Miriam's First Book

Note:  Spoiler alert for Grandma K.:  Miriam started this book as a mother's day gift for Grandma, and didn't get it finished in time for mother's day.  She is planning to give it to Grandma next time she sees her.  Grandma, if you don't want to spoil your surprise, then don't read this yet!

Miriam read the book, "Are You My Mother?" in school and decided to write and illustrate her own version at home.  Somehow it turned into a mother's day gift for Grandma K., which I thought was very sweet.  Here is a peek at her work... the picture quality isn't the best because Miriam was helping me take them.  :)

Proud Author

 

Where Is My Mother?

The Mother is Leaving

The Egg is Hatching

The Egg Hatched

The Baby is Falling
(sad part)

The Baby is Leaving to go
Find Its Mother

They Walked Right Past Each
Other and They Didn't Even See

Happy Mother's Day!
I Love You
Love, Miriam

The End

 

Peter kindly pointed out that it is kind of a sad ending, and was starting to suggest that maybe she should add something at the end.  I quickly cut him off as this project has already taken weeks to complete, and I'll admit that I wanted it wrapped up!   

 

3rd Grade Field Trip

Today Esther and I spent a drizzly morning with her class exploring the history of Grand Rapids.  We started out at the old city cemetery and found the grave of John Ball's family (John Ball of the zoo fame).  We walked around the Heritage Hill area and looked at houses, playing an "I spy" game of finding different types of architecture on the houses and hearing some of the history of them.

Then we went to the City Archives and Museum Storage building.  It was very interesting!  The city archivist is the only one Grand Rapids has had, and he is very knowledgeable.  He is retiring this year, so it was neat that we could meet him.  He showed the students a book of criminal records from the early part of the city's history (late 1800's) and explained how and why they preserve documents.  We then rode a huge elevator and visited the public museum storage.  The curator told us that only 5% of the inventory is actually on display at a time, and that they rotate things regularly so that they will be preserved longer.  There were some very interesting and unusual items there, and he made it fun for the students by showing them some unusual things.

Our final stop was St. Mark's Episcopal Church, which is Grand Rapids' oldest church.  It is a beautiful church, and the pastor did a nice job of explaining the history and also talking about some things that the church currently does to serve the community.

We covered a lot of ground in 3-1/2 hours, but it was a lot of fun and I learned many new things even though I've lived here almost my whole life!

Happy Mother's Day!

This morning I was awakened at 7:00 sharp by 3 excited kiddos bearing gifts.  They had made cards and gifts.  They also each had a beautiful hand painted item from Naked Plates.  Casey's boss Janis babysat them last month and took them there to paint and pick out little gifts to put inside.  It was so sweet of her to do that and they loved presenting me with their gifts.  They also did a great job of keeping the secret!



Esther made a candy dish and had dark chocolate mint M&Ms to put in it. She also gave me a little bear and a beautiful card that she made on her own one night when I was gone.

Peter painted a mug with a bunny on the side, and it was filled with hot cocoa mixes.  He made a pretty clay flower in art class at school and also made a really cool card with special things about me written insde.

Miriam also painted a mug that had a heart shaped handle, and it had coffee with it.  She made a flower out of perler beads at school that she had been hiding in her room for a few weeks.  She also made a little card secretly one day at home.

Casey made French toast for breakfast and then we went to church at Shawnee Park with my parents and Karen and Juan.  Then we had steak for lunch and spent the afternoon at my parents' house with them and my Aunt Elaine.  It was a great, relaxing mother's day!

On a side note, Casey went to Canada for a couple days for work and came back last night.  Janis bought the kids these Canadian Mountie stuffed animals.  So cute!

Sergeant Bucky Beaver, Sergeant Bull Moose, Sergeant Snow Bear

Peter insisted that I take a picture of him saluting his Moose!

Preschool Mothers' Tea

Today was the preschool mothers' tea for Miriam's class.  We had a great time hearing devotions, singing some praise songs (and dancing of course!), exploring the room together, and having cookies and lemonade.  At the end, the kids presented us with their gifts, a beautiful checkbook cover and a stepping stone.  It was a fun and special morning!

 

Singing, Soccer, Sunday and Ballet

This is a summary post about this past week.  Last week Esther and Peter had their spring program for school.  It was a beautiful time of praise and worship and all the kids did a great job.

Peter had 2 soccer games on Saturday because they made up one of the earlier games that was rained out.  It was a beautiful day, but he was very tired by the end of the second game!

Sunday church pictures... new outfits courtesy of Grandpa and Grandma when they came back from Florida!  So cute...

We spent a lot of Sunday afternoon outside.  The kids and their neighbor friends built umbrella forts!

Today Miriam had her final ballet class.  At the end of the class they did a little show.  Miriam had a big audience made up of Mom, Dad, Grandpa and Grandma W. and Grandma K.  The girls did a great job!  They each demonstrated something and then they did one dance to a song for us.

With Ms. Brooke

Reward for a job well done!

Grandma K. brought flowers for Miriam!
So sweet and Miriam loved them.