If You Give a Kid a Camera

[caption id="attachment_2056" align="aligncenter" width="770"] If you give a kid a camera, he'll capture a Lego man with the longest legs he's ever seen. He'll hear a jingle and notice the dog hopped on top of the bed.[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_2058" align="aligncenter" width="770"] He will capture a close up picture of the dog laying on Daddy's pillow. Seeing Daddy's pillow will remind him that he has a pillow too.[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_2060" align="aligncenter" width="770"] He will photograph his pillow. By his pillow he will see his maze ball. He will sit on the pillow and play with it till he finishes the maze.[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_2057" align="aligncenter" width="770"] When he finishes the maze he will remember that he was taking pictures. He will take a proud and somewhat smug photo of himself with his completed maze ball. When he gets up he will step on his Lego man with the longest legs.[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_2059" align="aligncenter" width="770"] Stepping on the Lego man will remind him that he has more Lego people he could capture, and he does.[/caption]

Messages From Home

Sometimes it feels like we have been preparing for our mission trip FOREVER! In actuality it was not quite one year and two months ago that we received our acceptance letter with ReachGlobal. All three of us are quite ready to get going. January seems like it is a far off date, but it really leaves us with September and October to get the details in place. Then November and December are devoted to the holidays (we all know how that is) and saying our good-byes. My mister keeps telling me how ready he is to move out of Grandma's and hit the road for Montreal. I know how much he is going to miss his friends and family though. It will probably hit him as we buckle him into the U-Haul. So, while I was ordering his 1st grade yearbook on shutterfly.com I created a personalized notebook. On the classic orange envelope I pasted instructions for writing inside it.

 

A memory book from home

Enclosed is a special book for Jayne’s friends and family to write him special messages to read while we are living in Montreal. Things you can include:

1. Pictures


2. Messages


3. Drawings


4. Addresses so we can write to you


5. All your thoughts of love and encouragement


6. Your favorite memories of Jayne

Please keep this book a secret and in good condition so he will have a wonderful surprise when we make our move. Also try to stick to 1 page per person so there is enough room for everyone.

When we are on the road and living in a new country, he will be able to read encouraging notes from his friends and family. It will help him remember how much they care about him. I will try to leave it as a leaving day surprise, but with children writing in it too the word might come out. What have you done to help ease your child into a big move? I would love more ideas!

Keeping Busy

I have learned a very valuable lesson this month. School time is indescribably important to my little guy. We are taking the month off for the holidays and it has resulted in awful behavior. I have put quite a bit of focus into my growing shop and other household duties. I didn't realize just how much he needs that 1 on 1 time with me each day. Of course, once I figured out what was going on, I made sure to get back to giving him most of my day. We have both been much happier for it too.

Wednesday was birthday night at Awana. We spent some time making homemade birthday hats to wear. They were so easy to make with half a paper plate and were held on with alligator clips.

Pintrest will be helping me quite a bit with craft ideas for our winter break. This snow globe craft is one of them. All you need is a plastic bag, cut up paper, and 2 plates. We have been doing coloring pages and getting through lots of books too. All our moods have been lifted and now our "educational things we did during break" sheet is filling up too. I hope all of you are finding time to enjoy some down time with your families this December too!

Toy

To help spark my artistic creativity again, I am going to get involved with Illustration Friday again! This week's theme was Toy. Jayne's reply was, "that's awesome!" I love making art for him, and with him too!