Teaching Two » family http://www.teachingtwo.com Thoughts of a mommy & teacher. Thu, 26 Aug 2010 23:33:11 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0 Camping In June http://www.teachingtwo.com/2009/06/14/camping-in-june/ http://www.teachingtwo.com/2009/06/14/camping-in-june/#comments Mon, 15 Jun 2009 03:23:20 +0000 Anne camping sleeping roots listening tent rocks trip loved http://www.teachingtwo.com/2009/06/14/camping-in-june/ Our family went on our first camping trip last Friday with some friends.  I’m not sure why we decided to do this in June while living in Florida but we did and overall it was lots of fun. The girls and husband loved sleeping in a tent outside, me…not so much.   Sleeping on roots and rocks while listening to animal noises all around me is not my idea of a good night sleep.  Not to mention the fact that our tent was close to a very active set of train tracks.  I counted at least 4 trains while I was “sleeping”.  All that to say it was something different to do as a family and we created many great memories together. 

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Ashlyn brushing her teeth in the “bathroom”.

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Our awesome friends who went with us.

The girls had fun playing outside, making smores, and swimming in the springs.  They were great and have already told me they want to go again.  I promised my friends that I would try it one more time in the Fall before giving up on camping.

Now we are off to the Keys with some friends who rented a house right on the water.  We will be gone 5 days swimming, snorkeling, relaxing, and boating.  Now that is my kind of vacation. 

]]> http://www.teachingtwo.com/2009/06/14/camping-in-june/feed/ 1 Daddy Daughter Dance-Two Princesses http://www.teachingtwo.com/2009/03/07/daddy-daughter-dance-two-princesses/ http://www.teachingtwo.com/2009/03/07/daddy-daughter-dance-two-princesses/#comments Sat, 07 Mar 2009 20:20:02 +0000 Anne dance carnations annual daughter daddy chris dresses bought http://www.teachingtwo.com/2009/03/07/daddy-daughter-dance-two-princesses/ Last night Chris took the girls’ to our church’s annual Daddy Daughter Dance.  This was Ashlyn’s third time going and Emily’s first.  They got new dresses and Chris bought them red carnations.  He took them out to dinner and kept them out way past curfew.  They had a great time and were so excited when they got home to tell me all about it.  I love the relationship he has with both of his girls.  They adore him! Here are some pictures!

Ashlyn before the dance

Ashlyn & Emily before the dance

Daddy and his girls

Daddy with his girls

Daddy Daughter Dance

]]> http://www.teachingtwo.com/2009/03/07/daddy-daughter-dance-two-princesses/feed/ 3 Works For Me Wednesday! http://www.teachingtwo.com/2009/02/04/works-for-me-wednesday/ http://www.teachingtwo.com/2009/02/04/works-for-me-wednesday/#comments Wed, 04 Feb 2009 05:31:18 +0000 Anne languages felt book order years loved read find http://www.teachingtwo.com/2009/02/04/works-for-me-wednesday/ works.jpgHere’s another contribution to the Rocks In My Dryer, Works for Me Wednesday blog carnival.  This is something that’s given my husband & I a way to encourage our 5-year old daughter and give her some extra reading practice. 

A few years ago my husband and I read the book Five Love Languages in order to find out what each of our Love Languages were.   If you’re curious, the five love languages are physical touch, quality time, acts of service, words of affirmation, and receiving gifts. 

january-2009-266.jpgBesides just using it for each other, we’ve begun to try to figure out how our girls feel loved by us.  Ashlyn loves spending quality time with us, physical touch, and words of affirmation.  So with Valentine’s Day just around the corner I decided to have her make a mailbox so my husband and I could leave her little notes to encourage her and let her know how special she is to us.  She is so excited! 

We took an empty box of garbage bags, covered it with paper, and she carefully decorated it with stickers, crayons, and paper hearts.  Then, she found a special place in her room for it and made sure to show my husband where it was – hint, hint.  She’s learning quickly. 

She is anxiously waiting for her first piece of mail. 

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]]> http://www.teachingtwo.com/2009/02/04/works-for-me-wednesday/feed/ 8 A Weekend Together http://www.teachingtwo.com/2008/11/25/a-weekend-together/ http://www.teachingtwo.com/2008/11/25/a-weekend-together/#comments Tue, 25 Nov 2008 14:33:06 +0000 Anne weekend ocala packed southwind leader highschool headed florida http://www.teachingtwo.com/2008/11/25/a-weekend-together/ This past weekend our family packed up our things and headed to Southwind, a Young Life camp near Ocala, Florida.  My husband was the Head Leader for about 300 highschool kids.  He had to work but the girls and I had the whole weekend to relax and play.  He ended up having a lot more free time than we thought though.  Here are a few of my favorite pictures.

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Southwind

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We decided to let the girls sleep together in one big bed.  They stayed up until 10:00 both nights talking.  It was so cute!

Emily and Daddy

family walking

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Getting ready to go canoeing with Daddy

Ashlyn and Emily

Ashlyn and Emily hugging

]]> http://www.teachingtwo.com/2008/11/25/a-weekend-together/feed/ 2 Growing Up http://www.teachingtwo.com/2008/10/19/growing-up/ http://www.teachingtwo.com/2008/10/19/growing-up/#comments Sun, 19 Oct 2008 19:13:21 +0000 Anne girl crib moved backyard friday cried pregnant give http://www.teachingtwo.com/2008/10/19/growing-up/ Emily has been asking for a “big girl bed” for a couple of days now so we decided to give her one.  On Friday, the girls were playing with some friends in the backyard so Chris and I took down her crib.  I almost cried!  When we moved Ashlyn to a big girl bed I was already pregnant with Emily and excited to have another baby.  This time, we had to put it in the attic since there is no other little baby on the way. 

The good news is Emily loves her new bed.  When we surprised her with it on Friday evening she stayed in it for an hour reading books and playing with her dolls.  She looks so little laying in it under all her covers.  I just wish she would stop growing up so fast!

Emily in new bed

Mommy & Emily

]]> http://www.teachingtwo.com/2008/10/19/growing-up/feed/ 2 The Best Ever…Maybe http://www.teachingtwo.com/2008/10/09/the-best-evermaybe/ http://www.teachingtwo.com/2008/10/09/the-best-evermaybe/#comments Fri, 10 Oct 2008 00:44:11 +0000 Anne conversations devotional talk awesome everyday daughter mommy started http://www.teachingtwo.com/2008/10/09/the-best-evermaybe/ I have started doing a Mommy daughter devotional with Ashlyn everyday.  It has been awesome!  We have had great conversations and I have seen her put into practice what we have been learning.  Each day it focuses on a different story in the Bible.  Then it has some real life questions for Ashlyn to answer and then it has a Mommy’s Touch section.  I have to share stories with her about when I was a little girl. 

The other night after we had finished we were just laying in her bed talking.  She said, “Mommy, you are the best Mommy in the whole world!”  But then she paused and said,” Well, actually, I don’t know if that is true because I don’t know all the mommies in the world.”  You gotta love a child’s honesty!

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Tonight, I was reading to Ashlyn and asked Chris to read to Emily.  She lost it!  Emily started screaming and telling Chris no.  It got bad and Chris had to discipline her.  After she calmed down he held her and rocked her.  As I was walking in her room to see if everything was okay, I saw Emily look up at her Daddy and say, “You forgive me Daddy?”  It was the sweetest thing and I almost started crying.  What a sweet little baby God has blessed up with!

]]> http://www.teachingtwo.com/2008/10/02/sweet-baby/feed/ 1 Trying to Slow it Down http://www.teachingtwo.com/2008/09/17/trying-to-slow-it-down/ http://www.teachingtwo.com/2008/09/17/trying-to-slow-it-down/#comments Thu, 18 Sep 2008 00:58:24 +0000 Anne dinner time http://www.teachingtwo.com/2008/09/17/trying-to-slow-it-down/ I don’t know what dinner time looks like in your family but here is a little glimpse of what it looks like at our house. 

Ashlyn spends the entire time talking about her day, when she woke up, what she made at school, and who she played with.  Emily tries to jump in the one way conversation by talking about absolutely nothing, and Chris and I inhale our food and are finished by the time the girls finish their first bite. 

Now I know that the dinner table is the place to sit down spend some quality time hanging out together and catching up.  But all I seem to do is rush through it and continually tell the girls to eat.  I am working on this and today Ashlyn came home from school with something that will help me slow down and really enjoy that time. 

It’s a paper cup full of simple questions that they made up at school.  You pass the cup around and take turns answering the question that you pull out of the cup.  We tried it tonight and had so much fun.  It was neat seeing Ashlyn and Emily really think back on their days to answer the questions.  I told her that after we answered her questions for a couple of nights that I would make up some more that we could do.   Here are some of the ones we talked about tonight.

  • How did you help someone today?
  • What did you see today that God created?
  • What are two things you can thank God for today?
  • What was the best part of your day today?
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 Tonight we were at the mall eating in the food court.  Emily had already finished her dinner but was still hungry. (this happens quite often with her.)  She looked at my husband who was eating chips and asked, “Daddy, may I have some your chips.  I promise I won’t eat them all.”  She acted serious while she was saying it and then started cracking up after Chris let her have a few.  My new favorite Emily saying came last week while we were playing in Ashlyn’s room.  She was talking to me about something and I told her that she was funny and she replied, “Funny weird or funny ha-ha?” 

]]> http://www.teachingtwo.com/2008/09/16/171/feed/ 2 Grandparent’s Day http://www.teachingtwo.com/2008/09/09/grandparents-day/ http://www.teachingtwo.com/2008/09/09/grandparents-day/#comments Tue, 09 Sep 2008 18:53:34 +0000 Anne celebrated banner ballons invited fancy yesterday crayons dinner http://www.teachingtwo.com/2008/09/09/grandparents-day/ Grandparent’s Day was this past Sunday and for the first time we remembered to celebrate it.  We invited the grandparent’s over for dinner (we missed you Popa).  The girls were so excited to make cards and a banner for them.  Nothing fancy, just some balloons and crayons.  They wanted it to be special and to let their grandparent’s know they are loved.  It was a first that I hope will turn into a yearly tradition!

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Nana and kids

Grandparents and kids

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