crazy!

I have lived in southern CA my whole time. We don't get to see very many stars. I have come to appreciate beautiful, full, harvest moons and the stars when I get to see them.

But tonight. Well, tonight I saw something I have NEVER seen.

It's a 22° halo ! No...I'm not being sarcastic, lol. And yes, I do believe everything I read on wikipedia. :)

I want to hear your stories, have you ever seen this? What went through your mind? Did you take a picture?

WFMW: 10 Fine Motor activities

I work in an autism class. We work on fine motor skills. A lot. Here are some of the things that we do to help our kiddos with fine motor activities. 

1. Clothespins- we give each child one clothes pin and have them use only one hand to pick something up and put it on a plate. We have really thin rectangular blocks at my school so we use those a lot but it could be anything- just as you can get the clothes pin around it. 

2) Cutting Sandwiches- so....that's actually my name for it. I really have no idea what it's called. All you need for this is two pieces of cardboard, a piece of paper, and a brass paper fastener. Cut your two pieces of cardboard into identical shapes- these will be the "bread" of your sandwich...they should be as alike as possible. Cut a hole through the middle of each, making sure that the holes line up. Stick a piece of paper in between each cardboard shape- making it a sandwich. Use the brass paper fastener, insert it through the hole on one side of the cardboard, through the paper, and then open the two sides away from one another on the back of the second piece of cardboard. The goal is for the child to be able to cut around the piece of paper and end up with the piece of paper being the same shape and size as the cardboard. For circles this is fairly easy. However, for a shape like a triangle the child has to be able to hold the "sandwich" together as they turn and cut. I hope this makes sense?

3. Tracing: We use a lot of shape templates. I have found that for kids with poor fine motor it is much easier for them to use templates where they are tracing on the inside- such as a shape cut out of a square piece of cardboard, then for them to trace the outside of a shape. Being able to press their pencil against the inside walls of the cardboard to form the shape seems to help them a lot. For those of you who are visual--- here's my word picture for you. It would be easier for a child to trace the inside of a cookie cutter rather than the outside. We don't use cookie cutters mind you, it's just to give you a visual picture. I really wish I had pictures from school to show you but I don't. Perhaps I will take some and update this post.

4. Play-doh. Oh, how we love play-doh. But we don't just let them squish it around. Nope, we give them tasks. We will often mix things into the play-doh, beads or beans for instance, and then have them search through the play-doh and pick them all out.

5. Paint! Finger paint or with paintbrushes. Usually trying to trace (large) shapes or letters that area already on paper.

6. When I worked at the pre-school we had parmesan shakers like you find at pizza parlors and the kids would put those red, hollow, stir stars through the holes.

7. Tongs- This is harder than using clothes pins because once you grasp an item with the clothes pin it automatically stays shut and you have to pinch it to open the clothespin and release the item. Using tongs is harder because it forces them to a) open the tongs to grasp the item, b) hold the tongs closed to keep the item, c) open the tongs to release the item.

8) Legos- or blocks that stick together. We usually use the very small square legos and they get to play around and stick them together.

9) Tracing- plain old boring paper and pencil tracing. This is my least favorite (and probably theirs, too!) but we do it. *sigh* Some of our kids have a very had time tracing but if we highlight everything that they need to trace it seems to help them.

10. Grab Bag Game- this is actually a lot of fun. It's also something you could easily re-create without having to buy the actual product. You fill a bag- ours is fabric- with small distinctly shaped items. We have a lot of weird little shapes with different textures. You need two of each shape. One goes into the bag and the other the teacher keeps. Then the teacher will show a shape to the child and let them feel it with their hands. The teacher then takes the shape back and the child sticks their hand into the bag. Without looking the child tries to grab the same shaped piece from the bag.

What have you used for fine motor that seems to work well? Anything that the kids really love? I'd love to know!

1,000 Gifts list #801-810

I am big sister to two younger brothers. I've been blessed to see them learn, grow, and mature, both physically but spiritually as well. My youngest brother, Jared, is turning into an awesome young man for the Lord. I'm so proud to be his sister. He is extremly funny, talented, and kind. He is such a big part of my family's life and he is a hoot. He's always doing or saying something that can make us laugh. He's easy going and fun to be around. I blogged about how he tried to tame while squirrels a while ago. He made a sock puppet Thursday night...and thought it was the best thing ever. And, just last week, he gave a picture of a wizard that he drew to an In'n'Out employee while going through drive thru. He's something else... :)

801) Jared going to Haiti on his first mission trip!
802) playing his songs for me on the piano and asking my opinion
803) buttons and socks and thread
804) crazy laughter
805) his wizard pictures taped up everywhere
806) his music constantly filling the house
807) him and his trend setting ways
808) always making me laugh
809) finding his Bible all around the house, pages highlighted
810) his fascination of all things Indian

“We can only be said to be alive in those moments when our hearts are conscious of our treasures.” — Thornton Wilder

barefoot shoes?

Have ya'll seen these shoes before? I hadn't up until last week when I was at the doctors. There was a man there wearing these shoes...interesting huh?

valentine's "stockings"

Do you know what I love most about Christmas? Celebrating the birth of Christ with my loved ones. But you know what I love second most?

Stockings! I think stockings are SO much fun. I have more fun unwrapping my stocking than I do my "real" gifts. My mom, sweet boyfriend, and I went to Arkansas this past Christmas and I made stockings for us, my grandparents, and my girlfriend's family. I LOVED buying the little dollar items to stick in the stockings. I also like to wrap the little things that go in the stockings, it's just so much more FUN to unwrap something!

The dollar bin at Targets had these cute little mailboxes. We're doing secret valentines at work. I considered buying one to put in my valentines mail box  but not all my gifts would have fit inside. Then on last weeks Work for Me Wednesday Jamielyn from I <3 Naptime  PIMPED out one of those dollar mailboxes.

That did it. I had to buy some. I decided to buy some for my family. *Note: Mine are NO where near as cute as hers is, but...I was making 5 out of 7 of them for boys and I know the cuteness factor would have been completly lost on them...* There are 7 mailboxes, I made one for my sweet boyfriend and another for the neighbor boy who pretty much lives at our house. I stuck some names on the front (told ya...not real fancy, lol). It's like STOCKINGS but for Valentine's Day! I put them out late Sunday night and will put little things in all week until Valentine's Day. Nothing fancy, candy, a little note, a Bible verse, ect.

Tell me you wouldn't get excited to see the little flag on your mail box up!?

(my camera's flash seems to have recorded every dust particle on our piano. *ahem*..)

1,000 Gifts List #779-789

It's been nearly five years ago that I sat on stage in a gold robe and graduated from highschool. It's been five long years or studying, papers, and test taking and I recently just transfered to a four year college.

I sat across from my advisor last week and listened to her list off all the classes that I was told to take that now don't count for anything once I actually reached my end goal. And I felt myself crumbling inside. The voices start popping up inside my head, "What a loser. Look at all your friends who are already done. You're never going to finish. What a let down you are."

I count the classes I have to take, four in total, before I can actually start the core of my major. Four more classes. I am frusterated, but I can do this.

I look online for the classes I need, determined to get them done and out of the way,  and my heart sinks even further. All general education classes. All offered during the time that I work. I can't graduate without these classes, but I can't quit my job for a ten week course either. I come up with a plan that involves switching work shifts with a co-worker on certain days for ten weeks and just hope that my co-worker will be willing to do so.

I approach my co-woker and explain my situation and her response is a brief, "I'm sorry, I don't want to." She walks away and I feel the panic rising and I begin to panic more because it is such a struggle to keep myself calm.

In an act of desperation I ask my last resort, another co-worker, who I know it will be a sacrifice for her to switch. She looks at me and with such grace says these simple words, "Yes. I'll switch with you. I don't mind." And I find myself bursting into tears in the middle of an elementary school lunch room as all that pent up worry is relieved. I am humbled by the sacrifice and the tears just keep streaming and I feel ridiculous for crying over a biology class and in the middle of work, none the less.

And Ann's words pop into my head and I remember. "Life is not an emergency." And I know that if I am full of grattitude I am not full of stress or worry...and I count...continue to count, to hang onto these God graces, my life line...


779) Brenda and her grace
780) the gentle reminder that "life is not an emergency!" and the truth behind those words!
781) each class taken means one less to do
782) long chats with Dragica and her encouraging words
783) understanding teacher at work
784) tears of relief
785) innocent and sincere thank you's from a sweet thrid grade girl
786) hands holded completed cross stitch- months of hard work coming to fruition!
787) dreams of a beautiful friend's beginning to take shape
788) baby blankets to make!
789) items crossed off of a check list- just focusing on one thing at a time!

WFMW: applesauce

Here's a handy tip I learned a while ago, it's probably fairly common knowledge, but it's still a good tip. As a way to cut down on fat in baked goods substitute the oil you are supposed to put in with applesauce.

I'm making some lemon poppy seed muffins as I write. The recipe called for 1/4 cup of vegetable oil. Instead I put 1/4 cup of applesauce. It works great for cake, keeps it nice and moist and doesn't affect the way it tastes or looks. :) I've also substituted applesauce for vegetable oil in waffles. Haven't tried pancakes but I'm assuming it would work fine.

That's my trick of the week? What tricks do you use for healthier baking/cooking without losing flavor??