What you ment to me....

I lost my only brother on September 15, 2005. To this day that is the worst thing I have ever had to experiance. My brother was my world! Of course we fought like all sibblings, but he was always there for me.

I remember when both my parents worked long hours and Aaron had to get my sister and I ready for school. I never was a morning person and instead of yelling at me or pushing me to get ready he would get me up a bit earlier and let me crawl in bwd with him and watch tv till I was more awake. Man I can still just imagine it to this day.

One time I took my earrings out and the hole had grown closed. He sat with me and used ice and my earring and reciting this silly poem for me to repeat until he got it back in for me without it hurting.

My brother was a true hero. Even in grade school when asked who my hero was I always replied Aaron. I maybe a bit biast as he was my brother but so many people would say the same. It was never a figure of speach to say that he would give the shirt off his back to anyone, because he litteraly did at times.

When I had my first baby he was there to cheer me on. He waited at the hospital the whole time. I am so thankful he was here to meet her. He died when she was 7 months old but he left his mark.

My baby girl will be turning 8 years old next month and it is hard to believe he has been gone that long. He never got to meet my two other kids...my son who is just like him.

I know one day God will bring us together again and that brings me so much joy.

The ice is rolling in...

Well I live in south west Missouri and the ice is all over the place.  It started raining about noon and the temperatures started dropping quickly.  It then turned to sleet and rain shortly after and started freezing the trees and powerlines.  About 4:25pm the electric went out and stayed that way for a good two hours or so. 

 

The bad thing is that my entire house is electric, so that means no heat.  I bundled the kids up and put their pajamas, the ones that cover your feet and all, and got the big heavy sleeping bag out.  They all sat bundled together on the couch nicely playing the iPad.  I must say I am glad it was charged because it kept them calm and quiet.

 

This made me think about how I could better prepare myself for this kind of stuff.  It is funny because today I was trying to put a home binder together with all the important things in it.  I need to take it a step further and figure out some steps to prepare me for the rest of the winter here. 

 

I do not have any family or friends near me, my parents are the closest at almost 3 hours away.  So there is no place for me to go when this happens.  I am thinking I need some sort of heater (kerosen maybe) that will work off something besided electric.  I have just always been afraid of those types of things.

 

Back in December the power went out on us but it was bed time so I just put all the kids in bed with me with all the blankets and the electric came back on while we were sleeping.

So I am curious about, those of you that live in cold climates, what you do to prepare for power outages?

Looking back...

Man 2012 was full of ups and downs for me. I finally got my divorce final after 2 years of being seperated. I learned to live on my own (had gotten married straight out of highschool). Moved around a lot, which sucked some but being in Georgia was great. I am now in Missouri and hating the winter lol.

Last year threw so many things at my feet that I never thought I would over come. Well I have made it to a new year, even though some of those things tugged along with me by my ankles.  I must say I am stronger and hoping to teach my kids that skill too. They have had to learn to adapt to many new things that has been hard on them as well.

As a single mother I had to make many cuts to our budget. We don't have TV or internet. We use my phone for internet when we need it. We don't go out to the movies or other places that require admission fees. We also eat all of our meals at home unless we have a pretty darn good coupon. We all know it could be worse.

This year I would like us all to work on compassion. I have a hard time not getting angry when others complain about not getting something for lack of money when said item isn't even a have to have. I have made my life work on $12000 a year with three kids and no state assistance.  I know that maybe I have a stronger will to not over spend on somethings than others. I know bot judging them is something I really need to work on. God made us all different and we are to be accepting of that.

What things did you learn from last year? What do you hope to learn this year?

TYSC Weekly Experiment Results: Bending Water

TYSC Weekly Experiment result and conclusion: BENDING WATER

Results: The stream of water moves towards the balloon
Conclusion: When the balloon is rubbed on your hair, it becomes static and has an electric charge. Water also has a slight electric charge and gets attracted to the balloon.

 

This was a very cool science experiment for the kids and I.  I hope you guys check TYSC on Facebook and do some of the cook easy weekly experiments.

TYSC Weekly Experiment

http://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/The-Young-Scientists-Club/170174354854

TYSC Weekly Experiment BENDING WATER

Materials Needed: balloon and a faucet

Methods:
... 1. Blow up a balloon.
2. Rub the balloon all over your hair to make it static!
3. Turn on your faucet so that a constant but small stream of water comes out.
4. Move your balloon very close to the stream of water but make sure that you don’t touch the water.
5. Observe what happens to the stream of water!

Post your results with photos!

We will post experiment explanations on Mondays, but look forward to hearing from you first through posts and photos.

 

 

So first we needed to charge the balloon....Micah was a great sport!

 

Next we put it to the stream of water to see that the stream would pull towards the balloon, however that is hard to capture on camera.

 



 

Very cool little experiment to do today!  Easy schooling after the holidays!

Sadness All Around

Tis' the season to be jolly?!  I can't help but have an issue with being jolly.  I do not know the kids that got killed but I do have a 7 year old and a 6 year old.  This breaks my heart that this has happened.  People I see are blaming it on the guy having a mental issue, that doesn't make it normal for him to kill KIDS.  Being mad at the school is no right to kill these babies.  What are these parents going to do with presents under their tree and fun traditions planned with those babies?  What are these babies that survived going to do when they have to go back into that school and remember those sounds and those images?  As an adult I have a hard time with those things, I can not even go in the home that my brother passed away in.  How is a CHILD going to do it?  They are going to have no choice but to go back into that school and those memories.  I pray for these souls and for the families.  I am thankful I have my babies home with me everyday so that I can spend as much time with them as possible.  It will not be long before they are grown and leave my home anyways.  I thank the Lord everyday for allowing me to stay at home with my kids.  I may live poorly but we have a warm home, food, and most of all love.

A new Christmas

This is our first year making a new tradition for my kids and I.  I am divorced and we live 1,000 miles from their dad, and hundreds of miles from any of my family.  Tradition used to be that Christmas Eve Eve we would go stay the night at my parents and on Christmas Eve we would all wake up (my sister and her kids and my brother and his kids too) and open gifts then my mom would cook a big lunch/dinner for us.  Then on Christmas Day we did our own little family Christmas.  In 2005 my brother passed away and that tradition started to dwindle.  My sister-in-law stopped staying the night and wouldn't make it till late in the morning to open gifts.  So now that tradition is void. 

This year being a new type of family with my children I want to make it extra special.  My kids are 7, 6, and 4 but they already figured out that Santa was not real.  Between learning about Jesus and saying that there are to many Santa's around that are not the same person he had to be a fake.

This year I think we are going to do our own Polar Express.  I want to get the kids ready in their jammies and go for a ride in the van looking at the wonderful Christmas Lights.  I found this on Pintrest and it made me want to do it more!  http://miraclemama.blogspot.com/2011/12/making-memories.html

 

As a kid my dad worked a lot and long hours.  So while he was gone on Christmas Eve we would beg my mom to let us open at least one gift.  She finally started letting us but we had to wrap it back up and put it back under the tree before my dad got home.  Eventually he found out and we started having Christmas on Christmas Eve instead.  I am unsure how I want to do it with my kids now that we have started a new life.  The time is slowly ticking down but I will soon have to decide.  When do you have your Christmas?

 

Another thing I aways do is take my kiddo's pictures.  Seeing as I am a pretty penny pinching mama I don't normally ever go get pictures done unless they are having a free portrait deal.  However the older the kids get I am finding it even harder to do than when they were babies and wouldn't look at the camera.  Now it is "stop touching me, you are to close" or such shrills coming from their mouths.  So it is the 10th of December and I only have my 6 year old pictures done and a no so good picture of my son.

 

 

 

So tell me what are your family traditions?  Are you going to implement anything new this year?