Looking for a simple craft this Valentine’s Day? One that will be as fun for your oldest children as it is for your youngest? One that won’t require days of planning or a fortune in supplies, and won’t leave you with hours of clean-up? Well, you’re in luck. I have an idea to share, and…
We celebrated Christmas at our house today. Yes, on January 25. One month after our traditional Christmas celebration, a date that is total coincidence and in no way planned. You see, a couple of weeks before Christmas, the boys shopped the AWANA store night for gifts for one another. The good folks at our AWANA…
We’ve made gingerbread houses each year at Christmas-time for years. It’s a highlight of the holiday season for the boys: candy, sugary icing, gingerbread cookies… a likely favorite for any child, right? Traditionally, we purchased a gingerbread kit, complete with precut cookies, tubes of royal icing, and an assortment of colorful candies. These kits worked…
For years, I’ve wanted to make a birthday cake for Jesus with the boys on Christmas day, but for one reason or another, this is one tradition that never came to be – until this year. This year, Connor’s Classical Conversations co-op teacher gave each of the children in her class a “Birthday Cake for…
Joy to the World: Advent Activities for Your Family by Kathleen M. Basi [Liguori Publications (July 1, 2010)] is a book of advent readings, activities, and rituals. Published by Liguori Publications, a Catholic publishing company comprised of a “community of religious priests, brothers, lay people, and contemplative nuns,” Joy to the World: Advent Activities…
A walk through the mall or down a city street, a trip to them mailbox, a glance at the television: all will surely help to emphasize the fact that Christmas is coming! Store aisles are lined with Christmas trees, ornaments, stockings, and lights; mailboxes are filled with holiday catalogs, and television commercials are clearly the…
Three-hundred and sixty-four days of the year, our neighbors go about their business, rushing from one activity to another in typical Northern Virginia hyperdrive, managing little more than a quick wave through the car window. Every Fourth of July, however, the neighborhood slows down long enough to gather at the pool for a few…
It turned out well, don’t you think… and it was by far the easiest of our patriotic t-shirts to make. To make the Eagle-tee, you’ll need a t-shirt, washed in mild detergent and dried without fabric softener; fabric paint in white, brown, yellow, black, and glitter fabric paint in red, white and blue – we…
Growing up in a military family, I was taught to love our country, respect our flag, appreciate our freedoms, and celebrate the birth of our nation in style. The Fourth of July meant watching (or participating in) a parade, setting off fireworks, and enjoying the company of friends and family while remembering how fortunate we…
Temperatures are rising. Talk of camps, vacations, and lazy days ahead can be heard at the park, the grocery store, the soccer field, homeschool co-ops, anywhere there are moms and kids! Summer is near and folks are gearing up for two and a half months without school and the usual manic-pace of classes, homework, and…