Garrett's riding a 2 wheeled Bike!!!!

Last week we went to the bike trail and Garrett was talking about how "he thought he would be able to ride a 2 wheeled bike, you know without those little wheels, by well maybe his birthday (end of June)" I told him that I thought he would be able to do it before that if he tried. Well on Saturday afternoon, Robert was away and he asked Gary to help him. Here is the results!!!!

Fun dessert

One of my kids and husband's favorite desserts is Taffy Apple Pizza. This is really good in the fall, but they like it any time of year!!!

Taffy Apple Pizza
1 pkg refrigerated sugar cookie dough
16 oz. fat-free cream cheese, softened
1 cup packed brown sugar
1 tsp vanilla
5 medium apples
1/4 cup caramel ice cream topping.

Pat the cookie dough onto a pizza pan and bake at 350 for 11-14 minutes or until light brown. Let this stand and cool.  Combine cream cheese, brown sugar, and vanilla and beat until smooth. Spread this over the cooled cookie crust. Then peel , core and slice apples. (Dip the slice in a solution of 1/2 cup water with 1 tablespoon lemon juice to prevent browning) Arrange apples on the cream cheese mixture. Drizzle caramel topping over the whole pizza. Nuts are an additional option is you like nuts too. Cut into wedges and serve!

Make Ahead Blueberry French Toast

As a recipe for the recipe swap with Karen Ehman's book study. Here is a great breakfast recipe: Bakes Blueberry French Toast
12 slices of day old bread or 1 loaf Italian bread (cubed)
2 (8oz) pkgs of cream cheese (cubed)
1 cup frozen or fresh blueberries
2 cups milk
1/3 cup maple syrup
12 eggs

Spray 9x13 inch pan. Layer about 1/2 the cubed bread first, then all of the cubed cheese, and next all of the blueberries. Then add the rest of the bread on top. Mix the milk, eggs and syrup together and pour over the top of the bread layers.

Refrigerate over night

Remove from the fridge in morning and let sit at room temp for 1/2 hour. Then bake at 350degrees covered for 30 minutes. Uncover and bake additional 30 more minutes.  Serve with maple syrup while still hot.

Early Spring - Who can You bless?

With the early spring here, (80's in March is unheard of!) The daffodils are out, the forsythia are in full bloom and Easter is still 2 weeks away! So yesterday as I was pruning some bushes, the neighbor was out for a walk. I went right over, cut off a bouquet of forsythia and handed them to her. Her face just lite up add it made my day to be able to share something so simple. So what can you share and bless someone this spring? Could you go do some spring clean-up in a yard for someone? Deliver flowers from your garden? Or maybe, even though it is inside, offer to help someone with spring cleaning? It is refreshing to you too to help someone else!!!!!

Grilling Season!!!

Wow somehow, we went from winter shortly through spring and now are enjoying 80 degree temperatures! Well get the grill ready and get outside for some grilling! here is a link to a propane tank refund. It worth $3 or $3 dollars depending on where you get your propane, but hey every dollars counts!!! http://www.bluerhino.com/BRWEB/Tank-Exchange/Coupons.aspx

Happy St. Patrick's Day!!!

This is the little leprechaun that arrived home from school yesterday to my house. Hopefully he is a well behaved leprechaun and doesn't cause too much trouble today. Maybe if I can catch him I will find his pot of gold!!! Maybe he will paint his rainbow for me with that paintbrush!!

Green pancakes and shamrock shakes today!!! YMMMMM

Time - Children's Sermon

Yesterday I once again had our children's sermon at church. I had a couple of ideas (will share those later) but when I went to change the clocks, I knew it was perfect for a lesson on time.
I started as I was going to the front with"I'm late, I'm late for a very important date Come on kids get up here, hurry up a bit" (as they poked along because they were tired) And we sat down, and I asked them what time it was? I looked at my watch and then the church clock -"Oh dear they don't match. What other ways do we keep track of time? how do we know our schedule?" A few kids came up with the calendar and watches. "your right - so what's on your schedule?  School, homework, but what about prayer time? Is that ever on your calendar? How about your to do list?" And the kids looked at me a bit weird. So I asked "Is now the right time to pray? (some said yes and some said no) Is there a right time to pray? The pastor always asks us for our joys and concerns before we pray, but is that the only time to pray?" They responded no. "So what is the right time to pray? According to the Bible we are to pray unceasingly. But I have other things to do than pray all day. Should we skip recess and school to pray? (They thought about that one for a while) We can pray anytime it comes to mind. We can pray before a test, while doing our chores, while playing at school or at home. It is like the radio that is on in the background. WE can stop and pray just like we can stop and listen to the radio if something gets our attention.

I then read Ecclesiastes 3:1-12 to the children and stopped along the way to explain a few, but at the end it says that "God has made everything beautiful in its time. And we need to remember that no matter what it is, prayer time or play time, slow people in front of us. No matter what God gives us- it is in his perfect timing."

Happy 100th Birthday Girl Scouting!!

Today is the 100th Birthday of Girl Scouting. As a Gold Award recipient, I know that Girl Scouting can completely change a person's life. I had opportunities to be a Counselor in training, to be a Day Camp Director, to attend a Wider Opportunity and to travel to Savannah, GA to the home of Juliette Gordon Low as a scout. These were great opportunities for me when I was younger. The badge work and service projects taught me to be mindful of my time management and that helping others is something that is always needed.

So as a passed scout - Happy 100th Birthday Girl Scouting!!!

National 4-H Week

It is National 4-H Week and if you don't know what 4-H is, let me take a minute or so of your time and fill you in. As a 4-H Alumni and a current 4-H leader, this has been a very valuable organization in my life that I would like to share with you. 4-H is 100 this year and therefore it has seen it's share of changes as does any organization that has been able to change with the times. But 4-H is an organization, originally meant for rural youth, but has since spread into the urban and suburban areas. 4-H works to help kids discover their interests, follow those interests and do it in a hands-on way. 4-H provides a safe place for youth to try new things, experiment with leadership skills and being a leader. It gives opportunities to excel in places, skills and talents that school never gets too.

I am proud to be a 4-H alumni, as I made so many life long friends through 4-H. But I also learned that I had leadership skills, youth development skills, and the ability to help others work through challenges through 4-H. 4-H isn't just an organization, it is a family. There is a whole new community created through 4-H. Be it computer skills, raising livestock or dairy projects, sewing, cooking, nutrition, gardening, money management, career development, public speaking, wildlife studies, etc. There is just about something for everyone. 

This week, I challenge you, that if you don't know about 4-H to ask around and see if there is 4-H in your community. If so find out what they do and how you could be involved.

  If you are involved with 4-H, I challenge you to take time to thank someone that has been an influence in your  4-H career.

4-H Motto : To Make the Best Better

4-H Pledge : I pledge my head to clearer thinking,

                     my heart to greater loyalty,

                     my hands to larger service

                     my health to better living

                      for my club, my community, my country and my world.

Dr. Seuss Game

Yesterday I emptied an oatmeal canister and immediately started thinking about Dr. Seuss and the Cat in the Hat. This canister is perfect for a very simple Seuss hat. I simply took some red paper and wrapped it around the canister. I then cut 1 1/2" strips of white paper and just taped them into place. I then cut a circle on red and cut out the center for the hat brim.  I started with the hat and then what were we going to do with that?


 I sat it on the table and thought, thought, thought
Then a thought, should we, ought?
A ball pitch, bean bags, then the red flags
The catapults and bean bags!!!

A word is called and a rhyme is made
Then the bean bags shot can be made
Can it hit the hat
Or will we hear "rats!"
Get the bag into the hat
It is simple as that!


The boys both had a great time coming up with words that rhyme. Garrett was really into it but had a little bit of trouble getting some rhymes, so we pulled out our Leap Frog Word whammer. I put in a word and then Garrett had to change a letter to make it rhyme. This was a great 45minutes of learning, because the launching of bean bags held his attention to getting rhyming words. So make a rhyme and then get a chance to launch the catapults. A lot of fun with a lot of learning all at once!

Dr. Seuss Week - Read Across America

Well, this week has definitely been a bit different. Both boys are in school, so how can I help them celebrate Dr. Seuss Week? There is little time for fun and crafts at home. But I am going to squeeze in a few where I can. I have been including Dr Seuss stickers in lunchboxes this week that they need to find while eating. And we have pulled out a few things from past years. One is Garrett's t-shirt. I had coloring pictures from Green Eggs and Ham and a Seuss hat. Garrett colored both pictures for me and then I copied them onto iron on paper and ironed them onto the front and back of a plain t-shirt. Simple enough a custom made Dr. Seuss Shirt. And a lot of fun to make too.

And with the crazy schedules here, we will be having green eggs and ham for Saturday morning breakfast.

I had also found Dr. Seuss fleece a few years back and I made a cute Seuss fleece hat for Robert. Well, Garrett has taken it and now he is wearing it. There are lots of Dr. Seuss fabrics on the market now so have some fun with Seuss!

From Cub Scout to Boy Scout

Robert with his Arrow of Light

Robert receiving his new neckerchief as a Boy Scout

3 Generations of Scouting

This weekend, Robert reached a new level in Scouting. He earned his "Arrow of Light" Award. This is the highest award that a Cub Scout can earn and then he crossed over into Boy Scouts. Robert and his den have worked hard over the years to achieve this award.  This was special because both of Robert's grandfather's served as a scout leader and Gary was an Eagle scout. So scouting is a tradition in this family. Gary's Dad is still working with the Boy Scouts and it is neat to see 3 generations of Scouting. Congrats Robert!

Indoor Soccer Season

We are well on our way for the indoor socccer season. Both boys are playing this year and they are both having a good time. Here are just a few pics from the season so far...

Garrett as goalie

Robert turning the ball

Robert with the possible chance at a shot

Our President's Day activities

With having the boy's off school on Monday, I immediately thought of things to do that would keep us discussing our President's and what they did for our country. We were blessed to be able to spend a day in Washington, DC this summer and so I challenged the boys to remember what their favorite monument and then to build it from cardboard. We also had finger puppets of Washington and Lincoln and at supper they needed to raise the correct puppet for the answer to the trivia questions.But here are our monuments.

Valentine's Day Children's Sermon

It has been a while since I have written up my children's sermon, but it's not that I haven't been doing them, just ended up busy on Sunday afternoons and forget later in the week. But on to today's children's sermon: Signs of Love (before going to church this morning I packed my totebag with all sort of things that I've seen advertised for Valentine's Day - flowers (just a silk one), a box of chocolate, a fancy jewelry box, school valentine's, balloons, etc)

So kids what holiday is coming up this week? Valentine's Day! Yes you are right, so what is Valentine's Day all about? Love!?! Oh it's that all that mushy stuff? Well not always. So what are some signs of love that we especially see right now for Valentine's Day? Flowers - Yes and I pull out my silk flower.

What else? Chocolate - yes and I pull out my box of chocolates. Someone else offered teddy bears - yes but I didn't bring one of those. How about jewelry? Yes they responded and I pulled out a little velvet box. Anything with hearts - yes!!! Those are all things that we use to show love, but what about the wooden cross? Have you ever received a Valentine's with a wooden cross on it? - NO, but it shows God's Love! Excellent! What about this book (holding up the Bible) does this show love? Yes You are right, some people call this a book of love letters from God. And in the Bible in the book of John chapter 3 verse 16 we hear how much God loves us. (I asked the kids to recite this verse for me and they mumbled it - quickly) So here my children's moment changed directions a bit. And I asked if I gave you a giant Hershey's kiss would you be excited? Would you go tell your Mom or Dad "Hey I got a giant Hershey's kiss!" Well you need to say that verse with just as much excitement because "God loves YOU enough to send his ONLY son, his only child, so that we can live where? In heaven with him!(Was their reply)

Now Jesus showed us by dying on the cross how to show love - he served others during his time in ministry here on earth. Sometimes all these "signs of love" are just things, what really counts is how we serve others for Jesus. I want you to think of a way that you can serve or help someone this week as their Valentine!
With this we closed with prayer and they each received a small chocolate heart candy.

Cold Snowy weekend

This has proved to be an unusual weekend for this winter. We actually have snow, and cold temperatures, and freezing winds. So that leaves out sledding, snowman making or playing outside. On top of all of that I have my niece this weekend too while Robert is away. So what have we done for fun, well, we started with making a fort in the living room. I moved the Love seat and pulled out the sheets. Friday night, Garrett and Haylee had a blast just playing in the fort. This morning I happened to over hear, "It Story hour Haylee, come on" as Garrett was getting ready to read in the fort a story to Haylee.  This afternoon, as Haylee was napping the fort became a great place for an indoor picnic for Garret for lunch. And then this evening, it became the movie theater thanks to the portable DVD player! (Will add picture later)  All of that play with just 2 sheets and being willing to rearrange the furniture for the weekend!!!

Oh we also worked on writing our Valentine's while Haylee napped too. But the fort has been the big item for the weekend! Yeah!!! And oh so simple!

School Party treats

Our school has a "nutrition policy" that we can't send in any homemade treats and no treats with sugar in the first 3 ingredients. Well that really limits things for Halloween and Valentine's day and makes it that parents can get creative. 

One year Robert made "gum people" http://schickfunideas.blogspot.com/2011/02/roberts-school-valentines.html this was an idea from Family Fun Magazine

Another year we made Shrinky Dinks http://schickfunideas.blogspot.com/search?q=shrinky+dinks as zipper pulls or pins.

But a couple of other ideas for school acceptable treats

Juice pouches or boxes with it labeled as "You're squirting fun" 

At this point in the year the kids can us a sharpened pencil  - "You are a Sharp one" written on a paper heart with 2 little slits that the pencil can be poked through

Or a cute Valentine's eraser - take double sided tape and tape it to a heart cut out and then write - "There's no mistake Valentine"

These are just a few ideas that might make preparing for a school Valentine's Day party a bit easier!

Valentine's Day preparation

Garrett is in kindergarten and we received the list of students in his class to write Valentine's cards too. This is a great way to have him practice his writing. But when I asked what type of valentine's he wanted, he once again stumped me. John Deere or tractor valentine's! He is all excited about it and could I find red tractors for the girls and green ones for the boys? Now I was really stumped! Where would I even find tractor valentine's, let alone different colored tractors? Well I did go looking yesterday and didn't find anything close. So today I decided that maybe we could make our own with my Printshop on the computer and print them off, shouldn't be hard, but let's search the web first.  When I searched the web, I found this great site http://www.familyshoppingbag.com

 It has all sorts of party decorations, invitations, favor boxes, etc. that can all be printed off and used! And they had John Deere!!!! When I clicked on the John Deere, here are invitations, bookmarks, stickers, writing paper and well I was able to take the bookmarks and add some cute sayings and I currently have John Deere Valentine bookmarks for Garrett's kindergarten class. (upon his approval) But this site has Care Bears, Strawberry Shortcake, Spiderman, and most importantly here JOHN DEERE!!!!
Garrett maybe hasn't stumped his mom after all!

Groundhog Day

Garrett had discussed Groundhog Day yesterday at school and they had made predictions. So this morning, when he got up he wanted to watch for the groundhog on TV. So breakfast was in the living room, no big deal. But after Phil had predicted 6 more weeks of winter. Garrett went running upstairs and came back with his groundhog puppet that we made a few years ago. I was surprised that he even knew where to look for the puppet, but he had the puppet and was checking for shadows all over the house. As he was looking for shadows I quickly pulled together a little groundhog day pin that he could wear to school. Just 2 small scrapes of 2 shades of brown felt. I cut 1 into a square and rounded the top corners so that it would look like the stump. Then I took the darker brown and cut a half oval about the size of my thumb. With a black marker, I added lines to make the stump look like a tree and then I hot glued the groundhog, peeking up from behind the stump. I added 2 googly eyes and a small pin back to the back. It's not a fine piece of art, but was great for a 5 year old who was excited about groundhog day.

 As soon as the glue dried we pinned it on and then out the door Garrett went for school this morning. Sometimes it helps to have a few supplies on hand.

Love Buds

With it being the beginning of the "Love Month," I decided that this year, I would try to remind my boys how much I love them and what about them I love. I had picked up a package of heart post0its a few weeks ago when I saw them on sale. (At the time I didn't know what I was going to do with them, but they were cute!) This came to me today as I was outside on a beautiful February day looking for the first signs of spring - yes I actually have snowdrops up and daffodils poking their heads through the ground.  I came in and found the construction paper and quickly cut out 2 trees, each out of just 1 piece of paper. Simple cut the main part of the trunk and then using the scrapes I cut and taped branches onto my trees. With a black marker, I added some quick lines to make it look like bark. Then upstairs to the bulletin board where we do fun things on. I put up some blue sky and then placed my 2 trees. In the next month they will start to have beautiful "love buds" of pink and white hearts with a little message for each of the boys.

Our "Love Bud" trees

It is so important to remind our kids that we do love them and that no matter what they do that may drive us completely crazy - there are a million things that we love about them and wouldn't trade for the world! Let's take this month to remind our kids how much we really do love them. Will you join me in expressing our love to our children? If so, please share your ideas for how you are going to share that love. Is it a note in their lunchboxes, a chocolate kiss on their pillows? But let's love up our kids!