Grow: The Lord Has Done Great Things for Us

The Lord has done great things for us,

and we are filled with joy.

Psalm 126:3

Yesterday was not a good day for me. My son was sick, I got some disappointing news, and my mom had to leave to go back home. All this to say that I was feeling overwhelmed and certainly not filled with joy.

But this morning, I remembered this verse (or more accurately the song from this psalm by Matt Redman), and I decided that I need to change my attitude and remember the great things that the Lord has done for me.

And so I took my camera and shot some pictures of exhibit A of the Lord doing great things for me.

And by the end of it, I was filled with joy.

Eat: Quick Dip in the Mud

I must admit that we are one of "those families" who are pretty careful about the amount of "treats" our kids consume. Our general guideline is that Sunday is our Treat Day, when we get to enjoy a delicious treat as a family, as a celebration of the sweetness of the Lord's love for us. Admittingly, the "reason" for the treat sometimes gets lost in translation, but it's something we try and stick to, nonetheless.

Typically we decide on Friday what treat we want on Sunday (so we can be sure to buy the ingredients we need during our Saturday Grocery Outing). It involves discussion and sometimes involves some negotiation (ice cream? brownies? candy?) because we all have to agree on one thing.

One of our favorites is Quick Dip in the Mud (from a Sesame Street Cookbook). It's easy and easily adaptable from many different tastes.

Ingredients:
Meltable chocolate
Anything that dips!

We choose angel food cake, strawberries, bananas, and marshmallows. I really like using Baker's chocolate melting cup because it's so easy to melt without worrying about burning the chocolate.

It's super easy, super delicious and super messy! What more could a kid ask for? ;)

Play: Color Explosion

Over here at my (Tiffany) house, things have been in major transition as I have started working full-time (outside the home) and Jake (my awesome hubby) is now a stay-at-home dad (at least for this upcoming year as he takes a break before starting in on doctoral work). I will still be writing for PlayEatGrow, but some of the ideas will be coming from him.

The other day, we made Color Explosions.

Supplies needed:
1. Milk (not skim)
2. Food coloring
3. Q-tips
4. Dishsoap
5. Plate

The Experiment:
Exploring the connection between milk fat and dishsoap.

Check out the how-to video of our science experiment (don't mind my 3 year old's "baby talk" phase, seriously, what's up with that?! :)): 

Afterwards, Ada had fun swirling together the colors.

Need to know the "why"? Check out Steve Spangler's Science Lab for more information.

Grow: First Day Traditions

Traditions help hold families together. The rhythm, the expectations, the relationships, the trust, the memories- it all helps. One opportunity for a making of a yearly tradition is the first day of school. Jake and I have a tradition of taking pictures on OUR first day of school (we did it during college and graduate school!). But what will we do when it's time for the kids to go to school? Not sure yet, but here are some creative ideas to get the juices flowing:

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1. A special breakfast
While this breakfast over at Giggles Galore is quite elaborate (yet it only cost her $5!), maybe there's something that you can do that would be a special breakfast. Pull out the stops, especially if your child is feeling anxious about the first day. Getting our kids out the doors with full bellies and loved hearts will be a great way to start off the day.

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2. Photos of First and Last Day
The Haps used picmonkey to do this side-by-side picture (SO EASY!). So much fun to see how htey have grown over the year!

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3. A little treat for the lunchbox or backpack.
Maybe it's a little something sweet with a cute saying, or a special treat like an apple cake pop. Whatever it is, pack a little something special for the lunchbox to tell your child you are thinking about them. 

4. A special beginning of the year blessing (or the beginning of a daily blessing/prayer!)
Maybe it's the same prayer all the time. Or maybe it's a different prayer/blessing each year of school. Or perhaps it's just that you pray together each day before leaving for school. Any way you choose, prayer is a great way to commit the day to the Lord, and it hopefully helps direct our kids' minds to Him throughout the day.

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5. An interview!
Positively Splendid has some great printables to download of questions to ask at each grade. If your kid isn't a writer, you could host the interview, writing down their answers OR why not do a video interview to capture more of the essence of your child?!


Of course, remember, traditions are only fun when mom isn't so stressed out in carrying them out! Pick one that you like and go with it. Keep it simple so that you aren't so busy preparing and creating that you don't have time to sit, relax and talk with your child about all the things they are both excited and nervous about! More than kids want a special "thing", they want our attention and affirmation. This is at the heart of traditions that grow families.

Eat: Healthy Peanut Butter Balls

I don't know about you, but one thing I distinctly remember from being in school is always being starving by the time I got home. I always needed a snack.

And it was at these times that I could easily go for the prepackaged not-so-good for you stuff simply because it was convenient.

But I found a better option. It's sweet. It's full of protein. 

Play: Ideas for Organizing for the School Year

It's almost time for the daily avalanche of papers. Coloring pages, art projects, spelling tests, book reports. Depending on how many kids you have, there's a possibility for a ton of paperwork. If you are like me, one temptation is to toss it (I really dislike paper clutter). But, while I was at my parent's house awhile back, my mom brought out this HUGE tub full of great memories from my past, including some art projects and school work. I had a blast going through them, and was really thankful she had done that for me. So, now I am motivated to have a system in place by the time our first starts school to organize papers my kids bring home.

Right now, for these preschool years, I just have a plastic tote for each kid, and I stick in things every now and then that I think are particularly interesting or show a jump in their developmental stage (i.e. first time they draw a "person" with a head and legs and arms instead of just scribbling). But, I'm going to need something much more robust if I am going to keep up with all these kids' next 13 years of school!).

Here are a few things that I have found particularly interesting.

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1. The FileBox from IheartOrganizing.
This one is a great idea, especially if you are starting at the beginning of a school experience. For each year you have one file, and in it you keep the most memorable items. It's kinda like making a portfolio for your kids. She has a few downloadable templates for the front page (where we can attach a school photo), as well as cute file tabs.

Eat: Lunchbox Round up

With the coming of school comes the chore joy of packing lunch.

I don't know about you, but I find that making lunch is one of my least favorite things to do in the morning. Or night. Or whenever. I just don't like it. But I think some of that dislike comes from being bored with what I have to pack. Packing the same sandwiches and sides every single day of the working week turns this task into a truly grueling task.

So to mix things up for both you and me, I thought I'd share the top ten ideas I've found for lunch from around the interweb.

We'll start with the entree...

1. Bullseye Spiral Wrap

This is technically a vegan sandwich, but you could easily swap out vegan cream cheese for the real stuff for a vegetarian option or add in some meat to up the protein.

2. Sandwich Kabobs

Sometimes it doesn't take a whole new flavor profile to make lunch interesting. Just use cookie cutters!

Play: Refrigerator Picture Frame

School is just around the corner for a lot of people. And for some it's already here. And so begins the task of dealing with lots of paperwork.

Kids bring home artwork. Kids bring home quizzes. Kids bring home tests. And that's just to display. There's loads more that we will touch on how to organize it later.

But for now, let's deal with how to make these proud papers less than clutter in our homes.

Now, I don't have a school aged kid yet, but Sebastian still manages to bring home a piece of artwork from the toddler room at church every week. And I'm often at a loss as to what to do with it. I don't want to just throw it out (even though he probably wouldn't care yet), but neither do I want it to clutter my end table or staircase.

The fridge seems the most logical place to put it, but I don't want to have oodles of barely clipped papers hanging off of the appliance I use the most in the kitchen.

And so I present to you the refrigerator picture frame.

This project cost me less than two dollars to make, and I think it is working out really well for the task I wanted it to do.

Grow: Morning Surprises

Ever wake up a little bit grumpy, but then remember you have something great planned for the day? The day goes from partly cloudy to mostly sunny because of a change of perspective.

One evening in an attempt to get Aly to fall asleep, we promised a little surprise under her pillow in the morning. What it was going to be, we had no idea. But we knew that a surprise might motivate her sweet stubborn heart to want to sleep.

In the morning, she remembered the promise of a surprise under her pillow, ran back to her bed, and found something simple, but fun. A stick puppet.

Much to OUR surprise, this "I'm not a morning person" girl was quite chipper and excited. The day went better long after the "surprise" was interesting to her anymore. So we did it again a few nights later, this time not telling her there would be a surprise. She just woke up and found it.

So now, every now and then, we'll make something simple out of stuff we have lying around to communicate to our kids that we think about them after they go to bed, and to remind them that we care.

Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed,
    for his compassions never fail.
²³ They are new every morning;
    great is your faithfulness.

Eat: Gummy Worms

It all started when our kids wanted to eat ...

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.... worms.

They were out with Jake and found a bunch of earthworms.... and decided they wanted to eat them. So Jake looked it up and made an exciting discovery. Since worms eat whatever is in the ground, you just have to feed them good food for a day to clear them out, and then they are safe to eat (after a little cooking). So, Jake and the kids tried it out, but "sadly", our worms died during that day, so we couldn’t eat them. 

We decided to try homemade instead.

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Play: Asante's Book of the Week

Stone Soup, by Ann McGovern is still a classic among elementary students. Do you remember reading it for the first time? I do, and I remember how clever I thought the traveller was!

Well, that's the book Asante is featuring today. Hope it encourages you to check it out from your library today!

Happy Reading! Thanks for watching!

Grow: To God Be The Glory

Have you been watching the Olympics lately?

I'll admit; I become an Olympic fanatic every two years. I love getting to watch sports I normally never care about. I love cheering on my country. I love rooting for the underdog and the top dog. I love it all.

And I was really struck by this quote by Gabby Douglas last night:

"It is everything I thought it'd be. Being the Olympic champion is definitely an amazing feeling. I give all the glory to God. The glory goes up to him and the blessings fall down on me."

And so it got me to thinking about giving the glory to God for our achievements, whether they are Olympic sized or not.

Eat: Blueberry Boy Bait

You can't tell me you're not curious about this one. I mean with a title like that, you know you want to know what it is.

Well, that's how I felt about it when I stumbled across this recipe the other day. Boy bait? I've got to try it!

And let me tell you. It worked.