MozART Gogh Round
A Music and Art Class for Toddlers and Preschoolers
Presented By: Jenny–Music Havalah–Art Lynette–Sensory Stations
A 90 minute class offered once a week
Children ages 2-4 come and enjoy music class, art class, snack time, story time, and playtime at the sensory stations
Themes this month included colors, shapes, day, and night
Here are some pictures of the kids in action at the sensory stations and in their art class.
It’s that time of year when we think a little more about the things we are thankful for, and
I just have to say that I am grateful for these two little boys, they make ME smile every day!
Joseph loves to paint,
he loves to work on his car,
and he loves to eat…hot dogs.
Seth loves to create things with Legos,
dressing up,
and playing pretend.
We want to know, what are your favorite things to do?
While Joseph takes his nap, Seth the little scientist, is doing a “dancing raisins” science experiment.
The result: Lots of FUN!
Here is a post I started on May 2, 2010. It’s about how excited I was to ride my bike last spring after a long and cold Columbus winter. It’s funny that it’s taken me this long to get back to it. Back then I was at the beginning of my month as an intern in the intensive care unit at Riverside Methodist Hospital in Columbus, OH. So much has happened since then. Most of it very involved and very busy. This offers me an unique moment to reflect as I work to finish a post I started 8 months ago.
It’s now cold again, and I find myself in a completely different state. We’re in Morgantown, WV now. I’ve been an ophthalmology resident for roughly 6 months. I’m quite tired due to being on call every third night (on average) and am very grateful to be no longer heading into the forest of my first year of ophthalmology. Now that I’m just beyond the halfway point, I can say that I’m heading out of the forest. That is a comforting thought as the call schedule is the most demanding as a first year.
It’s interesting to look back on our neglected blog and reflect on the chaos that our lives have been in as evidenced by our electronic silence. Most of our energy has been dedicated to adjusting to our new surroundings and new job. Even now as I sit to write some of my musings, I feel like I’m stealing time from a million other things that I’m not doing, but that I should be.
I read something very profound today about time. It was from Elder D. Todd Christofferson’s most recent General Conference address. He was quoting Elder Richard L. Evans:
“Life offers you two precious gifts—one is time, the other freedom of choice, the freedom to buy with your time what you will. You are free to exchange your allotment of time for thrills. You may trade it for base desires. You may invest it in greed…
“Yours is the freedom to choose. But these are no bargains, for in them you find no lasting satisfaction.”
Our little family has grown so much since I began writing this blog post about riding my bike. It is interesting that it took the cold of another winter along with the longing for outdoor activities to compel me to write of the gratitude I felt that day at being able to ride again.
Here is the original beginning of my May 2, 2010 post:
“Well, after a long winter of not being able to ride, the temperature finally warmed up enough here in Columbus for me to head out on a ride. The key here is…”
Yup, that’s as far as I got. Here is the rest of what I may have written back then as best as I can remember.
…that temperature is relative. It was cold today, but it wasn’t snowy any longer. The snow has melted and the bike path was clear. I headed out–excited to finally be able to ride again. Then the rain came. At first I didn’t mind all that much because I was outside, breathing fresh air, and exercising again. Intern year has been hard on me, so having a chance to exercise was heavenly. As I pressed on, I regretted not having any sort of fenders on my bike. Then I regretted not having any sort of eyewear on. As the rain became heavier my tires flipped more and more gritty water in my face and up my back. I could barely see as the corners of my eyes became caked with road grit. I didn’t mind all that much, though because of the gratitude I felt at being able to ride. Heavenly Father is indeed so good to us.
I finished my ride that day. I was soaked and filthy. Jenny took some pictures. Then I took some more in the mirror–determined to document how filthy my face and clothes had become.
As I reflect on how cold, wet, and dirty I was that day, I find it remarkable to note how much the feeling of misery was absent from my experience. I didn’t mind very much all the negatives about that day that could have robbed me of the joy I actually did feel in my experience. The question is, why? Why was it that I didn’t allow murmuring to rob me of the joy of my ride? The answer, of course, is in the gratitude I felt for Heavenly Father’s countless kindnesses that facilitated my ride. Gratitude for the lack of snow overwhelmed the potential frustration due to rain. Gratitude for above-freezing temperatures won out over murmuring about temperatures that were still by many counts, quite chilly. Gratitude for a healthy body that could move and function properly outweighed the frustration of having uncomfortable eyes, limited vision, and a filthy back.
How much more joy might we have in life if we were to live by gratitude and not by murmuring? Why is it that one of the greatest challenges faced by those of us who find ourselves inundated with blessings and opportunities from Heavenly Father is to not “…react with anger when one advantage is lost or with resentment when an added gift is denied.” (President Henry B. Eyring Oct 1989 General Conference address)
And now I come full circle in my musings of this day. These past 6 months have been difficult. I have not remembered to be as grateful as I should have been. As such, much of fatigue and weariness has plagued my soul. I have forfeit a portion of my happiness in forgetting to attend to gratitude in my life. What a blessing then, to be able to repent and choose the path of gratitude–that from this day on, our path here in Morgantown may be brighter.
What a blessing the gospel perspective is in our lives! I’m so grateful to be a member of the only true and living Church on the face of the earth. The blessings and richness of the truths found in the restored gospel of Jesus Christ have given nourishment to my soul particularly when it has been parched by the perilous times of spiritual drought we find ourselves in today. Indeed, we thank Thee, o God for a prophet!
-Tony
(Click on a photo to zoom in and behold the grime in full 10MB detail.)
(Standing in the kitchen looking out, our bedroom is behind the wall where the entertainment center is.)
(Hallway leading to the boys room, bathroom, and laundry room closet)
(Guest room/Joseph’s room)
(Seth’s room)
(Boys bathroom)
I don’t have any pictures of our master bedroom, closet, or master bathroom. It is located just behind the living room. We have enough space in our bedroom to not only house our bed, dresser, etc., but also a big desk for Tony to study on, and a couple bookshelves to store all our books.
We love our little apartment and are enjoying the perks of a one car garage.
Hope this gives you a good idea of what our place is like. Come out and visit us anytime, we’d love to have you and our guest bed is always open!
Seth attended a two-week swim lesson course this summer at one of our local community pools. The lessons turned out to be a lot of fun and really helped Seth, or “baby hump-back whale,” feel more confident in the water.
He still can’t swim without assistance, but he is far more comfortable then he was before in the water; he also learned some pretty fancy swimming skills! For starters Seth learned how to kick his legs slow and fast…
He learned how to safely walk around the pool “choo-choo train” style.
He learned how to swim in the deep end of the pool with a noodle or other floatation device.
On “Swim Safety Day” he got some practice wearing a life jacket and practiced “rescuing” someone form the pool.
I don’t have pictures of these, but he also learned how to blow bubbles in the water, use the ladder to exit the water, put his head under the water to retrieve something, and….jump off a diving board!
Okay, more like gently be lowered into the water for a brief splash off the diving board!
The best part was that Seth really had fun at swim lessons. He never cried or complained and always was excited to go.
Joseph was a trooper and watched the kids swim while he sat in his stroller dreaming of next summer
when he could have his turn in the pool too!
Good job Seth! You did an awesome job with your first swim lessons!
Good job Joseph! I am excited to see you in the pool next year!
We certainly had a good time when Grandma and Grandpa, or as they say out here “Mi-ma and Pi-pa”, came out to visit last month.
We went swimming, blueberry picking, toured around Pittsburgh, rode on the PRT, searched high and low for good eats, played with Grandpa’s ipad, and had fun throwing our arms up in the air and screaming while Grandpa drove our car wildly down the steep hills!
Oh, how we wish we could have more good times together like this more often! Love you and miss you, thanks for the good times!
Morgantown, West Virginia has been home now for almost two solid months! We are happy to report that we really like it here and are looking forward to our three year stint.
Tony is really happy with his job at the WVU Eye Institute .
I am busy training to run my first marathon on Sept. 18th.
Tony gets every third weekend with no weekend call–what does no weekend call mean? Oh, that means no, nada, zip, zilch, zeroooo work-o and that is one big-fat YES-O! (Are you following my ling-O?)
We have taken advantage and have gone rock climbing, attended a “Kid’s Day Festival”, and visited Pittsburgh. We also had a visit from mi-ma and pi-pa, plus Seth just finished up swim lessons.
As always we miss our family, loved ones, and friends. So stay tuned as we are actually going to post a few pics and details about what we’ve been up to lately. So “see” you soon–well actually you’ll be “seeing” us soon!
Our usual weekend quandary of “what to do” was happily put to rest when the Rowley’s suggested we go bowling together Saturday night. The plan was to go to Subway for dinner and then go bowling, but we quickly re-adjusted our plans so we could partake of the “ALL YOU CAN BOWL and ALL YOU CAN EAT PIZZA FOR TWO HOURS” for 15 bucks a person! We were a little worried about how edible the pizza would be, but apparently it was good enough for us to require the waitress to bring out at least 3 rounds of 6 slices. The Rowley’s planned ahead and made sure that they were all wearing pink (yes, Scott too) they were going for the team intimidation factor. Which did prove to be a smart move as they left the victors of the second game with Scott not quite at his personal best but still a solid score of 136.
Seth proved to have advanced bowling skills that required that he get his own lane right next to ours so we wouldn’t get in his way.
That night Seth sported his snazzy new band-aid that covered his fresh scratch and goose-egg that he acquired at our earlier trip to the river! Sorry, no pictures of Jospeh. He just hung out happily eating, pizza crust, after pizza crust, after pizza crust, after pizza crust…
