Resurrection Eggs; Teach Your Children the Meaning of Easter

23 Saturday Mar 2013

Posted by nt12many in Crafts, Easter, Fun and Easy ways to Celebrate, Holiday, Holy Bible, last minute meals, Recipes

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Holy Week, Resurrection Egg Crafts, Teaching Children Biblical Truth

Yes, I’ll admit it. I am together putting these eggs at the last minute because Easter caught me by surprise. I just wasn’t paying attention to the calendar….but, isn’t the motto of every mother,”Better late than never?”

After talking to my seven year old several days ago, I realized that he really doesn’t know the Easter story so these eggs may remedy that a bit. I am shamelessly taking advantage of our eleven year old and using her natural “take charge” attitude to put these together. As she collects the items, copies the verses and stuffs the eggs, she’ll be reviewing the Easter story at the same time.

We’ll be doubling up on the eggs and doing two per day (instead of one per day) because I’m starting five days before Easter. Although my goal is to get through them all by Sunday, it’s not the end of the world if we are still hiding and finding Resurrection eggs a week or two from now. When I remember that my goal is to talk about Jesus and His victory on the cross, I feel less pressure to complete them in within a certain time frame. If these take a while, we’re just extending the blessing!

I’m also just using items around the house and substituting as necessary.

Young children just love these eggs! I have found Dollar stores to be the best place to get them.

First Egg (which I will skip since we just had Palm Sunday and reviewed what it was all about)
Message: Jesus rode into Jerusalem on a donkey. The people waved palm branches.
Passage: Matthew 21:1-11
Item:piece of palm branch or anything that resembles a small palm branch leaf

Second Egg:
Message: Mary poured expensive perfume on Jesus’ feet.
Passage: John 12:2-8
Item: small perfume sample, cloth with perfume, or a piece of cotton with cologne on it

Third Egg:
Message: Jesus shared the Last Supper with His disciples.
Passage: Matthew 26:17-19
Item: piece of Chex cereal; or take clay and make a small bread-like shape

Fourth Egg:
Message: Judas betrayed Jesus for 30 pieces of silver.
Passage: Matthew 27:3
Item: 3 dimes or plastic “silver” money

Fifth Egg:
Message: Jesus carried His own cross.
Passage: John 19:17
Item: small plastic cross or use toothpicks/popsicle sticks cut and glued in a cross form

Sixth Egg:
Message: Soldiers placed a crown of thorns on Jesus’ head.
Passage: John 19:2
Item: small thorny branch or a large thorn all by itself

Seventh Egg:
Message: Soldiers parted Jesus’ garments and cast lots for His coat.
Passage: John 19:23
Item: swatch of burlap and a nail (or miniature dice)
Item: 7 or 8 whole cloves, or other whole spices

Eighth Egg:
Message: Jesus was nailed to a cross and pierced in His side.
Passage: John 19:18,37 & John 20:25-29
Item: a nail

Nineth Egg:
Message: They gave Jesus vinegar mixed with gall on a sponge to drink.
Passage: Matthew 27:34
Item: a small sponge

Tenth Egg:
Message: Spices to prepare Jesus for burial.
Passage: John 19:40

Eleventh Egg:
Message: The stone covering Jesus’ tomb was rolled away.
Passage: John 20:1
Item: a small rock

Twelveth Egg:
Message: The napkin around Jesus’ head was lying separately from His linen cloths. He was not there. He has
risen!
Passage: John 20:6-7
Item: a scrap of linen-type fabric

Celebrate Easter with these simple ideas as well!

Do you do anything to make Easter special? Please share your ideas with us!

Easy Candy Rings for Valentine’s Day (a repost)

06 Wednesday Feb 2013

Posted by nt12many in Crafts, Fun and Easy ways to Celebrate, Gifts to Make, Holiday, Valentines Day

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Tags

candy rings craft, cheap crafts, fun for children, inexpensive ideas for celebrations, raising children

picture from http://www.crafts.kaboose.com

Easy and cute. I think these would be darling with red candy or heart shaped candy. If you happen to have a little box that a ring came in from the jewelry store, you would thrill a little girl with one of these tucked inside!

What you need:

Chenille wire (also called pipe cleaners)
Candy wrapped in sparkly foil or crinkly paper
Glue (I use tacky glue)
Glitter and white glue

To make:
1. Wrap the pipe cleaner around the finger to measure the ring size. Cut the pipe cleaner and secure by twisting the ends under and over.
2.Glue the candy on top of the ring.
3. Lightly dot white glue onto the candy, sprinkle with glitter and dry.

Give the ring with some “sweet” words of love such as,

“You always razzle, dazzle my heart” or
“On the day you were born you wrapped me around your finger just like this ring”

Happy Valentine’s Day!

February LOOOOOVE!

01 Friday Feb 2013

Posted by nt12many in Practical Help, Holiday, Gifts to Make, Valentines Day, Crafts

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ABC's of Love, blessing your husband, Fighting Feminism

It’s time to get a bit crafty but, never fear, this mother of eight is not going to overwhelm you with Martha Stewart projects! I’ve scouted around and found some fun ideas that most of us can do quickly and inexpensively (do I hear a “yipee”?).

Head on over to Keeping It Simple to find out how to put together the cute “You Rock” Valentines in the picture.

Join us at the Romantic Vineyard and commit to romancing your hubby! It’s a fun challenge!

In the midst of all the fun and fluff and sparkle, don’t forget to read last years post to learn all about The Legend of St. Valentine.

We’ll be having a romantic month here at Generational Womanhood. It doesn’t matter if you’re single, married or in-between, everyone loves a little bit of romance in their lives!

What are some ways you tell your friends and relations that they make your life sparkle?
Share it with us!

Ideas for the Advent (large family style)

08 Saturday Dec 2012

Posted by nt12many in Crafts, Fun and Easy ways to Celebrate, Gifts to Make, not-to-do list, Practical Help, Recipes, Rest and Refreshment, Sharing Jesus, Thomas Nelson

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Advent, Christmas, family time, Ideas for Legos and Advent

Yes, I know it is day eight of Advent but, perhaps, time has gotten away from you and that’s all right!

The primary purpose of Advent is to prepare our hearts for the birth of Jesus and the secondary purpose of Advent is to keep little children busy and engaged and happy and, as the mother of many, I am here to help on both accounts!

Here are some ideas for simple things you can do each day starting now!

I discovered a creative mother who has posted 25 projects using LEGOS during Advent! If you are starting late (as I am) it won’t matter to your children, especially if you introduce the projects with enthusiasm! I know our seven year old will be thrilled (as will the older boys in the household although they may not admit it).

Tommy Nelson publishers has some wonderful free coloring pages, simple advent ideas and, even, videos to watch! Free is always good .

Here are a few of my last minute gift ideas from Christmas 2011. Children love the thrill of being on the giving end of Christmas so include them as you prepare and give simple treats.

Remember, the mothers of old kept things simple during Advent. They lit a candle each day, gathered the children around, sang a carol and read a Bible verse. They may have had the children draw a picture of a tree and each day they colored another ornament onto the tree to mark off the days until Christmas (young children, especially, need a little help understanding how many days it is until Christmas).

So, mothers of young ones, don’t get overwhelmed. Take time to cuddle with your family (don’t forget your husband!) and enjoy the season.

Fun with the Laura Ingalls Wilder books

10 Wednesday Oct 2012

Posted by nt12many in Changing the next generation, Crafts, Fun and Easy ways to Celebrate, Home Education, Practical Help, Reading Aloud

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cooking, family time, raising children, Reading Aloud

I’ve always loved the Little House books written by Laura Ingalls Wilder. I’ve read them to my children so many times that I almost have them memorized. The second series of books based on her parents and grandparents lives (The Caroline Years etc.) are good but they are not hers. Please don’t get the two of them confused! I’m loyal to Laura and her original books.

Although the Little House books made every meal sound mouth-watering, the Ingalls family ate plain, basic food over and over again, read from just a handful of books and lived in isolation for most of their lives. Can you imagine eating salt pork for almost every meal? It’s a very salty bacon-like meat but it was an important part of the Ingall’s diet.

To make the books come alive for my children when they were young (and to help them understand the deprivation all early settlers experienced), we spent a weekend living like pioneers. I considered this a 48 hour unit study. My kids loved it! Here are some ideas to get you started:

1. We didn’t use electricity for two days. This meant using candles and one oil lamp. We read by candlelight so they could experience how hard it would be to read in bed!

2. We used a wood stove to cook on. If you don’t have one you could use one burner on your stove and call it “the stove.”

3. We used only an outside hose for water and called it “the well.” We went to the well for water with a bucket and hauled that bucket of water inside the house.

4. We ate beans and cornbread three times a day for two days and a lot of bacon!

5. We used the Bible and an old McGuffey reader as our only books.

6. We all lived in one small part of the house (I marked off the average size of a log cabin so they could get a feel for small amount of space in an average log cabin). In that space we had one bed, some blankets and two books.

7. We tried to get up at dawn and go to bed soon after the sun went down.

8. I kept the children busy with “chores” (ie., scrubbing clothes by hand, hauling water, hand-washing the floor, cooking over the fire etc.

These are just a few of the things we did during our Little House Weekend. The sky is the limit as far as ideas go. Do a quick internet search for pioneer crafts and you will find a boggling array of ideas. The children absolutely loved these weekends even though we only got around to doing them about twice a year.

These days I am using some of those same ideas and teaching them to over fifty children in a home school co-op. It’s a bit of a challenge to get things done in less than an hour per class but we did make a green pumpkin pie last week as well as a simple candle holder out of air-drying clay. I read the passage where Ma Ingalls makes the pie in The Long Winter and I explained how important candles, lanterns and candle holders were before electricity was invented. The kids enjoyed it.

Making literature come alive doesn’t have to take a great deal of planning…with young children who’s got time for that? Simply read a book, turn out the lights, light a candle and bake a pan of cornbread. Your children will associate the study of the past (ie., history) with yummy smells, cosy evenings and the excitement of something different…and they will learn!

Fathers Day

11 Monday Jun 2012

Posted by nt12many in Changing the next generation, Crafts, Fathers Day, Gifts to Make, Holiday, Strong families

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creative Father's Day ideas, Five Things Fathers Do Best, honoring dad, men and women are different, The Care and Feeding of Husbands

“Small boys become big men through the influence of big men who care about small boys.” anonymous

Father’s Day has become a big commercial deal in the U.S. and, frankly, I get a bit tired of it but that doesn’t change the fact that fatherhood needs to be celebrated.

Our world needs more fathers; real fathers, fathers who fill their children up with attention and love.

“A good father is one of the most unsung, unpraised, unnoticed, and yet one of the most valuable assets in our society.”
– Billy Graham

Do your children have a father who pays attention to them, loves them and strives to be a good father? He needs affirmation. The affirmation doesn’t have to be in the form of a new Bar-B-Q grill (something my husband wants to make himself this month) or a soppy store-bought card. Here are some ways to give a dad a “high five” for standing in the gap as a father.

How about a Lady Bug Tie Tack? All it takes is a little Sculpey or Fimo clay and a tie tack back…my kind of craft!

My daughter made this fun cake one year. (We asked our local Dry Cleaners if we could have shirt box to put it in and they gave us several).

One of the most meaningful gifts for anyone to receive is a record of loving thoughts and comments from their family. A simple notebook filled with remarks from his children would make a wonderful gift for any man. Ask your children what they love about their daddy and what they love best to do with him. Write it down! If you have time, use poster paint to make handprints next to each comment (include the older children too). Make sure you date the book. It will be a keepsake for years to come.

“A father carries pictures where his money used to be.”
~ Author Unknown ~

Actually, a really fun gift that would make you the “coolest family” on the block in dad’s eyes would be a “gift of the month club.” For the man who loves sweets you could commit to baking a homemade treat every first day of the month (or whatever day you choose). A man who fishes might receive a new fishing lure each month, another might love exotic pickled goodies such as artichoke hearts and pickled onions.

If your financial status fluctuates a lot, don’t commit to a “gift of the month club” without having at least six months worth of gifts bought ahead of time, just in case you run out of “gift” money (ask me how I know).

As you teach your children how to honor their father (and, perhaps, as you honor your own) remember that men and women are different and need unique affirmation from their loved ones. Men crave respect and honor. This isn’t wrong, it’s the way they are made. Keep that in mind as you celebrate their day.

For more help and inspiration in understanding men, I recommend Dr. Laura Schlesinger’s The Care and Feeding of Husbands. I don’t like Dr. Laura’s tone in her radio show and I don’t agree with her perspective on a lot of things but she got it right in this book. Any woman who has been influenced by the feminist driven world in which we live should read this book.

For further help in appreciating the difference a dad makes in the life of his child read Five Things Fathers Do Best.

You know your husband. Use your creativity and unique family to create a one-of-a-kind gift for a man among men…the father of your children.

“Blessed indeed is the man who hears many gentle voices call him father!”
~ Lydia M. Child ~

Easter Recipes and Ideas

05 Thursday Apr 2012

Posted by nt12many in Crafts, Easter, Fun and Easy ways to Celebrate, Gifts to Make, healthy and quick recipes, Holy Bible, Homemaking, Practical Help, Recipes, Sharing Jesus

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I’ve been enjoying doing a little Spring cleaning this week so I can relax and enjoy some Easter cooking in a more organized kitchen. An easy and delicious bread to make at Easter is the traditional Jewish Challah bread. It’s easy because it is made with yeast and eggs which makes it very light. It makes a beautiful centerpiece or a nice Easter gift. I have even made it with colored eggs tucked into the braid and then baked. It was beautiful that way.

Another wonderful cookie recipe that teaches the Easter story is a recipe for Resurrection Cookies(scroll down) or Empty Tomb Cookies.
These are really very simple meringue cookies that are put in the hot oven on Saturday night and then left in the oven after you turn the heat off. When the family wakes up on Easter and checks on the cookies, they find that they are hollow inside! Very fun (and a delicious bit of sugar to start your morning off with a zing!).

And to throw in an Easter activity that also counts as a history lesson, why not make eggs colored with onion skins? They really are beautiful and it is such fun to tell the children that great-grandma may (possibly) have colored her eggs this way! These would also make a sweet little gift to a shut-in or elderly friend, perhaps in a little basket?

When the kids were all much younger, my primary goal was to get the house clean and to read several books on the Easter story throughout the week. If we got some eggs colored or a special cake baked, it was a bonus. I was usually nursing a baby in those years so I did what I could with the time I had. Every season of life is different and we all have different challenges and priorities but Easter is such a wonderful world-changing event that impacted history forever, it is certainly worth a little extra effort!

Alleluia, Christ is Risen! How are you shouting His praises this Easter week?

Resurrection Eggs; Teach Your Children the Story of Easter

03 Tuesday Apr 2012

Posted by nt12many in Changing the next generation, Crafts, Easter, Easy, Fun and Easy ways to Celebrate, Holy Bible, Inspirational Mama, Practical Help, Strong families, Thoughts and Prayers

≈ 1 Comment

After talking to my six year old several days ago, I realized that he really doesn’t know the Easter story so these eggs may remedy that a bit. I am shamelessly taking advantage of our ten year old and using her natural “take charge” attitude to put these together. As she collects the items, copies the verses and stuffs the eggs, she’ll be reviewing the Easter story at the same time.

We’ll be doubling up on the eggs and doing two per day (instead of one per day) because I’m starting five days before Easter. Although my goal is to get through them all by Sunday, it’s not the end of the world if we are still hiding and finding Resurrection eggs a week or two from now. When I remember that my goal is to talk about Jesus and His victory on the cross, I feel less pressure to complete them in within a certain time frame. If these take a while, we’re just extending the blessing!

I’m also just using items around the house and substituting as necessary.

Young children just love these eggs! I have found Dollar stores to be the best place to get them.