there seems to be a common problem among pretty much all the students I've ever taught...and parents, I'm not sure we realize this is a problem! (or maybe we do and we don't know how to fix it!)
I started back to school yesterday after a fantastic 3 week break. Our school is a University Model School, which means we go to class on MWF and we do our independent practice at home on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Monday, we had a snow day, so the students had to review on their own, at home, on Tuesday before they came to class on Wednesday. I was amazed and very dismayed at the lack of effort put forth from my high school students. They did the least amount of work possible and therefore, did not seem to ready for an intelligent conversation about the material when they came to class on Wednesday. To top it all off - they did not bring all their supplies. I teach High School Math classes - so they need a calculator...but so many said they forgot. What?! You had 3 weeks to get your stuff together and you forgot?! AND - in anticipation of the assumed procrastination, I sent an email on Tuesday reminding them to bring their supplies: vocab books, calculators, etc. So, you can imagine my frustration!
So, here are my questions of angst...parents and educators...
HOW do we motivate our students to WANT to learn????
HOW do we encourage them to take responsibility for themselves????
HOW do we communicate the need to be responsible, self-motivated, life-long learners????
Even yesterday - a student asked me "when am I ever going to use this?" We were discussing the quadratic equation that goes with a rocket launch and how to graph it on a calculator. So the answer is...unless you're an aerospace engineer, I DON'T KNOW!!! But, I do know, that you will need to go to your job PREPARED! I know that if your boss asks you to complete a report, he actually NEEDS the report on the day he requests it! I do know, that you will need to be able to figure out technology, so figuring out this calculator will absolutely help towards that goal. I do know that you will need to be able to make connections between things you learn, in order to solve problems on your own...so making connections now and solving problems now will only help towards that goal!
I saw some snippets from a horrible movie the other day...I don't even know the name of it...but the premise (from what I could gather) was that Americans had gotten so stupid from years and years of lazy education. This spoof, set in the future, was making fun of what the world would be like if we continue in our current pattern. Now, before you hear an attack on our education system - let me clarify! Our education system ROCKS!! American teachers are some of the hardest working, most dedicated people I know!! We work hours that you could never imagine. We are constantly being trained on the latest findings regarding learning and education. We are constantly researching new and better ways to teach. We are constantly evaluating and being evaluated regarding our effectiveness at actually seeing results. We push ourselves to the brink of mental and emotional strain every day...
...and then we walk into class, prepared, confident, ready to impart this awesome wisdom we worked so hard to make sure would be clearly communicated...
...and a student interrupts our introduction to say,
"Miss...I didn't have time to finish my homework."
"Miss...I forgot my calculator."
"Do we have to write this down?"
"Do we have to draw the diagram?"
"When are we ever gonna use this?"
...and so we walk out of the classroom defeated, down-trodden, and ready to cry because yet again, our research and study was for no avail...they didn't get it...they don't care...
...so what do we do?? We TRY HARDER!!!!!!!!!!
Alright...I feel better! Now, I'm going to make my children do their homework and do it RIGHT!! And, I'm going to make sure they are prepared to ADD to the class discussion tomorrow! And if they do not, I am going to pray and ask the Lord's wisdom for the appropriate consequences. Because God gave these 3 children a brain and He intends for them to use it to solve problems for HIS kingdom! And it's MY job to teach them how!!!
Now, before I do, let me be the first to admit that my children are not at all immune to this problem...
OK, so that being said, there seems to be a common problem among pretty much all the students I've ever taught...and parents, I'm not sure we realize this is a problem! (or maybe we do and we don't know how to fix it!)
I started back to school yesterday after a fantastic 3 week break. Our school is a University Model School, which means we go to class on MWF and we do our independent practice at home on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Monday, we had a snow day, so the students had to review on their own, at home, on Tuesday before they came to class on Wednesday. I was amazed and very dismayed at the lack of effort put forth from my high school students. They did the least amount of work possible and therefore, did not seem to ready for an intelligent conversation about the material when they came to class on Wednesday. To top it all off - they did not bring all their supplies. I teach High School Math classes - so they need a calculator...but so many said they forgot. What?! You had 3 weeks to get your stuff together and you forgot?! AND - in anticipation of the assumed procrastination, I sent an email on Tuesday reminding them to bring their supplies: vocab books, calculators, etc. So, you can imagine my frustration!
So, here are my questions of angst...parents and educators...
HOW do we motivate our students to WANT to learn????
HOW do we encourage them to take responsibility for themselves????
HOW do we communicate the need to be responsible, self-motivated, life-long learners????
Even yesterday - a student asked me "when am I ever going to use this?" We were discussing the quadratic equation that goes with a rocket launch and how to graph it on a calculator. So the answer is...unless you're an aerospace engineer, I DON'T KNOW!!! But, I do know, that you will need to go to your job PREPARED! I know that if your boss asks you to complete a report, he actually NEEDS the report on the day he requests it! I do know, that you will need to be able to figure out technology, so figuring out this calculator will absolutely help towards that goal. I do know that you will need to be able to make connections between things you learn, in order to solve problems on your own...so making connections now and solving problems now will only help towards that goal!
I saw some snippets from a horrible movie the other day...I don't even know the name of it...but the premise (from what I could gather) was that Americans had gotten so stupid from years and years of lazy education. This spoof, set in the future, was making fun of what the world would be like if we continue in our current pattern. Now, before you hear an attack on our education system - let me clarify! Our education system ROCKS!! American teachers are some of the hardest working, most dedicated people I know!! We work hours that you could never imagine. We are constantly being trained on the latest findings regarding learning and education. We are constantly researching new and better ways to teach. We are constantly evaluating and being evaluated regarding our effectiveness at actually seeing results. We push ourselves to the brink of mental and emotional strain every day...
...and then we walk into class, prepared, confident, ready to impart this awesome wisdom we worked so hard to make sure would be clearly communicated...
...and a student interrupts our introduction to say,
"Miss...I didn't have time to finish my homework."
"Miss...I forgot my calculator."
"Do we have to write this down?"
"Do we have to draw the diagram?"
"When are we ever gonna use this?"
...and so we walk out of the classroom defeated, down-trodden, and ready to cry because yet again, our research and study was for no avail...they didn't get it...they don't care...
...so what do we do?? We TRY HARDER!!!!!!!!!!
Alright...I feel better! Now, I'm going to make my children do their homework and do it RIGHT!! And, I'm going to make sure they are prepared to ADD to the class discussion tomorrow! And if they do not, I am going to pray and ask the Lord's wisdom for the appropriate consequences. Because God gave these 3 children a brain and He intends for them to use it to solve problems for HIS kingdom! And it's MY job to teach them how!!!
Monday, January 10, 2011
Scrapbooking
During this past holiday season, I found myself MAKING memories rather than spending time scrapbooking them. The older my children get, the more I just want to spend time with them as much as I can. It's not as fun to sit in my chair and scrapbook, when we could be laughing and playing together. So, as a result, I only finished 2 spreads for my scrapbook during the entire holiday. It was fun to document Summer memories, sitting by the fire!
I'm very behind, so these first 2 pages were from way back in June. Our friends, John and Jill Holland, took us to Maui with them on vacation! It was such a wonderful get-away for the 2 of us, but my children had a wonderful time as well! They spent the week with my parents in Abilene. Mamaw and Papaw always have so many fun things planned for them! During this visit, they went to the park, played in Papaw's hammocks, cooked, played dress-up, played games, built things, went swimming, saw Toy Story 3 at the movies and just had all kinds of fun!
After that, I was working on a page about our Book Club. LOL!! Yeah - that was my brilliant idea this Summer to have a Mother-Daughter book club and read "Anne of Green Gables". Somehow, I forgot that Summers are CRAZY!! We ended up only being able to have ONE meeting! :) But that one meeting was very fun and ended up being a great play-date for the girls during the lazy days of Summer!
Sunday, January 9, 2011
What a glorious Day!
I absolutely LOVE the body of Christ God has blessed us with!
This morning, the girls and I were able to serve in the nursery. We were in charge of the 3 year olds. They were so incredibly cute! I loved greeting them, singing "Deep and Wide" with them, doing puzzles and coloring. It was so fun to watch the excitement on their faces as I told them the story of John the Baptist baptizing Jesus and the Spirit descending on him like a dove and God SPEAKING! It was hilarious to watch the horror on their little faces when I explained that baptizing meant they had to put their faces under water. And to watch their eyes get huge when I said God spoke from the sky! Little Daniel Morgan was pointing to the ceiling and excitedly saying, "da sky, wain falling from da sky!" (It was raining this morning.) And then when I told them God said, "This is my Son in whom I am well-pleased!" They got confused. So I asked them what "well-pleased" meant and little Tanner Lewis said "I don't know." So I said, "Has your Daddy ever said, 'I am SO proud of you!' ?" And ALL their little faces lit up. (I love that! Good job Daddys!!) Little Grayson Owens said, "That means he loves me!" You're SO right, my friend! So we talked about how God basically said, "This is my Son and I am so proud of Him!" (What an awesome thought, by the way!) Anyway, we tried to keep "dove" feathers off the floor by blowing them, and we made some dove. It was so fun!!
THEN, we cam home and had the delicious pot roast Karis and Rose Hendley made for us last night. Oh man! It was delicious!! I love that Karis loves to cook!!!
It began to snow as we ate our lunch and of course the kids were ecstatic about the first snow of the season. I LOVE that people began to message each other so we could all play in the snow together.
My husband was, of course, the target of MANY snowballs. But, he is such a good sport!!
And now, I'm sitting here in my fluffiest, coziest jammy pants...a fire in the fire place...my family all around! Seriously?! What an absolutely glorious day!!!
This morning, the girls and I were able to serve in the nursery. We were in charge of the 3 year olds. They were so incredibly cute! I loved greeting them, singing "Deep and Wide" with them, doing puzzles and coloring. It was so fun to watch the excitement on their faces as I told them the story of John the Baptist baptizing Jesus and the Spirit descending on him like a dove and God SPEAKING! It was hilarious to watch the horror on their little faces when I explained that baptizing meant they had to put their faces under water. And to watch their eyes get huge when I said God spoke from the sky! Little Daniel Morgan was pointing to the ceiling and excitedly saying, "da sky, wain falling from da sky!" (It was raining this morning.) And then when I told them God said, "This is my Son in whom I am well-pleased!" They got confused. So I asked them what "well-pleased" meant and little Tanner Lewis said "I don't know." So I said, "Has your Daddy ever said, 'I am SO proud of you!' ?" And ALL their little faces lit up. (I love that! Good job Daddys!!) Little Grayson Owens said, "That means he loves me!" You're SO right, my friend! So we talked about how God basically said, "This is my Son and I am so proud of Him!" (What an awesome thought, by the way!) Anyway, we tried to keep "dove" feathers off the floor by blowing them, and we made some dove. It was so fun!!
THEN, we cam home and had the delicious pot roast Karis and Rose Hendley made for us last night. Oh man! It was delicious!! I love that Karis loves to cook!!!
It began to snow as we ate our lunch and of course the kids were ecstatic about the first snow of the season. I LOVE that people began to message each other so we could all play in the snow together.
My husband was, of course, the target of MANY snowballs. But, he is such a good sport!!
And now, I'm sitting here in my fluffiest, coziest jammy pants...a fire in the fire place...my family all around! Seriously?! What an absolutely glorious day!!!
Let's begin again...
I think I want to start blogging again. There is just something very cathartic about writing down one's thoughts and memories. Also, I have been inspired by my friend, Tricia, to make sure I remember! I'll write more later, after church, but I knew if I didn't post this commitment, I'd talk myself out of it! :)
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