Baked gingerbread may taste better, but cardboard gingerbread lasts longer. These ornaments are too cute and easy. After making ornaments for our tree, we made some to add as toppers for grandparent gifts. The most important materials you need for this project are cardboard [cut into shapes like gingerbread men, houses, trees, etc.], scissors, and paint markers (great for lots of projects) or acrylic paint. You can also use glue, googly eyes, ribbon, and stickers for embellishment. Remember to turn them over and decorate that side, too! If you have mod-podge/decoupage/glue or sealer spray, coat the dry ornaments as a final step to help them last.
A dear neighbor and friend of ours made these Jingle Bell Bracelets/Shakers with my children. They are so cute and easy! To make one of your own, all you need is two pipe cleaners of different colors and jingle bells (these had four). Run your jingle bells onto one of the pipe cleaners and space them out evenly. (Depending on the size of your child’s wrist, you may want to cut the pipe cleaner length down to be shorter.) Twist the ends together to close the bracelet. Next, wind the other pipe cleaner around the first in a spiral around the bracelet and jingle bells. Yay! Now you’re ready to sing “Jingle bells, jingle bells…”
A friend of mine creates a Thanksgiving Tree with her family every year. They create a paper tree on the wall and then write on silk fall-colored leaves what the are thankful for. Then they attach the leaves to the tree. I was inspired by the idea, but I didn’t have the gumption to create a big tree on the wall. So, we made a small version, which I can keep for years to come. In fact, it’s been hanging up since last Thanksgiving! It’s a wonderful reminder of where we were, where we are, and all that we have to be thankful to the Lord for.
We used white and green construction paper and a brown marker. We also needed scissors, a glue stick, and a pen or two. I cut out a stack of leaves for each family member to write on. After all the leaves had been written on, we glued them on the tree.
We created this at Thanksgiving, but you could make one any time of the year (ours actually looks more like a tree during spring or summer, doesn’t it?). And it doesn’t have to be a tree. Write on snowflakes for a winter scene, blossoms for a spring scene, fish for an underwater scene, or whatever your family is into. It’s just about taking some time to reflect and be thankful.
“Always give thanks to God the Father for everything.” – Ephesians 5:20
(This Scripture is written across the grass in our picture. Also, we included a leaf with the year on it and another leaf with our family members’ ages.)
A “Yahtzee” score card can be a little too complicated for little ones to completely understand. To help my kids play more easily by themselves or with little assistance, I created a simplified score card for playing Yahtzee.
“As on former occasions, Colonel George Washington was his own chaplain. Twice a day his little army were called to prayers in the fort, which he himself conducted. On the Sabbath, only works of necessity were performed, and he conducted religious services.” A Biography of George Washington, the Patriot President, A Beka Book
The point has often in present times been made that the church should not meddle in government affairs. That is absolute hogwash and a lie, and I can’t even write about it, because it fires me up so much that I’m pretty sure I start sprouting gray hair. (If you want to read a great article by David Barton that really explains “The Separation of Church and State,” click here.) So, I won’t go there, but I would like to suggest to those who believe that ridiculous lie, that they need not worry, because for the most part the church doesn’t even discuss the topic among themselves. And if the church does not discuss the affairs of government, grapple with decisions, educate themselves, and band together to make a difference, there is nothing to fear from those who believe God has no place in government.
I realize there are many local churches who do take an active role in impacting government and being involved, and I am so glad! But my feeling is that if the church as a whole had more of the patriotism and reliance on God (and placing HIM first in our country) that our founding fathers had, I have to imagine that local churches would be STRIVING to educate people about issues and candidates and leadership, STRIVING to give them tools to make a difference and have a strong voice, and STRIVING to fulfill their responsibility as Christians and as citizens.
There seem to be (to me) two attitudes of many churches that keep them bound and fruitless in the area of government.
1)Hush-hush respect for individual beliefs. Of course, we should all be respectful to one another. But I’m not referring to respectful behavior. I’m referring to the way we have begun to believe that we must silence ourselves (even on Biblical topics within the church!!! God help us!) lest we offend someone. That someone being not a visitor at service, but a member/attender! And so we all shallowly discuss matters of importance without conviction, passion, encouragement, or prayer. What a waste. I have to believe that our founding fathers would not only be saddened but that they would be shocked if I told them that I sit in pews filled with people who are my brothers and sisters in Christ and yet I do not know where they stand on matters of the country or what their actions are to back those beliefs.
2) Don’t rock the boat and don’t stir up discord. The argument “Well, we would just get in fights and cause discord, so it is better that we don’t ‘go there'” is bologna. Let’s give God more credit than that! Our founding fathers certainly did. If our patriotic discussions, feelings, actions, and plans truly have God as the common denominator, then what’s the problem? If we can back up our thoughts and actions with the Bible, then good! We have strengthened ourselves and each other. If our thoughts and actions are in opposition to the Bible, then good – We have accountability and a chance to set things rightly in motion.
I’m sure all this sounds idealistic to most. But I think open communication on political matters by those within the church is important and possible. I need it. The church needs it. The country needs it. My children need it. I want my children to see that their parents are not the only people who believe the way they do, and more importantly I want them to know the support that comes from unity in Christ in ALL areas of their lives (which most certainly includes our government) and the power that comes from that unity.
My little article (or perhaps “rant” is a better word) will not change the church as a whole, but perhaps it will encourage us as individuals to seek out those in our churches who are like-minded, with whom we can openly discuss issues and equip one another with resources. Wouldn’t that be healthy and refreshing?
Satan would like for us to all feel isolated in our concerns, fears, hopes, and dreams for ourselves, our families, and our country. He would like us to feel defeated and weak, but we are not. We are not. We must open our eyes, reach out, and discover that we cannot be silent.
A 3 minute video about George Washington by David Barton, Wallbuilders.com:
When I made this last week, I intended to put it in my Etsy shop, but I liked it too much and decided to personalize it for my own family instead! However, I do want to share it with you, because you can make it yourself for your own family or children.
We have done this project before (click here), but I wanted to show you this one, too. This is about a year’s worth of Ava’s flower pressing, and today I cut a circle of contact paper on which for her to lay the flowers and leaves in any arrangement she liked. Isn’t it pretty? She also colored some butterflies to add some extra color and that “Ava touch.” Then we backed it with contact paper and it is currently decorating our refrigerator. It would also be pretty in a window, but I don’t want the colors to fade anytime soon.
Your child can pick some of this year’s last flowers or pick some colorful autumn leaves. Press them now and then create a beautiful display of them on a shut-in kind of day when the weather turns cold and the branches are bare.
If you have kids of any age and you want a terrific, thorough, flexible, and free resource to teach them Godly behaviors and character traits, I have a great website for you!
Respect. What a great study for my little children. We spent the month on the topic of “Respect” from Kids of Integrity’s free online resource, and it was terrific! I took an unorganized approach, and each day I just flipped through the pages and selected what I wanted us to talk about or do that day. Here are a few of the pages from the book I helped Ava make to help us remember what she learned about respect.
So, Landon loves trains, and Thomas is the theme for his upcoming birthday party. Here is a sneak peak…
I have seen this on Pinterest and decided to do it myself for Landon. It is just a diaper box that I turned upside down and covered with construction paper, decorative silver paper, a paper plate, and an empty shipping tape cylinder.
If you like gift wrapping, then you would probably like decorating the box this way with construction paper instead of painting. If you don’t like to gift wrap, then don’t do it this way. 🙂
The box still needs straps to put over Little Man’s shoulders while he runs around in it yelling “Choo choo!” and “All aboard,” but you get the idea! Pictures of him in it will come later!
It’s that time of year! Time to cheer for your favorite football team – college, NFL, or your little guy’s team. Here is a SUPER easy way to decorate cupcakes and celebrate a win!
Note about icing:
Instead of using a tube of white icing for the seam (or whatever it’s called :), I use a can of vanilla icing, put some in a plastic sandwich/quart size bag, trim a little corner off, and squeeze. To not completely waste the rest of the can of icing, BEFORE I ice the cupcakes, I put a hole in the top of each cupcake with the handle-end of a butter-knife, and then pipe the vanilla icing inside each cupcake (sort of Hostess cupcake style). Pretty yummy!!!
Note about the plate:
If you really want to go the extra mile, you could take a black permanent marker and draw yard lines across a green paper plate.
Our family is working on saving money together, so we can give it to others in the name of Jesus. We want the kids to understand the meaning behind and the value of giving.
So, we began by decorating an empty Nesquik container with decorative paper and pictures the kids colored from construction paper to create our family’s Giving Box…
