Planet of the Apels

Paleo Valentines...

2012-02-14T15:24:00.001-06:00

Oh, how we love thee.

Remember how much I love this day? Well, no way were these (most of the time) gluten-free eaters going to miss out! My, how far we've come since last year.

My kid's heart pancakes are a tradition that we could not crush...so, we "paleo-ized"them. I really want to make these someday. Even though I'm not much of a pancake person, I am a butter person. (And the maple pecan butter sounds like reason enough to make 'em!) This morning we made these because they are simpler. (And by we, I mean Char) b/c he's the flapjack flipper in this house! He's pretty much taken over breakfast completely these days...and it is WONDERFUL...I can actually get going in the morning. Another reason why I'm in love with you, Charlie Apel! (These were surprisingly good. Best paleo-pancakes I've had! They do taste coconut-ty but with butter and maple syrup, they were great!)

And...we added these to our Valentine's Day Breakfast. We "heart" bacon 'round here.

Char and I may or may not have indulged in these late last night DIPPED in chocolate! I've always wanted to try bacon and chocolate...and incase you're wondering, it is ALL the rage! We didn't have much success the first time with the hearts keeping their shape, so this morning, we used toothpicks at the top and bottom to keep them together. Meh...they looked okay. The kids were impressed. Mission accomplished.

Chocolate Dipped Bacon:

If you want to make the chocolate dipped bacon, here's how I did it: After getting them to just the level of desired crispiness, let cool on a plate for about 15 minutes. Then, I used the chocolate ganache from Health-Bent's cupcakes (1/3 cup dark chocolate chips + 2 Tbs. coconut milk, microwaved for 30 seconds and whisked together.) and dipped half of the bacon in the chocolate. I know you're going to be tempted to try them then, but don't. You'll be disappointed. Let that chocolatey bacon-goodness cool in the fridge an hour or so. Then take them out of the fridge until they reach room temperature: 15-20 minutes or so and serve them to the ones you love.

Dessert for the Kiddies:

I mean...it is all for them anyway, right? And...I couldn't decide which to make...I mean, I didn't want one to totally be a bomb and have a bummer Valentine's dessert. So, I just made both of these cheesecake brownies and the chocolate cupcakes. Health-Bent, oh, how I love YOU! I wish I could send you a virtual-valentine. Why did I ever doubt that you may not come through? You ALWAYS do. We loved them both...but I'd have to say that if I were to pick a fave, I'd go for the cheesecake brownies! They were DIVINE! These could totally be passed of to your non-paleo eating friends. (The chocolate cupcakes tasted like a chocolate banana muffin to me, still good...and the kids loved them...so I was happy.)

Like always, I'm a little fashionably late, but I made both these desserts in an hour last night! (And that's counting sending the hubby for a late night grocery run for the cream cheese!) So, you still have plenty of time to make these.

Caveman Chili

2012-01-05T23:14:00.003-06:00

...or Beanless Chili...whatever you want to call it. Need a sneaky way to add more veggies to your family's diet? This is your recipe.

The inspiration to substitute the veggies for the beans came from this recipe, but I adapted it to fit my family's favorite "Kramer Chili" recipe. And...they didn't even notice, or at least mention, that it was missing the legumes. In fact, my boys (the big one and the almost 5 year old one) each had two bowl-fulls.

2 lbs ground beef

1/2 large onion

1/2 green pepper

1 jalapeno pepper

1 1/2 tsp. garlic powder

1 and 1/2 Tbs. chili powder

2 Tbs. cumin

1 tsp. black pepper

salt, to taste

1 Tbs. cocoa powder

1 large bottle of Vegetable/Tomato juice (46oz)

1 can of tomato paste (6oz)
1 large can of diced tomatoes (28oz)

1 cup beef bone broth (Make your own...I keep them in my freezer in Mason jars)

1lb butternut squash, cubed (Sam's and Costco sells this right now!) or 1-2 sweet potatoes, cubed

1 zucchini, sliced and quartered

In a large pot, brown ground beef. While beef is browning, throw onion, green pepper, and jalapeno in a food process and pulverize. Add the veggies to the pot with meat and let them cook for a few minutes. Add seasonings. Stir in all remaining ingredients (except butternut squash and zucchini...if you're using sweet potatoes instead of squash put it in now since they take longer to cook). Bring to a boil, reduce heat, and simmer for 45 minutes.

Stir in squash and zucchini and allow to cook for 15 more minutes.

More Books...

2011-12-08T14:54:00.001-06:00

These are some of the new books that we've opened so far this year. I'll keep adding more and add these to the bottom of the existing list.

Tonight You Are My Baby*

Jeannine Q. Norris

Our library had this one. We really enjoyed it. I love that it's from Mary's perspective, who is in "awe" of her first baby but also in "awe" of Her King. We talked about how, though Jesus is God, (so He is his mother's Savior, too) he was also her baby...a human. It provoked lots of questions from my children as they really began to think about this. The illustrations are beautiful and, being a mom, of course, I loved it since I could relate to how a new mother feels about her baby. (I'd say if you have toddlers, wait until they're preschoolers who can begin to formulate questions and really dialogue about this book...it's a great read, but the little, little ones may not enjoy it as much as my preschoolers did. They are so many other simple books, for toddlers to understand and appreciate.)

Great Joy

Kate DiCamillo

The illustrations are BEAUTIFUL...they truly make this story. But even the pictures are not enough to make me recommend this book. I was SO EXCITED when I saw that Kate DiCamillo had written a Christmas book. My kids LOVE the Mercy Watson series. They are obsessed. When we began reading Great Joy, it seemed like it was going to be such a cute story but the conclusion felt incomplete and left me wanting more. She could have done so much with this storyline, but I was disappointed with the rushed conclusion. I really had to coach my children through thinking about what may have happened in the end...they seemed confused.

When Joy Came*

Pauline Palmer Meek

I found this OLD book at a garage sale. I love the old, quirky pictures in this book. The angels are a bit scary, but maybe that's a pretty biblical illustration? I also love the way the author told this story...I wish this book wasn't so old so that it was more readily available...because I'm guessing it's out of print now...since it's been 40 years since it's been published. My kids really enjoyed it, too! If I came across it again at a garage sale, I would definitely pick it up for my nieces/nephews to add to their collections.

A Star So Bright*

M. Christina Butler

This was a darling book about different animals seeing the Star of Bethlehem which leads them to the stable where Jesus is born. It doesn't mention "Jesus" but the message is pretty clear. Again...love the illustrations...the very last page is a star that "twinkles" with lights. I think young children would enjoy this book up to around 1st graders or so.

The Gift of the Magi

O. Henry

I didn't love this book...or the message it was sending. It did provoke some good discussion with the kids about how some people think Christmas is primarily about gifts. You can go read the reviews on Amazon to see if this is something you'd like...it really may be a good read for older kids; I just wanted to make a note not to check it out at the library next year.

The Friendly Beasts:

an old English Christmas Carol*

O. Henry

I may need to retract my statement from last year's post regarding The Animal's Christmas Carol. If I recall correctly, The Friendly Beasts is along the same premise. Basically, when I read this I just "sang" The Friendly Beasts carol, which my kids know well (and sang along, too) from The Incredible Singing Christmas Tree. My kids asked to do it again and again they liked it so much. I'll have to look back into The Animal's Christmas Carol because I do remember the pictures being beautiful. Maybe they'd like it better than they did now that we all know that song well...?

Song of the Stars*

Sally Lloyd-Jones

Cate got this for my kids for Christmas. We haven't actually received it yet but I know my kids are going to love it. It's by the same author of The Jesus Storybook Bible. I previewed it on Amazon and it from what I can see (I don't know if any pages are even missing the preview?) it looks like a really cute book. I know my kids are going to love how "all of creation" comes to meet their "Rescuer".

Jesus, Me, and My Christmas Tree*

Crystal Bowman

I read this book at Meg's the other night. It was so cute. I definitely want to add it to our collection....as well as look into the other titles by this author. She seems to about four other Christmas books that look really cute! (Good for Ages 2 and Up) I think I'm going to have to replace The Legend of the Christmas Tree (it's just too cheesy, though I love the "history" behind it...and my kids are just so disinterested...maybe I'll try again in a few years?) with this book and read it on the day we put up our tree. The book describes the meaning behind various ornaments and symbols of Christmas in an easy to understand, captivating way.

The Christmas Story *

(A little Golden Book)

Jane Werner

This is an old book that was first published in the 70's (I think.) It is an accurate re-telling of the Christmas story from Scripture, although not every part of the Christmas story is included in detail (Joseph wanting to divorce Mary and the Gabriel appearing to him)...but most of the text was taken directly from Scripture. My kids enjoyed it. This would be a great book to add to your collection, if you don't yet have a re-telling of the Christmas story from when Mary is greeted by the angel all the way until the wise men visit Jesus as a young child.

The Animals' Christmas Eve *

(A little Golden Book)

Gale Wiersum

This is another sweet, old book. This cute and clever book is retold by the animals that gather in a stable on Christmas Eve to re-tell the story of long ago, as they remember the Savior's birth. It's a counting book told in rhyme. I got this at a garage sale, and will definitely be on the lookout for it to pass on to friends and family. I bet you can find a very inexpensive copy of this secondhand.

The First Christmas**

Gaby Goldsack

This book was an excellent surprise! My mom found it at a thrift store and sent it to us in the mail this December during our Christmas Book Countdown. In my opinion, it's a better re-telling of the Christmas Story than The First Christmas (above). We enjoyed the beautiful pictures, the rhythmic verse, and the detailed retelling of the traditional Christmas story from Gabriel appearing to Mary all the way to Joseph being warned to pack up his family and flee to Egypt.

The Christmas Stories

2011-12-07T16:20:00.002-06:00

I can't post about the ways we're seeking to celebrate Jesus and not tell you about the newest addition to our Advent Celebration...it's been a constant in our house the last 2 weeks...

The Christmas Stories by Ross King. Now, before you dismiss me because you just don't like modern Christmas music...I have a confession: I didn't really either (other than the good ol' fashioned hymns) before this album. Honestly. I didn't.

Okay, okay...I may be a little biased. I do adore his wife and my kids love their kids...but, seriously, even before they were actually our friends and not just "friends of friends", we loved his music. Ross has a way of articulating a point like no one else. His music is beautiful and worshipful, but it really challenges me to reflect on how I'm approaching day to day life and Jesus...and how the two intersect.

His other albums are great, too. Words that Rhyme with Orange is the only kid's cd that is allowed in my car. So help me...most every other children's music drives me nuts. So, if you need a gift idea for the kid who has everything, this may be your answer!

We've been listening to The Christmas Stories non-stop! We adore it. Just when I think I've nailed down my favorites I'll listen to the record again and hear lyrics that I'd missed the first eleven times I'd listened to it...then, add a new favorite to the list. This album has really ministered to my soul in a way that it probably wouldn't have a year ago...we've been walking through a heavy season...a good, challenging, sweet, difficult season that's making me long for the Coming Savior like never before. As hard as it's been, and as many tears that Charlie and I have shed, we welcome that...we long for more longing for Jesus.

Even the kids ask for "Ross King Christmas cd" in their players before they go to bed each evening.

We bought 10 of these cds to give to our family as early Christmas gifts. You can go sample them here and if you like it, too, you can download it from iTunes, if you just can't wait for your cd to arrive snail-mail!

I appreciate "Macy's Day Parade" as it continues to challenge the way we approach celebrating Christ at Christmas, even after all the changes we've made the last few years. There's still so much room for growth, I'm learning...and it takes time to retrain my shallow, selfish thinking.

"My Christmas Eve" is cute and clever and my new favorite Christmas love song. I love the dynamic duo of Ross and Staci singing together...so playful and fun. "Rise Up" and "Bethlehem" captures the hope and freedom the newborn King brings...so those two in particular have deeply touched me. I really could go on and on with each title. But, you can check out all the lyrics for yourself here.

I dare you to name just ONE favorite from The Christmas Stories!

(If you watch this video in YouTube, you can sample more of his songs in other videos.)

Handprint Nativity Animals

2011-12-03T16:25:00.000-06:00

Finally...the second of two promised posts. I must start off by saying this was utterly and completely knocked off of someone else. I did NOT come up with this...it's been a couple years since we started doing these and I don't know the original source...but I'd love to give credit to who it's due, so if you know, leave me a comment.

Without further ado, meet our nativity handprint animals:

The first year we did these, they were our nametags for our Christmas presents. They really spruced up the plain gift-wrapping...but after the gifts were open, I found my mom digging through all the dispersed wrapping paper to retrieve each of the animals, so she could save them.

So...last year, I framed it for her in a 12x12 inch frame. It's now part of her Holiday decor.

These would also make good Christmas cards...whether you handmade each one or did one set and scanned, then printed them out.

What you'll need to make these:

-Construction paper or cardstock

-Paint: brown, white, black, grey, yellow, nude and pink.

-Black Sharpie

-Paint Brushes

-Lots of wipes and paper towels :)

These are pretty simple. Just paint your child's hand and have at it! (We usually had to do a few practice stamps to teach them how to spread their fingers out correctly.) Let them dry completely before trying to paint and draw the details.

For Baby Jesus: paint your child's thumb white for the body and stamp it down. Then, paint your child's index finger nude, for his head and stamp it down on top of the his body. Then, paint the straw and the manger.

I am the camel...who followed the star...with three wise kings...from a land afar.

I am the cow...who offered my hay...so the Savior would have...a warm place to lay.

I am the lamb...who heard angels sing...about where to find...the newborn King!

I am the donkey...meek and mild...who carried Mary...great with child.

If you're counting down with advent activities, do one animal a week. (Or do them all in one night and only clean up ONE mess!)

If you do this, let me know how it goes!!

Shepherd's Pouches

2011-11-27T21:51:00.003-06:00

Here's the first of two promised Advent Activity posts. We usually start this one on December 1st, so you'll have a few days to get started on your own, if you decide you'd like to adopt this tradition.

The "Shepherd's Pouch" idea is taken directly from Noel Piper's Treasuring God in our Traditions. I love that book. So much. If you haven't noticed, we love to celebrate around here...all occasions...the everyday and the especially. This book has shaped the way that we long to worship God through our traditions...especially the way that we celebrate Christmas. You can download a pdf of the entire book from Desiring God here for free. Or you can buy it here. Even from the foreward by John Piper it challenges me to examine all the things I've put on my list for this Holiday Season.

Noel explains it way more beautifully and eloquently than I ever could, so I'll let her fill you in on the Shepherd's Pouch from page 86-87 in her book:

Gift to Jesus
It may be easy for us to forget that this is Jesus’ birthday. That usually means gifts to the birthday person. Children especially will think it normal that Jesus should receive something for his birthday. We’ll need to talk with them about what it means to give a gift to Jesus since we can’t put it in his hand. One of the unusual things about Jesus is that when we give a gift to him, other people benefit. “And the King will answer them, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me’” (Matthew 25:40).

If you decide early in the Advent season where your gift is going, you can be praying for the recipient throughout the season. Your prayer becomes an added gift to the family with special needs, the Christian relief agency, the local ministry, the missionary, or whomever you have chosen.

Money isn’t the only thing we can give, but for the moment, let’s think about financial gifts. How might you decide on the amount? One possibility is to determine what percentage of your total gift expenditures will be set aside for Jesus. Another is to give him your December coffee break money or some other regular expenditure.

What about our children? Some years I have offered “wages” for special jobs or even for regular chores during December, with the understanding that this money is being earned for Jesus’ gift.

Shepherd’s Pouch
The children at our house have had a simple drawstring bag—a shepherd’s pouch, we call it—in which to collect Jesus’ gift throughout December. On Christmas Eve, during a special family worship time, the children lay their pouches beside the manger of our special nativity scene. We speak to them then of giving their gifts to Jesus, as the shepherds came, giving Jesus worship and wonder.

When the angels went away from them into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, “Let us go over to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has made known to us.” And they went with haste and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby lying in a manger. And when they saw it, they made known the saying that had been told them concerning this child. And all who heard it wondered at what the shepherds told them. . . . And the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen, as it had been told them. ( L u k e 2 : 1 5 - 2 0 )

On Christmas morning, the coins have been removed and added to our grown-up gifts, ready to be sent to our chosen recipient. And the children find in their pouches several small gifts. We speak of a God who blesses those who love and trust him. Although these particular tokens are tangible and physical, our children know from our lifestyle and teaching throughout the year that God blesses in many ways. In fact, many people who are most blessed have very little visible wealth. The blessing of God is his presence with us, which gives us constant cause for praise.

***************

The way this played out last year with our young kids: a few days before December 1st we started talking about buying a birthday present for Jesus...and how the Bible says the way we do that is by giving to others...specifically the poor, the oppressed, the orphan, the widow, a missionary family, etc. We reminded them of the mosquito nets for Compassion and how there are so many children without anything to eat, not much to drink and very little access to supplies that would make them healthy if they got sick. We pulled out our Gospel for Asia catalog and began to sift through the pages and talk about how each of these gifts would be significant for a family who has close to nothing to receive. The kids were eager to pick out so many gifts that we decided we'd pray throughout Advent and ask God what He'd like us to give His Son for his birthday.

I made them these special pouches using Dana's Hobo Sack tutorial. I cut the measurements in half so that they'd be smaller. So, instead of her original measurements, mine measured 6 inches on two sides (with one of those sides having .75 inch cutouts and 4.5 inches in the middle of the cutouts) and 6 inches (+ the.75 inch cutouts) on the other two sides. I tried to add the cute ruffle to the top of McKlayne's pouch but I was using some thicker upholstery scrap fabric that I had lying around and it was too thick with such tiny proportions to do much with. So, in desperation, I added a zipper. (This was my first time to add a zipper to anything!) It looks terrible...but it worked for her last year. (She'll be getting a remake when I make Oliver's in the coming years.)

BUT...if you're not a sewer, or you just don't have time, go ahead and buy a cute little pouch or coin purse. Easy! (These got packed up with the Christmas decorations last year just like stockings would, so they'll each have their own Shepherd's Pouches...that will only be used for this reason...for years to come.)

We told them that ALL month long, we'd be giving them "an allowance" to save up to buy Jesus his Birthday present. We had a big jar of coins ready to pass out when we saw them helping out around the house or when they completed "a chore" (they were 2 and 3 last year so picking up a toy, or putting their shoes in their box were simple tasks they could complete.) Asher was so anxious to earn money that he'd often ask what he could do. So, we found things for him to do. It was sweet to watch his eagerness to serve and give to the least of these grow in the heart of my three year old. As soon as they'd receive "payment", they'd rush back to their room to put the money in their personal "shepherd's pouch" and often times want to count their new total.

The week of Christmas Eve, we talked about what types of things they'd like to buy Jesus for Christmas with the money that they had each earned in their shepherd's pouches and with the money that we'd set aside as a family. During our time of family worship on Christmas Eve, as we read through the above referenced passage, they laid their pouches down at the Nativity at the appropriate time. We prayed for those who would receive our gifts to come to faith and worship of our Newborn King.

The following morning they were surprised to see that in place of the money they'd earned, there were little surprises in their pouches. They had never intended to receive anything back, but it was a sweet moment to teach them about how God's presence with us is his continual blessing to all who believe. His presence. Emmanuel God with us. The very thing I pray that we'll celebrate. Truly. Deeply. This month and always.

Jordan's Bacon Candy

2011-11-25T22:50:00.003-06:00

Heather gets the credit for naming this...and since it is her birthday today...this post goes out to her...the namer of "Bacon Candy". (Heather, if you weren't in Haiti I would make you a big ol' plate with 35 pieces of Bacon Candy piled high. All.To.Yourself. That would be my present to you. You know it would be the best present ever. Maybe the best present, or at least hypothetical one, that you've received in 35 years. Happy Birthday!! I sure love you.)

Juliette first introduced me to the goodness of Bacon Candy at Blaire's bridal shower...way back before Heather even named it "Bacon Candy". Juliette got it from Jordan. And, Jordan, I don't know where you got this recipe...or if you're even the originator...but you'll get the credit for being the creator of this recipe forever and ever, as far as my family is concerned. It'll go down in the Apel family cookbook as "Jordan's Bacon Candy" to be passed down to my great, great, great grandchildren. Truly.

Okay...I'm done with my Grammy Acceptance Speech. But, I feel like I need to give that every time I make Bacon Candy, as the response is always adoration...and I just don't feel like I deserve the credit. It is so simple.

So...back to bacon candy...what the what? I know. You're curious. Everyone is always curious when it's mentioned. Curiosity. Skepticism. Humility. Adoration. Say it with me, now...that's usually the correct order of emotions in response to Bacon Candy.

Now that you're curious, let's move onto skepticism as you find out what it's made of: bacon, dates, almond butter. That's it. I won't mention any names, but I've had people stick their nose up as I've listed the ingredients. Some even down right refuse to try it. And some are adamant that they will NOT like the delightfully deadly combination...but those same people usually decide to take a risk, in all their skepticism, and try it.

And then they enter what I call Step 3: Humility. Humility looks like them getting down on their hands and knees and asking for forgiveness for seeming so smug and stubborn and like I'd actually lead them astray when it comes to something like food...and once the begging ensues, I'd say we've reached Step 4: Adoration...where they're asking for me to write Jordan's Bacon Candy recipe and asking me to sign my autograph at the bottom of the recipe card.

So...this is where we'll pick up...I'm sparing you the Four Step Program...are you ready? This really is good. I promise. So good that my kids gladly traded in their large bags of Halloween candy for a batch of their own. No lie. But, also so good that my husband will learn of this for the first time as he reads this post because...they ate ALL of the Bacon Candy on November 1st before he even got home from work at 5:05 p.m. I figured it was better than half of their Halloween candy...

Here's what you need:

1 package of Bacon

Pitted Dates (strips of bacon x 2)

Almond Butter

Toothpicks (optional)

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Cut strips of bacon into fourths. So, if you started with 10 slices of bacon, you'll now have 40 pieces. (Sorry...this is for Heather, afterall, so I'm breaking down the math for her.) Cut enough dates in half, so you have a 1/2 date for each 1/4 piece of bacon. (So, if you have 40 strips, you'll cut 20 whole dates....to make 40 half dates.) (I think the original recipe calls for whole dates and half strips of bacon, but this way you get twice the amount of goodness for half the ingredients. And we don't think this compromises Jordan's Bacon Candy one bit.)

2. Spoon the almond butter into the date halves. Wrap the almond butter-stuffed-dates with bacon. You can secure them with a toothpick or just wrap them tightly without a toothpick. (I've done them both ways.) Place them on a baking sheet. (Tip: Line baking sheet with foil and fold all four sides up 1/2 an inch from each edge. This will keep all bacon grease inside the lined foil...and you won't have to clean your baking sheet. Easy cleanup. I'm all about that.)

3. Bake for 10 minutes. Then turn them over and bake for another 15 minutes or so until done-ness. Now...here's where you're going to have to trust me. They taste great hot out of the oven. But the taste EVEN better about an hour or so after they've cooled. They congeal into the perfect gooey-ness after they've cooled. That's how we like them best. (If you happen to have leftovers, they keep well in the fridge.)

After Asher (we call him the Paleo Police in our house) traded in his ~~crap~~ Halloween candy and while he was snacking on his bacon candy, he was recounting the night before when we'd Trick-or-Treated at the Morchat's...who live in our neighborhood...but weren't passing out candy.

Asher: I know why Jordan and Danny didn't have any candy for us.
Me: Why is that?
A: B/c they love us too much.
Me: What do you mean?
A: They didn't want to poison us. Candy is poisonous. It's not worth having a tummy-ache.
Me: You're right, buddy...some of us just aren't so quick to learn that.
A: Danny loves us the most, though, because he wanted to give us meat. He wants us to have big muscles like him one day.

Preparing for Advent (a re-post)

2011-11-22T14:14:00.005-06:00

A few of you have emailed, asking me for more details on a couple different advent activities. I'm taking some new pics and sifting through old ones from last year so that I can show you what we did with the Handprint Nativity Animals and the shepherd's pouches in the next couple days.

More details to come on those...but for now...here's a repost of our Christmas Book Countdown/Book reviews from last year:

Like I mentioned in my previous post, the kids and I unwrap a book each day during the month of December as we count down to Christmas. There are many "holiday" books out there, but it's harder to track down some sweet, gospel-centered children's books (for younger children) that are more about preparing their hearts for the birth of our Savior. Or is it? I thought that it was a daunting task, but over the last year, as I've done some research and between garage saling, thrifting, and the surprisingly good selection that our library has to offer (I just returned 6 books to the Bryan library yesterday, so if you're in the area, you can have a chance to enjoy these, too) we've found a good number of books to add to our rotation.

Here's how it all works:

Though we're not "doing Santa" we still want our kids to experience the anticipation, excitement, wonder, awe, and use their imagination and creativity for this most special time of the year as we celebrate our Savior. I found a cute idea (and now, of course, I cannot recall where I found it. I just know that I aimlessly happened upon it...it was a stranger's blog. Yes. I'm guilty of being one of those creepy lurkers.) that I knew my kids would LOVE!

And since I can't find it, I will just have to show you mine. The inspiration...with a few of my own spins:

Gather 25 children's Christmas books.

Wrap them.

And place them in a basket (that normally houses your library books) under your tree. Let the kids choose one book to unwrap and read each day in December.

But wait...there's more.

Designate the Christmas story for the "Do NOT open until Dec. 25" book. Yes, you can see through this paper. Charlie asked why I wrapped it like that. "Because we don't want this story to be kept a secret. It's the greatest story ever told. We want everyone to be able to know about it."

**********************

Okay...so now that you know how it works...here's a list of books that we have really enjoyed. I will try and give a brief summary or review of the ones that we've read so far and denote with an"*" if I think it's worth adding to your collection. I hope this serves to give you some sweet stories to share with your children, as it will also serve me when I am trying to plan our booklist for next December!

Disclaimer: Some of these re-tellings of the Christmas story are not completely accurate compared to Scripture. The following two mistakes are often made: 1. Mary and Joseph were not married (Luke 1:27) 2. The wise men came to see Jesus at the home of Mary and Jesus, not at the stable. (Matthew 2:11). Both of these mistakes happen often in the retelling of the real Christmas story, but I wanted to let you know that before purchasing. You may want to check into it if it bothers you, because I don't ALWAYS include that in my "reviews". This does not, often, bother me about most "Christmas books", I think it can be a great teaching moment to remind your children of the truth from Scripture. I just don't like it when a story claims to be "The Christmas Story" and it's not entirely truthful.

Who is Coming to Our House?*

Joseph Slate

This is a cute, simple story where the "stable" animals are preparing for Jesus to come stay at their house. We have this in a boardbook, and is great for itty bitty ones to young children.

The Stable Where Jesus was Born*

Rhonda Gowler Greene

This is a simplified version of the story of Christ's birth with beautiful pictures introducing the "stable characters" in repeating rhyme. I love that it is not too advanced for toddlers but still appealing for the parent that will read this over and over.

The Manger Where Jesus Lay*

Martha Larchar

This is very similar to the book above, but I don't mind having both in my collection!

Each page adds a new line, with a key word represented by a picture. Once my kids saw each picture, they were able to recite the entire sentence and "read" along with me. They love this book because of that!

Christmas in the Manger*

Nola Buck

This is a sweet board book to add to your collection IF you are just starting this tradition as your family begins...like if this is your first or second baby or toddler and you plan on having more children, I would recommend it, but I'd pass if you youngest child is 3 or over. It is simple and sweet, but there are still other books that I'd rather add to my collection, or maybe you could see if your library had it?

Welcome the Baby Jesus*

Maggie Barfield

This is similar to the three books above this on the list. (And my kids enjoyed it.) It is sweet, simple and makes a great read-aloud. I would recommend it over Christmas in the Manger because it had more depth, but I don't feel it's necessary to add all of these to your collection because of how similar they are to one another, unless you just find all of these for $1 or less.

One Shining Star: A Christmas Counting Book*

Anne Vittur Kennedy

This is a GREAT book to have if you have little ones. It is a sweet, Christmas counting book with really cute illustrations. My kids love helping me count the items in each picture.

Room for a Little One: A Christmas Tale*
Martin Waddell

We check this one out from our library, so we don't need to purchase it, but it's one that's worth adding to your collection permanently if you can find it second hand if your library doesn't carry it. Kind Ox slowly makes room for more and more animals to share his stable on a cold winter's night and finally the animals make room for a donkey, who, of course, is carrying Mary great with child as they make room for THE "little one who came for the world."

Asleep in the Stable*

Will Hillenbrand

This is a cute book for little ones that, once again, I would add to our collection if our library didn't carry it, about Baby Owl who asks his Momma Owl lots of questions about the Holy Child, who came from the Heavenly Father, sleeping in their stable. My kids enjoyed this one...it is especially good for preschoolers.

Come and See: A Christmas Story
Monica Mayper

If I hadn't gotten this at a garage sale for a quarter, this would not be one that I would be spending my "Christmas book budget" on. The illustrations are beautiful and the villagers are awakened by shepherds who are bidding, "Come see, Come out and see." The entire village gathers to worship and rejoice as Jesus is born...though, the name Jesus is never mentioned. It's great for a supplemental book, and since we have so many other Christ-centered books in our collections, I enjoy it. If your library has it, I would still encourage you to check it out, but not to necessarily run out and buy this book.

The Christmas Story with Ruth J. Morehead's Holly Babes

I'd gotten this at a consignment shop for fifty cents, and once again, this is not one that I would spend more than that on. It is cute and I love the adorable illustrations, but it's not an accurate retelling of the Christmas story. I would not want this to be the only source of the Christmas story that my kids were learning.

Fear Not, Joseph!*
Julie Stiegemeyer

This was a surprise find at our library and I really enjoyed this re-telling of the familiar Christmas story from Joseph's point of view and how we were constantly reminded to, "Fear Not," but to trust the Lord. I would definitely add this one to my collection later on, as my children grow older. This was a harder one (since it was longer) for McKlayne to stay interested in, but Asher was engaged most of the time.

The Christmas Pageant*
Jacqueline Rogers

This was another great surprise find from our library! The text is almost completely, if not completely, from the gospels of Matthew and Luke and is the re-telling of the Christmas story while the illustrations show the children performing in their Christmas Pageant. What we really enjoyed about this book was how every couple pages, at appropriate breaks in the story, the page had a verse or two of about 6 or 7 traditional Christmas carols: Hark the Harold Angels Sing, Oh, Little Town of Bethlehem, We Three Kings, Joy to the World, etc. My kids liked that I would stop and sing these throughout the book and we used this as a guide to help us insert songs as we plan for our Christmas Day reading of The Christmas Story.

Animals Christmas Carol

Helen Ward

We got this book from our library. The illustrations are beautiful but I wasn't too impressed with the story told from the animal's viewpoint. It is based on the Carol of the Friendly Beasts. My kids happen to know if since they have a Veggie Tales Christmas CD with it on there, but they didn't seem to make the connection. I would only check this one out again if I needed a filler book.

The Greatest Shepherd of All: A Really Wooly Christmas*
Holly Gerth

This is SUCH a cute book that I would love to add to our permanent collection! It's great for young children to intermediate. The Christmas story, from the sheep's perspective, is told by Grandpa Wooly, a sheep who is retelling the Christmas story of three curious sheep who followed the shepherds, to his young grandsheep. It's a super cute book, HOWEVER, we checked this out from our library in BOARDBOOK and I would NOT purchase it that way. I would want to buy it with the full version b/c the board book has too many words crammed onto a page with very few/small pictures. That is my only complaint. If you're buying online, the full version of this book should be 8x8 inches and contain 44 pages, not 32.

The Legend of the Christmas Tree

Rick Osbourne

The storytelling was a little bit cheesy as the author lays on the adjectives a little thick but my kids didn't seem to notice. We enjoyed this story and I would add this to my collection BUT would not pay full price for this book. I have no idea how entirely accurate this is, since I have not researched my history of the Christmas tree :) but this "legend" definitely pointed to Christ and I appreciated that. (Great for young-older children...this held Asher's attention, but McKlayne was a little fidgety through this.)

The Legend of the Candy Cane*

Lori Walburg

I enjoyed this story much more than the one above. I loved the emphasis of Jesus in this book as it talks about how the colors of the candy cane symbolize his death and his purity through his death. We ate candy canes while reading this book, so McKlayne was much more still during this one, but I would say that it is also suitable for older children.

An Angel Came to Nazareth*

Maggie Kneen

I REALLY like this book and would definitely add it to my collection (if I didn't already own it) as it is great for young to probably even older children. My kids ask to read this one over and over. An angel approaches four animals in Nazareth and asks them who of the four travelers they'd like to carry, warning them to choose wisely for one will carry the greatest of them all. The strongest animal chooses the brave soldier and all the way down until the donkey is left to choose Mary. It is a sweet story that I can't recommend enough!

Christmas in the Barn

Margaret Wise Brown

(This is an updated edition with new cover/illustrations...the original is very old.)

I normally love most of Brown's book and this was a cute one, but not compared to all the other ones to choose from to buy for your own collection. If you're familiar with The Big Red Barn, it reminded me a lot of that. Once again, this is one that we checked out from our library, so I would check it out again if we needed another book to fill in, but wouldn't spend my money on buying our own copy.

Franklin's Christmas Gift*

Pauletter Bourgeois

This book is obviously not any re-telling of the Christmas story, but I knew my kids would like it because they love Franklin books. And, I actually LOVED the message of this book! Franklin must decide which of his old toys is special enough to be given away to a child who may only receive one toy for Christmas. This would be a great book to use as a "prep" if you're cleaning out toys for a toy drive, etc. It can encourage much discussion on thinking of the least of these and loving others, if you take the opportunity.

The Shepherd's Christmas Story*

Dandi Mackall

I love this book, told from the lowly Shepherd's perspective of how Angels could have appeared to kings, nobles, religious leaders, or rabbi's-but God had chosen to reveal such news to humble, uneducated, commoners. This book is great for young-older children...not itty bitties, but if you see it for a good price, I'd grab it and save it...it's that good...and it won't be long before your itty bitty is BIG!

Tonight You Are My Baby*

Jeannine Q. Norris

Our library had this one. We really enjoyed it. I love that it's from Mary's perspective, who is in "awe" of her first baby but also in "awe" of Her King. We talked about how though Jesus is God (so He is his mother's Savior, too) he was also her baby...a human. It provoked lots of questions from my children as they really began to think about this. The illustrations are beautiful and, being a mom, of course, I loved it since I could relate to how a new mother feels about her baby. (I'd say if you have toddlers, wait until they're preschoolers who can begin to formulate questions and really dialogue about this book...it's a great read, but the little, little ones may not enjoy it as much as my preschoolers did. They are so many other simple books, for toddlers to understand and appreciate.)

Great Joy

Kate DiCamillo

When Joy Came*

Pauline Palmer Meek

A Star So Bright*

M. Christina Butler

The Gift of the Magi

O. Henry

The Friendly Beasts:

an old English Christmas Carol*

O. Henry

Song of the Stars*

Sally Lloyd-Jones

Jesus, Me, and My Christmas Tree*

Crystal Bowman

The Christmas Story *

(A little Golden Book)

Jane Werner

The Animals' Christmas Eve *

(A little Golden Book)

Gale Wiersum

The First Christmas**

Gaby Goldsack

That's all for now...I will continue to update this list as we unwrap more books! Happy reading! And, feel free to chime in with any good book recommendations!

You can see all my advent-related posts here.

Homemade "Laraballs"

2011-11-21T08:48:00.001-06:00

My family loves Larabars. But it's so much cheaper to MAKE them.

Cate gave me the great idea of rolling them into balls! Perfect portion control. (And she taught me that you can make a whole bunch at once and store them in the fridge for about a month...if they last that long!) They make a great on-the-go snack. My boys (the big ones) love them. McKlayne...like most other things...it just depends on how she's feeling that day. They're also great when you want something to give you a little energy before you workout, without a heavy meal on your stomach.

We've tried several recipes over the last few months and tinkered around with the proportions until it was "just right" to us. The original larabars are made with cashews instead of walnuts, but we've modified it to maximize the nutritional benefits. You can use cashews, if you'd prefer, they're still great for you, but I love that we're getting those Omega-3's with the walnuts.

Here are our two favorite recipes:

Cherry Pie:

3/4cup dates
1 cup cherries*
1 1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 cup almonds
1/2 cup walnuts

Dump all of the ingredients into a food processor and pulverize until fine...take about a tablespoon (maybe a little more?) and roll into gumball-sized balls. This recipe will make about 18-20 balls.

*Locals: I've only found tart, dried cherries (with no added sweetener) at Village Foods.

Lemon:

3/4 cups walnuts
1 1/4 cup sliced almonds

1 cup dates
2 lemons

Dump the first three ingredients into a food processor. Zest one lemon and add to the processor. With a strainer, juice the two lemons and add to the processor. Pulverize until fine. Take about a tablespoon (maybe a little more?) and roll into gumball-sized balls. This recipe will make about 26-28 balls.

For both of the above recipes, we notice that the longer they sit in the fridge, the more flavorful they become. And...if you're looking to save money on all of the above pricey items, the best deal I can find around here is to buy the nuts and dates at Sam's.

Pumpkins are for...

2011-11-09T15:01:00.001-06:00

play-dough-ing...

(and, of course, baking those play-dough "cookies" in their kitchen)

snacking on their seeds...

(We tried several recipes and my favorite is actually our own variation: 2 cups pumpkin seeds+1/4 cup coconut oil melted and tossed in seasalt. Bake for 1 hour 15 minutes on 250 degrees.)

pre-k packing it...

muffins...

(I used a 1/3 cup of honey and didn't notice a difference. Baked them in these from JoAnn's and for extra treat top them with: 1 banana, 3/4 to 1 stick butter + 1/2 tsp cinnamon all whipped together for a nice "buttercream" frosting.)

drawing faces on...

(This was great for practicing drawing shapes and drawing different emotions. For example: "Give your jack-o-lantern two triangle eyes and a square nose." or "Draw an angry jack-o-lantern!")

dinner...

(These meatloaf muffins may not look pretty with "sweet potatoes smash" and an asparagus stem, but they sure were tasty!)

mosaics...

(I think these would make great place mats for next year once I laminate them.)

and...last, but not least, pumpkins, the baby-sister-girl-kind, are for snuggling in favorite blankies and rocking in cradles and singing to, of course:

(Of course this was all the sweeter before I interrupted with the video camera.)

Our Thankful Tree

2011-11-04T14:27:00.001-05:00

I'm sure you've heard of these. They've been ALL the rage the last few years.

Last year...a few days into November I frantically gathered orange and brown burlap, some felt and several fat quarters and got to work making our Thankful Tree. I wanted to make a Thankful Tree that I could make ONE time and not have to re-create it each year (or...at least for the next few years until I fall in love with another idea). Because, let me tell ya...after the marathon of Halloween-costume-making in October, November really sneaks up on me!

Mine was inspired by Pottery Barn Kids version:

Each evening in November, we sit down and talk about what one thing that each of us are thankful for. Charlie writes these down on a card beside each of our names and we tuck the card behind the corresponding day of the month. We Westerners have oh, so much to be thankful for, don't we?

Several months ago as Charlie and I were reading through the gospels, we started doing a lot of thinking, praying and question-asking. We began questioning whether or not we really believe what the Bible has to say about those that have been given much. And, whether or not we really believe that the commands of Christ carry the same weight today as they did way back then. They were hard questions with even harder truths that has revealed a lot of ugly selfishness in our hearts. Our answer is: YES. We certainly do believe that Jesus was serious about all that stuff the Bible addresses. But we haven't really been living like we do. Now we're asking God what He wants our family to do in response to some of those answers.

We believe that we've gotten some clarity on how we're to move forward for now...so I'm sure we'll be sharing more in the days to come. We're convinced that we're been given MUCH. So, so much. So, we'll be spending the month of November reflecting on the many things, material and non-material, that we've been given. Want to reflect with us? You don't need a Thankful Tree to do that.

But if you'd like to make your own (No-Sew) Pottery Barn Kids-knock-off, you'll need:

-1/2 yard of Orange burlap (or PBK's is made out of felt)

-1 yard brown burlap (again theirs is from felt)

-fat quarters in various Fall colors and patterns (I used 6 and had plenty...you could go with less here, I just like the variation. Or split the materials with a friend and save $...the brown burlap will be plenty wide to share, what you're needing on that is the length.)

-4 sheets of felt in different Fall colors

-Char made me this pattern for my leaves and numbers (Sorry, but you're on your own for the letters if you want to do a "Give Thanks")

-The "hook" side of velcro, also known as the harder or more prickly "male side" with the adhesive backing. (I didn't need the female side since the male side stuck fine to the burlap...I'm thinking it'd stick fine to felt, too? I'd recommend trying it out first.)

-Fabric Glue

-Sewing Machine (this is optional...I just like the way that it looked finished when I top-stitched around each of the leaves.)

1. Cut out all the leaves and numbers from your materials. (If you'd like, you can top-stitch around your leaf outline about 1/2 inch allowance around the entire leaf. This is totally optional. I just liked the way that it "finished" it.)

2. Cut out your tree trunk (mine measured 48 inches tall x 28 inches wide) and tree top (22 inches tall x 40 inches wide) to your liking.

3. Place the trunk, leaves and numbers on your tree until it's placed and spaced how you like it. Then, use fabric glue to attach your numbers to your leaves (make sure you don't glue it all the way down onto the tree. My glue bled through a bit and I had to make sure they weren't getting stuck and closing up the leaves, instead leave them open like a "pocket".) When you're placing the leaves on your tree top...please DON'T do like I did and let the top leaves come off of the tree-top fabric. Otherwise, you won't have a place for the velcro to stick and the top pockets will drape down...looking like sad wilting leaves. (I have to tack mine down to keep them up.) So, just make sure you leave enough of a border to close the leaf pocket on the top leaves.

4. Glue the trunk onto the tree. Then, glue the bottom edges and sides of the leaves down to tree top. Again, make sure they're open like a pocket. You can even test them out with a piece of paper, if you'd like.

5. Adhere the male side of adhesive velcro to the wrong-side of the fabric (wrong side is the back of the fabric) so that you can close your pocket-leaves.

6. Now go start thinking about all the things you're thankful for!

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Heather made a really nice, simple Thankful Tree variation here, too. And she gives excerpts from One Thousand Gifts, a book that I actually picked up on November 1st to start reading. Lynsey had given it to me as a gift at Oliver's Baby Shower and I started it this summer. But then, things got too busy for me to give it the attention it deserves. I've heard nothing but incredible things about this book, so let me know if you decide to read it or have already read it, too!

Would you? Could you?

2011-11-03T13:59:00.000-05:00

Will you? Please take 2 seconds to go vote to help support the work that our friends, the Hendrick's, are doing in Haiti? They are so close to winning $50,000 for Heartline, the ministry that they work with!

Go here to read about it.

And the winner is...

2011-11-02T23:26:00.001-05:00

The rest of you can take advantage of the Coupon Code "Nov2share" for 15% discount.

Pumpkins are not for...

2011-10-31T14:40:00.000-05:00

carving, at least around our parts. That's what we learned this weekend.

What set out to be a nice, restful Sunday afternoon of family-togetherness and good ol' fashioned pumpkin carving turned out to be a mostly single-handed effort on Charlie's part. It started out great...children were all fired up about creating their jack-o-lantern designs...

And eager to cut into the pumpkins that they'd picked out weeks in advance...

Cutting into the lid...that's where the excitement ended, folks. The smell...that stinky, stinky smell of pumpkin squashed all aspirations of a pumpkin carving tradition in the Apel home. As soon as Asher took one whiff, he was ready to put the lid back on that sucker and chunk it outside. When we wouldn't let him, he excused himself to the front porch for a few minutes. (Where in the world? I often wonder, do my kids get their theatrics?)

McKlayne tried to keep the festivities alive as she relished in removing the slimy, stringy pumpkin seeds. I think what kept her motivated was us telling her how tasty those pumpkins seeds would be roasted in the oven with "a great deal of butter" (my kids' favorite "chapter books") and some salt. But Asher, who had returned from sulking, kept repeating, "I can't stand it...I just can't stand it."

Even my attempt at the festive treats (via here and here) could not distract him...well, they may have...just for a few minutes...but soon enough he was back to saying. "I can't stand it anymore." When he didn't seem to be getting much of a reaction out of us he said, "What does, 'I can't stand it' mean, Daddy?"

Charlie tried to relay that just how stinky, filthy and foul-smelling the inside of the pumpkin was...that's what our hearts are like to God without Christ...and that only He can clean them out and remove the stench that sin leaves. Jesus. He's the only one who can cleanse us and purify us before the Father, removing our filth and our shame. And, even more than that, He gives us a new fragrance...one that is a pleasing aroma to God.

"That smell...it's making me homesick. I'm just homesick now," is what he kept repeating the rest of the day. So, poor Charlie was left to carving all three pumpkins by his lonesome, while Asher took deep breaths of fresh air outside...

and while McKlayne played with her "baby sister girl pumpkin"...who was declared "much too plain" without a bow in her hair...and then "nice and fancy" once she wrapped the bow rubberband around her stem.

and while I took pictures of the baby. He was, as always, such a sport. He didn't so much as whimper the whole time that he was in that cold, damp, slimy pumpkin. Our precious Oliver...you are our most patient little pumpkin.

Thanks for all the drama and theatrics that you put up with, from our three little pumpkins, Char. (And from the Big Mama Pumpkin, too.) I'm thankful for the way you try to teach our kids through the ordinary and the everyday, even though some days it seems as if it's falling on deaf ears. We love you a whole, stinkin' lot.

Some Pumpkin Carving Remarks:

Maybe next year we'll just paint pumpkins? Anyone have any non-pumpin carving, pumpkin traditions?

Inchbug Orbit Label Review+Giveaway!

2011-10-27T18:02:00.005-05:00

I have a confession. I've had Orbit Label envy of one of my child's classmates for over a year now. Pathetic, I know. Envious of a three year old. So mature.

I wouldn't describe myself as a total "germaphobe". Sure, I don't really just love when another kid drinks from my child's drink, but I know it happens...my children have been the culprits before. (But why is it always the green, snotty nosed kid that happens to slobber all over my child's cup? Blek.) Anyway, like I was saying...the germ-sharing phobia must lessen a bit with each child that's added to the family because as much as I think that it's a great benefit of Inchbug's Orbit Labels, it's actually not the number one reason why I love them.

I love them for their convenience. I don't know about you, but I'm constantly having to replace sippy cups and nalgenes that somehow don't make it back into my children's bag after childcare. So, I'm hoping they'll help to eliminate that. Not to mention, I'm often breaking up fights when we're around other children because someone is "stealing" someone else's cup because they own a similar one. So, I'm all for decreasing the likelihood of those. But, being a busy mom of three young ones, I'm just plain sick of re-labeling cups each time my children go to school or the church nursery. Even sharpies rub off and fade. And, I just plain don't have time for all the re-labeling while trying to get my troop out the door in time, usually in a mad rush!

But these babies...they're interchangeable, snugly fitting bands that "orbit" your container, so young children can't easily remove them. They're also non-adhesive and re-usable, meaning you can use them on all your cups or small food containers and put them in the dishwasher, boil or sterilize them without having to worry about anything peeling off or fading. How's that for convenience?

So,when Inchbug sent me a set of 4 custom labels of my own (err..McKlayne, really) and offered to let me giveaway a set on my blog, I was ecstatic!

And, my girl? She loves them just about as much as I do.

Being the only girl, as soon as she saw the pink labels, she knew they were for her...before she even spotted her name on it! Then, she was doubly impressed!

There are 8 bright colors to choose from.

You can customize up to 2 lines of text...does your child have food allergies? You can even label something like "*Peanut Allergy*" on their label underneath their name.

She sure was eager to go to school with her new sippy cup label.

I think she showed just about everyone that we encountered her "new cup" with her very own name on it.

(It made posing for the pics oh, so fun.)

*******************

So, do you want a custom set of 4 Orbit Labels ~~of your own~~ for the child in your life? (If you don't have children, think grandchildren, nieces/nephews, friend's kids, etc.) These would make excellent baby shower gifts, too. The mother of the child will love you forever and ever for it.

All you need to have is a facebook account:

HOW TO ENTER this giveaway:
1. "Like" Inchbug on Facebook
AND
2. Leave a comment on my blog (if you're reading this from Facebook, please hop on over to planetoftheapels.blogspot.com...comments on my facebook page will not be entered) letting me know you'd like to be entered! AND PLEASE include your name and an email address as a way to contact you! That's it!

Both of the above steps are required for you to be entered in the giveaway!

If you just can't wait to win a set of your own, I just saw this on their facebook page: "Boo" coupon code for 15% off any order until trick of treat day! So, "liking" them on Facebook will also alert you to other offers, short-term coupons, and the inside scoop on their new products. I'm off to order each of the boys a set of their own now with this coupon code!

This Giveaway will CLOSE on November 2 at 11:59 pm CST. Giveaway is open to U.S. and CANADA residents only. Winner will be picked the following day and will be emailed and announced on my blog. Winner has 48 hours to confirm their prize, otherwise a new winner will be chosen. Thank you to Inchbug for providing the sample and the giveaway prize!

*******************

(Inchbug provided my own custom sample set for review and the prize for my readers. No other compensation was recieved. All opinions are 100% my own.)

What we've been up to...

2011-10-02T23:43:00.000-05:00

I found this cool Paper City on Pinterest...where else?

So, in my effort to slow down...say "no"...unplug...and just drink in these precious ones...

We've been busy...

coloring,

collaborating,

concentrating,

cutting,

cherishing,

creating,

and celebrating with honey crisp apples, of course.

Oh...and, of course it wouldn't be a celebration without the cousins. From left to right in birth order, the "Seewald cousins": Reid, Brynn, Asher, Stella, Camdyn, McKlayne, Nash, Rylan, Oliver.

And we didn't forget Baby Elaina. She's in the red dress above.

(I <3 the ice cream truck!)

Want to make your own Paper City?

Our city may just keep developing...or maybe we'll wander out into the country on a road trip.

Go print them out here...and check out what else Made by Joel has in the way of coloring sheets.

But, whatever you do...

Slow down. Say no. Drink them in. Unplug.

They'll be gone before you know it.

Busy Bag Swap Remarks

2011-09-29T23:19:00.000-05:00

I just wanted to say a special thank you to ALL of you wonderful ladies that were involved in our Busy Bag Swap! I've created a new page here so that, if you ever need, you can access old posts for printables, directions and what not!

I'm so, so thankful for all the time, money, and effort that were put into making these the cutest busy bags on the block! I hope your children are BUSY enjoying them as much as mine are!! (And that some days you'll drop what you're doing and get busy exploring the bags with them!)

Thanks for being so gracious and flexible with Chels and me as we tried our best to organize this undertaking. It was a joy to get to correspond and work with each of you throughout the process, and I'm thankful to have gotten to "meet" (virtually and in person) some of you for the first time!

Busy Bag Swap: Day 13 (Color & Counting Wheel)

2011-09-29T23:14:00.001-05:00

Sweet Maria has been awfully preoccupied these last couple weeks with a family emergency, so I wasn't pressing her to finish something as minor as a blog post just so we could "complete" this Busy Bag Swap series. (Thank you, Matt and Maria, for sending this will ALL that you guys have going on!) This is the final post from my group of ladies! It's been such a joy to correspond with each of you and I am oh, so thankful for all of the time, money and work that went in to making each of these bags! My kids sure are enjoying them!

Maria and I met last year at Classical Conversations, where our kids are in the same homeschool community. She is always a delight to talk to...with some new nugget of wisdom for me to walk away with and a big smile on her face. McKlayne and her son, Miller, are the same age and were in the same class last year. She also has her own Mclaine. He turned one year old on the first day of CC this year. When we sang to him, my McKlayne was taken aback and her face lit up, saying, "Hey Mommy, that lady said it was MY BIRTHDAY!!" Her excitement was short-lived as we had to break it to her that there was, in fact, another Mclaine in this world.

Name: Maria Upton

Kids/Ages: Maxwell (7), Miller (3 ½), and Mclaine (1)

How do you spend your free time: Free time? What free time? Seriously though, reading, cooking, spending time with my husband.

When you were a child, what was one of your favorite ways to spend your day? playing outside, riding my bike, playing with the dogs (we bred toy poodles), going swimming and dancing

What does special time with your children look like? Reading with and to the boys, snuggling, dancing with them to our favorite song at the moment, playing chase, listening to them laugh with each other.

A favorite tradition that you want to pass down with your children? Reading our thanksgiving book as a family and making a thanksgiving tree; Advent activities; looking at Christmas lights; and balloons on your birthday.

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The Color and Counting Wheel helps your children learn their colors and how to count individual items from 0 to 9.

They see the colors on the wheel and clothespins, as well as seeing the written word. In addition, they’ll use their fine motor skills, but be sure to keep an eye out for pinched fingers when using the clothespins!

Each bag contains a Color and Counting Wheel (Color on one side, Counting on the other) and a set of 10 painted clothespins to match the Color Wheel and Counting Wheel.

The easiest way to use this activity is to have your little one choose either the Color Wheel or the Counting Wheel and then to use the corresponding clothespins and correctly clip the clothes pin to the appropriate color or number.

On the Counting Wheel side, we added shapes as a bonus (why not add some more color and shape to your life!), but the focus is on teaching your children to count and, as a result, the numbered clothes pins do not include a reference to the shapes. If your child is ready though, you can have him or her call out the number and color of a specific shape.

The total for making 26 bags was around $60, even with heavy duty laminating (thanks for a discount through our homeschool group)!

Ready to make your own?

For 26 busy bags, I used:

-26 printed Color and Counting Wheels (front and back) on cardstock (approximately $25)

-Heavy duty laminating for 26 Wheels ($27.00)

-Clothespins (6 bags for a total of $6.00)

-Assorted acrylic paints (set for $2.47)

Here’s how I did it:

Print the Color Wheel and Counting Wheel. It took a little work to get them to line up exactly so we could use double-sided printing on cardstock. Even with all the work, sometimes they feed into the printer a little off and if you want to you could just print each wheel on its own page and then tape them together. To get the colors right, I had to print at home on our own printer, but you could also print once and have color copies made if you are making several. I tried printing these at a professional printer, but the colors were off so making color copies or printing at home was the only solution.
Using the acrylic paint, paint one side of clothespins to match the colors on the Color Wheel. When dry, then paint the other side white (for the Counting Wheel).
Using a Fine Tip Sharpie on the “colored” side of the clothes pin, write the name of the color in capital letters. On the opposite side, write the number and the number in word form that corresponds to the same color and shape. I did my numbers from 0-9, instead of 1-10 for the simple reason that when we began homeschooling and teaching math, our oldest child, who is now seven, had a difficult time understanding that zero was a number. I chose all capital letters for the words since children learn capital letters first in our handwriting lessons. For those numbers that do not have a color on the Color Wheel, I painted both sides white and only wrote on one side of the clothespin.

Your child is now ready to learn those colors, numbers and shapes and hopefully you are free to get something done, too!

Downloads:
Instructions
Color & Counting Wheel

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Go see how to make the "Busy Bag" bag on Grow!

First Day of School 2011

2011-09-19T00:37:00.002-05:00

We started "school" two weeks ago. This is our first "official" year in Classical Conversations.

Let me back up...some of you may know that we had a unique opportunity to join a homeschool community called Classical Conversations last Fall. Children don't start CC until they're four years old, so my kids were too young to begin last year. BUT...the younger siblings of CC students attend an age-specific pre-school class. Last year, Amy, the director of our B/CS CC campus, asked me to teach the three-year old class, so Asher was one of my six students. We got the benefit of observing the community and the way that CC operated without committing to it, entirely. Teaching Asher's class was SO MUCH FUN for both of us! (I was actually surprised by how much I LOVED teaching preschoolers!) It was a fun way to channel my creativity/detail-oriented/party planning passions and a sweet experience to share with my little smarty-pants. McKlayne attended the two-year-old class which was pretty much just structured play. But she adored.every.minute.of.it.

So...after prayer and much dialogging back and forth, Charlie and I believe that classical education is the route that we want to take with our children. I know there are MANY STRONG opinions out there about education models and methods. I'm not trying to say our way is better than yours. We believe that, for now, this is the route for us. We hope that our kids may truly learn how to think and articulate (I still don't think I have :) through this classical process of gaining knowledge (grammar), understanding (logic), and wisdom (rhetoric) based on the trivium. Heidi does an excellent job of explaining it all here.

This year, since Asher's still only four, we're just getting our feet wet. It's a learning year before we jump in full-force. Meaning, the only time that we're doing much of anything Classical Conversations-related is the 3 hours one day a week, that we come together as a community. (Other than listening to memorization cd's, occasionally, while he colors or plays in his room.) We have other big aspirations the rest of the week, such as perfecting handwriting and learning to read and explore the world around us. And, honestly with three children four years old and under, life is busy, so I'm not stressing out about adding one more thing to our hectic schedule. A stressed out Momma never makes for a pleasant day for anyone around here.

Okay, so I may have fibbed just a bit about saying "the only time that we're doing much of anything Classical Conversations-related is the 3 hours one day a week". But I wasn't fibbing about life being ridiculously busy. Charlie is fortunate enough to be the teacher (the students refer to him as their "tutor" since generally their mom's are their primary "teachers" at home) for Asher's class. (Charlie's boss has been so flexible and generous to allow him to make up the four hours that he misses on CC mornings, at other times during the week.) Asher, of course, thinks it's the coolest thing EVER that his Daddy is his teacher and the other students in his class have responded really well to having a male tutor. I mean, who wouldn't love a teacher who will break out in a Barney voice to get their attention? I'm also the Nursery Director this year. So, when I'm not needed down in the Nursery, I'm in Asher's class to help assist either of my guys.

McKlayne graduated to the Monkey Class this year. And, if you can't tell from the big grin on her face, she is just tickled about this. Her class is "rowing" Jesse Bear, What Will You Wear? this month. (I'll tell you what that means at a later date. What?! You don't believe me?)

And, if you haven't noticed, she had LOTS of fun posing for the camera....she is quite a little camera ham, these days.

After the picture above, she tossed the chalkboard aside and said, "Mommy, I want one like this now...."

Maybe she thought it would make her arms look more flattering? I don't know where she's seen that before...

I learned something new on the first day of school: My four year old can draw, and I had NO CLUE!! (I don't know why this came as such a surprise considering who his Daddy is and that he is self-taught in handwriting, but still...) The Fine Arts for this first 6 weeks is Drawing. When I came back up to Asher's class after checking on the Nursery classes, I was shocked to see these:

I asked Asher, "Did you draw that? By yourself?" (Did I mention that I was very skeptical?)

A: "Yep!" (with a big grin on his face.)

Honestly, I didn't believe him. I thought that he must have either traced them or that Charlie had helped him. So, then I walked over to Charlie and asked, "Did Asher free-hand those?"

C: "Yeah, all by himself! He just looked at a picture and copied the shapes to draw the animals."

I still didn't believe it until Charlie got home that night after work. "Are you sure that he didn't have any assistance with those?"

C: "No, Kirby! He is just a brilliant artist and we had no clue!"

As thankful as I was to discover this new-found gifting, I kind of felt like a loser of a mom! We paint and cut and color and glue and craft and write and create ALL.THE.TIME. at home...but never do we DRAW! (I guess that's because I'm not very good at drawing.) The mommy guilt began to set in: It's like there's something that's been hidden inside of him, all bottled-up, that nobody knew was in there, just waiting to be discovered. And, I, of all people, had missed it!

I decided right then and there, that we were going to make time in our daily schedule for him to draw, if he wanted to.

He drew this last week after looking at the goat in The Very Busy Spider by Eric Carle.

This monkey was from the second week of class when they worked on drawing mirrored images.

So...all you Mommas, out there...have you ever been surprised to discover a gifting or passion of your child that you didn't forsee? Or am I the only negligent one?

Which one of these is not like the other?

2011-09-18T20:38:00.000-05:00

These pictures are all taken of my kids at or around the age of 7 months:

Asher

McKlayne

Oliver

When Oliver was first born we thought he looked exactly like McKlayne as a baby, but the older he's gotten, the more he resembles that older brother who is head over heels for him. He definitely takes third place in the amount of hair...but it's starting to grow in very quickly.

Busy Bag Swap: Day 12 (Magnetic Pompoms)

2011-09-11T22:40:00.001-05:00

I didn't know Jen before this Swap either...she's an out-of-towner from Cary, North Carolina. She has been fun to get to know her after the millions of emails that we've exchanged. She is super precious! And I can't wait for you to see her precious busy bag...my kids have been loving this one! Isn't her adorable little Eden just a tiny version of Jen? Too cute...

Name: Jen - I'm an out of towner (Cary, NC)

Kids/Ages: Eden - 2.5 and Hudson - 6 months (they have the same birthday!)

How do you spend your free time: decorating, reading, sewing, cleaning, NAPPING, hanging out with great friends! And if I can do any of those things outside it's 1,000 times better!

When you were a child, what was one of your favorite ways to spend your day? I loved playing with my cabbage patch doll, Katie. I had her name officially changed on her birth certificate because the one she was given was terribly unfortunate.

Fondest memory with your mom as a child? My mom passed away when I was 17 and at least once a day I wish she were still here! But I'd say cooking cookies/desserts around Christmas was an all time favorite.

What does special time with your children look like? One of my favorite things to do with Eden is to have her sitting on my lap, facing me. I ask her what she wants to talk about and the conversations are hilarious, educational, and everywhere in between. Playtime on the bed is also a family favorite! I love feeding H on her bed, and she plays with her animals :)

Favorite outdoor activity with your kids? Going on a walk!

A favorite tradition that you want to pass down with your children? Oh man- there are so many! Waking up on your birthday with a room filled with balloons, special dinner/dessert on the first day of school (MDO/preschool), throwing a birthday party for Jesus each year and inviting our friends, cooking those same treats I cooked with my mom on Christmas, cutting down our tree in the mtns. each year...

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When I first read about my assigned busy bag task I thought "oh, this will be super easy, super quick, and super affordable". All this ease threw me into an "I'm not going to think about this for a while attitude" and I literally thought nothing about it. Fast forward 2 whole weeks. I walked into AC MOORE to find that not only were pom poms scarce (thank you pinterest) but expensive! I'm talking 4.99 (on sale!) for a bag of 100 expensive. Assuming I made 50 pom poms per bag times 26 busy bags that's a LOT of money to fork over. Then my mind started racing about just how many poms I'd have the pleasure of hot gluing and I started to have an panic attack right there in simple crafts. Fast forward 2 stores, 1 piece of chocolate (or that's what I keep telling myself) and 20 min later and I hit the mother load. Thank you Dollar Tree for being fully stocked and selling 80 pompoms for just $1 each. 15 bags and $16.01 later I was ready to glue. The ride home had me attempting all kinds of crazy math figuring out just how many pom poms I needed to put together. I never did figure out the number sans calculator (turns out it's 1,200) but it honestly wasn't nearly as bad, or as time consuming, as I previously thought. For a major type A personality like me, it was all sorts of fun setting new personal records for the number of pom bags glued per hour. PR was 17 min for a bag of 80 if anyone's at all interested :)

Now that I've officially talked your ear off, here's what you really want to know:

Supplies (to make 26 busy bags):
15 bags of pompoms - $16
2 large rolls of magnets - $15
2 bags of 24 (mini) hot glue sticks - $5
Lots of print outs (7 per busy bag) - $80
Cookie sheet or Aluminum Baking Sheet
Hours of endless fun for the wee ones - PRICELESS :)

But for anyone that's counting the total to make 26 busy bags with around 43 pompoms per bag and 7 fun sheets and directions card was $116 (there are definitely cheaper crafts out there), but it was incredibly mindless and those without a stitch of creativity will be able to make this happen!

A few tricks I learned along the way:
* Cut all your magnets at once. You'll get into a gluing groove and stopping to cut will really cramp your style.
* Cut your magnets a little bigger than you may think - your blister-less fingers will thank you.
* Put the hot glue on the magnet and not on the pompom - your glue gun will stay fuzz free that way.
* Crank the iPod and listen to music as loud as you can stand it. The monotony of gluing will be enjoyable that way. Plus, if you spend all day listening to kids tunes your ears will enjoy some grownup sounds!

Directions (grab your pens girls...it's VERY complicated)
1. Glue magnets to the back of pompoms. Did you catch that? I repeat, glue magnets to the back of pompoms. Just ONE step ladies! Love that!

How to use a pompom busy bag: (See here for all examples.)

1. kids can design pictures freely onto the cookie sheet/baking pan
2. black and white templates can be created for kids to fill in creatively. Here are some printouts.
3. color templates can be used to encourage kids to match the correct colors. Here are some printouts.
4. use the pompoms to make patterns, sort by color, or to count.
5. use the pompoms to create shapes
6. use the pompoms to create letters and numbers

A lot of the color templates listed I couldn't use because I didn't have the right colors, or enough of them so I got brave and made my own. I love the way they turned out! Here's some pictures of the pompoms in action. These are all phone pics...my apologies!

Eden matching colors on the gumball machine :)

Forgoing the "matching" and making me a "fluffy ladybug" instead :)

A little fun with free form shapes...okay I helped a little!

Tried to get her to arrange according to color...she kind of got bored of this quickly :)

Putting pompoms on the number cards...way more exciting in her world! (these are hard to see...sorry!)!

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Go see Letter Building on Grow!

Busy Bag Swap: Day 11 (Popsicle Matching)

2011-09-11T00:05:00.000-05:00

Brandy and I met a few years ago when she took a coupon on class that Heather and I taught. Then, we spent 3 days a week together this summer in the Women's Challenge at Blackbox. I was thrilled that she wanted to join the Swap and am thankful that she keeps popping back into my life. Brandy is one of those girls that you meet and instantly adore. She has such a sweet and warm spirit. A smile is always on her face.

Family: This is the most current family picture I could find, and it was taken in April! This is my husband Luke and our 2 daughters Kelsey (15) and Saylor Grace (20 months).

My Blog is www.yesterdaysmemoriestomorrowsdreams2.blogspot.com

although it hasn’t been updated in quite a while!

How do you spend your free time: I am lucky to be able to stay at home with our youngest, but it is hard to find free time! I love sewing and making hairbows during naptime. I also enjoy reading and my new found love Pinterest! I should also consider updating my blog during my free time!

When you were a child, what was one way to spend your day: I loved spending time outside! I lived in a neighborhood where there were lots of kids my age. We were always outside until we were called in to eat!

Fondest memory with your mom as a child: My mom was a stay at home mom so she was always home with me and my sister. She always had homemade snacks and treats for us, and still does!

What does special time with your children look like: In the mornings Saylor and I snuggle in the chair with my coffee and her milk cup and a big picture book. It’s how we start our mornings! Special time with a busy 15 year old isn’t as easy to get! We like to make a special trip to the mall, or to the movies.

Favorite outdoor activities with your kids: We love to play outside and swim, but lately it has been so hot! I think our new outdoor activity with daddy for the next few months is Aggie Football!

A favorite tradition that you want to pass down with your kids: We are still working on creating traditions with our family, but love celebrating holidays and birthdays in a big way!

The busy bag assignment I was given was Popsicle Colors. I followed the directions from http://rootsandwingsco.blogspot.com/2010/06/summer-popsicle-activity.html but used felt instead of paper for the popsicles. The project was fairly easy, just a lot of cutting!

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I used glue on the felt, but next time I think I would sew the pieces together to make them more sturdy.

There are a couple of levels of play for the popsicle stick.

The easiest level, which I use on my 20 month old, is just match the colored end of the popsicle stick to the popsicle.

For the older kids learning to read, they can match the color word to the popsicle.

You can also use the numbered ends to have your child show you the number of popsicles on the stick.

PRICE BREAKDOWN

I bought ½ a yard of each color which was too much felt. (5x$2.50)

2 bags of wide popsicle sticks at Hobby Lobby (2x$1.88)

Glue

Scissors or rotary cutter

Markers

I am so glad that I was able to be a part of this swap!! I’ve already used many of my busy bags and it was a lifesaver at the doctors office last week.

Downloads:
Instructions

The terms of use for using the free printable crafts and activities are as follows: You may share these printables with students, friends, neighbors and family or even with your child's class full of children. As long as you share for personal use only. Please do not post printables on a web site - instead provide a link back to the original posting on this site. Linking to the original page is both welcome and appreciated.

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Go check out Pipe Cleaner Fun on Grow today!

Busy Bag Swap: Day 10 (Stoplight Toss & Other Bean Bag Games)

2011-09-09T14:56:00.002-05:00

My oldest (she loves it when I say that) sister, Kyle, created the Stoplight Toss and other Beanbag Games games for our Swap. If you've been reading this blog for any length of time, you know that I reference her a lot as my "crafty" sister. She taught me how to sew my first pillow a few years ago...and hasn't stopped teaching me new tricks ever since. Kyle is ever patient with me during crafting. And, she's often the inspiration for most crafty things that I do since she's constantly emailing me links to her favorite craft blogs or new sewing projects to add to our DIY Bucket List. She also shares my love for garage sales and thrifting. When we see each other, we love to spend our time talking while we sew. I often leave conversations with her challenged, humbled or encouraged by her love for Jesus and desire to reorient her life to Him. I'm thankful for how the Lord has sweetly knit our relationship over the last five or six years; really, I'm so grateful that God has given me two sisters who I truly consider my best friends, now in life, more than ever. What sweet gifts.

(People often tell me how much my kids, especially McKlayne, look like my nieces, but I've really seen the resemblance for myself as I compare these last couple posts, here and here. It's strange to hear that, because I NEVER heard that I looked like my sisters, growing up! They always teased me that I was adopted!)

Family: Todd & Kyle, Reid (10), Stella (4), and Nash (2).

Blog: I think I used to have a family blog once here!

How do you spend your free time? Ha! I like to run, read, and cook. But my favorite way to spend my "free time" is probably sewing.

When you were a child, what was one of your favorite ways to spend your day? I liked playing with barbies and dolls. And "horse stables" outside with my sisters. We also each had our own paper doll family, that were just models cut out of magazines, that I loved to play with.

Fondest memory with your mom as a child? Probably her reading to me/us... Or summers spent at Key Allegro in Rockport. I guess this would fall under both memories of my mom and traditions, but when I was a little older (maybe 10 or so), my mom started giving me a pair of stud earrings for my birthday. I looked forward to getting those every year and still have all of them. Stella loves "borrowing" them to wear!

What does special time with your children look like? My 4 year-old has been really into crafting lately, which is awesome! We all love to do simple things like just reading books while they snuggle up next to me or sit in my lap, or playing a game together.

Favorite outdoor activity with your kids? We like to play outside and go for walks, when it is not 100+ degrees outside! We sometimes walk to the library or to get donuts.

Favorite blog for children's activities/crafts/parenting?
Made
Make It and Love It
Making Learning Fun
Oopsey Daisy's Mommy School.

A favorite tradition that you want to pass down with your children? We (try to) stay at the table after dinner and read the bible as a family. This has been a sweet time of drawing close to God and each other. I also hope they will treasure and remember special Advent activities that we do and will continue to celebrate Christmas and Easter in worship of our risen Savior!

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Stoplight Toss is a fun activity that teaches children color recognition, gross motor skills, hand-eye coordination, and traffic signal recognition.

Your children can stand behind a line and throw the beanbags on their matching colors.

I got the idea for the stoplight game here.

Variations:

Have someone call out to the thrower. You could call out colors OR "Stop!" = Red, "Slow down! = Yellow, or "Go!" = Green. (Of course, this one was only thought out AFTER the cards were made. It has been added to the download now! Sorry about that!)

You could also tape the stoplight to the wall for overhand throwing practice.

Here's how it works:

Each kit comes with 3 beanbags (red, yellow, and green), a stoplight gameboard, and a deck of 17 game cards. One card has the instructions for Stoplight Toss. The other 16 cards are different games your child can play with their beanbags.

Here's how I made them:

For the beanbags:

I gathered yellow, red, and green fabrics and cut them in 4 1/2 inch by 4 1/2 inch squares. For 26 bags you will need 52 of each color.
I sewed 3 of the sides together leaving one side open to fill.
I filled the bags with rice, about 1/2 a cup.
I then sewed the remaining side shut. I used my serger, so all my seams are on the outside.
Clip the strings and glue each corner with fray block (or fray check).

For the stoplight:

I got black poster board and cut it into 4 pieces. Each piece should measure approximately 7 x 22.
I got red, yellow, and green foam (like this). I really wanted adhesive foam, but couldn't find it.
I got an appropriately sized cereal bowl and an x-acto knife, and ran the blade around the upside-down bowl (on a self healing cutting mat!) to cut circles out of the foam.
Glue circles on the pieces of cut poster board to make a stoplight.

For the instruction decks:

I printed out pages 1-4 of this 26 times. (Here is the original blog post from Create.)
And then my amazing brother-in law, Charlie, created these to explain the stoplight game. I printed 7 of those sheets out to add to my 26 decks of cards.
I cut out all the cards, punched a hole in them, and clipped them together with a binder ring.

Ready to make your own? For 26 busy bags, I used:

5 sheets of foam in each color (red, yellow, and green) from Hobby Lobby - .89 each
8 black posterboard .89 each
x-acto knife
self-healing mat
cereal bowl
rice (I used 1/2 cup per bag. I got the 25lb. at Sam's and probably used 2/3 of it.) - It think this was under $8. Can't find my receipt!
52 squares of fabric cut at 4.5 inches per color (red, yellow, and green)* <$9
104 printed pages of beanbag game cards (you can print double sided if you wish) on cardstock - also purchased at Sam's 250 sheets for $7.23.
7 printed pages of stoplight beanbag toss cards (these cannot be printed double-sided) on cardstock
binder rings (purchased at Office Max) $6.29
hole punch

Total = $50.99
That is $1.96 per bag.

*Note: I got my fabric at thrift and garage sales. The red and green were both cuts of fabric someone was getting rid of and the yellow was a jersey sheet. While I like that they turned our sort of sensory, (red is silky, yellow is soft, green is scratchy) I didn't feel I needed quite as much fabric as I bought. You could probably go to a fabric store and buy the fabric for just as (if not more) inexpensively and way more convenience.

Literature Link: Red, Stop! Green. Go! or Go Dog. Go! both by P.D. Eastman

Downloads:
Stoplight Toss Instructions
Other Bean Bag Games from Create

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I'M NOT SURE WHY IT HAPPENED LIKE THIS...BUT IF YOU'RE LOOKING FOR DAY 9, IT'S HERE.

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Go check out Rainbow Noodle Lacing on Grow today!

Busy Bag Swap: Day 8 (Silly Faces)

2011-09-07T15:49:00.001-05:00

Inspiration

Angela is one of Charlie's friends from growing up...all the way back to Kindergarten! I met her a couple years ago at Charlie's 10 year High School Reunion and have kept up with her via her blog since! I was delighted when she drove from out of town to attend our Busy Bag Swap so that I could see her cute pregnant self! (Charlie was glad to be able to catch up with her for a little bit after the Swap, too!) Her little girls (one still in her tiny belly) have such beautiful, classic names!

Family: I have a 2 1/2 year old girl and another precious baby girl on the way

How do you spend your free time? Mostly with my family, there is nothing I would rather do. My hobbies are scrapbooking and photography. I have a whole craft room, it is amazing! Let me tell you that a certain little girl loves it too. She can destroy it in under 2 minutes.

When you were a child, what was one of your favorite ways to spend your day? Playing for sure. I had the best friends that lived on my street. We would swim, ride go-carts, jumped on trampolines, and there was once even a turtle farm! Great times for sure!

Fondest memory with your mom as a child? All memories with my mom are so sweet. She always worked to make sure everyday was special. I hope one day my girls say the same!

What does special time with your children look like? Cooking, playing make-up, reading, crafts/painting. I am a firm believer in spending quality time with my girl doing the things she loves to do.

Favorite outdoor activity with your kids? Swimming for sure. My girl has inherited my love of the water.

A favorite tradition that you want to pass down with your children? All things Jesus! All things holidays, I love to celebrate each special season! I hope to one day have a tradition of family game night when my girls get older.

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This silly face-craft project encourages toddlers to develop fine motor skills, creative skills and their attention spans in a fun and rewarding way. The outcome will be adorable silly faces that provide hours of fun!

Each bag contains a mint tin full of silly face parts, 4 make a face templates, and 4 sorting cards.

To start with, each toddler can begin to build silly faces using the lid of the mint tin. This will allow parents to have a conservation with their kiddos about facial features and discuss the way in which faces differ from one another.

If your child can differentiate between facial parts this is where the sorting cards can be used. Encourage kiddos to sort eyes, nose, mouths, etc using the cards.

Finally, this project can be used to teach your toddlers about emotion by building different faces. The 4 emotions that were included in the bag were happy, sad, excited, and mad.

Ready to make your own silly faces? For 26 bags I used:

-1 downloadable sheet of silly faces
-26 mint tins ($0.70 per tin, this was the most expressive part at $18)
-1 roll of magnets ($3.00 at Wal-mart)
-Cardstock for sorting cards and face templates (50% off at Hobby Lobby total cost around $10)
-I used address labels to print which face for the kiddos to make
- I used my own printer to print faces and labels, and cards

Total cost for making 26 bags was around $30 dollars, not including ink.

Here is how I made the bags:

-Print, cut, and apply magnets to all your silly faces. This is the most time consuming part. Yikes! I had to enlist the help of hubs and co-workers to help with this.
-Put the silly face parts in each mint tin. I cut left over pattern paper to adhere to the front of the mint tin to dress it up a bit.
-Print and cut sorting cards. I printed the 4 sorting cards on one sheet of cardstock and then cut them down to the size of 5x5 using my paper trimmer.
-Cut face templates.
-Print address labels and apply to the face template on which face you would like to build. The options are almost limitless here.

Now it is time to make any day fun building silly faces!

Download:
Silly Faces Printable (I'm not sure what site this is from, but if Angela can recall, we'll post it!)

**Terms of Use:
We'd love for you to feel free to use the files that the ladies in our Busy Bag Swap have worked hard to create, but please keep in mind that the printable images and files on this site are some of our ladies own exclusive designs. They have been generous enough to freely share them.

The terms of use for using the free printable crafts and activities are as follows: You may share these printables with students, friends, neighbors and family or even with your child's class full of children. As long as you share for personal use only. Please do not post printables on a web site - instead provide a link back to the original posting on this site. Linking to the original page is both welcome and appreciated.

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Go check out what Busy Bag is up today on Grow!

Busy Bag Swap: Day 7 (Geoboards)

2011-09-06T09:04:00.001-05:00

Remember Lynsey? She is the amazingly talented photographer-turned farmer's wife that gave me most ALL of the pics to use in my Bottletop Barnyard Busy Bags. Most of these animals (well, all of the ones of the pics that she took) are from their farm. We've been dear friends for 8 years...prior to marriage and children (for me)...all the way back to when I was a college student. She saved the day for us when she took our engagement pictures, after a bad experience with our wedding photographer. And not just saved the day, but took some of my favorite pictures that we own. Want evidence? She took this with a FILM camera...this image is scanned in (and downloaded from FB so it's not the best quality) but, have a look for yourself...this was completely candid. I love how she captures moments so naturally.

You'd think I would have learned my lesson then and fired my hired photographer...who we paid quite a hefty fee. But, nope...we kept him and Charlie and I did not get ONE GOOD PICTURE of the TWO OF US on our WEDDING DAY! So, Lyns saved the day again. (These next two were also downloaded from FB. Too lazy to find the disc these are on. Sorry.)

Our wedding did seem like a fairy tale, but...no, we did not have a white horse at our wedding. About 7 months after we were married, a horse drawn carriage business contacted Lyns about a swap. They wanted pictures of a bride and groom with their horse, in exchange for her to get fairy tale-like pictures for her portfolio. This is also one of my favorite pics. When we took these, it was February and freezing!

Now I have to break some news to you. Lynsey is awfully busy raising four little chicks, so she is currently "retired". BUT...Ryan Price took all of the pictures used in our header and sidebar. I recommend him hands-down. The BEST.

I love Lynsey for so much more than just her pictures. She's become one of my dearest friends in the last couple years. (Asher and their farm-girl "Waney Wae" are best buddies.) What I love about Lynsey is that the longer you know her, the more you are amazed at all that she encompasses. Not only is she the Farmer's Wife. She is Ghetto. The girl knows how to dance and speaks like she's from the hood. Yet, she's Crunchy. Like Rachel, she fields all of my natural-related questions. (Her All-Purpose Spray is what I clean most all of the surfaces in my house with. LOVE it.) The girl does her research and always knows the science behind why things work. Master decorator. Seriously. You walk in her house and feel like you're looking at spreads from Country Living. Food Snob. I often reap the benefits of her being one of the best cooks that I know. And that's just the beginning...BUT..I know I've gone on and on and you're probably wondering where in the world this busy bag swap is...I just couldn't resist sharing some Lynsey Love with ya.

Family: I've been happily married to a farmer and the man of my dreams for over 10 years. I've got to give him shout outs on this busy bag project too! Thanks Jason! We have 4 girls: Kaylyn (7), Laney Rae (4), Ruthie (2), and Exie Jo (7 mo). We live on a farm in Brenham, TX.

Our Farm: www.YonderWayFarm.com

Our Family Blog: www.YonderWayFarm.blogspot.com

How do you spend your free time? I think most of us mommies chuckle at this. In all reality, my free time is devoted to catch up on things I can't do when I DON'T have free time. Is that vague enough for you? Good. I love cooking and experimenting with recipes. I'm a foodie. Dork alert: I love reading natural health books and alternative methods of health treatments. I do love being crafty and creating things although I don't get to do it very often. The beauty of this has been that as my girls have gotten older, I have included them more and more into this aspect of my life. We have fun with that! I also thoroughly enjoy photography.

When you were a child, what was one of your favorite ways to spend your day? I remember playing school with my sister all of the time.

Fondest memory with your mom as a child? I loved going garage sailing with my mom on the weekends. She was always so sweet about letting me pick out some 25 cent decoration for my room. I thought I was quite the decorator. It also always seemed as though she had some fun activity for us to go and do.

What does special time with your children look like? I like to take just one or two of my girls at a time with me on special errands. I have found this to be such a fun way to spend one on one time with them. My girls LOVE to play beauty shop so we are always playing that. We also spend a lot of time in the kitchen together. My older girls are becoming fond of cooking and this makes my heart so happy! As much as I can, I try and include my girls in whatever activity that I am doing around the house.

Favorite outdoor activity with the kids: We live on a farm, so we are constantly outside doing something together. I guess one of our favorite things to do is collect eggs in the evening with daddy. We pile in the bed of the truck and go driving around the farm at sunset. This is one of my favorite times of day! Another favorite thing we do is school outside on pretty days. We lay out a quilt on the grass and have school there.

A favorite tradition that you want to pass down to your kids: Whatever the holiday may be, I feel like one area that we are firm in is opening up our home to family and friends and surrounding ourselves with lots of people on holidays. We love having people over and celebrating!

Our family picture.....this is comical. We currently do not have a family picture of ALL of us since our last baby girl was born. So, we had to make do with a snapshot of me on the couch with the girls. My hubby was behind the camera. And I may or may not have just told my 2 year old "Smile, or you'll get a spanking."

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Geoboards are so versitile and can be used a number of ways in teaching a variety of concepts. My 2 year old all the way up to my 7 year old have enjoyed playing with their Geoboards.

You can teach basic geometric shapes using these boards.

These are so fun for my girls to sit and do together. I also find this to be a really easy activity that doesn't require very much assistance from me. And its really sweet to see the older kids teaching the younger ones their shapes on their boards.

For the older children, you can create geometric shapes that are a bit more challenging.

Or you can teach your child some of their numbers and letters too on the boards.

We even like to freestyle and see what shapes or patterns we can come up with on our own! The possibilities really are endless.

Another thing my girls have enjoyed doing with this project is drawing their shapes directly onto the grid cards as well. This would be a simple thing to throw into a diaper bag or backpack on the go.

Here is how I (mostly my husband) made them:

In all reality, if I were making just ONE geoboard, I might consider using THIS method of buying a wooden pre-cut plaque with routered edges. They are about $6 a piece at Hobby Lobby and you could probably get one for half price when they go on sale. However, they weren't on sale when we were purchasing materials for this project, and we were making a lot of them so we had to keep our cost down. I don't know if I'd use the thumbtacks, so we opted for something a little more durable and used nails instead.

Since these were mostly for small children (preschool aged), we chose to do a simple grid of nails of 5 across and 5 down.

Breakdown of Supplies:

1. We used a 2x8x10 board. My husband cut them down into 8"x 8" squares. We used 2 boards total to make 26 of them.

2. We measured out a grid (this will depend on the size of board that you use) on cardboard as our template for nailing the nails into the boards. ****Honestly, this was the hardest part of the whole process was figuring out the grid and the measurements for it.

3. My husband graciously nailed in 650 nails into the boards in our grid pattern.

4. We spray painted them after the nails were in. I wanted this look over the unfinished look, but you do NOT have to spray paint them.

5. I designed the grid cards (file below) in photoshop with various shapes. I also included a row of blank grids so that you could free-hand other geometric shapes, numbers, or letters. I used the Bakers Family blog grid template and then designed my own shapes on the cards verses leaving them blank.

6. Printed them on cardstock at home. I then laminated the 8.5 x 11 sheets of cardstock and cut them into rows.

7. I put these cards on a metal ring along with a pencil bag and the cloth potholder loops and hair rubberbands so it would all stay together. ** The potholder loops were a little lose for the shapes that weren't so spread apart, so I included some hair rubberbands in there as well.

Price Breakdown:

(2) 2x8x10 boards of wood: $12 ($6 each)

(1) large box of nails: $6

(4) cans of spray paint: $12 ($3 each)

(3) large bags of potholder loops from Hobby Lobby: $12 ($4 each) I put a handful of loops in each bag.

(26) metal rings from Walmart: $8 (pkgs of 8@ $1.88 each)

(26) plastic pencil bags: $6.50 (4 bags for $1 at a local dollar store)

***For printing and laminating, I used my own personal printer and my own laminator. I would estimate about $10 for me to do this. However, it will vary if you print them at a copy center or laminate them somewhere else.

Total cost for 26 Geoboards: $56.50 OR $2.17 each.

Downloads:

Shapes Page 1

Shapes Page 2

**Terms of Use:
We'd love for you to feel free to use the files that the ladies in our Busy Bag Swap have worked hard to create, but please keep in mind that the printable images and files on this site are some of our ladies own exclusive designs. They have been generous enough to freely share them.

The terms of use for using the free printable crafts and activities are as follows: You may share these printables with students, friends, neighbors and family or even with your child's class full of children. As long as you share for personal use only. Please do not post printables on a web site - instead provide a link back to the original posting on this site. Linking to the original page is both welcome and appreciated.

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