Happy Birthday Garrett

Opening Presents and a watergun to even things out Happy 4th Birthday Garrett

Okay, Summer gets in the way of me being a "good" mom and remembering to get online and post simple things, but Garrett turned 4 on June 30th. He is now "Big" or so he is telling people. The fun part is that the next day he got up and asked me if he was 5 now. But his birthday was a cool evening and a campfire and sweatshirts were required but he had a Thomas birthday cake and family stopped in for supper, cake and ice cream. A watergun and a nerf gun will even things out with Robert and painting pads and a new hay rake for his "big tractors" and a round baler for the small tractors will round up things. He spent that night sleeping on his floor in his new sleeping bag. But if nothing else He are excited to be 4!

Dirt and Sand

I really enjoy having fun with food, especially during the summer. For a picnic a couple of weeks ago, I let the boys decide were we taking dirt or sand. It was decided dirt this time, but if your looking for something fun for the next picnic or get-to-together here is the recipes (general) for Dirt & Sand.

Dirt
1 package Oreo cookies crushed (generic chocolate cookies work too)
2 packages chocolate pudding made up
1 tub of whipped cream
1 container of gummy worms

I usually use a dedicated sand bucket and a sand shovel to serve with (this container never goes near the sandbox - it's MOM's). Just begin layering the ingredients in until nearly full. Always end with oreo crumbs on top with a few worms sticking up through. Refrigerate until ready to serve. Amounts depend on the size of your sand bucket as you may need more ingredients depending on the bucket or serving container.

Now for those who do not like chocolate it is the vanilla version.

1 package Vanilla Oreo's (generic vanilla sandwich cookies work too)
2 packages vanilla or you could use butterscotch pudding
1 tub of whipped cream
and try to find seashell shaped candies or I have used swedish fish too. I've found that you need to check the gummy section of the bulk goods store or the local candy store. It's amazing the things hey make in candies.

Once again I use the dedicated sand bucket and sand shovel to serve. And just layer the ingredients into the bucket until nearly full. End with the cookie crumbs on the top like sand and add a few seashell candies or fish that got stuck on shore. Keep refrigerated until ready to serve.
Amounts depend on the size of your sand bucket as you may need more ingredients depending on the bucket or serving container.

This is a lot of fun especially for the kids. You could substitute ice cream for the pudding and freeze. Remove from freezer before serving (very hard) but artificial flowers out the top is a lot of fun - some people will think you are really eating DIRT or maybe SAND.

Fun with Food

"Hi I'm Mr. Corndog Man! How are you?" (are you sure we can play with our food?)

Summer time can sometimes mean a little more flexibility and that meals can be fun. Today the boys wanted corn dogs (questionable on how healthy)which I had purchased and had in the freezer. When I pulled them from the microwave, I noticed that there was a bump on the batter that looked like a nose. So I grabbed some shredded cheese and made little eyes and then I took a mushroom (left over from mountain pies the other night) and made a mouth and set them on the table. Robert and Garrett were like "Cool" Robert wanted to add hair - he said that cheese could easily make hair or maybe streaks of ketchup. Anyhow we had fun at lunch today and made the next time, I will let the boys create instead of me, but it is fun to make something different or unexpected for lunches during the summer. Try even using a cookie cutter for sandwiches - some days we have cows, pigs and hay bales. (Which Robert will even ask for once in a while because he remembers doing it when he wasn't in school)

Baby is here!

My new neice arrived at 3:45am this morning. Haylee Catherine made her arrival. She is 7#3oz. and 20" long. Catherine is doing well and the delivery went well from what I have heard (it was long) But all are well, what a blessing from God!

Wooden toy tops

This summer we have had several toy races at our house. These were simple toys that we made at VBS and here at my house for a last minute craft and they are SOOOO simple. They are simply wooden wheels (that my husband uses when he is building toy trucks) and a dowel rod cut to 4 inches in length. Sharpie markers were a simple decoration and makes them individuals. Then the kids set them on the floor and push the top away from themselves. We have had a great time with these simple toys. We have timed the spinning and also who's spin the longest amount of time or has the most unique spin pattern.
Tops are still a lot of fun!

Tye Dying Hand-me-downs

My sister is expecting which is great but we understand that it is to be a girl. This means that all the hand-me-downs can't be used. Some are definitely boy clothes. But a couple of weeks ago, I went to the attic and pulled out the clothes and sorted through them and found some that could be male or female. I also found 18 white (some what stained) outfits. My nephew (future big brother) was here for the day and we decided that Robert and my nephew could tie dye the outfits so that the baby would have some color. They picked pink, purple and a tealish blue. They turned out great and what a way to let kids help get ready for the new baby. We spent all afternoon. wrapping rubberbands, carefully putting the outfits in one color and then the next. After they dried, I rinsed them and then took the bands off. What excitement when they saw their handiwork. We also did a plain white sheet for the crib that turned out really cool. But here is a picture of a few of the outfits. But what a simple way to make hand-me-downs more exciting.

County Fair Projects

The Venango County Fair was something new to me when I was a kid, but since that is where Gary & I met, and we believe in the family friendly atmosphere it is now a given to our family that we will be going and participating in the fair events and friendly competition. With Robert being a 4-H'er he has several projects that he will be exhibiting for 4-H. Along with the projects come the books. These are a great way to keep Robert writing and reading and calculating the costs of his projects. Plus he will learn something new too!
Now Garrett will have his projects too. The fair offers open classes for everyone. There are youth classes for those 8 and under, 8-18, and adults. These projects are what keep the boys busy all summer. Actually it started the planning in January or February because the seed catalogs came out then and they were looking for sunflower seeds. They both enter sunflowers that they have taken care of throughout the summer.
But some simple ideas are: collages, fabric painting, flowers (plant and let the kids water and weed and then select the best looking bloom as needed for each type of flower) farm displays, models,etc. there are lots of things to choose from and they are great ways to use up some of that extra time that you might have this summer!
Gary & I even enter some of the things that we have made throughout the year, just for the fun of it. If anyone is interested I have extra fairbooks with the classes! Venango County does ask for preregistration by July 16th.

Vacation Bible School

As a co-director for Vacation Bible School, I am always excited about what is coming for the kids. For some reason this year I was more worried than excited, but our church had the "Backstage with the Bible" from the Go Fish Guys. If you have never heard of the Go Fish Guys, they are a great music group that started in adult Christian music and moved into kids music and the kids (and adults) love the music. Well, the VBS was very exciting - we had 104 registered kids attend VBS and over 40 volunteers. But the most exciting was how the kids took to the music and they really knew the words. Their favorite song _"The 10 Commandment Boogie" How awesome to have a song with God's rules be the kids' favorite song.

Now my boys were very very excited because we do like the Go Fish Guys' music so that made their day all by its' self. But it is so cool when Garrett came home each day and could tell myself or Gary ALL about VBS. The snack, the story, the games, the music, the craft (which he usually had to show us) and even the things he got to buy at the store. Robert had to miss one day because of cap, but he was always ready to put in anything that Garrett maybe missed about the day.

I was a VBS kid meaning that I attended several VBS's each summer and now my boys are doing the same. If you are interested Emlenton Area Church's will be having a "Family VBS" Starting June 21-25 from 6-8:30 each evening. The are presenting "Egypt - Joseph's Journey from Prison to Palace" All are welcome to come and join in on more summer fun!

Tents are great

Yesterday Robert asked if he could get out his tent. It is a small 2 person tent (if they are small people) but it was a nice day so he was allowed to get it out, but he had to set it up himself or with the help of his brother. A little while later both boys came to get legos - they could play outside and not loose the legos. The boys spent most of the afternoon playing in the tent. Then last night when I came home from a meeting there is a note saying that Robert was sleeping in the tent by himself. At age 9 I thought this would be an interesting evening. But he made it all night in the tent by himself and he enjoyed it. The tent stayed up today too and they continued to play in it. Aren't new play things in the backyard great? Sometimes something as simple as a tent or when inside a sheet over a table can entertain children for hours. And it seems my boys still like to have close, small space rather than wide open spaces. HAve a great summer weekend and remember tents are for more than camping!

Summer Reading Project

When Robert was younger he tracked the books he read through the summer by adding a body part to a dragon on our upstairs bulletin board. HE really enjoyed the activity that followed reading a book. Well after a lot of looking through bulletin board ideas, the boys and I have talked about having our "Reading Farm"." This week we will draw and color the barn which is the base for our farm then in order to have farm animals, they will have to read a book. For each book read, they will get a farm animal to write the name of the story on and them color the rest of the animal. So by the end of the summer, they are hoping to have an entire farm (maybe I'll even include tractors and equipment - we'll have to wait and see) But this is just an idea that has encouraged my boys to keep reading especially during the summer!

Alphabet Train

Garrett is learning his alphabet and we have tried a couple different things but they haven't clicked for him yet, but on Friday I started "Garrett's Alphabet Train" I found a blank train engine picture and a blank train car for in a classroom or bulletin board. I added Garrett's name right to the train and then printed it off for him. Now Garrett hasn't proved to be much for coloring, but twice now with the Frog Life Cycle and now with the train he has done a wonderful job. He also asked for colored pencils, so don't be afraid to give kids different tools to color with. We have the start of our train ready and on the wall. I took a photo of him and cut it out so there wasn't any background and it is just his head and put it in the engineer's spot on the train. I am planning to have each train car have a different letter and he can either find that letter in a magazine or paper or he can add pictures from the magazines of hings that start with each letter. But if nothing else he is very excited about it. We'll see how it goes.

Last Day of School

I try to make the first and last days of each school year special. We usually have something to give to the teacher for a Thank You for a good year and we usually try to have something for the bus driver too as they did make sure that Robert was safe to and from school each day throughout the year.
But I also have a few things that I do for Robert - first is that there will be pictures as he gets on and off the bus tomorrow. But I also have purchased Crayola's window crayons and Window Markers. SO there will be a little message on the door as he leaves and a new one when he gets home. Something as simple as "The LAST DAY of SCHOOL" or "Good-Bye 3rd Grade" then when he comes home it might say "Look out 4th Grade here comes Robert" Or "Welcome Summer!"
I usually have some type of small gift for the first day of summer too. This might come on the last day of school or it sometimes waits til the first day after school is out. This is usually something that the boys will spend time with this summer. New sports equipment or a few new books to read throughout the summer. What ever it is I do try to go overboard and celebrate each year completed in school! So try something special for your kids!

math games

Robert is to the point that he is learning his multiplication tables, but there have been a few nights that just going through the flash cards is just a bit more than what he can handle. So I got out a deck of regular playing cards and we divided them in half. And we both flipped over 1 card. He had to multiply the 2 cards together. IF he got the answer correct he got the cards, if the answer was wrong, I got the cards. The object of the game is for him to end up with all of the cards. Now we used the jack as 11, the queen as 12 and the King as 1 and the Ace was the Wild card which means that the person who laid it down gets to choose a value for the card. This proved to be a nice way to practice his math facts and was more of a game than a flashcard practice time.

After we had played several times (at his request) I got to thinking that this would work for almost any math. Addition they could easily add. Subtraction they would have to remember to start with the largest card and multiplication as we played it. So maybe throw in a few math games this summer while hanging out outside and the kids won't even realize that they are practicing their math facts.

Teaching Opposites

Garrett and I have been playing a game for a while that he reminded me of the other day as we waited for an appointment. When I was in high school there was a cheer that the cheerleaders did during football that one line was " We say fight, you say Win -fight, win, fight, win" and it continued with other lines. Well I have taken that line and have made it a fun opposites game. I will look at Garrett and say" I say stop, you say go - stop, go, stop, go" We then continue with as many opposites as we can. Sometimes I will start with "I say on, you say- what do you say?" This is where Garrett will tell me off and then we finish the game. This has become a fun little rhyme that we can do anywhere, from in the car, to waiting in line at the store, to waiting for an appointment. And it doesn't take anything but a mind fast enough to remember opposite groups plus it helps the kids remember their opposites.

Memorial Day Events

Okay, for my family Memorial Day usually means that Gary works and that there is farming to be done, but first there is the Service in Salem. I have been attending (for what seems like )Forever. But I have taken on a few new roles since I was a kid and I know go along with the Legion to each cemetery and play "Taps" for them.

I was talking to a friend the other day, who said that she had never been to a military funeral until recently and that it was very moving. That really got me thinking because I think that I have exposed my boys to not really the military funereal, but to a military salute. They know what a 21 gun salute looks and sounds like, they know that usually following the 21 gun salute there is the playing of "Taps" and it is a quiet solemn time to remember those who have passed on.

I hope that you take time this Memorial Day to share with your family and your children what Memorial Day is all about. It is for those who fought and gave their lives for our freedom. The freedom to have our picnics, to play our games, to go camping, whatever it is that you might be doing on this long weekend. I hope that you take time to remember and share that with those around you what the day really means. Maybe take time to attend a service somewhere near you to show your appreciation for those who gave their lives. They gave their lives, can you give a little bit of time to show them the honor that they deserve?

Have a safe and Happy Memorial Day Weekend and Take time to Remember

S'Mores Children's Sermon/activity

Okay, We had a very cool Children's sermon at church this morning that works so well with the official start of summer that it was too much fun not to share. Thanks Andrea!

The S'Mores lesson

After discussing that this was Memorial Day and that we are to remember those who have fought for our freedom, came the discussion that this usually meant picnics and campfires. And she asked the kids if they knew what the trinity was or who was in the trinity. When they didn't know she explained that it had 3 parts, The Father, The Son & The Holy Spirit. 3 parts just like a Smore! So the next time that you make a S'more remember that there are 3 parts the crackers, the chocolate and the marshmellow. The marshmellow is white like purity and when it is warmed becomes the glue that holds everything else together just like God holds everything together. And the best part about S'Mores is eating them and getting them inside of us, just like the best part about the Trinity is having them inside of each one of us!

So I hope that you have fun at your next campfire, but maybe you can use it as a learning opportunity that has a sweet treat in the end!

Tadpoles

The other afternoon, my mom stopped in with a bucket for the boys - in the bottom of the bucket were a large amount of Tadpoles. Well, we found a container to put them in and currently they appear to all be living. But I decided that if we were going to have them around that this was a great time to learn about them a little bit more. Garrett has been checking on them 2 & 3 times a day do I got online and checked on of my favorite websites for kids activities http://www.dltk-kids.com/ and searched frog life cycle. and up poped these adorable pictures and great ideas on how to make them. One of the neat ideas from this was that packing bubbles work great to appear like frog eggs.

So I printed off the life cycle in the large format and sent Garrett to check what color his tadpoles were. He came back in and when I showed him the picture of the tadpole, he went right to work coloring his picture. Now this is quite the accomplishment since Garrett doesn't like to color. But he worked at this for a while, coloring the tadpole and then the frog and all of the arrows to make our circle. Then he helped cut outsome of the pieces and he used the gluestick to stick them(with help for the proper order) onto the construction paper.

He did a great job and was very diligent about it too. So I hope you enjoy his art work and maybe you too can find some tadpoles to try raising.

handy pudding

Garrett loves chocolate pudding. We had had some of the individual servings pudding here, but are currently fresh out. So Garrett and I made chocolate pudding which is a really easy thing for kids of all ages to handle and can be nearly mess free (except for the eating of it). I have a shaker Tupperware container, (I have found that recycled Kool-aid mix containers or something similar works too)that holds 2 cups of milk plus has room for the chocolate pudding mix. So he helped pour in the milk and the pudding mix. I got the lid snapped on and then Garrett gets to jump and shake the pudding for at least 1 minute, but I usually try for 2 minutes. Then it goes into the refrigerator until after lunch. After lunch , I decided that we would have a little fun with our dessert and I pulled out the ice cream cones. Instead of Ice Cream cones we had pudding cones. Kids really enjoy these and they are kind of fun. Garrett really like scooping the pudding into the cones. And then we were able to enjoy our pudding cones outside without a really big mess. I have seen these also with a small amount of whipped cream on top to make them look even better.

So grab the pudding and enjoy a Pudding Cone this summer! We did.

Friends dropping in

Sometimes those plans from the very last minute work out the best. Dawn, Jeff & Abby were able to come and visit this weekend at the last minute. This worked out for us since it was a rainy Saturday and our plans ended up being cancelled. IT is so nice to have friends visit and we really enjoyed their visit. If you haven't had a chance to visit distant friends, maybe last minute "oh we have a free weekend" would be the time to go for a visit.

revised Candyland

The other day I was trying to figure out how to help Garrett learn his alphabet by the shape of the letter, not just saying them. So I thought about how he learned his colors and some of his numbers. He had to match them in a fun way. With games like "Candyland" you learn your colors, and "shutes and ladders" teach the numbers, so I was thinking that there isn't a reason that we can't learn our letters the same way. So when I was at Goodwill, I picked up a used Candyland Game and brought it home to be spruced up. I took a Sharpie marker and started printing both upper and lower case letters per block. Then I took the cards and on the backs wrote the alphabet in both upper and lower case letters. I put doubles on the cards that were doubles and I put numbers on the spots like "Peppermint stick" &" Gumdrop grove." With these changes we played the game using the letters and Garrett had to say the letters on each spot between where he was and where he was going. It seems to help and we are progressing. But now we have a game that we can play colors, or letters and numbers or we can play all three if the cards get all mixed up, there won't have to be a right side up or down either.

Do any of you have games that you have changed the rules to or a revised game that has worked well? please let me know as I love to have games in the back of my head!

Fun garden craft

My boys had seen a cool craft in last year's "Family Fun" magazine that we decided to make for Mother's Day gifts. They were gazing balls. My mom really likes gazing balls and has them in all shapes and sizes in her yard, but a few of the smaller ones got broken last summer in some of the storms. These were really simple and fairly mess free. They use clear, plastic treasure balls (look like Christmas ornaments, but they open like an Easter Egg) any how, you put a few drops of metallic paint of 2 different colors in. Then close the ornament and slowly roll the ball around for the paint to cover the inside and mix together naturally. Then we opened the ornaments and let them dry. We found some square stakes that the boys then painted and we put everything together with copper wire wrapped around the ball and then wrapped around the top of the painted stake. These turned out really cool, they look like the expensive gazing balls and these ones shouldn't break as easily as the glass ones. For full directions check http://www.familyfun.com/ and then search for "high-stakes glazing ball"

Mother's Day Children's Sermon

I once again had Children's Sermon., now this was kind of fun since it was Mother's Day. So I started by asking the kids that if they had any of the following living at their home to raise their hand and then I went through the following list:
a transportation director
a personal dietitian or nutritionist
a fashion coordinator
a landscaper
an accounts manager
a pediatric physician
a domestic engineer
an interior designer
a family historian
an arbitrator
or a personal coach
TO almost all of these I got "no" or "huh?"
Then we went back through each one and explained what these jobs would be in simple language and who most likely in the homes of our kids performed these duties. I explained that Mom's tend to be the ones who arrange for rides to where we want to be. That Mom is the one who decides what we can or cannot have to eat. "Can I have 1 more oreo?" and that sometimes mom says no because it is good for us NOT to have 1 more cookie. Then the fashion coordinator is the person who buys, washes and let's us know if what we are wearing is appropriate for the occasion and if it matches.The landscaper is the one who might mow the lawn or plants the flowers or shrubs or adds decoration outside to make your home look nice. The accounts manager is someone who makes sure that the bills are paid that there is money for groceries and all the activities that kids would like to do. The Pediatric physician - this I had to explain was "a kid doctor" and who do we go to when we have a sore throat or a splinter? - MOM. A domestic engineer - is someone who makes sure the the home runs properly. The interior designer is the one who makes the inside of our houses look nice and helps keep it clean. The family historian - is the person who helps keep track of our lives, either in photos, or journals or scrapbooks. They are the ones that when asked "What was it like the day I was born?" will be the one that can remember that day and explain it in detail. The arbitrator is the one who breaks up fights or arguments with siblings or friends. And finally the personal coach - I hope that we all have personal coaches as those are the people who encourage us all the time, they are the ones who challenge us and teach us new skills that we need to get through life. But the amazing part of all of this is that all those big titles we sum up with 3 letters -MOM. But when we read Proverbs 31:29-31 we find that "...that a woman who fears the Lord is to be praised. Give her reward she has earned, and let her works be known at the city gates."

Now you knew that mom did all these things for you, but I challenge you to learn 1 new thing about your mom today. Find out what your mom's favorite color is, what is her favorite flower, or her favorite food. Take time and talk to your mom because she is a lot more than you think.

Coupons / Riverside Knox

I was at Riverside in Knox today and saw that they are NOT going to accept printed at home coupons because of counterfeits. Just thought I'd let you know before you head in and can't use those coupons

Salute to America

Robert on his recorder


Robert's class presented a "Salute to America" they performed on their recorders, and sang songs of America, but here is one that I know Aunt Caren, Aunt Catherine and I were taught, which they are still teaching because it has all 50 states in alphabetical order.

Robert is front and center but Mrs. Nesta does step in the way a few times. Enjoy

Pilated Woodpecker update

I was fascinated by the woodpecker at Salem. I have since been trying to get a picture of it. But after checking online, I found that the pilated woodpecker is the largest woodpecker in North America. This one appears to be nesting as it is inside the tree now. If you stop by and don't see the bird. Stop and listen carefully, you can hear him tapping inside the hole at the top of the tree, but if you talk a little bit sometimes he will stick his head out and then he flies away but it seems that he does come back. But for a bird he is beautiful and it is the male as I was able to see the red streak on the cheek.

baby geese

If you have little ones that would like to see the baby geese, we noticed that there are baby geese at the Beaver Ponds that have hatched. THis is a great time to explain to kids about how birds come from eggs and then hatch out. Geese are very interesting to watch as they raise their young. Check them out if you get a chance.

Wildflowers blooming

It is that time of year when we go looking for the wildflowers in the area. There are actually some endangered or protected wildflowers locally. If you would like to see red trillium there are a few near the small bridge at the east end of Spook Hollow road. IF you don't know what a trillium looks like, I will try to get a picture of one and get it posted but I didn't have my camera with me and they are a little early (like everything else this spring). The other flower to start watching for is the Lady's slipper. These flowers aren't quite blooming yet, but watch for an orchid like leaf and a delicate pink slipper looking flower. I know of 2 places to see these flowers, but one is on private property and the other is off of West Home Road towards Emlenton, you would turn at the old West Home church (it is now a home) and follow that dirt road and they are usually on the right side of the road if you are going down the road. When I get pictures from this years flowers I will post them, but there are really some exciting nature things to see if you are watching for them.

pilated woodpecker

If you are in Salem, watch for the pilated woodpecker. Yesterday while at the Community Building, we saw a pilated woodpecker. If was making a hole the the maple tree near the road that is closest to the building. Garrett and I watched it most of the morning. But it was very cool.

Blue White Game

Saturday, even with the gray clouds, we took off for a short trip to State College for the annual Blue/White Game. Gary took the afternoon off and we watched the game. Garrett watched the Nittany Lion more than the game, but that's ok.

4-H Projects have arrived

Carrying Goats to the truck

Robert & Bo
After a couple weeks of continued work, the goat pen was ready. So on Friday night, Robert and Garrett got to bring home their new "KIDS." We now have 2 goats at our house. Robert has named his "Bo" and Garrett has named his "Simba"

Veggie Tales $5

After a discussion at church this evening, I just want to let you all know that there is a clearance sale on selected Veggie Tale movies for $5 plus shipping at www.bigidea.comThis is for a limited time or while supplies last, but I know that some were talking about it and I came home and checked my email that I had received about the sale. There is still time!!!!

Children's Sunday

Today was Children's Sunday at church today. Robert was part of praise team, performed "Down in my Heart" on piano and introduced the lesson time. Garrett was part of the cherubs choir. AS usual Garrett was a character, if oyu would like to see a video clip of Garrett check out www.lexiandcole.blogspot.com THis is a blog of friends of ours that have the video uploaded. It is really cute! Minus the fact that I just wanted to crawl under the pew. But both boys did well today!

Children's circus

On May 2, there is a Children's Circus coming to the Venango COunty Fairgrounds, in Franklin. THis might be a fun event to take the kids to. I'm not sure of the cost, but I can find out and I will post a follow up.

4-H Development Committee YArd Sale

I had talked to some of you the other day about the yard sale at Franklin that always has lots of books. I had the wrong dates. It is April 30 & May 1 and the following weekend. Sorry, for the confussion, but it is still usually a great yard sale.

Shaving Cream Fun

Garrett writing and drawing


Today I was looking for a new way for Garrett to learn his alphabet letters and drawing and just writing skills. I had picked up a few trays (these happen to be old school lunch trays) that we have been using for craft trays that way we can move them from the table to another location to dry to to wait until later. But today we took shaving cream and smeared it all over the tray. Then with 1 finger Garrett was able to draw or write his letters. He also discussed how the shaving cream felt and what it smelled like and its characteristics.
I have done this with kids up to 6th grade and they were writing their spelling words and practicing their math facts, It is just a change in media which kids need sometimes.

recycling toys

Well, it is that time of year when we are spending more and more time outside (except for this cold weekend) but when the weather changes I have found is a good time to clean up some of the toys in the house and make them "Disappear" for a while. I had Garrett clean up his Thomas the Train set (that has been in the living room for over a month)and put all the pieces into the plastic tub. Now it will be packed up for most of the summer (because I don't let that go outside for the lawn mower to find the pieces later.) The thing is that come September or October when we get it back out- he will play with it for days on end because it will be like opening up a long lost toy. The only thing about doing this is remembering where you have put the toys and not forgetting before they outgrow the toy.

This can also be part of a cleaning for a yard sale or donation day too. If you get your kids to help organize, when the shelf or toy box is full of their current favorites, put any extras in a box for later. This helps make it that the kids are more involved with the toys when you pull them back out and they are able to enjoy them.

cool blogs to check out

I stumbled onto 2 cool blogsites in the last few days. The first one is www.5minutesformom.com and the other one was a link from there called www.teachmama.com The 5 minutes for mom's has all sorts of things that we as mom's deal with everyday and some very cool things to help us with our journey.

The teach mama site has wonderful ideas for teaching our younger children to love reading and how to get them started. They both look like a lot of fun.
enjoy!

Playgroup Granola Bars

We have been trying different things so that we are eating more healthy and know what is in our foods. I went to AllRecipes.com and searched for granola bars, we tried several and this is one of the best one that we tried. So here is the recipe:

Ingredients:
2 Cups rolled oats
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup wheat germ
3/4 tsp. ground cinnamon
1 cup flour
3/4 cup raisins (optional)
3/4 tsp. salt
1/2 cup honey
1 egg beaten
1/2 cup vegetable oil
2 tsp vanilla extract

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees and generously grease a 9x13 pan.
In a large bowl, mix together oats, brown sugar, wheat germ, cinnamon, flour, raisins and salt. Make a well in the center and pour in the honey, egg, oil and vanilla. Mix well (you can use your hands) Pat the mixture evenly into your pan. (You will want to press it so that it holds together well)
Bake for 30-35 minutes in the preheated oven, until the bars begin to turn golden at the edges. Cool for at least 5 minutes, then cut into bars while still warm. Do not let them cool completely before cutting or they will not cool well.

Once they are completely cooled, I have been putting them in snack baggies so that they were still individually wrapped and easy to take with us.

** I have tried a couple of variations on this recipe. I replaced the raisins with dried apples, dried cranberries and we have added chocolate chips once in a while.

Science Experiment

Every spring I think of the science experiment that my mom use to do for us girls. If you get a chance, pick some daffodils and place them in a vase with warm water mixed with regular food coloring. (Blue and red always look cool) LAter have the kids figure out why the flowers have changed colors and then you have the chance to explain that the flower drinks water and that it goes throughout the plant. You can show where the colors go. Just something fun for spring.

Chicka Chicka Boom Boom

Garrett & I are working on learning the alphabet. "Chicka Chicka Boom Boom" is a fun little story that the kids just love to help read, but since Garrett seems to enjoy action too, we adapted. We took a piece of freezer paper and drew a tree, it looks like a regular tree, not really a coconut tree. Anyhow we have the little magnet letters on the refrigerator so now when we read the book, it is sometimes in front of the frig so that Garrett can find the letters and move them up the tree. Then when they all fall out he gets to slide them down the tree. For the last part of the story, he has been lining them up along the bottom in order and getting them out of the pile. Just another fun way to enjoy books and make them hands on.

Sunday is Children's Day at the Mall

Sunday is Children's Day at the mall. If you have never attended this event it is a fun time where the kids can make crafts, listen to stories, sometimes plant seeds. It all depends on what each organization brings along. There is a lot of community involvement with the groups and organizations that are involved in presenting this day. Kids will have a good time trying new things and there is always up-to-date information about parenting available too.

Venango County 4-H in the Mall

Just wanted to let you know that if anyone wants to see what youth in the area are doing that are involved with 4-H, this is the weekend to do it. All day Saturday, at the Cranberry Mall, the Venango County 4-H'ers will have displays throughout the mall. This is a chance to find out what 4-H has to offer and where or how to get involved. This is a great time to see what good things the youth in the area are doing even though they aren't on the front paper of the paper. PLan to let the kids get involved for just a little bit or take time to sit and listen to a demonstration. The kids have been busy this year.

Easter Children's Sermon

I asked the kids a few questions to begin with. "IF you put something down somewhere, do you expect it to be there when you come back? IF you have a donut and ask someone to watch it til you get back, (you usually ask a trustworthy person) do you expect it to be there? (The answers are suppose to be yes) Well that is exactly what the people who crucified Jesus thought too. They put a dead person in a tomb, rolled the stone in front, and guarded it with soldiers, so wouldn't you expect Jesus to still be in the tomb several days later? Of course you would, but let's read Matthew 28:1-7 (this tells of the earthquake and the angel rolling the stone away) I then shared a song with the kids called "The Angel Rolled The Stone Away." But the important part is what the angel said "He is not here, He has risen as he said" So to help the kids remember that "He is risen" (I had made ahead of time tombs, from paper plates folded in half and painted brown on the outside and black on the inside. I cut circles in 1 side of the plate and put the circle in place with a brass fastener. This way the stone could be rolled away)I told them that they would get to be the part of the angel and roll the stone away and then proclaim "He is Risen!" I held up the tomb and had the children practice as I rolled the stone away they said "He is risen" this was very quiet so I asked the congregation to show the children how to proclaim something and as I rolled the stone away they proclaimed "He is risen!" So I challenged the kids to see if they could be louder than the congregation - which they did a really good job. I had a tomb for each child to take with them and fun foam flowers to put around the tomb since it was in a garden (which worked to keep them quiet for a little while since on Easter Sunday we did not have Jr. Church)

On the way home I know that some of the kids got the point because in my back seat I heard Garrett, rolling the stone away and yelling "He is Risen"

If you don't want to make your own tombs, check Oriental Trading as I took their idea from the picture in their Easter Catalog and figured it out myself. They have kits that can be purchased to make the tombs from fun foam.

Resurrection Eggs & GPS

We started geocaching a few months ago and we have been letterboxing for 2 or 3 years now. We have had a really good time doing this and this weekend, I tried setting up a geocache trail. I took the Resurrection Eggs and hid them through my parents farm. Then Mom , Robert, Garrett & Andrew went geocaching. They found the eggs in order and then when they had found the whole dozen we opened each egg and read about the symbol that was inside the egg and learned about Holy Week. From the Triumphant entry to the last supper, to the cross and then to the resurrection. It was really fun and the kids enjoyed hunting for the eggs with the GPS unit. IF you get a chance give Geocaching or letterboxing a try. For letterboxing clues go to www.letterboxing.org then click on the area that you would be able to look in and print off the clues. Have Fun!

Happy Easter

(Thanks Aunt Caren for our Easter Outfits!)


We celebrated Easter with Sunrise service at Old Zion with my family. But we talked about "what was that morning really like when the women went to the tomb to find Jesus? Was it a bright sunny morning and warm? Was it cold and rainy, damp and dark? Or was it cloudy and not really either extreme? We don't know for sure, but we know that it was a Brand New Day for Christians around the world. May you have a wonderful Easter and serve our Lord and Savior.

Empty Tomb Biscuits

This is a fun Easter Activity for the kids to help with and enjoy, originally from the "The Good Book Cookbook" You can read the Easter Story from Luke 24:1-11 and 36-49.
Ingredients:
1 can of refrigerator biscuits
1 c. butter
2. tsp cinnamon
1/4 c sugar
large marshmallows

Open the can of biscuits and separate. Working on waxed paper, use hands to flatten the biscuits. In a glass bowl, melt the butter in the microwave. In a small bowl, mix cinnamon and sugar. Dip a marshmallow (which represents the body of Christ - white and pure of sin) into the butter and then roll in the cinnamon and sugar (represents the oils and spices the body was anointed with before burial) Place a marshmallow on the dough and carefully wrap the dough around the marshmallow. Make sure seams are pinched together so that the marshmallow will not ooze out. Dip in butter and roll in cinnamon and sugar. Bake according to the package directions. When cool, break open and see what is inside.

This is a great activity that helps show the kids the risen Savior's empty tomb. Plus they are tastey too.

Egg Stuffer ideas

It seems in our house that at Easter we end up with a lot of candy, which we really do not need. So in the last couple of years, I have tried a few other ideas for things inside of the Easter Eggs. I'm sure that you all have ideas too, but here are a few that the boys really enjoy.
1. money
2. matchbox cars (they fit in the larger eggs)
3. trailmix
4. stickers (cut a few from the page to put in each egg)
5. (This was one I thought was cool but haven't tried) puzzle pieces and they have to find all the eggs to find all of their pieces.
6. gift certificates for an ice cream trip

Just thought I would share some things that I have done and I know they aren't very girl friendly, sorry I don't have girls but I'm sure hair clips fit in eggs and so does jewelry

Wish Book

Gary & I have found that it is sometimes hard to get each other a gift that we would know for sure that the other really wants. So we have started a "Wish Book." This is a book that when we find something that we would like to have but not really need right now, we add the item to the wish book. This way when someone asks "What does Gary/Robin need or want for his birthday, Christmas, etc" I can look in the wish book an give them a couple of ideas. This is also where if we have a large purchase that we jointly are saving for, we write it down just so we don't forget what we are saving for. This has made holidays and birthdays a lot easier and takes a little bit of the guess work out of gift giving.

Canning Clinic

The Penn State Cooperative Extension Service will be offering a Canning Clinic at the Salem Community Building Kitchen on Tuesday April 6, 2010 from 6-9pm. The registrations are due by April 2, 2010 at the Forest County Cooperative Extension Office. There is a $25.00 registration fee but you will receive a canning class and a book "So Easy To Preserve" which includes recipes. I have registration forms if anyone is interested. This is a great way to make a few adjustments to your food budget and have produce available when it is NOT in season.

Woman's website with devotions

For anyone who might be interested there is a cool website that a friend directed me to. www.girlfriendsinGod.com This is a very nice website that has devtions and other things to keep us on the path that God wants us on. Enjoy!

Last Week

Okay Garrett made it back from Mass. and visiting Aunt Caren early Wednesday morning. But it seems that the rest of the week got lost somewhere. I watched my cousin Emily's little girl, Elise, on Monday. Then on Thursday I had the chance to go to The Sewing & Quilt Expo in Cleveland. Oh what a fun time and the cool ideas and fabrics. So last week just kind of disappeared. We finished indoor soccer season so now the schedule will change again.

Beauty & The Beast

WOW! boy did the kids at Keystone do a fabulous job with the class play. I hope you had a chance to go see it, the boys really enjoyed it even though it was long. IT will be a tough act to follow next year. Congrats Keystone cast & crew!

Grapevine pruning

I spent part of last week pruning the grapevines in our backyard. If I get a chance, I'm working on making a few grapevine wreaths. If anyone is interested in wreaths to decorate, let me know as I should have a few once I get them made. (Which isn't hard, if you have your own grapevines give it a try)

Garrett on the Road

Okay, Garrett is out traveling with my mom to Massuchuettes to visit my sister, Caren. Yes Caren lives in GA, but Valdosta guys Basketball team has made it to play-offs and they are playing up there this week. So Mom & Garrett are on the road. Much to Robert's dismay, he did not get to get out of school to go. Now he is deciding that he misses Garrett already. As for me, I'm a worrier and Garrett & Mom haven't always seen eye to eye. I hope that it will be a fun trip for all. If nothing else Garrett will be a surprise to Aunt Caren because she doesn't know that he is coming. This probably explains the verse of the week, huh?

Kid Made shirts

Garrett just outgrew a shirt that had dinosaurs on it and he was very upset about it. A fun way to keep clothing cheap and creative is to let you children make their own. Yesterday Garrett colored a dinosaur picture and I colored the other one. I then scanned his colored picture into the computer and then printed it out on t-shirt transfer iron-on. (Iron-ons can be purchased at Staples, Wal-mart, etc check the office section) In just under an hour Garrett had a one of a kind t-shirt that was just what he wanted and is a great way to show-off the kid's art work.

For cheap plain t-shirts, that are quality and name brands check out www.jiffyshirt.com I usually stock up on plain shirt at the beginning of summer. You can order mixed sizes and colors and styles. You can also find plain sweatshirts which are hard to find sometimes as alot of stores insist on having pictures already on their clothing.

So have fun creating one of a kind shirts - the kids will love them and you can save a few bucks!

Beauty & The Beast

For those who are not in the Keystone School District or those who do not have kids in school, I thought you might want to know that Keystone High School is presenting the musical Beauty & The Beast this Thursday, Friday, Saturday at 7pm and Sunday at 3pm in the afternoon. The cost is $5.00. Tickets are available for advance sales Tuesday at the high school from 7:30-8:30am and at the Elementary from 8:30-9:30am. Personally, the afternoon show on Sunday would be a great family afternoon out especially if you don't want the little ones up too late. IF you get the chance to go, I hope that you enjoy it!

Knox United Methodist Church VBS

As one of the directors of Vacation Bible School at the Knox United Methodist Church, I wanted to invite any of the kids who's parents are reading this blog. Our VBS will be June 14-19 from usually 8:30am - noon for kids age 3 through going into 6th grade. This year we will be doing a fun program "Backstage with the BIBLE" This is a VBS put out by the music group "Go Fish" and I'm pretty sure that the kids will love the music as my kids really, really like the "Go Fish Guys." So mark your calendars!!!

St. Patrick's Day Placemat

Garrett has been working on his colors and he has them mastered finally. He was getting a few of them mixed up so we had been looking for certain colors in magazines and cutting and glueing them onto construction paper. Well the other day I had him a piece of freezer paper about 11x17ish and I started with an arch of red and had him fill it in and then he asked what color came next and we went through the rainbow. Once he had his rainbow colored, we added a black pot and circles that look like money for the pot of gold. I was going to hang it on the refrigerator, but Garrett decided that it was his new placemat at his spot at the table. Isn't it neat how kids can change the direction that we are going with projects.

Progressive Lunch with the kids

Okay so on this wet, rainy Sunday, we decided to have a little bit of fun and take the boys out to lunch, but we needed it to be quick and we knew that they both wanted Shamrock Shakes from McDonald's before they are gone for another year. (Robert found out last year that sometimes on St. Patrick's day McD's has run out of green shakes and he was quite disappointed.) Anyhow we took the boys on a Progressive Lunch through Clarion. We started at McDonald's and got shakes. Then out around the corner and across the street to Wendy's where we ordered fries. Then we went out towards the mall and went to Arby's and got Roast Beef sandwiches. The boys thought this was cool especially since mom tells them they have to agree on the restuarant when we go out. Plus they had no choice in what they got to eat this time. Gary & I made all the ordering decisions. If it hadn't been for the shakes (which keep going up in price) it wouldn't have been any more expensive than eating at one of those restuarants. And if Gary and I had planned this before leaving for church, I had coupons for a couple of the restuarants here at the house. But if nothing else everyone got to eat at one of the favorite places or at least we got to mix it up a little bit. THank goodness for $1 menus!

Drive - in Movie night

This has been a busy weekend, Robert had soccer on Saturday and today in addition to church he was scheduled to have the Father/Son Cub Scout Bake-off and Drive-in Movie night at our church with the Kids Klub (younger youth group for those who don't know). Unfortunately, due to a change in times for the bake-off he then had to choose which to attend. Robert has choosen to attend the Drive-in Movie night. This is a great event that the Kids Klub leader, Peggy, found for the kids. Each child is to make a car or vehicle of some type out of a cardboard box (or 2 or 3). Well to make it a bit easier, our house actually made 2 cars for this drive-in, even though Garrett isn't old enough yet to attend the movie, he can watch one here at home. The leaders of Kids Klub then mark out parking spots with tape on the floor of the church basement and with snacks and cars in place the kids get to watch a movie in their cars.

Getting kids to practice

We have been having problems getting Robert to practice his piano on a regular basis. But money talks to him. We took the price of his lessons and divided it throughout the days between his lessons. We pay $6 for a lesson once every 2 weeks. We also planned 2 days off incase we get really busy or if he has a lot of homework. Then we offered him money for each time that he practices to pay for his lesson. There is a container on the piano for the money that each time he practices money goes into. On the day of his lesson, he counts the money and if he has enough for his lesson he is good, but if he comes up short he has to make up the difference. Boy have we heard a difference in how often he practices.

March is Music Month

March is the National Music month and here are a few ideas for our little music makers and let them have a band.
-Take a coffee can with a lid and wrap the can with fabric or paper and give them wooden spoons for drum sticks. You can put on music and see if your kids can keep a steady beat.
-Take toilet paper rolls and put put a hand full of beans in them. Up a piece of wax paper or construction paper over the end with a rubberband to hold it in place. You now have a a maraca.
- Find a few jingle bells and put them on a string and then the kids can shake the bells for music.

Music is such an important part of our lives, start early!

Maple Syrup Season!

Okay spring isn't here, but it is certainly getting closer as it is Maple Syrup Season at our house and in the area. We spent this evening getting our buckets ready and the taps and the tubing. Then we had time to tap the first 6 trees. We are very fortunate that Ron & Marlys allow us to use their trees down in the woods and in their front and back yards. Last year we didn't make syrup, so Garrett doesn't seem to remember doing this before, but he caught on rather quickly and we have quiet the tapping team. Robert felt that he was big enough to move up on the ranks of jobs and he did part of the drilling this year, while Garrett operated the hammer. Now we will see how long the weather cooperates for our sap run this year. (Check out the picture of Garrett - his tongue is out just a bit, must have been concentrating)

Our Dr. Seuss Day

On Tuesday, I had the opportunity to go to Keystone and read to 3 of the 3rd grade classes for Dr. Seuss DAy. I read "Oh the Places You Will Go." Following the story, I had extra time so I asked the kids to think of where they might want to go or what they wanted to do when they grow up. It went over very well and the kids have some great goals. I can't wait to see it when they reach their goals. That evening we had green eggs & bacon (okay we didn't have slices of ham, just 2 big hams in the freezer. I made 2 different kinds of eggs, Robert had scrambled and Garrett had fried, but each had green eggs thanks to the food coloring. Robert read to us before supper "Green Eggs & Ham" which was a nice treat. Both of the boys enjoyed the day and the fun that we can have with books.

Gak, Obleek or Gooey Gunk

Here is the recipe that I use for whatever you want to call this mixture. It is called "Gooey Creation Gunk " from the book titled "Kid Concoctions of Biblical Proportions" If you happened to be at the Salem Twp. Halloween Party, the kids made it there just for fun. I use this for the Dr. Seuss Obleek as it does stick together a little bit and doesn't make quite the mess that slime or other recipes similair to that do.

Solution A: 1 cup water, 1 cup white glue, 2 Tbs poster paint or 7-10 drops food coloring (I use food coloring)

Solution B: 1 1/3 cups warm water, 4 tsp. Borax laundry booster
Directions:
Mix ingredients together for solution A in a bowl.
Mix solution B together in a bowl until the Borax is dissolved
Now slowly pour solution A into solution B. They will not mix together but rather A will glump together
Lift the glump of solution a out of the bowl and knead it for 2 -3 minutes and let the excess water drip off.
Now play with you gooey gunk or for this occassion Obleek. Gunk can be stored in a sealed container or ziplock baggie.

Dr. Seuss Day - tomorrow!

Just some ideas of what might happen tomorrow at my house, I haven't completely decided but we usually celebrate Dr. Seuss's birthday. Here are some fun things that we have done in the past.
1. Green eggs and Ham (or bacon) for breakfast or dinner which ever works best for your schedule. I just scramble the eggs and add a couple drops of food coloring before cooking the eggs. I have also made green fried eggs, by leaving the yolk alone and making the white green by carefully swirling green food coloring into the white with a knife while it was cooking.
2. Read as many Dr. Seuss books that day as you own!
3. Make a tall red and white striped hat from construction paper and a stapler.
4. Make gak or obleeck. I'll post my recipe later today!
5. Have the kids try to talk in rhymes or to write a crazy poem with nonsense words included!
6. Try to memorize a Dr. Seuss book and watch in amazement when you start the story in the store or in the car and your kids are like -"Where is the book" How do you know that story?"

Have fun and enjoy reading with Dr. Seuss!

Crayola Fun!!!

It's a winter Sunday afternoon and we were outside for a while and now I was just checking my email. I have a crayola account and was checking out their ideas. (Which crayola.com does have great project ideas and coloring pages for free, but for those of you who love crayons (like me - KELLIE) check out this link. http://www.crayola.com/creative-fun/color-quizzer/ It is a test of your ability to name the crayons correctly. Just for fun or to kill time give it a try.

Snow Day - plows

Okay the boys are both home again today thanks to yet again another SNOW day. They wanted to be able to pretend that they were moving snow but their toy trucks didn't come with snowplows and they don't use loaders to plow snow. So we needed to make snowplows! After thinking for a little bit I came up with using a toilet paper tube. Cut it in half. Make 2 small holes in the center of the "plow" and feed a rubberband through the holes. We needed to tie a knot in the rubberband or I used a half hitch in the rubberband on the back to hold it in place. We were then able to stretch the rubberbands around the cabs of the trucks and temporarily have snowplows attached. The only problem was that they couldn't push things that were very close to the ground (the plows don't truly touch the ground) so I pulled out the styrofoam packing peanuts and told them that there was their snow. Both boys had fun with "moving" snow today!

Indoor Hopscotch

With the up coming winter storm, I was trying to think of ways that I could keep the boys moving and having fun inside. I saw this idea in a quilt book a couple of weeks ago. It is indoor hopscotch. I just took felt and cut out ovals/circles on brown to make it look like stones. We are rolling a hacky sack towards a stone and then jumping around the hacky sack. The book I saw the idea in had different ideas for blocks. Fun foam squares, flowers, lilly pads (then the kids could be frogs)whatever would work. I used felt because I knew that it wouldn't slide on carpet and I was unsure if fun foam would slide or not. We added the numbers with a permenate marker. I think I can also use these as ways for Garrett to learn his numbers. I can call out number "3" and he will have to go jump on it. I could also use these as a hide and seek game where the numbers are hiding and the boys have to find them , in order, or the number that I call out. Oh the possibilities! If you think of any fun things to do with this please let me know! Have fun!

Robert this week

Robert is now asking for things to be put on the blog so first is a picture of his most recent Knex creation, a hang glider! He finally had another soccer game after snow delays for the past couple of weeks, we had a nice weekend and they got to play!

Mardi Gras Masks

Took the picture but took time to get them up on here!

Recharge your Batteries - Children's Sermon

For today's children's sermon I took my camera along and had batteries that were about dead and a set that were charged. I had the dead batteries in my camera. I had them set a pose for me and went to take it, only to find that the batteries were dead. Have you ever had a low or dead battery? When my personal battery is low or dead, I get very grumpy, with people, especially with my family. At Christmas time this year I was very tired and worn out and my battery was very low!!! But with normal batteries we throw them out, but with rechargeable batteries we are able to recharge them. Thankfully God has made us with rechargeable batteries and he doesn't throw us out, when we are working for him. I then put in the charged batteries and showed that with charged batteries they are able to do work, just like us. Since Christmas, I have taken time to "hibernate" and I have found a way to recharge my batteries. God says " Be still and know that I am God" I have found that when I am not quite so busy that I have time to listen to God. NOt only have I been recharged but I have had creative ideas about showing God's love again and I am once again excited about God's work through me. Michele Higgins and I have been working on selecting VBS material. Once again we had each looked and found 2 different ones that we thought would be great for VBS. When Michele emailed me the ones that she thought would be our options, I found VBS materials that I hadn't seen, but I was so excited about that not only did I run upstairs at 10:30 (after Gary had been in bed for at least 2 hours) and jump on the bed saying "listen to this" but I was also up until 2 AM because I was SOOOOO excited over the possibilities of what VBS could be this year and how VERY VERY COOL it could be.
SO having taken the time to "Be still" and slow down just a little bit has been very rewarding because God has recharged my battery through time with him, studying his word and through not being distracted by too many other things. So when you are not excited about doing something that you use to be excited about, or when you are just tired take time to "be still" sometimes that can mean just a simple nap and rest other times it means so much more.
Have a great week!

Free Busy Moms Bible

They just announced on the radio that if you go to the website www.busymomsbible.com that you can request a Busy Mom's Bible for the first 5000 requests. It is on the website - this is a Zondervan publishing Bible, I don't know what version but it was decribed as having devotionals included in the Bible itself.
Thought you might like to check it out!

Mardi Gras

Mardi Gras is tomorrow, also known as Fat Tuesday. So we have let the kids make masks for the party. We have taken posterboard, or funfoam and cut a simple mask shape and eye holes. Then I have let the kids use feathers, glitter glue, beads in the bright colors of Mardi Gras and glue them on. We sometimes have donuts for breakfast because in some religions during Lent they did not have sugar and items made with yeast. So yes we eat poorly on Fat Tuesday. But it is a treat around here and Robert usually wears his brightly colored fleece hat that has 2 points on it, just to be silly!

Chinese New Year's

Yesterday was the first day of the Chinese New Year's celebration. This is the year of the Tiger and not that I believe in every thing involved with Chinese New Year's but it is a good way to show the kids a diversity in people and traditions. We have started, thanks to my mom :), celebrating Chinese New Year's because it is something different for the kids to experience. If you get a chance in the next 12 days - maybe grab some chopsticks, chinese food and have a little fun with it. I tried making Fortune Cookies, but they were too thick, so we will try again sometime. But here is a Fortune Cookie Recipe if you would like to try it sometime.

Fortune Cookies
Make up your sheet of fortunes and cut them apart.

Ingredients:
8 egg whites, 1 cup melted butter, 1 teaspoon, vanilla, 4 tablespoons water, 2 cups sugar, 1 cup flour and 1/2 teaspoon salt.
Directions:
Seperate the egg whites and beat until they form stiff peaks. Blend in the sugar and butter. (Save the yolks for scrambled eggs some other day.)Add the flour, vanilla, salt, and water to the mixture and mix until it is smooth. Grease a cookie sheet and spoon the batter into 3 inch circle (takes about 1 Tablespoon). Bake at 375 for about 3 minutes.
When the cookies are done, remove them with a pancake flipper onto waxed paper. Take a fortune and put it in the center of the cookie. Fold the cookie in half and then gently bend the ends of the cookie back towards each other towards the straight edge of the fold. If they get stiff, just put the cookies back into the oven for about 1 minute to soften in order to fold. Enjoy!

Library Mouse

Some have let me know that they liked "The Very Hungry Caterpillar" idea that I shared a couple of week's ago. So today Robert, Garrett and I had a chance to read another book and add an activity. Today's book was "Library Mouse" by Daniel Kirk. We read this cute book about finding the author in you. So following reading the book, I had paper cut and stapled together for the boys to write their own books. Robert went to a friends so we didn't get to finish our books, but for Garrett a simple story using stickers as the pictures for numbers or colors. I will write the color on the page and have him finish with pictures that are that color. Also another one that we are going to work on is the Counting - each page will have a number and the correct number of similar stickers for him to Count. I have done this before and Robert loved reading his books to mom & dad and even his stuffed animals. We still have some of his first books just for the fun of it.

My QUILT is DONE!!!!!

I just needed to share that I finally finished my first queen size quilt. I have made 2 other quilts, but they were very simple quilts and had very little piecing involved. But this is a new quilt for on my bed. I have been working on it for the last year and I an very excited with how it turned out. I just wanted to share a picture of how it turned out.

Another SNOW Day!!!!

Well today is just starting and it will be another SNOW DAY with both boys here at home. It's too cold and windy to send them outside, so I am planning while they watch a movie. Grab the sheets, they each get their own tent in a corner for the day. This will keep them busy for a while. Paper, scissors and glue - they can make Valentine's Cards for special people (the ones for school are already done). Robert does have a Cookie 4-H project, maybe we will make some cookies and give them to the snowplow drivers (they might need them today). Oh and maybe we will make our own snow pictures. This can be a lot of fun. Take shaving cream and make a pile on a piece of cardboard or paper, then add about 1 tbsp of school glue to the shaving cream and mix together. Then let the kids make pictures with their hands or paint brushes. The glue keeps the shaving cream puffy, So it is like painting with puffy paint, only cheaper!!!
Have a great SNOW DAY!!!

National Marriage Week & upcoming Valentine's Day

This is National Marriage Week! Have you celebrated your marriage? With Valentine's Day at the end of this week, try to find small ways to surprise your spouse with little things that they will appreciate. With tight times, the things that are well thought out, but cost nothing, are sometimes the best way of showing your love to your spouse. If you are not married take time to identify a couple who has been an example to you and let them know that you apprecaite them in your life.

Some helpful ideas:
leave post-its around the house or car or office with little love notes on them
-send a loving text or email message
-offer a back rub or full body massage
-have dinner ready for the kids early and put them in bed and have a romatic candle lit dinner for just the 2 of you

For Valentine's Day maybe have your children adopt a widow or widower that they could shower with love. Let those people know that they are still loved as part of this world and that someone stills cares! Random Acts of Kindness usually catch people off guard and they truely appreciate the kindness. Something as simple as homemade cards (remember the heart shaped people?)which is s great activity for the kids and can be used for someone special!

individual servings

The kids love things that come in individual servings, jello and puddings for school especially. Well when Garrett was a baby we had baby food in the plastic rectangle containers with lids. I found that those worked great for a lot of things from Cherrios at church to reusing them for jello made in a large batch and put in the refrigerator and then sent to school to pudding cups. We also found that we like them for putting carmel in when dipping apples or peanutbutter for apples or bananas. But they also have a limited time of use, or sometimes got thrown away because it was easier. I would love to have 25 or 50 more of those litle containers. If anyone has a little one eating baby food and would be able to save some for me, I would appreciate it, unless you are going to use them. But if you plan on throwing them away, please hold on to them for me!

playdough !?!?!

Playdough is a love-hate childhood item. I love the smell of play dough and the feel in my hands. The boys will spend hours wih play dough but those hours also equal bigger clean up time, on the floor, on their clothes, maybe drug to the carpet. Why do the fun things in life have to make such a mess?
Garrett had playdough out today and enjoyed every minute of it. He has a farm set and the farmer grew hair and then he would cut it off. "He needed a haircut, Mom" But all those pieces ended up on the floor (just like a real haircut I guess) but then Garrett ended up stepping in it with socks on. That can be difficult to get out of clothes. Oh the joys!

cool kids craft site

The website www.freekidscrafts.com is a very good website with fun crafts to do with kids. Each day there is a new craft available on their calendar. There are printable activities and at the beginning of each month there is a calendar page to print off. I have found this website has be a good go to at the lasst minute when the boys want to make something and I'm brain dead!

free quilt patterns and directions

Hey I stumbled upon a cool quilting website. Yes I am getting into quilting and it is a lot of fun. If you like to sew or would like to try a project take a look at the website, www.allpeoplequilt.com
There are free pattern and directions, ideas and informational classes on quilting!
Have fun

Working Together - Children's Sermon

I usually do not have 2 weeks back to back of children's sermon's but I was filling in for a friend, so I will post this week's children's sermon. I hope that you at least are enjoying reading them.
1 Corinthians 12:27 (The Living Bible Translation)
"Now here is what I am trying to say: All of you together are the one body of Christ and each one of you is a seperate and necessary part of it."

Now once I had the children at the front with me, we read the verse above and I asked if anyone played on a team - soccer? football? baseball? One little girl told me that she had gone to see "Magical Kingdom Live" at Clarion University over the weekend and I had the opportunity to see it too. So we talked a minute about the show choir and that they worked as a team, that they didn't just get up there and start dancing. And how did they learn all those dances or how do you learn the plays for a sport and get good? PRACTICE! Did you know that we need to practice being part of God's team? Sometimes when we are on a team, we know what the goal is, but we don't talk about how we are going to get there. Sometimes we decide that we know how to get there. Then I had the kids help me with an activity. First let me explain that our church has 2 main aisles, not a single center aisle. I had the kids all stand facing the congregation and had them hold hands. They had become "One" but they were still individuals. Now the goal is to get the whole line to the back of the church (where I had put a treat for them) the only rule was that they had to hold hands the whole time. If they broke hands, they had to go back to the front and try again. I asked if there were any questions, seeing none, I took a hold of a wee little guys hand at one end and said go. Of course, one side of the line went up 1 aisle while I led one end up the other. Oops, we broke apart, back to the front, lets try again. Once again we went in different directions, but going for the same goal. Then I had the kids stop and think about the goal, it was the same for all of them, but we had a problem we were going in our own directions. We then tried it 1 more time, with all of us working together, and we all walked back 1 aisle and made it to the treat. It's it amzing if we work together but do our part under God's direction what can be accomplished!

Groundhog Day idea's

Tomorrow is Groundhog Day, and I try to have a fun craft for little kids for Groundhog Day. Garrett has started his, but today didn't go according to plan or I might have had a picture. Take a paper cup or I took a cardboard cone (from inside yarn that my mother-in-law crochets from) make a small hole in the bottom of the cup, big enough for a straw to fit through. Now take 2 large brown pom poms and glue them together, find small googley eyes and add them to your pompoms (Your groundhog) Now glue your pompoms to the end of the straw. Place the other end of the straw through the hole in the bottom of the cup so he will be able to go in and out of the cup. I have found if you are on a time limit or have an impatient child, hot glue works great for speeding up the process, just becareful if they want to help! The kids can go around all day pushing their groundhog out of the cup and checking for shadows in different lighting in your house, or take it out side and make their own prediction!** If you don't have pompoms at your house, take a piece of brown paper and draw a little brown creature and add eyes. The kids like the action I think more than the art work of the groundhog.