25 Days of Christmas 2013: December 13-19

December 13th: Dress Rehearsal

December 14th: Movie Night, Miracle on 34th Street

December 15th: An Out of the Box Christmas Performance

December 16th: Lukas' Spiritual Birthday (anniversary of the day he became a Christian). He made and decorated this cake himself!

December 17th: Craft, Victorian Crackers. They're filled with candy and are supposed to be cracked open and enjoyed on Christmas.

December 18th: Christmas Extravaganza, a night of music at church. You should have seen Ava with the hulu-hoop!

December 19th: Kids' Choice Movie

25 Days of Christmas: Days 9-15

I know, I know. I'm super behind on my 25 Days of Christmas posts. This is because we visited friends last Saturday, and someone who shall remain nameless was asked to pick up my camera bag (because my hands were full with other stuff), and that someone left it there. 30 minutes from our house. On the way to our Day 10 activity. Argh. Our friends are coming into town tomorrow, and they'll be dropping it off. I am going to go ahead and post the last week's worth of activities. I took some photos on Lukas' camera. I'll post pics from my camera in a separate post soon. I know there are some good ones on there! So here's me catching up.

Day 9

Live Nativity

These photos are the ones I want you to see. Our church, Coshocton Christian Tabernacle, has done a live nativity in the past, and they brought it back this year. We aren't just talking Mary and Joseph in a stable with a few animals standing by. We're talking the entire Christmas story from birth to judgement day. You know what, you just need to see the pictures. It was fantastic! We enjoyed it so much that we drove through twice in a row!

Day 10

Roscoe Village Tree Lighting

I don't actually have any photos of this since this was the day my camera was left behind, and we didn't have Lukas' camera with us. Every year, Roscoe Village, a historic canal era town, hosts a tree lighting complete with candles and "Silent Night" each Saturday in December leading up to Christmas. It is beautiful, peaceful, and breath-taking. All those people singing "Silent Night" while holding candles standing beneath the giant tree is a sight to behold. I doubt any camera could have captured it. It was a beautiful evening (even if it was absolutely frigid!). If you are local, they'll have another one this coming Saturday!

Day 11

Movie Day

Generally, we watch one movie on a movie night, but I knew this family would need a lazy Sunday afternoon and evening. We watched Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer in the afternoon and The Santa Clause in the evening. Two of our favorites this time of year!

Day 12

The Legend of the Candy Cane

Do you know this book? It's a nice story that gives some meaning to this simple Christmas candy. We read it every Christmas. After we read it, we add candy canes to our Christmas tree.

Ava thinks it is funny to wear Lukas' old PJs. :)

Day 13

Felt Mitton Ornaments

Left to right: Lukas, Kendra, Ava, Eric

Aren't these absolutely adorable? I saw them on Pinterest, and I loved them. I couldn't find the tutorial when it was time to actually do the craft, but it was pretty self-explanatory. The kids did all of their own sewing, which they absolutely loved. I have been thinking about adding some basic hand sewing into our schedule anyway, so why not have fun making Christmas ornaments while we're learning?

Day 14

Christmas Lights??? Shopping sprees???

We were supposed to go driving to look at lights yesterday, but it didn't happen. Eric and I were in Columbus Christmas shopping. The kids were with my parents shopping in Newark. We all got back to their house between 10 and 11. We got home at 11:30, and we promised to look at lights together another night. The kids looked at lights with their grandparents, so they still got to enjoy them!

Day 15

Charlie Brown Christmas

Very shortly, we will head to church for choir rehearsal. Since Ava has dance on Thursdays and it makes our evening schedule tight between dance and choir if we have dinner, we have dinner after choir practice. Tonight, we will eat in the living room and watch Charlie Brown Christmas. Don't you just love it when Linus reads the Christmas story? Did you know that the producers wanted to cut that scene, but Charles Schultz insisted it be kept in the script?

I promise I'll be better about posting in the next TEN days!!! That's right! 10 days until Christmas!!! Can't wait!

25 Days of Christmas 2011 Days 4-5

Day 4

Legacy of Love Christmas Program

The kids at our church ministered last night by performing the musical, Legacy of Love. Lukas had a significant speaking part and a solo. Ava had a beautiful solo, which she got to sing with her Daddy since Eric had the one adult part in the play. Here are a few more pictures from the performance.

You needed to see the full view of the famous Christmas sweatshirt.

Day 5

Angel Ornaments

Top left: Ava, Top right: Lukas

Bottom left: Eric, Bottom right, Kendra

It was a pretty big deal to the kids that we all make one of these, so we did. We had to modify the instructions, which you can find HERE (I found it on Pinterest, of course), because I didn't have the beads with faces, and I wasn't planning to go buy them just for this craft.We used marbles, which meant we also had to modify how the string was attached a little and trim the top of the cone shape so that there was a little opening. It worked. They turned out beautifully and will soon be hanging on our tree (the kids will hang them in the morning since the glue needed some time to dry).

25 Days of Christmas Days 1-3

If you look in my archives for last December, you'll see posts about our family's 25 Days of Christmas celebration. This is year number 7 of 8 that we have started celebrating with the kids on the first of December with little things each day. Some days the celebration is bigger, but most days it is simple. Here is what we have done so far this month.

Day 1

Paper chains

I thought the kids might have outgrown this Christmas countdown, but, after discussing whether or not we would do it this year, I have concluded that there is a possibility that we will be making paper chains to countdown the days until Christmas until the children are married and begin to do it with their spouses and their own children. I'm good with that. I love seeing paper chains hanging around the house this time of year.

Day 2

Movie Night

This movie is hilarious. I love it. Eric loves it. The kids now love it. It is one of the few movies that make my very short list of quotable lines. It may not have anything to do with the true meaning of Christmas, but it is good for a laugh! Or many, many laughs. 

"You see gum on the street, leave it there. It's not free candy."

"The best way to spread Christmas cheer is singing loud for all to hear."

Day 3

Finnish Star Craft

You can find this craft HERE. Fair warning, don't do this with 7 and 10 year olds. Maybe 12 year olds could handle it with direct instruction. My sister kind of warned me, but I wanted to do it so desperately that I did it anyway. The star at the top is the one I did out of random scraps just so I knew how to instruct the kids. The one on the bottom left with the plaid green/red and matching red accent paper is Ava's. Eric helped her. I helped Lukas with the blue star. He chose an accent paper that doesn't show up very well in the photo, but it looks perfect in person. Ava used 2-sided paper, which was the only scrap of 2-sided Christmas paper that I could find(2-sided paper is probably best for this craft). I love them all. If you decide to try this, you can use paper or fabric. I would love to do a bunch of these with fabric for another year. Another FYI...the tutorial isn't very specific about how large your strips should be. Ours were 12 inches long and 3/4 inches wide (my first one was 1/2 inch). They're huge. My sister's other warning was that making them small made them much more challenging, so we went with big. I love them, so it's all good. But...they will not be hanging on the tree since they would kind of take over the landscape.

Check back again soon for more 25 Days of Christmas highlights!

Weekly Wrap-Up: The Mummification of The Little Mermaid

 
We have been blessed with glorious weather this week. In fact, we're going to make our first stop the park when we leave to run errands later this evening. The kids played outdoors as soon as they finished their breakfast both yesterday and today. They ran out the door after completing each school task. We read our read-aloud and practiced Bible quizzing on the patio. We went for a nice, long walk to the local elementary school playground yesterday (the school is currently closed and scheduled for demolition, but the playground is still usable). I'm not forgetting that it is still "winter," but I am surely enjoying these warmer temps while I can! 

This week began with Valentine's Day. I created a fun, simple craft that we used for family devotions on Monday evening. Using construction paper, we made flower pots with heart shaped flowers growing from them. We looked up several Bible verses about God's love for us and then chose our favorite references to write on our flowers. Lukas had the idea to write a full verse on the pot, and I was so proud of him for this because we've been talking a lot about not doing the "bare minimum" that is required of us. The fact that he did more than was asked of him was fantastic, especially since I know how much he loathes writing. Eric and I also completed the project (this always thrills the kids). It made for a unique way to spend our family devotional time. Here are the kids' projects:

The new vocabulary study that I mentioned last week is going well. Looking up the Greek words that Lukas had previously been studying took him anywhere from 30 minutes to an hour. Seriously. There were 5 words. Writing the sentences with those same words took almost as long. This week? The five vocab words I gave him took him about 20 minutes to accomplish, and the sentence writing was quick and painless as well. Lukas actually said, "Wow. This went fast. I guess I'm getting better at using the dictionary." YES!!!!

The favorite project of the week? Mummifying Barbie. I got this idea from A Book of Artrageous Projects by Klutz that was recently given to Ava. My kids have been waiting to complete this project for a couple weeks. As I mentioned a few weeks ago, I'm looking for ways to spice up our study of history. This project definitely fit the bill. Here are several pictures for your enjoyment.

First, the kids decorated the coffin.

Next, we added jewels and food items so that Ariel would be well supplied (the kids chose all these items themselves, and I found the food choices to be humorous).

After that, we embalmed Ariel. Much to our delight, the manufacturer had already removed all her internal organs, which saved us a lot of time (heehee). We rubbed her body with embalming oil (uh-hem...baby oil), and then we were supposed to pour salt over her, but someone forgot that part (uh-hem...me). I skipped this picture as Ariel was rather inappropriately exposed. 

After Ariel was properly prepared for burial, we wrapped her in the finest linen cloth we could find.

She was solemnly placed into her final resting place.

The kids tried really hard to put symbols on the coffin that matched those they saw on the photos in the book we were using.

This was probably one of the craziest and most fun projects we have done all school year. The kids LOVED it!

That's a wrap on this week's happenings. For more creative ideas, words of wisdom and general info about the ins and outs of homeschooling, visit Weird Unsocialized Homeschoolers.

Weekly Wrap-Up: 35

  

It's my birthday. I'm trying to pretend that I'm only 34 because being half-way through my 30s puts me closer to my 40s than I currently want to believe (go ahead and frown upon me readers who are wisdom filled with more years than I under your belt). My Mom became a grandmother at 42. I'm so not there yet, so can I just stay 34? Nah. I'm so not that girl. I've always believed women should embrace whatever age they are. It's another year which the Lord has given me. I'll be 35, and I'll do it boldly!

Making me feel extra special on my birthday is this beautiful mini rose plant from my sweet friend, April. It has nothing to do with school, but I wanted to post it here anyway.

This year I decided we would do lots of Valentine crafts because we never seem to do enough. Here are photos of the fun crafts we've done this week(note: "Lots" of crafts didn't quite happen because of personal issues which I won't share in this post):

 This idea can be found HERE. The kids wrote the names of people they love or typical Valentine greetings on the hearts. Mine is in the center since they love it when I do a craft with them. Plus, it just made the door look prettier to hang all three.

 This idea came from my friend, Stacy's, blog, which you can find HERE. She's well worth a visit!

We also began a project which was supposed to be finished two weeks ago, but I don't have a copier at my house and I had some miscommunication with my principal who is in charge of copying duties. We're creating scale models of the Biblical tabernacle. I am grateful to My Father's World for providing all that we need to create this project, but I can't tell you the last time I so desperately did not want to finish a project. If I hadn't heard my children say at least 10 times, "This is the coolest project ever," it would so not be done. When we get it finished, we will feel accomplished. I'll post pictures for your viewing delight.

On Wednesday, our principal filled in as a substitute teacher. The children were delighted by this, especially when he pulled out the Book-it certificates that I continuously(i.e. we haven't used a single one before this week) forget we have and treated them to a lunch of free personal pizzas. Do you know that homeschooling families can participate in the Pizza Hut Book-It program? If you don't know about the program, it's so much fun! Basically, you determine how many books your children should read each month (or you can do it by the number of hours or whatever works for your kids), and they get a free pizza certificate once they accomplish it. It is for grades K-6 and runs from October through March.

I remember loving Book-It when I was a kid (when it first began in the 80s!). It wasn't really about the pizza. It was about the Saturday lunch date with Mom. We went to Pizza Hut, and we had girl time (back then, Dad wouldn't touch pizza, though he succumbed to eating it by the time we were in high school). I loved those moments. That's the kind of moment my kids got to have with Daddy on Wednesday. The program is almost finished for this year, but go to the website and read about it so that you can get signed up for the next school year!

Using the Sonlight readers that I mentioned last week is going well for Ava (and there were great sighs of relief from every corner, nook and cranny of the McHousehold). She has been reading Little Bear this week, which, incidentally, I somehow never realized is illustrated by Maurice Sendak. She loves that it is a "chapter book." Her desire to read more grown-up books is appeased, and my desire to not have to deal with her bad attitude every single day is also appeased. Ava is also reading from The Growing Reader Phonics Bible a couple days each week. She loves it, and it's quite humorous for us grown-ups to listen to as well.

I decided to nix the Latin vocab that Lukas was studying all year. At first, he thought it was an acceptable task each week. By mid-October, he was hating it. He doesn't enjoy using the dictionary at all (is that a skill anyone is supposed to enjoy?). We actually nixed the Latin vocab a while ago, but I was still building his dictionary skills in other ways. This week, I decided to google 4th grade vocab lists and have him use the dictionary to actually build a usable vocabulary rather than the Latin vocab. Don't get me wrong. There's a time and place for a Latin study. We're just so not there this year. It's been one crazy school year around here. 

Anyway...I gave Lukas five words which I found from a random list HERE. I made sure they all started with a different letter so that he had to flip all over the dictionary to find them. He defined them at the beginning of the week, and later in the week, I had him write sentences with them. Today, I verbally quizzed him. Yep. He knew them. I think we'll keep doing this for a while because he needs to grow those dictionary skills. Isn't it fun how we homeschooling moms get to force our kids to do all the things that are their least favorite? Yeah. Not so much, but this too must be accomplished!

Back to my birthday...My children worked hard to show me love today. If Ava told me "Happy Birthday" once, she said it 50 times. Lukas showered me with hugs. They indulged my desire to have them help me bake. They decorated their Valentine crafts in "Valentine colors" to appease me only because it was my birthday, and Lukas didn't complain about my choice of dinner entree only because it was my birthday. Heehee! Those are the kinds of lessons our kids need to be learning. Loving one another is one of the greatest lessons I will ever teach them. Today, I am confident that they are well on their way to knowing how to love someone and to make them feel super special. I love my kids...so very much!

For more Weekly Wrap-Up posts, visit 

Weird, Unsocialized Homeschoolers.

25 Days of Christmas Days 13 and 14

I've never taken the time to blog about our 25 Day celebration in such detail. I'm having so much fun sharing this with all of you!

Yesterday, we started a really cute ornament craft. Here's the LINK to the directions for this little sled ornament made with craft sticks. This is definitely a craft that requires a parent's help. I cut the pieces as necessary. The kids painted them using Christmas colors, and then the paint had to dry. Because we did these late in the day and had somewhere to be in the evening, this turned into a two day project. I glued mine together last night to see if basic Elmer's glue would hold the sled together. It worked perfectly. When the kids glued their sleds together, it required much assistance. I suggest doing one yourself. It's simple to do, but it will help you decide the best sequence for gluing the pieces together. The parent really needs to help hold the pieces together. In the end, I hot glued the string to the sleds.  Anyway...here's the photo showing how they turned out. I love them! From left to right, you can see Ava's, Lukas', and then mine. The paint is shimmery, but I'm not sure you can really tell in the photo.

Today's special activity was supposed to be another craft, but I needed to get some supplies (for the first time in four+ years of homeschooling, we are out of glue sticks and almost out of regular glue too!!!). We watched one of our favorite Christmas specials instead, Frosty the Snowman. I used to watch it with my Grandpa when I was a little girl, and I continued to watch it even as an adult before having kids. This cartoon and Rudolph are my favorite Christmas cartoons. I love passing fun traditions like this onto my kids. They look forward to watching Frosty each Christmas season just as much as I do (I mean did, right?)!

Last night during our crafting time, I talked to the kids about why we do this each year and how Jesus is the focus of this season. Making family memories is important, but there is a method to my madness. Planning all these activities for our family requires us to stay home more often, which, in turn, allows us more time to focus on Jesus during this season. Trust me, the McEvoys are busy this time of year, so we must be purposeful about our time with the Lord and our time with each other.

Of course, we make the Lord the focus of our lives all year round, but, during some seasons of the year, it is necessary to work harder because there are more outside pressures. I read a blog post recently that said having time to blog or surf the net means that you have plenty of time to spend with the Lord. The same could be said about the Christmas season. If you have time to do all those commercialized things(some which even push their way into the church), then you have time for the Lord. Keep your priorities straight and spend time with the Lord and your family this month and all throughout the year!