Gingerbread Houses 2014

Merry Christmas!  Here are our gingerbread houses for this year!  This is a fun tradition we do every year, see our previous years here: 2013, 2012, 2011, 2010.  This was Matthew's first time participating.  He was eating cereal off his house as fast as I could put it on!  His house hit the floor and split into pieces.

Kevin's is on the left with "pokey trees".  Mine is on the right with the pretzel fence.

Here is Caleb's on the left and Rebekah's on the right.

And lastly, Joshua's.  Rebekah helped him at the end to actually put candy on his house.  Mostly, he ate the candy off as soon as he put it on.

If you'd like to make your own gingerbread houses, this is the recipe I use: Simply Recipes.  My advice is to bake the pieces longer than you should and leave them out all night so they are nice and hard!  Also, make sure your frosting is thick.  I'd love to see pictures of yours if you try it!  Merry Christmas, may God bless you!

Bird Seed Ornaments

We made some bird seed ornaments to give as a gift this year.  I used the recipe on Eclectically Vintage.  We used the measurements exactly and got these 7 ornaments, plus lots of scraps to feed our own birds!

Gingerbread House Extravaganza 2013

Yesterday was the day for my favorite Christmas tradition!  Making gingerbread houses with my kids.  2 hours of family time, being creative, and eating lots of candy!  Even though we had a baby only a week ago, I was determined to make our gingerbread.  Caleb and Rebekah helped a lot!

I think every year we end up getting more treats and snacks!  Here's the list: Chex cereal, golden graham cereal, marshmallows (mini and large), candy corn, lemon drops, mints, chocolate chips, gummy fish, gummy flowers, gum drops, cheerios, raisins, seasame sticks, dried peas, almonds, sunflower seeds, dried mango and banana chips, chow mein noodles, sugar cubes, red hots, green colored sugar, Christmas sprinkles, Dutch licorice, random candy left over from the latest parade, and popcorn!

And here are the results!  Caleb and Rebekah were very creative and did a great job this year.  Joshua decorated a gingerbread man, then ate everything on him.  Then he put popcorn in his house, and just licked the frosting off!  He ate A LOT of candy!  (Well, we all did...)

This one is mine.

And this one is Kevin's.

Can you guess who decorated this one?

Lastly, here's a close up of Rebekah's snowman!

Today is time to celebrate with our extended family.  I pray you all will have a very Merry Christmas!

Felt Christmas Tree Ornaments Kids can Make

My kids really love their sewing kits I made for them last Christmas.  While making them a few additions for it this year, and then I thought about simple ornaments they could make.  Here, I cut two green triangles and a brown rectangle out of felt.  Caleb cut out his own ornaments (his is on the right).  Rebekah was having trouble sewing on her ornaments because they were small, so I had her sew beads on hers instead.  The beads are easier!  Once they were decorated, I helped them tack on the ribbon hanger and they were able to sew around the tree themselves (except I had to help thread the needle and tie the knots).  Then they stuffed them and sewed them up!  Finished.  They were so proud to show daddy and hang them on the tree.  I think maybe later this week I'll see if they want to make gingerbread men the same way.  I have a big cookie cutter I could trace.  Of course, that's only if we don't have a baby!  39 weeks and counting...

Baby Food Jar Snowmen with Hot Cocoa

 
Aren't these snowmen adorable?  I found this link on Pinterest and started saving baby food jars right away! I used the larger jars for the bottom part filled with hot cocoa (only because I didn't have enough small ones).  The hat is just some black construction paper.  Rebekah helped me pick out the buttons.  I used some glitter puffy paint for the nose and mouth.  It was a quick and simple gift for the kids to give to their Sunday School teachers.  I printed the tags from Sassy Sites, and the kids colored them and wrote their names on the back.

I know Christmas is over, but maybe you can save this for next year, or find a reason to give a snowman gift this winter!

Gingerbread Houses 2012

Our family makes ginger bread houses every Christmas, it's become our tradition, and this year they expanded!  We used cardboard covered in white freezer paper this year, instead of the normal paper plates, so that meant we got to make gardens (or an abominable snow man)!  Our candy selection seemed to increase this year too!  (Click here to see last year, or here for the year before that, or here to get the recipe I use.)

This was Joshua's first Christmas!  And he already loves our gingerbread house tradition!  He didn't quite understand how to put the cereal on his house, but he did understand how to take it off and eat it!  He loved the frosting!

See?

I love this tradition so much because it's usually two hours of family time, we get to be creative, and we get to eat lots of candy!  It doesn't get much better!

Below is Rebekah's finished house.

This one is daddy's.  See the abominable snow man!

Here's Caleb's.  He made some serious candy gardens!

And here's mine, complete with green sugar grass!

I hope you all had a Merry Christmas.  Now I wish you a Happy New Year!  May God bless you greatly in 2013!

The Names of Jesus Christmas Ornaments

A few weeks ago, I posted a Word for Wednesday about making Christmas a more Holy experience.  I went through the bible, and came up with 25 names of Jesus and made ornaments with the names on them.  Every night, we read a scripture and talk about the name for that day.  Some days, the kids have been very receptive, and other days they are bouncing off the walls!  But I'm thankful that we've done this.  I know it's almost Christmas, but I wanted to share with you my list.  Maybe you can at least have a conversation with your kids about all the different names of Jesus.  For the ornaments, I bought a piece of that styrafoam poster board, and cut it into 2 x 6 inch rectangles.  I wrote the name with permanent black marker, and then traced it with glitter glue (from the dollar store!).  Then I hot glued on some ribbon to hang them.

1. Jesus, Mat 1:18-21
2. Mighty God , Isa 9:6 
3. Prince of Peace, Isa 9:6
4. Everlasting Father, Isa 9:6
5. Wonderful, Isa 9:6
6. Counselor, Isa 9:6
7. Emmanual, Mat 1:23
8. Christ the Lord, Luk_2:11
9. The Lamb, Joh_1:29
10. The Branch, Isa 11:1-2
11.  Lion of Judah, Rev 5:5
12. Jehovah, Exo_6:3
13.  Son of God, Luk_1:35
14. Son of man, Mar_14:62
15. Rose of Sharon, Son 2:1, Isa 35:1-2
16. Lily of the Valley, Son 2:1 
17. Bright and Morning Star, Rev_22:16
18. I am, Mar 14:61-62
19. Son of David, Mat_21:9
20. Alpha and Omega, Rev_1:8
21. Redeemer, Isa 47:4
22. Friend, Joh 15:13 , Joh 15:14  
23. King of the Jews, Mat_2:2, Mat_27:37
24. King of Glory, Psa_24:8
25. Saviour, Luk_2:11

Happy Mothers Day!

Happy Mothers Day!  This is our first family picture with all 5 of us!  Joshua is sleeping and Rebekah wouldn't turn around and look, but it's the best we're going to get (you should see our horrendous Easter picture!).  Today we dedicated Joshua to the Lord.  This is the pledge that we took:

We recognize these children as gifts from God and give heartfelt thanks for God's blessing.

We dedicate our children to the Lord who gave them to us, surrendering all worldly claims upon their lives in the hope that they will belong wholly to God.

We pledge as parents that with God's help, we will bring up our children in the discipline and instruction of the Lord, making every reasonable effort, with patience and love, to build the Word of God, the character of Christ and the joy of the Lord into their lives.

We promise to provide, through God's blessing, for the physical, emotional, intellectual and spiritual needs of our children, looking to our own heavenly Father for the wisdom, love and strength to serve them and not use them.

We promise, God helping us, to make it our regular prayer that, by God's grace, our children will come to trust in Jesus Christ alone for the forgiveness of their sins and for the fulfillment of all his promises to them, even eternal life.

We promise to lead our children to a lifestyle of holiness by our words and more importantly by our example.

We promise to teach our children to be faithful to the house of God and to the daily disciplines of bible reading and prayer. 

We did not take this pledge lightly, we fully intend to abide by everything that we promised.  For Joshua, and our other children as well.  God has been so good to us, to trust us with three precious souls to raise!

Joshua started out in this outfit, but he pooped during the ceremony and it leaked...  

Christmas Highlights and Gingerbread Houses

We had a wonderful Christmas this year!  I hope all of you did too!  Kevin, the kids and I celebrated as a family on the 23rd before heading out of town to visit family.  The first thing we did was make gingerbread houses, our tradition for the past 3 years.  (See last years houses here, and the recipe here)  We had a little trouble this year with our houses staying together, so Caleb's became a saggy A-frame instead!  But we persevered and had a great time (and a sugar buzz).  In the picture above from left to right is Kevin's, mine, Rebekah's, and then Caleb's.

Before we open presents, we always read the Christmas story.  We don't ever want to forget the true reason for the season!

They loved their aprons!

I think Caleb liked his tie too.

And here's baby Mollie all decked out in her new pajamas.

The paper dolls were fun, but it was hard to share the board...

Bean bag tic tac toe went over well too.  I reused a box to wrap it in, and you should have seen the look on Caleb's face when he thought he was getting dishes!  Priceless!

The rest of the Christmas holiday was spent with family, being spoiled with presents, good food, and treats galore!  Here is one last picture of the kids playing with their cousin, isn't he a cutie? 

My Favorite Christmas Songs

What brings more joy at Christmas time than the wonderful music being played everywhere?  I'm not talking about Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer or Frosty the Snowman.  There are wonderful Christmas songs about the true reason for the season, Jesus.  We are celebrating his birthday after all, right?  These are my favorites, I hope you enjoy them.

Mary Did You Know?

I Need a Silent Night

Where's the Line to See Jesus?

O Holy Night

Beaded Christmas Ornaments with Kids

My kids loved making these beaded ornaments for our tree!  Our supplies included pipe cleaners and tri-corner beads (we only had white and red beads).  First, I threaded one bead onto a pipe cleaner and bent the end around it so the rest of the beads wouldn't slip off.  Then the kids went crazy threading beads.  When there were enough beads, we bent the pipe cleaners to make candy canes, wreaths, and Christmas trees.  The hooks are just made out of pipe cleaners, twisted onto the ornament.  Some of the bows you see are also made out of pipe cleaners, and one ornament is just a bow made out of three pipe cleaners twisted together. Two of them have silver ribbon bows that I hot glued on.

I actually tried this activity when Caleb was 3, and we invited a few other friends over to make them with us, but the kids got really frustrated because the holes on the tri-corner beads weren't big enough to string them easily.  This year, Caleb is 5 and had a lot more patience.  However, my 3 year old daughter was able to do it with no problems, and really enjoyed it.  So, while a 3 year old should be able to do this, it will probably depend on their personality. 

Are you making any homemade ornaments this year?  I'd love to hear about them!

I am linking up today with:

Shoe Box Ministry

Have you heard of a shoe box ministry in your area?  We participated last year in a local ministry that distributed shoe box gifts to local homeless shelters and hospitals.  The idea is to wrap a shoe box, top and bottom separately, fill it with gifts, and drop it off at a collection center in your town.  Ours will go to our local grocery store.  Today the kids and I picked out items to make 4 boxes this year, one boy, one girl, one man, and one woman.  The kids boxes will have coloring books, crayons, a puzzle, a toy, a hat, stickers, and candy.  The woman's box has a bible, sudoku puzzle book, socks, hair accessories, chap stick, gum, kleenex, and candy.  The man's box has a bible, sudoku puzzle book, socks, beef jerky, a flash light and batteries, kleenex, gum and candy.  Before we went to the store, I talked with my kids about how some people don't have homes and won't be able to have Christmas presents, or some kids are sick in the hospital and their parents can't afford to buy presents, so we wanted to help them.

Would you like to participate in a similar ministry?  Operation Christmas Child is a similar ministry that ships shoe boxes overseas.  I would love to hear what other charitable giving your family is doing this season!

Who doesn't love Christmas music?  K-Love is giving away 3 free songs on iTunes right now.