Venango County Fair

Okay this week has been busy for the first few days, but here is how things have worked out here! Robert received a blue in goat showmanship and in fitting and he placed 2nd in the 4-H market goat and 3rd in Open Market goat class. Garrett, placed 1st in his goat class and he participated in pee wee showmanship on Monday. On Tuesday, Robert entered his hog in the hog show, and he received a blue in showmanship, 1st in 4-H Class and 1st in Open.  The boys also entered many projects in the open and 4-H areas that were not animal related. Robert received 1st in Genealogy, 1st on his Spring Wildlife, 1st on his Wildlife poster, 3rd on his Crank It Up, Small Engines. Garrett received a 3rd on his bracelet, a 3rd on his painted t-shirt, 2nd on his creative flower, 2nd on farm display, 2nd on sunflower, 2nd on his watercolor painting. Honestly, I know that there is more that the boys entered but I can't remember right now.

They are having a great week and a good time!

Childen's Sermon - Be prepared!

As I sat with the kids at church on Sunday, I confessed the following to them....

"Okay this week has been really busy at our house. We have been busy finishing projects because well at our house it is fair time. And the other night as I was working on my quilt trying to get it finished, I was talking to God. I asked him what should I do for children's sermon. And do you know what popped into my head - The Boy Scout Slogan "Be Prepared!" I was like okay what does that have to do with the children's sermon. I am trying to be prepared.  -- Wait kids can you tell me what the word prepared means? (the kids looked at each other and then someone said "to get ready)" Exactly!!!! I need to get ready. So I started thinking about all the things we should get ready for. So what do you get ready for? Vacations? (Yes and I pulled out a tour book), School (Yes - I pulled out a book bag and markers),  At our house, the Fair (out came the fairbook)company ? (Yes) How do you get ready for company? (One little one said "Clean-up!") Do we get ready to go outside in the sun? (Yes and out came the sunscreen and sunglasses). But do you what hit me that I had missed getting ready for?  I have been SO busy, that I haven't taken time to get ready, or Be Prepared, for when Jesus comes back. Hmmm.

How do we get ready for that?  Well we should be reading our Bibles, and praying with God and sharing with others about God. Now Jesus is going to be like the unexpected visitor that just shows up at the door and says" Hey are you ready to go to heaven?"  He tells us so in the Bible, in Luke 12:40 it says "You also must be ready, because the son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect him." I hope you will be ready and your answer will be  "Yes" and that you don't answer Jesus with "Hey can you wait just a few minutes to go to heaven, I need to get ready."

So as you are "getting ready" for school or vacation or the many other things that summer offers, don't forget to make sure you take time to "Be Prepared" for Jesus.

Garrett's broken finger

Okay so it has been a long week!!! A week ago Sunday Garrett accidentally closed his index finger in the car door. Of course he screamed and it swelled up and turned black and blue. I didn't think much of it, but Monday it wasn't looking too good, so we went off to the Dr's. They ordered xrays for Tuesday morning. That was something new for us!! Garrett was a champ through all of this. He held really still, but while we waited he asked all sorts of questions about the camera and what would his x-ray look like. Fortunately, we had a great nurse who let Garrett and Robert look at the actual x-rays up on the light box. They could see how all the bones worked together.
Well, it turned out that on Thursday we got a call that his finger was indeed broken and we needed to go to a specialist. (I was like REALLY?!?!?) But we were scheduled for today with the specialist. So yet another set of x-rays, which this camera, Garrett noticed, was different than the first camera and he was right. This was a digital x-ray camera. So as we waited (a while) he looked around the room and asked questions about the different bones that he could see in the room on the models and we talked about where those bones were in our bodies. On the counter there was a knee, with a torn ligament/tendon(?). He could see how there are 2 bones in our lower legs, but only 1 in the upper leg and how the ligament/ tendon(?) held the knee and leg bones kind of together.
So he has been asking about our skeleton and how the bones all work together.

So if nothing else out of this small injury, we had time to learn a little bit about our bodies. Hopefully, next time we can just learn about it without the injury and maybe have some fun with it instead of pain. But it has really opened up some interesting discussions!

Have a safe summer!!!

Birding for 4-H Project

Well we are in the last stretch for this year's 4-H Project Books as they are due soon!!! So we have some activities that need to be finished up. Today we needed to listen for birds again. We did this a couple of weeks ago in our backyard and found that if we saw the bird we could identify it, but to figure out what it is by sound is much more difficult.

So today we went to the ponds near our house , where there are usually loads of geese. But today we saw maybe 8. We hear a great number of birds, but still can't identify them well by sound. But we did see a hawk and a great blue heron. All very cool. The boys were very excited about seeing these birds.  And the fun part was being able to come home and once again going to the computer to http://www.allaboutbirds.org/ and learning more about them. So go try listening for birds and find out what you can identify. Then open your eyes and see if you can do any better!

Yogurt Parfaits

This morning it seemed way too hot to have a cooked breakfast and cereal didn't seem to fit either. But we have fresh raspberries and I had opened apple pie filling last night. So it was a Yogurt Parfait morning, where the kids had to make their own breakfasts!  plastic cups, vanilla yogurt, raspberries, apple pie filling, and Cherrios and we went to work. The boys could make up their own recipe, layer in those ingredients in any order, they could mix them together or keep them seperate.

Garrett isn't too into raspberries so his was just the apple pie filling, yogurt and cereal. While Robert took the apple pie filling, added raspberries and heated the 2 together  before layering them into the cup with yogurt and cereal. No matter which way they were layered we had a really fun, simple and creative breakfast - and that doesn't happen around here very often (creativity doesn't kick in until I am completely awake!)

This was a great way to start the boys into experimenting with ingredients!

Garrett and Washington DC

You never know what kids have picked up when you do things like vacations, educational trips or just a science experiment. Well today Garrett (5) proved that he really wasn't too young to learn something while we were in Washington DC earlier this summer.Now keep in mind that I should have known this because when he was 2 1/2 we went to Mt Rushmore and to this day when he sees a picture of Mt Rushmore, he will announce that he knows what it is and that he has been there.

Well today was one of those days!! We were yard saleing (yeah!) and a friend had on a patriotic shirt. As we were standing there Garrett went up and point to one of the pictures on her shirt and says, "That's in Washington DC, I was there!" Now here's the interesting part - he was pointing to a picture of the Capitol Building, which we only saw briefly and we didn't go up close to or tour. (I figured that we could save that for another trip when they were both older and understood government a bit better). But at 5, Garrett knows where an important building in our nation's capitol is and in fact that it is important.

He also this week picked up one of his brother's books and pointed out to my Abraham Lincoln, and said "That's Abe Lincoln, he was our president!"  Boy I really need to set up what we are learning around our house as Garrett is picking it up quick!

But be careful what you put in front of your kids to see and hear as they are listening even when you might think they are too young .

Becoming a United States Citizen

Robert has been working on our Family History for his 4-H project. This has already taken us to new places, but in one of the censuses he found that his great grandmother was not born in the United States. So we then talked about what an alien was and what they had to do to become a naturalized citizen. Well, Monday morning the TV station was interviewing some people who were becomeing citizens on the 4th of July. And they were giving  afew questions from the naturalization test. So out of curiousity, I went to find the test. It is 100 questions long, but includes, American government, American History & Geography. So I printed out a copy of the questions and answers and we had trivia time at breakfast just to see if we could become citizens, if we hadn't been born here. Gary & I did alright. But there is a lot of learning still going on in our house for the boys to make it;)

But here is the link http://usgovinfo.about.com/library/blinstst_new.htm  You have to scroll down a little for the test to begin, but give your crew a trivia test and see what they know!

Fourth of July Fun

As much as I like fireworks, I do not like having the ground fireworks or sparklers around small children. As a way to keep things still fun, but safe, I purchase LOTS of glow sticks that are the bracelet size. I then hand out glow sticks in the evenings. My boys have decided that glow sticks in a circle make a great nighttime Frisbee. They will put bracelets on and then play hide and seek in the dark. They have also played that they hide the glow stick for someone else to find (kind of I spy). Regardless, they are still having fun and are being safe. And we take in enough public firework shows to keep everyone happy.
Have a great, safe 4th of July.

Maps and kids on vacation

If you are planning on going on vacation, take a little time and plan ahead by purchasing not only yourself, but your children an atlas. There are kids level atlas' out there, but as long as it is small enough for them to handle in the car it doesn't have to be a kids' atlas. But before we leave, I take my roll of contact paper and cover all the states that we will be traveling through. Then while we are on the trip, I have Robert take a marker and follow where we have been on his map. Now if I want it to be able to be erased, I have him use a dry erase marker. I also will have him look at the map and show him where we are starting and where we are going. his job is to give me a route using the road numbers on the map. I check out his trip on my map. Recently we were looking for an alternative route to avoid traffic. Robert's routes turned out to be a VERY nice, traffic free drive. I will also have them look at the map and ask questions like what is the next closest town North of where we are. This helps them understand their compass points.

For simple day trips, I will copy a local map and mark it with stickers of things we will see along the way. This way Garrett can visually see that we are getting closer to where we are going. For example, when we are heading towards eastern PA, I put a sticker where the exit is that we would get off the interstate, a sticker at Penn State,  a sticker at the bottom of 7 mountains (reservoir), Lady Liberty in the Susquehanna and Harrisburg- I will announce when we are passing or stopping at each sticker so that he can follow that we are getting closer to where we are going.

Just a little something to think about before leaving on vacation that helps keep the kids interested in where they are going. And it just takes a little bit of prep time! Have a great time on the road!

Garrett's 5th Birthday

Happy Birthday Garrett!!! We celebrated Garrett's birthday a few days early because of other things on the calendar. But last evening we had a a couple of his friends over and we played games, ate, had a hay ride, opened gifts and ate cake. A John Deere tractor with a chisel plow was a big hit (thanks Nanny!) the kids seemed to have a fun night.

Garrett with his new book from Aunt Caren-
she reads it to him! Very Cool!

An Aunt Caren Shirt

A super airplane that Garrett is all into

Yum Popsicles!
Boy these are heavy!

Dinner with friends

Oh, what's in here?

And we are off for our hayride

Blowing out the candles - check out that tractor and chisel plows!!!

God's Training Camp VBS

Garrett and his team practicing their Team Cheer

This year's VBS at Knox United Methodist Church, was "God's Training Camp" and each day was a different sport theme.  The kids had a great time and the mission project was to raise money for tornado victims in Alabama and Missouri.

After learning about the Armor of God and how it is like a football uniform-
Robert tried on the uniform- GRRR! Doesn't he look mean?

Vacation to Washington DC & Williamsburg, VA

OKay ,life is slowing down a bit so at the beginning of June we had the opportunity for a trip to Williamsburg, VA with Gary's Family. Well we added 2 days in Washington DC on the way down. We stayed right in DC, so we could walk everywhere we wanted to go to. We actually walked the entire mall plus around the tidal basin. Things have changed since I was last there (granted that was years ago) but the boys really enjoyed it. I remember as a kid not getting to go up the Washington Monument because it was such a long wait. Well the wait is no longer. You can get free tickets (if you go early!) that are time stamped and then you go to the base of the monument at the assigned time. This was really cool, because it was VERY hot when we were there and waiting could have been a patient tester! Unfortunately the reflecting pool is drained for reconstruction so it wasn't as pretty there as it is with the pool.

The Boys with the Washington Monument
the first stop in DC

 

Across the tidal basin with the Washington Monument

After seeing Washington DC, we went to the National Cathedral & Arlington and the boys were very impressed with the Changing of the Guards. Plus we went and found Ross McGinnis's grave - a young man from the Knox area who gave his life for our country.
We then traveled to Williamsburg, VA and met up with the rest of Gary's family. We spent a day at Colonial Williamsburg, a day at the Beach and a day in Jamestown Settlement.

 



The Changing of the Guards at Arlington Cemetery



Garrett in the Largest Sandbox he has ever seen!

The Cousins that we spent the week with

Robert in trouble again!

Busy Month and fun idea for vacations

Okay school was out here on June 1st and it has been continual, non-stop go since Robert got out of school. We spent the first weekend in Washington DC with the boys, on our way to Williamsburg,VA for a week's vacation with Gary's family. This was a fun week, with Laura Ann & Conrad's family, Brian & Tammy's family and Grandma & Grandpap. When we returned from vacation, we started right into Vacation Bible School at our church and I was the director. It went very well and there will be more posted on it later. On Thursday of this week, Robert went to 4-H camp. So now that Robert is home, VBS & vacation is over, I thought I might have a chance to but a bit on here. There will be a few photos from the past week's events, but here is a fun and simple idea for the kids for while they are on vacation.

Robert and Garrett have been taking quarters and pennies with them places for a few years now. They are collecting pressed pennies from the places that they have visited anytime that we can find the penny press machines. These are not only cheap and easy to travel with, but they are also simple to keep and provide a great keepsake. If you are looking for a frugal vacation keepsake, check out the website  http://www.pennycollector.com/ you can see if the locations that you are planning to visit offers pressed pennies and how many different pictures that are available.

1st Communion

Elizabeth relaxing a little bit to strike a poise!

This past weekend, we had the priveldge to watch Elizabeth take her 1st Communion. She was a beautiful young lady for this special day. We also had fun seeing relatives and friends that we haven't seen in a while.

Robert's busy week!

Robert's 1st Band Concert



Robert's Urkraine Eggs in Art Show

 This past week has been a busy one for Robert. He had his first Band Concert since he started taking lessons for trumpet in September at the school. They had their Spring Concert on Thursday evening. For only a few months of lessons, these kids have learned a lot! They played several songs and they did a fabulous job! Robert actually played 2 parts. As he played trumpet for all but 1 song. Then he became a percussionist and played clavas for 1 song. He was very excited!

He also entered the School's Art Show which is the 4, 5,& 6 grades. He entered 2 of his Urkainian Eggs that he made this Easter. He didn't place, but maybe next year. There are a lot of excellent artists at Keystone.

In both events, we are very proud of Robert!

BIRDS!

Garrett is my birdwatcher.He is always pointing out the birds and I'll hear "Sh, we dont' want to scare the bird" But he has an exciting project that can our way. There is a Robin that has nested in the playset. So the other day we went up and looked in and there were 4 eggs. So we have been watching the eggs and so far 3 of them have hatched. He is so very excited that there are baby birds at the playset.

But we also have a Great White Egret that is hanging out in the pond near our house. So we had to come check our bird book and when we didn't find what we were looking for we went on line. We found a great site from Cornell University that has all sorts of information about birds. You can search them by name and hear their song. You can check their habitat, the breeding habits and their standard menu. If you would like to take a peek at the site here is a link http://www.allaboutbirds.org/
So take a look at the birds around your house, put out a feeder and enjoy the beautiful colors that you will find! Garrett loves it!

Happy (Belated) Mother's Day!

Sorry all, but the sun has started to shine at our house and that has meant "get OUTSIDE!" So I didn't blog recently so I regret that I didn't wish everyone a Happy Mother's Day. I hope that if you are a mom, that you had a very nice day yesterday. The boys treated me well here! But something that we start doing on Mother's Day is that we tend to take a few more back country roads and watch for wildflowers. The trillium have started near my house and I am hoping to go looking for the Lady's Slippers sometime this week! But this time of year always has beautiful flowers regardless if they are wild or domestic. So take a little time from your schedule and stop and look at God's creation and remember that if he takes care of them, he will take care of you too!

matching shoes/boots

Garrett has been having problems with getting the correct shoe/boot on the correct foot. I am always having to have him change his boots around. So yesterday i remembered a little trick that I had done with Robert. I took a permanent marker and put a little dot on the inside of both his boots. Now to get the boots on the correct feet, he has to first make the dots kiss (or put them together) then put on his boots and they will be on the correct feet. Just something simple, but it saves a lot of frustration and a little bit of time.

Drive In Movie Night

Andrew in his milktruck

Robert in his race car

It was once again drive in movie night at Kids Klub at our church. This year Andrew has joined Kids Klub, so this was the first time that he got to go to Drive In Movie night. I know that he has seen Robert's cars from past years, but he got to build one and go to the movie too. So Robert built a black race car and Andrew built a truck like his Dad's milktruck. Both boys seemed to have a good time as did the other kids in Kids klub. This is such a great activity for the kids and they really enjoy it!

The Royal Wedding?!?!

Okay, I remember when I was a kid getting up early to watch Princess Di get married. So I really haven't been following the events of this wedding, but I believe that I will be getting up early tomorrow morning to watch the events unfold. So will you? Will anyone else be joining me to watch history happen?  I guess it is that "oh I'm not a princess but it is neat to watch a real one become a princess." So will you be up?

"The Tiny Seed" by Eric Carle

I love the Eric Carle books for their great stories and illustrations. Today we read "The Tiny Seed" which is a most appropriate book for my boys because each year they plant sunflowers! But today I saw 2 new things in this story. First, was that as I read it Garrett was worried about the tiny seed and he was upset when it died and the new seeds took off.  We talked about the life cycle of many things and that this is the way God made plants to work. (I could have gone really deep and explained that it will happen to us too, but I didn't.)
But the other thing that I saw was the similarity to the Biblical story of "The Sower" found in Luke 8.  The first seed got too hot, the second got too cold, the 3rd drowned, etc. But this was very similar to the story which I hadn't picked up on before.

Anyhow now that we have this story fresh in our mind, we will be starting our sunflower seeds so that when it finally dries out around here the boys can move them outside to their "Sunflower House."  This was an idea I found in a book over 10 years ago and we have been hooked ever since. In one corner of our garden, the boys will layout their "house." Mainly a rectangle with doorways (places where they haven't planted seeds), this gives them a place to dig during the summer, plants to take care of on their own and they are always amazed by how tall the sunflowers get. Robert has now taken to reading the seed catalogs when they come in to find what variety will grow the tallest. So here is a great story to read and a fun activity that will grow all summer long and then in the fall, you can collect the seeds, or just leave the heads outside and watch the birds eat the seeds right from the heads. But I know that we will be starting sunflowers here in the next few days.

Easter at Our Place



Checking out the Loot



Garrett hunting for eggs. It's rain or shine here!

Easter at our house was a little crazy, but school is back in and things have gone back to "almost" normal. Garrett went to the Easter Egg Hunt in Salem, but Robert didn't get to go this year because he was weighing in his pig for his 4-H project. We spent Easter morning at Sunrise service with my family and Robert & Andrew got to help cook breakfast again for the Easter breakfast. (This has become a "big" thing for both boys & Papa too!)  We then came home, found our Easter baskets and then went to church at our church. Then we went to Gary's parents and had lunch with his family. We did get to spend some fun time with Josh, Katy, Elizabeth, Laura Ann & Conrad while there, plus we went and visited on Monday too! It was a busy break, but the kids had a good time and anything to fill in the time of an Easter break that was 90% rain was helpful!
(Thanks Aunt Caren for our suits! They looked great!)

Lego Kids Fest

Do you have a Lego KID? Then you might want to take a look at what is coming to Pittsburgh! The LEGO'S Kids Fest is coming June 17-19th. This looks very cool and exciting and mind blowing of what people can build with Lego's. So here is the information about where and when, just check this link for ticket info and everything else!
http://www.legokidsfest.com/
This might be a fun thing to do with Dad for Father's Day if he is a Lego fan!

A few discounts

I know that everyone is looking for ways to save a little bit of money. So here is a coupon that is worth while Sign-up for the Dunham's rewards card. They will send you an email each week. So far that email has contained a 20% off coupon. Which is great if you are purchasing sports equipment or shoes or clothing there. Just wanted to share this great little tip.
Here is the link if you are interested: http://www.dunhamssports.com/

* This is an unsponsored post

Empty Tomb Biscuit

This is an activity that I used several years ago, but I brought it out again this year to remind my boys what the real meaning of Easter is. Here is a list of supplies that you will need.

1 can of refrigerated biscuits

1 large marshmallow per biscuit

cinnamon and sugar mixed together (about 1-2 tsp of cinnamon & 1 cup sugar)

1/2 stick of melted butter/margarine
baking sheet
oven.

You can read the Easter story from several places Matthew 27-Matthew 28; Mark 15-Mark 16; Luke 23-Luke 24; John 19-John 20. When I did this with the boys yesterday, I read through parts and pieces. But here is how it went.

Putting the marshmallow into the butter
Jesus taking on our sins

Each please take a marshmallow. This represents Jesus. It is pure white and without sin. He hasn't done anything wrong.  Then please put the marshmallow into the melted butter and cover it in the butter. The butter represents the sins of the world that Jesus took for us. Jesus (marshmallow) has the sins(butter) of the world on it and was crucified. Once he gave up his final breath, Joseph asked to have the body. It wasn't prepared properly, but they most likely had some spices and quickly wrapped his body.

Adding cinnamon and sugar
Jesus' dead body with all our sins having the burial spices applied

Please take the sin covered body of Jesus and cover it in the burial spices. The cinnamon and sugar represent the spices.

wrapping with biscuit
Wrapping in the burial cloth

Now they wrapped his body in stripes of material. The biscuit represents those stripes of material. Now make sure that all of the body is covered and that the seams are sealed.

Putting into oven
Placing the wrapped body into the grave.

 Now you will place the body into the grave, represented by the oven. (You will cook these according to the directions on the tube, but about 12-15 minutes.)  Then ask the children to check the grave clothes, because Jesus has risen from the grave. (Actually the marshmallow has just melted into the biscuit) These make great little treats, but also a wonderful time to spend with your children and answer their questions about the events that lead up to Easter morning!

Robert said that he remembered eating these before, but he didn't remember the meanings and he was glad that I included him in doing this activity again. So I guess it is worth rerunning some of these learning hands-on activities! 

Palm Sunday

Today is Palm Sunday, I am wondering what you all are doing to include Christ in your Easter week and Celebration's? We received palms at church and Garrett and I talked about how the crowds would have been waving the palm branches and placing their coats on the road. We have a set of Resurrection Eggs, which gives 12 items to help the kids understand Easter a bit better. Last year, I hide the eggs and set the GPS unit  locations for each egg in order. This made it that we were in nature and we would stop and read the reading for each egg once we had found it. Between eggs we could discuss different elements of the Holy Week.
So I hope that you are finding ways to include Christ into your Easter Week and hopefully if things don't get too crazy around here, I will be able to share what we are doing, but I know that this is going to be a busy!!! week.
Happy Easter Week!

Egg Production - Ag Minute

With this week being Easter week, I thought it most appropriate to discuss eggs this month for the Ag. Minute. Eggs are produced from layer hens in several different ways. There are caged hen/layers, there are cage-free hens/layers, there are free range hens and there are organic hens. I will touch on each of these production practices.

Caged hens/layers- these hens are placed usually in pens that house several chickens together. They are then placed in rows and the birds are allowed to roam within the cages. These hens receive feed and clean water on a regular basis.

Cage-free chickens - these hens are kept in large open buildings where they are permitted to roam throughout the "barn." These birds lay their eggs in nesting boxes.

Free range chickens - these chickens are the ones that roam through the barnyards and lawns of owners. They lay their eggs in a location that they feel is safe.

Organic birds - these birds' diet has no pesticides, antibiotics or other chemicals added anywhere along the food chain. They are cage free or free range birds in most locations and are allowed to roam at their own will.

For pictures of several facilities Sauder's from Pennsylvania has a great page with a camera view available under the animal care section, cage-free chickens. Check out more chicken information here: http://www.sauderseggs.com/caged_hens.html

With all the hard boiled eggs that are around, it is a great time to do some egg dissection with the kids that may not be quite as messy. You can compare a cooked egg and an uncooked egg. If you want to know the parts of an egg, check out this worksheet that also provides an answer key. http://urbanext.illinois.edu/eggs/pdfs/eggparts.pdf

To see a brief video about poultry & eggs, check out this You Tube video. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dR9rkd36SsI&feature=related This will let you see a little bit of the housing and production.

Oh and don't forget that different breeds of chickens provide different colored eggs. When dying your eggs this year, try a dozen of brown eggs too. They make the colors more intense and deeper in color!

Regardless, we will use a pile of eggs for Easter Egg hunts and decorating them. However you get you eggs Enjoy them this Easter!!!

Ukrainian Eggs

 

Well, with the Easter Season upon us we had a great opportunity yesterday to not only learn a little bit about family cultures of Gary's family, but also a craft or art. We went to Nanny's house and learned how to design an Urkaine Egg.  Robert, Garrett and myself all made an egg. Then Garrett decided that was enough for him, but Robert was really into it. "Can I make another one?" "Can I come back tomorrow night after school?" Learning to color thing in reverse was a little difficult unless you stop and think about it, but our eggs turned out fairly well and we learned how this art is done and had the opportunity to try it out.  Steady hands was not our strength, but I'm sure that with practice, we would be much better at it!!! Check out our eggs:



Robert's egg #1



Robert's egg #2











<>

Garrett's 1st egg (both sides)













And I tried my hand at it too!



Start with a dot!

Garrett's dot creatures. Can you find the pig and maybe a bunny?

The other day I challenged Garrett to think about drawing things and what things are made from. I gave him a sheet of colored dot stickers (the kind you use to price things at yard sales). Then I asked him what we could draw around it to make it into something. Or how could we hook them together to come up with creatures. He & I had a good time thinking about what we could draw and how to combine them together.So see what you can come up - here are ours!

Robert's Soccer Season

Since my computer crashed about the same time as the end of Robert's soccer season, I'm just now getting things taken care of. Robert had a great year! He had several big plays where he ended up with scores out of it. He had 3 goals in one game! (He was having an excellent day) I' m amazed at how much these kids have improved over the years, and how much faster the game moves in comparison to when they started! Robert had a great coach and he is looking forward to next season!

Inexpensive Organizing

I have been trying to catch up on some email and blog readings so I'm a few days behind, but tonight I was reading Jill Savage's blog from yesterday. Jill is the founder of the Hearts at Home organization and yesterday she was discussing how to organize toys and children's items! Here is a link to her comments and the discussion http://www.jillsavage.org/2011/04/home-organization-ultimate-blog-party-day-5-discussion-and-giveaway/#comment-4628

As I read the discussion I was amazed at how many of us rely on plastic storage bins of some size and then baskets. Yet, there were a few comments on the price of those organization items( to which I agree can be expensive!) So today here are a few ideas of ways to use things that are already around your home or neighborhood for storage.

Oatmeal canisters - (I have more of these available since I started making our own granola bars) but these work great for refrigerator magnets at our house. The boys have also made them into silos for their farms but that is a different post.  The lids are easy enough for kids to get on and off and you can take the label off and draw or trace what is inside.

Frosting containers - These have worked great for Robert's small lego pieces. They have also worked for crayons for in the car - the container fits into the cup holders (depending on the car). I actually found colored pencils and the mini markers fit into them too so if traveling, you can offer different writing items.

Ice Cream buckets - Oh the uses!!! but they come with lids that can be covered with paper and contact paper with pictures of what is inside or take permanent markers and draw right onto the side of the bucket. Matchbox cars, tractors, playing cars, art supplies, etc. What can you put into an ice cream bucket?

Frosting buckets (from the local bakery) these are 2 1/2 gallon buckets that can be washed out and are ready for use. This is where the bulk of the matchbox cars are kept at our house. Dress up clothes, Thomas the Tank engine trains can be kept in these (most of the track doesn't fit). I'm sure that Barbie doll or American Doll pieces would fit well in these too!!! Oh and the play food!!!

Yes these are all recycled, an most of them round, but they stack well and the kids can get them opened and it is inexpensive!!!! What more could we ask for???

Can't judge a book by it's cover- Children's Sermon

Before I explain the children's sermon, there is a little bit of background. Our pastor announced 3 weeks ago that he and his family have been reassigned churches and that they will be moving this summer. Last week, it was announced who had been appointed to our church. Since the announcement, there has been questions about the new pastor and his family. I hadn't worked on children's sermon very hard this week, but for some reason I wasn't worried about it. Saturday night around 10:30, it came to me and in about 15 minutes, I had everything pulled together. My mom had presented a Children's Sermon similar to this over 20 years ago and that made it all fit together easily.

(Prep work before church- I took my Bible cover and removed my Bible and found a book close in size - it happened to be a cookbook and put it in the cover I also have a Bible that is pink with a brown stripe and a notebook that is very similar but is blue with a stripe - I took all of these with me to church on Sunday)

I welcomed the kids and asked how they were, then I said that I had something very important to talk to them about. I asked one boy, who I knew could easily accomplish the task, to look up Matthew 7:1 using my Bible (and I handed him, my Bible cover with the cookbook inside) He unzipped the cover and flipped it open and then I got this very stunned look. I asked him if he had the verse and he said "no- it's not here" Of course it is , I replied. "No this isn't a Bible it's a cookbook" "Now that can't be - it's in my Bible carrier, of course it is a Bible, let me see" (To which I look at the boy and said April Fool's since it happened to be so close to April 1st) I then talked to the kids about how they all knew that it was a Bible carrier and they all knew what should have been inside, but it wasn't. Then I held up my 2 striped books and asked which one of them might be a Bible. After a close look they found the correct book. We then read Matthew 7:1-2 - "Do not Judge, or you too will be judged...."

I explained that we were going to have a new pastor and (very sarcastically) "oh the things that I had heard" "I heard that he rides a motorcycle and you know what that means - we will have a Black Leather Sunday where everyone has to wear leather."  "or do you know what else I heard, I heard that he likes to hunt, which means that he won't be here the Sunday after Thanksgiving because he will be at hunting camp." And about that time, the one of the girls spoke up and said "We aren't suppose to judge". (I was so excited that she had picked up on this!!!) I answered you are correct, and that is what I want us to remember, that if we are going to judge the new pastor and his family by what they are wearing or by what they enjoy then we need to remember that maybe they might be judging us the same way. So when we get to meet our new pastor and family, we need to remember to not judge the book by it's cover but take the time to get to know him and learn about his heart and his love for Jesus.

We then closed in prayer.

Lesson Learned the Hard Way!

Unfortunately, I have had to learn a lesson the hard way. I'm terrible about backing up my computer and the items on my computer. Well, my hard drive had to be replaced and the files were corrupted. Therefore, everything that I have done on my computer for about the last 5 years (since Garrett was born at least) was on this computer. Now it is all gone.  So I am starting a new practice in my life. With the help of flash drive, I am going to make it a priority to back up our computer files at the beginning of each month. That way if something else goes wrong, I will at least have only lost the most recent items which might be able to be replace instead of the things that I have on the computer for memories.

So how do you back up your computer files? How often and does anyone have a method for their computer clean-up and back ups? Just looking for advice.

Have a great weekend and remember to back up your files!

4-H Day at the Mall

Are you curious what 4-H does in the local area? Venango County 4-H will be at the Cranberry Mall on Saturday all day to share that with you. Stop in and see what the kids have been doing. There will be demonstrations of projects, activities for kids to do and lots of 4-H projects to look at and explore. This is a great opportunity to explore what 4-H is all about. The annual award ceremony will be at 7pm in front of JCPenny's, so stop in and see what the 4-H'ers are doing! You will be amazed if you check out everything there is to be offered!

Cake Balls

Okay these have come to me in an odd way. It started with a college student who made a batch of these for his girlfriend for Valentine's Day. He shared some of the extras with my mom, who asked for the recipe. Who then made them and shared 2 different flavors with me, which I in turn asked for the recipe.

Tonight, I made up a batch that I had added green food coloring for Spring and then bright colored sprinkles for Robert's youth group. Well I had several kids ask for the recipe or bring their mom's over for me to share the directions for these. So since I have shared the recipe with a few, I figured I might as well post it here. These are SO simple & good.

Cake Balls
1 cake mix (flavor of choice)
1 container of frosting (I used vanilla, but here that the Cream Cheese is good too!)
melting chocolates or white chocolates
sprinkles (optional)

Make the cake mix according to directions and bake completely. Once the cake is baked, remove from oven and crumble while warm. Once crumbled add the entire container of frosting and mix together. (I used my hands - it just seemed like the right thing to do!)  Refrigerate for a few hours or overnight if possible. Then take a melon baller for small bite sized balls or a cookie scoop for a bit bigger balls, and roll into bite sized balls. Melt your chocolate and then dip the cake balls into chocolate or completely dunk into a bowl of melted chocolate. Add sprinkles while the chocolate is still soft. Let chocolate harden and you are ready to serve.
These are SO simple and kids would like to make them, but I haven't heard of anyone who has tried one that hasn't liked them.

If you want to see photos or other ideas for these go to www.allrecipes.com and search "Cake balls" they come right up! Enjoy!

Signs of Spring

Well, in the last few days we have had 60 degree weather and it has seemed like spring. With today being the first official day of Spring, it is time to start looking for sings of Spring. For our house we start looking about the time that we tap Maple trees, but they are now easier to find. Garrett has been pointing them out all day today. On our way to the car this morning, he saw a robin "Look, Mom! It's a robin!" on the way to church it was "Look at the geese! They are back!" Then this afternoon, "mom those flowers are almost ready to... they are almost ready!" (He had seen a daffodil with a bud on it).  I try several times in the Spring to take a walk with the boys and point out different signs of spring, but it seems that Garrett is going to point them out to me this year!  And then all I had to do today was watch 3 boys playing in the backyard and then 2 of them riding bikes down the road and I knew - Spring is here! It might hid for a day here and there, but it is officially here!

HAPPY SPRING!!!!!