I will bless the Lord at all times; His praise shall continually be in my mouth.

Yours, O Lord, is the greatness, 

The power and the glory, 

The victory and the majesty; 

For all that is in heaven and in earth is Yours; 

Yours is the kingdom, O Lord, 

And You are exalted as head over all. 

Both riches and honor come from You, 

And You reign over all. 

In Your hand is power and might; 

In Your hand it is to make great 

And to give strength to all.

Now therefore, our God, 

We thank You 

And praise Your glorious name.

1 Chronicles 29:11-13 NKJV

Watch your words!

I have been affected by the power of words lately - both my words and others' words.  Words that are hurtful, confusing, disparaging.  Words that say things that shouldn't have been said, let alone thought.  Words that make me sad.  Words that make me angry.  My knee jerk, over simple solution is to stop emailing, stop talking, stop the words.  

A troublemaker plants seeds of strife; gossip separates the best of friends. 

Proberbs 16:28 NLT

A word out of your mouth may seem of no account, 

but it can accomplish nearly anything - or destroy it!  

A careless or wrongly placed word out of your mouth can do that. 

By our speech we can ruin the world, turn harmony to chaos, 

throw mud on a reputation, send the whole world up in smoke 

and go up in smoke with it, smoke right from the pit of hell.

This is scary: You can tame a tiger, 

but you can't tame a tongue - it's never been done. 

The tongue runs wild, a wanton killer. 

With our tongues we bless God our Father; 

with the same tongues we curse the very men 

and women he made in his image.

Curses and blessings out of the same mouth! 

James 5:5-10 MESSAGE

Let no corrupt word proceed out of your mouth, 

but what is good for necessary edification, 

that it may impart grace to the hearers. 

Ephesians 4:29 NKJV

I can't stop the words.  So instead...

I will bless the Lord at all times; His praise shall continually be in my mouth. 

Psalm 34:1 NKJV

and try to be wise.

In the multitude of words sin is not lacking, 

But she who restrains his lips is wise. 

Proverbs 10:19 NKJV

(emphasis and gender change mine)

The Runaway Bunny

It's time for another fun book.

We'll keep reading our bunny books we started with "The Little Rabbit".  And of course we pull out "Goodnight Moon" and see how they are related.

In addition to the suggestions in the curriculum, I found...

Runaway Bunny Online Coloring Page

Play the if you are then I will game - The child says something that they want to be such as, "I will be a book." Then the parent can answer, "Then I will be a librarian and put you in my library." or "I will be a tooth" and "Then I will be the toothbrush that keeps you clean". It can turn into a very silly game but it gets everybody thinking.

Eat carrots for snack.

101 Update

23 done - 88 to go

Guess I'd better get working on it.

Thar she blows!

We were blessed with a free trip to watch the whales as they migrate back up the coast to Alaska. It took a while to find them, but once found the whales did not disappoint. They were very active. I understand these were Gray Whales

It was a small pod. 2 Adults and an infant. Quite amazing.  I kept thinking about our great big God who created these things - that aren't fish - in an ocean full of fish.  I couldn't help but think of Jonah and how silly he was for trying to run away from God's plan.  I thought about how silly I can be. 

This was Grom's first time on a boat. The weather was great - sunny and just a little windy. He had a great time - running all over the place and eating the snacks. 

Just as the whales showed themselves, he started feeling a little urpy.  It's amazing how fast a person moves when sitting below a 3 year old who says he thinks he's going to throw up.  I missed a lot of the whale's show holding a limp and green little boy.  There was no place I'd rather have been.

 

Grom's had a cold the past few days.  I asked him today how he was feeling and he said, "A lot better than on the boat".  

The Little Rabbit

Here's our next book - The Little Rabbit by Judy Dunn.

We're reading these books along with it:

The Tale of Peter Rabbit by Beatrix Potter

Rabbits and Raindrops by Jim Arnosky

(Other) The Little... Books by Judy Dunn

A Rabbit for You:  Caring for Your Rabbit by Susan Blackaby

Here's what we're doing with the book in addition to things described in the curriculum:

Visit Promise, the bunny - belongs to a friend.  If this goes well, we might go to the Animal Shelter and look at the bunnies they have.  I am not bringing home a bunny.  I am not bringing home a bunny.  I am not bringing home a bunny.

Wild vs Domestic Bunnies - camouflage - cut out bunnies of different colors - place around the room where they are camouflaged.

Baby Animal Names

Rabbits

Snacks - Annie's Cheddar Bunny Crackers - will also use to practice counting.

Here's a craft we made today:

Grom got creative with placement of the nose and whiskers.

Fortunately I snapped a picture before Grom decided he didn't like his mask anymore.

What's for Dinner - Week of April 21st

 

I haven't posted meal plans for a couple of weeks.  Our budget wallet sure shows it.

I did a big shopping trip to the Grocery Outlet last Saturday, so my can cupboard is well stocked and I have no excuses for not cooking.  

Monday

BBQ Chicken Thighs

Rice-A-Roni

California Waldorf Salad - Romaine Lettuce, Apple Slices, Toasted Walnuts, Celery

Lemon Meringue Pie

Tuesday

Split Pea Soup with Ham

No Knead Bread

Sliced Oranges

Root Beer Floats

Wednesday

C.O.R.D.

Thursday

Farmer's Market

Friday - Sunday

Traveling - Gigi's Memorial Service, Baby showers for my sister and my cousin.

Need more inspiration?  Head over to Organizing Junkie's for Menu Plan Monday.  Hundreds of women share their menus every week.

I Am An Artist

We are jumping back in the boat.  It's time to row a new book.

I found a couple of great books to read along with our book.

An Artist by M.B. Goffstein

No One Saw: ordinary things through the eyes of an artist by Bob Raczka

Activities planned:

• Nature walk - picking up treasures
  
• Found Objects Collage -from Nature Walk
  
• Talk about 5 Senses and how we use them to enjoy art and nature
  
• Watch a Sunset together and talk about the art God paints for us
  
• Texture rubbings - leaves, rocks, bark, whatever we can find - see what kind of textures it reveals when covered with paper and rubbed with a crayon.
  
• Art Hunt - looking for beautiful things in nature