Catch Phrase

Have you heard of the game called "Catch Phrase" ? It's a game where there's usually two teams of people competing and there is a word that you need to have your team guess by giving them clues so that you can pass the game device (its' like a mini computer) to the next person before the buzzer (timer) goes off. Whoever is caught holding the device looses and the other team gets a point. Since Sydney can now read, we were both playing it by ourselves -- couple of days ago. On one of my turns, my word was "Grape Soda". So, I started giving clues to Sydney by saying...

"it's a purple round fruit and it comes in bunches".... and Sydney said "Grapes". Then I continued to try and get her to guess the word "soda".... so I said "it's a drink that has lots of bubbles and fizz in it and very sweet and mommy doesn't usually like you to drink much of this".... and Sydney immediately shouted out " Carbonated drink ".

My jaw just dropped..... wondering how on earth she knew what a carbonated drink was. Of course, I quickly went on to say, "yes...but another word for it is ? "..... she couldn't guess.... So I ended up telling her the answer was Soda. She was disappointed for not knowing the correct answer but I tried to cheer her up and encourage her that I was so proud that she knew the word "carbonated" AND that was a better word than Soda. I don't think she was impressed like I was.

Spring Break

So much happens in the Macdonald family from day to day that it seems like this is getting harder to keep this blog updated. It's April? Where did January, February and March go? I try to "live in the moment" and "savor each day as they come" but it sure is hard to do with three kids. That said, Praise God for every new day that comes and the opportunity to start over.

Sydney had Spring break last week so I scheduled a couple of fun things for the family to do. She also came home with a project from school, to be done over Spring break. Apparently, her teacher has been reading them a chapter book in class each day and they finished a book called "Flat Stanley". Each kid brought home a picture of Stanley to color, cut out and decorate and they are to take Stanley with them everywhere they go on their break and then write about what they did.

Monday: We took Stanley outside in the evening and did yard work as a family. Stanley was happy to sit on a rock while we weeded.

Tuesday: The kids had gymnastics class but Stanley was sadly left behind at home

Wednesday: Elisabeth came over for the day and had a sleepover. Sydney made Stanley some pajamas and he slept with the girls.

Thursday: Impressions 5 is a wonderful Children's Science Museum in Lansing. Mommy took the kids to visit the Museum and they had a lot of fun discovering fun things there. Their favorite was the Bubble Room and moving magnets with an electric machine.

Friday & Saturday: As a family, we went to Zehnders Splash Village in Frankenmuth, MI. The kids really loved this water park...so much so, that Sydney wants to come back here for her birthday! Flat Stanley was happy to stay in the backpack so that he didn't get wet!

This was a full, busy and fun-filled Spring break.

4 month old Sophia

What is Sophia up to these days?

* well, she's been rolling over this week - that's fun to watch. She doesn't like being on her tummy, so she has motivation to roll onto her back. But not vice versa.

* started on some baby rice cereal, but not too thrilled about it yet.

* enjoys sitting in her bumbo seat and watching everyone around her.

* if you put a rattle in her hand, she loves to shake it and tries to put it in her mouth, every time.

* Caleb and Sydney have been taking turns playing "peek-a-boo" with her and love to make her laugh over and over again.

* Sophia has gone for walks in her stroller (for the first time) this week. Temperatures have been in the 60s all week, so Caleb has enjoyed going to the parks with her.

* If the TV is on while she is drinking milk, she will turn her head towards the TV. She's probably wondering what's so interesting that everyone else is starring at.

* At dinner time, she has to be in a bouncer right by the table or be held, otherwise she'll start to complain. She wants to be with us!

* She's already starting to hold her bottle by herself. Good, strong grip!

* Enjoyed sitting in the baby swing at the neighbor's play center this week.

Piano lessons & Tumbling

Sydney has already had a one month of piano lessons with her music teacher from school and she is doing very well ! Ms. Nielsen gives her private lessons every Wednesdays after school and says that Sydney is very musical and has great finger movements on the piano. A few months ago, I was told that Sydney might be a little too young for piano lessons but Ms. Nielsen thinks that Sydney is very ready and keen on learning. She will ask me if she can practice the piano almost everyday but she doesn't like to practice the difficult pages. I can relate to that. We are so proud of her. Now, Caleb asks if he can practice the piano as well. I love the way the "positive" things rub off on him as well.

Caleb is doing tumbling / beginners gymnastics at Twistars in DeWitt. He loves it...and he's always bouncing around and asking me to look at him doing all his fun flips and kicks. His favorite is the trampoline and doing donkey kicks. I hope to enroll him in kids soccer this summer because I think he'll enjoy that too.

I wonder what Sophia will be interested in.

Sunday school humor

After church, we came home for lunch as usual. I often like to find out what the kids learned or did in class. Sydney had a lot to say about her lesson....she even went as far as saying that Abraham lived in a city called "Ur".

On the other hand, Caleb learned about Daniel in the lion's den but he wasn't interested in talking about his class. Mommy still decided to ask questions and the conversation went like this:

Mommy: Caleb, did you make a lion puppet today?

Caleb: **silence** (but nodding "yes")

Mommy: Who was in the lion's den ?

Caleb: Noah

Mommy: Noah? Noooo.....

Daddy: "Was it David in the Lion's Den?"

Caleb: Nah....

Mommy: Caleb, who was in the lion's den?

Caleb: ** still no answer**

Sydney: (she always has to try and say something on behalf of little brother) It's Daniel !

Mommy: Caleb....why was Daniel in the lion's den?

Caleb: Uhm....because Daniel liked the lion's den.

** rest of the family laughing... **

Mommy: Did Daniel pray to God when he was in the lion's den? What did God do?

Caleb: God spanked the lions.

** Daddy, Mommy and Sydney burst out laughing **

Needless to say, I stopped asking questions after that. Looks like Caleb's learning a lot!

Fighting over the broom

I don't think it's too early to start a 5 and a 3 year old on chores around the house, right?! After dinner, John usually does the dishes and Mommy ends up on the couch feeding the baby. Somehow, we came up with the idea that Sydney and Caleb can help clean up as well. There's usually food crumbs that surround their chairs so we've asked Sydney to use the big broom to sweep the crumbs into piles and Caleb takes the small broom and sweeps them up. They usually fight over who gets to do what and both seem eager to clean up. Caleb has to learn to stop running to the trash can with the little dustpan as he often drops everything he cleans up. Sydney has to learn to stop giving so many directions to little brother, who's only concerned about sweeping a little here and there and running to empty it out. Mommy has to learn to be patient as she steps onto little crumbs that have fallen all over the kitchen floor because she's got to do the job all over again with a vacuum cleaner instead. If only the excitement about cleaning kitchen floors could last till they become teens!

March is Reading Month

March is 'Reading Month' at Kindergarten and this year's theme is all about the ecosystems. Sydney's class theme is "Rainforests" and we helped decorate the hallways and classroom in that theme. I have to say that it was so much fun that it makes me want to go back to Kindergarten. One of my ideas for the class was to create a rainforest tree in the middle of the room and that be the reading corner:

I found some carpet rolls in our basement that we were able to make use in the class. We used a large carpet roll to form the trunk of a tree (with brown butcher paper crinkled up and covering it) and there was a large green carpet that was used for the base, where the kids can sit and read their books. Kids brought in various stuffed animals (monkeys, snakes, birds, frogs, etc) and put them around the tree and some dangling from the tree branches.

As soon as Sydney learned about the rainforest theme, she immediately said "Well, I've seen a rain forest in Malaysia". And she's right. She has had the wonderful experience of throwing bananas to the wild monkeys near my parents home and she has seen what the thick rain forests look like. I thought it was cute that she also thought my mom's backyard was a type of rainforest. There are a lot of banana trees and other trees that are foreign to her in that backyard.

Another lesson on "life's not fair". Sydney sometimes tells me of projects that the other kids in her class got to do while we were in Malaysia, and that sometimes she feels sad that she didn't get to do those projects. Once again, life's not fair, but not every kid gets to ride on an airplane and visit a foreign country and see a rainforest!

All because of Ginger cookies...

One day, Sydney whined about not wanting to go to school. She thinks that she's missing out on fun things while she's at school. I suppose, at times, Caleb has shared something FUN that he did while she was at school and that makes her feel left out. Well, this week, she used the words "not fair" because Caleb got to help me bake cookies for her school event. It doesn't matter whether she gets to eat just as many cookies as Caleb because she's still upset that Caleb got to make the cookies with me. And, oh......, it still didn't matter when I told her that Caleb only helped for 10 minutes and then took a 2 hour nap right before she got home from school.

Here's something I hope my kids learn.... and the sooner the better. Life isn't fair, and I have to say that over and over again. I'm sure glad my parents never treated us kids the same ALL the time.

A lesson on "Life isn't fair".........all because of ginger cookies. (and Mommy rolls her eyes)

Scientist of the Week

A few weeks ago, Sydney was the "Scientist of the Week" in her class. This means, she has to choose a simple science experiment from a book, practice it at home and then present it to the class. The other kids will observe and are encouraged to ask "I wonder why...." type questions. I think this a very fun and exciting project for kids.

When she was 3 years old, we did an experiment in our apartment that shows which items float and sink in water. Sydney remembered that and she immediately decided she wanted to present that same experiment to her class. We tweaked it a little by adding two other components to it:

1. She had a bowl of water and an orange. She asked the class whether they thought the orange would float or sink. Then she used a peeled orange and asked the same question. She learned the concept of "density" and how an orange skin peel contains a lot of air bubbles that causes an orange to float. However, a peeled orange is a lot denser than water and thus it sinks.

2. She poured soda water into a jar and then put some raisins into the jar. The raisins first sank, but after a few seconds, a few raisins floated up. The teacher asked her why the raisins came back up and she confidently answered "because the air bubbles from the drink attached itself to the raisins and that's what makes it float".

Sydney learns a lot from various Science experiments in the class and now she often asks questions by saying "I wonder why?"

The Circle of Life

As quickly as I typed the last blog entry, there was a sudden change in life's plan for our family. Little did I know that a single phone call later that night (Friday December 18th) would change my life. A very shocking and unexpected phone call came from home saying that my Dad had a stroke and was in the hospital with severe brain injury. It seemed like seconds after hearing those words on the phone, my world became a blurry mess.

We made flight bookings, packed our bags, got to Chicago to file Sophia's passport and flew out to Malaysia. The entire journey from beginning to end felt like one big nightmare and it came with so many roadblocks and challenges of its own. Somehow, by God's grace, we arrived in Malaysia on Christmas eve.

I will never forget the emotions I felt when I stepped into the hospital and never forget the sight of my Dad just laying there on the hospital bed - unconscious and on a breathing tube. I've never seen him so thin, unshaved for days, and just laying still. Words could not come out of me. Only tears. He had spent a beautiful 5 weeks with our family and now, only a week after returning home, this had happened. Unbelievable. Speechless.

Tired and fatigued, everything seemed like a fog to me. Long story short....5 hours after seeing him, he passed away on Christmas morning, slightly after midnight. I cannot even describe the emptiness I felt for days since that day. Christmas will never be the same for me. Christmas will always remind me of my Dad. Christmas day will be a reminder to so many people, of who my Dad was and all the wonderful memories we have of him.

People say that I just need to take one day at a time and let myself grieve and be patient. I feel that I can only take one step at a time. There are places in my home that are hard for me to go to, particularly the basement where my Dad slept and played with the kids a lot. Sometimes I smile to myself, thinking of how precious the time my Dad spent with us. Sometimes, I cannot help but feel sorrow and gloomy - where I don't even feel like talking to anyone. It's just strange. Never thought I would even be like this. The circle of life is interesting. We know that people are born into this world....people come and go from our lives. You anticipate that it's going to happen at some point, but when it does, you're never really prepared for it.

Life is precious. One minute we're here and the next minute, we're gone. We're like the grass of the field. I suppose, life has to go on. So much to be thankful for. So many memories to hold on to. So many lessons to be learned.

I hope my next blog article isn't too deep. I must keep blogging about the family as this will help us to move on. Thank you for all your prayers and support during the past month. The amount of cards and phone calls have been overwhelming and yet so filled with love. Thank you.