Elliott turned 5 on March 20–a phrase he has been telling EVERYONE he has met for the last 8 months or so: “Hello, my name is Elliott and I’m turning 5 on March 20th!” To which the person would almost always respond, “You’re 25?” To which I would jump in and correct, “He’s TURNING 5…” Hahaha! I think we’ve had that conversation at least 100 times with various strangers in various places!!
He requested going to breakfast at Mimi’s (“I want to go to the breakfast place where we sat by the emergency exit and had apple sauce!”). We wrapped up a couple presents for him and Selah helped wrap hers. He got to open one first thing in the morning and then we hid Selah’s present and our other present for him in his car seat to find on the way to Mimi’s.
Can you see the train Selah drew on his present? She and Elliott are sleeping in the back. I was so impressed! We made him his very own return address labels, personalized with his name and a picture of him at Lego Land!Elliott’s new favorite color is blue-ish green, with navy coming in at a close second. I had just found this shirt on the clearance rack At Gymboree for $2!! Win!!!! Perfect birthday shirt!!!
That afternoon, special guests Grandma, Grandpa and Aunt Angela drove in! We packed them back up in the car and headed to Grampa & Nonna’s house for the Mauss family birthday celebration.
Happy Birthday, dear Elliott!
Now, for his actual birthday party…this is the party he’s been planning for well over a year. Last year I was thinking he would want to have a Lego birthday, but he approached me in January telling me he wanted to have an animal birthday party. When I suggested a Lego party he responded, “I would like to have an animal birthday this year and a Lego party next year when I turn 5.” What can I say…the child has my party-planning blood in him!!!! So the last time we were at Lego Land, I was sure to take lots of pictures of our boy in preparation for his 5th birthday party!
One afternoon I showed him lots of pictures from various Lego parties and we talked through what exactly would bless him at his party. He has very strong opinions about what he wants! 🙂 One of the first things we did was design this shirt together. He told me exactly what he would like (a light blue shirt with a dark blue lego guy, but with a hat, and he wanted the lego guy to also have a light blue shirt). I designed the CUTEST little Lego guy with a hat, but Elliott didn’t like how the bill went to the side…so we ended up with this…which I tried to strongly urge him to go with the sideways hat instead, but he was insistent on this, because “the bill goes in front, not on the side.” I think it looks like a helmet 🙂 but he loves it! So…win!
Elliott and the helmet Lego Guy!
The next thing we did was make a zillion lego crayons out of all of our crayons for party favors.
His favorites were the multi-colored ones, so we made sure that everyone got one of those, too.
Next it was time to work on invitations. Oh my, these were too much fun to design and the kids had a blast making the outsides look like Legos. One of the things Elliott was insistent on was that the party colors were: blue-ish green (turquoise), light blue and dark blue. So everything from the invitations to the decorations were in those colors. We had a picture of Elliott with Emmett and Brian figured out how to make the background transparent and I put together this little ditty:
Elliott punched out the dots with my circle punch and put foam stickers on them. Selah played around with the dots for a while and then helped attach them to the actual invitations :).
Next up, we worked on painting this Lego Man together, and of course, the kids had to make sure he “worked”! And, as you can see, we decorated the doors to our craft room to look like Legos, along with our front door.
I convinced Elliott to let me draw the hat “sideways” so it actually looked like a hat :). I sketched him out on a box that I had painted white, and Elliott painted (most of) him inside the lines I sketched.Next up, I printed off tons of pictures of him from Lego Land and put them on Lego brick backgrounds, and then the kids “built” Lego towers out of the pictures on the walls.
Brian framed these two pictures of Elliott at Lego Land out of Legos!
And how can you have a Lego Birthday party without Lego soap??
We saved jars for a couple of months and made them into Lego Heads…
I think they are adorable!
I printed off the Happy Birthday Lego sign from here. I covered our t.v. and two boxes with Dollar Store tablecloths, then wrapped paper bowls with the tablecloth scraps and taped them onto the boxes. And thanks to the Blizzard that blew through on Elliott’s birthday party day (more on that in a minute!) I got the idea to cover up the picture that normally hangs on our mantle with the last tablecloth I had left and printed out the Elliott 5+ sign. Also, we used the scraps leftover from his birthday invitations to make the multi-blue colored Lego banner.
And with that, our living room was ready to go!
And THEN…a blizzard blew in on the morning of his birthday party!! On the third day of Spring!! And it was a bad one…we realized within a couple hours of waking up that no one should be on the roads. So a hundred text messages later, and we were able to move the party to the next afternoon. Elliott was pretty sad, but after agreeing to let him put together a practice Lego Man (the first craft activity of the party) he was in much better spirits :).
And Aunt Angela makes everything better 🙂
And THEN…he got to open his gifts from Grandma & Grandpa and Aunt Angela…..
A sand box and sand toys! The kids had a BLAST playing in the sand box on our kitchen floor…while the snow and wind beat on our house outside!
Which meant I had all day to keep thinking of new Lego ideas and finishing up the old ones I had had…it’s a good thing we didn’t have TWO snow days or this party would have been out of hand!!
We got the favor bags all ready to go. I designed, printed, and cut out the Lego circles with my Silhouette and Elliott attached them to the bags with foam stickers. Each friend got a lanyard and Lego badge with their name on it, a laminated tag with their name, a Lego notebook, Lego crayons and a Lego coloring book that I put together.
We set out the food and drinks. We looked through several different types of Lego cakes, and Elliott really wanted the kind with M&Ms on them, and he really wanted it to be blue. Brian is *highly* opposed to food coloring, so after doing a little research we picked these up at Whole Foods. They are made from vegetables so there is nothing artificial in there. I thought they worked out great and were a great alternative to food dye. The colors are not nearly as bright and bold as regular food coloring but they totally accomplished their purpose! These Lego Brick cakes were definitely challenging for me to make as I’m not super gifted in the baking arena and the frosting didn’t turn out as smooth as I had imagined it would 🙂 but Elliott loved them and that’s all that matters, right!! I also whipped up some Rice Krispie Lego Treats to have a gluten free option on hand.
Elliott wanted a Lego man on his brick, and he picked a firefighter…in case the candles got out of hand, the fireman would be there to assist 🙂We wrapped juice boxes to look like Lego bricks (downloaded from here) and Elliott and Selah built the fork and napkin holders!
And now for the actual PART-AY!!!!
Guests arrived and Elliott handed them their Lego badges to wear. The first activity was creating your own Lego guy, which I cleverly re-named “DO YOU WANNA BUILD A LEGO GUY?” in honor of the Blizzard the day before. (Get it??? Sung to the tune of “Do you wanna build a snowman?”!!)
We had yellow Lego guy cut outs (thank you, Silhouette!) with shirts, pants, hats, stickers, googly eyes, crayons and markers so the kids could decorate them. They didn’t put as much effort into them as I thought they might (note to self: most 5 year olds are not as into crafting as my son is!) and some finished as quickly as possible so they could play in the bin of Legos on the floor :). We also had several Lego coloring sheets set out as well.Here are some of the finished Lego guys sticking up out of their bags…cute!!!
Next up was Pin the Head on the Lego Guy. This game is always such a hit!!! The kids each decorated their own Lego head and then took turns trying to pin it onto the headless Lego man. Everyone was cracking up!!
Then we played Lego Bingo. I downloaded the Lego Bingo cards from someone else who had designed them, but we changed up a lot of them because, as Elliott puts it, a lot of them “don’t bless God.” It’s true. What is with the terrifying Lego pieces that are out there? Anyway, it was cute because we used pictures of Elliott at Lego Land and it made the game a lot more fun and personal.
We used Legos for our markers and this game was also a big hit!
Then we had a spoon race…which team can carry the Lego pieces on a spoon into the Lego head the fastest?
And finally, Lego Creationary: each child builds something out of Legos and the other kids try to guess what it is! This was fun!!
Then it was cake time!
And I almost forgot on the day of, but thankfully Elliott reminded me! Presents!
And everyone got their photo in the Lego man, of course!
What a fun group of kiddos!!
Our Big Man!!And of course Selah wanted a picture up there, too 🙂
5th Lego Birthday Party SUCCESS!!
And as if we hadn’t had enough fun, that night we went to Red Robin for his free birthday burger!
Happy 5th Birthday, our beloved Elliott!!!
(And in case you’re wondering…yes, he already has his parties planned out for the next 4 years!!!HA!!!!)
I’m taking a break from my normal long-windedness 🙂 and blogging this year’s Christmas through pictures! Enjoy!
Get out the Christmas decorations and decorate your felt Christmas Tree!Go pick out our Christmas tree!Put up Christmas lights!Make Christmas gifts for our friends! (A project I envisioned doing for many more friends, but these were FAR more difficult and time-consuming than I had anticipated…so only two friends got gifts this year!)Build rocking horses together!Take out all of our Christmas and winter books!Journey to Bethlehem as a family! (“Breakfast in Bethlehem”…a breakfast/crafting/interactive living nativity put on by a local church! We all had SO much fun!!)Counting with Christmas Trees, Pom-pom sorting, Pipe Cleaner Straining…Zoo Lights!Stained Glass NativitiesSnowman Pancakes!Elliott’s Christmas Program at PreschoolReindeer Cookies!The kids’ program at church, Nativity Stickers, and Christmas Magnet Pattern BlocksGingerbread Men with the McCabes!Nativity Window Clings!The North Pole!!New pajama shirts (made by me because I couldn’t find any Christmas p.j.s that I like this year!!) and popcorn and a Christmas movie!Make baby Jesus some cookies and cupcakes…out of playdough!Christmas Eve…the kids each got to open one present (a new puzzle for each of them) and we all worked them together. Then church!Christmas Eve family shots!Christmas Day!!!Christmas with the family!
Our big 4 year old started Pre-K this month! He is going to a very small little preschool that we just love so far. The director is wonderful, the teachers are incredibly loving and…his good buddy Malachi is in his class!! How could it get any better? 🙂 This preschool as the option of letting the kids stay an extra 45 minutes afterwards to eat lunch. I was not even thinking about that as an option but when Elliott found out about it he begged me to let him stay. So…alas…I let him stay for lunch on the first day (sniff, sniff…) And as you can see below, that is one of his top three favorite things about school!
Some stats:
Age:Almost 4 1/2
Height: 44 1/2 inches
Shoe size: 12
Clothing size: 5T and 6
Loves: CRAFTING. Oh my, how this child loves to craft. He could literally sit and craft all day (and often does!) He loves to write letters to people and make cards and pictures for others. He also still LOVES to read and build.
When he grows up he wants to be: “A space man and a firefighter.”
Favorite part of Pre-K so far: “Eating snack and eating lunch.” When I asked if there was anything else he said, “I have one more thing…that Brooklyn is there!” and then he got a huge smile on his face, turned beet red, and ran away… haha!! 🙂
Happy to be going to school again!These two…bbbThe mandatory goofy pictureWe made these jars together and picked flowers for his teachers…Walking into school with the cards he made for his teachers, his backpack, and his lunchbox.Malachi!
Meanwhile, back at the ranch…us girls went and got coffee and hot chocolate at our favorite little local coffee shop…and then went to the park, of course!
I love my girl!This was her requested activity during Elliott’s first day!
We went home, ate lunch, and raced back to pick up Elliott, whom we missed so much!
Selah joining the big kids for the last part of lunch on the first day…
All in all, it was a great first day and a successful first week of school!
Well, it happened to be SNOWING in MAY on the day of Elliott’s very last day of preschool (shout out to Colorado!). So, if you can get past the terrible picture quality of the last day {indoor} photos taken with my phone, you can see the changes in our big man and his little sister in just one school year…
Towards the beginning of January, Elliott suddenly said to me, “Mommy, I would like an animal birthday party.” I hadn’t talked to him about a party theme, but I will confess that I already had his entire birthday planned out in my head–with a different theme! I’m not used to my kids being able to articulate their desires like this :). So, I’ll admit–it took me a couple days to be inspired, but thanks to some help by Pinterest, I was fully hooked in no time. And it was SO MUCH FUN to do something that was initiated by Elliott!
When I asked Elliott what was most important to him with the animal birthday party, he said, “I want REAL LIVE ANIMALS there!!!!”
The hilarious part about that, is that Elliott is TERRIFIED of animals. Seriously. He’s always been utterly fascinated by them, but he doesn’t want to be anywhere near them. Selah has acquired the same fear. We’ve definitely had some breakthrough over the years, but both of them are still terrified.
Going to the zoo itself just wasn’t practical this year, so we decided to have the zoo come to us! I pressed and prodded Elliott, reminding him that he’s often “a little” scared when he’s near animals, but he insisted that he wanted to see real live animals. When we got everything arranged and I told them we would have “REAL, LIVE animals” coming to our house, he was so excited. And when I asked him what type of animal he would really like to see, he boldly exclaimed, “A LION!!!!!” 🙂
So…party preparations began a few weeks prior to his birthday, because the kids and I made all the decorations. Oh my, it was SO.MUCH.FUN preparing together! Elliott L-O-V-E-S crafting and so it was incredibly special for him (and Selah) to be an integral part of the decorating. It was so awesome spending a few weeks making animal crafts and for the kids to watch our home slowly transform into a little jungle…
The first thing we made were my absolute FAVORITE decorations…I can’t get over how adorable these turned out. Both of the kids made each type of animal, so we had two of each kind–one big and one little. I just cut a Trader Joe’s bag into rectangles, and they stamped their hands right on each one! Then I added the details.
We hung our animal handprints around the house amidst jungle vines…
We printed off pictures of animals and found their heights, and put them up next to our growth chart so the kids could see which animal they were as tall as. Then, we decided to turn the growth chart into a tree! The kids cut out most of these leaves by themselves, fringes and all, and then put their thumbprints on them to make a few different types of bugs crawling through the trees!
He’s as tall as a tiger!Can you see the bees, ladybugs and ants crawling on the tree leaves?
I cut out this grass, but Elliott drew all of these little bugs! Aren’t they adorable!?!!
Tis little pony bead alligator and elephant were cheapo crafts from Michaels. The kids LOVE pony beads, so these were a hit.The kids each made a couple of these monkeys that we kept finding hanging around the house!!! (See the little banana in his hand?!)They’re everywhere!They each made birds that could REALLY fly! 🙂We made suncatcher butterflies to hang from our sliding glass doors. I think they turned out beautifully!!After mixing together colors to make orange for the orange handprint animals, Elliott just painted the rest of the paper plate so the whole thing was orange. Then he asked if we could turn the orange plate into a lion. So we tuned it into a lion mask! Then I thought it would be fun if we gave everyone a chance to “be a lion” so we put the mask up on the mirror in the entryway and drew the rest of his body…Elliott LOVES penguins, so I thought it would be fun to turn everyone who went to the bathroom into a penguin…so Elliott and I did this on the bathroom mirror :).This is his goofy penguin face, hahaha!!
Right after we decided to do an animal birthday party, I found Elliott in his room during quiet rest time making the coolest cage out of his straw builder things (or whatever they’re called, ha!) I said, “Hey! Should we make this into a zoo cage for all of your stuffed animals?!” He loved the idea, and he and Selah went to work the rest of the afternoon building a cage. Then, he painted this sign all by himself!!! (I did help him with apostrophe…)
Elliott’s Zoo!!We loaded our mantle with some of our favorite animal books, Daddy’s monkey from when he was little, and a zebra 4!The day before the party, Elliott helped me make the cupcakes!
The day of the party…
We found wild animal tracks leading up to our front door!!!The party room is all ready! You can’t really read it, but the banner strung up says, “Happy 4th Birthday Elliott” out of various animal print papers.Elliott had a few super special guests fly in for his birthday! His cousin Micah, Uncle Kevin, and Grandma and Grandpa!
All of his other friends arrived, and they started off by doing the thing that Elliott loves–crafting :). They each had a paper bag set out for them and they got to decorate it using animal stamps and stickers.
Here’s everyone working hard on their crafts. I love this special moment that I caught between Elliott and Auntie Suz :).
Then, they got to use they same supplies to decorate the covers for their very own binoculars. While the adults assembled binoculars, the kids got to make these cool snakes out of pipe cleaners and pony beads…again, one of Elliott’s FAVORITE crafting supplies.
These are Elliott and Selah’s snakes. We talked about patterns and they had a great time creating these!
And THEN it was time to hunt for animals using their binoculars! Elliott and Selah hid tiny plastic animals all over our living room and all the kids set out to hunt for them.
Selah would look through her binoculars and say, “I SPY YOU!!!!!”Here’s the Mighty Quinn, on the hunt!!Look what Micah found!!!
Then we went downstairs for a little “pin-the-tail-on-the-giraffe”…while half the kids were playing the game, the other half pretended to be monkeys and swung around on our gynamstics equipment in the basement!
We let Elliott go first and he put the tail EXACTLY where it should go! Ha!! He looked at me afterwards like, “Um, why was that so hard?” Hahaha!!Our buddy Malachi!Sweet Fable!Dramatic Selah 🙂
Then, it was time for lunch! Highlights included: pigs in a blanket, zebra popcorn, lion veggies, goldfish crackers, animal crackers, penguin gummies, mice-infested meat and cheese tray and meatballs :).
After these wild party animals had their fill, there was a knock at the door…the REAL LIVE ANIMALS had arrived!!!
The first one was a three-banded Armadillo!!You can tell how my kids felt about him!!Elliott even had the chance to feed it a live cricket! (It’s hard to see, but he’s holding long tweezers with a cricket pinched inside.) It’s all fun and games until said birthday boy accidentally lets the live cricket loose…It was all we could do to encourage him to take a picture with it :).
Next up was a real live SNAKE!!
Fable’s face says it all!!! HA!!And then, a TURTLE!And last, but not least, a Chinchilla!
The kids all got the opportunity to touch each animal and it was such a fun experience!! Elliott was FASCINATED with the animals and couldn’t stop talking about them…he just still didn’t really want to be near them…as I suspected :).
After the animals left, we had cake and opened presents!!
Animals…behind pretzel cages.Elliott helped me decorate…and sprinkled some with “grass” and left others white so they would look like snow.Blowing out his four candles!!Everyone devoured their cupcakes, including this wild girl.Elliott’s friends were so generous and thoughtful and he got some super fun gifts!The party animals!The Moberg Pack!Such a fun day celebrating this wild 4 year old!!!
There I was…on the bathroom floor…desperate for my son’s heart to change.
We had just had 20 minutes that made me want to clench my fists and jump up and down and throw an honest-to-goodness 2 year old tantrum. I have been praying more than ever lately for my children to have wisdom (more on that one day soon), because the amount of foolishness that has been prevalent in our home by my dear 3 year old has been…what can I say…MIND-BOGGLING.
Tonight, after pulling one of his routine foolish antics, I knelt down in front of him as he attempted to put his poops in the potty. Picture it: me, kneeling on our, ahem, “well-loved,” bathroom floor while my strained-face pooping 3 year old looked at me with red eyes. “Buddy…” I pleaded, tears in my own eyes. “Buddy…why, oh WHY, are you being so foolish?”
We’ve just been over this particular scenario 41 billion trillion quadrillion times, and sometimes–I will be honest–I resort to this…kneeling on a bathroom floor and pleading with my pooping child. I’m still not sure if that’s better or worse than throwing a tantrum. I’ve been in Proverbs a lot lately, and you just can’t read Proverbs without begging God to save you and your children from the folly of foolishness. You can’t read Proverbs without begging God to soften your heart and your children’s hearts to love wisdom and not despise it. You can’t read Proverbs without begging God to keep you and your children from returning to your/their own vomit. Isn’t it true?
We had just come from our church’s little community group, where at some point we ended up discussing how when children are asked why their parents love them, they usually respond with works-based answers, such as, “Because I’m good at art” or “Because I obey” or things of the sort. This, of course, is so opposed to the heart of the gospel, which relieves us from the burden of works-based righteousness. We are made righteous because of who Jesus is, and nothing of ourselves. I had Ephesians 2:8 (“For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith, and this not from ourselves–it is a gift from God”) memorized as a child, but I did not truly understand the essence of this verse and the gospel until I was an adult. And it is still a battle each day to remember and understand and believe.
Oh, how I long for my kids to know God’s love for them.
Oh, oh, oh…oh, I long for my kids to understand that God’s love is unconditional. That we love because He first loved us. That we cannot attain His favor or love by our works, but only because of Jesus.
I wrestle with this truth and understanding in my own life, but I fight hard each day to understand it because a.) my soul needs to understand it and b.) I can’t teach them what I don’t understand.
Daily, by faith, one of the ways I try to teach them the little I do understand of His love is by showing them and telling them constantly how much I love them. Simply because they are mine. Simply because they are made in God’s image. Simply because they are eternal beings that matter. To me, and to God. Oh, how I long for my kids to understand love.
So…back to community group (or “moony toop” as Selah calls it). As soon as I heard that question being discussed, I made a mental note to talk to the kids about works-based righteousness. Though we talk about the gospel frequently, I wanted to start directly teaching them about unconditional love. Just then, Brian leaned over and whispered, “We’ve got to ask our kids that question when we get home.” We were thinking the same thing. We had never thought to ask them such a question and we really had no idea how they would answer.
Which brings us…home. Remember where we started? Me, kneeling on the bathroom floor?
I put Selah to bed with such an anxiety in my spirit over the state of my son’s foolish heart. I was talking to Selah, telling her the gospel once again and reminding her why we can forgive our friend who had hurt her that night–only because of Jesus. Only because Jesus forgave us first. Only because Jesus forgave us while we were still sinners. And all in the back of my head I’m begging the Lord to change my son’s heart to be one who loves wisdom and not folly.
I shut Selah’s door, and wanted to cry. But then I heard Brian’s voice…
“Mommy…? Will you come here for a minute? Elliott has something to tell you…”
I braced myself for the somewhat typical half-hearted apology from Elliott, and begged the Lord to give me the grace to truly forgive him and truly have hope for his soul. But instead…I got this:
“My son, tell Mommy why Daddy and Mommy love you.”
Elliott responded with a big smile on his face, “Because Jesus said, ‘Love one another.’ John 15:12.”
I was a little confused…I figured Brian must have done a little lesson on the question we had wanted to ask him, in light of his disobedience. I thought it was sort of an odd way to teach Elliott the “answer” to that question, but I was just trying to go with it…until Brian relayed the whole story to me, with our sweet Elliott in his arms.
“I asked Elliott why Mommy and Daddy love him, and he told me, ‘Because God tells us to.’ I asked if he could think of anything else…any other reasons why we love him. And he responded by saying, ‘Jesus said, ‘Love one another.’ John 15:12′.”
Mind boggled to mind BLOWN.
I broke down into a puddle of tears. I think Elliott’s starting to recognize my “good crying” (ha!) because he just beamed ear-to-ear with pride as my lip quivered and the tears flowed down my face.
Our 3 year old son responded to the question of why we love him with a Scripture. With a Scripture about the fact that our love comes from God. And, for full disclosure here: I haven’t taught him that Scripture. It was a verse he memorized at preschool.
Oh, there is still, obviously, so much to learn and so much to teach. But the fact that our son has grasped the idea that we love him because of God is the nugget of grace and hope I needed tonight.
Fellow mamas, let’s teach the Word diligently and faithfully in our homes, pray like crazy as we do, and trust that God will plant the truths in our children’s souls.
Lord, I’m praying for my friends tonight, and I’m praying especially for all the mommies out there who, like me, struggle to understand that your love is unconditional. Teach us, Lord. Show us, Lord. Help us understand the gospel and give us the grace and perseverance to teach our children the gospel. Lord, help us understand your love so that we can love our kids unconditionally. Lord, strengthen our weary souls, as we love and pour out and teach and train tirelessly and endlessly…and teach us how to do it in your strength. Teach us how to pray. Amen.
Well, like last year, we had another super fun advent this year! I added a couple of details to our Advent season this year which made it even more special.
Advent Wreath:
Advent Wreath
I had wanted to do this last year, but ran out of time. The night before Advent officially started I remembered I wanted to do it and stumbled across a picture of an advent wreath done on a cake plate. I found our cake plate, four red candles leftover from our wedding (!) and then we wrapped a garland around the base. Voila! An advent wreath! My silhouette helped me make the stars to label each candle. The kids were learning about the meanings of each advent candle at church, and it was really good to light the appropriate candle at dinner (most) nights and talk with the kids about what we were focusing on that particular week as we awaited the celebration of Christ’s coming. Our kids are obviously still really young, but it was very good for myheart, and in the coming years I am hoping that the truths go deeper and deeper into our children’s hearts as well.
The Jesse Tree:
Pocket Chart Jesse Tree
If you haven’t heard of the Jesse Tree, it’s a concept based off of the Isaiah 11:1, a prophecy about Jesus that he would come from Jesse’s line. We already read the various stories from The Jesus Storybook Bible that show the kids how the entire Old Testament points to Jesus’ coming, but I thought it would be great to have some visuals to reinforce each story. I found these printable pictures here (for purchase–$6) and the Jesus Storybook Bible free additions here. (If you are a mom or teacher who loves to teach and do crafty things with your kids, the website Teachers Pay Teachers is a great one!) I had big dreams of turning them into ornaments and putting them on the kid tree in the playroom but, alas, the pocket chart was all I could handle this year :). I actually ended up really liking it there because then we would talk about the pictures throughout the day and while the kids were eating and crafting. Next year, it’ll be fun to see if Elliott can scramble them and then put the pictures in order.
Verse memory:
Displayed right next to our Jesse Tree!
We didn’t work on these as regularly as I thought we would, but it was still great to go over them with the kids and have them up as a reminder. We would say them together every once in a while and act them out, etc., etc. If you’d like to download the verse cards I made for visuals to use with your own children, click here!
Nativity Sets:
Brian’s parents got Elliott the Fisher Price Nativity set for his first Christmas, and it is SUCH an awesome set. It literally gets played with every day for the month of December. This year, they sent the kids another surprise–the Playmobil Nativity Set! It was, obviously, a HUGE hit, and it was nice to have two sets to reduce the number of fights over who gets to hold baby Jesus :). We had a lot of fun putting it together as a family, reading the Playmobil nativity story, and playing with it tons!
Thank you, Grandma & Grandpa!!
Christmas Worship:
Next year, I’m hoping to find a good kids Christmas album (anyone out there have a favorite?! Please comment below!!). This year, I just pulled up random songs on grooveshark, the kids would grab their instruments, and we would worship the newborn King!!
My little drummer boy!
The Christmas Count Up Tree!
Envelopes and daily reading plan
I used the same card holder from last year because it’s so simple to put each day’s envelope up there, along with our reading guide hanging from the bottom. The kids traded off putting stickers up once we had read that day’s story as a family. I don’t have any pictures of us all reading together, but it’s funny how not too much has changed since we did this last year. Elliott would sit curiously and attentively in Brian’s lap, studying each page and asking question after question. Selah could not stop moving during the entire chapter, often switching from Brian’s lap, to my lap, to the couch, to the floor, and would periodically look over at the book at shout something like, “baby Jesus!” or “look! sheep!!” It was such a sweet and special time each night together as a family.
Well, below is a snapshot of all the fun surprises inside each envelope!
“Well, what does it say already?!!”
Day 1: Jesus is the Light of the world
I cut a light bulb shape out of cardboard, taped together two halves of black construction paper to make a long piece of paper, gave the kids chalk, and had them trace the outline of the light bulb. Selah preferred to draw her own lights without the stencil :). Elliott meticulously traced multiple lights, only in BLUE, his favorite color. Then they smeared the chalk with a cotton ball.JESUS is the LIGHT of the world!!
I checked out a curriculum that I may do next year with the kids, and they had a sample lesson about Jesus being the light of the world. I thought this was a great way to kick off Advent and our Christmas count up. We went into my closet and shut the door and talked about how dark it was. I told them this is what the world was like without Jesus. I turned on a flashlight and showed what a big difference just one light made, and how Jesus IS the light of the world. We did this craft that I had already pinned and put the picture up where we could see it all month, reminding us of the One who is the true Light of the world!
Day 2: Decorate your own Christmas trees!
I pulled out the felt tree from last year along with a new mini Christmas tree we bought for the kids’ playroom, and then let the kids put up their decorations (all from their Nonna).
A perfect playroom tree 🙂
Day 3: Decorate Christmas cookies with the Schultzes
I had “decorate cookies” on my list of things that I wanted to do, but then our dear friends invited us over for that very purpose! Hooray!! I wish I had taken a picture, but Elliott and Selah LOVE their new buddies and it was such a treat to have all the cookies and frosting providing! Thanks, Kellie!!!
Day 4: Christmas Block Patterns
I had ordered these blocks and found block patterns for our Fall road trip, so it was easy to put together a binder with some Christmas patterns, thanks to the awesome blogger at this site who has worked so hard to put these patterns together!!
Foam magnetic shapes + cookie sheets from The Dollar Store + some sheet protectors=loads of Christmas fun!Oh, Christmas Tree!
Day 5: Stained glass window nativity
Elliott had been asking me if we could do a nativity window cling for one of our crafts. I searched Pinterest and found this one and had all the supplies. So I pulled out my Silhouette, cut out the black part for each of the kids and had it ready for the kids the next day. The kids both loved the craft, although Selah liked her stained glass a little on the “uncluttered” side so she was done in a matter of minutes. Elliott worked meticulously to fill in every space and gap. I think they turned out beautifully!!
Working diligently on their “stained glass” projects…Aren’t they beautiful? I love them!
Day 6: Lego Christmas creations with Daddy!!
I had been wanting to do Lego creations with the kids but, I’ll be honest, I don’t do well when I don’t have instructions :). Brian’s been helping me learn how to let my inner Lego woman loose (ha!) and just BUILD, but I still need to spend a few minutes breathing into a paper bag when Elliott asks me to make a police car, for instance, without any instructions. I know, gasp!!!! So I only felt comfortable doing this activity when Brian was taking the lead…and with him by my side, I even built this Snowman (mostly) by myself without any instructions!! Ha!! 🙂 We all had a lot of fun constructing :).
Look how cute these all are!!Come on, now…is he SNOW CUTE, or what?!!And I think Brian’s Rudolph deserves some extra props!!
Day 7: Put up Christmas lights outside
I’ll be honest, I had nothing planned or ready to do this day and Elliott had been ASKING and ASKING why we didn’t have lights up outside, so we finally did it :).
Day 8: Christmas tree fun!
I did two new crafts and used an old one from last year! The first–I cut out two green Christmas trees (one for each kid) and then randomely wrote A-Z throughout the tree. I also wrote the letters on some circle dots. The kids had to match the letters. This was PERFECT for Selah (26 months), and for Elliott (3 1/2), I did capital letters on the tree and lower case letters on the stickers and it made the activity a tiny bit more challenging for him.
This was the PERFECT activity for a young 2 year old!And the upper to lower case matching made it a little more challenging for my 3 year old.
The next activity wasn’t nearly as big of a hit as I thought it’d be. My kids could sit and string pony beads onto pipe cleaners for HOURS upon HOURS, so I thought I had stumbled upon the perfect craft for them–pipe cleaner Christmas trees with pony bead ornaments! But, they really only spent about 10 minutes “decorating” it and then they were both done. Oh well! 🙂 (And if you’re thinking about doing this with your kids…be sure to build the entire tree ahead of time. I did it while they were watching and it took longer than I thought and they were a little bored…)
Hot glue a wooden dowel into a wooden “wheel” and then twist green pipe cleaners around it to make a tree.Elliott’s decorated tree!
I pulled out our Counting With Christmas Trees activity from last year. The goal is to put the cooresponding number of decorations onto the tree based on the number on the star. It was perfect for Selah with a little assistance from me, although she was over it once she did numbers 1-5. Since the general activity is way too simple for Elliott, I introduced odds and evens and taught him how that worked using the trees and their ornaments. He picked it up immediately! So cool!!
Counting with Christmas Trees
Day 9: Build a nativity set!
I did have my ideas planned out a lot better this year so I actually only made ONE trip to Michael’s/Hobby Lobby at the beginning of the month! I was proud of myself :). I always check out their Christmas craft aisle for simple (and always CHEAP!) already-prepped-for-you activities. They had nativity sets again this year that were MUCH simpler than last year’s (win!) so they were really perfect for my kids’ ages, obviously with a little assistance from me. Elliott usually goes for the more “traditional” art work, whereas Selah uses her artistic license ;).
We worked on building each character together, and then the kids picked where they wanted each person/animal to go and stuck them onto the stable all by themselves.
Day 10: Christmas stickers!!
The night before this day, both Elliott and I were up a good portion of the night throwing up (boo!) so I was WIPED the next day. Thankfully, I had some of these awesome, simple backup ideas stored in my Christmas activity box… Michael’s had awesome books of Christmas stickers for $1!! My kids LOVE stickers. So, I deemed it “Christmas Sticker Day!!” And I laid on the couch while they cleared out their sticker books. Perfect.
Day 11: Snowflake window clings
This was a GREAT idea that went VERY BADLY, ha!! I found the idea here, but, I’ll be honest, the idea of a huge jar of glitter sends me into hiding. It called for white puffy paint and silver glitter. As I was strolling through Hobby Lobby, I stumbled upon GLITTER GLUE, and I thought to myself, “Yes!! This is it!! Glitter glue is pretty much EXACTLY the same thing as white puffy paint with glitter.” Oooorrr……NOT.
First of all, this is NOT an activity for 2 and 3 year olds!! Simply because their little hands weren’t strong enough to squeeze the tube and trace the outline of the snowflake. So I ended up doing the whole thing for both of them (which is NOT my idea of a good time!)
Like my artwork? :/
And then, once it dried, it just flaked off in pieces.
So disappointing.
So, if you have at least a 5 year old, give it a try, and don’t skimp on the puffy paint and glitter ;).
Day 12: Nativity window clings
These were so much fun!! So remember how Elliott had been asking me to do Nativity window clings? Well, the next time we were at our friends’ house (the sugar cookie friends!) I noticed that they had silhouette nativity characters up on their window. I asked Elliott if THAT was what he had been asking for and he said yes! SO, I came up with this idea on my own, using my Silhouette, of course!
Painting each individual piece, cut out of contact paper.Sticking them onto the window…Proud artist 🙂
Day 13: New Christmas jammies and family movie day with popcorn
Enough said, right? We watched the Veggie Tales movie, “The Toy That Saved Christmas,” and I think it might be the first time in history that BOTH my kids sat through an entire “movie”!! I think it had something to do with the popcorn in their hands ;).
Elliott’s wearing some VERY special jammies from Noah & Caleb, and Selah’s are from, of course, Costco :).I’m not sure I’ve ever made popcorn for our kids (?), but I will say–this is the first time they’ve ever sat through a movie! So…now I know!! 🙂
Day 14: Go see Christmas lights!!
A local bible college set up a pretty amazing display of lights that we drove through, which was great because it was FREEZING. Then we drove around and saw some of the most spectacular house lights we’ve ever seen…you know, the ones that have their own radio station and the lights are all synced to the music? Yeah, those. Some people have a LOT of times on their hands…and I’m grateful they do!! 🙂
Day 15: New Christmas book: Who Is Coming To Our House?
This happened to be another SUPER crazy day, filled with emergency trips to the doctor (only to discover everyone was okay), so we didn’t even get home until 4pm. Crazy. Of course, the kids were begging to “open an envelope” so I quickly shoved a piece of paper in for that day, pulled out the new book I had ordered, and we all read it together. Some days, that’s all we can handle :).
Day 16: Peppermint Day!
Oh my goodness, this day was so much fun! I printed out this printable, pulled out a candy cane for each kid, and then explained the legend of the candy cane. This was Selah’s first candy cane and Elliott has been BEGGING me to eat one, literally, since last Christmas when I gave him his first! So they were pretty thrilled.
I love Elliott’s face in this picture! And although it is SO CHALLENGING to catch a “real” Selah smile on camera, I think you can tell by the red drooling pouring out of her mouth that she really loved her first candy cane :).
I showed them the candy canes on their papers and we then talked about how to paint every other stripe on the two candy canes. Elliott was really into this idea, until, on the second cane, after he had painted every other stripe red, he informed me that, “the elevator went up, and now it’s going down…” and then he went back through and painted the rest of the white stripes red ;). Selah, again, took up her artistic license and, after painting each candy cane, decided to paint the ENTIRE paper red…ha! I love it. She didn’t miss a spot.
Striping away!
Next, I asked them if they rememebered what the candy cane tasted and smelled like. I dropped a little bit of peppermint extract, vanilla extract, and almond extract onto three separate cotton balls in dishes. They smelled them and had to identify which was which! They did it! Super cute and fun.
Bahaha!! I love this picture! I explained the activity, and they both just instantly shoved their noses into the dishes! HA! I can’t believe I caught the moment!
Lastly, we made candy canes out of pipe cleaners. This wasn’t Selah’s favorite activity since, as you know, she would prefer to exercise her artistic license and not do things “inside the box.” Elliott grabbed his pipe cleaner and immediately began alternating red and whites, but Selah…well, she kept sneaking purples when I wasn’t looking! Hahaha!!! Oh my goodness, she just cracks me up!!!
Like I’ve said before, my kids could string pony beads on pipe cleaners for HOURS every day of their lives…Proudly showing off his finished product.I turned around for a minute, and when I looked over again, this was the face I saw! HA!! So delighted, showing me that she had “cheated,” and had stopped doing the red and white pattern! 🙂Aaanddd….Selah’s finished product! Oh, how I love her creativity!!
Day 17: Christmas activities!!
I pulled out these old “magnetic presents” from last year:
And they didn’t even fight over them this year :).
I got these ideas (and one of the previous peppermint activities) from here .
The kids sorted these Christmas pom poms onto four different plates that I had written on to say Large, Medium, Small, and Tiny.They also sorted them into a cupcake tin using the big play tweezers.I also pulled out one of my colanders (which happened to be RED–bonus!) and they strung green pipe cleaners through it.
Lots of activities that kept them busy.
Day 18: Playdough & cookie cutters
My friend Elizabeth had given us some Christmas playdough last year, and it is the gift that keeps on giving!! My kids play with it all the time and it is still wonderful playdough. I found these tiny cookie cutters at Hobby Lobby and I knew they’d be perfect for the cookie cutter playdough activity I wanted to do with the kids. Sure enough, they were! Elliott made TONS and TONS of playdough cookies and Selah, well…I think you’re starting to catch on to her “style.” 🙂
Playdough cookies!
Day 19: Act out the nativity story using puppets!
I was tired this day :). I pulled out the nativity puppets we had made last year from a Michael’s set (thankfully, there were TWO!), and we acted out the story. The kids had a blast, using the two stables we had. Obviously, you could do this without puppets, and just use the figurines you have in any nativity set. As simple as this activity was, the kids really loved it as they are SO into role playing.
Selah, walking Joseph to the stable…even though he doesn’t have legs!Elliott is SERIOUSLY into role playing so he very enthusiastically acted out the entire story using his puppets…
Day 20: Snowman family day!
Snowman pancakes!!
As always, this was a HUGE hit :).Mmm, mmmm!!
I got these mini snowmen that are supposed to grow in water at Michael’s for $1. Well, they are worth about $1 :). I didn’t realize the instructions said they would take up to 10 days to grow, so they were a bit anticlimactic. Regardless, the kids thought they were cool, and it was (sort of) fun to watch them (sloooooowly) grow over the 10 days.
Tiny snowmen!Dropping the snowmen into water…Selah, admiring her “grown” snowman.Elliott and his “HUGE” snowman!
Elliott saw this craft in a magazine and asked if we could do it at some point during Advent. I think they are so adorable! I made a daddy and a mommy snowman, and each of the kids made one for themselves. Adorable!!
The kids dipped potato halves in white paint for the bodies, and then used q-tips to pain on the buttons, eyes, snowflakes falling, etc.Elliott’s is on the left, and Selah’s on the right.Our family, pictured in snowpeople. 🙂
Day 21: Foam stickers & special coloring sheets
The special coloring sheets I got from Michael’s (you use water and q-tips) weren’t necessarily a huge hit but these foam stickers (that I got on clearance last year)?!! Oh. My. Word. The kids LOVED them and have spent HOURS playing with them.
The kids played with these stickers for WEEKS without losing interest…
Day 22: Since there’s not enough snow to play with, let’s make our own!
An oldie but a goodie. We did this last year when Selah was still such an itty bitty, and she was much more adventurous this year :).
Checking out the baking soda before the shaving cream was added……and then diving right in and playing hard!Like, REALLY hard…haha! 🙂
Day 23: Open a gift and, working together, try to find THE NATIVITY!!
Our kids LOVE puzzles. It’s hard to find a challenging one for their ages, but this one did the trick!
It’s a “cube puzzle” with several scenes from the bible, including the Nativity scene.
Day 24: Bake a cake for Jesus
Yup. Second year in a row, and this didn’t happen AGAIN. Honestly, as much as I hate to admit this, Brian and I just can’t handle the sugar we used to, and we had had SOO MUCH already. The thought of baking an entire cake made us both want to puke. So, instead, we let the kids open one present in the morning, we played all day, and then we got dressed up and went to church! What greater joy is there, than worshiping the One who came to set us free!!!!!!!
On our way to church!
Day 25: It’s Christmas Day!! Celebrate the birth of Jesus and open presents!!
We had such a fun day! Here we are in our pajamas.
Merry Christmas 🙂
Thankfully, my dear friend Jill and her family sent us this AWESOME box of treats (pears, apples, popcorn, cookies, and…CHOCOLATES!!!) and I realized the chocolates were PERFECT for sticking a little candle in! (Thank you, Jilly-Bean!!!) So, we each stuck a candle in a chocolate, sang Happy Birthday to Jesus, and enjoyed a not-too-sugary treat in His name. Amen :).
I’ll never forget the moment that, after weeks of battling the same problem with Elliott, I had a massive revelation.
“The Scripture doesn’t say that my parenting techniques will not come back void…it says, ‘The WORD will not come back void.’” (Isaiah 55:11)
I don’t know how I got two years into the whole parenting thing without ever having that thought occur to me, but it was profound for me, and surely an act of mercy from the Lord.
Elliott had (for the most part) been an incredibly kind and loving big brother towards Selah her entire 7 months of existence. But somehow, right around after he turned 2, he began experimenting with some behaviors towards her; as in, “What will happen if I kick her in the head as hard possible?”
Clearly, clearly…NOT OKAY.
She had JUST started pulling up onto furniture, and she loved being close by Elliott. So many times when he was sitting in his chair eating a meal or a snack, she would crawl over, pull herself up onto the chair, and he would kick her little head until she fell over.
We were at a loss. We had tried everything, and he wasn’t changing. If you know me, you know I have quite a bit of patience towards my kids regarding character development issues…I just recognize that many, many things will probably take YEARS for them to have true heart-change in. But, BUT…this particular issue needed to change IMMEDIATELY.
But, I’m not going to talk about exactly how he changed, because my point is something far more important: that THE WORD OF GOD WILL NOT COME BACK VOID.
Another “incident” had just occurred and I remember kneeling on the ground, holding Elliott gently by his shoulders and pleading with him to stop, using words like “being nice” and “that’s not nice” and etc., etc. I had just taught the Kids Church lesson a few hours earlier to Elliott and all of his little buddies and it was about the good Samaritan. I suddenly paused and that’s when the revelation hit me: Why am I using such “powerless” words, when I could be speaking the very words of Life, that are promised to return in power.
EVERYTHING changed about my speech that day. No longer do I tell Elliott to do things “because I said so” or “because it’s the ‘right’ thing to do”…but I am teaching him to act according to God’s Word. It is THE ONLY thing that will not return void.
This is our heart for our children:
9 For this reason we also, since the day we heard it, do not cease to pray for you, and to ask that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding; 10 that you may walk worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing [Him], being fruitful in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God; 11 strengthened with all might, according to His glorious power, for all patience and longsuffering with joy; 12 giving thanks to the Father who has qualified us to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in the light. 13 He has delivered us from the power of darkness and conveyed [us] into the kingdom of the Son of His love, 14 in whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins. 15 He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. 16 For by Him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things were created through Him and for Him. 17 And He is before all things, and in Him all things consist. 18 And He is the head of the body, the church, who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in all things He may have the preeminence. 19 For it pleased [the Father that] in Him all the fullness should dwell, 20 and by Him to reconcile all things to Himself, by Him, whether things on earth or things in heaven, having made peace through the blood of His cross. … 27 To them God willed to make known what are the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles: which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. 28 Him we preach, warning every man and teaching every man in all wisdom, that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus. 29 To this [end] I also labor, striving according to His working which works in me mightily. [Col 1:9-20, 27-29 NKJV]
Yes, we MUST teach our children that ALL things were created through Him and for Him. And He is before all things, and in Him all things consist. Our children must form their worldviews around this Truth. And so they MUST know the Scriptures, and how THE SCRIPTURES should shape their thinking and their actions. This is a great endeavor, obviously, that will take a lifetime to begin to teach, but I am amazed at how much it has pressed ME to know the Word more, because I need to have a specific answer on my tongue! I need to be able to teach them what God says about the generous person when they are confronted with sharing issues. I need to be able to recite by memory what God says will happen when they obey their parents when we have a moment (or a hundred) of defiance in a day. I need to be able to tell them what Jesus said about love when they are not treating each other lovingly. I must know what He says, so they will know what He says. There was a season where I taught the kids a Proverb a day and it was so helpful for ME. I read one chapter a day, picked one verse from that chapter, wrote it up on the white board in our playroom, and taught it to them first thing in the morning. It’s amazing how many Proverbs are the solution to almost every conflict between the kids :).
I was struck by the simplicity of Romans 12 as a concise “handbook” for (some of) the ways of the Lord a few months ago, and decided I wanted to memorize a chunk of the chapter with the kids over the Summer. My goal was 13 verses, and we got through 6, which I was very pleased with :). We started out with Psalm 128:1 (“Blessed are those who fear the Lord, who walk in His ways.”), and I prefaced the whole series by talking about how we must understand that God says we will be blessed when we walk in His ways, and it is of utmost importance that we regard Him with utter holiness, with complete resolve that He is THE WAY. Then we went on to learn about what some of those “ways” are by memorizing Romans 12: 9-13.
9 Love must be sincere. Hate what is evil; cling to what is good. 10 Be devoted to one another in love. Honor one another above yourselves. 11 Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor, serving the Lord. 12 Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer. 13 Share with the Lord’s people who are in need. Practice hospitality. [Rom 12:9-13 NIV]
It was SO HELPFUL in my daily parenting, because not only did I have specific (powerful!) language (that won’t return void!!!!) to use with the kids during conflicts and disrespect, but because it helped form my prayers. Many times throughout the day, my prayer is, “Oh, dear, Lord. Have mercy.” (Anyone else have prayers like that during the day??) But when I am focusing on a specific Scripture a day or a week, my prayers are filled with more vision and more faith. “Oh, Lord…please turn Elliott’s heart to TRULY honor his sister above himself.”
Since we’ve entered the “3s,” whining has been one of our biggest battles. I will admit, when I am SO worn out from the constant whining, I usually just look at Elliott with pleading eyes and beg, “You’re killing me. You’ve GOT to stop whining!!” Hmm, as you can imagine, not the most effective or mature parenting technique :). So I was SUPER excited when we hit the verse that tells us we are never to be lacking in zeal. Finally, I had biblical language to tackle this whining monster. I did lots of role plays with him and we acted out what it looks like to be lacking in zeal and what it looks like to keep our spiritual fervor, serving the Lord. Oh, my, did it help, thanks to the grace of God!!! The monster FOR SURE still rears its ugly head daily, but Elliott’s taken a lot of ground.
So, my mama friends–I wanted to share the Scripture verse cards that I made in case you’d like to use them! (Why reinvent the wheel?!) We worked on one verse a week, and usually by the end of the day or at least by day 2, Elliott had each one memorized. Selah (at almost 2) runs around singing, “Walk in His ways!!” which I LOVE. Yes, my dear, that’s exactly right…let’s be devoted to walking in His ways.
Click on the picture below to download all 6 verse cards!
Verse Cards
Want to do this with your kids but not a “natural” teacher?
YOU CAN DO THIS!!! I promise!!! Here are 6 simple tips for you:
1. Read the Word and allow the Lord to STIR YOU!
If you are excited, they will be excited, too. If you know me, you know this comes awfully naturally to me–you KNOW that if something has changed my life, I will tell you about it so it can change yours, too!! 🙂 More often than not, I have taught my kids a new verse just because I was reading the Word and was so stirred I couldn’t help but share it with them. Even if we don’t do an entire “lesson” on the verse and memorize it, I trust that it’s being deposited in their hearts. When this happens, I call them over and say, “Kids! Come listen to this!!!! Listen to what God promises us!!!” So, this may go without saying, but when God has stirred YOUR heart with His Word, that is the first step for your childrens’ hearts to be stirred as well. When they see YOU moved by His word, it shows them practically what a changed heart really looks like.
2. Call your kids over to come sit down and learn the Word of God!
If you have carpet squares or one piece of paper for each child or a chair for each child or SOMETHING the kids can sit on so they know their job is to sit and listen, that is VERY helpful.
3. Songs, Visuals, examples and role-plays are helpful!
I always try to have my bible with me so they can really SEE that everything I’m teaching them comes straight from the Word of God. (I remember getting to college and re-reading the bible with new eyes, and being SHOCKED at how much Scripture I knew from songs, liturgy, etc, that I hadn’t realized was SCRIPTURE! Isn’t that crazy?! But it held a WEIGHTINESS to it once I found out it was THE LIVING WORD OF GOD versus just some lyrics to a song that a writer scribbled on a piece of paper. It is SO important to me that my kids understand that the things I say and the rules I give them come from GOD, not just my own good ideas.) Even when I have a verse card printed out, I read the verse out of my bible first. Then, I show them the verse card and talk through each word/phrase with them, pointing out how the pictures show the meaning of the words. We then hang it up where they can see it.
Our six verses, all in a row.
My kids are YOUNG (almost 2 and 3) so I need to use lots of visual and acting to help them understand the meaning of each verse. Obviously, the older your kids are, the less visuals and acting you will need, but these things are still VERY useful for teaching ALL kids how to really APPLY Scripture to their daily lives.
Here’s an example:
Verse: Love must be sincere. Hate what is evil; cling to what is good.
What I said: Okay, kids, listen to what God says: “Love must be SINCERE.” Can you say “sincere?” Sincere means really, really, really MEANING what you do. So if you ask me to play with the toy I’m playing with and I say, “Fine! Take it!! Hmmph!!!” and throw the toy at you, I did the “right” thing, but I wasn’t loving you like God defines love. My love wasn’t sincere. Now if you ask me to play with a toy I’m playing with, and my heart really DOES want you to have the joy of playing with it, too, then my heart sincerely wants to love you. In that case, I could say, “Oh! You want to play with it, too?! Sure!!” That means my love was sincere, and that means I am walking in God’s ways.
Since my kids are so little, I keep the “lesson” to less than 5 minutes long. I had to break the initial teaching of this verse up into two days since the idea of “sincere love” was complex enough to fill 5 minutes. The next day we talked a lot about what evil is, and what it means to run away from it (lots of funny role plays!!) and what it means to CLING to something that is good.
SING!!!! How much easier is it to remember something when it’s put to music??!! I hope you know about Seeds Family Worship…they are AWESOME. They sing Scriptures! We have listened to “The Good Song” probably hundreds of times: “Blessed are those who fear the Lord, who walk in His ways!” The kids and I often worship together, singing at the top of our lungs, dancing around our living room, sometimes with instruments in hands. I love worshiping the Lord with my kids!!!
4. Teach it on day 1 (and sometimes day 2) and then use the language of the Scripture as often as you can throughout the week (and forever!).
I only had the kids “sit” for a “lesson” on the days that I initially introduced the verse and its meaning, which took 1-2 days. Then, the “teaching” of it was much more “organic” throughout the week in that I would point out how that Scripture occurred throughout our day. Anytime the kids do something according to the Scripture I am sure to point it out to them. “Oh, Elliott! The way you just shared that toy with Selah was truly sincere love! Thank you for loving her so sincerely! That blesses God and it blesses me!! How does your heart feel when you see how blessed Selah is?! Isn’t it awesome to walk in God’s ways??!!”
Or, if they were having a hard time, I would use the same biblical language with them. The MOST often used one this Summer has been: “Oh, buddy…are you devoted to Selah in love right now? Are you making sure that you are honoring her above yourself?”
It’s SO HELPFUL for them to see how the Word is in all things and before all things…they need to understand how Scripture is RELEVANT to their daily lives and actions, and they need to SEE how to apply it. Like I said earlier, this will take a lifetime, so we’d best start early!! 🙂
We would say our verses together every time we were driving or sometimes when we were sitting and playing and we would always tell Daddy when he got home from work what our verse of the week was. This is actually Elliott’s favorite verse and I catch him ALL the time saying, “Hate what is evil, cling to what is good.” YES!!
5. Always, in everything, teach them about Christ
There is no sense in teaching any of these things without also teaching the Gospel. Our children must understand that it is only by the grace of God that we can escape sin, thanks to Jesus Christ. We have worked hard on this with Elliott. I’ll never forget one day that I looked at him and said, “Elliott, you are the only one who can choose to obey. You’ve got to do this. You’ve got to choose to obey!” And before I had barely finished talking, he interrupted me and said, “NO!! Jesus and GOD help me obey!!” I remember taking a deep breath, realizing that my frustration had gotten the better of me, and told him, “Buddy, you are right. Let’s pray together. We BOTH need the Lord’s help to obey Him.”
6. PRAY, never-ceasingly
The moment I knew I had to start training, teaching, and disciplining Elliott (long before he was 1), I have been faithfully praying for HIS HEART to turn towards obedience to God. The LAST THING IN THE WORLD we want are children who “do what the bible says” but do not really LOVE God. Scripture is so clear: When we love God, we obey His commands. Children are so tricky because we must teach them to obey (“…train your child in the way he should go…”) long before they have a sincere love for God. But I am faithful to pray for their hearts to turn EVERY time I teach, train or discipline. Because it’s not ME that’s going to turn their hearts to love the Lord; it’s the Holy Spirit. So, I would exhort you: Never teach without praying. Always pray as you teach.
Remember the verse from above: For this reason we also, since the day we heard it, do not cease to pray for you, and to ask that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding; 10 that you may walk worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing [Him], being fruitful in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God…
KEEP ON KEEPING ON, MAMAS!!!! May the Lord fill you with STRENGTH!!! And FAITH!!!! May YOU, by the grace of God, never be lacking in zeal but keep your spiritual fervor as you serve your children and in doing so, are serving the Lord!!!!!
We’ve had such a FUN summer. I have been healthy, my kids are MORE FUN THAN EVER and we have just had a BLAST. Some highlights in photos:
We swam.And looked adorable doing it :).We played with friends.We went to the Denver Aquarium.Where Selah petted a tiger.Siblings that paint together, stay together.He doesn’t even mind getting his hands dirty anymore! 🙂We went to a kids’ roller coaster park.Aaaaand, we moved. Because what would we do with ourselves if we didn’t move at least once every year?Elliott was seriously an INCREDIBLE helper…everyday he would beg me to pack up more boxes so he could help.This little darling didn’t miss out on the moving action.And, what good would a move be if it didn’t have a little adventure mixed in? While Brian was driving the moving truck to our new home, the rest of us realized we were locked out. My big brother saved the day, climbed a window, and broke into our new home! (Have no fear: he didn’t really “break” in…the previous renters had left a window open, so he just had to pop out the screen…)This picture does a great job of summing up how exhausted we all were. (This is totally not posed!!) We could never have made it without Brian’s parents help to finish packing up the old house and unpacking in the new house, or without my parents–who fed us for the first two days we moved in to keep us all alive.Brian and I were SO tired, that we took a day to get away and go to Water World (coolest water park EVER!) (Yes, it’s blurry. That’s how tired we were…)Brian asked Elliott if he wanted to help him set up shelves in the garage, and Elliott immediately ran to get his working guy gear so he could help. Such a mini Brian (minus the striped Polo shirt)…I love it.We got a little settled in, and went on a road trip…I’ll just post the pictures of them sleeping because that was pretty much what they did the whole trip. (OR NOT, haha!) But we all survived :).We went to the zoo multiple times.And always fed the giraffes. *Note: it’s apparently a requirement to stick your tongue out like the giraffe while feeding him.We did a LOT of trampoline jumping on our new toy. (Don’t worry: it does have a net!)Our little gymnast is BESIDE herself with joy!Grandma & Grandpa came to visit TWICE!! This was to commemorate one of our Focus on the Family trips. Selah apparently didn’t want to commemorate.We learned a letter a day and did a fun craft to go along with it.Selah learned right along with Elliott!At the beginning of the summer I drew a few shapes to build a car out of construction paper and was a little shocked when the big man did an incredible job of cutting all the shapes out! His cutting skills are pretty awesome at this point, and he loved cutting out each letter for the coresponding craft.“M” is for marshmallows!We BBQed with friends. Our new house came with a BBQ!! I’ve always DREAMED of having a BBQ!!The littles eating BBQWe went to Chic-fil-a. And even met the cow!Grandma & Grandpa got us a baby pool and this Baby Bean did LOTS of lounging out by the pool!!All of Brian’s family came to visit!We played at tons of parks, including this really cool modern one that we found!We rode bikes almost every day.This little girl got SO GOOD at the Stride Bike that I often have to run to catch up to her!!We baked muffins and banana bread and ate outside on the patio.During one of Grandma & Granpa’s visits, everyone went to The North Pole while I was at a bridal shower.This girl DIGS motorcycles. Seriously. Especially motor cycles from The North Pole.We took our kids on their very first hike to celebrate Kari’s birthday! It was so much fun!!!Charlotte, Selah, Quinn, Elliott, and AvaWe had lunch with Daddy at work!One of these things is not like the other one…Aaand, these little ones spent more time than ever with me in the kitchen. Looking at those faces, would you be more than a little nervous to eat what’s in that pie??
Adios, Summer!! You’ve been good to us. Now, bring on the warm boots, cozy sweaters, beautiful leaves and all the colors and smells of FALL….!!!!
This big man started preschool! We are SO PROUD of him and excited for this newest adventure!
Some stats:
Age:Almost 3 1/2
Height: 41 1/2 inches
Shoe size: 11
Clothing size: 4 or 5T
Loves: Balls, trucks, cars, “tiny” Legos, READING, aaaaannnnddd….apple sauce.
Biggest accomplishments this summer: Writing his name all by himself, being able to identify the first letter of words that we give him, and mastering his pedal bike which he can now ride to our nearby park and back!
Not bad, eh? He’s written it many times, totally under his own volition.On one of his many bike rides with Daddy.When he grows up, he wants to be…: “A fireman.”
Favorite part of preschool so far: “I like to play there.”
I tell you what…THIS KID. He amazes us every day.
We have had such a fun summer together, learning and playing hard.
Here’s his Happy First Year of Preschool sign along with the overflowing abundance of artwork he and Selah did this summer!
Selah’s creations are on the left, and Elliott’s are on the right.
We let him pick out a new shirt to buy for his first day. He VERY excitedly found this one and insisted on it. We got him a new pair of tennis shoes that just happened to have cars on them as well :). We let him wear his new shirt on orientation day, which was, technically, his first day…
Orientation Day
The child loves cars!
My mom stayed home with Selah who had a little cold, and Elliott and I went to the orientation together.
It was so fun for him to pick out his name tag and find the bin with his name on it!Aaaannnddd…they had cars out to play with…WIN.His sweet teachers, reading, The Kissing HandAfter the orienation was officially over, he was READY to go. He really wanted a snack! So, out we went. The school has this “Fun Bus” that comes once a month…it’s like a mini gymnastics/obstacle course inside. Pretty fun, if I do say so myself! So he got to try it out that day.We sat on a bench and ate his snack, and headed home!
His first official day!
Somehow, all three of us were fed and ready to go in time to snap a few pics before leaving at 8:30. Miraculous.
Giggly, goofy faceMy handsome, big boy!!“Say, what?!”BFFs
Daddy met us at preschool to see Elliott off on his very first day!
Little man, big world.“Love you, Selah! BYE!”LITERALLY running into the school, Selah trailing close behind…“The Yellow Door” and a yellow-shirted sister running to join in on the photo. This big guy is always happy with Daddy by his side.
He went in without any problems and easily said, “goodbye.” When I picked him up, he wanted me to hold him and not put him down…not because he didn’t have a great time, but I’m pretty sure because he missed me :). My sweet boy. He told me he learned lots of new songs, but he couldn’t remember them all. By the time we got home, he had remembered one, and sung it for me: “Eyes are watching, ears are listening, voices quiet, body is calm…” He told me the names of a couple new friends that he really liked and said he had a great time. When I asked him if he wanted to go back, he said, “No,” and my heart stopped for a minute. “Oh, really, Buddy? How come?” He responded, “I only want to go to preschool when it’s a work day.” (As in, on the days that Daddy is working…as in, he wants to make sure he’s home when Daddy is home.) “Oh, sweet boy, yes, of course. You’ll only go on work days.” Bless my ever-living soul.
Here he is admiring the novelty of “the stamp” on his hand while eating lunch.
Stamp on the right hand!
Aaaannndd…the infamous question: “How did YOU do with his first day of preschool, Mama?” Well….to be honest, the whole experience has left me leaning much closer to the homeschooling side of the fence. We have had an AWESOME experience with the school so far and we love his teachers, so it’s not that we’ve had a negative experience at all. It’s just that he’s MY BOY. MY BOY….And I cannot IMAGINE having him gone for more than 2 mornings a week. I asked Brian on the first day if he thought the teachers would mind if I asked them to give me a play-by-play of everything that happened and that was said and done for the 2 hours and 45 minutes that he was under their care. He responded with, “Well, yeah, since you did that for every one of your students, I’m sure they wouldn’t mind.” Sigh. I know, I know…he’s only 3…my perspective will likely change as he gets older. But for now, I’m a leanin’…. 🙂 One of the biggest reasons we chose to enroll him in preschool is for the enrichment portions of it. This school has a little soccer program that he can be a part of, and he LOOOOOOOOVVVVVVES it. After his first day, he said to me, “Mom, I want to play soccer EVERY day!” So, hopefully as I get to see him come alive through some of these types of things, I will be more excited about his year away from me :).
That night, we all went out to dinner to celebrate his very first day! And it just happened to be, “get a free burger” night at RR!
