From the fruit of his lips a man girl is filled with good things as surely as the work of his her hands rewards him. Proverbs 12:14 (de-emphasis mine!)
March 7, 2009
fyi@iyk
Make an Art Gallery by Sarah Jane Studios (and a free printable template!)
Pie-in-a-jar by Little Birdie Secrets (yummy.)
Dr. Suess’ Thing at Skip to my Lou
March Holidays at Family Bliss
March 4, 2009
Shine: Paint Your Own Tshirt with a Stencil
A few millenia ago when we started our Y verse, I wanted to do something that would help Lydia understand what it means to be a light. It’s a hard concept to articulate. Finally I decided on the old stand-by: a Christian Tshirt! Ha!
Supplies:
- tshirt
- fabric paints (I just got all the clearance ones at Michael’s)
- foam brushes
- contact paper
- scissors
- cardboard to put inside shirt (we actually used a file folder)
Directions:
1. Decide on your picture. Lydia and I talked about all the different kinds of light: lamps, lightbulbs, the sun, flashlights, lighthouse, etc. She decided she wanted to paint a sunshine.
2. Cut a stencil using contact paper. I cut a circle out contact paper, threw the inside away and stuck the contact paper to the shirt.
contact paper stencil
3. Paint inside stencil. We used foam brushes because they are the easiest and apply the most paint.
4. Remove stencil.
5. Let dry. (Or you can reverse those two steps.)
Then we used our foam brushes to make the rays of the sunshine. It took everything in me to not correct her imperfect rays. But of course, they ended up looking adorable!
let the sun shine
Finally, I cut out some more contact paper stencils—in the shape of the word SHINE.
shine!
And here’s our finished product!
voila!
I asked Lydia what she would say if someone asked her why her shirt said shine. She said, “This little light of mine. I’m gonna let it shine!” Good for her!
March 1, 2009
It’s Snowing in Georgia!!
It doesn’t snow here often and when it does, we get excited!
We were at church when it started. So we got to drive home with big fat snowflakes falling everywhere, roofs and mailboxes frosted white with snow. Lydia giggled and oohed and aahed all the way home.
We raced outside to take some pictures. Then took off our dripping clothes to take a nap. Lydia pulled on some snowflake patterned pants. Then we hopped in the bed to read Charlie & Lola’s Snow is My Favorite and My Best by Lauren Child.
Now she’s taking a nap with her white bear she calls Snow Bear. And has been promised that we will build a snowman in the morning. Yup, it’s been a pretty exciting day for Lydia.
“Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red as crimson, they shall be like wool”. Isaiah 1:18-19
February 28, 2009
FYI@IYK
If you didn’t get to see this at Money Saving Mom, you can get a free two-year subscription to Family Fun Magazine here. Family Fun Magazine is one of my favorite magazines that I subscribe to – tons of fabulous, family-friendly, and FUN activities, ideas, and crafts.
February 19, 2009
N is for nothing – nada – nope.
Still on the letter N, and we have nothing to show for it. EJ is going through another stage of not wanting to do a thing except play, and I can’t figure out how to play with him and get in my “agenda.” I know he is learning things as we play, but my controlling self is having a hard time with this stage.
This post on one of my favorite crafting sites has helped me a lot today.
First I have to admit, my boys like to craft differently than me. And I have had to adjust my expectations accordingly in order to be able to craft together and enjoy our time.
I am so stuck in my ways and my own thoughts that I’m having a really hard time adjusting. Can anyone share any ways I can bend on this? I’ve mentioned this in the past, and I thought I was doing better…
Nothing at all can ever separate us from God’s love because of what Christ Jesus our Lord has done. Romans 8:39
On the positive side, a wonderful resource (that I’ll share about next time) gave us a great opening to teach EJ God’s Word. We are sharing verses and other things that we want him to remember at bedtime, right before he goes to sleep. It’s been a wonderful teaching time that’s becoming a part of our routine, and I am amazed at what he can remember after hearing it at bedtime for a couple of nights.
And what a wonderfully sweet time it’s been, too – snuggled together, talking about God’s love and how we can show that to others… I pray that this special time will continue!
February 14, 2009
Happy Valentine’s Day!
This is how God showed his love for us: God sent his only Son into the world so we might live through him. This is the kind of love we are talking about—not that we once upon a time loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as a sacrifice to clear away our sins and the damage they’ve done to our relationship with God. 1 John 4:7-10ish MSG
February 11, 2009
A Valentine’s Day Round Up
photo from riptheskull's flickr
Valentine’s Day is like THREE days away. Seriously? Holy cow. I totally wanted to make little gifts for all the kids in our neighborhood. Plus a fun gift from Lydia to her Daddy. *sigh*
As Lydia gets older, I’ve been wondering what to do about these little mini-holidays like Valentine’s and St. Patrick’s Day. One of the girls on my messageboard gave me some great advice–she has them focus on handmade gifts. The idea is not to receive something or wonder about the big gift you’re going to get…but to make something handmade for siblings and friends. This might mean not buying anything from Target’s Valentine aisle for your kids. *GASP* I seriously love this idea. I want Lydia and Asa’s first response to a holiday or special event is to want to GIVE.
Hopefully, I’ll get in the groove and crank out something super cute for Lydia and I to make together. Here’s a few great ideas I’ve found today…
Fancy Folded Envelope at Blissful Kids
Chocolate Dipped Pretzel Hearts at Make & Takes
Cute Cupcake Valentines at Danielle’s Place
The Best Free Printable Valentines from Alpha Mom (could I love this site any more?!)
Kids Activities for Valentine’s Day from Helium (beyond crafts and candy!)
I browsed Amazon and cbd.com for some Valentine’s Day books. I am really interested in a book about the actual history of Saint Valentine. But everything looked kinda boring. Do you know of any fun or interesting Valentine books?
Leave your favorite Valentine’s Day tips, books and activities in the comments!
February 6, 2009
A confession…
… I have not been motivated to do anything remotely educational with EJ for several weeks. There – now it’s out there… and I feel better just saying it. Hopefully, I can now get over the guilt and just move on. Hmmm… I think we’re still on the letter “N”.
I have a couple of fun things up my sleeve, and now that we’re out of another couple weeks of sickness, and it actually should be warm enough to venture out of the house starting this weekend, I hope to be back full-force. Thanks to Amanda for keeping up the whole blog while I’ve been in a funk!!!
Here are a couple pictures of animal “noses” that EJ and I played with a while back. They were a lot of fun – just construction paper animal noses cut out and glued onto popsicle sticks, but we were animals all evening long!
See you soon!
February 4, 2009
Yep. The Letter Y.
I had to get away from the letter X as soon as possible. So, we didn’t do much with it. Yesterday we started the letter Y. And *sigh* I like it much better. I’ve got all kinds of stuff rolling around in my head for it.
Anyway, we did a simple Y craft…yellow construction paper, yarn (almost yellow) and a hole punch.
Have you ever tried punching holes in the middle of a paper? It was actually easier than I thought. I just folded it along the Y line and punched into it–making a double hole and quite easier to sew…
I picked Matthew 5:14 as our verse: “You are the light of the world”. It’s a hard one for a 3 year old to understand…especially when our I verse was “I am the Light of the World.” But even if Lydia doesn’t “get” it…this verse really hit home for me. Yesterday was one of those, “OMG, how am I ever going to be a good parent day.” Lydia was whiny, Asa was needy and I was selfish. I just wanted to get on the computer and hide from parenting and housework.
And as I tried to explain this verse to Lydia I realized that *I* was not being a very good light to my world. Lydia is with me 24 hours a day. And just like she is learning to clean the same way I do, color like me, speak like me and play like me; she’s also learning about Jesus from me. I have to let my light shine every second of the day so that SHE can see it.
When I was a children’s pastor, I understood this concept for my church kids–if they saw me at the movies and I was going in to see a rated R movie, I wasn’t being a great example of Jesus. But as a parent—this idea is magnified a hundred fold! With every eye-roll, aggravated sigh and short response from me, I’m teaching her to do the same.
I want her to see Jesus in me. NOT see ME in Jesus.
Oh, Lord, help me be a strong light for you in my little world!
