Slurp Your Milk!

Every night at the dinner table my girls run to the silverware drawer to get a straw for their milk. However, it is becoming this battle within me for good manners! Because of course, once they get down to the bottom there is inevitable....slurping! Ugh! Here is my delimma..is this a battle I pick?? I don't know?? I don't want to be the mom of the kid who is slurping up a storm in a quiet restaurant or at the next family gathering. I, of course want my kids to be a picture of grace and poise. HA!! Who am I kidding? Myself of course! So I have decided to try to expect less poise at home, and be more of the enforcer in public. It's OK, to not be the perfect well mannered adult or kid ALL the time! We gotta give'em some slack. I want my kids to feel comfortable to be themselves in the surroundings of our own home! This will help lay the groundwork for future discussions in hopes they will feel comfortable sharing what's on their minds, knowing I won't be concerned with how they are sitting in their chair and having their elbows on the table. So, sit back, relax and slurp your milk!!

The 8th Day

It was a wonderful Hanukkah and I pray you had an enjoyable time with family and friends this holiday season.  We ended tonight by lighting all the candles and opening presents and now we are off for a family dinner together!  Share with me what fun memories you made this year.....

Olivia lighting the first 4 candles

                                                       Naomi lighting the next 4 candles

Household Hanukkiah craft

A fun and easy Hanukkiah or Menorah craft for the kids to do!

 Have the kids paint 8 rolls of toilet paper and 1 paper towel roll.  Allow to fully dry.

 

Then I securedly them together with clear packing tape

  
decorate with ribbon and I printed off a Hanukkah decoration from Google Images as a finishing touch

Happy Hanukkah!

Yeshua my Shamash

The shamash is the center candle on a Hanukkiah and it has a very important job.  It is usually a little higher or taller candle.  Shamash mean, "guardian" or "servant".  The shamash candle is lit first and then it is responsible for lighting the other candles, and then placed back in the center.  It reminds me that Jesus/Yeshua is my Shamash.  He is the Shamash of the world.  He is the bearer of light...our salvation.  Only He can bring it and only He can give it.  We can't light ourselves, we can only recieve light, our salvation, thru the Shamash--Jesus.  Thank You Yeshua for the light of salvation!!
“I am the light of the world. He who follows Me shall not walk in darkness, but have the light of life.”John 8:12

Hanukkah Bags

My friend made these adorable Hanukkah bags for my girls!  She used a beautiful crushed velvet for the outside and used a fun Hanukkah print on the inside and used a gold ribbon to cinch it closed.  The girls look forward to opening their Hanukkah bag each night to see what little gift is inside.  They perch on the ledge in our front window next to our Hanukkiah! You should make one too!

Have Your Cake and Eat It Too!

This is a picture of my precious daughter Chloe, and when I saw it I immediately thought of a note to share. Chloe is REALLY enjoying her cake...and why shouldn't she?? I love her and I want her to have fun and give her good gifts. It just reminded me of how Satan tells us that we don't deserve love, joy and peace. Or it is impossible to have a healthy marriage or a good relationship with my kids! Don't believe the lies my friends, God's word tells us otherwise..."If you then, being evil(sinners), know how to give good gifts to your children, how much MORE will YOUR heavenly Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask Him!" Matthew 7:11 God wants to give us our cake, why are you not partaking of it's goodness?????? He is a good parent wanting to give these good things to us, we just need to accept. No matter how big we get, we always love gifts from our parents. Follow God's Word to see how you can receive these gifts that keep on giving........

PEACE "Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid." John 14:27

JOY "But let all those rejoice who put their trust in You; let them ever shout for JOY, because You defend them; let those also who love Your name be JOYFUL in You." Psalm 5:11

LOVE "And we have known and believed the love that God has for us. God is love, and he who abides in love abides in God, and God in him." 1 John 5:10

MARRIAGE ".....when I found the one I love, I held him and would not let him go............" Song of Solomon 3:4

CHILDREN "And you, fathers(and mothers), do not provoke your children to wrath, but bring them up in the training and admonition of the Lord." Ephesians 6:4

Don't stop here...there is SO much more...keep searching

Keep the Han in Hanukkah

It's time to get in the holiday spirit! Hanukkah is a few days away and our house is a buzz with excitement and planning for 8 days of Hanukkah Hoop-la! Yay!

Yeshua(Jesus) and Hanukkah

Remember the Light:
During the time of the 2nd temple, the Holy Land was ruled by cruel Greeks.  Now a wicked and evil ruler came to power whose name is Antiochus Epiphanies.  Antiochus robbed the Jews of their property, set up pagan idols in the Temple of God, he forsook the Jews to keep the Sabbath, he didn't allow them to circumcise their children and he burned their copies of Torah(first 5 books of the Bible)
These horrible actions led to a revolt by a Jewish group known as the Maccabees.  The Maccabees risked their lives to keep Torah alive, to cling to those sacred things  that their God had given them...and because the Lord saw that the intents of their hearts were good, He favored them and gave them the victory over the Greeks.  The Hanukkah lights remind us of the great miracle that took place where a small band of Jews defeated the mighty Greek armies with the help of their God.

Filling the World with Light:
With tremendous joy, the Jews cleansed the Temple and began to serve Hashem(God) once again as He instructed them.  Nowadays, we have to draw on that joy, and remember that as the Jews rededicated the temple of God so too must we do today.  We must cleanse our temples from sin and corruption by living a life pleasing to Yeshua(Jesus).  If we make Him the Lord of our life He will miraculously fill us with light just as He miraculously made the light of the menorah burn 8 days whe there was only enough oil to burn for one day!
Having the light of Yeshua brings a great joy to our life and to celebrate the Joy that only Jesus/Yeshua can give, we have Hanukkah parties, games, food and fellowship.  Jesus has the power to overcome all darkness by the light that is in Him.

Adding Light:
Every day of Hanukkah we add another candle til all eight candles of the Hanukkaiah are ablaze remembering the Great Festival of Lights.  It is tradition to put the Hanukkiah in the window of our homes for all to see that they also may see that Jesus is the Light in our home.

Yeshua gives us important instructions concerning the light...
Matthew 5:14-16"You are the light of the world.  A city set on a hill cannot be hidden.  Nor do they light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a lamp stand, and it gives light to all who are in the house.  Let your light shine before men that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in Heaven!

Pioneer Days

The girls have been studying Pioneer Days in history and the different occupations.  We did a candle making craft and they loved it.  They probably don't have the patience to make it an occupation though :)

it took several dips into the wax to get this thickness

we tried to blow to make it go faster....

My 4yr and 6yr old loved it

our proud candle making

time to burn. we couldn't wait for the sun to go down and get the house dark!

since they were not straight, we had to place them on a plate to burn.

To make a safe and enjoyable candle-making time, try the following:

1. melt wax in a container that you can toss when you are done(not worth cleaning)

2. lay plastic on table to prevent dripping

3. Let wax cool a bit so it thickens faster

4. Go an evening without electricity and just light your candles...go Pioneer!

*make sure kids know not to light candles or play with matches without an adult

My Deprived Kids

During this time of the arrival of Christmas I know the thoughts of most people, "Oh, your poor kids, they will be deprived of Christmas."  As a believer in Jesus/Yeshua, I of course, do not discount the birth of my Savior, I acknowledge it in the Fall when it really happened. As for me and my house, I choose to celebrate the Biblical Holidays and not those of man and tradition. "making the word of God of no effect through your tradition which you have handed down. And many such things you do.”   Mark 7:13   I encourage you to research for yourself and start being seperate from the world like Christ has called us!
  
So, this is what I am depriving my kids of: 

-celebrating the birth of a Pagan God on Dec 25th
-decorating a tree in worship of fertility
-hanging wreaths, holly and mistletoe as witches and pagans did

Well, as a parent I don't want my kids participating in such things.  And now, knowing full well what the history is and the world following along, I can't just be a sheep following the majority.  Jesus didn't!

I know your thinking, "that's not what it means to me."  How about thinking what it means to Him!

Instead, I follow the traditions of the first century church and participate in the celebrations that Jesus partook of, such as:
 Lighting the Hanukkiah-Knowing that Jesus is the Light of the world.
 Reading the story of God's miracles
 Remembering to clean our our temples and rededicating it just as they did during Hanukkah(see other Hanukkah post for more info)
 8 days of fun activites and gifts with my family
 Hanukkah parties and eating!


Things such as lighting the Hanukkiah have an amazing and Godly history...unlike the festivities of Christmas.  Choose this day whom you will serve!

Mac and Beans Menorah

Hanukkah is coming and that means crafts to my girls!  This was such an easy and fun craft for them to do and it is now proudly displayed in our window.  My 6yr and 4 yr old loved it!
Materials: dried lentil beans
                 tube macaroni
                 yellow tissue squares
                 glue
                 firm paper such as cardstock

Thanks to : http://kidscraftweekly.com/hanukkah_crafts.html

Scripture Scoops

Who doesn't like ice-cream! My kids love it and are motivated by it...so, for our weekely scripture memorization, we would add one "scoop", that they decorated, per week to our cone and once our scoops reached to the tip top...the prize box came out!  It is great way to encourage memorization and love to see their ice-cream cone grow!

For Ice-cream and cone template click below:
http://www.allkidsnetwork.com/crafts/food/templates/ice-cream-cone-template.gif

Hanukkah Hoop-La!!

The Bible tells us that Jesus participated in Hanukkah(also called the Feast of Rededication or the Festival of Lights).  The temple had been defiled and destroyed, and this holiday reminds us how God has made it new again.  Just like us, we were once defiled in sin, and we rededicated our lives to Yeshua and were made new again.  It’s also called the Festival of Lights, because in order to cleanse the temple, the Jews had to light the menorah, however they only had enough pure oil to light it for 1 day, and it miraculously remained lit for 8 days.  Therefore, we light the Hanukkah candles for 8 days, 1 candle per night, and let our lights shine.

Hanukkah Hoopla ideas:

1.       Encourage your church to have a Hanukkah Party!  Encourage your community to participate. Have a bouncy house, food, crafts and carnival games such as: 

a.       Dreidel Dig: Have a kiddie pool filled with packing peanuts and hide 30 mini-dreidels inside. Give the kids 1 minute to dig for dreidels and whoever finds the most is the winner.

b.      Spin the GIANT dreidel:  Make and form a dreidel with a large packing box. Close one side accordingly and form the opposite sided flaps to a point.  Place a large dowel stick thru the middle and secure with duck tape at both ends.  Draw one Hebrew letter on each side: Hey, Gimel, Nun and Shin.

c.       Hanukkah Hair Salon or Face Painting: Get white and blue colored hair spray and make festival hair do’s

d.      Menorah Bean bag toss:  Draw a large menorah on a firm posterboard or wood. Cut holes in 4 of the candles including the Shamash(the center candle).  Toss the bean bags thru holes for prizes, extra prize if can get thru the Shamash!

e.      Hanukkah Plinko:  Plinko is a very popular game on the Price of Right.  Make a large plinko board. Had child go to the top, place a large gelt(a large chip wrapped in foil) flat against the board. It will hit pegs all the way down and land in a marked lane at the bottom. Child gets different prize for lanes: Hey, Gimel, Nun and Shin.

2.       Cookies!!!  Kids LOVE to be busy in the kitchen.  Give them the opportunity this holiday.  Make dreidel and stars of David cookies.  These cookie cutters are easy to find, but also easy to do by hand.  Let the kids cut out the cookies, and when cooked and cooled, they will enjoy frosting and eating these special treats.

                                                             Making dreidel cookies

3.       Decorate, Decorate, Decorate!  There are a lot of fun craft ideas for kids to decorate the house for Hanukkah. 

a.       Use window markers to write special holiday greetings, stars of David, dreidels and menorahs!

b.      Make stars of David with craft sticks, and paint/color them blue.  Secure with ribbon/ yarn and hang thru out the house.

c.       Hang blue and white lights in windows.

d.      Print off Hanukkah pictures from online and have the kids color and hang up.

e.      Hang Hanukkah garland or make your own with blue and white paper chain.

4.       Eight Days of Fun!  Hanukkah lasts for 8 days, so make it a point to do something fun each day!

a.       Night 1: Read the Hanukkah Story, play Dreidel game, Light Candle #1 and open 1 gift.

b.      Night 2: Scavenger Hunt: Hide chocolate gelt throughout a designated area of the house for the kids to find.  Light candles #1-2 and open 1 gift.

c.       Night 3: Family Movie Night(popcorn and all!), Light candles #1-3 and open 1 gift.

d.      Night 4: Drama Night- form 2 groups and perform the story of the Macabees, Light candles #1- 4, and open 1 gift.

e.      Night 5: Game night-see who’s dreidel can spin the longest; gelt toss-who can toss the gelt into a Tupperware bowl; draw a dreidel/menorah on posterboard and cut into puzzle pieces and race who can put it back together the quickest. Light candles #1-5 and open 1 gift.

f.        Night 6: Pizza Night.  Make mini pizzas and have kids make menorahs, stars of David or dreidels out of toppings. Light candles #1-6 and open 1 gift.

g.       Night 7: Family bowling night-Bring along a bag of chocolate gelt and whoever gets a strike=3 gelt, a spare=2 gelt, any pin=1 gelt, gutter= 1 gelt taken away.

h.      Night 8: Have a party! Invite family and friends over to celebrate. Open 1 gift, light candes #1-8 and shine bright for Jesus.

5.       Hanukkah Snow building contest:  Have teams of at least 2 construct a menorah, dreidel or star of David out of snow.  For fun effects, have spray bottles full of water with different drops of food coloring in each to spray snow for color!

6.       Make a Chanukiah-  have 8 toilet paper rolls and 1 papertowel roll cut down to be slightly bigger than the toilet paper rolls.  Decorate the rolls either by painting, markers, stickers or gluing on glitter. Secure together with tape or glue first and then wrap in festive ribbons. Stuff yellow tissue paper into tubes for candle-light.