Make-It-Monday: Handprint Snowmen Ornaments

Some of you (ourselves included) are enjoying beautiful, warm weather today and wondering how in the world I could possibly be thinking about winter and Christmas already!  Well my parents (Gammy and Pop Pop) had a big snow storm this weekend, and so we made some snowmen ornaments (and read a bunch of snow/winter books) to celebrate their first snow storm of the season.  I also know that the next few months will be quite busy so figure it is never too early to start on Christmas presents.

I found this idea on Pinterest.  I would have taken more pictures of the process, but as you can see, it required quite a bit of supervision and we still ended up with lots of paint everywhere!  It was a fun time though!!!

Tot School Tuesday: Kk is for Kindness

The best way to teach and learn "Kindness" is to practice it!  We started off the week making a care package for one of "M's" friends whose baby sister was having heart surgery.  "M" got to go choose some things from around the house and go to the store to pick out a few activities for her to assemble into a bag to deliver to her friend.  "Fruity Bear" was on the lookout all week for acts of kindness (picking up without Mommy asking, sharing, complimenting, helping, etc.) and was quick to hand out stickers.  We had a few quiet mornings at the house where "tot school time" was more structured, but I only took pictures one of those days, so here's a look into one of our mornings.

CIRCLE TIME:

We sing many, many songs during circle time, but one of our favorite during this "Fruit of the Spirit" study has been the "Fruit Tree" song.  I hand out a pair of fruit (purchased for $1 a piece at Wal-Mart) to each of us and we sing the song accordingly.  Here's how it goes:

"Way up high in the *orange tree

Two little *oranges smiled at me

I shook that tree as hard as I could

Down came the *oranges

Mmmmm... they were good!"

(*replace oranges with the name of any other fruit tree, such as lemons, pears, bananas, etc.)

ALPHABET BAG:

I said I was going to start doing this weekly, and so far, so good!  Here is a look into our bag this week:

Aa is for Alligator

Bb is for Ball

Cc is for Camera

Dd is for Duck

Ee is for Elephant

Ff is for Fire Hat

Gg is for Game

Hh is for Helicopter

Ii is for Ice Pack

Jj is for Jingle Bells

"Boo" even had fun helping us with this (she of course required a lot of guidance, but it is fun to have her participate).

LETTER Kk CRAFT:

We talked about how being kind means always looking for a way to extend a helping hand.  For our craft this week we traced the girls hands and glued them to the letter "K" along with a smiling face.

KINDNESS COLORING SHEET:

ALPHABET FOLDER:

I made this a long long time ago for another unit, but it's great for review so we practiced matching uppercase and lowercase for letters A through K.



Food Friday: GF Vanilla Pound Cake

Our children had their well-child doctor's appointments today and it's official, "M" is going on a strict gluten free diet.  She eats mostly gluten free at home since I am gluten-free, but we do not enforce it when she is out.  After our discussion with our wonderful pediatrician today, we have decided that she too needs to be 100% gluten free.  Most people know of the usual, obvious signs of food allergy/sensitivity (rash/hives, wheezing, GI problems).  But, did you know that emotional outbursts, behavior problems, ADHD, delayed development, and poor muscle tone can also be signs of food allergies?  I have definitely noticed some behavioral changes and an increase in night terrors on days when "M" has gluten.  So during these crucial developmental years, the doctor and I agree that it's best that we just stick to gluten-free (much easier said than done when animal crackers are the staple at Sunday School and playgroups). 

RECIPE: GF Vanilla Pound Cake

(original recipe can be found on Land O Lakes)

*This recipe contains a lot of butter and sugar!  I did substitute some of the sugar for honey (and plan to substitute more next time).  I also want to try to substitute coconut oil for some of the butter.  It sure is delicious though!

INGREDIENTS:

1 1/2 cups sugar

1/2 cup honey

1 cup butter, melted

4 eggs

4 tsp. vanilla

2 cups rice flour

2/3 cup potato starch

1/3 cup tapioca flour

1 tsp. xanthan gum

2 tsp. baking powder

1 cup milk

DIRECTIONS:

1.  Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Grease angel food cake pan and sprinkle with rice flour.

2.  Combine sugar, honey, and melted butter in large bowl.  Beat at medium speed until creamy.  Add 1 egg at a time, beating well after each addition.  Add vanilla; beat until well mixed.

3.  In small bowl, stir together remaining dry ingredients.  Gradually add flour mixture alternatively with milk to butter mixture, beating at low speed.

4.  Pour batter into pan.  Bake 50-60 minutes.  Cool 10 minutes; remove from pan. 

ENJOY!

Tot School Tuesday: Fruity Bear

Have you missed me? We were down and out this week with the stomach bug :o( Poor "Boo" had it for nearly four days. "M" was lucky enough to escape it - praise God for his mercy! So anyway, school just did not quite happen this week. I tried to do a few fun activities with "M", but my energy was not quite there so we spent a lot of time reading and coloring (and I am ashamed to say watching movies - some weeks you do what you have to to survive!). We did have a special guest in the house this week though that I would like to introduce you to:

MEET FRUITY BEAR!
Fruity Bear is clothed in the "Fruit of the Spirit" stickers and always on the look-out for acts of love and kindness. He's funny and silly and ready to hand out stickers whenever one of the girls displays love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, or self-control. "M" is especially fond of Fruity Bear (although all the pictures I have are of "Boo" with him). When Fruity Bear yells at the top of his lungs, "'M', where are you? I caught you being (insert fruit of Spirit)", "M" will take off running and hide. Fruity Bear will look all over for "M" (behind the curtains, under the couch, behind toys, etc.) and when he finally finds her she is rewarded with tickles and a sticker. "M" will proudly display her sticker and tell me about it all day long. For example, "Look Mommy, I shared my toy with sissy even though it meant that I did not have a car to play with and Fruity Bear told me that was kind." Fruity Bear has also been reading us Bible stories each morning that give examples of Fruits of the Spirit.

ALPHABET BAG:
I have been trying to emphasize letter sounds, and so we reviewed the letters we have learned so far with this fun alphabet game. This is something that I plan on doing once every week (with different objects) as we add more letters. I filled up a pillowcase with objects from around the house that represented different beginning letter sounds:
A is for Apple

B is for Butterfly
C is for Cookie
D is for Dog
E is for Elephant
F is for Fork
G is for Girl

H is for Horse

I is for Ice Cream
J is for Jewelry

"M" would randomly draw from the bag an object and need to place it on the letter that corresponded to it's beginning letter sound. "M" enjoyed this and asked to play several times.

Tot School Tuesday: Jj is for Joy

Did you miss me last week?  I was busy getting ready for our new Fruit of the Spirit unit study, in which we'll be doing:
Jj is for Joy

Kk is for Kindness

Ll is for Love.

We kicked it off this week with some great songs and crafts.

FRUIT OF THE SPIRIT SONGS:

There are some great (and hilarious) songs out there to help you quickly learn the Fruits of the Spirit.  A quick search on YouTube will lead you to some.  Here is one of our favorites:

The Fruit of the Spirit's not an orange*

The Fruit of the Spirit's not an orange*

If you want to be an orange*

You might as well hear it

You can't be a Fruit of the Spirit

For the fruit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.

Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.

(*insert the name of any fruit for endless varieties of this song)

FRUIT OF THE SPIRIT POEM:

from DLTK's Growing Together

Today I learned
Jesus is the Vine
With Him I grow
fruit very fine

Love and Joy and Peace
are three
of the fruits
Jesus wants from me

Patience, Kindness
Goodness too
These are the things
Jesus wants me to do

Faithfulness, Gentleness
Self-Control,
These are the fruits
Jesus wants me to grow

FRUIT OF THE SPIRIT CADENCE:

from DLTK's Growing Together

I don't know what you've been told...
Galatians' got the fruit of gold.
Patience, joy, love, peace and faith...
With gentleness He'll get the praise.

Self-control with kind and good...
We'll be like Jesus said we should...
Ask me what would Jesus do?
Galatians 5 Verse 22

Sound off:            Galatians 5
Bring it on down:   Verse 22

Galatians 5 Verse 22

WE'VE GOT-  THE FRUIT!

(optional ending)
WE'VE GOT-  (clap) -  (stomp)  - THE FRUIT!

COLORING SHEET:

This was on the back of the Fruit of the Spirit poster I found at Mardel's.

FRUIT OF THE SPIRIT SMELLY FRUIT:

Buy several fruit-flavored kool-aid packets and mix some with a little bit of water.  For a multi-sensory learning craft, match the kool-aid "paint" to the corresponding fruit cut-out using smell and sight. 

EAT A FRUIT RAINBOW:

We made these several times this week, using different fruits each time. 

FRUIT PRINTABLES FROM KUMON'S FIRST BOOK OF TRACING:

JOYFUL BANANA:

OUR JOYFUL Jj'S:

Jj IS FOR JOY CRAFT:

"M" giving me a "Joyful" smile





Make-It Monday: Cauliflower Crust Pizza

I'm sure most of you were expecting a sewing tutorial today, but I am not quite finished with the project I am working on.  I did however make a delicious pizza that I found on Pinterest, so I thought I would share that recipe with ya'll.  For the original recipe and more detailed instructions you can check out Eat.Drink.Smile.  I made it on stoneware rather than a baking sheet (how I made it below - check out link for original directions), and would recommend either making the crust larger than 9" so it is thinner, or baking for longer than 15 minutes.

INGREDIENTS:

1 cup cooked, riced cauliflower (see directions on Eat.Drink.Smile.)
1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
1 egg, beaten
1 tsp dried oregano
1/2 tsp crushed garlic
1/2 tsp garlic salt
olive oil (optional)

pizza sauce, shredded cheese and your choice of toppings (pre-cooked)

DIRECTIONS:

1.  Preheat oven to 450 degrees.

2.  In bowl, mix cauliflower, cheese, and egg.  Add oregano, garlic, and garlic salt.  Stir. 

3.  Spread pizza dough into 9" crust on stoneware.

4.  Brush with olive oil.

5.  Bake 15 minutes (or longer).

6.  Add pizza sauce, shredded cheese, and any toppings (we made just a cheese pizza for our first go at it).  Broil on high for 4-5 minutes or until cheese is melted.

ENJOY!

Weekends are for Festivals

What a beautiful day to spend walking around outside at a festival!  Although, the girls never made it too far past the inflatables.  It was a morning of smiles and giggles.