Friday, August 29, 2008

Family Night: Back to School

Tonight, we had our first "official" Family Night. Family Nights are going to be nights that we set aside the entire evening, most likely Friday evenings, to enjoy playing--or relaxing--together as a family. We, of course, have had nights of family fun many times before; however, all too often those times can be the first to be pushed aside when there is work that could be done or places to go. So, in order to make sure that we get that precious time together...I'm scheduling it!

To keep our Family Nights exciting, I'm going to try to have a theme for each night. Some nights may be more elaborate than others but I want each night to have some kind of direction and--more importantly--to be fun!

So, in celebration of the start of school, tonight's Family Night theme was:

Back to School!

For decorations I used some of the wall hangings from the homeschool room. Simple enough! For dinner, I packed brown bag lunches with sandwiches (from Subway), Cheetos, fruit, and a Capri-Sun. Since we homeschool, we obviously don't have to pack lunches that often, so the kids found this to be a special treat in itself.


For dessert I made "Back to School" cupcakes. Unfortunately, my icing did not want to cooperate while I was writing on the little 'blackboards.'

Wait a minute! Cheetos, Capri-Sun, and cupcakes! Oh my! If you know our little family, then you know that our kids felt like they hit the junk food lottery. You'll also know that the first thing they asked was, "What day is it?" They only get sugary/junk food snacks on the weekends, so they don't get a lot of it all that often. And, rarely do they get this much all at once!!


Then, after eating dinner, Jeff used the new school supplies to talk about our lives lived in Christ. We discussed how the pencils can remind us that God writes down the names of those who accept Christ, into the Lamb's Book of Life. The erasers can remind us that Christ's blood wiped away our sins and we are forgiven. We discussed how permanent markers can stay on our skin for a long time and how that can remind us of how the Lord has engraved us on the palms of His hands; He will never forget us. Those are just some of the items that we talked about.

Then we had a pencil hunt. There is nothing that my kids love more, than a "Something/Whatever/Anything" Hunt. If I remember correctly, we were still hiding plastic eggs in June.

Then to end our night, we talked about our plans for this school year: the things we want to learn, field trips that we want to take...and what insects/animals/amphibians/reptiles that we want to raise.

Ladybugs.

It was decided that we will raise ladybugs. I have to admit that this decision was a relief to me, considering there had been talk, not too long ago, about frogs. I'm not quite sure I'm ready to raise frogs. I think I can handle ladybugs.

Thanks to Heather at Whittaker Woman for all the great Family Night ideas and inspiration!

Pizza Night

Last night the kids and I made homemade pizzas. It was actually the first time that I'd ever made a pizza dough from scratch. The kids were excited all day about making the pizzas, so I was praying that it didn't end up being a total flop. I had my coupons for Papa John's sitting by the phone...just in case!

So, I was extremely thankful when the end result was found by the judges to be, "Absolutely delicious!"


The kids with their culinary creation--after we had done a little taste test! I love how Jacob has flour on his face.

Thursday, August 28, 2008

Guess what?

A scene from the dinner table.

Everyone eating and chattering at the table.

Abby: Guess whaaat?

We all turn towards Abby.

Abby: Mommy, guess what?

Me: Hmmm?

Abby: Mommy, de udder night, guess what?

Me: What?

Abby: De udder night at Nanny and Pa's, guess what?

Me: Yeah?

Abby (with a huge smile): De udder night at Nanny and Pa's, I was yaying down in the yiving room...and guess what?

Me (chuckling): Whaaat?

Abby: Mommy, I was yaying down in the yiving room and...Missy...guess what?

Me (trying not to laugh): Hmmm?

Abby (beginning to giggle): Missy...yicked my hair!

Everyone else at the table bursts out laughing and we all say in unison...you guessed it..."Guess what?"

*Missy is Nanny and Pa's dog.

Wednesday, August 20, 2008

A Stone Pile

I've been thinking about creating this blog, for some time now. I've wanted a place to record little snippets of our family life; a place where family and friends can keep up to date with what is going on with our little family.As I contemplated starting this blog, I tried to pinpoint my desired purpose for it, and I kept being reminded of the Israelites with their pile of stones.

After crossing the Jordan, one man from each of the twelve tribes of Israel, was commanded to take a stone from the other side of the Jordan and to pile the stones together. The stones became a reminder to the Israelites of their history, so that they could share it with the generations to come.

"And Joshua said to them, "Cross again to the ark of the LORD your God into the middle of the Jordan, and each of you take up a stone on his shoulder, according to the number of the tribes of the sons of Israel. Let this be a sign among you, so that when your children ask later, saying, 'What do these stones mean to you?' then you shall say to them, 'Because the waters of the Jordan were cut off before the ark of the covenant of the LORD; when it crossed the Jordan, the waters of the Jordan were cut off,' So these stones shall become a memorial to the sons of Israel forever." (Joshua 4:4-7)

The stone pile was also a reminder to the Israelites of what the Lord had done.

"He said to the sons of Israel, "When your children ask their fathers in time to come, saying, 'What are these stones?' then you shall inform your children, saying, "Israel crossed this Jordan on dry ground. For the LORD your God dried up the waters of the Jordan before you until you had crossed, just as the LORD your God had done to the Red Sea, which He dried up before us until we had crossed; that all the peoples of the earth may know that the hand of the LORD is mighty, so that you may fear the LORD your God forever." (Joshua 4:21-24)

My prayer is that, to some extent, this blog can serve as a pile of stones for my family. Not only can it be used to stay up to date with family and friends, but also it can serve as a reminder to us of where we've been and what we've done. Most importantly, I pray that it will remind us of His presence, and the work He has done, in each step of our journey.