Dancing With The . . . . Kiddos!

I always enjoy the seasons of Dancing With The Stars.  One of my all-time favorites was when Bindi Irwin was on the show, with Derek as her partner.  He is also one of my favorite pros on the show.  (Sad to see he wasn't on this past season!)

Well, since the girls love to play dress-up and dance around, I showed them some of Bindi's dances, knowing they were not inappropriate for young eyes.  And they loved them, especially the ones with the swirly dresses, they told me.  "Again!" they kept saying when the video clip ended.  There were three videos, I think, in particular, that we watched several times that day.

             

Which inspired more dancing!  It is so fun to watch them try to do what the pro/star did in their dances.  They love putting on a show!

Right now, all I can do is watch them and enjoy - I injured my shoulder, most likely dancing with them.  I hope you enjoy their antics too!

Color Running!

I must say, I really do appreciate our town and all of the fun community events we have here.  One such event is the Color Run we had this spring.  Now, I did not get a chance to participate in the REAL one, if you want to call it that.  I was hoping to, for the main reason that my sponsored child through World Vision is from India, where the whole idea of throwing color around to celebrate spring originated.  I was hoping to show her that we were doing sort of the same thing she enjoys doing.  Well, I may have missed the actual Color Run, but the twins' preschool had a junior version of it, and I was glad to be able to go and bring the girls in their white clothes to get all colored up.  I think they may have enjoyed the obstacle course more than getting squirted with colors (white weren't very bright unfortunately) but all in all they had a blast!  Now I have an official Color Run shirt that at least has a bit of splotchiness to it, that I hopefully will wear in next year's event!  :)

Not Just A Tire Swing....

 A tire swing is not just a tire swing!  This simple contraption has sparked so much imagination for the girls I nanny!  When they climb up there, they are inspired to sing!  We've also sailed above the clouds to snatch stars from the sky, or even the moon - we have sailed on lazy, flowing rivers - we've gone down through whirlpools in the ocean to visit cities of mermaids, and on and on!  A little bit of imagination can go a long way if you let it.  I hope you enjoy this little video, I hope it leaves you with memories of your own childhood, and encourages you to let that inner child out a bit whenever you get the chance!

Also, for even more fun, check out these books for your little ones!

Remembering

Okay, I know I already posted today, but there is something that's been on my mind a lot this past week, and I thought I should post about it before it begins to fade.
Last Sunday in kids church, a discussion question was "what do you remember from this past week?"  The kids all shared something they'd been doing, like going to concerts or spending the weekend with their grandparents, or remembering a dear friend who recently passed away. Then the next question was "what is something you remember from when you were about six?"  (these kids are all about 10-12 years old now.)

This discussion was one of the most memorable our class has had over this year.  The point of the question was to lead into the fact that people can forget things that happened a long time ago, and that Joshua wanted to remind the Israelites of the things that had happened since Moses led them out of slavery in Egypt.

But the kids really remembered specific things from when they were younger.  Some shared about going to Disneyland for the first time, or taking fun family vacations.  One shared that he was started to get bullied in school.  (First grade??)   Another remembered her birthday at a park where she got presents, a toy car - -  a rare occurrence for her at that age.  Another could not forget the times when he was so hungry and not sure when he would be able to get food.

I never expected the conversation to go in the direction that it did, and I was glad I had the presence of mind to let it settle there and not just keep the class moving on to the next thing.  The kids were all willing to open up in front of each other and myself and my co-teacher, and that was a great thing.  Part of having a great class, I feel, is forming relationships.  I really hope this was another step in that direction, of deepening the bond we share with each other, even as two of the kids will soon be moving up and out of the class, and we will be gaining two new members.

One of the most important parts of being a teacher, to me, is being someone who the kids know cares about them, someone they can talk to about whatever is on their mind.  I treasure these little moments of sharing.  Each one of us has the opportunity to be an important part of someone else's life.  Let's not waste it.  :)

Just Beachy

I love our little island!  We have so many fun little nooks of land to play in - woodsy spots, sunny spots, flowery spots and .... beachy spots!  And since we are having such warm weather this spring, we decided to go to the beach!  And there was SAND!!  The girls were so excited because SAND is a somewhat rare occurrence for us.  Usually the beaches are just plain rocky.  SO!  Warm weather + sand = fun!

Anticipation is building!  

"We are so essited!"

Shoes off!! 

Ahhhhh . . . . . .  

Dig! Dig! 

Now this is interesting.  While we were driving into town, we noticed a big truck carrying three HUGE boulders on it.  We wondered what they were doing with those giant rocks.  Well, while we were at the beach, we noticed at the far end of it, there were a few steps up to the pavement.  And what was in the lot? The truck with the huge rocks on it.  They were being unloaded there.  We still don't know what they were doing with them. : )

Cold water!! 

 Warm sand!! 

Hoping for many more warm sunny days this summer!!