Your Daily Tidbit

Know Ye Not that Ye are a Temple of God, and how that relates to Christmas

2017-12-12T14:06:00.000-05:00

When I was first asked to speak for our relief society activity tonight I immediately thought about Christmas. But the topic I was asked to cover was, “Know ye not that ye are a temple of God?” And at first, I thought that these were two very different topics. But the more I started reading and planning my talk I realized that the topics are not mutually exclusive. I thought about temple characteristics and traits that help us identify who we are as women.

When you think about temples usually the words that we use to describe them are, “holy”, or “houses of the Lord”. The buildings are kept as close to perfection as humanly possible.

In fact, in a talk given by Scott D. Whiting, titled, “Temple Standard” he talks about going through the Laie Hawaii Temple. In his own words he says, “As we moved through the temple, I watched and listened to Elder Walker and his associates as they inspected the work and conversed with the general contractor. On occasion I observed one man running his hand along the walls as we moved from room to room. A few times after doing this, he would rub his fingers together and then approach the general contractor and say, “I feel grit on this wall. Grit is not temple standard. You will need to re-sand and buff this wall.” The contractor dutifully took notes of each observation.

As we approached an area in the temple that few eyes would ever see, the same man stopped us and directed our attention to a newly installed, beautiful leaded-glass window. This window measured about two feet (0.6 m) wide by six feet (1.8 m) tall and contained an embedded, small stained-glass geometric pattern. He pointed to a small two-inch (5 cm) colored-glass square that was part of the simple pattern and said, “That square is crooked.” I looked at the square, and to my eyes it looked evenly placed. However, upon closer inspection with a measuring device in hand, I could see there was a flaw and that this little square was indeed one-eighth of an inch (3 mm) crooked. Direction was then given to the contractor that this window would need to be replaced because it was not temple standard.

I admit that I was surprised that an entire window would need to be replaced because of such a small, barely noticeable defect. Surely, it was unlikely that anyone would ever know or even notice this window given its remote location in the temple.

As I entered the completely renovated Laie Hawaii Temple, I was overwhelmed by its beauty and quality of finish. You can appreciate my anticipation as I approached the “gritty” walls and the “flawed” window. Did the contractor re-sand and buff the walls? Was the window really replaced? As I approached the gritty walls, I was surprised to see that beautiful wallpaper now hung on all the walls. My first thought was, “So this is how the contractor addressed the grit—he covered it.” But, no, I learned that it had always been the plan to hang wallpaper on these walls. I wondered why a little hardly detectable grit mattered if wallpaper was to cover it. I then eagerly approached the area where the flawed window was located and was surprised to see a beautiful floor-to-ceiling potted plant sitting directly in front of the window. Again I thought, “So this is how the contractor addressed the crooked little square—he hid it.” As I moved closer, I pushed the plant’s leaves aside and smiled as I saw that the window had indeed been replaced. The formerly crooked little square now stood neatly and evenly in the pattern. I learned that it had always been part of the interior design to have a plant in front of this window.”

Why would it matter to sand grit from the wall or to replace the window if no one would ever know? Because it wasn’t “temple standard”. Now because the entire temple had been perfected it could now be a house of the Lord.

This made me reflect on the many women in history who are themselves “temple Standard”. First, let’s reflect on our Heavenly Mother. Elder Dallin H. Oaks has said that our theology begins with heavenly parents, and our highest aspiration is to be like them. She works side by side with the divine Father.

Then I thought of Mother Eve. How she chose to bring about the fall in order to bring about the entire human race. To leave a perfected garden to do the ultimate will of the Father and the Son is surely “temple Standard”.

My thoughts then turned to Mary, the mother of the Son of God. I have a painting that hangs in my house at Christmas time. And if you don’t mind I’d like to describe this painting to you, in the words of the artist herself, Judy Law.

“In my painting Mary is quietly contemplating the bright and wondrous new star which has appeared in the heavens announcing to all the world the birth of the precious little son which she holds in her arms. The stable I have pictured is a place so humble and small that it had not been previously considered as possible tourist accommodations. However, it is peaceful and has been made comfortable with clean straw and soft light.

Many things in the painting have symbolic meaning to me: Mary is dressed in a soft greenish robe-green representing youth, and springtime, new life. The white represents purity. The robe on the floor is brownish earth color suggesting the humble life of a poor peasant family. But the cool blue and the warm reddish lights falling on it create purplish highlights which suggest the robes of royalty that should have belonged to Joseph and Mary as legal heirs to the throne of King David, had not the Romans been in power in their land.

The post was included as a reminder of the cross which would come. Part of the brace across the top of the entrance points to both Mary and Jesus, suggesting the scripture, “yea, a sword shall pierce through they own soul also” (Luke 2:35). The water has many meanings: baptism or being clean before God, service or the washing of feet, and the quenching of spiritual thirst through the Son of God.

My model for the painting was born in Bethlehem. When I first met her I had not yet decided for sure that I would paint her as Mary, so I didn’t mention that this had been suggested to me. I only asked how she would feel about posing for me to paint something from the scriptures. Imagine my surprise when she answered, “oh, that’s interesting! When I was younger I went to a convent school, and one of the men who was there studying to be a priest told me that someday I would pose for an artist to paint the Virgin Mary!”

As I painted I changed her face many times. She no longer resembles my model because I wanted her to look almost childlike. I thought she should look very youthful and venerable, yet noble. To me her bare feet suggest humility and perhaps hint at her youthfulness, while her erect posture suggests nobility and her foot slightly raised suggests a willingness to be led by her Father in Heaven.

There are two light sources in the painting-the cool starlight streaming in through the opening to the stable and the warm lamplight behind Mary’s figure. This allowed me the delightful challenge of working out the interplay of a wide range of colors. On a deeper level, the two light sources suggest to me that this Holy Child possessed attributes from both a perfect Heavenly Father and a pure and lovely mortal mother, that he might be empowered to accomplish his special mission as out Teacher, our Savior and our Reeder-The Light of the World.”

Mary is definitely “temple standard”.

Now today I think of all of us. How are we related to the temple? How do we live a temple standard? I want you to think of all the different types of temples in the world.

I’d like you to observe a few things. Among these temples are buildings that are tall. Majestic, as they stand in height and stature. Some are single-story, short, and small. Some are young, new, and fresh, while others have stood through many seasons. Some have many windows, letting in much light. But there are few who let little show outside of the façade. Some temples have had little to no damage. Some need updating or even rededicating. There are temples that have been damaged and needed rebuilding. There is one that started, cracked, and needed to start again from the beginning. There are temples that are within reach, while others are very far. Some temples have many visitors, while few are visited less frequently. Some temples look similar and there are temples with very unique appearances.

President Boyd K. Packer taught, “Our physical body is in the instrument of our spirit. Thus our relationships with other people, our capacity to recognize and respond to truth and our ability to obey the principles and ordinances of the gospel of Jesus Christ are amplified through our physical bodies.”

1 Cor. 3:16-17

16 Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?

17 If any man defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy; for the temple of God is holy, which temple ye are.

Elder Melvin J. Ballard said, “The body that has been given to us was for the purpose of allowing the spirit to exalt itself to a nobler condition. The lightning that is seen flashing from cloud to cloud, from mountain top to mountain top, is an electrical force that may tear down buildings, set fire to property, and destroy life. Conduct electricity through the dynamo wire, and motor, and behold its wonderful results working for the service of man, accomplishing something under the control of a physical instrument, it thus becomes a power for good. So with steam, if allowed to evaporate freely it does little good, but restrain it in the boiler, send it through the engine, and under its power you may travel across the continent or sail from shore to shore. And so, too, with this highest, most potent of all spiritual forces, the intelligence that is in man; enshrine it in a spiritual body, that it may have the experiences of spiritual life; and then give it a physical body, that it may enter into and obtain the joy and experiences of physical life, and you have enlarged its powers immeasurably” (in Conference Report, Oct. 1912, 107).

Elder Bednar said, “Our physical bodies indeed are temples of God. Consequently, you and I must carefully consider what we take into our temple, what we put on our temple, what we do to our temple, and what we do with our temple. And we can learn a number of important lessons by comparing the Church’s temples to our physical bodies as temples.”

“Do not underestimate the important symbolic and actual effect of appearance. Persons who are well groomed and modestly dressed invite the companionship of the Spirit of our Father in Heaven and are able to exercise a wholesome influence upon those around them. Persons who are unkempt and careless about their appearance, or adopt the visual symbols of those who often oppose our ideals, expose themselves and persons around them to influences that are degrading and dissonant. Outward appearance is often a reflection of inward tendencies” (The Teachings of Harold B. Lee, ed. Clyde J. Williams [1996], 220).

I’ve never thought about the connection between the actual buildings of temples and our bodies. They are both physical structures, and are referred to as temples so shouldn’t we see the connection between the edifice and the body?

Elder Holland taught, one of the plain and precious truths restored in this dispensation is that the body and the spirit are the soul of man. And when the spirit and the body are separated men and women cannon receive a fullness of joy. That is the reason why obtaining a body is fundamentally important in the first place, why sin of any kind is such a serious matter and why the resurrection of the body is so central to the great triumph of Christ’s Atonement.

But what do all of the temples have in common? They are dedicated to the Lord and have within them the spirit of the Lord. Sisters, we are these temples. We are tall and short, new and old, we are fresh and renewed. At times we are damaged and cracked. At times we need rededicating. We are popular and we are lonely. Some of us have a plan to be built, but at the moment, it’s only just announced, even if it’s just in our hearts. Whiles others have the hope to someday be announced.

But we have the ability to be dedicated to the Lord. We have the ability to have the Holy Spirit with us at all times. But we must make use of our temples. We must be used for service and for learning. We can be strong. And all of the temples we have are unique in appearance, but all are beautiful. Perhaps how we view the temple is how the Lord sees us, and our potential.

In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.

Temple Standard by Elder Scott D. Whiting

Ye Are the Temple of God by Elder David A Bednar

LDS Girls Camp 2017 Music To My Ears

2017-06-22T20:25:00.002-04:00

Well, we just returned from an event-filled week. If you're a girl between the ages of 12-18 or a friend of one in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints than you get to participate in what is known as "Girl's Camp".

It is a wonderful opportunity to go away for a few days and experience nature and draw closer to God while hanging out with 200 of your closest friends.

I had the opportunity to help organize camp this year. We chose the theme "Music to My Ears" Everything we did that week revolved around music.

Here's what we started with: our scripture we wanted to be about music, and have significance to women, so we chose Doctrine and Covenants 25:12. This was the revelation given to Emma Smith to organize the Hymn book for Sabbath day worship. "For my soul delighteth in the song of the heart; yea, the song of the righteous is a prayer unto me, and it shall be answered with a blessing upon their heads."

We asked the Young Women in our area to come up with designs for t-shirts around our theme. We chose a few designs and combined them to make it look like a concert t-shirt.

Front:

Back:

We also wanted a staff shirt so the young women would know who they could go to for direction. They also have to complete camp certifications (rope tying, basic first aid, orienteering etc.) and we were hoping the staff shirts would help them find who their leader was quicker. Here is the t-shirt a friend designed.

She also designed our general logo:

We used these on notebooks and pens we gave to each participant for use during scripture study:

Every person also received a nametag. We wanted it to go with our music theme so we made it look like a VIP backstage pass for a concert. Inside each nametag was a full schedule.

Our Hymn for the week was "Come Thou Fount" and every day we chose a daily theme based on a line from the hymn, and coordinated our activities around that line. We also asked each of the young women to practice the song before camp, and look up any verbiage they were not familiar with.

I was able to give a devotional surrounding the line "Praise the Mount". Here is the talk I referenced: Why This Holy Land

We had a few major activities planned. Adam Bevell spoke about his experience with Bono and how he let music help him through his transition of losing his sight. He wanted to define himself as a Son of God and a great Father, not as a "blind guy". It was really moving. So was the $800,000 guitar he personally received from Bono.

We had another guest speaker talk about how she loved to sing, and perform, but she was diagnosed with cancer in her nose. Through 2 surgeons (the first totally ripping her off) and 15 surgeries, she is now able to sing again and has a normal shaped face again. She is beautiful inside and out but talked of the difficulties of going through so many transitions and how music was her solace.

We had a dance too. Here is our "safe" playlist.

We had a spiritual program where "biblical" and "modern" women talked through their experiences with the Savior and how each related to a song.

We played music during each meal and made the girls dance in front of everyone to get lost and found items returned. We have 10 congregations (we call them wards) in our area, and each had a musical genre. Each ward had a variety show number they performed based on their genre.

We took a hike in the dark and sang songs in the woods with flashlights that were religious based. It was so beautiful looking at the stars and focusing on our feelings.

Our dinners had themes too. First was country. We served hamburgers and hot dogs and played country music. Second was mariachi (taco Tuesday) so we played Latin music, last was Italian were we ate dinners served at Olive Garden and played Italian folk songs. Our cooks were a.ma.zing.

For our service projects, we decided on 2; one local and one international. Our local organization is Amanda Hope Rainbow Angels We tie-dyed t-shirts for those battling cancer and wrote notes of encouragement to those children and their family members.

The second organization we worked with is Days for Girls. It is a group that provides washable feminine hygiene kits for young women in areas where there are no supplies available. Girls previously had to miss a week of school every month during their cycles. These kits literally allow young women to stay in school giving them days and weeks back for education. Can you imagine having 3 more years of schooling at a high school level? We cut fabric to later be sewn into liners and pads.

It was packed with fun and everyone including leaders had an amazing experience. I was so glad I got to be apart of this week.

As a farewell parting gift, we gave the staff Symphony chocolate bars, and the young women a bracelet.

Summer Bucket List, Crazy 8 and Vacation Countdown

2017-05-23T20:01:00.001-04:00

Here's another free printable! Hope you have fun this summer.

Vacation Countdown

2017-05-05T11:58:00.003-04:00

Here comes summer, right around the corner. I created a vacation countdown now available in my Etsy shop. It's 11"x14" and so fun for kids and adults. Who doesn't get excited about a vacation, even if it's right in your very own home! To use this countdown, simply hang it on the wall, put under a glass frame, or laminate it. Then cross off each day to celebrate your break! I would love to see how this is displayed in your home!

The Miracle House Part 2

2017-04-22T04:02:00.000-04:00

Renovations are no joke. Add in the complexity of living in your home while renovating, and it's at a whole new level of cray. We wanted to start with the master bathroom for several reasons. 1. we've tackled projects here and there, but never an entire house. So we thought if there was ever a room to gut, let's start with a small one. That way if we completely botch the handiwork, no one will see it, unless invited. 2. It is a small space, so we thought we could knock it out quicker than other project rooms. and 3. It was a good size to practice on. If we nail it, we keep going, if we get in over our heads, we know we need to hire out the work. So we started...

This is what we started with:

We wanted to keep the rub and shower, everything else had to go.

I painted the walls with Sherwin Williams "Rainwashed" I love this color so much! Everything here in Arizona is tan and brown, so I went for something cool and refreshing. I also wanted a hint of gray.

We are replacing all of the baseboards in the house as well. So I didn't have to worry about taping anything off or dripping on the floor. That made for a quick paint job.

Next, we ripped out the sink and started tearing up the floor. It was both stress relieving and stress inducing, if that's possible. Tile is heavy! So banging it up with a hammer is kinda fun! Hauling it all away- not so much. This is the picture I sent Mr. B to let him know we were starting on our bathroom.

After the floor was removed, we chose a new tile. We wanted a wood look but there just aren't really any wood floors here in the desert, so we went for a porcelain tile with a wood look. We chose Montagna Rustic Bay 6 in. x 24 in. Glazed Porcelain Floor and Wall Tile.

I started in the water closet, and laid the full pieces down. When Mr. B got home from work we measured the odd angle pieces and put those down.

It went so much better than I was anticipating! We installed a new commode, and I hung a picture of Central Park I took while on a trip there. Now all the water closet needs are baseboards.

Next came the main part of the bathroom: I always laid the full pieces first, and let those dry for 24 hours. That way I would have something to kneel on when doing the edges of the room. It seemed to work well for me.

We installed the new vanities, with his and her sinks, new light fixtures, shelving, a towel hook, and added the finishing touches.

I purchased these knobs from Hobby Lobby:

And the rest of the decor from various stores:

Here's the finished Master Bath (minus the baseboards):

The Miracle House Part 1

2017-04-22T03:01:00.000-04:00

Here are all of our "before" pictures. This is how the house looked the day we turned the key.

Front Room:

Kitchen:

Family Room:

Office Nook (Dwight get out of my nook!):

MasterBedroom:

Master Bath:

Bedroom 1:

Bedroom2:

Bedroom 3:

Kids Bathroom:

Hallway:

Backyard:

So much work to be done. Bring on the Fixer Upper.

Spring Free Printable

2017-04-19T16:33:00.003-04:00

Free Printable for Spring. Just right click the image and download right to your computer! Enjoy.

Valentine's Day Printable

2017-01-12T18:27:00.002-05:00

I decorate for valentine's day on January 15th. I thought a nice little painting would be fun. Here's a 8 8x10 printable, free until 1/22/17. After that date, you can purchase this printable in my Etsy shop. Happy Valentine's day!

Pinecone Treats

2017-01-06T19:03:00.001-05:00

Made something fun for a ladies get together at church. They were a big hit. Check out the video below for a tutorial.

The recipe I used:

1 cup peanut butter (mine was all natural, it worked fine, despite the fact that it is more runny than traditional peanut butter)

1/2 cup Nutella

1 cup powdered sugar

mix all ingredients together, set aside.

4 pretzel rods broken into 3 or 4 equal parts (depending on how tall you want them)

1 box chocolate chex. It's mixed with original chex, so pour the entire box of cereal into a bowl, and pull out the chocolate squares as you go. Broken squares are perfect for the top of the pinecone for tapering.

Mold the peanut butter mixture around the pretzel piece into an inverted cone shape.

Place the chocolate chex around the base, and alternate placement of squares as you work your way to the top.

Dust with sifted powdered sugar for snow effect.

wow your friends.

*Makes 12 pinecones.

Light the World Free Printable

2016-11-29T14:54:00.002-05:00

#LIGHTtheWORLD. It focuses on celebrating and sharing the Light of Jesus Christ with others.

Watch a short video: here

Find ideas for small acts of service and kindness HERE, HERE, or HERE.

Let's Light the World this holiday season.

Click Here to Download

Free Christmas Card JPEG

2016-10-04T15:45:00.002-04:00

Follow me on Facebook--> Found Here And Follow me on Instagram @tokeepandtogive and I'll send you your favorite Christmas Card cover FREE! Just leave a comment telling me which one you'd like! Isn't a giveaway where everyone wins, the best?!

2016-10-01T15:50:00.000-04:00

@eabphotopage to view my photography

Preschool Prep Week 25: Make Believe

2016-10-01T15:19:00.001-04:00

This week for Make Believe we dipped and dove into many fairy tales and even made a new story.

1. make gold slime Source

We made it together and the girls loved this!

2. spin straw into gold
We flipped a bike upside down and pretended to push straw through the spinning bike tires while rotating the pedals.

3. make a princess/prince out of shapes using triangles for crown, circle head, square torso, rectangle pants/arms or triangle skirt.

4. paint a royal portrait

5. build your dream castle out of blocks, or toilet paper tubes and cardboard

6. match the jewels to the crown, by shape or number

7. Write your own "fill in the blank" fairy tale. I gave each of the students a fairy tale sticker sheet and we inserted our stickers to make a story:

8. Learn about the real Queen of England, and the Princes' families.

9. Practice manners like a royal

10. have the day off-what would you do, where would you go?

11. How would you keep a fire breathing dragon out of your castle?

12. Write a letter with a quill. This one was particularly fun.

13. Sew a tapestry

14. make stained glass with tissue paper, and clear contact paper.

15. Similar to pin the tail on the donkey, kiss the frog prince on the lips

16. letter Q page

I told the girls that The Q Queen needs her royal assistant letter U so we practiced the coloring the Queen with her servant "u"

Glue Gun Spider Web

2016-10-01T15:18:00.000-04:00

This is so easy. It takes 5 minuets, and you only need 4 supplies:

Glue Gun
Glue sticks
parchment paper
print out of a spider web.

Place the parchment paper over the print out and trace with a hot glue gun. Wait for it to cool, and peel it off. Done!

Preschool Prep Week 24: Wild Animals

2016-09-30T16:06:00.000-04:00

This week was done by another mother, all about wild animals.

The students used to empty tp rolls and washi tape to design their own binoculars.

With their new binoculars, they had to locate these animals around the "safari". Feel free to use stuffed animals, plastic toys, or pictures of the animals.

Making snakes to fit the letter of the child's name, and use brads to connect them for movement.

Z is for Zebra.

I thought this was a fun game. Draw an oval for the hippos wide open mouth, and have the children in pairs play to fill the hippo's teeth using mini marshmallows.

Pattern recognition. Have the child choose which sticker will represent the letter for each pattern sentence.

Books about wild animals:

Sculpey Clay light switch plates

2016-04-13T00:53:00.000-04:00

I"ve been making clay light switch plates for my kids and other family members.
My girls requested "Strawberry Shortcake" and "Little Mermaid"

Sports theme

Holiday

Lego

Lighthouse

Preschool Prep Week 26: Wild Wild West

2016-04-13T00:50:00.000-04:00

1. Make homemade butter with heavy whipping cream

2. make homemade bread I highly recommend this one because it gives your a jump on dinner! I used this recipe and it's never let me down. Recipe

3. Use gold coins at the general store: make gold coins from yellow salt dough

4. play tic-tac-toe using sheriff stars and horseshoes

5. Play horseshoes with rolled poster board stuffed into egg carton, and horseshoes cut from remaining poster board

6. Measure each child to see how many "hands" tall they are. A few centuries ago this is how horses were measured. So we made a ruler using their hands as increments and then measured how many hands tall they were.

7. practice "rope tying" with either real rope, or very thick yarn

8. design cowboy vests from brown grocery sacks

9. memory using cowboy boots

10. paint cactus picture with green paint and forks for needles

11. dropper dye coffee filters with red and yellow, then cur out sunset picture from black construction picture. glue coffee filter to the back as sunset.

12. Tell Camp fire stories around pretend campfire

13. Sing Campfire songs

14. Practice lassoing a horse

15. square dance

16. "WANTED" Posters have the child draw their own face, and reward money at the bottom, I burned the edges of the paper to make it look old.

17. Make trail mix for snack. This may have been their favorite part. We have a student with a nut allergy so we used white and milk chocolate chips, pretzels, sun flower seeds, and raisens

Preschool Prep: Thanksgiving

2015-11-16T11:10:00.000-05:00

Use large legos dipped in paint to mimic Indian corn, or roll an actual ear of corn through paint and roll onto a piece of paper, then cut the shape of an ear of corn out of paper and glue on a clean piece of paper.

Draw a Native American Beaded headband with a grid, have the children color in the blocks to make the number of the day, or letter, or even their name. Then add feathers to the headband.

Have each child describe what they want at their Thanksgiving feast

Write each name with kitchen spices. Dip q-tips in glue first and have them color in the letter with the glue. Then sprinkle the spices on top.

Fingerprint the turkey's feathers. Match the number in the middle to the number of finger prints.

Make a sensory bin using dried beans, dried peas, pine cones, acorns, leaves and sticks.

Have the children "make" Thanksgiving dinner.

Thankful Tree. We just ripped brown paper bags into pieces, glued them onto a poster board, and then every time the child named something they were thankful for, we added a leaf, and wrote around the leaf why it was added.

We also made roasted turkeys out of candy

Find directions from Taste of Home

I SPY book update

2014-04-29T21:31:00.003-04:00

I made an I SPY book for my kids a few months ago, and decided their book needed some new pages. I'm kicking myself for not making one when all of the Thanksgiving/Christmas/Valentine's/Easter decor was out. This year. probably, maybe. We'll see. But I did manage to make a few more pages this week, so there's something. Feel free to save and print each photo. I formatted them to a 4x6 photo size so you can easily pick up one of those cheapy photo books and insert them. But please use the photos for personal use only. Not that they're this amazing quality or anything, but still.

I know some of these are a little grey. I couldn't take the pics outside because it was raining ~~and whenever I get an idea in my head to do something I want it done right away. Not like in say, 24 hours when the sun is out again~~. I'm in the Midwest so a little grey never bothered me anyway.

Happy searching!

Bird's Nest Tutorial

2014-04-17T09:06:00.000-04:00

Easter Nests

This project requires nearly no budget, as you probably have most things on hand. It's fast. Plus, it's fun and festive.

First start out blowing up balloons. I only had the 12" kind on hand, so I just used those and put just enough air in them to make them about 5" across. Put them into a glass or bowl for stability.

Cut strips of yarn and drench them in Elmer's glue. As you pick them up out of the bowl slide your fingers down the string to remove the excess, just enough so it's not dripping. Lay the pieces on the balloon in your desired shape.

When they fully dry (mine took about 20 hours) pop the balloon carefully, and remove it.

Fill the nest with moss and desired eggs. I used the Robin's egg candy malt balls.

Done! This would be a fun thing for kids to do. My littles are 5 and under and I think they would have been just a little to young to handle the glue without a ton of messes. So this is a good middle age range craft, so for ages 6 and older.

Preschool Prep Week 23: Easter

2014-04-02T14:26:00.000-04:00

For Easter, in our family, it is about celebrating the religious reasons for the Holiday. It's about the bunnies and plastic eggs too, but we try to remember the real reason for the day. With that being the case our activities this week will include both religious and non-religious activities. If you have something that your family has done, I'd love to hear about it. After all that's the point of this blog: to share ideas and help edify each other.

Math: Little Family Fun had a great way to play a game using shapes. It would be fun to have the shapes outlined, and they color them in, and make the bunny bag.

Science: Powerful Mothering Has 4 free printables for Easter. The images in the picture are counting the shapes in the picture, matching the bird to its egg color, and finding the pair to the Easter egg. She even recommends the child cutting out the first set of eggs to match to its pair, giving them additional learning.

Teach the children about gravity. Fill different eggs with items that weigh different. For instance a heavy magnet in one, and a feather in another. Drop the eggs at the same time and see which hits the ground first. Explain why they hit at the same time.

image credit: thefirstingredient.com

Living Montessori Now has a ton of great Easter Activities. Here's one that I thought was particularly great. What sound does the object start with? Match it with the correct letter.

This one was fun too. It's similar to the tulip counting game we did for Spring week. Picking up the chicks with a clothes pin, count the correct number. You could substitute yellow pom poms if you didn't have 20 little chicks around :)

Your Home based Mom has a great activity using 12 Easter eggs all filled with an item surrounding the Atonement, and resurrection.

Treat: Over at Please Give Peas a Chance there is a great tutorial on making resurrection rolls.I love the message of hope the empty tomb gives. It shows us that "He is not here, but is Risen".

I am a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Some refer to us as LDS, others as Mormons. I wanted to take a minute and share my belief about the Savior. My faith that he lived and lives today comes from moments of pondering and prayer to know for myself. I feel His love for me in my daily life. There is great power in knowing that we can be forgiven for the mistakes that we make. I love my Savior for setting a perfect example for me on how to conduct my life. In learning and studying His teachings I can grow closer to Him. Understanding His will gives joy to my life. I see how His teachings bless the lives of others. It is through his charity, love, understanding, mercy and strength that motivates me to help others. I rely on Him for direction and strength in my own life. If you'd like to learn more about Jesus Christ and His teachings I encourage you to do so. This might start with a silent prayer asking for direction. If you'd like a free copy of the Book of Mormon or other work of scripture please visit mormon.org This is a song my children have been learning at church.

Books:

Preschool Prep Week 22: Spring

2014-03-16T21:48:00.000-04:00

From the buds on the trees to the tulips poking out of the grown, and the feel of warm sunshine on my face, I love spring. So here's to a fun week to celebrate.
Craft:
Painting, lots and lots of ideas here. We love painting in our house so I'll probably be doing one or all of these:
From housingaforest.com Painting a Spring Tree

Not sure who to give credit to, because the link is Chinese :) But this looks fun:

And we've all seen this one, but still great. Have you ever seen the Cherry Blossoms in Washington DC this time of year? One of my all time favorite memories from a family vacation.

Alphamom.com shows us how to paint them.

Fine Motor Skills:

I was taught that the first sign of spring was a Robin. Practice being a robin, by collecting worms. Over at prekinders.com there are a ton of fine motor skill activities for kids. I liked this idea for spring. You pick up the worms (pipe cleaners) with the bird's beak (clothes pin). If you want to read something fun, click on the tag bird nest. We had a momma robin build a nest on a wreath I had made. It was amazing watching the whole process!

Another idea is for the child to practice their scissor cutting skills. It's perfect for beginners because it doesn't matter how long each piece is, or how many times they need to cut to get it right. This is called a suit cage, and can be purchased from anywhere between $1-3.

Math: Tulip counting Anna over at the measured mom has a free printable for beginning counting.

My kids love color by number pages: Here's a great one

Science:

Seed Sprouting. All you need are seeds, wet paper towels, an air tight container (like a zip lock bag) and a warm spot. I'll be using sunflower seeds, and we'll be planting them, but beans work especially well too.

Fold the paper towel in half and wet it until very damp. Place the seeds on the towel, then either fold or roll it up. Place the paper towel in the container, and close it. You can check it every 12 hours if you'd like. Some sprout with in 24. Then place the container in a warm spot, like the top of your refrigerator or heat register.

Once the tails have sprouted, it's safe to plant. If the seed attaches to the paper towel, because the roots are too big, just rip off the paper towel with the seed attached and plant the whole thing. photo credit to Thyme2Gardennow

Field Trip:

On a day that's warm (we have several 60 degree days in the forecast) I'll be taking the kids to a nursery.

Snack:
Books:

Valentine's Day Prep

2014-02-13T15:04:00.000-05:00

I can't even begin to tell you how excited I am to celebrate Valentine's Day tomorrow! Maybe it's because Mr. B and I just celebrated our 10th anniversary. And by celebrated I mean we made a freezer meal, and put snotty coughing kids to bed and watched Mr. B work on a paper for his MBA. So I'm just bursting with love. I have a special dinner planned for us all, and by that I mean decorations because let's be honest I'm no top chef. So here's what I have planned:
(It's Friday night, which in our house means one thing...)

Served on this:

Sitting on this:

Salad will go in this:

Eaten with this:

on this:

We'll be drinking this: SOURCE

Ingredients

200g raspberries
200g strawberries
300ml water
300g golden caster sugar
1 vanilla bean / pod
6-8 lemons (mine were tiny!) juice and grated rind

in these:

And for dessert I'll serve this: SOURCE

and these: SOURCE

and we'll do it all by this:

For movie night we'll be watching this:

While sitting on these:

and eating this: SOURCE

and to top it all off I made each of the girls a necklace with these:

I want this holiday to be something important to them. After all, is there there anything more important that love?

Happy Valentine's day!

Preschool Prep Week 21: Winter Olympics

2014-01-20T04:00:00.000-05:00

With the Winter Olympics starting February 7th I thought it would be fun to have an Olympic review. We did an Olympic theme a few years ago for the Summer Olympics. So why not a winter theme week?

Learn about Sochi-

Math: Make a chart of the medals won during the games. Keep track of the amount of medals the USA wins in Gold, Silver and Bronze.

Science: Make your own Snow! Over at Growing a Jeweled Rose the author teaches how to make snow for a sensory table.

To make your own Snow:

Add the desired amount of baking soda to a sensory bin or container. Then, slowly mix in shaving cream. I used one large box of baking soda and almost a full can of shaving foam. As you slowly mix in the shaving cream you will discover a fantastic mold-able snow. The snow is super soft, silky smooth, and smells so clean and fresh. It is also naturally cold. I am not sure why exactly but it is! It feels just like fresh fallen powder in your hands.

Ice Sports

Bobsled (Two-man, Two woman and Four-man)

Luge

Skeleton

Ice Hockey

Figure Skating (Men's singles, Ladies' singles, Pairs, Team and Ice Dancing)

Speed Skating

Short Track Speed Skating (500m, 1,000m, 1,500 m and Relays)

Curling

winter olympics snowboardingAlpine, Skiing and Snowboarding Events

Alpine Skiing (Downhill, Super G, Giant slalom, Slalom, Super Combined)

Freestyle Skiing (Aerials, Moguls, Ski Cross, Ski halfpipe and Ski slopestyle)

Snowboarding (Parallel Giant Slalom, Halfpipe and Snowboard Cross and Slopestyle)

Nordic Events

Biathlon (combining cross-country skiing and target shooting: individual, sprint, pursuit, mass start & relay events)

Cross-Country Skiing (individual and team sprint, freestyle, pursuit, classical and relays)

Ski Jumping

Nordic Combined (ski jumping and cross country skiing)

Play Activity:

Rip pieces of wax paper and simply put them under feet. I think it's easier to do with bare feet. Slide around on carpet like figure skaters or (carefully) have a speed skating race in a circle. We just tried it, it's so fun!

Craft:

Paint, color, draw on empty boxes to create your own bobsled. Then they can sit in their boxes to watch the events.

snack: These looked kind of fun to make, and relatively easy. Why does it seem like every culture has some form of a fried pastry. Um probably because it's pretty much amazing-enter the funnel cake. Here's the Russian version: Hvorost!

Go Here for directions. The author give a step-by-step tutorial on how to make them with pictures included!

Books:

Preschool Prep Week 20: Manners

2014-01-15T13:57:00.002-05:00

I feel that it is never to early to start teaching proper etiquette and manners. If anything, the earlier it's taught, the earlier it becomes habit, and will be second nature to them as they grow. By now the children should be masters of a few rules: saying please and thank you, staying in their chairs while eating, and greeting hello and goodbye.

By age 3-4 they can be taught a further etiquette. Following simple table etiquette. By the time she turns 3, your child should be able to eat with utensils. Now is also the time to start enforcing basics: Use your napkin (not your sleeve!), chew with your mouth closed, don't talk with your mouth full, sit up straight, and ask to be excused when you're finished. Focus on one or two behaviors at a time so your child doesn't get overwhelmed, and try to make it fun.

Expanding his polite vocabulary. Work with your child to say "may I please." Give him a do-over when he forgets, so he has a chance to correct himself. Also introduce the all-important "excuse me." He should say it after burping or passing gas, as well as when he needs your attention. When he goes to a play date make sure he knows to thank his host for having him, and to thank friends for coming when they visit your house.

Being kind. This means taking turns, not grabbing, and saying she's sorry if she hurts someone. When a conflict arises, avoid vague reminders like "Be nice." Instead, talk to your child about what to do, so she'll eventually have the words to work things out on her own: "It looks like Ruby isn't done with that doll. Let's talk to Ruby. Ruby, when you're done with the toy, can Ava have a turn?" If your kid needs to apologize, ask her to say what she's sorry for, and talk about what she can do to help -- whether it's giving back a toy or getting her friend a play bandage. Source This site is great and gives additional etiquette to follow for older ages.

Activity:

Practice setting the table properly.

Have enough "place settings" for each child. Either leave a diagram at each seat or have one on display for children to reference. Have each child practice a few times with the picture and then without.

Math:

Get out toys or treats and practice "having enough", "not having enough", and sharing. What happens if you go to a play date and you want to bring candy, but don't have enough for your friends? Role play possible solutions. Is it something we can share? Should we leave it at home? Count number of friends attending (could even pretend with stuff animals etc. ) and could how many toys/treats the child has.

Science:

Experiment out in public. This would be great to do at the end of the week. Go to a restaurant, and practice using appropriate level of talking, and staying in our seat. Asking a waiter for something using please and thank you. Leave your napkin on your seat if you need to leave the table. Observe others in the restaurant and discuss at home how others act in public. Do we criticize? Do we point a finger? This is a great time to teach if we worry about ourselves, or others.

Teach the difference between tattling, and helping. It's helpful to know the difference. Tattling gets someone INTO trouble, and helping gets someone OUT of trouble.

Snack:

Great time to start using utensils at snack time. Use something that is wet like Mandarin oranges or sticky like monkey bread to remind them with touch that it would be better to use a fork or spoon.

Monkey bread recipe:

Ingredients

Monkey Bread (recipe may be doubled depending on the bundt pan):
Flour, for pan
1/2 cup sugar
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
30 buttermilk canned refrigerator biscuits
1 stick butter, plus more for pan
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 cup walnuts
Directions
Butter and flour a bundt pan and set aside. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
Combine sugar and cinnamon. Cut refrigerator biscuits in half and toss in cinnamon and sugar mixture. Melt the 1 stick of butter in a saucepan and add brown sugar and bring to a boil; then add nuts. Line the bundt pan with biscuits and pour butter mixture over them.

Bake for about 30 minutes. Remove from the pan when it's still hot to avoid
http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/sugar-rush/monkey-and-gorilla-bread-recipe/index.html?oc=linkback

Craft:

Make dolls out of felt and match proper clothes with proper situations. you could have the name of a place at the top of a piece of paper or you could just call out a place and have the child dress the doll. Examples could include church, school, play time, the pool, library time, meetings with parents, the theater, restaurants, the beach, backyard, birthday parties, piano recitals, sledding, gardening etc. wearing proper attire is a lost art in my opinion. Let's bring it back.

The Manners Song Source

tune of Twinkle Twinkle Little Star

We say, "Thank you.” We say, "Please."

We don't interrupt or tease.

We don't argue. We don't fuss --

Listen when folks talk to us.

Share our toys and take our turn.

Manners are easy to learn.

Other Activities:

Practice napkin folding

Can You Teach My Alligator Manners?

Role Play Manners at Meal Time:

Where does my napkin go?
When do I use utensils?
How do I go away from the table?
How do I get food passed to me?
How do I enter a conversation?
When do I start eating/What do I do when I'm finished?

Role Play a Phone Call: A conversation should go 2 directions

When to talk
When to listen
How long to talk
being interactive (using mmm hmm's etc)
How to handle interruptions
What not to discuss

Play "Mother/Father May I" one child is the "mother or father" and the children must ask permission to do an action. For example: child asks "Mother, May I please take 3 giant steps forward?" Mother responds with either "yes you may" or "no, you may not. Instead you may take 2 Giant steps forward" and so on, until one child has reached the parent.

Practice writing the letter P

Interruption rule for a parent. We started doing this with our children and it really helped me not lose my train of thought, or get frustrated. It also teaches the child patience. When an adult is speaking to someone else, the child that needs the parent's attention simply puts their hand on the arm or shoulder of the parent. When the parent is ready, they can turn to the child and ask what they need. Sometimes even excuse me isn't polite if the child keeps asking or it isn't a natural break in a sentence or story. Teaching the child to patiently wait quietly shows them that they are important, but so are your manners.

Try a kindness Jar. Every time you observe a child being kind to someone else, or using their manners add a cotton ball/stone to a jar and when it's filled you can give a reward of some kind. Being rude to another person can also remove cotton balls if you want to take it to that level. Sometimes just rewarding kindness is nice. Try to not increase the cotton balls to more than one per incident. When you start increasing (I'll give you 2 cotton balls this time!) The cotton balls start to hold little value and you'll have to start increasing them more and more. Pretty soon you're adding 5 cotton balls at a time and the jar gets filled before the habits are in place.

Books: