Advent: Days 13-18

Day 13: Bethlehem (Jesus was born in the city of Bethlehem. Luke 2:1-7)

Day 14: Stable (Jesus was born in a stable. Luke 2:1-7)

Days 15-17: Manger, Cloths and Sheep (Luke 2: 1-20)

So, we fell a bit behind this week and ended up making all three the same day to catch up. Day 18 we were supposed to make the angels who appeared to the shepherds to announce Jesus' birth, but had a busy day and skipped since we already made an angel in week one. Gideon and I did end up talking about the shepherds and angels a bit. I asked him if he knew what shepherds were and he said, "They watch all the animals and scare the animals away (he meant animals like lions, etc)". :)

Advent: Days 7-12

Gideon is just loving this! He looks forward to making his ornament each day.

Day 7: Song (Mary sang a song of praise to God. Luke 1:46-56)

Day 8: Sun (Zechariah describes Jesus as the “rising sun” coming from heaven to “shine on those living in darkness”. Luke 1:57-80)

Day 9: Joseph (He was chosen to be the earthly father of Jesus. Matthew 1:18-24)

Day 10: Dream (An angel came to Joseph in a dream to tell him what to do. The ornament is Joseph's pillow. Matthew 1:18-25)

Day 11: Jesus' Name (God told Joseph to name the baby "Jesus". Matthew 1:18-25)

Day 12: Census (Everyone in the town had to be "counted". The buttons represent Mary and Joseph. They were two special people among everyone. Luke 2:1-7)

Advent: Days 1-6

Gideon and I are going through an advent project called "Truth in the Tinsel: An Advent Experience for Little Hands" by Amanda White. (truthinthetinsel.com) Each day, starting on Dec. 1, we make an ornament relating to the Christmas story in the Bible.

Day 1: Candle (Jesus was born to bring light to the dark world. Isaiah 9:2-7)

Day 2: Kingdom (Jesus came to rule over all forever. Isaiah 9:2-7) Gideon is painting his crown ornament for this. Then he decorated it with sequins.

Day 3: Zechariah (He did not believe the miracle God was going to give him and was unable to speak until the baby was born. Luke 1:5-25)

Day 4: Gabriel (He delivers the message to Mary that she will have a baby. Luke 1:26-38)

Day 5: Mary (She was God's humble servant who would deliver Jesus. Luke 1:26-38)

Day 6: Mary/Elizabeth (They were relatives who would both have special babies from God. Luke 1:39-45)

Keeping the boy busy

Since we turned our clocks back, Gideon has been waking up super early...today was 5:00 am. So, I knew I would have to find projects for him to do all morning to keep him busy. Here's just a couple...

We learned about the letter "F" today. F is for Fox! F is for Friend! (http://totallytots.homestead.com)

Then we found a recipe for making homemade watercolor paint. (http://www.icanteachmychild.com/2011/06/homemade-watercolors/)

At about 5:15 pm, he told me he was ready for bed. I've managed to keep him up until now somehow...he'll be in bed by 7:00 tonight. I should get myself to bed early too since he'll probably be up again tomorrow at 5:00 am!!

More fall craft fun

Here's another fall project from Disney Family Fun again. "Jar-o-lanterns"

Make a pumpkin face with masking tape (or whatever tape you can find...).

Paint the jar with orange acrylic paint. (We also sprinkled orange colored sand to add to it.)

Super simple, but messy! http://familyfun.go.com/crafts/jar-o-lanterns-1024695/

Baking cookies and Christmas music

May have been a little too early for Christmas music, but it just went well with the mood of the day and baking some oatmeal cranberry cookies.

Here's my little helper boy.

He had so much fun pouring and stirring.

But, isn't this the best part? Licking the mixer blades,

and testing the craisins... :)

Leaf Mobile

I love fall crafts! Found this one in Disney Family Fun magazine. It's a leaf mobile. Yesterday, Gideon and I took a walk around the block in between rain drops and collected some leaves and branches. We pressed them in a heavy book when we got home.

Then today we laminated them...

cut them out, poked a hole through the end and tied them onto the branch with thread.

End result!

Happy Fall days!!

Now I know my ABCs

A fun way to brush up on our ABCs...

A is for Alligator!


B is for Bumble Bee!

C is for Crab! D is for Dinosaur!

http://totallytots.homestead.com/NowIKnowMyABCs.html

learning Eucharisteo

44. Stringing up laundry in the brisk fall air

45. Little fingers holding a worm to the sky to see an airplane

46. Hands raised to God

51. Garden fresh tomatoes left on my front porch

54. Simple joy of jumping in puddles

"...when I give thanks for the seemingly microscopic, I make a place for God to grow within me." - Ann Voskamp, "one thousand gifts"

It's a rainy day in the neighborhood

Sometimes it's fun to stay in on rainy days. By the afternoon, I think Gideon and I were driving each other crazy, but we had fun this morning.

Here is a fun project (free download) I found on this blog: http://1plus1plus1equals1.blogspot.com/

I cut the printout into strips to make into a puzzle for Gideon to put together.



He loves his monster trucks!

We also made a fort with dining room chairs and a blanket.

Car time!

We also read books, painted and made monster trucks with playdoh. Love my monkey-boy!

learning Eucharisteo...

31. Full moon and bright eyes

34. Little hands collecting bark and acorn treasures

37. Tree branches tall dancing in the wind before rain

40. Autumn blows in

"I discover that slapping a sloppy brush of thanksgiving over everything in my life leaves me deeply thankful for very few things in my life." -Ann Voskamp (one thousand gifts)

42. RAINBOW through clouds!

Eucharisteo...

13. Wilted dandelion on toy chest

19. Concentration of a young mind

23. Elbow dimples in little arms

27. Sound of knife through vegetables crisp to cutting board

28. Afternoon sun warming the living room

"Do not disdain the small. The whole of the life-even the hard-is made up of the minute parts, and if I miss the infinitesimals, I miss the whole." -Ann Voskamp (one thousand gifts)

Learning Eucharisteo

Starting my "God Gifts" list...

1. Morning dew glistening on glass under my mug of hot cocoa

6. Mail from a friend

11. Joy in little boy's play

"A nail is driven out by another nail; habit is overcome by habit." Erasmus

Count your blessings

-Taken from Susie Larsons book, "growing grateful kids"

~If you have food in the refrigerator, clothes on your back, a roof over your head, and a place to sleep...you are richer than 70 percent of this world.

~If you have money in the bank, in your wallet, and spare change in a dish someplace...you are among the top 8 percent of the world's wealthy.

~If you woke up this morning with more health than illness...you are more blessed than the million who will not survive this week.

~If you have never experienced the danger of battle, the loneliness of imprisonment, the agony of torture, or the pangs of starvation...you are ahead of 500 million people in the world.

~If you can attend a church meeting without fear of harassment, arrest, torture, or death...you are more blessed than three billion people in the world.

~If your parents are still alive and still married...you are very rare.

~If you hold up your head with a smile on your face and are truly thankful ...you are blessed because, although the majority can, most do not.

Happy Earth Week!

So, I thought it would be fun to celebrate earth week by doing a fun project with the Gid-boy. Actually, I found the idea in Disney Family Fun magazine. (By the way, love that magazine. It has a lot of great craft ideas.) Anyway, it was a fun, messy project. We found a few glass jars in our recycling bin which we used as our "vases."

Take a little tacky glue and mix with a tad of water to paint over the jar.

Then...the FUN part! Sprinkle sand all over them!!

Gid picked some lovely weeds out of our overly grown lawn to put in them.

Here they are...Gid's creations!!

Little things I don't want to forget...

Gideon loves when I play cars with him which consists of car sounds, races and conversations between cars (ex: Me, as the voice of a car: "Where are we going today?" Gideon, as the voice of another car: "The store" Me: What should we get there?" Gid: "Peanuts!" "Vroom Vroooom, Screech!!!")

He loves to be a "good helper." Tonight, he insisted on helping me put the laundry away. In my mind I wanted to say no since it would take a lot longer and the clothes would end up just smooshed into the drawers unfolded and I would have to hold back on my ocd tendencies to refold them nicely. But, I put that aside and let him help. He was so happy and proud of himself and even called himself a "good helper." Sure, there are clothes wrinkled in crumpled balls in the drawers now, but I'll take the memory of how good it made him feel to help me.:)

The boy loves to dance! He will pull me off the couch to dance in the living room with him. He especially begs me to spin him around and around.

Just to name a few...

"Enjoy the little things, for one day you may look back and realize that they were the BIG THINGS." ~Robert Brault

"Poor, dear, silly Spring, preparing her annual surprise!"
- Wallace Stevens

"Bad weather always looks worse through a window."

Tom Lehrer

No matter how long the winter, spring is sure to follow. ~Proverb

Well, spring is here (although this week is not proof of it here in PA) and we are SO ready to break out of hibernation and enjoy the park, cookouts and longer days again. Last Friday was perfect weather. Gideon helped me clear out my garden areas out back. Ok, not really. He just dug the dirt out of the garden onto the sidewalk and tortured worms. But it was good for the soul to be out in the warm sunshine.

Here he is torturing that poor worm.

"In the spring, at the end of the day, you should smell like dirt." Margaret Atwood