Cookie Baking Night 04/20/15

Tonight was Cookie Baking Night. In attendance this evening: Emily, Carissa, Alli, and Rylar. (Ethan came for dinner but had to leave early for basketball practice). 

Tonight we made cut-out sugar cookies in the shape of flowers and frosted them in bright colors. 

Making the cookie dough, cutting out the cookies, baking them, letting them cool, and frosting them took most of the time we had tonight, 

The only time we weren't involved in eating supper or cookie baking, we spent in our Bible lesson. Tonight we read from Leading Little Ones to God, lesson 7, God is One God. We read Deuteronomy 6:4-7 from the Bible: 

"Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one. You shall love your LORD God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. And these words that I command you today shall be in your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise."

We were seeking to do just that at Cookie Baking Night tonight. Our lesson also talked a lot about idols. We read Scripture from the book of Isaiah that talked about making idols from wood. That led into a lively discussion about what could be called an idol today in the time that we're living (TV, money, friends were among the ideas that the kids came up with). 

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

Cookie Baking Night 04/06/15

Tonight was Cookie baking night. In attendance this evening: Ethan, Carissa, Alli, and Rylar. Tonight we made the classic chocolate chip cookie (always a favorite).

After reading from Leading Little Ones to God by Marian Schoolland (Lesson 6, "God Sent His Son", a timely lesson on the heels of Easter Sunday which led to good discussion), we returned to our practice of learning the books of the Bible. Tonight we focused solely on the Old Testament books. This is how it went: I called out the books of the Old Testament in order. The older children would locate the cup with the proper label and hand it to the younger children. Alli and Rylar would then run across the room and line the cups up against the wall. Slowly but surely we're learning the names and the order of each book. 

We finished up the evening with a few lively games of Zingo. 

As usual, a fun time was had by all. 

Cookie Baking Night 03/09/15

Tonight was Cookie Baking Night. In attendance this evening: Ethan, Carissa, Alli, and Rylar. We've been experiencing unseasonably warm weather in Minnesota this week (very spring like) so in light of that (and because my Dad-Larry loves these and requested them), tonight we made our springtime tradition the "Spring Bird Nest" cookies just a little earlier than usual.

Chow mien noodles, butterscotch chips, chocolate chips, peanut butter, and candy eggs is what it takes to make this recipe. 

Favorite part: putting on the candy eggs

Tonight was the first night this year we were able to get out for a walk, and it felt good. 

As one who is always looking for resources to teach children about God, tonight I decided to try out a new resource that I heard very good reviews about: Everything a Child Should Know About God by Kenneth A. Taylor. It is designed for ages 3-6 years old, but upon reading a few pages, I think 6 years old might be pushing it. It is geared to the understanding of a very, very young child. The ideas in it are good (of what I've read so far) but very simple.  

Example: Page 1

Here is a picture of a Bible. (picture shown on following page)

It is the best book in the whole world. It tells us about God, who is the most important person in the world. 

Question: Who does the Bible tell us about?

I did find that it worked well with Alli and Rylar. It was definitely right at their level, but I was unsuccessful at elevating the information to the level of the older children.  In the end we went back to Leading Little Ones to God by Marian Schoolland and read lesson 5 "God Talks to Us". 

In my experience, when reading theological material to children it is better to aim a little above their heads because you can always explain the concepts in simpler terms if need be, but if you start out too simple it doesn't challenge them and it seems to imply that God is too easy to understand and, therefore, not a great God, a transcendent God, an all worthy God. 

So, the bottom line on this resource is that I will probably use it on nights when I am babysitting the younger children but retire it from use at Cookie Baking Nights while we still have an older crowd attending. (P.S. The pictures in this book are a lot of fun. I really wanted this resource to work for us). 

We managed to squeeze a lot into this Cookie Baking Night and, as usual, a fun time was had by all. 

Nieces and Nephew Musings 02/27/15 & 02/28/15

This weekend was a dramatic weekend for the nieces and nephews. 

On Friday night, Ethan and Carissa performed in their school's Creative Expression Night. 

Ethan recited Lewis Carrol's Jaberwocky. 

Carissa recited Sick by Shel Silverstein

On Saturday, Emily played a townperson in the Community Theatre production of Pinnochio. 

All did a great job, and it was fun to attend their performances and see how God is gifting each one of them in the area of creative expression. 

Cookie Baking Night 02/23/15

Tonight was Cookie Baking Night. In attendance this evening: Ethan, Carissa, Alli, and Rylar. Tonight we made Oatmeal Peanut Butter and Jelly Bars. We used this recipe and used half jelly and half peanut instead of all jelly. They turned out to be pretty tasty.

Special appearances this evening from Spider Man and Bob the Builder. (You just never know who's going to show up at Cookie Baking Night). 

Tonight we read Chapter 4 from Leading Little Ones to God by Marian Schoolland. This chapter was titled "God Talked to People Long Ago" and it detailed the account of the prophet Samuel when he first heard God speaking to him as a very young boy. Ethan read 1Samuel 3:1-10 from the Bible on his Kindle (which he thought was a really cool thing to do). 

We ended the evening with a few board games. First we taught SEQUENCE for Kids to the young ones (which they really liked) and followed that up with a lively game of Zingo. 

As usual, a fun time was had by all. 

Cookie Baking Night 02/09/15

Tonight was Cookie Baking Night. In attendance this evening: Emily, Ethan, Carissa, Alli, and Rylar. Tonight we went with a Valentine theme and everything was hand dipped. We made chocolate covered marshmallow pops and chocolate covered strawberries.

Ethan and Carissa were the first to arrive so they were my sou chefs. While I finished the supper prep, they prepared the marshmallow pops by dipping the stick in a little melted chocolate and then inserting the stick into the marshmallow. 

We had milk chocolate, red chocolate (candy melts) and pink chocolate as well as a variety of decorative sprinkles. 

From my perch at the sink (with my back to the kids momentarily), I heard these words coming from Rylar. "I think I'm done." 

Yep. That's a fair assessment. 

Ethan made a few of his marshmallow pops into a replica of a molecule. (He loves science). When he was dipping each marshmallow in the melted chocolate, I saw he had dipped one in brown and one  in pink. I said, "Do you need the red now?" With a look of confusion on his face he said, "Uhh, no. I'm making H2O. I need brown next." (Of course, where was my head?)

Now for the dipping of the strawberries. As you can see, it takes a fair amount of concentration. 

We took a brief intermission between our many projects tonight and read from Leading Little Ones to God by Marian Schoolland. Emily read lesson number 3 for us. This lesson was titled "We see God's Works", which led into a lively discussion about how we can know there is a God who created us by the world we see around us. We also read Psalm 19:1, which tells us the same thing. "The heavens declare the glory of God and the sky above proclaims his handiwork." 

To complete our projects, we wrapped each marshmallow pop in a small cellophane bag and secured it with a twist tie. We then inserted the completed pops into a block of florist foam we had wrapped in aluminum foil (thank you Ethan and Carissa). The foil wrapped block allowed for easy display and carrying. 

The finished products. 

It was a busy Cookie Baking Night tonight. We used every minute of time in activity. As usual, a fun time was had by all.