Wednesday, February 24, 2010

What To Do...What To Do...

I made this list a really long time ago of things to do for my daughters when they say, "Mom, there is nothing to do!" So I thought I would share my list of 101 things to do for little girls. Please, feel free to copy it and give it to your kids.





101 things I can do when there is nothing to do....





1. Make a tent in your living room.
2. Make popsicles out of juice, small paper cups, and popsicle sticks.
3. Pretend to go on a trip, make tickets, pack a bag, board your couch, take pictures.
4. Write a list of 10 things you would like to do.
5. Ask to have a parent let you take pictures of God’s creation and put them on the fridge or your blog.
6. Make something three dimensional; use a box, paper, tape, glue and crayons.
7. Press some flowers you picked.
8. Make rubbings of leaves that you find.
9. Learn about a different Christmas traditions and add it to you own.
10. Most definitely have a tea party.
11. Have a sleepover.
12. Go on a treasure hunt in your yard (make your own map)
13. Learn to play tennis or baseball
14. Try a hula hoop…see how many you can do
15. Decorate your bike and have a parade down your sidewalk
16. Have a lemonade stand
17. Have the Olympics in your yard…make sure you make medals.
18. Go fishing (in your tub if you can’t go for real)
19. Make cookies with your parent
20. Make a card and send it to an older person who may need encouragement
21. Go through your toys and donate old ones to a mission
22. Play hopscotch
23. Do a mural on your sidewalk with sidewalk chalk
24. Paint a picture of yourself
25. Look in the mirror and try to learn to wiggle your ears
26. Practice spelling Mississippi
27. Go on a bug hunt
28. Volunteer some time helping someone…like raking leaves.
29. Do something special for mom
30. Do something special for dad
31. Go to the library and check out a fun book
32. Make your own paper dolls
33. Make a puppet out of a sock or paper bag and then put on a puppet show
34. Pretend you are from a different country and practice the accent
35. Make up a new song while singing on your swing
36. Invent a new game; make your own board and pieces or write up the rules
37. Learn how to play soccer or basketball
38. When you get a package in the mail ask your parent if you can have the bubble wrap and dance on it.
39. Ask for a big box (the bigger the better) and make something out of it (house, boat, car, rocket ship)
40. Build a snow fort
41. Make a collage out of newspaper or magazine pictures
42. Make something out of duct tape (slippers, purse, wallet, bracelet)
43. Design blue prints for a house on a piece of paper with all the rooms, doors, and furniture
44. Write a play and act it out for your family (make tickets, playbill and popcorn)
45. Make a home movie theater and watch a family favorite (make tickets and popcorn)
46. For dinner ask if you can make it into a restaurant, design a menu, give out fake money, take orders, and bus the table
47. Make a memory box to keep special items
48. Start a journal and write stories, thoughts, poems, songs and draw pictures
49. Make flowers out of Kleenex ask mom how
50. Plant a seed in a plastic bag with wet paper towel and watch it grow
51. Help mom and dad with chores without being asked see what happens
52. Make a card for someone special
53. Write a letter to the President of the United States and thank him for all his hard work
54. Ask mom if you can dress up in some of her old clothes, shoes and jewelry
55. Have a fashion show
56. Learn how to play an instrument or make your own
57. Learn ALL the words to your favorite song and sing it to your family
58. Make a paper airplane and see how far you can get it to go
59. Make homemade play dough
60. Make a Christmas ornament or decoration
61. Write a letter to God (put it in your memory box)
62. Make popcorn garland for your Christmas tree
63. Go caroling with your parents
64. At Thanksgiving pass out paper to everyone and have them write why they are thankful and hang them on the refrigerator
65. Learn the Pledge of Allegiance and the pledge to the Christian flag
66. Learn how to sing our national anthem
67. Draw and picture of our flag and hang it on the refrigerator
68. Learn about a current soldier name and address; pray for them and send them encouraging letters.
69. Make a special dessert for the pastor at your church
70. Draw a special picture for your teacher
71. Take an apple to your teacher
72. Wash your parent’s car and vacuum the inside…make sure you get their help and permission
73. Go to Grandmas and help her with some yard work
74. If you have a video camera ask mom and dad to help you film a short movie you wrote.
75. Ask mom for some old wrapping paper and on the back of it draw a mural or a sign
76. Have a water balloon fight
77. Play in the sprinkler with umbrellas
78. Make mud pies
79. Play hide and seek
80. Go swimming or learn how to swim
82. Take care of a pet
83. Rearrange your room, make it nice and neat
84. Get a cozy blanket and read a good book
85. Play house
86. Play school (make sure you send home homework)
87. Collect food boxes and washed out cans and set up your own grocery store, get some brown paper bags and play money too.
88. Make snow angels
89. Go sledding (make your own hill if you need to with the snow in your yard)
90. At the beach roll in the sand, jump in the water, dig to china and make a sand castle
91. Count as high as you can
92. Blow a bubble with chewing gun and try to blow a bubble inside of that bubble.
93. Camp in your backyard
94. Plant a flower or a tree in your yard with your parent
95. Paint your mom’s nail or if your dad will let you …his nails
96. Go for a nice walk with your parents and explore the nature around you
97. Ride bike with your family
98. Have a picnic on your living room floor on a rainy day
99. Dress up for a special event
100. Have “Pillow Time” get all the pillows in your house and put them in a huge pile in the living room and have your parents read you a book or watch a movie
101. Wear mixy matchy socks!


Monday, February 22, 2010

Grandma Gedney and My Birthday 2008

This is a blog from another site... I thought I would repost it here in regards to my latest post Birthday Week 2010!

"Oh, Crap" was the first thing I heard yesterday morning. John had accidentally set our clock wrong, so we were running late for Rachel's school. After a bit of rushing around and about 15 minutes later John remembered to say, "Happy Birthday". I thought it was kind of a funny way to start my day.

Many people have asked what I did on my birthday. To be honest, it was one of the strangest birthdays I have ever had. However, in some sort of odd way it ended up being a very reflective day. The older I get the more I like to examine my life and where it is, where it is going, am I happy and am I where God wants me to be? John always thinks this is weird like I am some old lady.

I spent the majority of my day at Mrs. Gedney's funeral. I didn't know her at all. She is the grandma of two kids in our youth group. When we got there, my pastor sang, "Happy Birthday" to me in a whisper. I'm not gonna lie, that was a little weird as I am looking at Grandma Gedney in her coffin. Nothing like bringing it home that we are born, we live and then we die, "Happy Birthday to me".

My first thoughts were what a great way to celebrate my birthday…thinking of death. Somehow, God always seem to surprise me and change everything. During the funeral, I learned what a loving, caring and wonderful woman of God she was. She loved her family and they loved her. She loved God with her entire being. She loved her church and she loved doing things for God. Proverbs 31 was read to describe Grandma Gedney. To be honest, that has always been my goal to be a Proverbs 31 woman. Then something remarkable happened, Craig the kid in our youth group stood up and read a beautiful remembrance of his Grandma. Just like as if I were his mom I began to cry, I was so proud of him and what he was saying. Not just because of his well written memories; but at the depth of his understanding of the things eternal.

So I found myself asking, God what are you trying to say to me? I believe this is what He wanted me to glean from yesterday. We are just visitors in this life here on earth. Our real home is with our Father. Even though we are here for just a short time, God has us here for a purpose. His purpose is for us to love Him and to love others. I find that in myself that I am always in need to work more in both of those areas. I must truly love God with my whole heart and to hold nothing back. Then also, to love others and all that means. The theme that God has been showing me this year is to be compassionate. Jesus has such compassion for us and I need to have that same compassion for others as well. Not to rush to judgment, but rush to love.

To answer my previous question, my life has been very good, as long as I keep Christ first it will go where it needs to, I am happy, and I am where God wants me to be; but there is always room for more. This year will be very exciting and full of changes for me; but I know that God has a plan and He knows what I need. What started as a strange way to start a birthday actually ended up being a very good way to have a special day.

My beautiful daughters got me flowers that they picked out special for me, along with some great birthday cards. My husband took us all out for dinner. I had some very yummy pie. I could not have asked for anything better!

Birthday Week 2010

We have this celebration every year called birthday week. We call it this because my mom's birthday is on February 14th, my daughters is the 17th and mine ends the week on the 19th. Everybody gets their own celebration. This usually means many meals out and lots of cake. Usually, by my birthday no one wants anymore cake. This year we did some fun things and changed things up a bit regarding the cake. LOL

This year's birthday week seemed a bit more eventful because my parent and sister came to our house for the whole week. It started with my sister taking my oldest skiing for the first time. They really had a great time, even though my sister had some ski boot mishaps. LOL
During Birthday week, we had to keep up with our normal activities like ice skating lessons. My parents and sister had a great time watching them show off their skating skills.

Mid week we had a family celebration for my middle daughter's Bday. She loved celebrating her birthday with all of us.
For our girls birthdays this year we redecorated their room. It use to be a "Baby" yellow room as they called it. We had fun painting and using Little MissMatched (hey Jennilee you can buy mixy matchy socks on purpose here) for decorations. It turned out a lot more tweeny for our not-so-little anymore girls. They love it!



And we finally ended the week with my birthday. John bought me exactly what I wanted. It is this really yummy sugar free banana cream pie from a local restaurant.



We had to celebrate my birthday a day early. John took my out for lunch, shopping and a movie. It was so nice to have an afternoon just with him. My parents, Jen and the kids met up with us at Bennigan's later...I love that place. It was a really great day!
On my birthday I had to go to a funeral again. A wonderful Christian man from our church passed away on the 14th and we needed to be at the funeral. I ain't gonna lie it is weird going to a funeral on your birthday and I have done it twice in my life. I blogged about it at my old blog but I will post it here.
I really did have a great birthday and I had a wonderful time with my family. I even got a wonderful surprise from a new friend, TWO boxes of Tom's Mom's Cookies from Harbor Springs, MI. They are my favorite chocolate chip cookies on the entire planet! I am not kidding. You can order them online if you want to give them a try! They are so good.


I love birthdays...but I think I gained 100 pounds. LOL



Side note my older daughter started swimming lessons, a great Christmas gift from Grandma and Grandpa. Thanks, she loves it!

Oh and here is what happens when you leave the box of gold fish on your son's tray.... hahahaha Had to share the picture!








Friday, February 12, 2010

7 is Heaven!

My daughter is turning 7! Of course we had to have a party...Barbie style. She wanted a Barbie and the Three Musketeers party. Of course I could not find any party stuff with it on it so I had to get creative.



She ordered a chocolate cake, with chocolate icing with chocolate ice cream from the mommy bakery. She is a woman after my own heart. She even said she didn't want anything fancy. Love it....Love her!


Good friends to share the cake is always a fun thing. They were pretty rowdy and they had not even eaten the sugar yet...YIKES!






Craft table is the best idea ever. I just put out a bunch of craft stuff out and let them have at it. It kept these crafty girls busy for an hour!






DS's, pictochat and mario kept these girls giggling for hours.






And these sweet angels wouldn't stop giggling until one in the morning. You will not believe this ....today they woke me up at 6:50 am. Ugh! I love sleepovers!
~~~~~~~~~~
My sweet seven, you are beautiful and smart. You are growing up to be an amazing person.
I love you to the moon and back baby girl, Happy Birthday!
Everyday, you help me....


Wednesday, February 10, 2010

Scary Dances and Dangerous Pants

My conversations with my kids this morning....



Me - So is your class doing something for the Valentines Day Dance? (they usually perform a line dance for everyone on the stage)



Oldest Daughter - Yes (with a pouty face)



Me - What are you doing for it? (Last year it was "Achy Break Heart" Yikes)



Oldest Daughter - We are doing a square dance and it is SCARY!



Me - (I was very curious about the choice of word...scary. I will agree that square dances are scary simply because of the nature of the dance. LOL But I got the impression she had a different reason for it being scary.) Why is it scary?



Oldest Daughter - You have to touch the boy's hands! (with a look of yuck on her face)



Me - Oh, I see why that would be scary!



I later found out that they have been practicing on Thursdays. My daughter and her best friend came up with a plan to wear long sleeves so that they can cover their hands. LOL Apparently, I need to make sure she has a long sleeve shirt ready for tomorrow.

(found out that the sleeves we not long enough; but it was okay because they had hand sanitizer)


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~



I got out my youngest daughters clothes for her this morning. When she saw her pants this was our conversation....



Youngest Daughter - Those pants hurt me!



Me - Why do they hurt you?



Youngest Daughter - They trip me! (mind you these pants are short like a capri but look like a skirt)



Me - How do they trip you?



Youngest Daughter - They trip me when I run on the track!



Me - You don't have gym today



Youngest Daughter - I don't know if I have gym and I don't want to wear them because they trip me.



Me - It doesn't matter, we just had a snow storm. I am pretty sure you will not go on the track.



Youngest Daughter - I don't want to wear them...THEY TRY TO KILL ME!



So, I went and got her a different pair...I wouldn't want her to be killed by her pants. Ugh!







Oh...one more....



Youngest Daughter - Do you know why I like toilet paper?



Daddy - Why? (because how useful it is in wiping, that is what he was thinking)



Youngest Daughter - Because of the pretty colors on the packaging!



I love conversations with my kids...

Tuesday, February 9, 2010

Ice Cream Super Sundae

I made this dessert for our Superbowl party. It has been one of my favorites since I was a kid. Our pastor's wife made it for us a long time ago. Trust me....try it once and it will be one of your favorites too.



Make this the day before. You will need to do this to make sure the ice cream has re-harden.



Ingredients

24 Oreo cookies crushed

4 TB butter melted

1 gallon of vanilla ice cream softened (make sure it doesn't totally melt)

1 jar of your favorite caramel topping of fudge (I like caramel best)

12 oz tub of whip cream softened

1 cup of peanuts crushed



1. Mix crushed Oreos and butter and press into the bottom of a 9x13 baking dish making the crust of this dessert.



2. Now layer the ingredients ice cream, caramel, whip cream, peanuts.



3. Place in freezer over night



4. Cut into squares and enjoy. You may need to warm your knife in a cup of hot water to cut the dessert and use a good flipper to get it out.



5. Enjoy!


Monday, February 8, 2010

Home with God!

Revelation 21:3-7 (New Living Translation)
3 I heard a loud shout from the throne, saying, “Look, God’s home is now among his people! He will live with them, and they will be his people. God himself will be with them.
4 He will wipe every tear from their eyes, and there will be no more death or sorrow or crying or pain. All these things are gone forever.”
5 And the one sitting on the throne said, “Look, I am making everything new!” And then he said to me, “Write this down, for what I tell you is trustworthy and true.”
6 And he also said, “It is finished! I am the Alpha and the Omega—the Beginning and the End. To all who are thirsty I will give freely from the springs of the water of life.
7 All who are victorious will inherit all these blessings, and I will be their God, and they will be my children.

I love being at home with just my family. I like it because I feel that I can be completely free, completely comfortable and completely full of rest. Home has such a warm sound in my mind, it just makes me want to be there. Even when I go away for awhile, I am always am ready to come back.

We read this passage in Sunday School yesterday and as the words began to sink into my heart. God began to reveal something.... a truly loving part of Him. In verse three we hear this loud shout that God is finally home with His people. He longs to be at home with us. He wants us to be His people and He longs to be our God. He is not a distant far off God. He wants to be at home with us just like I love to be at home with my family.

My soul is beginning to understand the excitement of Christ return. To be honest, I was always a little scared of it. Now I am seeing the joy of being at home with God. Verses 4-7 are just so full of promise and just plain awesomeness (is that a word...well I am going to use it anyway). It begins to paint a small picture of eternity and God's Big Deep Love and Rich Mercy!

So with this all in mind I will sing the song by Kutless today...

All who are thirsty
All who are weak
Come to the fountain
Dip your heart in the stream of life
Let the pain and the sorrow
Be washed away
In the waves of his mercy
As deep cries out to deep (we sing)

Come Lord Jesus come(repeat 3 times)

Holy Spirit come(repeat 3 times)

As deep cries out to deep(repeat 2 times)



Heaven is becoming my deep longing. So come Jesus…Come!