Thinking Spring Faves

As I begin to write up the FRIDAY FAVE FIVES for this past week....the time where we share some blessings that God brought into our lives since the previous Friday, it is snowing. Steadily.  It's wet. Grey and damp and it's Thursday, late afternoon and I still need to go out to pick up my 8th grader at 6 pm from musical rehearsal at school.  I don't want to go back out into the damp and grey and wet. My soul and body are longing for sunshine!!! 

 I've been feeling this way for about 2 weeks so I decided to bring some "spring" into my week.......and God turned them into blessings!

Join in by linking up with Susanne over here and sharing YOUR faves from the past week.  

FIVE FAVES

• SEEDS!  On Saturday I bought all the things I will need for deck container gardening.  I started seeds in the little starter kits pictured above. This year I am attempting, for the first time, cherry tomatoes.  I will add basil cinnamon and parsley once the month of May gets here.  This brought a smile to my face, especially after my sister Hope told me it is easy to do gardening this way (she has a mini-farm and you can check out her blog here). It's a blessing to be able to  grow our own veggies and herbs and I"m thankful for all the help and advice I was given from family and friends.

• SPRING DECOR! Over the last few evenings, I've slowly been putting away Winter/Snowmen stuff and Valentine's Day items and getting out my few spring and Easter items.  I love decorating my home and making it cozy.  The above bunny is on the end table in our family room and the nest of eggs is on a little corner cupboard in our kitchen. My house has a Shaker style "country" theme so these items are perfect!! It's a blessing to decorate for my family in different seasons.

image taken from fishhookweb.com

• SUNSHINE!  On Tuesday afternoon, I came home from work at about 3:15 and the sun was streaming through our bare branched cherry trees on to our little front porch. (I wish I had taken a picture of my own trees with the sun streaming through, but this image from the above website will have to suffice!) I stood on the porch for about 10 minutes just soaking in the sun on my face. It was chilly but it felt sooo good to see this sunshine because it has been so grey here for a week now. The sunshine didn't last but it was just enough to energize me for household chores and do the evening routine. By the time I got my daughter from school at 4:45 and over to her ballet class that ended at 6 pm, it was lightly raining. But oh what a blessing that sun was for a few minutes!

image taken from the booknook website

• SUMMER READING!  This author's books are light, easy, and fun.  They are typically set in the Nantucket Island area, off the coast of Cape Cod. This particular book caught my eye Tuesday when I was at the library because of the cover.  It's one novel I haven't read by Hilderbrand yet and a co-worker recommended it.  Ah....it's a blessing to dive into a good, easy read with hints of summer all throughout AND I have this evening (Thursday) free to just sit and read!

image taken from wikispaces site

• Seuss-a-palooza!!  This past week, in honor of Dr Seuss' birthday (March 2nd) the elementary school I work in had an "all week long Dr Seuss a palooza"!  Every class incorporated various activities in the curriculum, centered around various Dr Seuss books.  The special needs children I work with had so much fun! And it really broke up the monotony of these long, grey March days. We had crazy socks day, dress in red/white day, Cat in the Hat day where everyone in the school made and wore hats like the cat, and dress in Purple day (all 6 elementary schools in our district have their own colors. The one where I teach is Purple and White so we had a "School Spirit" day on the day that Barnes and Nobles hosted us with special story times, songs, and games.  This really had the children reading and creating.  It was so much fun and even the little autistic boy I work closely with was able to participate. He especially loved the Physical Education activities that included grabbing a "birthday card" opening it up to find a picture of a Dr Seuss book and then  going around the gym to find the matching book on the wall and doing the gross motor activity that went with the book. For example:  10 Apples Up on Top was a book and the "station" was a balance beam and red bean bags. Each student, when they got this card, had to balance bean bags on their head and walk across the beam.  Little P loved this!!  What a blessing it is to work in such a creative environment where we incorporate books into all areas of the child's day....and even special needs children can join in!!

That wraps it up for me.....

Dave and I are planning a quiet evening at home tonite  and our oldest daughter will be coming home tomorrow evening for a week-long Spring Break!


Whatever your plans are for the weekend, I hope you find time to rest and recharge!

HAPPY FRIDAY!

BONUS!  I woke up this morning to a 2 hour delay for the school district. Yup....more white stuff on the ground...gotta chuckle at March weather up here in on the East Coast/Northeast corner of New York/New England!