Taking the Scenic Route

Field Trip!

Here are some neat things I found on the net.

Who knew some sand and a lightboard could be so interesting? 

this takes a few minutes to watch-has music, so turn on your speakers. kid appropriate.

International Children’s Digital Library

January 03, 2005
According to thefutoncritic.com, the new “Little House on the Prairie” miniseries on ABC will air as part of “The Wonderful World of Disney” beginning March 26, 2005 at 8/7c. It is produced by Ed Friendly, who also developed and produced the original series, but will follow the original Laura Ingalls Wilder books more religiously. If the miniseries is a major success, ABC could bring it back as a primetime series for Fall 2005, similar to the way the original premiere movie spawned the original series in 1974. (mattyg1306)

Snow Day!

Today we had a beautiful snow and it was warm enough to go play in it for a bit.  We had some huge thick flakes, but it wasn’t sticking very well because the ground was not cold enough, so you don’t really get a good sense of how snowy it was from the ground.

Yummy Snow

Snowman building

Unflattering, but funny pictures of Zach & I.

Zane is talking up a storm!  Some of the cute things he has said in the last few days:

We were having pizza and he was picking the toppings off.  No big deal except he kept tossing the pieces on to the floor instead of the table.  The second time he did it, Zach goes to put the pizza away, saying “If you are going to make a mess, the pizza is going away”.  Zane replies, clear as day “ok, I don’t need any more pizza” and then takes his last piece back to his room.  We both stood there looking at each other like “did he just say that?”  lol.

Looking in the fridge for a snack, I was listing off the snack choices as I pointed to them.  “yogurt, pears, oh…that ham and cheese from Grandma”, to which he started jumping up and down exclaiming “cheese!  cheese! Grandma cheese!” 

In general, he is naming people and things, lots of “uh-ohs”and “OKs” that are so adorable it is difficult to keep a straight face sometimes

There is one phase that is quickly exiting the stage in regards to talking.  When he started doing ‘conversational” sounds, (it had the cadence and tone of somebody conversing) but could absolutely not be understood, I was trying to decide what it sounded like, because it sounded exactly like *some one*, but couldn’t put my finger on it.  Last Sunday, when I heard him doing this from a distance I suddenly realized it sounded exactly like Katherine Hepburn in her later years.  lol.  He hasn’t done it much since Sunday, which means the Hepburn impressions only happened for a month or so, but once you realize who he sounds like, it is really tough not to giggle when he talks.

I think the legislators in my state have to be the stupidest ones in the nation.  They have been pushing back the discussion of educational funding to make sure gays can’t get married, because, ya know, it is sooooooo important we legislate who somebody loves, but doesn’t really matter whether or not they can READ.      Today, they cut education across the board. They are also trying to once again to take Evolution out of the science textbooks.  I guess not teaching our kids science would help with the budgetary problems.    Man, it sucks to be living in the midst of idiots. 

I got the call.  Sheryl died today.  The funeral is Sunday afternoon.  It is good she didn’t linger in pain, but it must just be ripping her family up inside.  I know I am not ‘young’, but I can not imagine losing my Mom even at this age.

Some prayer requests for those who pray:

1.  Zach’s Grandma Jackie is going in for hip surgery early in February.  She is in a lot of pain and has never had surgery before.  Actually, until the last few years, she had never even taken asprin or an antibiotic…she has always been really healthy, so I imagine this is a frightening thing for her. Please pray that her pain is reduced, the surgery goes well, and she heals quickly.

2.  My Dad’s cousin Sheryl is in the hospital in her last hours of life.  (or at least last days).  (actually, her dh, Tony, might be the cousin, not sure…the “in law” title is always dropped in our family…once you are married you are as much family as blood-line)   She has been fighting cancer for some time and has said that she wants no more treatments and just wants to go home.  I went to school with all of the kids (actually had a crush on one of the sons when I was too young to understand what ‘related to’ meant), and the daughter, Lauri, and I were in the same small class together from the time we were in preschool through college, and we were both involved in theater & forensics, the same church camp growing up, and they went to Grandma & Grandpas church, so I saw her in Sunday School and their church things when I went there.  We spent much of our lives being both allies and rivals.  This mama is one of the only people whose house I spent the night at growing up doing sleepovers, and she was also very involved in school activities, so I knew them all really well.  One of my favorite pets was born on their farm too.  They are all such great people and all had a real talent for making people laugh, and it just breaks my heart to think of the pain that family is going through.  Please pray for this family, and for her passing to be peaceful and gentle. 

3.  That Joy continues to recover and the antibiotics are effective so she does not have to have open heart surgery again, and pray that her digestive system starts working better.  She is losing weight and her body is having problems processing the food she does manage to keep down.  She is doing better than she was, but still isn’t healthy yet.

While I am talking about books for Christian kids (see previous post) I gotta share one that is a little perplexing.  It is one of those “little golden books”.  Overall, good book and glad we got it.  Jesus is a little too Caucasian for my taste, but the illustrations are pretty good if you ignore that.  The part that is really weird is that it skips from the message about God clothing the lilies (flowers is what it actually says) in the field, so we shouldn’t strive for wealth because God will take care of us, directly to the last page where it says “After Jesus’ death, his followers took his teachings all around the world.  And the stories he told are still known and loved and retold today, in every land on Earth”.  Ok, that is true, however, something is definitely missing there.  lol.  They totally skip any reference to the passion week, his crucifixion, his death, and raising again.  Seems a bit odd for a book called “The Story of Jesus”

I’ve been looking for a good bible story or bible for Zane and found it surprisingly difficult.  I finally decided on “The Beginners Bible”  (shown below)  These are the things I was looking for:

Decent illustrations.  He is very visually oriented, and the pictures are going to have a huge impact on him, and I found a lot of the books had several different problems…either they were a bit scary/freaky looking, or most of the people in the book were really, really white.  The Beginners Bible had a nice balance between cartoon/non-scary drawings, and many different skin tones throughout.  Some of the things were a little humorous to me…like every time it talked about people getting married it seemed that the bride wore a modern white wedding dress, but I could live with that.

Had a good overview of stories.  Some of the kids bibles seemed to have very few stories and I wanted something a little more comprehensive, so he got a sense of the flow of things.  Evidently, the loaves and fishes story is the most popular story to tell kids because that one was almost always included in every book.  lol

The thing I struggled with the most is finding the balance between accuracy and being understandable to a young child.  It is the same thing we run in to at the adult level when you read the “Good News” versions…when you make the language simpler, it can subtly change the meaning.  There were a number of bibles that I put down because I really didn’t like how they handled simplifying the stories.  It can’t ever be ‘perfect’, but I felt like the Beginner’s Bible kept the message in tact enough that I could honestly elaborate when he had questions without haveing to ever say “well, I think that parable actually means…., not what it says”.  I don’t want him to hear the phrase, “that isn’t really true” in reguards to anything in the bible.  I can’t give specific examples of the top of my head, but there were some books where I just shook my head because I felt like they missed the entire point of some of the parables..it was dumbed down to just plain dumb.  This book seems to handle the simplifying process really well.  I also liked that it is was simple enough, and not too wordy, so it wouldn’t loose his attention.  Some of the books, even though the illustrations and format made it seem like it was for his age, were so wordy that there was no way he was going to sit still and wait for the page turn. 

The last consideration for us was price.  The Christain book stores in town, where there is the best selection, are also pretty pricy for us.  I wish that didn’t need to be a consideration, but it is.   I would love to have a bunch of Christain oriented books, but they are just so much more than other books, and I hesitate to buy them on Amazon or some discount place online without reading it first.  I do occasionally drive all the way across town ( a good 30-45 minute drive) to read some of the books there, and then look for them other places, but the only way I can really read them is when Zane is not with me. lol.  major problem there.  So, if anybody reading knows of good toddler/preschool Christian books, let me know.   I had seen this book at the CBS, but it was a whole lot more than the $10 I found if for at Walmart.

One of the mamas who’s blog I follow and who I read at MDC was in a car accident.  A semi flew off the highway and landed on her car.  She and her unborn child came out with only a bruise on her head.  She is five months pregnant.  She had to crawl out the back passenger window to escape.  If you look at the video archives, you can see the whole airing of the news story.  I am a little shaken just thinking about how scary it had to have been for her.

http://www.mothering.com/discussions/forumdisplay.php?f=16     (page 1 & 5 have blurbs from Anna)

http://www.wkyc.com/news/news_fullstory.asp?id=29258   (video archive has footage of news broadcast)