Joyfully Weary

This Easter was pretty relaxing for us. My youngest sister, Angel, joined us for the weekend but other than that it was just our little family. We've had Easters in the past that were busy, in a good way, but with busyness comes hecticness. It was nice to relax and get a bit of rest during the weekend. I don't really enjoy dying eggs so we made sugar cookies and decorated them instead. Not only do I think they are more fun to decorate but they are also much more fun to eat.        I can't bring myself to spend money on Easter baskets...it's not really the money but the clutter afterwards. Last year, all the kids needed new helmets so we gifted those to them for Easter and filled them with some other fun treats. This year, I was going to just use some reusable random shopping bags we had lying around. When I was out shopping for last minute Easter goodies, though, I also had to pick up some new storage bins. I had the...

This past week we've spent a lot of time focusing on Easter, the resurrection of Christ.  Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ!  According to his great mercy,  he has caused us to be born again  to a living hope  through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. 1 Peter 1:3 We feel so blessed to have this hope that we know we do not deserve. To have grace and mercy because of a sacrifice that was not our own or one that we could of ever made. We count it a joy to be able to share these truths with our  children; t o be able to teach them of the gravity of Good Friday and the joy that R esurrection  Day brings. I hope this past weekend you and your family got a chance to reflect and to celebrate. 

These pictures are from last spring; I just never got around to posting them. I, however, just added this activity to our to-do calendar for this week. It's one of those art activities that we do almost every year. It's simple, process oriented, and one that kids will enjoy no matter their age. 

This past weekend we celebrated Easter. I am of course, in awe of the sacrifice that Jesus made for our salvation. However, as I look back on my walk with Christ I'm more amazed by His ability to redeem. To take something broken, something painful, and to bring new life to it. Over fifteen years ago, I received what I thought was the most calamitous ne ws, I would be returning home to my mom. I had been living in a foster home and for the first time in my life I felt secure - like I could finally be a kid. My mom had a difficult childhood and she carried many of those wounds in to her own family. She had a tendency to gravitate towards destructive men and to look to them to validate her. She was never allowed to be a child and thus wasn't ready to be a parent. Therefore, a lot of the responsibility of taking care my little sisters fell on me. my mom and some of my siblings at our hose for Easter

Over the last couple of weeks, I've been adding a few Easter items to our schoolroom shelves . The rotation  of activities helps keep my kids interested in learning and mastering/practicing skills. They especially like it when our theme is holiday related. The activities below are designed for various ability levels; my youngest is three and my oldest is six.  For my oldest, Big Buddy, these are a supplement to his  first grade curriculum.     Language  Creating patterns with glitter eggs. The glitter eggs are from dollar tree . I cut a few egg cartons in half and then glued them together to create a long but divided row.  Upper and lower case egg matching with phonic inserts.  The younger kids just match the  letters. While the older kids match the letters and insert the correct corresponding picture.  The inserts were purchased from  Monstessori for Everyone  and printed at 60% so they'd ...

Several years back, while planning activities for an after-school program, I stumbled upon the  brilliant idea of turning the corner of envelopes in to monster bookmarks. This was way before Pinterest and I unfortunately do not remember the the name of book were I first saw the idea.  Big Buddy has just started asking for stuff to help him keep his place in books, so I knew this was a craft he'd enjoy making. With Easter so close, though, I decided to have them make bunnies instead of monsters. 

White crayon resist art is a pretty simple classic but it's one of my children's favorites. We actually do repeat versions of basic crafts a lot. The familiarity helps build my children's confidence in their artistic creative. They also require little prep from me so they are very low stress.  Our Supplies: white construction paper , white wax crayon , and  dot markers - you could also use watercolors or even f ood coloring .  Step #1: use the white crayon to draw a picture on the paper - it helps to press hard. For these eggs we drew free hand and used some stencils.  Step 2: go over over crayon art with dot markers And that's it! Three supplies and two steps - a perfect craft for young children!  our finished eggs!   Looking for more homeschool or craft ideas? Check out these link parties: Link and Learn , Made by Little Hands , Montessori Monday , Hip Homeschool Hop , Preschool Corner ,  For the Kid...

I love Easter. Most importantly because it's a time to reflect on the sacrifice Jesus Christ made for us - that he loved us enough to die a horrible death in our place - that he beat death at it's own game - that he reunited us with our Father.  Another thing I love about Easter is that it has become a tradition for my mom and siblings to make the trek from Iowa and celebrate with us. This year was extra special because my sister Sarah and her family joined us for the first time. Here are a "few" photo highlights.  sarah and her family in front of "the bean" we had lunch on the 95th floor of the hancock building, the boys were very impressed  this street entertainer was another big highlight of our trip in to the city  a surprise package for one of the world's coolest great aunts.  our church   really knows hoe to celebrate, "he is risen!"  aren't my nieces crazy beautiful? ...

When I worked in child care one of my favorite things do with the kids was to paint. It's a love I've carried over to mommy-hood and the boys and I usually tackle a couple paint projects a week. A lot of fun can be had with just paint and a brush (or fingers), but sometimes it's nice to spice it up a bit.  Here are some of my favorite ways to make painting even more fun.   Marbled Shaving Cream Prints supplies : acrylic paint, paper, shaving cream, squeegee, and a skewer or a tooth pick process : spray shaving cream on to pan, smooth out shaving cream with squeegee, squeeze dots of paint on to shaving cream, swirl paint with skewer, press paper on to shaving cream, scrap excess shaving cream from paper Marble Painting   supplies: tempera paint, paper, spoons, container with sides, & marbles process: lay paper inside pan, drop marbles in paint, spoon marbles on to paper, tilt pan back and forth to roll marbles, or push them around with a spoon ...