One Happy Bunny

Jingle has been with us now for a month and we are loving our little pet.  

Yesterday, we finally were able to introduce fresh veggies to our little bunny.  Emily had the honor of feeding Jingle his first "petite" carrot. At first, he didn't seem interested but after that first taste he was hooked. Emily fed him for a little while but then we put the carrot on a skewer system where he could nibble the carrot at his liking. He liked it for sure!!! 

Tonight, he was given a little bit of baby spinach. Dave said he gobbled that  up faster than the carrot.  

So happy our little bunny is happy and healthy!!

Jingle is a great addition to our family. Oh, and I promise I won't post a picture of every new veggie he tries but you have to admit he is so cute eating his veggies!

Brrr, so cold.....Mmmm, yummy soup!!

I've gotten back into the menu/meal planning mode this week and I'm off to a great start!

Pinterest has once again provided a winner recipe. This soup is made in the crock pot, so easy and so perfect for this very cold spell we are having here in NJ. 

The recipe for this Creamy Tortellini Soup can be found at the blog Heather Likes Food. It got a thumbs up from all four of us and I would highly recommend it. So easy, so delicious!!!!

Our Family Valentine Project

Valentines day is on its way and its time to "create".  

Last year, I made Dave, Emily and Matt "Love Jars". I wrote reasons why I love them on strips of paper that they could take out whenever they wanted to feel loved by me. This year I wanted to do something in which we could all participate.  

I'd recently read a book regarding the words we speak to each other. In the book, it told how a teacher had her class write on a piece of paper something nice about each person in the class. The teacher took the lists and gave each student the remarks made about them. At the funeral of one of these former students, his parents showed the teacher that in his wallet he carried the list his classmates wrote about him. It was worn by how many times he had looked at it. While the teacher was looking at the list, several other previous students attending the funeral showed her that they too still carried the lists with them. They would turn to the lists often to encourage and uplift them. I felt that if the words of classmates could mean so much, how much more would the words of your family mean. This story inspired our family valentine project.

I bought 5 little pails at Michaels and put each of our names on one of them, the girls have pink pails and the boys red. The white pail holds colored hearts that each of us can write notes of "love" on to each other and place in the pails. I explained to the kids that it could be a specific reason why they like each other like "you helped me with my homework" or a general one like "you are so funny". On Valentine's day, we will take the hearts out and read them. 

Because I didn't want to change all my winter decor, I decided to create a small valentine vignette on the buffet in the dining room.  

Of course a vignette wouldn't be complete without a banner, so I made one. I used the Pretty Pennants and Storybook cartridges for my Cricut. The patterned paper is paper I had bought quite a long time ago.  

The only thing left to do is to hang the heart "curtains" I made for the kid's doorways last year, which I will do the night before Valentine's day. 

Oh, I feel the love!!!!

One Happy Jingle

I would have to say that getting Jingle has been the best pet choice we've made. Okay, we've only made two pet choices and that includes Jingle but since he's come home we've so enjoyed him as an addition to the family.

Jingle will be with us 3 weeks tomorrow. In those 3 weeks, we have grown to love him and he is loving life as a Wessel. It was a little bit of an adjustment when the kids headed back to school after break but we've come up with a routine that seems to make everyone, but mostly Jingle, very happy.

In the morning, Jingle gets fed in his "home" cage which is in Emily's room. Around 9:30, I let Jingle out and he "tours" Emily and Matt's room under my supervision. I love watching him hopping around from room to room. The rest of his morning and afternoon are spent in his "home".  Then when the kids come home, he gets "free time" in the basement while the kids do their homework and veg for the night. We have a fence/corral system so we keep him from getting into any dangerous areas or places out of our reach.  

Jingle's favorite day is Saturday.  Today he has been downstairs most of the day hopping freely.  I took this picture a little while ago and you can see by his positioning he is one very relaxed bunny.

What is hilarious is that the basement ended up divided as the bunny area and the play area. The kid's play area turned into the bigger mess of the day.

When we first met Jingle at the pet store, they told us he was a very calm and personable bunny. We were praying that would stay true and it has. He is a wonderful addition to our little family.  

S-P-E-L-L spells "Spell"

On Friday when coming out of his classroom, Matt handed me a paper and said "here".  Most papers come in his Friday folder, so I was curious what he was handing me. I read the title on the page "2nd grade spelling bee practice word list". Matt was one of the 2nd grade students chosen to participate in the spelling bee their school hosts.

I spoke briefly with his teacher regarding his spelling ability. I have noticed that I don't need to go over his spelling words with him for his Friday tests. The weekly work he does copying them seems to saturate his brain on how the words are spelled. Recently I've noticed him trying to spell Emily's words as I review them with her for her weekly test. As a matter of fact, sometimes we will do "quiz offs" where I give them a word and if the one can't spell it, it goes to the other. Most of the time, I give Matt the "easier" words but what surprises me is for never having studied the words he tends to spell them correctly. 

During our car ride home from school, I told him what an honor it was to be asked to be in the spelling bee and explained how one works, as he has never participated in a spelling bee. Of course, being a 7 year old boy he intends to "win a trophy". I chose my words wisely as I explained that winning is not important but doing your best is what is expected. He still expects to win a trophy. Oh, the age of confidence!! 

Of course, Emily was in the car during this conversation. She had checked her folder to see if she had gotten a list or a letter regarding the spelling bee. She did not.  

This is one of the hard jobs as a mom - being excited for one child and encouraging them while another is feeling left out or dare I say inadequate. I noticed her quietness so I asked her if she was bothered by the fact she wasn't chosen. She said a quiet, "maybe". Another moment to choose my words wisely. I explained that each of us is made differently and we are sometimes better at one thing than another. I told her that where Matthew is good at spelling, she is good at art - which she quickly corrected me to "fashion designing". Yes, I agreed whole heartedly "you are an excellent fashion designer". I explained to both of them how they need to support each other in the things they do well and cheer each other on in doing their best.....that is what is important! Our conversation didn't last much longer as they changed the topic as usual to something silly.  

Although the moment was "uncomfortable", I found my ground in this mothering moment. I want to be able to express my excitement for each of my kid's individual abilities in the presence of the other child and for them to be excited for their siblings accomplishments without feeling inferior.  In order to include Emily in this, I will have her help Matt study some of his words. By helping him, I'm hoping she will feel she is assisting him in his accomplishment. So, if he does well she can be a part of the celebration and if he doesn't she can tell him how well he did in trying.

By the way, the spelling bee is on February 1st and we'll let you know how he does. In the meantime, we will be studying our w-o-r-d-s.