All about Hearts & Love~2012

For Valentine's Day, we focused on love. The love of God and the love in our family 

and the world. 

We had a lot of fun!

Our library books for the week.

Ce Ce {20 months} sorting hearts by color. 

We made these heart-shaped crayons. The girls love using them!! 

You can see the tutorial here.

Ce Ce scooping conversation hearts.

One of our Bible Verses for the week.

Red Valentine's day homemade play dough.

Of course, the love of Jesus is the best love of all!

I put together this Valentine's Day play dough tray. I used an old chocolate candy tray, a heart-shaped cookie cutter and chocolate homemade play dough.
I modified this recipe by adding a couple packets of instant hot chocolate---it worked perfectly!

The girls LOVE this activity!!

The girls role played delivering the chocolates to the nursing home:)

I think it is time for us to make another visit to the nursing home.

I made a very special Valentine's Day dinner for my wonderful husband. 

We made heart-shaped cupcakes for our homeschool Valentine's party.

It was so simple-just insert a marble in the baking pan. 

I took the cupcakes and let the kids frost and decorate them at the party. 

It was a huge hit!

Some of the kids in our homeschool group. 

We really enjoyed the Valentine's Day party!

We made french toast with powdered sugar hearts on top:)

I made a potato into a heart stamp. 

The girls loved using the potato to stamp red, glittery hearts.

We have always used Baby Sign Language.
This craft shows how to say "I love you" in Sign Language.

Jesus loves you and so do I!
Blessings,
Aria:)

Melted Heart Crayons {Tutorial} for Valentine's Day!

I have always loved the shaped crayons on the market, but just could not ever justify the high price. I have seen these heart shaped crayons before and decided to give them a whirl in preparation for Valentine's Day!

 Step 1: Preheat oven to 275 degrees. I then pulled out our box of extra, loose, broken and mismatched crayons. I remembered melting crayons before and using the "cheap" brands. PLEASE DO NOT DO THIS!!  Use Crayola crayons for the best results.

I gave the cheap crayons to the baby to draw with:)

 Then, I remembered what a PAIN it is to peel all the wrappers off, so I enlisted Elle's help:)

We both figured there HAD to be a better way and decided to Google it:) 

We found this very helpful video that shows how to cut the labels off. 

Easy Peezy!

Step 2: Remove all the labels and break up the crayons into smaller pieces.

 Step 3: Separate the colors into bowls, however you would like. We just randomly selected:)

 Step 4: Spray your heart shaped pans with cooking spray liberally and place the broken crayon pieces into each heart.  

Step 5: Place in the preheated oven and cook 10-15 minutes until the crayons are 

all melted and gorgeous!

{Side note: We used a silicone baking pan and it is floppy, so we placed it on a round baking sheet before putting it into the oven for added support.} 

 While waiting for the crayons to cool off, the girls decorated their Valentine's Boxes for their card exchange for our upcoming Homeschool Party with over 40 other kids!

 Aren't they beautiful?! We love how well they turned out!

And, as you can see, they write really smoothly as well!

Now...it's YOUR turn! Go turn those old, broken crayons into something beautiful!

Have fun preparing for Valentine's Day! 

There are tons of other great craft ideas on Pinterest!

If you need more ideas, here is how we approached Valentine's Day 2011 in a godly fashion and here you can see all of the fun food ideas I used last year on Valentine's Day! If you want to try an awesome strawberry bread, check out our recipe here. If you want to make a really neat heart-shaped bird feeder, check out our blog post here.

Blessings,

Aria:)

{From my Heart}

As I reflect on my mothering journey of almost 6 years, I realize GOD has been the only thing that has kept me sane, lol. It is the toughest and most rewarding job I have ever had. 

Lately, I have been doing a lot of soul-searching. I want to be sure I am "getting it right." I have a pretty solid "Type A"/Overachiever type personality. This is good for organizing, accomplishing tasks and goals, gaining cooperation and handling business, but also has some drawbacks...

Somehow, the extreme pressure I feel {that I put on myself} to be the perfect wife to my wonderful husband, and the perfect Mom to our girls has been making me feel overwhelmed a bit. I do it all, all by myself (with the help of my husband, of course). No babysitters, no nannies and no maids!

 I have been praying for answers and searching. I have read some really great books along the way ("The Mission of Motherhood" by Sally Clarkston, "Ordinary Mom, Extraordinary God" by Mary Demuth, "Loving Life as an At-home Mom" by Donna Otto, "Sacred Parenting" by Gary Thomas and "The Power of the Praying Parent" by Stormie Omartian as well as "You Can Heal Your Life" by Louise Hay) and I am definitely hearing the voice of the Lord. I am so encouraged. I feel so blessed that He is hearing me and answering my prayers!

I wanted to document some of the encouraging and most impactful resources I have benefited from in case I fall back into "old habits" and need to revisit them.

I knew the Lord was speaking this directly to me in this photo!

Wow!!!!! This truly spoke directly to my spirit! I have been doing more Bible study on parenting, and it all confirms the same sentiment. What a relief:)!


I also read "children don't need perfect parents-if they had perfect parents, they wouldn't need Jesus!" or something like that:)
Not that I "want" my kids to end up in counseling, but I DO realize that they need to cultivate their own "need" for a heavenly savior. Someone they can go to when the world (including me) is imperfect and lets them down. I am not always going to be here for my kids (on earth), but I want them to have an eternal parent that will never leave them or forsake them!

I also began the New Year by cutting way back on social media on the internet. I wanted to see what impact it would have, and I learned a lot! I think Facebook, Blogs, Mommy Message Boards, Pinterest etc, can all be a good thing, in moderation.

For me, I have to know my limits and set clear boundaries. 

Last year, I cut out participating on the Mommy Boards. It just was too exhausting really. I really am not a person to compare and compete when it comes to our children. I remember as a new Mom, I would think my baby was wonderful, UNTIL I read that someone else's baby was sleeping all night at 6 weeks old. LOL. I would come home from library story time in tears and doubting my own parenting skills and this was not helpful. I have learned a lot from the Mommy Boards, and formed some cherished real life friendships from them, but to stay in the "rat race" was just too much for my poor little exhausted heart to handle:). Now, it's the same in the blogosphere. I have to stay away from certain blogs to preserve my balance.

Plus, I honestly need to get MORE SLEEP!:) Since I use the internet when my kids are napping or sleeping, it cuts into my sleep and other activities that I enjoy. I am not one to watch TV, but I have been enjoying reading more, studying the Bible more, spending more time with my husband, connecting with friends in real life, meditating, praying, and relaxing my mind. It seems emotionally draining to "keep up" with all that is going on with everyone else. Hey, I can barely keep up with everything *I* have going on. LOL. I can tell my blood pressure and level of chronic tension and migraines are going down.
Praise the Lord!

~I came across these quotes that I LOVE!~

"Parenting is not about what you do with your child, it is about who YOU ARE to your child." ~Gordon Neufeld

What a beautiful statement. Especially as a homeschooling Mom, I feel the pressure to ensure our children are getting every opportunity to learn all they need to be successful in life. BUT, if I am all stressed out in the process, DOING school/things/field trips etc. means nothing! I may even accept that I may need some help (keeping the house perfectly clean:) or getting all of the laundry put away. {Baby steps}.

Joyce Meyer said, "God would rather you do LESS and have peace than to do more and lose your joy!" 

Amen, sister. I am working on it:) 

“The thing that is really hard, and really amazing, is giving up on being perfect and beginning the work of becoming yourself.”
~ Anna Quindlen

"Surrender. Give in. Wake up. Tear up the lists. Throw the broom. Step over the crumbs. Quit trying so hard to be perfect. Give up aiming for perfection. Smile. Breathe. Laugh at the crazy. Be the crazy. Dance. Wiggle. Wear silly glasses.
Remember that these moments are just that, momentary. They are fleeting like thin, sparkling bubbles. They change shape at the blink of an eye. They disappear into thin air like a cloud of dust."

~Shawn Ledington


What a revelation for me! I really can relax a bit and it will be OK! LOL. I guess I just needed to give myself permission and not beat myself up for NOT being able to get it ALL done PERFECTLY! I will be praying for peace in this area and ask for anyone reading to pray for me as well:). The time DOES just fly by so quickly!

Another quote that really spoke to me as I was searching for answers is this poem. I have read it over and over and it still moves me deeply. I hope you are blessed by it, too.

She Let Go

Without a thought or a word, she let go.
She let go of fear. She let go of judgments. 

She let go of the
confluence of
opinions swarming around her head.
She let go of the committee of indecision within her. 

She let go of all the
‘right’ reasons.
Wholly and completely, without hesitation or worry, 

she just let go.

She didn’t ask anyone for advice. She didn’t read a book on how to let go.
She just let go.
She let go of all the memories that held her back. 

She let go of all of the
anxiety that kept her from moving forward.
She let go of the planning and all of the calculations about how to do it just right. 

She didn’t promise to let go. She didn’t journal about it.
She didn’t write the projected date in her Day-Timer. 

She made no public announcement. 

She didn’t check the weather report or read her daily horoscope.
She just let go.
She didn’t analyze whether she should let go. 

She didn’t call her
friends to discuss the matter. 

She didn’t utter one word.
She just let go.
No one was around when it happened. There was no applause or
congratulations.
No one thanked her or praised her. No one noticed a thing.
Like a leaf falling from a tree, she just let go.
There was no effort. There was no struggle. It wasn’t good. 

It wasn’t bad.
It was what it was, and it is just that.
In the space of letting go, she let it all be. 

A small smile came over her face. 

A light breeze blew through her.
And the sun and the moon shone forevermore.

Here’s to giving ourselves the gift of letting go…
There’s only one guru ~ you.

~~Jennifer Eckert Bernau

 I hope someone else can benefit from this as well! Feel free to pass it along as inspiration to others!

Lastly, I would like to post 3 other resources that have inspired me as well.

The first is a blog post about "Giving Up on Trying to be Superwoman." You can read it here. I feel like it was just another confirmation that I can relax the standard and still be a great Mom, wife and homeschool teacher! Maybe even have more FUN:)

Secondly, I have found the blog, A Holy Experience, to be nothing but a blessing to me! If you are looking for solid Biblical life-application with profound writing and beautiful photography, this is THE blog for you!

This final addition is a blog post called "The Children Have Spoken" about a woman who is challenging parents to disconnect from electronics and re-connect with their kids/family. Now, I only use social media, check email, blog, etc. when my children are sleeping. I pretty much only use my cell phone to text my husband or talk on it in an emergency. I have never understood what people are DOING when they have their phones in their hands all.the.time. I realize, we ALL are distracted by "something."

 This article really touched my heart and I wanted to pass it along. I really felt sorry for the kids she quoted in the post:(. If you are constantly distracted by the lure of your cell phone dinging, or your Facebook comments or checking your text messages incessantly, you may want to read it and challenge yourself to "disconnect and reconnect." I have had friends say when they go out, they have a rule, "no cell phones." Maybe this is a good rule to implement more often.

I pray this has been a blessing to you! I am a work in progress and I pray for strength along my journey.
As I approach that very special age of the big 4-0 this year, I want to ensure that I am balancing my healthy physical lifestyle with a healthy spiritual lifestyle and these are just some of the steps I am taking to improve, in the name of the Lord.

And lastly, I will close with this quote by Oprah Winfrey~~~
"You can have it all-just not all at the same time!"

Blessings,
Aria:)

Our Resurrection Eggs & Lapbook and Hill of Calvary!

We are just having an amazing time preparing for Resurrection Sunday! 

We believe this is the most important holiday in our Christian beliefs, and so, we are making a very concerted effort to infuse lots of fun activities with a focus on the resurrection of Jesus!

Here are some of the fun things we have been working on.....ENJOY!!

Resurrection Eggs

 Elle was very helpful in putting all of the printables inside.

Each egg has a picture and also a little paper with a typed up summary of the bible scripture for that picture. Each egg carefully describes the story of Christ's time right before, during and after his crucifixion.

 Each evening, as a family, we open one egg and learn the lesson for that day!

Em loves working on the Resurrection Eggs and putting them all in order.

 

There are lots of different ways to make your own Resurrection Eggs, or you can purchase them already assembled if you prefer. We chose to just use a printable and make our own.

You can find the printables we used here.

The girls have had such a fun time learning more about the story of Jesus' Crucifixion and Resurrection using these eggs. Elle's little sensitive soul has deeply been touched this week. She just keeps saying how sad she is that those mean people hurt Jesus so badly:)

Resurrection {Double} Lapbook

To further our study of the Resurrection of Christ, we put together a really neat little lapbook!! We combined the Resurrection Egg ideas with some additional fun crafts and bible stories. I tweaked some of the ideas found here.

 The front of the lapbook with a palm leaf from our Palm Sunday church service.

 These are the Resurrection Eggs with each of the pictures inside.

 Elle is still working on parts of it, and really enjoying it:)

 Elle's Bible Story Mini-books.

 This is a neat craft that you put together with a brass brad to be able to roll the tomb stone away and reveal the angels saying "He is not here--He is risen!"

 We put our mini-books in little envelope pockets on the back of the lapbook.

Our Bible Memory Verse for this week!!!

Jesus' Tomb: Calvary Hill

We have been eagerly awaiting the growth of our calvary hill {and still waiting, lol}, but I wanted to go ahead and show you what we have achieved thus far.

Here is what we "hope" it will resemble once we are finished with it. {Trust me, I do NOT have a green thumb to save my life, but it has been fun working on this project and we actually also completed a gardening lesson that I will share with you as well:)}

 {Photo credit: Mustard Seeds}

You can find the whole tutorial on how to make your own here. Maybe an idea for next year?

We didn't have the wheat grass, but we used regular grass and we are finally seeing some growth! Here is how we built ours:) 

 This is a beautiful way to visually display the tomb of Christ and how it was empty once he was Resurrected with all power and glory in his hand!

 The girls have done an excellent job keeping our Calvary Hill watered.

 The girls have loved checking on their little hill every day!

Yay--the grass if finally growing (day 11)!!! We hope it fills in and grows nice and thick so we can add our branch crosses before Resurrection Sunday! We'll update once the project is complete:)

{update}HE IS RISEN-THE TOMB IS EMPTY!! PRAISE THE LORD!!

We sure hope you enjoyed seeing what we are doing and are inspired to have some fun in your lessons on Resurrection Sunday as well:)

If you would like to see some more fun Resurrection Sunday/Easter activities (including food:), please check out our posts HERE.

Blessings,

Aria:)