Joy in a Small Box

Who knew that this dollar store treat could cause such joy and hours of fun for two year olds???
Each of my sweet boys had thier own method for drawing with sidewalk chalk. Rylan would sit and color in the same spot for a long time with several different colors. He said."I draw force (horse)." or "I draw Elmo." or "Mommy draw a cow." or "Mommy draw my name." (Which I of course wrote with only one capital letter!!!)
Jacob on the other hand wanted to make a mark on each piece of rock, paving square or concrete area in the whole yard! I cannot believe he sat long enough for me to snap this photo!

And the finished masterpeices!
I think we have a Michaelangelo or Van Gogh on our hands! :)

Hope you have some fun with sidewalk chalk soon too!

You know you are a Texan if...

You have bluebonnet dishes. You have a bluebonnet painting above the mantle. This one was painted by my Dad's mom when I was a little girl. We also have a beautiful bluebonnet photograph in the dining room.

You wear a cowboy hat while cooking dinner! Your two year old loves to wear his Daddy's boots and ride and horse while wearing a cowboy hat.

How else do you know someone is a Texan?

Bee-nock-lurs

The boys found my dad's binoculars several weeks ago and have become a little obsessed with them. Now that the holiday hoop-la is over, I decided it was the perfect day to make our own binoculars. So we sat down at the table and they watched as I Hot-glued two toilet paper rolls together, punched the holes and tied the string. Then they used stickers to decorate their own "bee-nock-lurs."
We went outside to look for animals. We saw a real squirrel, several birds, a red leaf, the bird bath and a woodpecker. Then we looked for pretend animals. We found a cow, horses (otherwise known as "forces" to Rylan), giants like Goliath and more.

Here is my little detective Jacob... And my other detective Rylan...

After looking around with our binoculars all over the yard, I told them the story of Joshua, Caleb and the other 10 spies. We sang the song several times (Thanks for teaching it to us Lacie!). Then there was a whole new dimension to search... we were the spies of Israel!!! We looked high and low, searching for information about the Promised Land. We saw giants, big grapes, tall city walls and milk and honey. It was so much fun and a great time to teach a Bible story.

So save your toilet paper rolls and have a great FREE activity! :)

Here is the song... it has it's own tune, a I guess a fingerplay chant really...

There were 12 spies who spied on Canaan.

10 (hold up 10 fingers) were bad (do 2 thumbs down)

And 2 (hold up 2 fingers) were good (do two thumbs up)

What do they see when they spied on Canaan? (hold up one hand at eyebrow and look from side to side)

10 ( hold up 10 fingers) were bad (do 2 thumbs down)

And 2 (hold up 2 fingers) were good (do two thumbs up)

Some saw giants big and tall (hold up both arms bent at the elbows like muscles)

Some saw grapes with clusters fall -ll-ll (make hands go up and down like Wayne and Garth)

Some saw God rule over all (hold up both arms above your head so that your fingers touch in the middle)

10 (hold up 10 fingers) were bad (do two thumbs down)

And 2 (hold up 2 fingers) were good (do two thumbs up)

The Neatest New Year's Eve Ever

We had the neatest experience to usher in 2009. The Young Adult group from church hosted a
Prayer in the New Year" at Robert and Rachel's house. After church services we took the boys home and put them to bed. Then Jason and I left them with GPop and Granna and headed over to the party. We snacked on delicious sweet and savory snacks and played cards until about 11. It was so fun to laugh and play games with our friends...it's been too long! About 11 we put away the games and got out the song books. We sang and sang and it was wonderful. Robert had prepared a prayer schedule based on the book The Hour That Changed the World by Dick Eastman. The premise of the book is that over the course of an hour, you pray 12 different topics. Each guy took a topic or two and the ladies wrote our requests on index cards for the men to pray. Here are the 12 topics and an accompanying verse.

1. Praise - recognize God's nature - Psalm 63:3
2. Waiting - Silent Soul Surrender - Psalm 46:10
3. Confession - Temple Cleansing Time - Psalm 139:23
4. Scripture Praying - Word Enriched Prayer - Jeremiah 23:29
5. Watching - Develop Holy Awareness - Colossians 4:2
6. Intercession - Remember the World - 1 Timothy 2:1-2
7. Petition - Share Personal Needs - Matthew 7:7
8. Thanksgiving - Confess my Blessings - 1 Thessalonians 5:18
9. Singing - Worship in Song - Psalm 100:2
10. Mediation - Ponder Spiritual Themes - Joshua 1:8
11. Listening - Receive Spiritual Instruction - Ecc. 5:2
12. Praise - Recognize God's Nature - Psalm 52:9

It was such a wonderful way to focus our attention on God and Him as we began a new year. New Year's is always a time of new... new commitments, new ideas, fresh outlook. And we are so glad that we spent the first 2 hours of 2009 on our knees before the Lord. May we all continue to focus on HIM in 2009.