craft club adventures

I've been so busy and wish I had more exciting things to say here.  I'm not that exciting I think. :)

But these craft club projects were exciting! Matthew taught kirigami today, and I taught quilling. I loved how our work is going so far on these! :) Next week we will continue these two and add pop-up cards for Valentines' Day.

Nothing Much, Just Life

I wish I had more interesting things to say.  I would love to come on here and write profound things every day, but I'm not that exciting a person. :)
I hope 2012 has been good to you so far.  Time sure does seem to go by faster and faster; we're already halfway through January!  I've gotten back into my school groove and am hard at work completing the eighteen million assessments we have to complete with our children.  So far this week I gave five 2 different minute math "probes." I love that word-probe- think it is just a really ironic word for educators to have to use. :)  I completed my spelling assessment with all the kids, completed the DIBELS testing and the next math chapter pretest with my second graders. I also started the lovely TRC reading assessment this week.  I did all that while continuing to teach some actual real lessons too. :)  Now all I have left is to finish the TRC with ten kids and administer two grade level writing prompts.... and there seems like there should be something else I should do..... oh, yeah, wait for it-  TEACH! :)  I almost forgot that's what it is I started out to do- be a teacher. :) hahahahahahaha  In all seriousness though, I am happy with the testing results for my kids so far.  No one will be able to label me a "bad teacher" this year- thank God!!!!

Everything at home is good too.   Robert is hoping to buy his first vehicle today; he's going to with Rob to make an offer on a used truck in a little while.  By May, he'll be back on the road with his job and gone most of the rest of the year (out of town on the weekdays travelling and working- home hopefully some weekends).  Barbara was able to get two classes this semester and is still working at McDonald's while hoping for more gainful employment with more than two days a week soon.  She found out she has enough college credits to substitute so she's started that ball rolling.  I hope she can get some sub jobs before too long. :)  Matthew is looking for work and starting to move on as it looks as though his ear will not cooperate and will prevent him from following his dream to join the Army.  I know it's been hard for him, and I'm praying that he will be able to find his place in the world soon.

My mother-in-law was in the hospital pretty much all week this week.  It was hard for Rob to be here and not know really what all was going on.  I was trying to scramble some grocery funds together for him to go home, but she's home from the hospital and hopefully doing better.  Please pray for his mom that she will continue to heal and feel better. 

What other minute details can I bore you with? :)  I made my third grocery cart seat cover this week for a coworker's baby shower, and it looked really nice! :) I'm actually getting better at sewing!  I'm almost ashamed of that first one now that I finally figured out a tricky part of the pattern/directions (thanks to my awesome hubby!), but thankfully the last two have looked nicer and probably not too many people see all the mistakes I know about.  I'm so thankful for the nice machine I was blessed with last summer and the push to get back to sewing my cousin gave me!  I wish we had an extra room where I could set up a little studio.  I haven't done as much with card making or crafting this past year, and a large part of it is there is no place to do it unless I just permanently take over the small kitchen table and clutter up our kitchen.   My next project is to make a walker bag for my mother-in-law.  Barbara and I found a really pretty quilted fabric for her, and I hope to get it done this week. Someone at work said I should open up a shop.  I think about that a lot more than anyone knows, actually. I would love to have a small gift shop where independent crafters/artists could sell their stuff- including me, of course.  I just don't have any idea if that's actually a good idea or how to go about finding out or getting started. 

Barbara, Matthew, and I are doing an after school craft club still, and we started paper mache snowmen this last week.  We used small styrofoam balls as our base and I think they're going to be really nice when we get done.  Now I need to start practicing (in my spare time) how to do origami and kirigami because I have to be able to teach the kids how to do that in a couple weeks!  I have a couple books for my research; I started that over break but I didn't have the paper with me to try it out.

Well, I have probably put you to sleep by now.  I should get my grocery list finished and get on out the door.  I have a TON of assessments to score this weekend and data to enter into excel forms.  Report cards are due Friday too, and I have projects I need to do. 

So bye!  Hope January brings you something wonderful!  Love from NC!
Beka :)

Uncle Rob

Rob LOVES Zoe!  And it seemed that Zoe kind of liked him too.  I share evidence of these two facts here.

 Eating and talking and just hanging out on our last day in their corner of the world.

 playing with the blocks together

 I know she's a bit blurry- she doesn't sit still so it was not easy to get a photo of her without her being " in action." :) 

 Loved this one!!!!  Uncle Rob was reading and making all the animal sounds for her as they read together.

These are my absolute favorites!!!!  These tell another story.  Rob and Zoe would play "chase" and then he would hide around the corner and call out to Zoe.  She turned around to come chase/find him.

 Not sure what she was doing for sure, but she would holler and point at Rob.  So stinkin' cute!!!  She knew where her Uncle Rob was hiding though!

 Or, she thought she did.  "Where did he go???"

 "Boo!"  "Oh, there you are!"  hahaha  Zoe has the best laugh!!!!

Zoe and her Uncle Rob from Rebekah Thomas on Vimeo.


Untitled from Rebekah Thomas on Vimeo.

And the last one, Zoe gave Rob some kisses and hugs.

Zoe part 2

Yeah, I know. :) You'll have to pardon me. I'm partial to that niece of ours!!!

These first few tell a "story"- Zoe loves phones and wanted Barbara's.

 So, Barbara, being a good cousin tried to show Zoe her phone.  Zoe just wanted the phone, though.

 Barbara, not to be bossed around either, kept trying to show it to Zoe and talk to her about the phone.

 But, as you can see, in the end, Zoe won the phone battle. :)

 Bathtime with Aunt Beka

 She puts that tongue out a lot- cracks us up!

 I loved this face- it was like she was saying, "Aunt Beka, what are you trying to do- drown me?"

 And with that, she was done and ready to get out. She was trying to climb out of Grandma's sink.

 Yay!

Zoe's Sleepover with Aunt Beka, Uncle Rob, Grandma & Papa

My sister and Scott wanted to "trade" kids so we had a kid swap one night.  The "old folks" got to keep Zoe, and the young adults went with Jessica and Scott for a late night of movie watching, eating video games, and talking.  

So, what did Zoe do with us?  It's our secret.  You know- what happens at Grandma's stays at Grandma's? :) hahaha

Well, first we had some dinner.  Uncle Rob enjoyed this!  And one thing we learned while we were home, do NOT get in between Zoe and food.  She promptly let us know if we did not feed her quickly enough.  My kind of kid!

 playtime with Uncle Rob (another post coming with tons of pictures of Zoe and her Uncle Rob)

 Zoe got to campout downstairs with us.  While we played Scrabble, Zoe played in her playpen with her toys.  It was so sweet when she started talking to the Ernie character on the toy there in front of her.  She just held it, looked at it, chewed on him, and jabbered at him. Awwwwww...

 Hi Papa!

 Helping her Papa spell some good words!

 She was getting sleepy by now and not too sure what I was doing with my camera.

 I promised Zoe we wouldn't tell on her and she promised to not tell on Uncle Rob and me because we let her stay up late with us and watch some t.v.  :)  Just our little secret!

Then she slept downstairs with Uncle Rob and me.  She woke up about 5:45 not sure of where she was I think, but came and slept/snuggled with me on the love seat.  I will CHERISH that memory for a long time to come!!!

Zoe and Aunt Beka at our 1st Sleepover from Rebekah Thomas on Vimeo.

Zoe

Rob and I are thrilled that we got to be back home for Zoe's first Christmas.  Zoe is our niece- our first, much anticipated, and much adored niece.  It hurts to be so far away from her and not be a part of her day-to-day life, so this was a special treat for us.
I'll try to not bore you to death or make your eyes bleed from photo overload, but I can't hardly restrain myself.  Here are some of my favorite "Zoe" pictures from Christmas.

Let's start with this cute video.  Zoe was not too sure about all of us big people of course.  On that first night we were there, though, she was fascinated with Robert and all his hair. :)

Zoe, Meet Your Hairy Cousin from Rebekah Thomas on Vimeo.

My Momma and her pride & joy, Zoe. :)

 I know I'm partial, but isn't she a cutie?!? :)

 Our oldest, Robert with his cute cousin.  I love their faces in this photo. :)

 She was, as all babies are, more interested in the wrapping paper than the gift. :)

My sister, Jessica with her sweet baby.  For some reason, I didn't take any photos of Scott.  Sorry about that, Sis.  Not sure why that is???

 Zoe is looking up at Uncle Rob.  He wanted a photo of her with his Cardinals blanket.

 On our last day together these two cousins decided to get together finally.  Zoe smiled at Matthew while we were there, and was mesmerized by his height.  Matthew is timid of Zoe because he is so big and she is so little.  I loved these pictures of them together.

 This is my favorite!!!!  She just tucked up to him and grinned so big.  So precious!

 getting tired 

  sleeping beauty

Love how Papa and Zoe are looking at each other here.

 blurry photo- but Robert and Zoe were laughing so hard together- it was adorable

 Zoe wanted to put Barbara's necklace in her mouth.  She just kept sticking it in Barbara's mouth and laughing.

 fascinated by Barbara's face

 Zoe kept playing with Matthew's chain and the ring he put on it.

 tickle time!



Surprise Christmas Trip 2011

We've been in NC for six years.  When we came we hoped/thought we would get to go "home" for Christmases, but that didn't happen.  Multiple paycuts, lack of $, and young people needing to work got in the way of that desire.  I feel guilty (because it's Rebekah, she feels guilty about everything- in case you hadn't already figured that out).

Anywhoo, a miracle occurred this year and all of our kids were able to get off of work for a few days at Christmas.  All the kids also contributed to the cash needed to go home and we snuck off across country as soon as I got out of school and showed up on my parents' doorstep one night before Christmas to surprise them. :)  And surprise them we did!!!! :) :) :) 

To save yourself some time, watch the first few seconds (about 10) and then skip ahead to about 2:35 or so to see the g'parents get their surprise. :)

Operation Surprise the Grandparents from Rebekah Thomas on Vimeo.

It was Zoe's first Christmas, so we hoped it would be an extra special Christmas for my parents. We were able to visit with them for a few days before heading down towards St. Louis to see Rob's mom and a few of my relatives in that area. What a trip- over 2,000 miles in total!

Home

Home.  A simple word. With so many meanings and associations and emotions.

I'm rethinking what that one word means to me now.

home-Greensboro NC- I reside in a place we call home.  I go home after teaching a group of children every day.  We returned home from our Christmas trip to the place we live.  I do love this home we are buying; we had to wait a long time to get it, and I am so thankful for it.  We live here now; have lived in this area for over six years now- longer than we've ever lived in one place before. 

home- Illinois-side of St. Louis metro area- The places where I was born and did most of my growing up.  A sense of "roots" if you will. Many of my extended family are still in that area.  It is the place where my husband was born & grew up, where we met, fell in love and married, where we graduated from, where we struggled those first years of marriage, where we put ourselves through college, where our children were born, and many family memories are there. 

"home"- Quad Cities, IL/IA- What we often refer to as our "home" or "back home" is 900 miles or so away from where we currently live.  It is where my parents and sister/brother-in-law/niece live.  It is where we moved from to move here.  It has a lot of sentiment attached to it- long, green, tall fields of corn; lots of snow and cold; storms (real weather); farm fields where you can see for a long way out and watch storms come in or the combines harvesting the crops; the Mississippi (which I have almost always lived near); many memories of our children growing up, Christmases together, school and sports events; work friends; children we've taught...

The problem Rob and I seem to face is that we find we don't "belong" to any of those homes it seems.  We visited some of them over our Christmas break, and it felt strange to us.  We know these places, we have many memories and recognized the physical places we were in.  But we felt like an outsider looking in.  We grew up and lived in these places but they changed/we changed and we don't quite fit in anymore.  Yet we don't belong to this new "home" we live in either.  We are outsiders here in NC- strange creatures who know what tornadoes look like, know what "real" storms, cold, and snow is.  We don't think the weather here is brutal or horribly cold.  We don't care much for super sweet tea.  We don't talk quite like people here (though I see that starting to change and kind of hate it).  My family notices changes in me and though it's silly I know, I cried over that while we were home. 

I guess all this means is that I will have to look to HOME - the only one that really matters anyway.  This earth is only a place to travel and live for a handful of hopefully double digit years before moving on to the eternal home.  And feeling like out outsider gets old some days.  Feeling alone and disconnected leaves me homesick for HOME.  So I'll try to cherish the good memories of my old homes, learn to make a home here for my children to cherish, and look for the day when I can go HOME to a place that will not leave me feeling homesick or left behind or disappointed.  And until that day comes I will enjoy every day I get to come home to this abode and be with the ones I love and every chance I get to go "home" and see my dear parents, sister, brother, and niece.

crazy busy days

I always do this- plan lots of projects and things to do in the last days before break.

Today my class worked on their service project (making treat bags for EVERY adult/staff member/volunteer including cafeteria, office, support staff, and bus drivers at our school). They baked gingerbread cookies with Matthew and decorated them with me. They helped me wrap two gifts for volunteers. Plus we had reading and math lessons somewhere in there too.

The last two days of school include:

• jazz concert for those who earned enough "Jaybucks"
• finishing our service project & delivering all those treat bags throughout the day
• wrapping one last gift
• making cards for our volunteers, a donor, and our parents
• a class celebration
• the monthly "Jaymart" store
• the school's Holiday Store (kids get to go and choose one free gift for one parent)
• and, oh yeah, I will be still teaching in there somewhere :)

I haven't slept much at all in the last week; I hate insomnia.

I have to go, but I will write later in the week to share some photos and blab about our Christmas I'm sure. I have some neat videos I hope to be able to post- have to figure out a couple things first, but please come back and see.

Until then, Merry Christmas to you and your families!

Much love,

Bekaboo :)

Craft Club fun

I am doing an after school club this year- the Craft Club. I was really, really nervous about it but wanted to try to do something to support the after school club program at our school and help our kids. So, I stepped out and, boy am I glad I did!!!! What fun we are having! I have two of my own young people helping me; Barbara & Matthew have been GREAT volunteers at school and have been such a big help!!!

Today was our third session. The first week the kids made nature cards with pine branches, leaves and nature stamps. Last week they made fleece scarves for themselves and waxed paper/melted crayon "window" cards which turned out REALLY nice!

Today's project was holiday card making. I can't post the kids' photos, but Matthew took some safe pix for me. Each of us took one of the cards, and the kids rotated around to make one or two of each.

The kids seem to be really enjoying the projects so far, and I am having a blast working with the kids, finding and planning projects, and working alongside my own children. :)

We will be running this session through February and then starting a new group of kids through the end of the year. In January we are going to do paper mache snowmen, origami & kirigami, shape cards (snowmen/penguins), and I think maybe make some glazed coasters. I'm going to look for something really, really neat to do with them in February for our finish. I've been bookmarking lots of ideas and am thinking of things for the Spring session: paper mache "spring" baskets, book blankets, popup cards, paper flowers...

Where in the World is Jesus?

Pardon the Waldo reference; it worked in my head anyway at the moment. :)

Jesus came in a manger. He died on a cross. He rose from the grave. But he's not in any of those places now. So where can we find Him? Well...

I might be wrong, but today I think I glimpsed Jesus at some not-so-"normal," certainly not-holy places. I think I saw Him wearing a Santa hat and playing Christmas music on his portable keyboard outside Blumenthals & Dollar General on Market St. in Greensboro. I rowed down my window, waved, smiled and hollered, "Merry Christmas" to him and he wished me a Merry Christmas too. Made me smile so big inside!!!

I saw Him outside the JoAnn's fabric store where I held a door for him and we chatted for a minute about using a cane to walk (he was). I told him how thankful I was to be walking and doing so well after the terrible fall I had six weeks ago. He gave me a present from his pocket- a tiny cross that says "God loves you" on it. We wished each other His blessings and a Merry Christmas.

I saw Him today in the smiles on three 4th grade children's faces as they gave up their recess time to come hang out in my room, talk with me, and just spend time around me and my students. I saw Him in A's face as she talked about her memories of my old Kindergarten classroom and the time that I hid the gingerbread cookies and told the kids their Gingerbread Men had run away and we went on a hunt for them. I saw Him in her love for me and mine for her. I saw Him in the pipecleaner bracelet E made for me, and in S's laughter at/with me and in the hugs and kisses they all had for me when it was time for them to return to their classes.

I saw Him in my children's hard work and improved behavior today. They were extra especially good for me when my stomach got sick and I had to keep running to the bathroom.

I saw Him in me too today- when I wished people Merry Christmas- I was sure I felt Him smiling at me. I saw Him when I walked with hardly no limp at all into a doctor's office where just two weeks ago I could only limp horribly in and the doctor thought I might have a permanent limp and need therapy.

I saw Him with me as I picked up pants for my son, gloves for all my students (their poor hands were freezing today at recess), thread for Christmas projects and things I'm making.

I saw Him in my 21 year old son who passed me our two bags of groceries as we left the store to run across the parking lot and offer his help to a single mom with her young son who was obviously fighting cancer.

I saw Him in my 20 year old daughter who is working hard to help me make a ton of cookies to give away to our neighbors, a doctor's office, the people who work at a fast food joint we used to go to, and whoever else we end up sharing with. (Let's just say my family teases me because it is my tradition to take cookie/treat trays to gas stations & fast food places on Christmas day- I'm weird, I know.)

I saw Him in my 19 year old son as he played on the playground with my students (oh, how they LOVE Mr. Matthew!!!) and as he worked with students today to help them understand their math assignments and as he exhibited great patience with great grace.

He came 2000 years ago to a poor, lowly family in the most unholy way a king could come. I think He likes to operate that way- on the humble side, coming to the world in unconventional, "unreligious" ways. Maybe I'm silly, but I don't think so. I think Jesus is all around us if we only look. He's in the most simple things as well as the grand things.

I'm curious. Where have you seen Jesus lately?