What We've Been up to Lately

It's been tons of Christmas fun around here lately! Each day seems to have one more memorable activity for the kiddos~or all of us!

I'll pick up with our most recent fun and take you back through our past week (and a half or so).

Yesterday we went with my parents and sister to see the latest Narnia film. We are HUGE Narnia lovers and have loved the way these latest films have turned out~even if they're not exactly like the books. Of course, the books will always be my favorite!

On Christmas Sunday our church had a wonderful family service! The kiddos did a fun rendition of the Reliant K version of *The 12 Days of Christmas*. SO cute! Mr. B was in the *5 golden rings* part and The Princess was in the *8 maids a milking* group:) We also had some *friends* who came to tell all of the children a great Christmas story. It was a very fun, interactive service for the whole family.

Last weekend we took the kiddos ice skating. We have to drive about 1.5 hours to do this, so we only do it about once a year. We should really do it more often though~the kids have so much fun! And each time we go they do better and better (and I even do a little better:).

The Princess just takes off on her own now and has a blast!

I spend more of my time keeping Mr. B upright:

But he sure does have fun though~and he actually was skating on his own a little before the night was over. You can tell how excited and proud he was by the look on his face.

Last week we also joined our homeschool group for some caroling and handmade card delivery at our local nursing home. We have some wonderfully talented kiddos in our group and they were such a blessing to the residents there. My kids love caroling! We'll be joining my sister's youth small group for some more caroling tonight:)

Last week was also our homeschool group's Christmas skating party. We rarely go roller skating, but the kiddos always enjoy it. That's another thing we should do more often.

The family gatherings have begun as well. We've had our annual Christmas luncheon with my dad's extended family and also Christmas with Vince's immediate family.

Oh~and did I mention that Mr. B has a beautiful shiner for the holidays? Yep, that's what rough-housing with your sister will get you. So this year will definitely be remembered as *The Year of the Black Eye*.

I hope that you and your families are having TONS of Christmas fun, too!!

The Making of an Egyptian Death Mask

We are learning all about the ancient world this year with Story of the World I and loving it! We've been learning a lot about Egypt, of course, which is completely fascinating. Most recently we have studied the New Kingdom of Egypt, which includes the story of King Tut. So we decided making an Egyptian death mask in the style of King Tut's would be a fun project. First since it was too cold at the time to paper mache in the garage (it probably would have frozen instead of dried-ha) and it was too messy to do it in the house, we decided to pick up a couple of cheap craft masks at Hobby Lobby. Next we cut out cardboard shapes to complete the shape of the death mask, attaching them with hot glue. Vince even put a little detail on the *beard* with the hot glue per The Princess' request. Then the kiddos started to paint them with this metallic gold tempera paint. It worked okay for the cardboard, but would not coat the plastic of the mask. We thought maybe a second coat ...

Door Hanger Chore Charts

My kids have had a chore chart for a while. It's one of those magnetic boards and they share it. However, it's not by their rooms and often they (and I) forget to update it. Plus it's a little bulky. When I saw the concept of a door hanger chore chart on Pinterest, I loved it! It was compact, right there were the kiddos could see it coming out and going into their rooms, and it costs almost nothing to make. I headed over to one of my favorite stores: Hobby Lobby, of course. They have these little wooden door hangers for .79. I also grabbed a couple of packets of decorative buttons for $1.99 each. I already had the clothes pins and the paint so those cost me nothing. I began by painting the door hangers (I used tempera paints because that's what I had). Then I grabbed a fine point Sharpie and the clothes pins and started writing chores on them, making sure to write them correctly so they will ...

Fun With 4th of July Crafts: Part 3

I love my new patriotic front door wreath!! I had fun putting this together, although I must admit this is more of an adult craft than one for kiddos. I was inspired by this article in Family Fun magazine. I didn't have quite everything I needed for this one, but all I had to purchase was a few sheets of scrapbook paper and some double-sided tape. Then all I had to gather up were some scissors, regular Scotch tape, a ruler and some cardboard. First I cut four (5"x 6") pieces of each paper. Then by placing a piece of double-sided tape on one of the short ends of the papers, I rolled them into cones, pressing the seams together well. Then I cut a 10" circle out of cardboard and began to stick the cones on it. I used another piece of double-sided tape to stick the cones on, arranging them in a circular pattern. Next I used regular Scotch tape to attach them on the back to the back of the cardboard. After getting all the cones on, I was ready for my centerpiece. He...

my blessed life

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