A Friend turns 50 !

Our friend, Bryan, just celebrated his 50th birthday.  There was a party for him on Saturday and then another celebration in Sunday School the next morning.  For his party, I made german chocolate cupcakes and a chocolate cake.  For Sunday, I made a german chocolate cake.  He loves my chocolate cake and he loves german chocolate cake, so I used the recipe for my regular chocolate cake and just added the coconut pecan icing. 

Chocolate cupcakes with regular chocolate icing around the perimeter and coconut pecan icing in the middle

Chocolate cake with an chocolate almond buttercream icing, chocolate ganache, and strawberries

Chocolate cake, chocolate buttercream and coconut pecan icing

Happy Fall, Y'all !!!!

This is very out of character for me, but I am excited about fall.  Normally, summer is my favorite time of year.  Yes, it's hot, but I LOVE summer.  Well, today is the last day of my favorite season, but surprisingly, I'm not sad.  Normally I pout, but not today.  I think I am really beginning to enjoy the uniqueness of every season.  Is this a sign of aging maturity?  :)  Either way, in anticipation of fall's arrival tomorrow, I have changed out my table centerpiece of one with sand and seashells to one with candy corn;  I have put up the ocean breeze candle and replaced it with Paula Dean's mystery pecan pie candle; I have replaced the floral air fresheners with cinnamon spice;  and, I made a new wreath for the front door!  It definitely feels like fall in our home now.  And the scents make me excited about the baking and cooking of the holidays.  Here is a picture of the new wreath I made.  It is not exactly what my mind had envisioned, but it's pretty close :)

Hope you are excited about fall too!!

Jesus is the Light of the World

One thing that is so great about My Father's World curriculum is that even though Ella is in 2nd grade and Leah is in kindergarten, their lessons match up so great!  Right now, Ella is learning the names of Jesus for Bible.  This weeks name is "Light of the World."  Leah is learning the letter 'Ss'.  With each letter she learns a biblical truth.  The letter 'Ss' is for "sun" and her biblical truth is "Jesus is the Light of the World." 

The recommended project for Ella worked out to be perfectly appropriate for Leah too!  We took small candles and I printed out a text box oval that said "Jesus is the Light of the World."  They used glue to attach the paper to the candle.  Then, they spread glue over the rest of the candle and sprinkled it with gold glitter.  We will burn them at dinner each night this week.

Ella putting the label on her candle

Leah spreading glitter on her candle

Their finished projects

 In addition to the Bible lesson, Ella's science lessons for this week and next are the sun, planets, gallexies, and stars.  Leah's letter this week is 'Ss' for sun and next week is 'Mm' for moon.  So needless to say, we have a field trip planned to the planetarium :)

Jesus Sun Catcher

This is a sun catcher that we made for school today.  It was part of today's Bible lesson.  It was fun and I think it turned out beautifully :)   {It's prettier with the blinds open and the sun shining through, but I know in the picture you see glare.......sorry}

with blinds closed

with blinds open on a cloudy day......there is a little sun coming in

To make: First, I used a crayon sharpener to create crayon shavings.  Next, I used my Cricut to cut out two inch letters for Jesus' name out of construction paper.  Then, you cut two 9 inch squares of wax paper.  Arrange the letters on one piece of the wax paper and then sprinkle the crayon shavings all around.  Carefully place the other piece of wax paper on top.  Next, place the wax paper between two sheets of newspaper and iron on low setting.  This melts the crayon shavings and helps to stick the wax paper together.  Then, take four strips of paper and tape to the edges to make the border (I used double sided tape).  Punch two holes in the top and run some string/ribbon through and hang!  Ella is so proud of her project :)  And, I am proud of her :)

Again, I can't take credit for the creativity.  My Father's World teacher manuals are very thorough in giving you project ideas and instructions.  It even gave the idea to make another one using just red and green and hanging it at Christmas time.  I think that would turn out pretty.....we may have to do that later!

 

Another thing I wanted to add......when I had looked ahead last week at this lesson, one of my thoughts was "where am I going to get a newspaper from?"  We don't subscribe to one and I really didn't want to have to make a trip to get one.  Well, God provided!!  Occasionally when the Prattville Progress has leftover papers they will deliver them the day after.  This has happened only once or twice in the almost year we have been living here.  Guess what?  Literally a couple of days later, we got a leftover newspaper delivered to our house.  I know that may seem small to someone else, but it was a BIG deal for me (for a couple of reasons I choose not to share, but trust me.....it was HUGE!)  Thank you, Father!!

Minnie Mouse Cupcakes

These are some cupcakes that I did for a family in our church.  Their little girl is turning 2 and is having a Minnie Mouse birthday.  They needed 48 cupcakes!!  These are chocolate cupcakes with red buttercream icing.  I made the bows out of a 50/50 fondant/gumpaste mixture.  The ears are black candy melts.  Then there are edible pearl accents.

Science with Air

This past week in science, we have been talking about the wind.  The fact that it exists even though we can't see it.  Then I remembered something I had seen on Pinterest that said:
          I believe in the sun even if it isn't shining.
          I believe in love even when I'm alone.
          I believe in God even when He is silent.

That made me link this lesson to to that.  We did a couple of experiments.  First, we made boats out of aluminum foil....the Nina, the Pinta, and the Santa Maria to be exact (since we have been studying Christopher Columbus this week).  The girls put them in the bathtub and blew them from one side of the tub (Spain) to the other side of the tub (North America).  They had a blast.  Second, they took cardboard-like books and used them to fan napkins across the kitchen floor.  They both had such a good time doing this.  They had several races to see whose napkin would cross the finish line first.  (Of course I can't take creative credit for these projects.....they are recommended by My Father's World....except I changed a piece of paper to a napkin :)

Anyway, when we concluded the lesson, I thought of the Pinterest quote.  So I reminded them that though we can't see the wind, we know it's there because we saw it move the objects.....just like we can't see God but we know He is there because we see the works He created and how He works in our lives.

Boat Experiment

Napkin Experiment

                                                                    

 

What's In a Name?

As I mentioned before, this year we will be studying the names of God in Ella's second grade curriculum.  So, we started by looking at what is in a name.  What do they mean?  Why are they special?

As suggested by the teacher's manual, I took the time to write each girl a letter (couldn't leave my kindergartener out of this ;) explaining what their names mean and why we chose those names for them.  Both girls found this very special.  I was actually surprised by Ella's response.  We had always kidded around that she was named after the neighbor's cat but didn't think she really thought that was the reason we chose her name.  After I explained the reason behind it, she was quite emotional and gave me a great big hug and said, "Thank you, Mommy.  I didn't know my name was so special."  It was a very sweet moment.  I always try to make sure my babies know how very special they are, but I know Ella feels special regarding her name now too.

To finish off the discussion, I helped them make name bracelets.  They had a blast!

Leah looking in the beads for her letters.

Ella's finished bracelet.