Hanging in at her 7th WordCamp

It’s not even noon and we’ve resorted to “how about you watch a video while I listen to this talk” 

Morgan’s in the developer track soaking up some good stuff while we’re learning about blogging and community stuff. So fun to divide and check out our individual areas of interest. 

J’s been doing a decent job, but was getting a bit squirrelly so I pulled out the tablet, thankful we’d downloaded a couple videos already. 

She loves shopping for swag from the sponsors and meeting new friends but then needs a break. 

It’s so cool that the WordPress community can be a family thing for us.

Fair fun with Threads

This year, for the first time,  Threads of Compassion OKC  scarf donations were included as a category in the Oklahoma State Fair. It took 3 of us working together with the fair officials to get all the information in on time, but we did it!

It was so cool to see our work on display at the fair last week. Reading the tags on the 36 scarves displayed and realizing that I didn’t know most of them was really neat, too. That showed that by being listed in the fair program more people heard about Threads. What a cool way to spread awareness about it.

This was the first time I entered anything in a fair since I was a kiddo participating in 4-H. Way back when some of my family and I went to a day camp in the summer that included making stuff to enter in the fair. The only thing I can remember seeing displayed is some cookies we made one year. As I remember it, my cousin’s bag of cookies had turned to a mostly liquid form by the time we saw it, not a pretty sight.

And, I’ll admit, seeing a ribbon on my knitted scarf was kind of amazing, it was the first scarf I’d knitted and I really didn’t expect it to be worthy of an award, I just did it because I could and I wasn’t sure we’d have many submissions so I figured the more I could do the better.

So, while the reason for the scarves continues to be heartbreaking, the fun of working with others to offer support continues to be an encouragement. I’m hopeful that we can do this again next year, and that someday the violence will end and we’ll have to find another charity to donate to because Threads won’t be needed anymore. Until then, we’d love to have you join us if you can.

 

A not so lazy morning

We’ve introduced our girl to the Wii Fit and she loves it! 

This morning she asked to do the running game before school instead of watch a show.

As she was running today and slightly out of breath, she said “this is good exercise for my body” 

She is enjoying getting to the finish line and seeing her character not throw a fit at the end as she improves. 

Pokémon Go Crochet

I saw a post on Facebook about crocheted Pokémon Go creatures and decided to check it out. Combining crochet and Pokémon seemed like a great idea. It ended up being another really fun project to do, with the kiddo checking it out all along the way.

The Pokéball was an obvious first choice -it seemed easy enough to do, and it would be fun to toss to each other once complete. Oh, and when I told my husband I was thinking about it he suggested that our girl would be throwing it at her stuffed animals and at us to “catch” – he was right. Then, poliwag won the next spot because it’s such a cute little creature. And, the pattern seemed manageable, except for the black on the tummy, I had to pull Morgan into the project and have him dust off his not used in a long time cross stitch skills. He did it.

This article does a great job of summing up the information I saw that got me interested in making them. I don’t love the work, so I don’t see making extras to leave around pokéstops anytime soon, but I think that’s a really cool idea.

I used a free pattern from Nichole’s Nerdy Knots on Ravelry. I really appreciate her making the patterns available for free!

“It breaked my heart”

Here’s a snippet of our after-school conversation today.

Me: How was lunch?

J: It was good, thanks for the delicious lunch!

Me: Did you eat it all?

J: Yes, I ate my cheese, my meat, my crackers. I stacked them up and made a sandwich! When I did that Kid 1* and Kid 2* said “yuck”. When they said that it breaked my heart inside. So I said yum and it healed back up. And I ate my grapes and dessert.

Me: Did you just say it hurt your heart when they said yuck about your lunch?

J: Yes.

Yep, my almost five year old said that it broke her heart when 2 other kids made fun of her lunch. What a reminder that words have power. And, yes, when she was telling me about it my heart hurt a bit too.

Come on parents, teachers, grandparents, other adults: let’s keep trying to teach them all to be kind to one another. Let’s remind them that words matter, that they can build each other up or tear each other down. Yes, this means we need to watch what we say too 🙂

It’s possible you’re reading this and thinking that we just need to toughen up -that it’s not a big deal. And, while you’re entitled to your opinion, I’m frustrated to see that already in Pre-K my kiddo’s feelings are being hurt by the ones that are supposed to be her friends. Whether anyone else thinks it should matter or not, the fact remains that these kids saying “yuck” about her lunch hurt her feelings. How we treat one another does matter, our words have power, and if we can help the young ones know how to encourage each other, how to say kind, helpful things instead of mean ones, then I believe our world will be a better place for us all.

* Kid 1 and Kid 2 are also 4 years old, so I thought leaving their names out seemed best.

Birthday fun

“I love building Lego with you”

That’s what J just said while helping Morgan build his new Lego creation. 

“This is a great teamwork together Daddy”

I love watching my almost 5 year old build with her daddy. So much is happening as they play together.

 She’s learning about following instructions, making things match, and connecting Lego together. He’s getting to practice patience 🙂 And, she’s learning about Doctor Who as they discuss the pieces.

She asked if she was adding guns to the structure and was almost surprised to find they’re bars that provide energy to the TARDIS. Morgan explained that the doctor doesn’t like to use guns, he finds ways to solve problems with other solutions. She soaked that in and said “oh, like Doc McStuffins”. So, her Doctor Who education has begun and she’s connecting it to other things she knows.

Yay for new Lego and for family building time.