Helpful Websites

I have been thinking that I have been lacking a little in the part I could be doing in my kids educations (even though they are still really young). So I hit the Internet today. And I found two great website that make practice sheet for writing.

#1 - http://www.handwritingforkids.com
This is a great website for the letter sheets. They have them for block letters, cursive, right-handed writers and left-handed writers. And I believe that they have ways to make your own tracing sheets. They also have a blank practice sheet to print.

#2 - http://www.kidzone.ws
This site had great letter and number sheets to print. It also had a way to make your own tracer sheets so that they can practice their names, addresses, phone numbers, whatever you want to make. I also really liked that they had things to trace that was not letters. They had ways to practice shapes and just different kinds of lines that will help with letters and numbers.

I also liked that they had things broken down by age and education levels.

I think I found some ways to do educational and yet fun activities with my kids.

Stricking a balance

As you know, I have 2 small children. I stay home with them all day. And we keep pretty busy but we still spend a lot of time alone together.

Since these children are 2 and 4, things do not always run smoothly. But lately it seems that my voice is set to a frequency that can only be heard if I say things sternly or yell. I am not opposed to this on occasion but it seems like I am needing to do it all the time.

And I have to say it has been a little hard for me mentally. When the people I spend the most time talking to ignore me, I start to take it personally. And for some reason loneliness has crept in as well. This is one of those times I wished that I worked at least part-time. At least then I could have co-workers or customers to talk to even if they drive me nuts too.

I know that this is a stage that will pass and that I will find that balance. In the mean time, I do not want them to think of me as a crank and a meany. Nor do I want to be a push-over. But I am struggling to find that balance. I pray that it will come sooner rather than later (as I am sure the rest of my family would be as well).

Peonies and Caterpillars

If you are ever in Glenwood, MN in the late spring, you need to stop by Peter's Sunset Beach Resort.

This is where we stay when we go away with Kris's family. It is a neat family-run resort on Lake Minnewaska. But the true highlight of this resort is the gardens. They are mature in fullness and variety. I wish I could go periodically throughout the year to see the other things bloom.

Scattered throughout the resort are gardens that are so beautiful. When we are there the peonies are in full bloom. I have never seen so many different varieties. It is really beautiful and relaxing. Above is a picture of one of the single peonies that they had blooming at the time. The girls and I took a few tours of the gardens looking for bees and butterflies.


We also say A LOT of caterpillars while we were there. It was actually really neat because we would see 15 - 20 climbing up a tree. We figured it was because they were getting ready to make their cocoons. We even held a few. Caroline would not touch them but Grace did. She thought it was really cool that a caterpillar would crawl on her. She never once flinched or anything until Caroline started crying because she did not want to touch it. Then the worry became that she would get bitten.

Oh well, it worked for a while. And they would still look at them and be amazed at how they climbed up the tree. We had fun counting them.

I hope it brings a smile to your face too.

Another Good Book

I finished a book last week that I thought I would share with you. I really enjoyed it. It is Mr. Darcy Takes a Wife by Linda Berdoll

It is a sequel to Pride & Prejudice by Jane Austin. Now if you are a serious Austin fan this may not be the book for you. If you are super serious about your literature, this may not be the book for you. But if you loved Pride & Prejudice and you would love to read something that continues the story, this is a great read.

I got really caught up in the story. I loved that you were able to learn more about Mr. Darcy. I love where she took their relationship. There were times when I laughed out loud and times I had tears running down my cheeks. I did not want to put it down. Ms. Berdoll did a great job portraying emotion and painting a great picture for me to see in my mind.

The things I did not like about the book were that some of the story lines were a little out there. There were also a lot of story lines. And once they start to converge (which is rather quickly) they make more sense. She gets caught up in writing in the same style as Austin, which is admirable but can be a little distracting. There is a lot of sex. I am not a prude but sometimes enough is enough. She is trying to convey something that may people do not think Austin was able to convey due to lack of knowledge but sometimes she overcompensates.

But the best thing about the book is that the love story continues. And it is a real, all-consuming kind of love that makes you want to believe in it.

In my opinion, worth your time. And if you are like me and love a good series when it comes to reading, she wrote another one to keep the story going. It is Darcy and Elizabeth: Nights and Days at Pemberly. I will let you know what I think of it when I am done.

Loads to catch up on

Sorry for the length of time that has gone by since my last post but life has gotten in the way. As you all were busy with winter activities coming to a close and summer things starting, so were we. Plus I have been trying to change my routine to accommodate some time during the day for myself and working out.

It is amazing what a difference a half hour can make. I have been trying to get downstairs to workout most days (I would say at least 80% of them) for a half hour. And I am just amazed at how far behind that puts me. All the things I used to do during that time seem to just pile up. I have less time do to my computer work because when Caroline gets up, she uses the computer. The cleaning that is not easy to accomplish with the kids around seems to get put off longer and longer. It is starting to make it harder to justify the time I am spending downstairs.

But I am trying to replan the schedule for the rest of the day so that it is not so that it can work. I want to get in better shape ( and lose the weight I had once lost) and have more energy. I now just need to find the patience to wait until things can work themselves out.


Caroline has successfully finished her first year of preschool and just love it. I have been amazed with the growth she has accomplished this year. She is more social and astounds me with how smart she is. She has a great memory and will just blurt things out that she learned at school that I would not have expected. She told me one day about metamorphosis (and I cannot even spell it).


I want to say a special Thank You to Ms. Carol and Ms. Gwen. Caroline loved them as teachers and I was blessed to have teachers who understood my daughter and embraced everything about her.

At the picnic that they have at the end of the year, I got a bit emotional (I know you are all shocked). I am not sure why. It is not like she is going into Kindergarten next year, but it seemed like she was such a big girl now. I think it is because I am so proud of her. She exceeds my expectations in what she can do and how she makes me feel.



One of our biggest events this Spring was Caroline's dance recital. I was less ready for this than I thought. She looked so grown up. She took it seriously and really did a great job. She did not get nervous (at least not outwardly) to going on stage. And she had fun. I was so proud of her, I may have cried some. Daddy was pretty proud too and got to give her a flower.


I think that the person that was the proudest was Caroline. She loved being able to share that with people. And Moe-Moe and Papa came to watch which was very cool for her. Not to mention that they enjoyed it as well.

Then we had swimming lessons. I was not sure how that would go but it was great as well. Grace cannot be in the water enough. And the fact that she had her Daddy all to herself just made it even more fun. Caroline was amazing. She had been so scared during her last 2 sets of lessons that she screamed the whole time. But this time she must have been ready. She finally passed P1 level and can move on. She even put her whole head underwater. Huge improvement.



And most recently we were at a resort with the whole Nelson family. It is a yearly event that we all seem to enjoy except we cannot catch a break with the weather. We have been going for the last few years and we only ever get about 1 day out of the weekend that has good weather. We are going to try changing weekends and see how things go.


Well enough rambling on for today. I will try to keep you more updated on our Summer events that I did with the Spring ones.