Eat: Leap Day Traditions

I didn't want to ignore leap day. It does only come once every four years.

Which is what inspired the reasoning behind this post. I want to encourage you to do something crazy for dinner tonight. What am I going to do? I'm going to serve cookies for dinner.

Leap day only comes around once every four years so, I think on that time table, you're kids won't be malnourished or suddenly become obese.

This is the kind of thing that memories are made of. Your kids won't forget that you served cookies for dinner (or whatever crazy thing you serve), and it will be a memory that lasts with them for a lifetime. I was just talking to a friend today that said that one time her parents allowed them to have cake for dinner and how great it was to have it for that day. And she's an adult now with two kids of her own. But she remembers.

So make some memories tonight. Start a family tradition. Get your family closer together and enjoy the treat while you're at it.

So...what are you making for dinner?

Eat: Snack. Snack. Eat a Snack.

Eat a snack with Brown and Black. ~ Hop on Pop

I thought that it would be appropriate to continue our celebration of Dr. Seuss (which started here and here) with some Dr. Seuss inspired snacks.

I decided to go the literal route and not pick snacks that remind me of Dr. Seuss but rather snacks that are actually found in the text of his books. Here are some of the ones I found.

Green Eggs and Ham

Green Eggs and Ham - This is a no brainer. Make dyed green eggs and ham, either with food coloring or for a healthier route, use spinach.

Oh Say Can You Say

Freshest Fish that Finney Fries - Fish sticks, you can have three stacks (fresh, fresher, and freshest)
Green Grape Cakes - Just put green grapes in a muffin liner and call it a cake! Or if you are more ambitious, whip up a vanilla cake batter and sprinkle green grapes in before baking.

Fritz Food and Fred Food - Based on the pictures, this looks like corn puffs, i.e. Cheetos or Pirates Booty. Fritz' is orange so you can use Cheetos or Barbeque flavored Pirates Booty for that, and Fred's food is green so you can use Veggie flavored Pirates Booty for that one.

Play: Wocket Freezer Paper Stenciling

Remember I said that we were going to have Suess things all week? Well, here's another!

I made this shirt. I did it, and I don't have a screen printing machine or anything. All I used was freezer paper, an exacto knife, an iron, a paintbrush, and some fabric paints.

Play Review: Unplugged Play

I don't know about you, but the toys of Sebastian's that I "loathe entirely" (to reference another one of Dr. Suess' books. Check out my first reference here.) are the ones that have electronics attached to them. They seem to always go off without any provocation and seem to never have an off button. Seriously, toy manufacturers, you should always have an off button! Are you guys with me?!?!?

Sorry, anyway, all this is to say that I am a big fan of ways to play using the imagination and simple things that can be found around the house. And that's why the book Unplugged Play by Bobbi Conner resonated with me so well. The whole premise of the book is to find ways to play that do not involve electronics but go back to the more simpler forms of play.

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The first thing that I love about this book is that it is divided up by age. I have checked so many books out of the library trying to get some easy ideas of things to do with Sebastian only to get bogged down by not being able to find an age appropriate activity. And there were probably loads of ideas, but if I can't find them, it's no use. This book does a great job of allowing you to jump to where you need for your child.

Play: And to Think That I Saw It on Lawrence Road

My most favoritest Dr. Suess book is And to Think That I Saw It on Mulberry Street. I'm not exactly sure why that book is my favorite, but it is. I love the imagination throughout, and I love the defeat at the end. (Does that make me weird?)

Anyway, I thought that since Dr. Suess' birthday is coming up March 2, which is also when Read Across America happens, and The Lorax movie comes out, I thought it would be appropriate to do a Play post on my favorite Dr. Suess book.

And it wouldn't me enough for me to just say that And to Think That I Saw It on Mulberry Street is my favorite, and I've to do more. And so I thought it would be fun to make my own version of the book, only using my street as the inspiration.

And so I give you And to Think That I Saw It on Lawrence Road!

{Guest Post} Grow: Strength and Joy

This post comes courtesy of my very own mother. She is such an amazing spiritual mentor for me, and I am happy to share her words of wisdom with you. I hope you enjoy!

Do not be grieved, for the joy of the Lord is your strength. ~ Nehemiah 8:10

In this world you will have tribulations, but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world. ~ John 16:33
The Bible reminds me that the devil is the accuser of the brethren.  This lets me know that regardless of how well I parent my children, the devil will be on the sidelines finding something to criticize. He attempts to bombard me with thoughts about my inadequacies so that I will lose my joy and feel weak and defeated. 

In every season of parenting, there is much to learn, yet God never intended for me to raise my children without His help.  He has provided His word to equip both me and my children for every good work!

Play and Review: Wheeeeeee-ls cars

It was about two years ago that I stumbled upon this section of toys at Target. I was shopping for Aly's birthday gift for her 1st birthday (what pressure!), and I found the cutest instrument set. She loved everything music (still does!), so I knew this would be the perfect gift. What made it even more perfect was that, at the time, it was only $14.95. Score.

 

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This New Years I was looking for a gift for Ada (which proved to be very difficult. What does a one year old need or want?)... and again, came across this section of toys and knew she would love the Sugar Chute. She has an obsession with opening and closing doors, and taking things in and out of containers, so this was an no-brainer.

Eat: One, Two, Three, Four, Five a Day!

I'm not particularly strict when it comes to food with my kids. While I rarely enter into power struggles over food and we have no clean plate club at our house, I do work hard to get the kids to eat at least five fruits and/or vegetables a day. Some days we make it; some days we don't.

Fruits are easy, right? What kid doesn't love bananas, grapes, apples, kiwi, melons, strawberries, blueberries, peaches, etc. They are just so sweet and yummy. If it was up to my kids, they would eat fruit for every meal.

But it's those veggies that can be tricky. Yech. Sometimes bitter, sometimes too hard (or soft), and sometimes almost tasteless. Peppers or apples? I would take the apple every time. But, I know that vegetables are really important for growing little bodies, and I want them to develop a true tolerance (if not a like!) for them that will last long after I'm able to regulate the kids' intake of them.

So, friends, how do you get your kids to eat their veggies?

Here are a few things that have worked (off and on) for us:

1.  Let them play with their food.  Present their snack in a fun shape. Or give them the pieces and see if they can arrange it into something cool.

Grow: Lenten Paper Chain

All this past week I've been thinking and thinking about how to help the kids observe the Lenten season. I felt like they were too young to give something up for 40 days, but I want to include them in on this special season. Then it hit me- what about a paper chain that includes an activity/question/prayer for the day? Just as Advent is a time of waiting for God, Lent is too. While they have different feelings associated with the waiting, I thought that doing a paper chain would be a good way for the kids to visually see us getting closer to the time of Jesus' resurrection.

Here are the things I put on our chains. Feel free to use whichever ideas you like; I'm not 100% satisfied with all of them, but I think it'll be good for this year. Please leave a comment with any ideas you come up with to replace some of the ones that aren't as strong.

Play: Knuffle Bunny Scenes

Like many of you, we LOVE books. One author we love in particular is Mo Willems. He has written several sets of books, one of them including our ever-so-treasured plush friend- Knuffle Bunny. In the book that started everything out- Knuffle Bunny: A Cautionary Tale- we follow the story of a girl who throws a fit because she's lost Knuffle Bunny, but can't tell her dad because she doesn't know how to talk. The book's illustrations are pretty interesting- they are black and white real-life photos with the characters added in color on top. Here's an example:

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Grow Review: Amazing Adventures, Creative Connections and Daring Deeds

For those of you who are in the midst of raising families (or maybe are hoping to some day), this may be a good book to put on your future-books-to-buy list. Amazing Adventures, Creative Connections and Daring Deeds is a book dedicated to the grow of a family’s faith together.

What often happens in American church life is that we leave the growing and fostering of our children's faith development to the local church down the street. While I don't think we intend to ignore the responsibility, I think it just sometimes gets lost in the shuffle. For some of us, the days rush by so fast that we are surprised when it's the weekend. All the plans we had for intentional spiritual formation of our children are still in our journals or are pinned on our boards. Maybe next week, we think.

While a book can certainly not solve this problem (if it were only that easy), I would recommend it as a quality resource for families who are looking to read and serve together as they humbly follow Jesus as a family.  Not only does the book focus on reflection, Scripture and serving the community in which we are located, but it could bring the family together by pushing everyone out of their comfort zone.

For example, one chapter talked about giving generously, and I suspected that the “action” challenge would be something generic like give a few boxes of mac and cheese to your local food shelter. But, the authors (Tim and Alison Simpson) surprised me by challenging the family to pack up EVERY SINGLE PIECE of unopened non-perishable in the house and take it to a food bank or shelter. Gulp.

Pick this one up. This isn’t for the family who wants to do a little fuzzy devotional together, but for a family who wants to be challenged in growing outside of their comfort zones, with the hope of these kind of things becoming an everyday part of life.

As we approach the beginning of the season of Lent, perhaps this may be a devotional that families in our blogging community could go through.  While it's not "lenten" in theme, it may be just what we need to take that next step in growing in faith with our family.

What are some resources that you have found to be valuable in the faith development journey of your children?

p.s. This post was adapted from my initial review, which can be found here.

Eat: Dairy-Free Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Bars

With Valentine's Day just behind us, you may not be in need of something sugary. But, I can always appreciate another sweet.

And this one you can actually feel okay about. Not only is it dairy-free (and without any strange substitutions) it only uses minimal sugar and it is whole-grain. That seems like as good as a dessert can get.

Happy Valentine's Day!!

We hope your day is filled with lots of love...

"We love because [Christ] first loved us." -1 John 4.19 

Play: Seed Starter Valentines

I know this is a little late in coming for this year, but in the worst case scenario, you can just pin it for next year! ;)

So here goes.

These are the valentines that Sebastian will be handing out this year. They are seed starter valentines! I thought it could be a cute valentine and a cool activity for later in the spring. I'm thinking Sebastian, and those around his age, would have fun watering a flower and watching it grow.

Play: Valentine Love Hunt

In my search for "games" for my 15-month old, I came across this one in a book, and I thought it would be great for now, being as it is almost Valentine's Day.

The game itself is simple, but those can be the very best kind. I like it because kisses are an integral part of it. And I think Sebastian likes that part of it, too.

So to do the game, all you need is some cut out hearts. I made some out of those foam sheets you can get at a craft store for cheap. I figured this way, they would be a little more durable because, Sebastian is teething (and has been for for-ev-er, I swear, it's really ridiculous), and he really wants to put silly things in his mouth and even gets a kick out of showing me the ridiculous things he has stuffed in there. So all that is to say, I needed something that would stand up to his slobber, but you could definitely make the hearts out of construction paper, fabric, sponges, whatever. You just need some hearts.

Hearts "hidden" around the room

Play: Tiff's Valentine's Gifts

Psst.

Can you keep a secret?

You can? Okay, well,  I've been wanting to share what I've made for the family for Valentine's Day tomorrow. But don't tell. I want them to be surprised.

First, I made Asante some stamps made out of foam stickers and lids of various plastic containers. Thank you, Mama Jenn for the idea!

Grow: Who Was St. Valentine?

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I've always been the kind of person who wasn't super into Valentine's Day. Of course I always liked to receive something from a certain special someone, but it's not a day that I ever counted down to.

But this year has been different; mostly because I find that it lends itself so well to talking about "all things love" with the kids. We've been making paper hearts, listening to poems, playing in valentine sensory boxes, reading some fun books, and decorating heart shaped sugar cookies- all while learning how we can love ourselves and each other better, and discussing how we can even love at all because of how God created us. I sometimes find myself wanting to jump into some Trinitarian theology with them. Ah, but I digress.

As with every holiday, Jake and I wanted to make sure our kids understood why we celebrate Valentine's Day. While we know it's not the reason why most celebrate the day of love, we had fun telling our kids about St. Valentine.

Play: Valentine Sensory Boxes

I just wanted to take a minute to let you peek into the sensory boxes that the kids have been playing with this week. It's a little different style than my previous winter-themed one, and it's one that the kids seemed to like better.

First is the one that I made with Aly in mind.

Materials: Base of sticker foam hearts (Joanns), twirled pipe cleaners, heart plastic containers that open up (dollar store), various sizes and colors of plastic lids, pompoms, tablespoon, measuring cup, clear plastic cups (dollar store), heart shaped pencil sharpeners + couple unsharpened pencils, Fairy Godmother figurine, large googly eyes (dollar store), plastic ice cream cone, laminated cards with pictures of images related to valentines day, a red mini-car, a pink wooden pig, a red wooden rooster, two silver keys and a cinnamon tea light.

Asante liked it too-- this is what he built out of it-- a tower with a princess locked inside (perhaps we've been playing a little too much Super Mario Brothers):

This one is a little more simple. While Aly likes a lot of things to dig through, Ada is more concerned with dumping and scooping these days.

Materials: Cotton balls, pink plate, pink bowl, few sticker foam hearts, mini wooden clothespin, clear plastic cups, silver spoon from some kitchen canisters, and a couple medicine cups.

I used cotton balls as a base, thinking what a great fun material that would be to pick through. Well, little did I know that Ada is terrified of cotton balls. A scream and turn my head away because I'm too scared to even look at them kind of terrified. Through some gentle coaxing over the period of a few days, Jake has gotten her to the point of ever-so-briefly touching a cotton ball without jerking her hand away immediately. The other kids have liked this box's simplicity, so at least it hasn't gone to waste.

Hope these can be of some inspiration for you!

Eat: Pretzel Love Knots

Candy is pretty prevalent around this time of year, but I'm not so keen on giving it to kids, especially not one-year olds. So, I wanted to do a valentine that, while food-related, was not about something sugary and sweet.

Here's my solution.

Play: Valentine Roundup

There are some pretty amazingly creative people out in the cyber world. There is no doubt about it. And it seems once a holiday rolls around, you can really see them come out in droves.

So I thought I'd do a roundup of some of my favorite valentine ideas that I have stumbled upon this year. So let the listing begin!


1. I mustache you a question

I love the quirky-ness of this valentine. And who wouldn't want a stick-on mustache?

2. Candy holder


This is just a fun idea with pictures for giving lollipops. It seems pretty simple but unique since your child gets to be the star.

3. This is a stick up


This would obviously be for a little older since it is handing out gum, but I just thought the idea was really cute.

4. Love is a battlefield


I love this boy-ed up version of a valentine. How else would you give an army man on valentine's day? Too bad none of the kids would get the reference. :)

5. Handwarmer


I see this as a good teacher gift or for an older person, like a grandma.

6. You make my heart bounce


Another good candy-free valentine. It's just a cute way to give a bouncy ball.

7. Alphabet Valentine


I just love the simplicity of this one. And it's a free printable, so you really can't go wrong with this one.

8. Valentine Crayons

So easy to make out of broken crayons. A recycling effort and a great valentine, rolled up in one!

9. Pretzel Love Knots

A fun alternative to a sweet valentine, with free printable tags!

What are you planning on giving for valentine's day? Share what you've found on the internet! I love more ideas!

Play: Valentine Crayons

With Valentine's Day just around the corner, perhaps you're looking for a cute, non-candy alternative? While you may have seen this one pinned all over the place, I thought I would give it a try to see if it was as easy as it looks.

It is.

Asante and Aly helped find all of our broken crayons, and then took the paper off. Ada picked up the paper that fell on the floor. They took this job very seriously - and did a great job at it!

 

We have a winner!

Did you get to enter in to the giveaway we held earlier this week?

from Playful Learning

Well, the giveaway concluded this morning, but you can always read about the review of the book here if you are interested in getting the book yourself.

And now for the winner

from Rafflecopter

...it's Tiffany G!

So Tiffany G., we have sent you an email, and if you could get back with us in three days, we will gladly mail you your book. If not, we will choose another winner. So we look forward to hearing from you!

Thanks to everyone that participated. We will continue to do our regular thing of Play on Mondays, Eat on Wednesdays, and Grow on Fridays, but we will have opportunities like these interspersed as we have the opportunity to do so. So be looking for it, and stay tuned!

Grow: Showing Love through Planned Acts of Kindness

It's February again, which means it's the season of love, or at least celebrating love. Hearts are strewn everywhere; the world is painted with pink and red. But for me, I don't want to be caught up in the commercialism of this holiday. But at the same time, I don't want to ignore the opportunity to show love and appreciation either. I want to take the time to give of my excess (time, money, food, clothing) to show others that I love them.

And it doesn't have to be hard to show love. In fact, I think love is more readily felt in the little things you do for another.

Eat: Dairy-free Corn Muffins

Whenever it gets cold out, I always think of making chili. Something about chili just always warms you to your core, so it's great when you have a cold blustery day to whip up a batch.

And what goes hand-in-hand with chili, like love and marriage, horse and carriage, peanut butter and jelly? Why cornbread of course!

I always immediately think of cornbread when I think of chili, but I have mixed feelings about cornbread. Let me count the ways: