The Purple Crayon Story

In July 2009, Sydney read a book titled “Harold and the Purple Crayon” and really enjoyed the story. One day, she decided to write her own story and I told her she could use a purple crayon, like Harold, to illustrate her story. She drew the pictures and told me what to write on each page. Here’s her story that she would like to share with everyone. Can you guess what the surprise is at the end of the story? (Hint: It’s in her drawing)

Elmo returns to the Mac house

Elmo used to be Sydney's favorite and since she turned 3, Elmo was out of the picture for awhile. Caleb has been too interested in Bob the Builder, Thomas the Tank Engine and Dora the Explorer, and whatever else Sydney is currently interested in. Caleb has been working on learning his ABC's but just doesn't have much of an interest. Not until we introduced him to Elmo on the computer and now it's all about Elmo. It's amazing how a little fuzzy creature combined with computer technology has made the ABC's more fun and exciting. He likes to spell his name and also try writing letters - thanks to Elmo! http://www.sesamestreet.org/game_player?p_p_lifecycle=0&p_p_id=gamePlayer_WAR_sesameportlets4369&p_p_uid=7d1b0f7b-1646-11dd-995c-3d52ab3e4656&t=1224734808325&

My Father's Dragon

Sydney just finished reading her first series of 3 books called "Three Tales of My Father's Dragon". We borrowed this book from the library and it has over 200 pages. The story involves a boy called Elmer, who rescues a baby dragon and visits different animals in the forest. The book is creatively written and keeps the reader wanting more -- which is exactly Sydney wanted! Every day we read several chapters and it was amazing to me that Sydney remembered specific facts about the story - i.e. how many lollipops Elmer carried in his bag, or why Elmer saved all the Tangerine peels in his knapsack, and what Elmer used from his knapsack to distract each animal on Wild Island. She definitely increased her vocabulary with this entertaining book. With only a few but fantastic black and white illustrations, she was able to use her own imagination and follow the story all the way through. It was fun using the map on the first page of the book to show her how Elmer worked his way through Wild Island.

August Stings

I've heard of people getting stung by bees, but I've never experienced anything like it till earlier this month. First, Caleb got stung by a wasp. It happened when he was playing at the neighbors playset and we didn't realize that there was a wasp nest under the slide. He got stung 4 times on the neck and armpit. Trying to ice the area with an ice pack and also a wet tea bag (that we learned about from researching on the internet) was not fun at all. A trick that helped calm him down was to let him lie down on the couch with the movie "Nemo" on. After 20 minutes, the swelling seemed to have come down and by the next day, there was no swelling or redness left. Lucky! The next day, I was clearing out our deck chairs at the back of the house when I didn't realize that I had gotten too close to a sweat bees nest. Wouldn't you know it - but I got stung twice on my left leg! Caleb had sympathy for me. Oh well -- August seems to be a time to watch out for bees, especially when the weather is hot.

Let me hold you longer

I can't help it, but say it again - I really love Karen Kingsbury's novels. When I visited her website this week, I learned of her section on children's books as well. So I have to share with you a video of her narrating one of her books called "Let me hold you longer". By the end of the video, I had tears (of joy) in my eyes and I've now decided to buy several copies of this book as part of giving gifts for my friends and especially to any new moms.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rQeDfcvTRnA

Aldi's the best!

I love a good bargain! It gives me the fuzzy, nice, warm feelings, when I find the best deal out there. Back in Maryland when we had to watch our finances pretty carefully, I would do everything I could to use coupons and only buy groceries on sale, etc. Since moving to Michigan, it seems like our food budget keeps going up. I decided that if I could make it work in Maryland, then I could surely save money now.

The ALDI's store that's closest to our home is the bom! (unlike the one back in MD, that made me feel like I was shopping at the ghetto store). This one is clean and well stocked and not crowded. I couldn't believe it when I bought milk, blueberries, strawberries, and some other veggies for only a buck each!! Of course I don't think everything is worth buying there, especially when I'm trying to avoid the hydrogenated food items. Whatever produce I do buy is definetely worth the savings though. This makes me feel good and I'm definetely planning on doing more shopping at ALDI's.

New favorite author

Since the beginning of the year, I have fallen in love with a new book author - Karen Kingsbury. She writes Christian novels and has such a way of writing that is so inspiring. I'm not into long novels so I started out with her Christmas series called the "Red Gloves" books and those are short and easy to finish. Reading her books usually encourages me to go do something about my own faith and to actually practically live it out. At the very least, it gives me something positive to think about.

This summer, I tried one of her other longer novels and am just in love with it. The title is "Like Dandelion Dust" and I can't seem to get enough of it. I read before bed (that's the only time I have) and as a result have been kept awake longer than my usual bedtime. It's kind of a nice habit to have reading before bed instead of my usual spacing out in front of the TV, which usually ends up being the Food Network channel because there seems to be nothing else satisfying to watch. I just love the library because I can get most of the Kingsbury novels there.

Where is the summer going?

The summer is quickly flying by. How could it be August already? The reality of this kicked in when John told me that we only had 4 more weeks left before he went back to teaching and Sydney starts Kindergarten! The weather has stayed around the high 70s and low 80s, so it really hasn't felt like much of a summer. We're not complaining because it really is pleasant weather.

Let's see - what's happened since my last blog? Oh yes! A lot!

1) Vivien's parents and brother's family came over from UK and Malaysia. John's family drove here as well for a few days so we could all meet up. It's so very rare that both our families are able to get together, so that was a memory.

2) We took Vivien's parents sightseeing around Michigan. We drove up to Mackinaw Island and made a stop in Traverse City as well. It was a nice relaxing time and the weather was nice too.

3) Sydney had Vacation Bible School towards the end of June and she really enjoyed the Go Studio Go theme of Go Share, Go Lead, Go Risk and Go Tell.

4) We traveled to Iowa on the 1st of July to visit with family. We celebrated our 10 year anniversary on the 10th of July and had the opportunity to leave the kids with grandparents in Ames so that we could take a little vacation to Seattle and Vancouver. (only made possible by the awesome grandparents!)

5) Sydney and Caleb are currently taking some swim lessons at the YMCA pool. This is Caleb's first time taking a lesson and Sydney's second. I'm so proud of Sydney and the way she has progressed! She used to not like getting her face wet in the pool, but with her new goggles, she comfortably puts her head under water and even counts to 5!

6) Oh yes, and of course my belly continues to grow quite a bit. It's fun to compare the stats of this baby's growth with the other two. Even though I feel the biggest and heaviest than I can ever remember with the other two, my journals of the past two pregnancies show that my weight is just about the same at 26 weeks!

Neighborhood Summer Kick-Off

One of the things we love about the Springbrook Hills Neighborhood is the social fun. In April, they had an Easter Egg Hunt for the kids at the park. Yesterday (June 5th) was the last day of school for all the kids, so they had some fun inflatable activities and a water slide at the Crofton park. Some friends of ours from Detroit came to visit, so we had a nice picnic for lunch and then the kids had fun bouncing in the inflatable set-ups and water slide. This is a picture of Sydney with the neighbor kids that she often plays with in the evenings. I couldn't get Caleb to take a picture and as you see, he's in the background, trying to get back into the bouncy house.

Pregnancy update

It's hard to believe it's June already. And yet, I'm not even half way through the pregnancy. This pregnancy has been different in more ways than one. I get easily out of breath and am tired more often than not. I'm starting to wonder if my stairs has anything to do with it. I go up and down the stairs countless times in a day, doing this and that. I guess that's one way to get exercise. My doctor says I need to slow down, but that seems impossible some days. I'm about 18 weeks now, so looking forward to the ultrasound in two weeks time. I don't feel any baby movements yet, but then again, maybe i'm not slowing down enough to really "listen". 

Sydney and Caleb now sleep in their own rooms and I'm so pleased that Caleb has adjusted rather easily to that. It helps that he is sleeping in the same bed. Sydney prayed this week for a baby sister so that she can have someone to share a room with. Funny how feelings change quickly though. She's ready to kick Caleb out of her room at times when she feels like having it all to herself. Time will tell  with all things.