A couple of weeks ago I saw Kristen’s post about Mason nerfing cancer, and his wish to hold the WORLD’S LARGEST NERF PARTY! I knew we needed to join in, because we love Nerf, and we have a family friend named Joshua who is in battle with cancer right now – he is 12 years old and just started chemotherapy this week.  So to honor Mason and Joshua, and to satisfy our love of Nerf, we found some super fun Nerf guns (of the pellet and the ball variety) and have been having fun with them for the past couple of weeks.

I had hoped to have Elias’s best friend over for our official Nerf party, but due to scheduling conflicts, it wound up being just us.  And I didn’t get many pictures, because as one of the main targets, I was constantly on the run.  But here are pictures from prep time…

This post is linked up to The World’s Largest Nerf Party!

I’ve shared with you before about Alizeta and David, our children we sponsor through Compassion. It has been a significant experience having these children in our life. Their pictures are up in our play area. We write them letters, make them crafts and pray for them. I want my children to know and love others outside of their world. I want David and Alizeta to know and love Jesus –and to see them released from poverty and it’s mindset. My husband and I have promised Lydia that one day we will go to Burkina Faso where they live and visit them. One day it will happen.

Right now there are bloggers in Kenya with Compassion meeting their sponsored kids and seeing how Compassion works in the churches and communities there. I have been following their tweetstream and reading all their blog posts. And I am in tears. If you click on the links above you will be led to several blogs. If that’s too overwhelming start with these two posts:

A Father to the Fatherless by Brad Ruggles

Sight for the Blind by Shaun Groves

I promise you will not be the same. Please immerse yourself in their stories and consider how you can change the life of a girl or boy in Kenya, too.

photo by compassion bloggers

Being housebound because of snow and sickness makes me a bit stir-crazy, but it also helps me get a bit creative.  I had seen these cool dry erase calendars online for a while (like this one and my other inspiration one that I cannot find a link to), but because I thought I didn’t have any spare frames around, I wasn’t planning on making one any time soon.  But then I remembered… in my life before kids (actually, before marriage), I was an opera singer and a voice teacher, and I had three huge opera prints framed for my voice studio.  Luckily, they were stored in my parents’ attic and were still in great shape!  I dug them out and went to work…

The frames themselves are 20″x28″ wood frames painted black – and instead of glass, they have plexiglass, which makes the frames nice and lightweight!  To make our family calendar, I used a piece of foam board that I got at Michael’s (2 for $2.50!), a ruler, a pencil, a permanent marker, and scrapbooking stickers.  Other tutorials that I saw online told you to draw with permanent marker directly on the glass in reverse and use vinyl cut-out stickers in reverse, too.  However, the thought of drawing on the glass (plexiglass, in my case) seemed a bit too permanent, and I don’t do well in reverse, period.  I also did not have the extra money or time to get vinyl cut-out stickers of what I wanted to put on my calendar, so I used what I had on hand.

And the scrapbooking stickers I had on hand?  A little secret – they were pink and purple! yes!  I don’t typically get a chance to use pink and purple stickers in my scrapbooks because of my boys, so I had all these extras left over, and I just went over them with a coat of black acrylic paint.  It made them all dry and crackly, and I would not recommend doing that to stickers that are going to be touched in a scrapbook or anywhere else, but because these are under a sheet of plexiglass, they are absolutely good to go!

So, as I said, I had 2 inspiration calendars to go from: this one and one that I cannot find the link to.  I loved the calendar part of the first one, and the second one did not have a monthly calendar part to it – it just had a weekly calendar and places for lists and chores and menus, etc. (does anyone remember seeing that as well?  I even remember it was in a red frame, but I cannot find a link anywhere!  if you remember it, let me know, and I’ll link to it!).  I loved the looks of both of them, and because my frame was so large, I could combine the two!

Here are some close ups for you:

The Bible verse is not done in stickers… it is in my scribbly handwriting – the neatest I could get it.  That is in permanent marker, directly on the foam board.  And it’s verse that was shared on in our wedding (from Colossians 3:12-17), so it has always had special meaning to us.

All of the other handwritten stuff (month, dates, lists, etc.) are on top of the plexiglass and are easily erased with a bit of water and cloth… You can definitely use dry erase markers on here, but with little hands smudging everything in the house these days, I’m using wet erase markers for a bit more permanence.  But not too much – because at the end of the month, I just wet it all down, wipe it all away, and start fresh!

And I’m sorry I didn’t clean up the “Chores” area before I took some pictures.  It’s been smeared for a couple days, and I think it was a little wet hand that did it…  The boys like seeing their chores up on the calendar, and we also put our memory verse in the “Remember” box.  I can see me doing much more with the “To Do” and “Chores” boxes as the kids grow up and can actually read.

Our new family calendar is hanging on the door that goes from our kitchen into the laundry room/pantry, so it gets used ALL the time (but it gets terrible lighting- sorry about the dark pictures).

I used these nifty Command Picture Hanging Strips from 3M – very cool! 6 sets total – one each on top and bottom, and two on each side!  No nail holes in my hollow-core door… completely removable and repositionable if I wanted to move it to a different place.

This is so easy to do with whatever you have on hand – small frame, large frame, calendar, fabric… Look at these other ones here, here, here, and here, and I know there are more out there.  Try it with a small frame and some pretty paper and use it for your memory verse or to leave love notes for your family on it!

I’m linking this up to Kimba’s DIY Day…

I had the privilege of being interviewed by Sara Mueller, an actual Hallmark card author while at Blissdom. (Anyone could be interviewed, it wasn’t just me!) We got to look at and discuss Hallmark’s new line of cards: The Kids Collection. These cards are made for PARENTS to give to their KIDS! The whole point is to show your kids in a tangible way how much you love them. I love this! Watch the video above and see how Impress Your Kids and these cards go hand in hand!

Also, visit any Hallmark Gold Crown store and get a FREE Kids Collection card!

I was not given anything for this post. I chose to be interviewed by Hallmark. They uploaded the video but I posted it. I love Hallmark and cards and thought you’d like to see this.

I’ve told you about Camp Primo? That’s Cousin Camp or Grandma Camp to the uninformed. My parents host Camp Primo every summer for all two of their grandkids. To add to the fun, they host a Camp Primo Retreat in the fall/winter. This year it was Camp Primo: The Winter Wonderland Retreat.

They strung their living room with Christmas lights, made snowflake crafts, sewed fleece hats on the sewing machine, made snowglobes from mason jars and even went to a petting zoo. But my favorite thing they did was play BINGO. And not just any BINGO. Oh no, this was “It’s A Wonderful Life BINGO!”

The campers girls are 5 and 3. They’d never seen the movie It’s a Wonderful Life and in keeping with the theme, my mom thought this would be a good movie. However, it is VERY long, in black and white and WITHOUT a princess. So, she made a BINGO card with pictures of scenes from the movie.

Grandmama introducing BINGO to the girls!

As the girls settled into their giant bed on the floor with popcorn and M&Ms, they also had to pay attention to their BINGO cards. As every scene played, they put a sticker over the picture. They had to cover every picture in order to win. And of course, everyone was a winner!

Isn’t this a great idea? When the girls are with their grandparents, it’s usually a free for all. So, even though they’d fall asleep watching a movie at home—at the grandparent’s house they are more apt to run around and jump on the bed. Playing BINGO made them have to sit down and stay in their beds. Plus, it helped them stay focused on the story.

I think you could use it in so many other ways:

• To help a younger kid pay attention while older kids and/or family watch a movie together.
• Using pictures of sites you will pass on a road trip.
• Have a BINGO card for a long un-kid-friendly event that your kids must attend and stay quiet.
• Play at a slumber party to keep kids in their beds.

What creative ways do you help your kids pay attention?

Want more fun tips? Visit Works For Me Wednesday at We Are THAT Family!

bingo photo by hownowdesign

I’ve got the Christmas decorations packed, the New Year’s resolutions whispering in my ear and lots of fun New Year’s party ideas filed away. But before we get too far away can I share one more Christmas-y Winter-y type activity with you?

This year, I wanted to do homemade gifts for all Lydia’s friends. Well, that never materialized and instead I decided to do a Christmas playdate. I had been given a big box of magical toys and games from the Mickey Moms Club to do a big Disney World in home celebration but decided to add a little Christmas to the mix!

So, we had a Very Merry Gingerbread Mickey Mouse Christmas Party! Sounds fun, right? It was! And best of all, it didn’t break the bank, trash my house or stress me out! It was the fun of a birthday party with the feel of a playdate.

There were crafts…

I bought a cute gingerbread ornament craft from Oriental Trading Company. I set them all out before the kids arrived on our table…oh, wait. We don’t have a table, or any furniture in our big living room. So, I taped brown paper to the floor.

Disney had also given me some pre-printed Cootie Catchers. The kids were a little young to fold it by themselves, but after a little help, they loved them!

We had snacks…

With a gingerbread party, the snacks are pretty easy: GINGERBREAD. I bough a big bucket of gingerbread dough and let the kids cut out gingerbread boys and girls. Surprisingly they were not that into this. I think the spotlight was held by the Gingerbread house!

We even had lunch!

I made cheese sandwiches (no mayo) and cut them out to look like a gingerbread man. I coupled that with apple slices and Christmas shaped Goldfish snacks. We watched an old Mickey Mouse Christmas cartoon while the kids ate.

And of course, there were games!

We played Disney World BINGO. Each kid had to sit with their mom and use M&Ms as the markers for their card. My friend Becky and her daughter won an awesome photo album*! I would have never thought to play a mom-kid game at a playdate but it was so fun! I will definitely use this idea again. I wish I had a picture of the game.It was so cute with everyone playing a game as a family.

In the end, the kids played in the playroom (yes, all 11 of them, including 2 15-month olds) while the moms sat downstairs (listening in on the monitor) eating fondue.

And there were even goody bags…

Each kid left with a big bag of Disney toys and Gingerbread prizes picked out by Lydia herself (well, with a little help from me and Oriental Trading!)

A fun time was had by all! Including Asa, who had his first taste of 15 candy corn and 20 m&m’s stuffed into his mouth at once.

{{PS: Speaking of Disney, please come visit me at DisneyWorldMoms.com as the new 2010 Disney World Moms Panel launches TODAY! If you click “Meet the Moms” you should find my bio video! EEK!}}

*This post is NOT sponsored by Disney. I was given a box of  games and prizes from Mickey Moms Club to do a Disney World party in my home. The extra fun was provided by me and my friends. I am not a Disney employee. The postings on this site are my own and do not necessarily represent Disney’s positions or opinions.

I was not born with a concise spirit.  Truth be told, I like to ramble.  Especially when it’s a subject I love, or when I’m trying to explain something to my children…

Which is why I really appreciate God Gave Us Love and God Gave Us Christmas, both children’s books by Lisa Tawn Bergren.  Both handle big subjects with grace – grace I wish I had when I spoke to my children about them!

God Gave Us Love is a sweet book that has a little bear named Little Cub learning about love from her Grandfather – God’s love, family love, even love for those you don’t really want to love.  It has some great explanations about love, which I personally think is hard – because love is such a big subject.  The book does jump around a little bit (there’s not a long story or narrative, but how it gets from one explanation to the next is a little jumpy sometimes), but it still does a great job sharing with children about God’s love and how to apply it in our lives.

God Gave Us Christmas was the book Elias asked for again – and it was a joy for me to re-read it to him!  This book clearly points everything about Christmas back to God (and it doesn’t ignore or “ruin” Santa for those who choose to include him in their Christmas celebrations – we don’t, but Elias asks questions about Santa, and the book gave us another chance to talk about the character of Santa in Christmas celebrations today).  In this book, Little Cub and her mom go looking for God, and find Him everywhere!  The descriptions and explanations are fabulous in this book – my favorite of the two!

And here’s my disclaimer: these books were provided for review by the WaterBrook Multnomah Publishing Group, but the opinions I shared are completely my own.

Now on to the fun part!  You can win a copy of God Gave Us Christmas just in time for Christmas – share this beautiful story with a little one in your life!  I am also planning to add a little handmade goodie or two into the box as I send it off… I’m just not sure exactly what yet, though…

To enter, leave us a comment on this post letting us know your favorite way to celebrate Advent… and for additional entries you can:

• Tweet about this giveaway (include @impressyourkids in your tweet – is that what it’s called?).
• Follow us on Twitter.
• Become a fan of ours on Facebook.
• Link to this giveaway on your own blog.

Leave a separate comment for each one you do, and on Wednesday, December 9th, we’ll randomly draw a winner from all entries received.

Are you enjoying our Advent activities?  Check them out – we’re having a lot of fun doing them!

In preparing this year for Advent, I researched the purpose of the season and many ways to celebrate Advent.  I decided to focus this Advent on the names and attributes of God – helping my family learn more about our Lord and Saviour, preparing our hearts to celebrate the birth of Christ, and allowing us to press closer into Him through knowing Him more intimately.

Ever since this post from Amanda (2 years ago!), I have had the idea of a mini Christmas tree in the back of my mind.  And when I started thinking about Advent this year, a miniature tree seemed to fit the bill… part Advent calendar, part new family tradition…

Remember this sneak peek that I gave you a couple of weeks ago?  I made mini-ornaments for our little Advent tree, adding a name or attribute of God to each one.  Each day, we’ll hang a new ornament on the tree, read some verses associated with the name, and do a craft or activity to help Elias and Donovan learn more about God and prepare their hearts for this special season.

We started with the name and attribute Almighty.  The Merriam-Webster dictionary defined “Almighty” as God.  Praise the Lord!  It also said that “Almighty” means having absolute power over all.

One of God’s names in Hebrew, El-Shaddai, means “God Almighty.”  God who is all-sufficient and all-bountiful—the source of all blessings, fullness, and fruitfulness – is also all-powerful and worthy to be praised!

Some verses that we read about God as Almighty are…

Genesis 49:22-25

²²“Joseph is a fruitful bough,
A fruitful bough by a spring;
Its branches run over a wall.
²³“The archers bitterly attacked him,
And shot at him and harassed him;
²⁴But his bow remained firm,
And his arms were agile,
From the hands of the Mighty One of Jacob
(From there is the Shepherd, the Stone of Israel),
²⁵From the God of your father who helps you,
And by the Almighty who blesses you
With blessings of heaven above,
Blessings of the deep that lies beneath,
Blessings of the breasts and of the womb.

Psalm 91:1
He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will abide in the shadow of the Almighty.

2 Corinthians 6:18
” And I will be a father to you, And you shall be sons and daughters to Me,” says the Lord Almighty.

Revelation 1:8
“I am the Alpha and the Omega,” says the Lord God, ” who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty.”

When I think of the Almighty power of God, I think of the stars – the amazing might of the One who created such beauty and such power in themselves!  So we made a star for the top of our Advent tree… I glued popsicle sticks together to form a star, and Elias set about decorating it with glitter glue.

I used a heavy-duty craft glue (E6000), and I’m glad I did.  This star has already taken a beating, and there’s no sign that it’s coming apart at all.  I also “clamped” the star together with binder clips while the glue was drying – again, I’m glad I did that, because the star shape was shifting all around and popping apart where the popsicle sticks were not touching each other directly.

When the glitter was dry, we topped our little tree with Elias’s star, and we hung two others that we made in the window with the tree… and we have a visible reminder of our Almighty God!

*

I am already loving our Advent tree – it is in our dining room, which we use for all meals, and is frequently played in throughout the day.  Elias and Donovan are quite smitten with it – lots of “Oooo’s” and Ahhh’s”, and I overheard Elias explaining to Donovan how God made the stars in the sky, just like he made the stars on top of the tree.

God is ALMIGHTY!

*yes, that is Mary and Joseph in the school bus… and apparently the 3 wise men were waiting to be picked up, too.

The church I was raised in made a big deal about Advent – every Sunday we lit a new candle in an Advent wreath, and new verses were read… and I seem to remember all Sunday school lessons during the month of December also focuses on the Advent wreath and the coming celebration of the birth of Christ.

But to be honest, it didn’t mean a thing to me.  I never understood why we focused on that Advent wreath on the 4 Sundays leading up to Christmas – singing Christmas songs were enough for me in church, and why not just start saying, “Christmas is coming!” the way the rest of the world was doing?  I knew that Christmas was about the birth of Christ, but really… to me it was about the presents and “holiday spirit.”

Once I became a Christian, the understanding of Christmas deepened – but I still never really understood Advent.  Why do I need a wreath and candles to point me toward the fact that Christmas is celebrating Christ’s birth?  Why not just focus on that fact, and prepare your heart the way the Lord wants you to?

I was missing the point. Advent is not about the wreath that many use as a part of their Advent celebration – the word ‘advent’ is Latin for ‘a coming or arrival’.  And the season or “celebration” of Advent is actually preparing your heart – not only thanking God for Christ’s first coming to Earth as a baby, but also for his presence among us today through the Holy Spirit, and in preparation and anticipation of his final coming at the end of time.

As I began preparing for this upcoming Christmas (in October!), I decided to be deliberate about Advent this year.  I want Elias and Donovan to grow up with the full understanding of Christmas and what it means.  I started to prepare a study and activities to learn more about God’s gift to the world…

For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.  John 3:16

The idea behind Advent is that God came to earthly life and lived among us. It is something to celebrate, because just by being in it, God was giving the supreme blessing to the created world.

But Christmas is not something you rush into. We need to consider what baby Jesus was here for. While we celebrate the baby and His birth, the adult Jesus and His execution are also in sight.  God loved us and wanted to share that love.  To rescue the world from evil, God chose to come here and walk the earth, to grow up, to live the truth, and to die. And all of that to give us the greatest news – that death will not end it all.The only way to start such a thing is as a baby, and the only way to be a baby is to be born.  Christmas is centered in the new hope brought by a baby, and Advent leads us up to that baby.

It’s a time to get ready by rejoicing that our God is not far away and unfamiliar with the struggles of human life, that Christ is here right now among His followers, that God has already begun to bring in the Kingdom, and that Christ will come again.

“…lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”  Matthew 28:20

Please join us in December as we prepare our hearts, our homes, and our families to celebrate the birth of Christ.  We promise times of reflection, fun crafts and activities, and most of all, a Christ-focused preparation!

Like Amanda, I love giving gifts! The thrill of the hunt, knowing that the gift I picked out for a friend fits them perfectly…  as I watch my boys grow, picking the perfect gift for them is just as much fun!  And finding gifts that are meaningful and long-lasting, inspiring and educational… again, I love it!

We are also in the same boat as Amanda with our toys situation – although we don’t have a playroom for all the toys, they are everywhere! And Donovan’s birthday is 4 days before Christmas, with Elias following soon after.  The season of giving can be overwhelming around here!

But with gifts like these Top NON TOY Gift Picks for Boys of Any Age, we’ll be adding to their fun and excitement without adding more toys!

1. Abacus

Seriously.  How much more educational can you get while still being fun?  (Or am I the only one who thinks this is fun?) I remember playing with an abacus when I was young – and it wasn’t all about counting to me – my imagination ran crazy with it, making patterns that had nothing to do with numbers.

2. Inflatable earth and planets

Elias and Donovan are already crazy about space and the planets.  Not only can you play ball with the planets, you could hang them up in a bedroom (I’ve had this in mind since I hung the maps in Elias’s room).  Easy and educational!

3. Colorforms

A blast from the past!  An activity that just oozes creativity – and it is endless, because Colorforms can be used over and over again.

4. Dominoes

Blocks and manipulatives at the same time, plus they help kids learn numbers and can actually be used to play dominoes when the kids get older!  With a huge set like this one, you could also make some amazing domino-toppling-courses (or whatever you call the domino effect with actual dominoes!).

5. Etch A Sketch

Another classic!  Helps with fine motor skills, and lets creativity explode for years!

6. a parachute

Remember this from gym class?  I actually started getting sad about homeschooling my boys at one point, because I thought they would miss out on some of the best memories I have about grade school – playing with the giant parachute.  Turns out you can get these for your kids on your own!  And they come in all kinds of sizes, for any number of children!  You bet that my boys will be getting one of these soon.

7. a wagon

Look at this Radio Flyer wagon – it has all terrain wheels!  Perfect for a backyard – heading down to the park – pulling along side a creek on a little hike…

8. drawing books

My brother and I both loved Ed Emberley’s drawing books when we were kids – here are several that I’ve found online… and as kids get older, they can move on to books like this one from Lee J. Ames.

9. Play-Doh

Kids of ALL ages like this! ehem… and look at these great accessories that you can get, too.  Or you can go with old kitchen utensils – they work just as well at cutting and smooshing and rolling and pressing and playing.

10.  memberships/lessons

Two years ago, my parents gave us a membership to the Children’s Museum of Richmond.  What a fabulous gift!  We enjoyed a year of new experiences, full of learning and fun.  We’ve also been thinking about enrolling Elias in some sports classes – either a mixed sports class at the local gym, or a martial arts class at a local studio.  As kids grow older, you can give them music lessons or art lessons, too!  Check out children’s museums and science museums near you, and contact local gyms and studios to see what type of specials they might be running through the holiday season.

What’s your favorite NON-toy gift for a boy? Please share in the comments!

Did you miss our Holiday Gift Guide: Non-Toys for Girls?  Take a look there, and come back for more… we have a couple more gift guides up our sleeves for you!

Also – if you have a Holiday Gift Guide on your blog, click over to our first gift guide and link up with us, so we have a huge long resource list – and we can all go shopping together!