Pumpkin Party Day

Our Pumpkin Party/Costume Day finally arrived at school! 

We could finally officially announce the newest members of the U.S. Olympic Gymnastics Team...

 We loved seeing all of our little friends dressed up, too...and yes, that is me in the big bee suit.

 The party was a great success with lots of goodies and sweets!

 My teammates and friends...

 Brenna's class from left to right: train conductor, Hulk, Rudolph, witch, little bee, Olympic gold medalist :), Rapunzel, Sleeping Beauty, Cinderella, Sock Monkey Pirate

 Audrey's class from left to right: policeman, Spiderman, Indian, Minnie Mouse, Barbie fairy, Cinderella, Olympic gold medalist!, Rapunzel

Love having sweet fun on an otherwise warped "holiday"! More amazing gymnast pics to come ;)

Pumpkin Gospel

I highly recommend this hands-on illustration of how God transforms us into beautiful new creations to shine for Him! (I have seen it called the Pumpkin Gospel or the Pumpkin Parable if you look for a book to go with it.)

"My big round pumpkin shows me

God gives us a clean heart.

He will forgive our mess-ups.

He offers a new start. 

(Wash me...until I am clean and whiter than snow. Ps. 51:7)

 "The slime that fills the pumpkin,

all stringy slipp'ry goo,

reminds me of my insides

before God makes me new.

(Now you are set free from sin. Rom.6:18)

 "I scoop the mushy gushies

like God cleans out my sin.

When he says "I forgive you,"

I smile a great big grin.

(Our God, you bless everyone whose sins you forgive and wipe away. Ps.32:1)

 "Come look into my pumpkin:

he is all clean inside.

And outside he is wearing

a smile that's big and wide.

(Shout praises to the Lord! Ps. 149:1)

 "God's love is like a candle

that shines from inside out.

It's beaming deep within me,

And so I now can shout.

(You are like light for the whole world. Matt.5:14)

 "To glow like my big pumpkin

and have a nice clean heart,

ask God to please forgive you.

You'll have a brand new start."

(Act like people of the light and make your light shine. Eph.5:8-9)

Themes

My life often centers around themes. I guess that's why I like planning themes in the classroom so much.

For example, we hunted frogs with Layton...

...the same week we made frogs for the letter F at school.

In our Bible story, Moses also saw the plague of frogs in Egypt...and so did my kitchen!

Then there were spiders...We stomped them out (& all our other fears) with God's help in Children's Church. Then Kaleb told me I had a spider on my shoe...

That same day, my sweater/spider web tangled many little fingers...

...and we painted sticky spider webs with marbles!

But my favorite theme of every day...Good friends everywhere we go!

School Scenes

We are having such fun times at school! (I don't know if I am enjoying it more...or if the kids are!)

We had Yellow Day recently. Laney and Audrey were "twinkies" :)

 This is Audrey's little class. She has 8 friends in there and a wonderful teacher named Mrs. Mandy.

 Here is my class with Brenna and her 9 friends. This is how we sit in the pews for Children's Church.

 Marli is helping me model Joseph's Coat of Many Colors :)

 We make lots of new discoveries every day...

 ...and play with lots of sweet friends.

 We try to introduce them to many different types of things from painting rocks to shaving cream writing to playing instruments to glueing popsicle sticks to spraying water on chalk drawings...The list goes on and on. They really enjoyed making these little green frog rocks for the letter F :)

Audrey is turning into quite the little teacher herself :) She went through every single alphabet page for us at supper telling me how I could teach the little class every single letter.

 Thank you, God, for our little school...and for all of our little schoolchildren.

Fire Safety Week

We have been Junior Firefighters around here this week! 

We even have a Fire Puppy :)

 Then the real firetruck and firefighters came to our school!

 They brought us our very own fire helmets.

 Most were in awe of the big red truck and firefighter gear...

 ...but some were just not too sure.

 It was so important for them to see what firefighters look like in their full gear and know they don't have to be scared of them.
 

 We even got to spray water out of the hose...

 ...and climb in the truck!

 Some kids decided it wasn't the career choice for them...

...but we were all so excited to learn about fire safety and thankful for the brave people who keep us safe from fires. Thank you to the Comanche Volunteer Fire Department for the great learning experience!