Go Fish Christmas CD

I just wanted to share one of the boys' FAVORITE Christmas CD's - It's from the Go Fish Guys and the CD is "Snow"  The boys enjoy all of the music from GO Fish, but the Snow CD is their favorite. If you are interested in this check their website www.gofishguys.com but if you would like to hear a sample check out this you tube video of Christmas Lights put to the music, (let the introduction play before Go Fish start) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nobtUy6cTVQ&feature=related

Live Nativity

This weekend was once again the begin of the Advent Season which at our house means helping at my mom's church with their Live Nativity. This year it was in question as to if we would be doing it this year because of the weather, but there wasn't lightening, just a continually rain. We didn't get to share the scene with as many people as normal, but kick off the Advent season - we did!

And the King decreed that all the world should be taxed



The Shepherds

The Angels announced his arrival

And Mary , Joseph and Babe were found in a stable

And the wisemen brought the young child gifts...


May you all have a very Blessed Advent Season and remember the Real Reason for the Season. The birth of a small child who would save the world!

Gettysburg on 148 Anniversary of Dedication Day

Last weekend we took a little road trip to Gettysburg, PA. The date was November 19, 2011 exactly 148 years since Lincoln was there with his Gettysburg Address to dedicate the cemetery. Robert has found an interest in Lincoln and the Civil War and this was something that I thought would bring history to life for him. Because on Dedication Day there are re-enactors everywhere which helps make the battlefield and the war more real. We left on Friday night and stayed over. The boys were both up and ready to head into Gettysburg by 8:30 (which was perfect). When we got to Gettysburg, we went to the National Cemetery as they were getting ready for the annual Dedication Day Service. As we walked through the cemetery, each Civil War grave had an American Flag on it and on some a state flag from where they called home.

 We were able to listen to the Dedication Day service, where Lincoln (James Getty) once again gave the Gettysburg Address while the crowd listened.

National Park Service welcoming all to the service

The Gettysburg Address

Following the service, we walked to the Pennsylvania Monument and walked past the High Water Mark and the location of Pickett's Charge. The we went and took a audio tour of the enter battlefield. This took us a little bit of time (all afternoon) because we wanted to climb the towers and see the monuments, plus it was a beautiful day!

At the top of Little Round Top

At Devil's Den towards Little Round Top

With the re-enactors present, we saw scenes like this that might have been what it looked like 148 years ago.

That evening, we returned to the cemetery to view the luminaries that are placed on each of the Civil War graves for Dedication Day. This was eerie, but also breathtaking to see but also very humbling to remember that each person had died for us and for our freedom to keep our nation together.

We had a great weekend, with great weather and the boys what to know when we can go back.

Operation Christmas Child Packing Party

The last week and a half have been busy so I'll play a little catch up. The Kids Klub youth group had a shoebox packing party on the 13th. Then we totaled up the number of boxes for this year. The packing party is always a fun time with both the elementary youth group and the Jr/Sr high youth groups. This year they worked in teams of an older youth with a younger youth. This worked great!

One packing team

hmmm... which stuffed animal should we add to this box?

Prayer time - each youth had a box or 2 to pray over

Finding the right box to pray for

All the youth with 96 boxes!

Turkey Hands

I love using the kids' hands for different projects. At this time of year, their hands make great turkeys.  Here are a couple of fun turkey projects that use their hands.

1. Trace their hand, Use the thumb as the head, add 1 eye and a little waddle then let the rest of the fingers be the feathers of the body of the turkey. Add feet out of the bottom of the hand. These are cute as decorations for the table for Thanksgiving.

2. I have traced the hand and then we wrote 5 prayer reminders, 1 per finger. Those reminders are to pray for (thumb) those that are close to me. (Pointer) those who have pointed me towards God. (Middle) Those in charge. (Ring finger) Those who are weak or sick and then the little finger - Me.

I took their hand and we cut it out. The fingers became the feathers. We then cut a circle for the body and a Neck and head shape. We added feet and then we glued it all together. I then covered it with clear contact paper. These became our Thanksgiving place mats and prayer reminders.

These are just a couple of fun turkey activities that can take just a few minutes.

The things we are thankful for...Thanksgiving Picture

Well this month started off very busy here between young Americans and the 4-H benefit auction, things here are running a bit behind. But this week we got the opportunity to catch up a little bit, we had a 4 day week at school and little homework in the evenings. We also didn't have multiply meetings or events. (ah) So we got to move from Halloween to Thanksgiving here.  For the past couple of years we have started a thankful picture. We find a picture that represents Thanksgiving and then we use the overhead projector, (that hides out in my basement thanks to a school auction) to enlarge the picture. Once drawn, we bring it upstairs and the boys color the picture except where we are going to list the many things we are thankful for. This picture is hung on my kitchen wall, where each night at dinner, we each get to add something to our Thanksgiving picture. On Thanksgiving we take time to re-read our Thanksgiving picture.  This has become something that the boys look forward to in November because we hadn't got it accomplished until the 8th of November and when I asked if we were doing the picture they answered "Of Course." So I guess a tradition has begun here at our house.

Coloring our "Garrett sized" Pilgrim

The Pilgrim's hat is where it was decided that we would write our "thankfulness"
Here the Pilgrim is standing guard in my kitchen

Young American's con't.

Sorry having problems uploading videos, but here is the whole group of kids

performing the last song. There were 3 types of sign language going on in the auditorium at the same time to just one song. There was American, Japanese and German. Robert is in the group performing the Japanese sign language and he is in the bottom center. Behind him are the Sr. high students performing the American sign version. The Jr high were doing the German sign, but couldn't get them in the video clip!

 

Young Americans Concert at Keystone

The 47 Young Americans that conducted the workshop

The beginning of this Robert had a wonderful opportunity to participate in a workshop called "Young Americans." This is a 3 day music/dance/express yourself workshop. They startedon Sunday afternoon, spent all day Monday and then Tuesday for a few hours after school. They then performed 2 concerts on Tuesday and Wedsnesday nights. Keystone had 300 students participate and this is the 7th time that Young Americans have presented their workshop at Keystone.
Below are some video clips of Robert during the 2nd concert.

Part of the one song was "watching a game" Robert is right in the middle.

This workshop was for students from 4th-12th grades.