The Moberg Family

Month: April 2016

  • New Mercies Monday: BUTTERFLIES!

    New Mercies Monday: BUTTERFLIES!

    This edition of New Mercies Monday…brought to you on TUESDAY. Because, life.

    Between nursing my very sick husband back to health, snuggling my very emotional 5 year old who just got over being sick, making uber amounts of garlic tea and chicken stock and onion poultices…oh my, my newest mercy yesterday was that we all SURVIVED!

    BUT…I’ve been excited all week to share about our new mercies from last week…so here we go!

    We all needed some new life around these parts so I decided to get us some caterpillars towards the end of March! When I told my friend Courtney about them she was super impressed, asking me if we went out and caught them ourselves…which, we basically did…from Theeee Amazon!! Not the jungle, but the internet site. They’re basically the same thing, right?

    The sweet little buddies arrived and it was so much fun to let the kids open the box and discover what was inside. We observed, journaled, drew pictures, did art crafts, checked out a million books at the library and filled our little brains with all there was to know about our new special friends.

     

    We watched them get bigger and bigger and bigger and were so excited the first day that we saw one hanging in a “J”!
    We did lots of caterpillar crafts…
    …and even found a caterpillar at the park!!….

    …until we came home from preschool on Tuesday and FOUND A BUTTERFLY!!!!!!

    We put some oranges in a bowl for him and sweetened his “flower” with some nectar that we mixed up together.

    The next day, we woke up to ANOTHER butterfly!!! We were all so excited! And then, for the next amazing act…I was staring at one of the Chrysalises because it seemed like it was totally clear when all of a sudden, I saw the butterfly’s head poke out!!! I frantically called for the kids and Brian and raced to get my phone and got back just in time to capture THIS on video!!! (And please excuse my frantic calling to Selah…she was missing the whole thing because she was so intent on explaining to her Daddy what was happening! I didn’t want her to miss it!!! Ha.)

     

    How SPECIAL is that?!!! Oh my goodness, I couldn’t get over it!! It was such a thrilling experience!!

    The fourth butterfly came out later that day and the fifth came out the next morning! Hooray!

    We read a million butterfly books and talked about symmetry and did lots of butterfly activities. One of our books talked about the types of flowers butterflies are attracted to, and Elliott could not get it out of his head and continually asked us if we could, “buy some perennials that butterflies are attracted to and plant them!!!” If you know me, you know I certainly don’t have a green thumb, but we figured it out and finally were able to plant the flowers this week once the blizzard passed. We’ll let you know if they actually grow!!! (Aunt Melanie, are you SO proud of us?!!!)

    I found the following project here, and I think they are simply stunning!! I folded a paper in half, drew half a butterfly on one of the sides in pencil for each kid (and for myself!!) and then poured some black paint into one of our half-filled glue bottles. The kids traced my pencil outline and then made whatever designs they wanted on the inside. The folded them in half to imprint the black outlines on the other half and waited for them to dry. Then we filled them in with watercolors!

    This was a good challenge for Elliott…not trying to figure out how to paint the butterfly in symmetrically, but how to not be a PERFECTIONIST about painting him in PERFECTLY symmetrically…
    Selah wasn’t so keen on the whole “symmetrical” thing…as I’m sure I’ve mentioned before, she takes artistic license with everything she does! 😉 Isn’t her butterfly beautiful?!
    We also did these fairly quickly with some regular paint. They just painted one side and folded in half to make it symmetrical.

    And you’ve just gotta see the kids’ journals. Oh my, I think they are the most precious things on the planet!

    Selah’s journal. I (obviously) wrote most of her words and I’m pretty sure I drew the two caterpillars in “Js” and the chrysalis on Day 13 for her…all the rest of the artwork is hers!
    And look at this big man’s work!! WOW!! He knocked our socks off. He did most all of the writing himself and ALL of the drawings himself!!
    We had a butterfly snack, which felt a bit like a pinterest fail…how on earth do you get the pretzel wings to stick up in the peanut butter??!! I have no idea. The kids didn’t care…they gobbled them up!!

    And finally, we released them. It was fairly warm out, but a SUPER windy day. They were definitely hesitant to leave their little cage. One finally flew to the top of the cage and then I gentle put my finger under his feet. He crawled on my hand and we got some cute memento photos before he took flight. I finally grabbed a stick and used it to reach in and gently put it under the other butterflies’ feet. Selah was brave enough to hold a stick with a butterfly on it, but Elliott kept his distance ;).

    If you read about Selah’s potty training experience, you know she is very descriptive when it comes to describing her poop. Sunday night after struggling a bit to get a long one out (is this tmi?? Sorry…) I finally heard it splash into the bowl. I said, “Wow, are you alright?” She responded, out of breath, “Yeah. Wow, my poop was like a chrysalis hanging from my bottom!!!!”

    Teachers, can we all agree that this here 3 year old met the learning objectives and understands the life cycle of a butterfly?! Hahahaha!!!!

    So there you have it…such a new mercy for us this week!!!

    And three other bonuses for you:

    Thank you, Safeway, for making our trip to the grocery store as thrilling as a ride at Disneyland!
    Watermelon is finally cheap at Costco!! Hooray!! The kids have been begging for it but we told them we had to wait until it was (more) in season. Can you tell these children have missed it?!! HAHA!!!
    And THIS was the sunset on my way home from the gym one evening…WOW. Thank you, Lord.

     

    And now it’s YOUR turn!! Comment below and tell me about the Lord’s new mercies to YOU this past week! I’d love to hear about them!

     

  • New Mercies Monday

    New Mercies Monday

    When I shut down my facebook account over a year ago now, I made a mental note to blog more often. And well, that didn’t really happen :). My zeal for writing and recording in this virtual scrapbook here has somewhat windled down to birthdays and holidays. Most of that, quite honestly, is that I’m so tired in my spirit. It’s been an incredibly weary-ing few years in many aspects and when I look in the mirror, all I see is tired. 

    Virtually every night before bed, Selah asks if we can sing, “Great is Thy Faithfulness.” It is the song that I listened to on repeat in the weeks and months leading up to her birth and the song I played over and over while in labor with her. It’s the song that steadies my fears. He is faithful. Always. Every day.

     …Remember my affliction and roaming, The wormwood and the gall. My soul still remembers And sinks within me. This I recall to my mind, Therefore I have hope. Through the LORD’s mercies we are not consumed, Because His compassions fail not. They are new every morning; Great is Your faithfulness. “The LORD is my portion,” says my soul, “Therefore I hope in Him!” The LORD is good to those who wait for Him, To the soul who seeks Him. … Though He causes grief, Yet He will show compassion according to the multitude of His mercies. [Lam 3:19-25, 32]

    The beginning part of the chapter is much of how I have felt these last few years, but…BUT. I recall to mind, constantly, that His mercies are new every morning. Selah reminds me daily. (Of course she does–that is what her name means!) I am so thankful for her reminder to make me stop and think about how great God is and to meditate upon his mercies. Last night I asked her to tell me what had blessed her about the day and she rattled off a list several minutes long of all the things she was thankful for. She finished, smiled, looked at me, and returned the question: “What are YOU thankful for, Mommy?” My heart is abundantly blessed by who she is.

    And so…this little series is born. New Mercies Monday. Rather than devoting the start of my week to simply meal planning, grocery shopping, cleaning and laundry, I want to devote them to Selah-ing. To stopping, to pausing my to-do list, and to meditating on the new mercies that God has poured out to us in the previous week. Because, He is worthy to praised. I am so grateful throughout the week for the ways the Lord has lavished us, but sometimes, you just gotta testify! Can I get an amen?!

    Monday: An afternoon in Denver with Elizabeth and her darling crew. Elizabeth, my gentle-spirited, wise, like-minded friend. So thankful she is in my life.

    Popcorn and play time!

    Tuesday: Sometimes I see so much of myself in my kids, and it tickles me to my core. This particular day, I saw me in my dear Selah when she asked me to tape the broken arm back onto this (ancient) Playmobile man. (Have you read the Gecko story? Well, if not…take a peek. I re-read it today and was majorly encouraged!)

    All taped up and all better!

    Wednesday: “A day at the zoo with Kari and Quinn is like a milkshake to your soul.” (Have you read that verse in Proverbs? It’s true.) So ridiculously blessed that we get to do life together, even if we do live 30 minutes apart.

    The zoo was epic. We hugged a (fake) giraffe, fed and pet (real) giraffes, fed the birds, pet a pony, climbed a (fake) elephant, watched a (real) elephant take a bath, rode the carousel, played at the playground, watched the lion cubs frolic and wrestle…all with the wonderful company of our dear friends!

    And so of course we ended the day with milkshakes!

    Thursday: Lull in the week=Let’s try a new pizza place! Have you tried it? MOD pizza? I guess it started in Seattle. It was fun! And had very yummy pizza :).

    Pizza Pizza!!

    Friday: My parents had us over for dinner (which is always a bonus!) along with another family and I made a new friend!

    Saturday: Blizzard! Family snow day.

    Sunday: So encouraged by the Word of God and the parsing of Scripture with other believers at church, who challenge all of us to live according to what it says.

     Want a bonus?

    These are from the previous week but I just couldn’t help but add them here after sorting through the pics on my phone…

    **The kids BEG to help me in the kitchen preparing meals. A couple of months ago I taught Elliott how to slice up some zucchini for dinner and Selah has been pleading with me to let her try. That day was the day. She was in heaven…just look at that face!! So thankful for children who are eager to serve and help.

    I snapped this photo and then set my phone down quickly so I could helicopter her cutting!! (Yes, I just made “helicopter” a verb all right!!)

    **I just adore this picture…it cracks me up!!!

    A hot chocolate date with the kids!

    Well there you have it! God’s new mercies on us this past week. This may take on a different form and may not be every week…who knows!

    How about YOU? What mercies were new to you this past week? Will you join me in testifying??