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A Moment Out of the Norm: Dog Show
A moment out of the norm. “Grinda” is a rescued pup. She is a hoot! She is a Welsh Corgi Pembroke. She has short legs and long ears. She also has our hearts and pride of ownership streaming all around her. Yesterday was her moment to shine. Well, we all take that idea differently… the car for example shining moment would be a wax job. The house’s shine would be a spring cleaning. The shining moment for our dog Grinda: an entry in a dog show. No kidding!Mrs. Becky Kissinger, teacher at Christian High School in Grand Rapids, MI, led an interim class on the subject of ‘dogs’. The class…
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Walk in the Woods Wednesday
The warmth of the landscape is everywhere right now. Countryside woods, county lanes, and front yards are blanketed with orange, yellow, dark green and brown. The ground looks like it is hand stitched with irregular sized threads of maple, oak, elm and 17 other variety of trees leaves. Patterns form and then are whirled by south, east and north winds. Either the tree is on fire, or the artist is showing off the paint pallet!Zooming down the highwayThe stands of trees by the highway make me happy that I am the passenger in the car as my eyes zoom through the depths of the foliage. I love this time of…
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You Scream, I Scream …
I have a fun loving, head strong, wonderful two year old! As any mother may gush I think he is the best two year older this side of the Mississippi. However, he is a screamer. One of today’s many episodes happened in the library. Of all places. He’s also had ear piercing, atom splitting, dog-hiding under the pillow scream fits at the grocery store, in the kitchen, in the front yard, at the pool, on walks, in public restrooms. You name it, he’s screamed.The problem, usually? He can’t communicate. Sometimes as a mom it makes me feel better to just know why he is screaming. He may throw a fit because he wants…
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Tasty Tuesday: Healthy & Yummy Chicken Nuggets
There is something about chicken nuggets that make my children’s mouth water, whether the frozen variety cooked in the toaster oven or the kind fresh out of the deep-fat fryer at our favorite fast food restaurant. Are they on the list of healthy-meals at the Kocsis household though? Not so much.However, earlier this week I made a delicious breaded and baked chicken nugget that knocked my boys’ socks right off! I know it is a good meal when there are no leftovers, when they ask for more and I have to say “Sorry, they are all gone.”, when I think ‘We are definitely doing these again’! Healthy & Yummy Chicken NuggetsINGREDIENTS:3-4 thick slices bread1/2…
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Mission Continues: Veterans Regain Community
The Mission Continues therefore there are veterans who are breathing, conversing, working, regaining courage and are part of a stronger community. What is required? Effort, drive, desire and a dream: the ability to answer what can I do to help others? Fellow Amanda Heidenreiter & Meredith Knopp, VP of ProgramsAmanda, a Fellow with Mission Continues, stated a common ‘heart hurting’ grievance: the knowledge that ‘my guys’ were still in combat while she had been medevac’ed home. She no longer had the bond of her unit and she was out of the mission. What she did have was depression, a sense of deep loss and separation. Then, she found her dream.…
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A Minute Out of the Norm: Helping the Birds
I love birds. We have a couple of feeders around our house and a much used bird bath in the front garden. My favorite feeder is viewable from my kitchen window as well as the deck door. I’ll find myself sometimes just staring out the window watching the birds. Other times my boys will give a loud shout-out. “Mom, a Cardinal.” “Mom, a Blue Jay.” ” Mom, oooo come look at this one.” It is just fun to have a simple thing to enjoy with my boys. (After all I can only feign so much ‘interest’ in Pokemon, jokes involving bodily functions and games like Mario Cart). Today in my monthly-newsletter from my local metro-park…
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Help Your Child Feel Healthy!
The American Heart Association recommends that children and teenagers get at least 60 minutes of moderate to vigorous physical activity every day. My kindergartner’s teacher mentioned to me that *C* is the most in-tune and capable of learning right after some rigorous activity. She has witnessed first hand, in particular with him, how when he gets rid of pent up energy he is ready to sit down and stay on task. Occasionally, if all of the students are a bit hyper she has them do a few jumping jacks beside their desks. Then they sit back down and jump back into work. It goes to show how in-sync our bodies are. Even the brain craves motion, movement and…
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Looking Back
I have a full checklist of things that need to get done this morning but as I was doing a bit of research I ran across an old blog-post that took me back: Holding up the Fort. I wrote this two years ago right after Hubs returned to Iraq from R&R. You can go ahead and read it I’ll wait right here… 🙂... Isn’t it fun to look back? Relive? Revisit? The kindergartener in “Holding up the Fort” is now a 2nd grader. My preschooler from a few years ago is enjoying his own Dr Seuss week with his kindergarten class! This morning he proudly got on the bus with…
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TECHNOLOGY! IT IS SAVING OUR TROOPS LIVES! – DoD Roundtable
Technology is Saving Our Troops Lives! They come with names like Wolfhound and Duke! Sounds like the family pet but these names are lifesavers for our troops and they show how technology can save lives! MilitaryAvenue met with Colonel John “Buck” Surdu, military deputy for the U.S. Army Research, Development and Engineering Command, Communications-Electronics Center (CERDEC) during the DoD Roundtable as he excitedly described the capabilities of new equipment in the field. The colonel was pumped about saving lives and you could tell he was proud of his team’s efforts supporting the warfighters! So what is Wolfhound? Much like the famous dog this equipment has a great sniffer! In fact,…
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Fun on Veteran’s Day with my Grandson and His Class
What a great opportunity to tell the kindergarten class about veterans and share some experiences! Thank you so much for the Parent Teacher Organization at Pine Ridge Elementary School in Ada, Michigan for making this a special day for veterans! I had the chance to speak with my grandson’s class about what it meant to be a veteran, tell them where Afghanistan, Iraq, Bosnia, Kosovo ++ were located and had some great laughs. I learned that one child’s cat had died, one child’s dog had been sprayed by a skunk but for 15 minutes I held their attention! They were well behaved, sat and listened, raised their hands, made calls…
