Cookie Baking Night 08/22/16

Tonight was Cookie Baking Night. In attendance this evening: Emily, Ethan, Carissa, Allison, Rylar, and Enzo. That's right, the list of attendees now includes Enzo. He turned 3 years old last week (the official Cookie Baking Night age) and tonight was his first time at Cookie Baking Night. Tonight was also Allison's birthday choice. Allison turned 6 years old a couple days ago, and today was her first day of kindergarten. You may have noticed as well, she no longer wants to be called Alli, it's Allison now. As is the tradition on birthday choice nights, Allison got to choose what we had for supper tonight and what we baked for our cookie. For supper, she chose cheese pizza, bread, strawberries, and blueberry smoothies to drink. For her cookie, she chose the "butterfly cookie".

Before supper, we started the evening with a little hill rolling in the backyard. 

I've found that no matter how old they get or how many electronic devices are available, no one outgrows rolling down the hill. It entertains all ages at least for a few minutes. There's no picture of this so it can't be proven, but I have been known to engage in a little hill rolling from time to time myself. 

It was a full table tonight!

Enzo's first masterpiece

Sorry. We didn't save you one of these. You'll have to get your sugar high somewhere else.

Since it was Allison's birthday choice, we took a walk to the local gas station to pick up a treat. 

As usual, a fun time was had by all. 

Cookie Baking Night 08/0816

Tonight was Cookie Baking Night. In attendance this evening: Emily, Ethan, Carissa, Alli, and Rylar.
Vegetables are of an abundance at our home right now, so we decided to make use of them at Cookie Baking night. Tonight we made zucchini bread. That's right nothing says "fun Aunt" like zucchini bread. To lessen the blow a bit we did make cinnamon zucchini bread and chocolate chip zucchini bread. The evening was also filled with a lesson from our current book, "God's Names" by Sally Michael (tonight's lesson: El Shaddai meaning God Almighty). We ended the evening with rousing game of Sequence for Kids. As usual a fun time was had by all.

Cookie Baking Night (07/25/16)

Tonight was Cookie Baking Night. In attendance: Emily, Carissa, Alli, and Rylar. Tonight was my Dad-Larry's birthday choice. He definitely picked a crowd pleaser with spaghetti, bread, and peaches. For his cookie he chose bird nests (he loves that cookie more than anyone I know).

Tonight, for Bible time, we returned to our book God's Names by Sally Michael. Tonight we learned about Jehovah, Yahweh, I AM our God who is self-existent.

" The God who made the world and everything in it, being Lord of heaven and earth does not live in temples made by man, nor is he served by human hands, as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all mankind life and breath and everything." Acts 17:24-25

Last time we learned that God, is Elohim, the Strong Creator who made everything. This time we learned about Jehovah, I AM, who doesn't need anything but instead gives everything. What a great God we serve!

Another Cookie Baking Night down and, as usual, a fun time was had by all. 

Cookie Baking Night 07/11/16

Tonight was Cookie Baking Night. In attendance this evening: Emily, Carissa, Alli, and Rylar. Since we have more members in our immediate household than we used to, we've added more birthday choice nights. Tonight was Clara's (my mom's) birthday choice (she'll be celebrating 70 years in just a few days). For supper she chose a dish my Scottish (paternal) grandmother used to make frequently. We always called it potatoes, hamburger, and beans, for lack of a better name. It is boiled potatoes, browned hamburger with bullion added, and pork and beans. Each element is put in its own dish on the table but layered on one's plate and sprinkled with Worcestershire sauce. For her cookie, she chose the Molasses Crinkle. (Sorry, I'm working on my skill of taking pictures of everyone in attendance, especially the birthday people, but I haven't perfected it yet. It's a work in progress).

For tonight, for our Bible time, we returned to the book God's Names by Sally Michael. We spent a long time talking about what it means to have a name and what our name says about us (including our given names and nicknames). We learned that the Bible has more than 200 names for God, and if we count all the names, titles, and nicknames of God, there are over 700 names. God's names tell us about Him. The name we learned about tonight is Elohim, which means Strong Creator. It's fitting that the first name we learned tells us that God created the world, and the first verse in the Bible tells us the same thing: Genesis 1:1 "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth." We're looking forward to learning who God is through learning His names. 

Hmm. I made the mistake of leaving my phone on the table for a few seconds, and the teen and tween went selfie crazy. Lesson learned. 

Clearly, as usual, a fun time was had by all. 

Cookie Baking Night 06/27/16

Tonight was Cookie Baking Night. In attendance this evening: Emily, Ethan, Carissa, Alli, and Rylar.
It was birthday choice (she turns 11 in just a few days). For supper she chose: Chicken Alfredo, tator tots, and berries with cream. For her cookie: Dirt Cups.

We also took a walk to the local gas station (Uncle Greg came with us) for an ice cream treat. 

For our Bible time tonight, we tried something new: Memorization. We started with Psalm 23. It was disastrous. Concentration was low and attention was wandering. We will regroup and come at it differently next time. God's Word is worth the effort of hiding it in our hearts, so we won't give up that easily (at least this aunt won't). 

Despite a few less than warm and fuzzy moments, as usual, a fun time was had by all. 

Happy Birthday, Greg!

Today is (my husband) Greg's birthday. Phrases or words that describe Greg: Computer whiz, smartest man I know, eternal optimist, patient (the patience he shows with me is the characteristic in him that most makes me want to be like Jesus), funny, interesting, adventurous, one who is rarely found without something on his head at a family gathering (this picture is one of the rare cases where it happens to be a hat).

Happy Birthday, My Love. I praise God for you, and I'm ever so glad you were born!

Cookie Baking Night 06/13/16

Tonight was Cookie Baking Night. In attendance this evening: Ethan, Carissa, Alli, and Rylar.
Tonight was Uncle Greg's birthday choice (his birthday is on Wednesday). For supper, he chose Chicken Pockets and for his cookie he chose Molasses Crinkles.

It was a lively night and time got away from us this evening. We managed to get the cookies baked and read our Bible lesson (Leading Little Ones to God: #32 "Jesus Came From Heaven") and before you knew it, it was time to go. But I assure you, as usual, a fun time was had by all.