Car Party!

I love throwing parties.  Great time for kids to play with friends, moms get to socialize, and it gives me something to plan and prepare (yes, I love to "plan"). 

The invitation we made.  I forgot to take a picture of the inside.  We asked every child to bring their favorite car.  My kids actually don't have a lot of cars and I thought it would be a good opportunity to share.  I also included car stickers in the envelope.

We used painter's tape to make the roads.

 

I thought I would save a couple dollars and make my own.

Used a shoebox and streamers to make our own car wash.  Kid don't need fancy.

Painted with cars.

Finished product.  Hanging on our Art Wall to dry.

Tattoos! 

Peanut butter sandwiches shaped out of trucks

Meat and cheese car sandwiches

Apple Racers

It's not a party if you don't have cupcakes!

Everyone won the race!  Trophies for party favors.

Adam and Eve with Pretzels

Oh...how I love playing with food!  This morning we created serpents (we called them snakes) out of pretzels. 
You can find Adam and Eve in the first book of the Bible, Genesis 2-4.  My simplified version for my 3 year old was that God told Adam and Eve not to eat the fruit on the tree.  They didn't listen to God and ate the fruit anyway.  They felt very bad and God punished them.  But God forgave them just like he forgives us.  God will always love you.

We first reviewed the story out of our Toddler Bible by Gwen Ellis, illustrations by Steve Smallman.  http://www.amazon.com/Share-Toddler-Bible We have read it so much my daughter has it memorized.

Then we created the pretzels.  My son has a gluten-intolerance and my husband has Celiac so my pretzel recipe is gluten-free.  It is from Gluten Free on a Shoestring cookbook.  Love the book and author Nicole Hunn.  http://glutenfreeonashoestring.com/ My son ate the dough (I know, I know...but at least it entertained him) while my daughter and I created the snakes.  This was our finished product.

Of course, we had to make other shapes as well:)

Favorite Christian Resources

My kids love books.  These are a list of my favorite ones that my husband and I read to our kids.  Be aware that when reading these books to your kids, questions will be asked!  Not only do they teach our kids about the Bible, but they teach us as well.  It's been a long time since I have heard a lot of the Bible stories.
You can find these at Christian Book Stores, Amazon, and I even found some at Dollar General!

This one is the family favorite.  It also comes with a DVD.

 I showed this DVD to my 3 year old.  I thought it was a wonderful story of Jesus' life.  She enjoyed it until He was about to be crucified and she asked me to turn it off.  Definitely preview before showing kids.

My family loves listening to Christian kids music.  The Maranatha! Kids is our favorite.  You can download it on itunes. 
I would love to hear your favorites!

Save the Toys!

This winter, my goal is to teach my kids a lot about frozen temperatures and freezing weather.  Last night, we put toys in containers, covered them with water, then put them in the freezer.

Used many different methods to try to "save the toys."  Ice cream salt...

Hair dryer...

Hot water...

Yay!  The toys were saved!

It's Snowing...well kind of...

It is late January and my kids have yet to see snow this year.  So, I decided to let it "snow" in our house.

Cotton balls!!

1...2...

3!

I had no idea how much fun cotton balls can be.  We put them in buckets, in trucks, and yes I have been finding them for days:)

Waiting for hot chocolate because of course, after you play in the snow, you always drink hot chocolate.

Fun with Ice

Ice + Kids = A Freezing Mess    I love it!

Fill water balloons and freeze overnight.  Of course, you could use any container to fill and freeze.

Dump Ice Cream Salt on ice and watch it fizzle and slowly melt.

We had tons of syringes from when the kids are sick that we get with their medicine.  We filled them with water and food coloring.

Makes pretty sculptures.

My daughter was really working her fine motor skills while pretending at the same time.  "The ice needs more medicine."

You really should try this!

Jonah and the Whale

As a child, I learned many stories from the Bible including David and Goliath, Noah's Ark, and Joseph and the Colored Coat to name a few.  When my daughter turned 2, I decided it's time for her to learn the stories as well.  It's been many years since I have heard the stories and read about them in the Bible so I had to do my research first.  Wow, it's a huge difference reading and hearing the stories as an adult compared to a kid.  I started with Jonah and the Whale.  You can find Jonah in the old testament of the Bible.  I thought it would be a great story to teach her about listening to God and that you can't run away from the things God has asked you to do (good lesson for all of us).  Plus, what 2 year old wouldn't want to pretend a whale is eating you?!

I used old cereal boxes, a paper towel tube, and a boat from the bath.  This is how I told the story to my daughter, then she eventually learned it as well. 
Long ago, God asked Jonah to go to Ninevah to preach about God.

But Jonah didn't listen. So he got on a boat to hide from God.

God wanted to get Jonah's attention so he sent a big storm.  The men on the boat were scared so they threw Jonah overboard.

 

 

 

 

God sent a whale to swallow Jonah.

Inside the whale, Jonah prayed and prayed and asked God to forgive him.

God had the whale spit out Jonah and now Jonah knows to always listen to God. 

This is my daughter pretending to be Jonah inside the whale.  So glad I got a picture of this...melts my heart.