Christmas Craft Preschool Activities

Erica over at Confessions of a Homeschooler has done it again.  She has an amazing bunch of Christmas activities to do with your little ones.  My younger two love her stuff so I'm excited to get these printed and do them! 


The best part? She lets you download the entire Christmas set for FREE!  What are you waiting for?  Head on over!!!! 

Dissecting Dinner

Dinner is tricky one.  And seems to only get trickier as my children get older. 

I'm a firm believer in the family meal.  I enjoy sitting down my husband and children and chatting about our day over dinner.  However it hardly ever works out June Cleaver style around here. 

3 nights a week my husband isn't even home from work until 7:30 - too late for the kiddos. 

4 nights a week we have "after school" activities that start at 5:15. 

Yet 7 nights a week I am expected to cook. 

And 7 nights a week we all sit down as a family, 3 nights minus Daddy, and eat dinner together.

That's why I'm always so amazed, if we can make dinner work and eat something homemade and healthy for us, why is it so hard for other families?

So here's what I've learned works and doesn't work for making family dinner a priority.

1. PLAN.  If I sat down at 4 p.m. every day and went "huh, I wonder what's for dinner" this would never work.  I plan out meals for at least two weeks, sometimes a month.  I know some people that actually write down on each day what they're having, that doesn't work for me because I like to pick what I'm in the mood for, but I do plan two-weeks worth of menus.

2. SHOP. And then I shop for those two weeks.  So that way on Tuesday morning I can get up, see chili on my menu list, think it sounds good and know that I have all the ingredients to make it for that night.

3. PREPARE.  Notice in number 2 I said "morning" not mid-afternoon, not evening, but morning.  That's right, I do the majority of my cooking in the morning.  Because I have time to do it then, I have the energy to do and then it is ready at dinner time.  I don't know about your house but 4 - 5 p.m. is insane in our home.  Not to mention the fact that I then have to have children somewhere at 5:15 four nights a week.  So by making it at 10 a.m. all I have to do is reheat or finish cooking the item when we get home at 6.  And let me tell you, I much less inclined to want to grab fast food for my family when dinner is already done.  Does this work for every dish?  No.  But do as much prep ahead of time as you can.

4. SLOW.  This ties in to number 3.  I love my crockpot.  I really do.  It makes life so. much. easier.  I suggest picking up a good quality crockpot recipe book and use it often.  My favorite is "How to Make Love and Dinner At the Same Time" which was recently put back in print.   She breaks the recipes up in to three types so you know how long they'll take you to make and her anecdotal humor is fun. 

5. FORGIVE.  I am not perfect.  You are not perfect.  Having dinner as a family is not perfect.  Are there days when we eat out?  Of course.  Are there days when my kids have happy meals in the car?  You betcha?  Are there days when I feed my kids mac-n-cheese and then send my husband out after food once they're asleep?  Yup.

My goal is not to be 100%, that is impossible and besides it would mean I was cooking every day of my life!  No thank you!  My goal is to have quality time as a family.  To eat a meal together and enjoy each other's company.  My goal is to feed my children good food most of the time. 

And it can be done, with a little planning and preparation and a sense of humor doesn't hurt either. 

only child in a big family

I am an only child.  Well... technically I have step brothers and sisters but being that I haven't even met one of them and they became "family" after I was of the age of 18 I don't think they count as siblings. 

On the other hand my husband is the youngest of five.  Needless to say family gatherings are a little different at his house than mine.  I still remember our first Christmas at his house, we were engaged, and present opening was a free for all.  If it had your name on it just rip it open because no one was going to wait to see you open it and your reaction.  I remember commenting how different it was from what I was use to and one of his family members snapping at me, "you better get use to it" 

I cannot lie, after 10 years of marriage I am still not "use to it".  Sure I've adapted to their traditions but I still don't like that Thanksgiving takes place at three different tables in three different rooms or that the grandchildren are expected to spend the night at the grandparent's house multiple nights in a row inevitably exhausting them and making the majority of them sick. 

But there's a flip side to it too.  I've come to enjoy the laughs that are shared as more and more wine is shared.  I've enjoyed watching the friendships that my children have created with their cousins.  And even if I'm no where near good enough to play LOTR trivial pursuit, Mt. Doom will forever live in my heart. 

And so it is what it is.  Not always easy, not always fun or comfortable, but in the end it is family and they are a huge blessing.  And I think it is pretty indicative of life.  There are things that our Lord wants us to do that are not always easy, or fun, or comfortable, but it is for him and his kingdom, and in the end we are better people for it. 

And as I look at the people around me I wonder how many will ride this wave of hard times with us and how many will refuse to sit at three different tables?  How many will stick around and accept what it is because we're family and that love should conquer all other trivial issues we may have?

Make a Difference Mon... Tuesday?

Anyone who listens to K-Love knows they do Make A Difference Monday where they encourage you to do something to make a difference in the life of someone else - it can be something big, it can be something small, just do something. 

So a few weeks ago a single mom posted how she is out of work but that her son is really in to trains and how she'd like to get him a train set for Christmas.  I didn't really think anything of it.  Easy to just look away right?  But then a week or two later it hit me, duh, we have a Geotrax set in our basement, collecting dust.  My kids haven't played with it in months (years?) but it still works great.  I've thought about selling it but haven't.  And by then I couldn't find that email, maybe I didn't try hard enough (sorry Lord, that's my fault) but it was on my heart and I didn't find it - ugh!

She just posted again (thank you Lord!) so we've been emailing and she's super excited to give this set to her son for Christmas!  And I'm super excited to give it to her! 

So today I challenge, encourage, suggest, implore of you to try to do something, anything, to make a difference in the life of someone.  Call an old friend, your grandma, pay for someone's starbucks, say you're sorry, give money to a favorite charity, invite your ex-mother-in-law to your child's play, read a book or two with your child, anything.  Make a difference and see what a difference it makes in your life. 

God is Awesome!

Yesterday there was much excitement among my friends.  Our good friend gave birth to her miracle baby girl at 31 weeks.  Both momma and baby are doing great!  Sadly however our friend lost her daughter's twin back in August at 19 weeks and that sweet little angel will never be forgotten. 

There is a local jeweler here in Colorado that makes remembrance necklaces, Bugaboo Jewelry and she is having a giveaway on The Hand That Rocks the Cradle.  I would love to win one for my good friend because I think it would be an awesome gift to celebrate both of her little girls.  If you or someone you knows has lost a precious little one I would encourage you to head over to this giveaway as well. 

blocking black friday

Have you ever read the book The Five Love Languages?  If you haven't I highly recommend it.  It is a fabulous book about how different people give and perceive love in different ways.  For me my love language is gifts.  Which my husband has had a hard time with, he hears gifts and he hears materialism.  Which isn't what it is about at all.  For me getting a gift says "I was thinking about you when you were not around and I know you well enough to know that you would love this".  And for me giving a gift is the same thing, it is seeing something that reminds me of you and getting it for you as a token of my love for who you are.   

So you can bet how much I love Christmas.  But its probably not like what you think.  I love the traditions of Christmas, I love the tree and the baking and spending time with your loved ones.  And I do love shopping for the perfect present.  What I don't like is what black friday is to so many people, what the retailers have made it. 

My family, like many families live on a budget, and that includes Christmas.  I have shared in previous posts but I will share here that we only give each other three gifts at Christmas - something you want, something you need, and we each draw names so that the children can get in on the fun as well.  The something you want tends to be the big present for the kiddos, the something  you need tends to be something like new shoes, clothes, etc. and then the name draw is a smaller present but the kids absolutely LOVE getting to shop and what the pick is priceless.

So I'm pretty much done shopping, I need to get a few things here and there, we still have to shop for my husband's family but their name pulling tradition has prevented us from doing it yet. 

And then rolls around black friday.  Perhaps you LOVE black friday?  You look forward to it every year.  I've shopped it in the past, never at 3 a.m., never camping out, but I've gone.  I enjoy Target's cheap DVDs because my husband loves to watch movies and they make great stocking stuffers.  But ultimately I do not like what Black Friday represents, the need to buy more because you think you're getting a great deal and ultimately, what the retailers hope, is spending more too. 

If you have to put an item on credit and spend the next six months paying 16% interest on your purchase that deal is not a deal. 

If you're buying to get the most possible under the tree what are you really doing?  And what message are you sending?  I can spend $100 on ten gifts that will be quickly forgotten, broken, lost or I can spend $65  on that one very wanted Harry Potter Lego set and save $45 to put towards groceries, the braces fund, a rainy day.  My son will only have one present to open but guess what will get more use and is a better value. 

So I've decided that instead of going out with my inlaws on black friday like they love to do I am going to stay at home with my children and make ginger bread houses.  I'm going to block black friday and the unnecessary spending.  And instead I'm going to gain a new tradition with my kids.  I think I've made a priceless trade. 

we can learn at home

Today we had so much fun practicing the letter A, we read books, did patterns, put together a puzzles, did apples biggest to smallest and painted with do a dots - seriously those bingo ladies are on to something!!! 

I've never played with do-a-dots before but I got them at Micheal's and was pleasantly surprised.  They were easy enough for my 2-year old to use but entertaining for my 4 year old too. As you can see from the picture they are nice and big and easy for the smaller hands to grasp and manipulate.  

I think I'll make a turkey sheet that they can decorate with do-a-dots next week. 

But today reassured me that yes I can teach my children and it can be fun.  We had a blast hanging out together doing this stuff and I felt so good when we finished.  I'm super excited for next week when we focus on what we are thankful for.  Even my oldest who goes to a public school is excited to be off next Wednesday to do "school" with us!