winter fun crafts!

After a month and a half of no internet we are randomly up and running.... again. Who knows, though, this could be just a 3 day fluke like it was a month ago. 

But I'm not going to dwell on that mess..... I have here a couple of fun crafts that we have done. 

Let me tell you, the first is soooo fun. And oh so messy.

Equal part shaving cream and white glue. Mix and paint!

 It turns out puffy and really neat. When you paint it with finger paints, it creates this fun cracked look.... that was a fun mistake to figure out.

Next is our pattern rainbow. We were going over Noah's Ark for the week and on friday I was trying to figure out an activity for the rainbow. We had learned about patterns the week before so a great way to incorporate this! 

 Cut out shapes and let them go! 

And just another plug for the advent calendar we are doing! Nevaeh has learned so much about the birth of Christ from this lesson plan. You read the same verses over for a couple of days so it gets to their hearts. 

www.truthinthetinsel.com

You go through the Isaiah's prophecy to Elizabeth and Mary's meeting. Then at the end you go through the crucifixion and resurrection to show that Christ was born for a purpose.... for us. 

Again, its $5 but so worth it!!!

amazing kids, glorious season

Ok, when the God says "kids are a blessing", that is a major understatement. 

Nevaeh and Grayson are amazing and God has definitely given me more than I would have ever asked for in my kids. 

Then there's Jason. God did good with him! :) I love going to games and watching Jason coach. I look at him and say, "Look at that sexy man down there. He's mine!" :) sorry for the open-ness... kinda.

Couple all that with this glorious season of Christmas and this mama is so joyous! 

We put up our trees (yes, plural!) last Sunday and Nevaeh was soooooo excited. All weekend she kept asking and asking and asking.... and asking about the Christmas tree. Gray obviously didn't know what was going on, but once the lights were on he was mesmerized. 

Now, when the lights are on, Nevaeh gets super excited all over again and Gray just sits and gazes for 10 minutes. He doesn't touch, but just looks; its adorable!

Here is some cuteness for you...

If we did a Christmas card, this would be the picture!

See, he just can't stop looking!

 Nevaeh telling him which ornaments are which.

Fun kids crafts soon!

Our first advent-ure!

It has been a long 3 weeks without internet. I don't even remember what my mama-projects were and we have done so many fun, little things that I forgot to take pictures.

But the most important kid-time project we started today. A life-group friend found this advent calendar that truly is wrapped around God's word AND is for little kids. The mom who created this started it with her one-year old, so no excuses!

The website is this www.truthinthetinsel.com .

I don't want to give to much away because it is copyrighted and it's 5$. I was reluctant to buy it because we have started a very tight budget, but I thought '5$ for my kids' need to hear God's word'... I think you know which won.

Everyday you read bible verses in your own bible (I think that is important), and make an ornament to go along with the verses. The ornaments are not great and not meant to last through the years. Actually I will probably end up keeping one or two for memory sake, but the rest will be tossed (you make this over again next year...).

The first day (today!) was about light; about Isaiah prophesying the coming of the Light, Jesus Christ. So the ornament was one that you could put in front of a christmas tree light and it shines. 

It was a good 20-30 minutes of talking about rejoicing in the Light and the coming of Jesus. We just talked while we crafted away.

Anywho's, I HIGHLY recommend this advent calendar! 

One of my mama-projects was home-made laundry soap. 

Now, a preface: I have been a tide-girl for a looong time, but it's expensive. I now will never use that again because this really does work and is CHEAP!!! 

bad picture...

The ingradients:

1 cup of 20 Mule Borax

1 cup of Arm n Hammer Super Laundry soap

1 bar of Ivory body soap ( you can use any you like, there are even laundry bar soaps (fels-napa) but one 

          without a lot of greasy moisturizers or scents)

and I added on my own.... 1/2 cup-1 cup of the oxyclean powder (but generic brand)

ps-you can add a couple drops of some sort of oils to add a scent and most everything is in the laundry aisle. 

Ok, the fun part. No pictures though :(, take the bar of soap and put it in the microwave (i don't know if this works with other bars of soap). Microwave it for 90 seconds and it will become this puffy cloud-like substance. Its brittle and I just broke off pieces and put them in a blender with the other ingredients. 

And viola...... All it take is 1-2 tablespoons (depending on size of load). 

BEST PART: it costs only 12$ to buy everything and there is so much of it that it will last me at least 9 months. I didn't make 9 months worth though, I've read that if you make too much and it will start to get hard. 

More to come! Have a great weekend.