Category: General Family News

More Random Family-ness

Posted on by Becky

We had ziti for dinner and Daniel made cheese toast. David sat on my lap while we ate, his eyes following the food to my mouth and his little uncoordinated hands feebly attempting to snag a piece of toast on the way to my mouth! I gave in and let him chew on  my toast.

Wow! he would have kept going as long as I let him!

I am not ready to start him on solid foods–he is only four months old!–but he sure seems to think he’s ready!

I love how he sits in his bouncer seat in the dining room, following your eyes around the room intensely trying to “catch” your gaze. And once he does, his whole face lights up into a huge smile! And after I set him down, he started watching Daniel.

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As I assembled cube-organizers in the kids’ bedrooms, my little Riss hopped inside the cubes and popped up like a wild animal in her burrow, handing me nails while I hammered . . . reminded me of working with my dad as a very young child. I love you, Dad!

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I realized I was in the minority, going to Home Depot with four preschool children. We got all sorts of looks–more than at Target or the grocery store–but the employees were incredibly helpful to us! (“Is there anything else I can get for you?”)

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Tonight at bedtime Mara gasped, “[Gasp!] Mom! We didn’t do our craft yet!”

“It’s okay,” I promised, “that just means we get to do two tomorrow!”

With that answer she was satisfied.

Our day was full from start to finish. We:

  • Dropped off a card Mara made for someone from church
  • Picked up clothespins for craft at Donna’s
  • Dropped off 12-month clothes Carissa has grown out of for someone else
  • Did the Target shopping
  • Went to Home Depot for electrical tape and a 5-gallon bucket for mixing my homemade laundry detergent
  • Picked up groceries at Shoprite
  • Came home, despite the kids’ begging to go to Chick-Fil-A or Park with Benches or doing something–anything!–fun (as if riding around in a shopping cart with your other 3 siblings isn’t fun!)
  • Put away groceries
  • Ate lunch
  • Changed lots of diapers
  • Nursed the 4-month-old. . . often!
  • Folded two loads of laundry
  • Put the kids down for naps
  • Wrote two blog posts
  • Made ziti and salad for dinner
  • Ate dinner
  • Assembled the two 9-cube organizers (one for each of the kids’ bedroom)
  • Put the kids to bed
  • Kitchen cleanup

. . . and I still need to shower, make Daniel’s lunch for work, and do a bit of cleanup around the house.

It’s crazy that I used to wonder what stay-at-home moms did with “all their time”!

Day 4: The Angel Gabriel

Posted on by Becky

Day 4–on the weekend–Micah wanted to hang out with Daddy, instead of doing a craft, and Carissa was taken by her “jingle bell,” so much that when I threaded the pipe cleaner through her bell, she melted in tears.

She didn’t care about the angel–she just wanted the bell!

These crafts are mostly for Mara anyway–and Mara was the only one who finished!

She loved it! By far her favorite ornament so far.

I think it is my favorite ornament too.

As always she kept asking to make more! Fortunately for her, there are 20 days left.

Day 3: Zechariah

Posted on by Becky

Today we switched things up and made the craft before reading the Scripture passage. We kept the craft simple enough that Carissa could join us, so all three kids worked together.

I let them pick what color of yarn they wanted to use for the hair. Despite my reminders that they were not creating a self-portrait–this was Zechariah–Mara predictably chose red, Micah yellow, and Carissa “on-gee” (orange seems to be her favorite color these days, as she chases the “on-gee” ball at the Little Gym and asks for “on-gee” bath toys).

For this craft we used: a plastic lid (yogurt containers), yarn for hair, wiggly eyes, a piece of shell pasta for the nose, and since I couldn’t find any bubble wrap for the mouth, we just didn’t put on a mouth. (I figured Zechariah couldn’t speak, so we would emphasize that by not giving him a mouth at all! The simpler the better, when you’re coaching three preschoolers by yourself and one of them is 21-months old!)

Of course, Mara was watching over her shoulder the whole time to see if Carissa needed “help.”

I was amused that each child put the pasta nose on a different way: Mara (vertically); Micah (backwards); and Carissa (horizontally)!

We talked about Zechariah and Elizabeth and how they were very old and not able to have children, but the angel Gabriel came to Zechariah and told him they were having a baby! Zechariah didn’t believe the angel and the angel made it so Zechariah was unable to speak again until the baby’s birth.

Mara, of course, piped up: “If an angel ever tells me that I’m going to have a baby, I’m going to believe him!”

I told her that God sent Gabriel to give Zechariah a message, and he should have believed it because it was a message from God. God tells us things through His Word, the Bible. So the lesson for us is that God’s words are always true and if He tells us something in the Bible, we should believe what He says–even when it is so miraculous it is almost unbelievable–and we should do what He asks us to do.

The other lesson was: Wait till the glue dries before you hold up your ornament–or the nose will fall off! Of course, that lesson is much easier to put into practice.

Day 2: Prince of Peace

Posted on by Becky

Today’s Christmas passage was Isaiah 9:2-7. Mara understood more than Micah, but even for her (and me!) this passage was a little complicated.

We focused on the names of Christ and talked through the meanings of each and why He is called that:

  • Wonderful
  • Counselor
  • The Mighty God
  • The Everlasting Father
  • The Prince of Peace

When we got to the “Prince of Peace,” Mara gushed, “Oooooo, maybe I could be his princess?!?!” And. . .in a sense. . . if Christ is King. . . and we are His children . . . in a sense, she can be a princess! (Just probably not exactly in the way that she’s thinking right now.)

Our ornament craft today was a crown–relating to him being the “Prince of Peace.” A simple 2-inch section cut from a paper towel roll, painted and lovingly adorned with jewels.

This craft I did with Mara first, and then with Micah. Poor Carissa, never got a crown . . . oh, well–when she is older!!!! [After Carissa tasted the glue while making the “Light” ornament on Day 1, and Micah squirted glue on his pants and the floor while I was with somebody else, I do not feel so compelled to do the craft with all of them at once. I think a one-on-one setup will be preferable going forward, whenever circumstances allow. Even having the materials prepared for all of them ahead of time, it is still challenging to help all three at the same time within their varied and limited levels of capability.]

I’m never happy with indoor pictures–these more so, because they fail to capture the enthusiasm of Mara and Micah in this painting project. They were SOOO excited!! (I’ve never painted with them other than watercolor, so this really IS a whole new experience for all of us. When the paints came in the mail, and Mara and Micah were thrilled beyond words to pick out their brushes and begin!)

As small as the crowns are, it took longer to get ready than to paint them, and being the self-proclaimed “princess” that she is, Mara insisted on wearing the crown–which in reality all of us do at one time or another, don’t we?

After painting those teeny-tiny crowns, Mara and Micah both wanted to paint pictures. I didn’t have heavy-weight paper, so they just painted on a side of a cardboard box.

Micah was so cute. He leaned his cardboard on a paper towel roll as if he were painting on an easel! Unfortunately, it didn’t work so well, but I’m guessing he must have seen people painting on an easel before.  And Mara loved mixing colors. It was cute to see her face light up when she figured it out: “[GASP!] Re-ed! and Blue! Make–Purple!!!!!”

Micah explained his painting to Daniel–something about “here is where we live. . .” but beyond that, I think he was mostly mixing colors.

Mara told me she painted a picture of giving her purple crown to Jesus. And I was touched.

I thought of the passages in Scripture that indicate that we will receive “crowns”/”rewards” in heaven not for our righteousness (because we have only Christ’s) but for our faithfulness and endurance. And Scripture indicates that we will take those crowns and give them back to Jesus someday in eternity.

That’s what I thought of when I saw this picture.

Then I thought of how she is giving Jesus a paper-towel roll crown.

And it hit me that a paper-towel-roll crown is really about the best any of us has to offer Christ. Our crowns are “earned” as we yield to Him and He works in and through us. . . and it made perfect sense why we would give them back–because they were all His to begin with.

When we give to Him–ourselves, our plans, our possessions, our dreams, even our family; when we yield to His plans for us, to His will and His way, then we find the peace that He came to bring.