Do you remember my Fruit of the Spirit series? Well, it was such a big (and loooong) ordeal that I still think about it all the time. Maybe it’s just been popping into my head this summer as fruit has been more readily available. Anyway, the other day we had a mini playdate (oh, it was to try out our s’mores!) and I had this great idea to make some roll up sandwiches for the kids. But my time got short and sweeping the floor got attention over cute food.

Then I had a stroke of brilliance! FRUIT KABOBS. How cute are these?

But it gets even better! All I did was throw all the ingredients in a bowl and gave all the kids a skewer (yes, even my 1 year old) and let them pick out what food they wanted all by themselves! It was so fun to load up our skewers, then tear them right apart by popping the fruit into our mouths. I also added some deli meat and blocks of cheese to up the protein factor.

But back to the Fruit of the Spirit. I was thinking how fun this would be to do a Fruit of the Spirit activity with these kabobs. You could label the bowls joy, peace and patience instead of bananas, peach and kiwi. Then you could give examples of each Fruit of the Spirit as you slide them on the skewer. Or put them in order and have the kids use their skewer as a memory tool to say the fruit by heart. I’m totally doing this after my next trip to the Farmer’s Market.

See more fun ways to use FOOD to impress your kids!

Linked to We are THAT Family’s Works For Me Wednesday

When Leigh and I were discussing doing a Summer Camp theme I told her I wanted to make ice cream in the ground. I knew I had heard of this and was going to try it. I looked it up online and could not find it anywhere! That’s when I remembered…it wasn’t ICE CREAM in the ground…it was jell-o in the ground. Jell-o, ice cream—whatever! (I still can’t find the jell-o in the ground recipe, but I KNOW my mom did it at camp one year!)

However, I know of another fun way to make ice cream. Not in the ground. Not with an ice cream maker. Just a few basic ingredients:

4 quart sized plastic zip bags
4 gallon sized plastic zip bags
2 cups half & half
2 cups heavy cream
2 tsp vanilla
4 cups salt (rock salt is suggested but if you use regular salt, just use a little less)
1/2 c sugar
ice
gloves (for your sensitive kiddos!)

Instructions:

1. Whisk sugar, cream, half & half and vanilla together.

2. Pour 1 cup of liquid into each quart sized bag.

3. Put sealed quart sized bag inside gallon bag. Add ice–enough to fill gallon bag about halfway. Add salt.

4. Shake the bags for about 5-10 minutes. Asa was our muscle man and did 2 at a time. Lydia used gloves to keep her hands warm!

5. Grab a spoon and eat out of the bag!

This was so fun! I love making food in unconventional ways. This would be so fun to make on a hot day…bring the bags outside, shake ‘em up and eat it all on the porch!

Thanks so much for coming to our 2 Weeks of Summer Camp! Hope you had a great time! Don’t forget to write!

Can I just tell you all how excited I am about our 2 weeks of Summer Camp?!? Like Amanda, I always loved summer camp, and these two weeks are taking me way back!  Don’t be surprised if I break out into old camp songs… My kids and poor hubby are already inundated with the old tunes.

The first thing I knew I wanted to make were hobo meals!  When I came home from camp, I always had mom and dad make these for us – I loved the way the flavors melded together in the little foil packets of goodness.  So here’s what you’ll need:

• ground meat (beef or turkey)
• carrots
• potatoes
• onions
• any other veggies that would roast well (mmm, broccoli! asparagus!)
• salt and pepper
• butter
• cheese (optional)
• aluminum foil

Cut the potatoes and carrots into bite-sized pieces, and slice the onions up however you like them!  I left them kind of big so I could pick them off the kids packets in case they didn’t like them.  Make a 3-4 oz. patty with your ground meat and place in the middle of a piece of aluminum foil, and salt and pepper the meat patty a bit.  Line up your ingredients and then let your kids add the veggies to their own packets…

Notice the only things in Elias’s packet are meat, carrots and cheese.  He decided he didn’t like potatoes – but that’s OK, because he ate everything he put in it!

This is what a real hobo meal should look like – pile the veggies high, add cheese if desired, put a pat or two of butter on top and sprinkle with more salt and pepper.

Wrap the aluminum foil up around the food, folding at the ends, and let your 4 year old “write” each person’s name on the top of their packet.  If you are adding this to a real campfire or a fire pit out back, wrap your packets with 2 layers of foil.

Bake in your oven at 350 degrees for 45-60 minutes (ours only took 45 minutes), or grill or place on a campfire for 15-30 minutes, flipping once. Open your foil packet, and you can eat right out of the packet – no need for cleaning plates!  I have no “after” pictures for you, because the after shots looked a lot like the before shot… but I can tell you that these things are delicious!  The boys each ate everything that they put in their own packets, and I scarfed mine up quickly, too!  We will be having these again soon.

What were/are your favorite camping meals (besides the s’mores, of course!)?

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Welcome campers! Today begins 2 weeks of the best (at least we think so) camp crafts and activities for you and your kids to try—AT HOME. I have always loved summer camp and cannot wait until my kids are old enough to experience s’mores, cabins, camp crafts and just hanging out in God’s creation! So, I decided, I’m not gonna wait! I’ve taken some of my favorite elements of summer camp and introducing it to my kids right now. Each day for the next 2 weeks, we’re going to share camp crafts, activities and even books all with a wonderful campy feel to them!

Today we’ll start off with a bang! The very best and most camp-y thing of all: S’MORES. My favorite way to make a s’more is by lighting the marshmallow on fire, letting it burn and expand, then blowing it out and smashing the newly blackened marshmallow in between the chocolate and graham crackers. YUM.

A few years ago I read about this cool s’mores experiment and have kept it in the back of my head because I was determined to try it. The idea? S’mores baked by the sun…or as Family Fun calls it, Solar S’mores. We had a camp playdate for some of Lydia’s friends last week to try them out!

All you need is a shallow box with a flip-up lid. A pizza box would work well. I used a shipping box. The first step is to cut a new flap on the top…about 1-2 inches around the inside edge.

Once your new flap is open, spread glue all around & cover with tinfoil.

Try not to get any creases or wrinkles in the tinfoil. You want it to be as smooth as possible. This is our main reflector.

Next, layer more tinfoil in the bottom. Then cover with black paper. (I didn’t glue or tape any of this.)

The last step is the hardest: find some thick plastic like a plastic sheet protector. (Mine was from an old scrapbook…that I never ever finished.) Tape this onto your new opening–make sure to use clear packing tape to seal it on nice and tight.

And the yummy part: layer the s’mores inside!

Finally, send the kids out for a giant stick. You’ll need this to prop up your sun-reflecting top!

It’s time to sit back and relax for about an HOUR!

The result: Well, we didn’t have direct sun. So, after about an hour and a half we opened up the box and the marshmallows were soft. Not melted. Not roasted. Just soft. Kinda the same feeling as if you left them in the car for an hour or so.

I think if you put them in blazing hot sun, directly pointing onto your marshmallows and maybe even sealed the entire box with tape, you’d get a little more “greenhouse effect” going on and they’d melt quicker.

So, we threw them in the oven to broil for about 14 seconds and they browned up quite nice!

The kids were our final judges. And they were pretty happy with them:

How do you eat a s’more?

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I get so bored with lunches. I always want to do something fun and yummy. Alas, when 12:00 rolls around I find myself staring at the pantry wondering what to cook. I just have a hard time wanting to dig out all sorts of cooking utensils knowing that I will be pulling them all out again in a couple hours to make dinner!

A while ago I heard about muffin tin lunches! It’s the most fun lunch idea ever. You grab a muffin tin and fill it with food creating a super creative lunch for your kids. Michelle from the Muffin Tin Mom.com hosts Muffin Tin Monday every week and you can add your own creative Muffin Tin to the linky.

Sometimes there are amazing themes like this week’s Seeds Plants & Flowers theme…

photo by Muffin Tin Mom

Or educational like this ABC & 123 theme…

(see it? Apples, Bananas, Carrots…the number 1, 2 oranges, 3 sided triangle tortillas…)

And I love this interactive one that Vanessa did…

Usually my muffin tin meals end up being leftovers. I fill it with last night’s spaghetti, coupled with a few pretzels and the remains of our cut up cantaloupe. Sometimes I try to find matching colors at least—the top row of red taco meat, strawberries and leftover spaghetti and the bottom row of pineapple, hummus and tortillas…it’s red and yellow, get it? Ah well, it doesn’t matter. The kids love it for the sheer novelty!

Today we had a last minute picnic outside and I grabbed whatever I could to make a decent meal. It ended up being homemade spelt biscuits, pretzels, leftover tuna pasta salad, bananas and homemade granola. I had planned to just eat out of the containers. Lydia, however, wanted to make her own version of a muffin tin meal and spread her napkin out all the way–then placed each different food in their own little squares! And yes, she ate it all up!

So, next time you’re struggling for a lunch idea, pull out that muffin tin! And tell me, how do YOU make lunch fun?

Last night Lydia and I did an experiment based on the Seeds Worship Song called “The Mouth”. It’s from the Seeds of Praise CD. And it is based on Matthew 12:34:

For out of the overflow of the heart the mouth speaks.

This is a really fun experiment my husband and I used to do in our children’s ministry. It’s such a perfect example of this verse.

First, I grabbed 2 mason jars, some dixie cups and a bunch of yucky stuff: oil, dirt, mud, rocks and dead leaves. Then I found some yummy stuff lurking in our kitchen: an old can of strawberry soda, some orange juice, frozen cherries and ice.

Lydia and I poured all the gross stuff in one jar. I pretended we were just making something together. I didn’t talk about it being gross or nasty. I let her smell the oil and see what she thought.

Then we filled the second jar with the sweet smelling ingredients.

I asked her, “What happens if I pour out this jar full of dirty stuff?” She said, “Dirty stuff will come out.” So, I poured a little dixie cup full of the oil-dirt drink and a cup of the strawberry-oj. I let her decide which one she’d rather drink.

She easily picked the sweet juice. I let her drink it and she thought it was delicious.

Then I said, “Lydia, let’s pretend this dirty jar is your heart. If you put dirty things in your heart like bad attitudes, whining and disobedience, guess what’s going to come out of your mouth? Dirty bad things.” Then I proceeded to whine and complain as I poured the sludge into a cup.

I showed her the strawberry jar again and said, “But if you can fill your heart with scriptures like Philippians 2:14 and Honor Your Father and Mother and other ones that we learned. Guess what will come out of your mouth? That’s right, good words. Pleasing, gentle, nice words.”

Then we turned on “The Mouth” song again and sang along as we went off to take a bath. I think it was a brilliant (as in bright, not genius!) picture of what God asks of us and desires for our heart!

See how easy that was? Use whatever you’ve got to tell your kids about God’s Word!

:: :: ::

Now, if you leave a comment on this post, you’ll be entered in our Seeds Family Worship CD giveaway. And if you do THIS activity with your kids, blog it and leave the link on our MckLinky, you’ll get FIVE additional entries! If you have NO idea what I’m talking about, see our Ultimate Blog Party intro page!

I, for one, am so thankful that God wants us to be Creative (doing something in a new way).  After all, we were created by a creative God: God saw all He had made, and behold, it was very good (Genesis 1:31).

There are so many ways we can encourage creativity in our children – helping them to “think outside the box,” encouraging imaginative play, reading to them, doing crafts, exploring outdoors – all activities that help grow creativity. My goal is to do something creative with my kids everyday!

But what is something that we do everyday – and can become a boring event (for mom) or even a contentious event (for the kids)?  We eat.  Sometimes it seems my days just revolve around meals – planning them, making them, trying to get the kids to eat them.  If I don’t get a bit creative with planning my dinners, I get bored cooking the same thing over and over again.  And if I get bored making things, wouldn’t others get bored eating the same thing over and over again, too?

We have not gotten too creative with food in the past, though, due to the food allergies in our house.  We’ve stuck to the same ol’ stuff for a while; it was revolutionary to us when we discovered a soynut butter that Elias could eat (we are an official peanut-free zone around here!).  The novelty of just being able to eat soynut butter and jelly sandwiches is wearing off, so to make them fun again, I made sandwich sushi rolls!

They looked a lot like these from Living Locurto, but with soynut butter and jelly instead of turkey, cheese, and cucumber (of course I didn’t get pictures of ours).  But doesn’t that look like a good combo, too?  And look at this beautiful bento box full of sandwich sushi…

Gorgeous, no?  It’s almost too pretty to eat!  To make a sandwich into sushi, roll your bread flat (with a rolling pin or even a drinking glass) before you put any of the fillings on it.  Spread one piece of bread with your nut-butter-of-choice and jelly, then roll the one piece of bread up tightly and cut into small rolls as in the pictures above!  Do the same for the rest of your bread and fillings…  if you want to add things like sticks of cucumber, carrots, or cheese, lay the sticks at one end of your flattened bread and roll everything up around them.

I’m starting to do Fun Food Fridays with the boys – something they can look forward to, something I can get creative with, and something we all will enjoy.  Friday we did Bugs on a Log – simple yet creative, healthy, and delicious!  This was one of the things I lamented that Elias would never be able to eat when we discovered his peanut allergy… but thanks to our soynut butter find, he can now!

They were a hit!  And very messy…

Here are some more Fun Food ideas:

• Our Amanda’s Fruity Shortcakes that she created on her very own!  Way to get creative with the Rice Krispies!
• Look at FamilyFun’s Making Food Fun Gallery – how cool is that pizza caterpillar and the stripey stacked fruits?!?
• Foodie Jr’s Pasta Birds Nests – yum!
• FoodieMama has a healthy recipe for Mini Meatballs – what kid doesn’t like mini food?
• Kabobs and make-your-own pizzas are great for kids, too… and see what else we’ve posted in the past about fun food… Resurrection Rolls, Maple Syrup Snow Candy, Rainbow Toast, Monkey Treats, Banana Berry Smoothies, Dried Fruit, and Parenting Lessons in Cooking.

How are some ways you and your kids get creative with food?  How do you encourage creativity in your kids’ lives in general?

For more of our Christian Character Trait series, take a look at these posts!

In Georgia we don’t get a lot of snow. When we do, it is a celebration! This year was quite the celebration because we got about four inches of snow. I know, to some of you that sounds like a balmy spring day. It was a family affair as we made snow angels, tried to make a snow man (is there some kind of tutorial on THAT?!) and yes, had a snowball fight. We were soaking wet when we got inside but it was worth it.

The next morning I was trying to think of something else to do with the snow. Then I remembered something about snow candy! You know, in Little House on the Prairie, Laura and Mary pour maple syrup on snow and then eat it like candy. So, I scoured the internet and found HARDLY ANYTHING!

Is this such common knowledge in snowy areas that no one would ever write about it? Or is it something that’s been forgotten? Well, I’m going to add to the internet archives my own tutorial for Maple Syrup Snow Candy. (Catchy title, huh?)

All you need is snow & REAL maple syrup. I used a cup of maple syrup and boiled it hard for about 7-10 minutes.

While this is boiling, it would be a good time to send your hubby outside with a few plates to get some big piles of snow.

Then pour your VERY HOT maple syrup into a smaller container. I used a 2cup measuring cup. Then pour onto the snow in squiggly shapes and lines.

It cools almost instantly, so once you see it looking less liquidy, just grab it up and eat it!

We ate so much of this stuff we totally forgot about lunch! Now tell me north-dwellers, have you done this before?

And while you’re at it, here’s some more fun snow-y stuff:

BOOKS

Snowflakesby Kenneth Lbbrect {see individual snowflakes photographed with microphotography!}

Little Honey Bear And the Smiley Moonby Gillian Lobel {a sweet glittery, sparkly book about some forest friends who go out on a snowy night}

CRAFTS & ACTIVITIES

Snowman Blocks from No Time For Flashcards {a fun activity and craft using empty spice containers!}

Fun Snow from Color Me Kate {use food coloring to spray your snow!}

Snow Prints from Ordinary Life {a beautifully frosty way to use sunprint paper}

SCRIPTURES

Psalm 51:7 …Wash me and I will be whiter than snow. {fun to look at the clean snow & thank God for washing us!}
Proverbs 25:13 A messenger trusted by those who send him is like cool snow at harvest time. {great to talk about being trustworthy!}
Isaiah 1:18 Even though your sins are bright red, they will be as white as snow. {compare colors to the whiteness of the snow! nothing is as white!}

all photos from their respective sites. please click thru and tell them hello!

Where two or three people meet together in my name, I am there with them. Matthew 18:20 (NIrV)

I’ve continued to talk to Elias about the times that God is there with us, and we are focusing right now on showing respect during those times – specifically at church.  I wanted to do something together that represented a church… and I’ve been wanting to do something cool like these leaves, which got me thinking about waxed paper stained glass windows like these…

While our church building does not have stained glass windows, Elias does sing in a children’s choir at a church in downtown Richmond that has beautiful stained glass windows.  So it was easy to make the connection with him about God’s presence being with us in a church, and that some churches have stained glass windows.

…so while I was thinking about making some cool stained glass windows with crayon shavings, I started thinking about a bag of brightly colored marshmallows sitting in my pantry (I popped the bag in my grocery cart a while ago, not knowing what to do with it, but I figured the boys would love whatever we did…).

What do marshmallows and crayons have in common?  They melt! And could possibly make some beautiful wax paper stained glass windows.  Depending on how you do it….

Let’s gather some supplies:

A bag of neon marshmallows, some wax paper, some no-stick cooking spray, and an iron.

Tear off 2 squares of wax paper, and draw a picture of a “stained glass window” on one side of a square… Flip the wax paper over and spray the other side with the no-stick cooking spray.

Give your child the freshly-sprayed wax paper design and a handful of neon marshmallows.

Then another handful, as he has already scarfed down the first one.

Then show him how he can use the different colors to fill in each different part of the stained glass design.  And give him another handful of marshmallows.

And give the other kid at the other end of the table a handful of marshmallows, too.  So he doesn’t feel left out.

No, he’s fine.

Spray one side of the blank wax paper with no-stick cooking spray, and lay it over the saccharine-flavored stained glass design your little one made.

Iron.

And then turn up the iron a bit more until the marshmallows actually start to melt together.

Then realize that you need to wait longer to try to unveil the masterpiece, because melty marshmallows take a minute to cool down.

OK – they need more than a minute.  They need a half an hour in the fridge.

And then several hours in the freezer.

And they definitely needed more no-stick spray.  Because they were still sticky.  Even after several hours in the freezer.

But it’s OK that it took hours and didn’t turn out the way you expected.  Because you got a picture of these cheeks deep in concentration.

Concentrating on making a cross all on his own.

And pictures of the other little guy, enjoying the sugar rush and time with his big brother.

You know, I get so worked up trying to think of the perfect activity for my boys, so consumed with perfectly conveying whatever lesson I want them to learn…  I forget the important part is spending time with them.

And when I get discouraged that they don’t want to do the craft I prepared?  I need to step back and let them do the craft (or no craft) that they want to do (haven’t I said this before?).  And enjoy the time with them.  Laugh with them.

And I need to learn whatever lesson I’ve planned in my heart – and model it for them. What does it tell my kids about how much I respect God’s sanctuary when I take off my shoes in the middle of worship?  It’s a little thing, but it says tells my boys that I don’t have enough respect to keep my shoes on.

That’s what I’ll be working on from now on… not the perfect lesson or craft, but my heart. Living out Christ’s life in me is the best lesson I can prepare for my boys.

Remember the great kiwi plans I told you about? The plans I didn’t want to tell you for fear I might not do them? Well, like a self-fulfilling prophecy, my kiwi-polymer-clay bead necklace plans have evaporated. I loved our peach pit necklaces so much, I thought it would be fun to make more jewelry to symbolize each Fruit of the Spirit. I googled polymer clay beads and thought I could figure it out–even though I’ve never held polymer clay in my life.

I headed out to our local craft store, looked through the clay (there’s LOTS to choose from) and found a great pack full of many different colors. I also bought some ribbon and other supplies for Asa’s birthday party (on Saturday!!). Well, a day went by and I thought, “Hm. Where did I put that bag of craft supplies?” But I was busy and didn’t look for it. I’ve thought about it off and on for the last few days and after a thorough search of the car and house the craft bag is nowhere to be found. My only conclusion is that I paid for the items and then left the bag at the store. How ridiculous is that?!

I say all that to say: I HAVE NOT DONE ANOTHER KIWI CRAFT. I’ve been really focused on my son’s birthday party which I’ll be able to blog about next week–wheeee! So, instead I thought I’d share a few fun kiwi stuff I found online. I’ll be doing one of these until I can get back to the craft store and see if they held onto my bag. GRRRR.

Felt Kiwi Slices from CardsCorner’s etsy shop. How cute are these? I love felt play food. I don’t sew, but I could probably glue some of it and hand stitch enough to make these!

Mini Kiwifruit Polymer Clay Video Tutorial. There are so many tutorials on youtube it is unbelievable! If you wanted to start a mini fruit making business, you’d be set!

Kiwi Fruit Knitted Hat. I certainly do not knit. But it would be funny to make a little hat with this pattern—we could paint or color a hat. That might be fun!

Fruit Flower Bouquet from Family Fun. This might actually be a great thing to do with all our Fruit of the Spirit fruit. I may save this one and do it when we ever finish. Kind of like a finale!

Kiwi Recipes from Zespri Kiwi. Who knew kiwis were so versatile? I totally want to make the Tropical Kiwi Pops and the Circus Parfait pictured above.

But my very favorite is this Kiwi-Colada Sipper from Conversations with a Cupcake. HOW ADORABLE IS THIS?! And totally yummy, too. I think I have all the ingredients here. If Lydia would ever take a nap today, I’d make this for her when she wakes up!

That’s all I got, folks! If my posting is light this week it’s because I’m up to my EARS in first birthday preparations!