Jesus Is More Powerful Than...

The kids at church have been learning about Jesus' miracles and how that shows that he is God.  Last Sunday both Jon and Becca's classes did a "Jesus is more powerful" activity.

We had the letters spelled out on a large paper in painters tape.  Then the kids took turns covering the paper with paint and markers.  While they did this, they talked about the following:

Sometimes I get scared in the dark, but who is more powerful than the dark?  Jesus!

If my brother gets sick, who is more powerful than the sickness?  Jesus!

Sometimes I make bad choices, but who is more powerful than my bad choices and can forgive me?  Jesus!

When it is thundering and lightning outside, I can get scared, but who is more powerful than the storms?  Jesus!

In our story today, there was an evil spirit, but who is more powerful than evil?  Jesus!

If I fall down and get hurt, who is more powerful than my bruise?  Jesus!

When I have a bad dream, who is more powerful than my bad dreams?  Jesus!

Then, they removed the tape and hung up this sign.

The activity ended with the kids finishing the sentence, "Jesus is more powerful than..." as many different ways as they could.

I asked Jon and Becca today and they came up with:
a lion
an elephant
a thunderstorm
the sun
an ocean
a moose
evil
bad guys
sickness

Jesus sure is powerful!

Winter Lunch

The other day Becca and Jon had fun making snowmen sandwiches for lunch.  Yum!

Wacky Hair Day

Wacky Wednesdays are back this January at school, and last week was Wacky Hair day.  This year Jon got to participate also.  He was very excited until the minute I sat down to mousse his hair when he freaked out.  I had him blow some bubbles for Becca and that distracted him enough.  He was very proud of his "spikey fish hair."  (Think fish character in the old Mario World games with spikes all over him.)

Grandpa's Blocks

Over the past few years my dad has made a couple of sets of blocks for my kids.  We got them out the other day and built a castle together.  And what could be better that adding Cars to the creation?

Fruit Turkeys

Around Thanksgiving time I had been looking for a fun fall project to do with the kids and saw this idea online.  After school I showed the kids a picture of it and cut up some fruit and let them build their own fruit turkeys.  They turned out so cute and the kids were very proud.





Although I think they liked it better when I finally allowed them to dig in.  I even put out some yummy cream cheese dip for them to try.

Flower sandwiches

I feel a lot like I'm entering a new phase of child raising.  I think back to when we just had baby Michael.  I remember feeling like it was a lot of work to care for a baby 24 hours a day, but I didn't feel as busy as when I had a full time job.  There were plenty of times when he napped or was happily playing that I could attend to the house or have some time to read, scrapbook, or whatever.  In fact, I often enjoyed having other kids over when I did child care because it gave me some more work and purpose to my days.

Then along came Jon and being a stay at home mom felt like a full time job for me.  I would feed Jon, tend to Michael, change Jon, help Michael, entertain Jon, repeat.  There were brief times when I could check e-mail or whatever, but I found that to do chores around the house I started including one of my kids to give them the attention they needed.

Then came Becca when Jon was still so young.  By this point someone wanted attention all the time.  Even to check e-mail I often had Becca in my arms or Jon on my lap now.  I found myself working hard to schedule everyone's day so that nap and rest time for all three would overlap, so I could have a small break in the afternoon.

Now, Michael is at school full time.  Jon goes three afternoons a week.  When Jon is home, he and Becca play together so well that I often find myself folding laundry alone or sitting on the couch with nothing to do.  It is so fun to see them growing up, but sometimes I just need to pick one up and force a bit of cuddle time.  :)

So with my free thinking time, I decided to come up with some fun activities for Jon and Becca to do.  There are so many things that I did with Michael at this age, but when I had super young Jon and Becca the days were mostly just too busy.  First up is a fun lunch.  We decided on sandwiches cut in the shape of flowers with carrot stems and lettuce leaves.  Then we used grapes to make rain drops (since it was a rainy day outside that day).  Jon and Becca had a blast with it.

Memorial Day Water Fun

Yesterday was to top off at 90, so we started the day by heading to WalMart to pick up some water toys.

First up we got a slip and slide.  Michael was so excited about it.  He helped set it up and then tried it out right away.


Becca was intrigued by it too.  After watching Michael a few times she wanted to jump in also.


Jon on the other hand decided he would rather just watch.


However, when we got out the new water shooters he finally joined in the fun!

Check these out

I found a fun article about 25 clever ideas that is well worth the read.
Click here to read.

Here are a couple of my favorites:

Overhaul your linen cupboard – store bedlinen sets inside one of their own pillowcases and there will be no more hunting through piles for a match.


Bread tags make the perfect-sized cord labels.


Win friends at breakfast with this heart-shaped egg tutorial. Aww shucks!


Turn your muffin pan upside down, bake cookie-dough over the top and voila – you have cookie bowls for fruit or ice-cream.