New Year’s Impressions: Monkey Hospitality?

Welcome to the first Impressions Carnival post of the New Year!  It feels good to be back!  I had another unintentional break from all things educational (and bloggy) over the holidays – due to both the holidays and another 3 weeks of sickness.  I finally feel like we’re getting back on our feet…

… so I decided we needed more of the letter “M.”  We didn’t get to do many fun things with M – and we definitely need fun!

Do you remember the frozen “Monkey Treats” you used to make back in the day, with the frozen banana and all the goodies heaped on top of it?  Mmmm…  I remember making them with Ms. Stephenson in the 4th grade (Hi, Ms. Stephenson!) – and I remember using peanut butter, chocolate, coconut, and peanuts.  However, EJ has severe peanut allergies, so the peanut butter and nuts were right out.  I hopped online to see if others had had any luck using honey instead of peanut butter.  And look at the yummy recipes here! 

I was thinking about dipping the bananas in honey and covering them in chopped up chocolate chips and crushed cereal.  But I discarded that idea and just melted the chocolate, dipped the ‘nanners right in, and rolled them in the crushed cereal.  More chocolate is always better, right?

We set them in the freezer on a tray covered in wax paper, and waited for lunchtime.  Uncle Drew came over for lunch, and we were able eat our Monkey Treats after our M-themed lunch: meat roll-ups, macaroni and cheese, Mandarin oranges, and milk.  Wait – why does Uncle Drew always get to eat our yummy projects?

Along with the Monkey Treats, I wanted to start sharing the idea of hospitality with EJ by making the meals we share with others special times of fellowship.  Before I had kids, a homeschooling family that lived close to my work invited me over every Wednesday for lunch, and it was a time for their girls to learn more about preparing a meal for a guest – from setting the table to table manners to conversational skills.  Plus, what a blessing it was to me to be able to share a delicious meal with their family!  I would love to pass on such a wonderful tradition to my boys – and hospitality is a Biblical trait that we are urged to practice (Romans 12:13, Hebrews 13:2).

Uncle Drew has a standing lunch date at our house on Tuesdays, and we will begin to practice our hospitality with him then – and with all others who join us in our home.

EJ helped me set the table… forgive the camouflage tablecloth. In my house, this is what it means to live with all boys.

Notice we each had a map place mat, and there were also hand-made monkeys that joined us at the table. Uncle Drew and EJ gave our M-themed lunch the thumbs-up, and then we dug in.

The monkey treats were quickly devoured – and I tell ya, I’m not much of one for bananas, and I loved these things.  I will definitely be making these again!  The banana was a bit hard for EJ to eat off of the popsiclestick, so I wound up slicing it in half so he could just pick it up with his hands.

EJ also wrote a “Thank You” note to Uncle Drew for joining us for lunch, and then EJ asked him back for lunch next week!  Hopefully, we are on our way to learning what hospitality truly means.

What Biblical traits are you working to impress on your children?  How are you doing it?  Will you please share with us?  Write a post on your own blog with a kid-friendly idea that ideally shows your kids impresses God’s Word on their hearts. This idea can be a craft, a tradition, an activity or whatever else pops into your mind! Be creative!

After posting, just click the Mr. Linky below to add the link to your post. (Not the link to your blog, but to your actual post.) And just to be nice, link back to this post, so others can participate, too!

Then come back and look at the other posts and find some fun stuff to do with your kids!