Advent Days 4, 5, and 6

We have been really loving our family Bible time each evening...I love having my husband participate with us! It's going so well, after Advent, we'll continue to have our Bible study at night, instead of in the mornings. The girls love doing "school-time" with their Dad, too!

Day 4: Abraham

After reading the bible story and coloring, Izzie and Mac liked putting a ton of stars in the sky!

On our Jesse tree.......star ornament for Abraham

Day 5: Sarah

Again, we read the bible story and Izzie colored a simple picture of Sarah and Baby Issac.

Then, she placed Baby Isaac on our Jesse Tree........

Baby Isaac went missing for a few days! Mac loves "babies", so when she saw Baby Isaac on the tree, she just had to have him! She played and played with him, it was adorable watching her rock the little babe! Somehow, they were disconnected and he went missing! Thankfully, we found him!

Day 6: Issac

We decided not to discuss the sacrifice of Isaac with Izzie. Instead, we focused on Isaac's marriage to Rebekah and how they had twins, Jacob and Esau.

However, we did use a ram for the daily Jesse tree ornament......

Advent Day 3: Noah's Ark

The girls are really enjoying our nightly Advent activities! This evening, they were ready to roll right after dinner...Izzie grabbed the Bible binder and Mac got the Bible!

After reading about Noah's Ark, we placed our special ornament, The Ark, on our Jesse Tree.

Izzie colored a Noah's Ark page...found here.

Then, she retold us the story using her sequence cards.

I found this adorable Noah's Ark skipping counting activity. Izzie had fun lining the animals up in the correct order to get on the ark!

This was also a great review for her Skipping Counting by 2's song!

In addition, she completed this Noah's Ark file folder game.

She had to sort the animals...she did very well with this activity with my simple explanations. I told her that mammals have hair, birds have feathers, and reptiles have neither.

However, she was confused about why a bat is a mammal...

Izzie: "Mommy, bats don't have hair! They have wings, so a bat is a bird."

Me: "Bats do have wings, but they don't have feathers...they actually have body hair."

Izzie: "Ummm"....(I don't think I convinced her!)

The whale also gave her problems.

Izzie: "A whale is a fish. Where do fish go?"

Me: "That's a tricky one! Whales are mammals."

Izzie: "Whales don't have hair, that's silly! A whale is a fish!"

Me: "Nope, whales really do have body hair, so they are mammals too."

Izzie: "Ummm"...(again, not convinced!)

Advent Day 2: Adam and Eve

This is how I found the girls....anxiously waiting for Bible time!

For the second day of Advent, we studied the story of Adam and Eve.

Then, we placed our special ornament, an apple, on our Jesse Tree.

Lastly, we each colored a page of the story...quality family time...priceless!

Advent Day 1: Creation

Last year, I was really inspired by Nicole at Tired, Need Sleep and her family tradition of a Jesse Tree for Advent. This year, I knew I wanted to incorporate a Jesse Tree into our family tradition too! I am so thankful that Nicole took the time to share her Jesse Tree information...schedule of Bible stories, prayer cards, and ornaments for the tree.

Sunday, the first day of Advent, we explained the Jesse Tree concept to Izzie, who was thrilled to learn that she was going to have her own little Christmas tree with very special ornaments, that she would receive each night. I really wanted my husband to part of our new tradition; therefore, we are waiting until evening to read our focused Bible story with craft/activity.

Advent Day 1: Creation

After reading the Story of Creation, Izzie placed the world ornament on the tree.

(I simply made it out of felt and added some glitter glue for details.)

She also colored this (I created in Word and thought that I saved it to share, oops...I'll recreate and add a printable one in the near future) to add to her Bible Study binder.

Then, Izzie used her story sequencing cards to retell us the story.

I added a felt board (one side of a cereal box covered in felt) to her Bible Study binder with her sequence cards...I'm leaving her binder out, so she can have access to all the materials.

Izzie and Mac really enjoyed playing with their Creation Bean Bags...Izzie was using them to retell the story and to match up with the sequence cards.

I'm so thankful that we're starting this new tradition with our girls! It's a great way to explain the real reason for the Christmas season.

Creation Bean Bags

I've been planning activities for Advent and decided to make more textured bean bags for the girls. They still really enjoy the number textured bean bags! I saw a tutorial about Creation bean bags and knew I had to make them for Izzie and Mac. The only store I went to on Black Friday was JoAnn Fabrics...they had fabric on sale for $1.29 a yard....and, yes....I bought a lot! I tried to get a variety of textures....

Day 1: Light and Dark
The yellow side is a baby cotton material and the black is satin.

Day 2: Clouds and Water
I found this great blue fleece with white clouds! For water, I used a real shinny blue material with white sparkles, which are hard to see in the picture due to the flash.

Day 3: Plants and Trees

The green plant side is a fuzzy and the brown side is a harsh and scratchy.

Day 4: Sun, Moon and Stars

The sun side is a thick fleece and the stars and moon side is baby cotton...I really didn't like that Curious George was on the fabric, but it was the only fabric I could find that had both moons and stars.

Day 5: Fish and Birds
For fish, I used a very shiny metallic blue and for feathers, a white feathery material.
This is Izzie's favorite bean bag....it's probably the best textured bean bag!

Day 6: Man and Animals
I used a multicolor brown fabric to represent man and a cute animal print for the other side.



Day 7: God Rested
On one side, there's white felt to represent a pillow and on the other side is planet Earth, for God rested and observed what he had created.

The girls are having so much fun with the bean bags, and they were really quick and simple to make!

(I tried to use a different format to help reduce the length of the post....apparently, I've done something incorrect! Please, excuse me...the text is not lined up with the appropriate pictures.)

Tiny Talk Tuesday

Izzie recently turned 4 years old, but lately will only answer to the name "Hailey" and insists that she is 5 years old.

Izzie: Mommy, I'm 5 years old!

Me: No, you're 4 years old.

Izzie: How old are you?

Me: (Pause) 30....

Izzie: How did you get so old?

Izzie loves pretending that she has "really big problems", so she can call Team Umizoomi for their help!

Izzie: Mommy, I can't find my phone!

Me: Oh, no! That's a really BIG problem!

Izzie: No, that's not a really big problem....that's just a short problem.

To share or read, please visit Tiny Talk Tuesday hosted by Not Before 7.

Kite Flying Fun!

Over the weekend, we went to a Kite Festival, which was so much fun!

The girls enjoyed decorating their kites!

And flying them, too!


A little help from Dad...

Flag Ceremony...

Playing under the gigantic American flag!

Don't you just love our family photo??

Oh, how I wish for just one family picture with all of us looking at the camera and smiling....maybe in 10 years!!