Christmas Stories

The Christmas season is upon us, and my family is starting a new tradition this year of unwrapping a new Christmas book each day leading up to Christmas. We owned several winter/Christmas themed books already, but we needed to add to our collection, so I began searching for some old favorites. After sharing some of these stories with my daughter, I realized that some of them were fairly dark:

“The Small One” by Charles Tazewell, is about a donkey who is too small and too old to do the heavy work required, and must be sold, but nobody will buy this sorry creature except the tanner. Just when the young owner has given up hope of saving his beloved donkey’s life, a man comes along. He doesn’t have much money, but he has a pregnant wife, and a long journey ahead of him to a little town called Bethlehem…

“A Tale of Three Trees” is a folk tale about one tree who hopes to be made into a treasure chest, another who dreams of being a great sailing ship for kings, and a third who longs to remain on the hilltop forever, pointing proudly to the heavens. All three are cut down, and the first is turned into a feedbox for animals, the second into a humble fishing boat, and the third is hewn into rough beams and left in a lumber yard. Years pass as the trees each mourn their dreams. But one day, the feedbox is surprised when it is used to hold a baby, the fishing boat carries a man who can calm a storm, and the third is made into a cross.

In “the Other Wise Man,” by Henry Van Dyke, Artaban plans to join his fellow Magi to give gifts to a newborn king. On his way to meet his companions, he is delayed when he stops to help a dying man on the road. When he gets to Bethlehem, he is too late: the holy family has fled to Egypt. Herod’s soldiers arrive to kill all the baby boys, and he saves a child by bribing the soldier who comes for him. He spends the next 33 years searching to no avail, gradually giving away all of the wealth he had brought for Jesus except for one pearl. He finally arrives in Jerusalem only to discover that the King for whom he has been searching is about to be crucified. As he rushes to see, he encounters a girl who is to be sold into slavery to pay off her father’s debts. He buys her freedom with his final treasure, just as Jesus dies on the cross. He is injured during the earthquake, and is ushered into heaven with words from Matthew 25:40 “Inasmuch as you have done to the least of these, my brethren, you have done it unto me.”

Why do I love these stories so much? These are tales of broken dreams: A worthless donkey destined for the glue factory; Trees filled with hopes for great purpose, being used in lowly, demeaning ways; A Magi who spent his whole life searching for the King, but arrives empty-handed only to find him dying.

But more than that, these are tales of redemption: The worthless donkey carries Mary to Bethlehem and is present at the birth of the Christ child. The manger tree holds the greatest treasure in the world, the fishing boat tree carries the King of Kings, and the final tree stands high on its hilltop, pointing the world to Heaven. Artaban’s life goal was to meet Jesus and give him the finest gifts money could buy, and though he thought his mission a failure, he learns in the end that every act of kindness, every generous gift was given to God, and his faithful seeking came to an end when he met the King face to face in His glorious kingdom.

These are not just stories, they are our stories. How many of us feel, like the donkey, that we have nothing to offer anyone? How many of us dreamed like the trees of a perfect job and grand life, only to find ourselves working for low-wages outside our chosen field just to pay off our student loans? How many of us feel like our whole life has been wasted on a failed mission? We all need redemption.

The donkey wasn’t chosen because he was special, he became special because he was chosen. The roughly hewn trees held no intrinsic beauty or worth of their own, but they became timeless symbols of the greatest story ever told because of who they held. Artaban spent his whole life hoping to pay tribute to the new King, without realizing that he already was serving him everywhere he went. Jesus made them beautiful. Jesus made them treasures. Jesus fulfilled their dreams in ways they never could have guessed.

So friends, if you question your value, know that Christ has deemed you precious enough to die for.  If you feel unworthy, remember that Jesus has offered himself to be judged in your place, so that when God looks at you, he doesn’t see the crude vessel, he sees his perfect Son. If you feel lost and searching, God will meet you where you are. “You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.” Jeremiah 29:13

“Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.” Ephesians 3:20-21

If you find yourself seeking, or longing for redemption, I would encourage you to start here, or here.

Weary

I was bouncing a screaming baby in one arm and wrestling a tantruming toddler into time-out with the other. I ran into the kitchen to discover that lunch was burning on the stove, and then I saw Kaja’s glasses. She had taken them off earlier because of a bloody nose, and Teddy must have gotten hold of them. These nine long weeks have left me broken. We had a baby, then three weeks later, within 24 hours, I went from “just” caring for three young children on my own (while recovering from surgery) to an infected incision, a toddler with a broken leg, and a sick child. Did I mention we had a newborn? Four rounds of illness have now swept through our family, and not one of us has been spared. Every time I dare to hope we are on the mend, something new knocks us down again. I am so, so tired. Tired of being sick, tired of doctor’s visits, tired of prescriptions, tired of respiratory distress, tired of fevers, tired of the question “Should we take him to the ER?” Tired of sitting up all night with miserable little ones, tired of crying children. So tired. Yet in my head echoes a little ditty that Kaja likes to sing. The words are from Galatians 6:9 “Let us not grow weary of doing good. In due season we shall reap, if we don’t lose heart.” That bouncy, obnoxious little tune won’t get out of my head, and for once I am thankful for earworms.
Jesus was no stranger to this kind of suffering. He knows what it’s like to have people pressing in on all sides, he knows what it’s like to constantly have people needing him, wailing for him, practically hanging off of him. He knows what it’s like to be exhausted: he was so tired he slept through gale force winds! He was constantly on his feet, teaching and caring for the sick. He would rise before dawn and escape to a mountain outside of town, and people would find him and interrupt his prayers (I don’t have a mountaintop, but I swear, one day Teddy is going to learn how to pick the lock on the bathroom door). Christ was pouring out his life for us even before he was crucified, and he was faithful to this mission out of love for the Father. I tell my children every night “God made you, so you belong to God. God loves you and wants you to love Him back.” Despite all our shortcomings and rebellion, the Almighty Creator of the universe valued us enough to send his son to suffer and die in order to restore what was broken and bring us back to Him. Renewed lives, repaired relationships, perfect unity. The reward makes the suffering worth it. So let us “fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfector of our faith. Who, for the joy set before him endured the cross.” (Heb. 12:2) God treasures you, and God treasures your children. Don’t grow weary of doing good: he has prepared these good works for you (Ephesians 2:10), He will not leave you to do them alone (Matthew 28:20). 

The Shoe Game!

The shoe game: 
Make two piles of shoes, with one shoe from each pair in each pile. 
Put them far apart, this uses up extra energy. wink emoticon 
When you say "go!" Each child grabs a shoe from one pile, runs to the other to find the match, then runs to the door to line them up neatly. You can do it simultaneously as a race, or take turns (I prefer this way, since we're working on turns in this house...).
Teaches different skills across varying age levels: matching, colors/size ("can you find the other blue shoe?" "oh, this shoe is too big to be a match!"), counting to 2, counting BY 2's at the end to tally up the pairs, right and left as they're being lined up, the important life skills of finding matching shoes and putting them away neatly, taking turns, etc. Plus the farther apart your piles and door are, the more energy they'll burn! And when they get bored of this game, shoes are fun to play with! They want to try on each other's shoes, wear them on their hands, and just be silly. I played it today with my 5-year-old and 18-month-old, and I first "invented" this game with a class of kindergarten, first, and second graders, so it works pretty well for a sibling game or across age groups (older siblings can practice helping the younger ones, too!).
(Adding mom's fancy shoes, dad's big shoes, or dress up shoes is extra fun, too!) :)

"Teddy's Song"

A year and a week ago, we found out we were expecting. After two years of hoping and heartbreak and miscarriage, I was so delighted! But I remember breathing a prayer on my way to church: “Lord, this baby belongs to you. Help me to hold this child with an open hand.” Exactly a week later I was going to get my first lesson:

That morning in church we sang a song, called “Behold Our God.” I had never heard it before, and to be honest, I wasn't a huge fan. It just takes me a while to process and connect to unfamiliar songs, so I remained unmoved. But we had a running playlist of the songs we sing in church so Kaja could learn them and participate in service, and I added it to the rotation.

Later that afternoon, I went to the bathroom and discovered that I was bleeding. I was crushed. Time stopped and I couldn't see or hear or think anything besides “We're losing this baby, too.” I don't know how long I sat there, trying to breathe, but the first sound that made it past the ringing in my ears was the playlist running in the other room:

Who has held the oceans in His hands?
Who has numbered every grain of sand?
Kings and nations tremble at His voice
All creation rises to rejoice

Behold our God seated on His throne
Come let us adore Him
Behold our King nothing can compare
Come let us adore Him!

Who has given counsel to the Lord?
Who can question any of His Words?
Who can teach the One who knows all things?
Who can fathom all His wondrous deeds?

Behold our God seated on His throne
Come let us adore Him
Behold our King nothing can compare
Come let us adore Him!

You will reign forever...

The lyrics reference God's response to Job when he questions his suffering and loss. God reminds him that He is all-powerful, all-knowing, and sovereign over all things, and although things don't make sense to us, everything makes sense to Him, and this life is part of something so much bigger than we could ever comprehend. The reminder that our strong, wise, and loving God is in charge was exactly what I needed in that moment. Still devastated, but reassured.

I bled off-and-on for nearly a month, and every time the bleeding restarted, I thought “This is it, the miscarriage is finally starting.” But it never did, and baby kept growing healthy and strong!

That was only the beginning of our pregnancy scares, which included placenta previa (it moved just enough by the end of the pregnancy and never ruptured), exposure to Lymphocytic Choriomeningitis (which most likely would have killed or maimed the baby had I not already unknowingly built an immunity thanks to previous exposure to this rare virus), and a uterine rupture during an attempted VBAC (the OB caught it just in time, we had an emergency C-Section, and are both fine. In the OR, when I heard him point out where my old scar was tearing open, I realized how very narrowly we had escaped tragedy).

Throughout the pregnancy, this song kept popping up. It seemed that on the days I was most overwhelmed by the fear of losing another baby, I would inevitably hear it on the radio or we would sing it in church (at our old church, at a church we visited once, and even on the first Sunday we visited our new church). Sure enough, we even sang it on baby Teddy's first Sunday at church (I should say, the congregation sang. I held my baby tight and wept grateful tears into his soft, brown hair). This morning, a year after hearing the song for the first time, a year after my heart was shattered by what I thought was another miscarriage, I sat in service, rocking my baby boy, listening to my daughter singing next to me: “Behold our God, seated on His throne. Come let us adore Him...”

Our baby's middle name is a variant of John, which means “The Lord has been gracious to us” and He truly has.

Bacon Fried Rice Recipe

Yes, that's right, BACON.

I love fried rice because it's a great way to use up a bunch of whatever random ingredients you have floating around in your fridge. One week in our house, that ingredient just happened to be bacon. And history was made. This is NOT a low-fat or low-sodium meal! Not at all.

Really, it's just a basic fried rice recipe, but you use bacon as the meat, and as an added bonus, you fry everything in the rendered bacon fat. Yep, fried in lard. Like I said: NOT low fat!

The 3 tricks I've learned for good fried rice are:
1. use leftover rice. It needs to be on the dry side to fry well. Wet rice just kind of stews...
2. don't be shy with the oil. It makes a big difference.
3. have everything ready to toss in the pan before you start. Things move quickly, it's good to be prepared. (take a minute to loosen up the rice a little so it's easy to just dump in. It tends to clump together and stick in the pot, and you don't want to be messing with that when it's time to put it in!)

Okay, here is the recipe. Remember: since this is a basic fried rice recipe, you can substitute any other meat/tofu for the bacon, and use regular cooking oil, and you've got yourself regular old fried rice! Get creative!

Ingredients:

• Leftover (cooked) rice (it's important for it to be "leftover" because it needs to have time to dry out. Cook a fresh pot the day before and leave it in the fridge overnight if you have to).
• Chopped veggies (I used carrots, green bell pepper, and mushrooms, because that's what I had in my fridge. It's kind of a "toss in whatever you need to use up" sort of a thing, so use whatever sounds good. Frozen works just fine in a pinch)
• 1 or 2 eggs, beaten (you get a nicer texture with 2, or 3 if you've got a lot of rice, but you can get by with less)
• Sliced fresh ginger
• Minced garlic
• Soy sauce
• BACON (cut into small pieces. I had about 1/2 a pound, but you could do it with more or less. I usually only have about 1/4 pound when I make it.)

1. Cook the bacon, rendering out all the fat. Remove the bacon pieces, keeping the fat in the pan.

2. Use the bacon fat to fry the chopped veggies (high heat). Remove the veggies, reserving the grease.

3.  Put several tablespoons of the bacon grease back in the pan to heat on high (I had a TON of grease, so I had to remove some, but depending on the fat content of the bacon, you might need to supplement with regular cooking oil. You want enough to generously cover the bottom of the pan, but you don't want a deep puddle. You can always add more, it's much harder to drain it back out...)

4. Toss in the ginger and garlic, stirring constantly for about 30 seconds (leave in)

5. Pour in the egg

6. IMMEDIATELY add rice (this is why you should loosen it up before you start, you need to add it before the egg starts cooking), stirring to coat with egg and oil. Cook for a few minutes, until egg looks cooked.

7. Add the bacon and veggies back in.

8. Drizzle with soy sauce, mixing in until just barely golden brown. 

Before soy sauce

9. Cook another minute, stirring constantly, and you're done! Enjoy!

After soy sauce: ALL DONE!!!

Easy Thai Coconut Curry Chicken Recipe

Here's a great, fairly quick and easy recipe that my family loves! It's a great way to dress up chicken and rice, with TONS of flavor.

I always keep a can of coconut milk in my cupboard, just in case!

Adapted from: this fancy, tasty-sounding recipe

Ingredients:

• olive oil or other oil for cooking
• 1 onion, chopped
• 1 red sweet pepper, chopped
• 1 lb boneless, skinless chicken breast, cubed 
• 3-4 cloves garlic, minced or crushed
• 2 Tbsp curry powder (or more if desired, but my preschooler can't handle the spice. This gives it just enough to be interesting and still okay for her young palate) 
• 2 Tbsp creamy peanut butter (I just tried this new addition tonight. I liked it enough to add it to the official recipe, but it's always been good in the past without it, if it needs to be omitted)
• 1 13.5 oz can coconut milk (not water, but the milk. Usually found in the Asian food aisle)
• salt + pepper to taste (I never add any)
• Rice

1. Cook rice (I'm adding a reminder because I always forget to get the rice started soon enough!)
2. saute onion and sweet pepper in oil until soft
3. add chicken and cook through
4. add garlic and curry powder, cook about a minute, stirring constantly until toasted
5. Add peanut butter, let it melt and stir to coat
6. add coconut milk and stir. If you had curry powder or anything else cook onto the bottom of the pan, scrape it off into the milk with your spatula, it tastes yummy and makes cleanup easier! ;)

Of course I forgot to take a picture of the final result, but even my picky 3-year-old ate it happily!

Indoor Active Play Grab Bag Ideas

Thanks to this crazy cold weather, Kaja hadn't left the house in almost 5 days and was going stir crazy! She was literally running in circles this morning, and I knew we had to do something! Now, there's a million ideas on Pinterest for indoor active play, and I've tried a couple, but I haven't had much luck finding ones that really capture her interest and keep her moving for more than a few minutes, and I was hoping to tire her out! She's very story and craft oriented these days, so anything that captures her creative/imaginative side helps! That, and just changing things up a lot!
So, I decided to do a "wiggle grab bag." with LOTS of active ideas. You pull an idea out of the bag, and everyone has to do what the paper says before you can pull out another idea. Each activity can be done in a matter of seconds, or, if it strikes your fancy, you can play at it for as long as you want. This is simple and open-ended so it can move with her.

I wrote down the ideas, drew lines to make a grid around them, and had her cut them out, so she got some fine motor practice in, too! ;)
Here is what we have so far:

• Toss a ball into a laundry basket (this was a favorite, she did this for a good 20 minutes)
• Lay down and do the bicycle motion in the air (slow, fast, to a song, while counting, see who can do it longer, etc. I got tired way before she did! Great ab workout!)
• See how long you can stand on one foot (then try the other)!
• Bounce around on a yoga ball or large stuffed animal
• army crawl across the room
• do baby push-ups (we have an infant, so we all do "tummy time" together!)
• Do 10 jumping-jacks
• crawl under all the kitchen/dining-room chairs
• balance while walking on a line (use masking tape or just the grout lines on tile floors)
• Hop in a circle
• Roll across the room!
• Climb up and down the stairs pretending it's a mountain
• Spin around 5 times
• Climb up the back/side of the couch
• push laundry basket around on the carpet (get 2 and make it a race!)
• Dance to a silly song (Hokey Pokey? Chicken Dance? Something with motions!)
• Walk backwards to another room and back
• Flap your wings and fly around the house
• Be a human wheelbarrow (one person holds ankles while the other walks on hands)
• "Crab walk" around the room
• Jump like a frog (could play leap frog!)
• Crawl to the other side of the room and back
• Line up stuffed animals (or pillows) and jump over them
• Play "Ring Around the Rosey"

I anticipate adding more as we go. We moved and jumped and played for about 30 minutes before we had to take a break, and we only used 4 or 5 ideas. We'll do it again tomorrow...

Learning to Read with "Sing Spell Read and Write!"

When I was a kid, I learned to read using the Sing Spell Read and Write curriculum by Sue Dickson. It's awesome, and covers WAY more than just reading/writing! I loved it, and always figured I'd use it with my kids. I bought the pre-K curriculum package, and would recommend buying their whole package if you're looking for a curriculum (if you buy nothing else, get the level 1 CD for all the phonics songs!) but there are plenty of free/cheap resources we found:

You can find tons of explanations and demos on youtube by typing in the curriculum name, but here are our favorite videos:

The Phonics Song: This is the alphabet with pronunciations instead of letter names. I started playing it when my daughter was a toddler, and she was trying to sound out words before she was 2! I love that there is a slide show with the letters as they're singing so kids can learn to associate the shapes with the sounds.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=asfVlQ0bmv4&list=PL32962BEB0218870A

Here's another version, with the chart/placemat that comes with the curriculum pack (worth making or buying one of your own):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kXc-_hxRXlo

And here are 2 links of kids singing it, because it's adorable, and there is no better motivator than seeing other kids do it, too!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kyXogrVY89o

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w70ZRbTOXFk

When they get more advanced, there is a song for the short vowels (which they've already learned in the alphabet song) :

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y2k8xYMWMDc&list=PLTJdTUd9iEZtmh3Nn0yxab8_JGKTQhvGW&index=2

And new long vowel sounds:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ldxIEIgbaWA

Once they've got the letter sounds, then they move on to 2-letter combinations, once again, using singing:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CC1yCleMLhc 

I did the above activity by writing the vowels on a magnetic white board, then swapping out magnet letters for the consonants.

It takes a while to get to the combination stage, but once they've got it, it's amazing to watch them take off! We used the BOB books after that to introduce really simple words, and she loves reading! (I bought the first set from Amazon, and they gave me the option to buy the Kindle version for .99 as well. The physical books were really important as she was learning to read, I think, but after getting through set 1, we used the Kindle Owner's Lending Library to borrow each set as we needed them. Yay for free readers!)

http://www.amazon.com/Bob-Books-Set-Beginning-Readers-ebook/dp/B00HDPOY84/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1400968584&sr=8-1&keywords=bob+books 

Anyway, I hope that's helpful! We really enjoy the songs, and I made homemade  charts, books, and coloring pages by using black and white clip art for each letter (print each letter/picture combination and put them in a dollar-store photo album!).

"Pre-School" Lists

Last Spring I scanned through tons of "what your child should know before starting Kindergarten" lists (and a few "before 1st grade" lists), and compiled a "master list" of topics that I would like to cover with Kaja in these pre-school years. This is NOT an exhaustive list, nor does any Kindergarten teacher expect their incoming students to know these things (honestly, this is more like a Kindergarten curriculum, with several more advanced elements, too)! I DO NOT expect her to become an expert on everything on this list, and when I wrote it, I anticipated it would take at LEAST two years to get through most of it. Some items are a piece of cake for her, and some are extremely ambitious and probably won't be learned until she's older (the difference between a verb, noun, and adjective, for instance), but I put it on there as a reminder to help me work it into our conversations if it comes up, and to give me a goal to work toward, since I know she will need to learn it eventually. Who knows? She has surprised us plenty in the past!

Disclaimer: I'm not an educator. While some of these items came from education sources, this is purely my personal goals for my own daughter. This is literally just cut-and-paste from my brainstorming, so sorry for the discombobulated mess! Some items include suggestions on how to work on that concept, and at the bottom is my (incomplete) "wish-list" of supplies to play and learn with.

English/Language Arts:

• Rhyming words
• Telling stories from pictures
• Putting story pictures in order
• makes predictions about what comes next in a story (and why)
• Retelling and recalling story details
• identifies setting, plot, character, conflict (where/when, what, who, why, how)
• empathizing and talking about characters feelings and emotions
• "story stones" (making up stories including certain elements)
• Writes her own (full) name
• Concept of sentences, simple punctuation (period, question mark, comma, quotation mark, etc.)
• Title, author, illustrator, chapters, table of contents,
• basic word types (noun, verb, adjective)... do madlibs together?
• Fact vs. fiction
• Capitalize 1^st letter in sentence, and proper nouns.
• Tracing and writing letters and numbers

Math/Numbers:

• shapes (2D and 3D)
• Tell Time
• count to 30 (work in with months), 60 (work into minutes/hours), then 100
• seasons
• months of year?
• days of the week (this method using vitamins in pill organizers makes it so easy!)
• Yesterday, today, tomorrow, last week, other time words (work into vitamin lessons)
• Right and left
• sorting by size, color, shape, type, etc
• more or less
• measuring (length, width, height, weight, volume (liquid measurements), time, temp. etc)
• Money!
• Simple addition and subtraction
• working with a number line
• graphing
• ordinal numbers (first, second, third)
• simple fractions ("cut the cake in half")
• skip counting (2's, 5's, 10's)?

Science:

• Observations and hypotheses (prediction based on observation)
• use magnifying glass to examine items carefully
• 5 senses
• weather
• living vs. non-living (plants, animals, minerals, etc)
• What living things need to survive
• life cycles (like frogs and butterflies)
• classifications (bird, fish, reptile, amphibian, insect, arachnid, mammal, etc)
• plants: from seed (bean sprouts), grow a garden (from sprout to blossom/fruit), roots and root vegetables, different food sources (fruit, vegetable, grain, dairy, nuts/legumes, meat)
• stars, planets and solar systems
• Look at stars, talk about what they are, simple constellations, point out planets, etc.
• waterways (definition of: wells, springs, streams, rivers, lakes/ponds, oceans), currents, etc.

Geography/History:

• Understands different places have different climates, animals, cultures, languages, etc.
• 7 continents (list and locate)
• 4 oceans
• north pole, south pole, equator
• compass directions
• understand the difference between “city, state, country, continent”
• understands “Past, present, future” concepts, and the difference between stories and history
• Use timelines to show progression of time (seed-plant, baby to adult, progress of day, then history, etc)
• Talk about kings, presidents, governors, other authority figures

Life Skills:

• ROUTINE!!!
• Dress self
• button and zipper fastening
• tie shoes
• set and clear table
• help with cleaning tasks (sweeping, dusting, wiping)
• put away books and toys (sorting)
• early folding laundry skills (matching socks, folding towels, etc)
• sort her own laundry???
• Know her own birthday, address, phone number
• Know when to use titles of respect (Mrs., Mr., Pastor, Doctor, etc)
• help in kitchen (stirring, using the manual egg-beater, helping to pour/measure, use the food chopper or wavy chopper)

Gross Motor:

• bounce and catch ball
• skip
• hop on one foot
• climb ladders

Art and fine motor ideas:

• scissor work
• color blends (red+blue=purple, blue+yellow=green, etc)
• pipe cleaner and cheerio threading
• drawing shapes in different sizes
• using shapes to make a picture (start by using pre-cut shapes to make pictures, a-la funny face, eventually working toward drawing in the shapes freehand)
• stencils
• mist plants with spray bottle to build hand strength
• use an eye-dropper for coordination (fun for color mixing games! 2-in-1!)
• tracing in clay, cutting clay
• Recreating pictures, shapes, etc from looking at a model (no directions)
• creative modeling materials (toothpicks and marshmallows/raisins, etc.)
• Looking at and talking about different styles of art

Items/equipment ideas:

• Magnifying glass
• balance scale
• misting spray bottle
• eye dropper
• plastic test tubes?
• Small table/chairs
• low cupboards for her dishes/silverware
• Ideally, Kid-safe kitchen items in reach with a low workspace (hang a low shelf?) (wavy chopper, food chopper, manual egg-beater, plastic dishes/silverware, etc)
• Full-length mirror to hang sideways near ground (for baby), or larger/multiple mirrors (fun for dancing!)
• 5or7-compartmet organizer for laying out outfits for the week
• clothing hamper(s) for K
• trampoline (those small ones for exercising)
• tumbling mats (IKEA!)
• balance beam (again, IKEA!)
• items to climb, hang, swing, and rock on
• Hang a lower closet bar so she can reach her own clothes
• Tension/closet rod and bags with hooks for puzzles and sets of small things
• Chalkboard Paint! (magnetic?)
• Or giant, glossy sheet metal that can be magnet board and dry-erase board (oil drip pan?)
• The Crayola Dry Erase Activity Center is seriously the BEST thing ever! You can slide any 8.5x11 paper under the clear plastic and it becomes a dry-erase board! We use it for coloring, tracing, worksheets, mazes, you name it!
• play money
• letter stamps and stickers
• counting manipulatives (pebbles, bottle caps, glass beads from the dollar store, etc)

DIY Baby Wearing Coat Insert Tutorial!!!

I've seen some really cool baby-wearing coats online, and found some very clever ideas for sewing inserts for your own coat (including this very simple and clever one made from 2 fleece jackets, and this variation where the fleece zipper matched her coat zipper!), but none of them were quite what I wanted. It occurred to me that, instead of cannibalizing a fleece jacket, I could just as easily buy a zipper and some fleece at the fabric store, and then I could use whatever material I wanted. Once I realized that, things started to snowball. I anticipated wearing the baby while playing out in the snow with my 3-year-old, so I wanted something that would keep out the wind, so it had to have a stronger outer material, and a method of cinching up at the top and bottom to keep out the drafts.
After a great deal of thinking and reverse-engineering, this is what I came up with. I am NOT a seamstress. My sewing skills are intermediate, at best, and my machine is old and decrepit, so it's not very pretty or polished, but it does exactly what I want it to do, so I am pleased. Here is how I made it.

The collar can be folded down

Or gathered at the top to create a hood!

Here's what it looks like by itself

Okay, this isn't going to be a very thorough step-by-step tutorial, and I'm sorry about that, but I completely forgot to take pictures while I was sewing, and I'm not a seamstress myself, so you get to see pictures of the completed product, and some mock-ups using paper, with some very rough descriptions along the way (it's almost midnight, I'm trying to get this typed and posted before the baby wakes up for his next feeding, and I'm tired and not thinking very clearly, sorry).

Materials:

lining: fleece

Outer: I used rip-stop nylon because I had it already, but outdoor canvas or any other outerwear material you want is fine.

¼ inch elastic tape

round cord elastic

“Spring Stop Cord Locks”

zipper (most coats use YKK size 5, but do check your coat! If the zipper is YKK, look on the back of the zipper pull. There should be a little serial number. If there is a “5” in the number, you've got a size 5)

Step 1: Measure

Wear your baby and put on your coat. Measure your zipper from the bottom, to however far up you want the insert to zip (I didn't want it to zip up as high as my coat does, since the baby's head sits lower than mine, so I got a shorter zipper. For my coat, I needed a 22-inch one). Then measure the distance across your baby, from zipper to zipper at various points along the way (my coat had velcro every 5 inches, so I measured across at the bottom, then at every velcro up to the top). I also measured how high up from the bottom my baby's neck was, because I wanted to add elastic around the neck to keep out the wind.

*Be generous with the measurements, don't make them too tight, you want to allow extra room for baby to grow, extra layers, etc.
*about the zipper length: Because the outer edges are curved, your zipper will need to be slightly longer than the height you measured (which is a straight line). I recommend drawing your pattern first, and measuring the edges before purchasing a zipper.

Step 2: Trace

Take your measurements and plot them out on a large sheet of paper (wrapping paper, tissue paper, packing/butcher paper, whatever). I first measured the center (blue line), then marked my landmarks (top, bottom, and velcro's in-between) along that center line. Then I marked the points for my measurements, making sure to center them symmetrically across the line (red dots). Then I just kind of traced a curve, making sure it went through all the dots. I wanted a hood, so made the top curved, but you could just as easily make it a straight collar and eliminate a step. The top of my curve is about 8 inches above the top of my zipper. I also marked out where the elastic would go (green, wavy line), but you don't really need to do that on the pattern, I just did it for the sake of clarity.

Because I wanted to add drawstrings to the top and bottom, I added an extra inch or so on both ends (dotted line). I actually could have gotten away with much less than an inch, probably half-an-inch would be fine.

Step 3: Cut

I pinned the two fabrics together, right sides facing in, and pinned the paper on top of them and cut them both out at the same time. I added a seam allowance by simply cutting about a half-inch outside the lines the whole way around. Super precise, I know. ;)

Step 4: Sew the zipper!

Pin the zipper between the two pieces (still right-sides together) with the teeth pointing IN. Make sure that the right portions of the zipper are on the right sides so they will sip into your coat properly (it will seem backwards. Turn the whole thing right-side out after pinning if you have to to check). If you haven't sewn a zipper before, this tutorial gives a nice visual :
http://www.purlbee.com/2014/04/18/mollys-sketchbook-simple-lined-zipper-pouches/

Also, a zipper foot on your sewing machine helps!

Sew the zippers in up both sides, but leave that inch or so at the top and bottom open for the drawstring (unless you don't want a drawstring, in which case, just sew all the way up and down each side). Don't sew the top and bottom yet, you should basically have a tube right now.

Turn it right-side-out and top stitch the zippers to make a clean finish.

Step 5: Elastic!

Keeping the panel right-side-out, slide the end of your elastic tape between the pieces and pin it inside, by the zipper at the height you measured. Sew a tight zig-zag through all the layers to tack down that end (just the end). Leave the elastic long, you want it to hang out so you can grab it to pull. I just held the whole roll and didn't cut it until I had finished sewing it in.

To make a channel for the elastic, move the tape out of the way as much as possible and sew a straight line across the whole panel under the elastic.

Then, push the elastic as close as possible to the sewn edge, and very carefully sew another straight line above the elastic, making sure NOT to sew the elastic! This is the fun part.

When you get close to the other side, you will have to stop short to avoid sewing over the long end of the elastic that is poking out. When you have sewn as far as you dare, pull the elastic until the panel gathers as tightly as you want it, then pin it in place and zig-zag over that end to secure it.

I wish I had pictures of this process (sorry!), but here's the finished product, hopefully it gives you an idea of how that should go:

Gathered elastic

Elastic pulled straight so you can see the channel and the zig-zags on the ends

Step 6: finishing the top and bottom:

Turn the panel inside-out and sew across the top.If you're adding a drawstring, fold in and pin the edges on the sides above the zipper as if you're going to hem them, but don't sew. When you sew the top seam, it will catch the top of that fold and tack it down so the opening for your drawstring doesn't have rough edges poking out. I would add fray-check or some kind of liquid seam on those edges. I'm sure there's a better way to do this, but I don't know it. Will someone enlighten me?

Turn it right-side out again and top stitch the seam. Then sew another line underneath the top stitch to create a channel for your elastic cord.

*I made a nice, wide channel, which creates kind of a ruffled effect when the hood is gathered. If you want tighter gathers, make the channel more narrow and closer to the edge.

Once you've sewn your channel, if there is a gap on the side seams between the bottom of the channel and the top of the zipper, top-stitch that closed.

See how ruffled the edges look with the wide channel?

The bottom will be finished almost the same way, but WATCH OUT: When I turned it inside out to finish the bottom seam, I forgot to leave a gap to turn it right-side out again and had to re-do the whole thing. Don't do that. Learn from my mistake.

Turn the panel inside-out, and sew across the bottom leaving a few inches to turn it right-side out! (don't forget to fold in the unfinished edges on the sides where the drawstring opening is)

Turn it right side out, fold in the edges of the opening and top stitch across the whole bottom edge. Then sew another line above it to create the channel for your elastic cord.

Here's a closer shot of the "channel."

You are almost done!

Step 7:

tie one end of the elastic cord onto a safety pin and use that to work it through the channel. 

If you have a single slot cord lock, just thread the elastic through the lock, tie a good knot and do the same on the other side.

I got dual slot cord locks, so I've got an extra step to finish mine:

Slide the cord through one of the holes, then back through the other to create a loop. 

Then slip the end inside the channel and sew it down (I tied a knot and doubled it up to have more to sew over.

If you think ahead, you can tack this down as you're sewing your channel. Just tack one end down at the start, sew most of the channel, thread the cord through, and tack down the other end as you're finishing the channel to create a cleaner look. Just remember to thread the cord locks on BEFORE you tack down the ends...

Step 8: Zip it onto your coat and get going! :)

Felt Anatomy Set Patterns

Kaja has been on an anatomy kick lately, and I've been looking for some good hands-on ways to engage her interest. I've been seeing a lot of really cool felt anatomy sets on Pinterest, and I thought I'd make my own from random felt scraps laying around.

Ah, the digestive system. Her favorite part! She has to feed her "patient" once it's put together!

We still have a ways to go for the cardio/pulmonary system...

I couldn't find a pattern, so I made my own. I guess you could just trace an image from an anatomy book, but it's hard to find one good resource for that (and if you use multiple images, you have to scale them), so I'm posting my pattern, in case anyone else wants to try! The images are at the bottom of this page.

Here are the awesome things that inspired my project:

This was the first one I found, and I love how detailed the organs are!

Here is the printed felt set that we had when I was a kid.

This very cool person made an anatomy DOLL with removable organs. She even published a free pattern! How cool is that?! I appreciated her suggestion to start with smallest/most detailed part and scale and size everything else to fit. That made my project much more manageable!

And here are some other clever ideas that I may have to try soon:

Life-sized felt organs that will "stick" to your clothes,

this anatomy apron,  or this version, or make your own!

As an added bonus, I sized the organs to fit over a 2-page body diagram in one of Kaja's favorite lift-the-flap body books. So if you're looking for an educational book to go with the set, I'd recommend Usborne's "See Inside Your Body." 

Bones: Skull, spine/pelvis, ribs, collarbones, humerus (2), ulna/radius (2), femur(2), tibia/fibia(2).

Digestive: esophagus, stomach, small intestine, large intestine

Cardiopulmonary: trachea, lungs (2), heart

Waste/other: liver, kidneys(2), bladder, pancreas (with gallbladder attached), spleen, and Brain!

Here are the patterns. Click on the image to view and download. Each one is sized for an 8.5x11" sheet of paper. When you go to print the image, just select the "fill entire paper"option for scale in the print menu.
For the body silhouette, I assembled the skeleton on a large piece of felt and used a piece of chalk to trace an outline around it. Pretty simple, really, and the chalk just rubs right off! :) I also used a sharpie to detail a few of the organs, shown on the pattern with dotted lines (small intestine and heart). 

Skeleton

Cardio-pulmonary

Internal organs

Skull/brain

An Adventure on Every Page!

Kaja's imagination is most active in the morning after breakfast. I always feel a little bit like a lazy mom, letting her play so long by herself, but I love to just sit with my coffee and watch her go! She's off in her own little world having "adventures" and the things she says and does are simply delightful!

This morning, as she does most mornings, she put on her favorite pair of shoes (that are still too big for her, so we can't wear them out yet) and announced "I'm going on an adventure now!"
Do you want to know where today's adventure is taking us? "To the LIBRARY!" Kaja set up an imaginary library by her bookshelves and is going back and forth, collecting a stack of books, "taking them home" to read them all out loud, then returning for another stack (we're still working on returning the books themselves to the library). She has most of her books memorized, and the few she doesn't know yet, she just wings it from the pictures, and that, too, is quite a show! I just love that her idea of an adventure is going to a place where she can read as much as she wants. She is currently working on book #19. And now she's pulled out another book with lots of words, and is calling me over to read with her. Warms my heart!

Who's Teaching Who?

I get to teach the Kindergarten-2nd grade sunday school class at my church once or twice a month. I love getting to spend time with the kids, and I've always loved teaching in general, but the thing I find most humbling is that, even though my audience is 5-7 year-olds, and the stories are the same ones I've heard since infancy, I am still learning and benefitting from the same truths that I am teaching to the children. The craziest part is that I usually don't realize how much I needed to hear that lesson myself until Sunday morning, as the words are coming out of my mouth and the Holy Spirit is pricking my heart and saying "listen!" It makes me marvel and rejoice at how timeless the truths of God are. It is simple enough for a child to understand, yet deep and complex and meaningful enough that we will never be able to plumb the depths of it's wisdom.

This week I taught the story of Jonah, and boy was I convicted! I felt like such a hypocrite, telling these things to the class when I myself hadn't been thinking about or following these words for much of my week. I'm so thankful to God that He never stops teaching me, and always finds creative ways to do it!

Here are a few of the lessons we all learned yesterday:

1. God wants us to marvel at His creation. And He wants us to remember that it all points back to Him. Anytime we admire stunning beauty, magnificent power, awe-inspiring magnitude, perfect order, mind-bending creativity, heart-warming goodness, or anything else that makes us smile or think "wow!" that it all comes from HIM, and is just a dim reflection, a tiny preview of His beauty, His power, His magnitude, His order, His creativity and His goodness.

2. God made the world, and He called it good, and he cares for everything He has made, but He cares most about people. He cares about even the WORST people. Jonah was angry at God for allowing a shade-giving plant to die, but the thought of an entire city being destroyed in a fiery explosion didn't bother him at all. Isn't that the same for me? Don't I so easily get frustrated when I lose something that provides me with comfort or makes my life easier? If I care so much about these things, then the least I could do is care for people more--even the hard-to-love people that drive me crazy. If God cared about the people of Nineveh, who were sworn enemies of God and His people, the same people who attacked and enslaved the Israelites, then I can show compassion on those around me, no matter how frustrated with them I feel.

3. Absolutely nothing happens outside the sovereign will of God. There are some things that He actively ordains to happen, and some things that He simply allows to happen (that's where our free will comes in), but if He really doesn't want something to happen, it simply cannot happen. God actively sent Jonah to Nineveh, and when Jonah tried to refuse, he was stopped in the most remarkable supernatural ways. Not only was there a storm that stopped as soon as he was tossed overboard, but he was somehow preserved alive in the belly of a giant fish for days before being vomited back onto dry land, of all things. I mean, seriously? There's no doubt in Jonah's mind how this all happened, and you'd better believe that the next time God told him to go, he went!

4. It is possible to obey God's commands with a bad attitude, but the only person suffering is you.  (see chapter 4) I really needed an attitude check last week, and this was a pretty good kick-in-the-pants reminder!

So what about you? What and how has God been teaching you these days? :)