Found this plate as I was walking through a store searching for forks for my children.  Thought it was a GREAT idea and one that I wanted to share.

Holy Cow, this writing this down stuff can be difficult.  Figured I better bulk this one together just to catch up! 

We have been so big on the celebration of Jesus' birth.

3rd day we learned about the promise of Jesus told in Malachi.  We talked about what a promise was.  For Zach he listened and I showed him the pictures displayed in their kids bibles of the prophet Malachi. 

For their treat we went and saw my Uncle Santa.  Santa in our home is like Mickey Mouse or one of the Princesses.  We go and see him each Christmas if he makes his way up here, and they look with awe as they do Buzz, Woody, Minnie and Belle!  Its super cute and totally not confusing. It was a great treat for the kids as they also got to see their friends, share cookies that they had made with their friends and had a great time!



4th Day of Advent

Todays verses were about the Angel coming to Joseph to tell him about the baby that God was blessing Mary with.  We talked about how the Angel needed to tell Joseph so that he could take good care of Mary while she had baby Jesus in her tummy.  But that God was giving him a gift as well.  Click here and Here to down load our craft for the day.  We colored some presents that had different words that we discussed in our story.  JOY, PEACE, LOVE, KINDNESS, GENTLENESS and PATIENCE

Today we studies shepherds and what they do and learned about the Angel appearing to the Shepherds in the field telling them that baby Jesus had been born and that they were to leave their flock to go see the baby.  We went and hunted good shephard sticks today and tomorrow we are going to decorate them with ribbon and maybe little bells to give them character.

For their treat today they each got a piece of hershey kisses.  I'll update with a post of pics of the finished shepherd sticks!  ;)

Us at Storytime!

Today we are learning about the Wisemen sometimes referred to as the Three Magi or Three Kings, that brought gifts to baby Jesus. 

I thought it would be fun for all of us to make crowns and wear them while we listened and learned about the story!  Just find some construction paper lying around.  Target and other places have the sparkly stickers, cut the paper in the shape of a crown.  With an 8x11 sheet of paper you can cut one part and then cut the other, but you only need one sheet, but will have to attach two parts for it to fit their head.  Tape and then measure head and tape the ends together.  Simple. 

We are having so much fun this Christmas season!  The kids are at amazing ages! 

Day 8 we continue to learn about the life of Jesus!  We learned how the 3 Kings were the ones that told Mary and Joseph that they needed to leave Bethlehem because the "bad king" was mad that Jesus was born.  My favorite questions have been, "Why was Jesus born?", "Why was the King mad at Jesus Mama?" and last but not least, "Mama, I think the Kings that gave Jesus presents are really smart, how did they find Jesus?"

For Advent Day 8 Paige was allowed to invite a friend over.  So she chose one of her sweet girlfriends from school.  They played dress-up, pretended to be Repunzel, and did a craft together.  Here is our craft.  It was super fun and easy and only $5 at Target!


Day 9 - Today is Pajama Day!  Thanks to Paige's school this made for a great Advent event as well!  After school I have planned for us to start making Christmas cards for her friends at school!  Want to make sure tis the season of giving to be completely what this is all about!  Oh...BTW I picked up these cute Christmas card things from Target as well for $3 for a set of 20!  They can be personalized with their friends name on them!

On the 2nd day of advent we learned about being blessed.

Scripture today was:  Luke:  1:42-45

I taught them the song, "Blessed be the Name of the Lord"  We also talked about how we are blessed and what that actually means. 

"Blessed to be a blessing" was something that I taught them. 

Today on the advent Calendar their treat was to make cookies and make a door hanging craft.  I picked up the door hanging craft at the dollar store.  They are so easy and use a glue stick.



Then we made cookies to bless our friends with.  We can't wait to share them at our little Christmas party tomorrow! 



Have fun!  Cheers to Day 3!

School has started, cooler weather, and lots more!  Today became FALL DAY!  I couldn't help myself...my favorite season needed to be celebrated.  Here are just a few ideas so that you too, can have a FALL DAY with the kids! 

Books:  SEASONS, Fancy Nancy's Halloween or Bust, Book on Thanks

Theme was ALL about Fall!

Lunch:  PB&J sandwich, cheese and yogurt

Craft:  Tree of Many Colors.

Snack:  Cranberry and White Chocolate Oatmeal Cookies




For Lunch was some yummy PB&J but I used the Pampered Chef (click on the link for my pampered chef lady, if you don't have one) small cookie cutter set, to carve out some lovely "fall" like shapes for the kids to eat.  Today, I just so happened to be in the mood for pumpkins.

From Target!  All you need is 1 egg, water, and a good bit of butter...or I use yogurt based margarine. I used this as a great opportunity to let the kids help.  Each of them had 2 ingredients and we just mixed in the bowl.  I gave them each a spoon and let them spoon the contents on the pan.

Here I just took construction paper and made a tree and cut out some dots for leaves.  We talked about how the leaves change color and how they fall (which is why my daughter put them all over the tree).

It is Friday!  I can't believe it!  I have been thinking long and hard about my fabulous find for today!  Especially for us parents who struggle with teaching balance for our children in regards to playing by themselves, playing with each other (if you have more than one) and me playing with them!  So...stay tuned, as I have a terrific fabulous find! 

First and foremost I need to give a shout out to my husband who treated me to a date last night!  It wasn't just a normal date, it was the American Idol concert.  If you didn't watch last season, the talent on there was amazing.  Last night proved to be some of their best talent coming out!  Wow...some of the folks that I didn't even vote for did the best performances!  Here is a little pic from last night...what fun!  We were too high up to get a face to face shot with Scotty McCreery! 

If you haven't been on a date with your spouse lately, make the time, not only is it well worth it, but it was just more than nice to just hold hands, hang out, and scream like crazy fans with my best friend! 

Now onto my fabulous find...although, my husband is surely to be my most treasured and best fabulous find!
This book!  Its amazing!  Great ideas for parents for their children.  And...best of all it is all with stuff that you would normally find around the house!

Got it on Barnes and Nobles website through my new favorite place!  Additional 4% cashback.  Plus a great price!  You do have to click on Partner Stores and Search for Barnes and Noble! 

Unplugged Play!

I apologize for skipping almost an entire week!  Things got CRAZY around here!  I have a fun job outside of mommyhood and I experienced quite a bit of it last week.

But, I have a VERY cute and simple find for my Fabulous Find Friday that I am posting on Thursday! 

CAMP TINY! 

Yes...a fellow friend of mine on facebook introduced me and then I found out it is someone that I know!  So, to help her promote her new adventure and my plan is to start CampTiny in my own house beginning next week....here you go!  I hope you find it as cool as I do, and if you do, make sure you post a comment to tell her!

CampTiny