Christmas Genealogy Paper Chain

I’ll bet you didn’t know that my husband and I teach 1st and 2nd graders on Sunday mornings.

Yep.  Last year we taught along with another friend, but he moved up to another class and this year, we’re on our own.  Which has been a little challenging to say the least as our average class size has doubled since last year.  We went from averaging about 8 each Sunday morning last year to averaging about 16 each Sunday morning this year.  To the elementary school teachers out there, 16 may seem like a cake walk… but we’re not talking about school.  Sunday School is a whole different animal and, admittedly, I am not a teacher by training, vocation or gifting.  So to us, 16-18 each week is HUGE. 

But I digress.

One of the things we enjoy doing with our class is a “Genealogy of Christ Paper Chain.”  We find it to be a really good teaching tool to talk about Messianic prophesy on a level that 1st and 2nd graders can comprehend and the links of the chain act as a visual to link together the old and new testaments of the Bible.

I thought my husband was very creative with the lesson portion of the morning.  He started out by talking about the Old Testament and the New Testament and the difference being that the Old was before Jesus lived on earth and the New was during and after Jesus.  Then he began reading some scriptures and asked the kids if they knew whether it came from the OT or NT and began to work in some scriptures of Messianic prophesy.  He quoted Micah 5:2 which talks about Bethlehem among others which refer to Christ to try to trip them up a little and make them think he was reading from the New Testament so that it would be a surprise that it came from the Old.  Once we were able to establish with the kids that the Bible talks about Jesus in the OT, we were able to talk about how the promise of the Messiah was made all the way back in Genesis and we began to read prophesies about the family that the Messiah would come from all the way back to Abraham.

We know that the details of our lesson probably did not all stick.  But we don’t expect them to.  If those 16 kids walked away from our class knowing that the Bible talks about Jesus in the Old Testament all the way back to Genesis, then we’ve accomplished our goal, in my opinion.

So, back to the genealogy chain… in pictures, here’s what we did:

For our class, I pre-printed all the names from the Matthew 1 genealogy of Christ on colored strips of paper.  Older kids could write them down themselves.  And the Luke 3 genealogy from Adam to Jesus could be used as well.

Because I have to have things very organized for our group of 1st & 2nd graders, I put all the names in order with Jesus on bottom and Abraham on top.  I put them in sandwich baggies as shown below so that after starting with Abraham, each child could just take the next strip of paper with the next name on it out of the bag and the rest would remain in the bag and in order.  The links of the chain may be fastened with staplers or with tape.

Now, when you have 16 1st and 2nd graders working on such a project, there is absolutely no time whatsoever for pictures to be taken.  But with two kids working on it at home, it was a fairly peaceful affair.

 
And when they’re done…

I don’t know about you, but I’m always looking for a fun way to bring my family and especially my kids back to what we are truly celebrating at Christmas time… the birth of Christ.  I hope that this is an idea that might help some of you in your endeavors to do the same thing. 

Merry Christmas!

Dining Room Facelift

If you haven’t heard, we recently remodeled our kitchen.   In doing so, it also meant that the eating area/dining room got a face-lift as well. 

This is what it looked like before:

That design on the wall? It’s not wallpaper.  That’s stenciled and painted on.  Nice, huh?

Along with the kitchen, it: got new tile, lost the wainscot, lost the “popcorn” ceiling texture (thank you, Jesus), received new texture on the walls and ceiling and got a fresh coat of paint on everything. 

Once once all of that was done, it was time to add some decorative touches.  I created a computer desk and school work nook for the kids and added some wall decoration.  But there was still something terribly missing.  The windows were naked. 

Knowing that I would never find anything suitable that I could just purchase and hang, because I never do, I began to look for fabric and a pattern to make some kind of a valance.  For the fabric, I knew I wanted something with a good amount of black to echo the black in the cabinets around the new range.  It also needed to have colors that would blend with both the cobalt blue that I have as an accent in my kitchen but also with the curtains in the living room.  As for a pattern, I knew I wanted something fairly simple because I’m just not into a bunch of fussy valance kind of stuff. 

Surprisingly, I found the fabric and pattern that I wanted pretty easily.  Now I just needed a good long weekend and some money.  I came into both around the time of my birthday. So, after my mom helped me figure out how much fabric I needed, I locked myself in the craft room and got to work.

 
The whole thing probably took longer than it should have because there was so much good October baseball to watch on TV while I was trying to work.

Now, the valance is done and everything is where it should be, for the most part, our dinning room is much more pleasant to look at.

The walls are nice and clean without a busy pattern. 

The kids have a computer desk and their own magnetic wipe boards that is positioned in the corner beside the refrigerator.  Out of the way, but still in view of everyone for our own peace of mind.

The wall decorations are hung and so is the valance.

 

The only thing that I still want to do is to have the table and chairs sanded down and re-stained black. I think it would look really nice against the light colored floor and would really help tie the kitchen and dining spaces together nicely.

Overall, I am really pleased with how it all turned out and it looks so much better in person.  My lighting for these pictures was horrible.  Hey… maybe you should come over some time and see for yourself.

I’ll put some coffee on and some cookies in the oven. 

Ringling Bros. Ticket Giveaway

*********** Giveaway is now closed **************

You may have noticed that I don’t do a lot of giveaways on this blog. I’m very selective of companies that I will partner with and do publicity for. I will say, however, that I have been pleased both last year and this year to have the privilege of giving away tickets to the Ringling Bros. circus that comes to the D/FW area about this time every year.

Because really, life just sometimes needs the silliness of the circus.

As you can see, last year’s show was an absolute blast and this year’s show, “Zing Zang Zoom,” promises to be just as exciting.

So, here is what I am giving away:

Four tickets to the opening night performance on Wednesday, July 28th at 7:30 pm at the American Airlines Center in Dallas. The value of these tickets is $120.

To enter: Please post a single comment on this blog post that includes your name and an email address where you can be reached. ONLY comments on this blog post will be considered as entries (i.e. I won’t consider you as entered if you just leave a comment on my Facebook page).

Comments will be closed and no entries will be accepted after noon on Friday, July 23rd. I will select a winner using random.org (or a really scientific method like pulling a name out of a hat) and will notify you promptly. Tickets for the lucky winner will be waiting for you at will-call on the night of the performance.

Extra entries: You may leave an additional comment for extra chances at winning the tickets for each of the following…

• “Like” WayMoreHomemade on Facebook.
• “Like” Ringling Brothers DFW on Facebook.
• Follow Ringling Brothers on Twitter.
• Tweet this giveaway (please post the URL of the specific tweet when you leave your comment).
• Post this giveaway on your Facebook page (please “Like” WayMoreHomemade on FB and use the @ symbol to tag WayMoreHomemade in your FB post so I can see it.)

Now, since I only have 1 four pack of tickets to give away, I know that there will be at least one other disappointed person. So, I have also been given the opportunity to offer you a coupon code for you to purchase tickets for either the Dallas show at the American Airlines Center (July 28-August 8) or the Fort Worth show at the Fort Worth Convention Center (August 11-15). Here are the details:

Get a four-pack of weekday tickets for $44 or save $4 on weekend tickets. Purchase tickets online at http://www.ticketmaster.com/ and use code MOM under “Advance or Promotion Ticket Selection or mention the code when ordering by phone at 1-800-745-3000

Feel free to email me (see the contact tab above) if you have any questions.

Good luck y’all. And have a circus kind of a day.

(In a good way, of course. Not in the “this place is like a circus today” kind of way.)

Please note: The comments on this post are for the giveaway only. This is not the forum to bag on the circus. I normally don’t delete comments that disagree with me, but I will this time for the sake of the contest.

a weekend of scrapbook awesome

I failed to mention this last week, but do you know where I spent my weekend?

I went on a scrapbook retreat to an inn that caters to scrapbookers on the weekends.

Did you even know that I do scrapbook occasionally?

Well, yes, as a matter of fact, I do. 

I have been on a retreat before with my friend Val and some people that she and her Aunt know, but this particular weekend was really fun because I knew all the ladies pretty well.  I didn’t get a ton finished because I wasn’t as organized as I have been in the past, but I did get a good start on our family’s 2006 album. 

Yes, I said 2006.

And I don’t mind telling you that I had a lot of fun reminiscing, oooh-ing and awwww-ing over some of the pictures of my kids from that year.

My friend Val, who organized the weekend, had some prizes available.  Categories were: Most Pages, Most Pictures on a Single Page, Most Creative Layout, Best Photography, Most Fun Layout.  We all voted on the last three categories on Sunday before we left.

Now, I may not have gotten a ton finished, but,surprisingly enough, I won two prizes.

I won Most Creative Layout with this one entitles “How we spend our days”:

I had an idea of where I wanted this page to go, but it took me describing it to the other ladies there to get the specifics down.  It took me a while, but the sun is all torn and I used pastels on the edges of all the paper.

I also won Best Photography for this layout.  I do have to admit, that these are my favorite pictures I have ever taken of my kids.

So that was most of my weekend.  How was yours?  Did you do anything awesome?

To keep or not to keep? That is the question.

I’ve been on a cleaning out binge lately.  I get the phrase, “Get it out of my house,” in my mind and I just go cleaning out nuts.  I took the day off of work one day recently to do some more cleaning and my project for the day was to clean out our stash of books.

Do you know what I realized?

I have travel books from almost every international trip I have ever taken.  You know, just in case I ever decide to go back and need to remind myself of what there is to do there.

I mean, seriously.  I have over a decade of travel books.

I have books that were given to me as I prepared to spend a summer in southern France as an au pair in 1994 between my junior and senior years of college.  And not just any old books, mind you.  Clearly the members of my family had some concerns that were expressed in the books they gave me.

I think my dad was concerned that I’d get lost… I’m sure in more ways that in the physical sense.

And clearly my sister was concerned that I would either commit some kind of horrible cultural faux-pas or be horribly dressed and out of style. 

I have travel books from our honeymoon to New Zealand in 1996.  Never mind that we actually have a cousin living there, now. 

I have not only travel books, but a language book complete with tapes from our trip to Greece in 2000.

But let’s keep in mind that when we’re talking Greek, a couple of tapes are only going to get you as far as “Please,” “Thank you,” “Bathroom,” and “Beer.”  Those are the four most important things, anyways.  Right?  Right.

And, of course I still have the Paris and Continental Europe books from the trip in 2004 when I had the opportunity to travel with Mike on business. 

Isn’t it funny the things we hold onto to remind us of where we’ve been?  We buy souvenirs and, apparently, some of us keep travel books.  But think of how old those books are.  Are they still accurate?

Granted, there are certain things like the Notre Dame, the Parthenon and Buckingham Palace that will never move or really change.  But the restaurants and hotels?  There’s no way any of that information is accurate. 

But, when it comes down to it, I am a keeper.  I like to keep things that remind me of good or special times.  Historically, I have been a scapbooker and while life recently has not afforded me time to work on such endeavors, I enjoy doing scrapbooks because of this very reason. 

But my “keeper” mentality goes beyond travel books.  I keep other things also.  For instance, I just realized the other day that I still have every bit of crystal giftware that we received for our wedding 14 years ago.  Bowls, candlesticks, platters, picture frames and a hurricane lamp.  Some of it I used decoratively in our home at first.  But then tastes change and kids come along and now it’s all just sitting on a shelf collecting dust. 

As with the books, I have to sit back and ask myself, “Why?”

For one thing I think keeping is sometimes easier than getting rid of or cleaning out.

Isn’t that true in other areas of life as well?  Isn’t it sometimes easier to hold on to fear or bitterness than to let Jesus do a healing work?  If nothing else, it’s usually more comfortable.

For a time.

But once you truly do the cleaning out your house just feels so much better.  Just like our lives and the freedom we have when we let Jesus do a healing work in us.

While I don’t normally make New Year’s resolutions, I am attempting to resolve to not be such a keeper. 

And not just of books.

What about you?  Are you a keeper?

Pine Cone Christmas Tree Craft {Homemade Gift Idea}

We got busy this weekend on doing some Christmas crafts and making some more Christmas gifts. One went really well. The other… let’s just say it could have gone better.

First let me explain that last year with the big new pre-lit tree that we had purchased on clearance the year before, we passed our other tree down to the kids so that they could have their own tree for all their ornaments and to decorate however they want. I try to come up with new and fun ways for them to decorate it. Last year, we made paper chains. This year…. oh I had a great idea for this year.

Popcorn strings.

Yeah. That’s the thing that didn’t go so well. There was more eating of all the broken popcorn pieces than stringing going on.

This was the final result.

Yes, there are, in fact, popcorn strings on the tree. Well, strings might be a slight overstatement. See those two little white lines going across the top. Yeah, those. Those are our popcorn strings. Sarah’s is about 1 foot long and Nathan’s is a bit less than that.

The problem was that I purchased tapestry needles so that the kids wouldn’t poke themselves and have bloody popcorn strings. The tapestry needles were just too big and broke most of the popcorn in half as you pushed it through. So, I’ve got some tweaking to do in my approach to this one. We may try again next year with a little sharper needles.

*** Edited to add: I just got an email suggesting to pop the popcorn a couple of days ahead of time and let it get stale to keep it from breaking apart. That might also solve the problem of the more eating that stringing... at least on the part of the mom. ;) ***

We also completed another craft that will be some Christmas gifts. Money is tight right now so I am working hard to do as many low cost homemade gifts as possible this year. This definitely fits that to a “T.”

You’ll Need:

Pine cones
Acrylic paint (green & white)
Paint brushes
Paper plates/newspaper
Yellow felt
Star stencil (or freehand)
Scissors
Hot glue

First, be sure to cover your working area with newspaper and have the kids put on old shirts that you don’t mind getting dirty with a little paint. Have them paint the pinecones green, covering as much of the brown up as possible.

It’s a lot to do all at once, so you may need to allow a couple of different sittings to get all of it done.

Allow the green paint to dry completely. Then have the kids go back with the white paint and put snow on the tips.

Use a stencil or free hand cut stars out of the yellow felt. Once all the paint is dry, hot glue the star to the top. You can add a ribbon or string to it to make it a hanging ornament if you like.

Have you done any Christmas crafts this year? Have they been a success? Or busted miserably?

Charmed Bookmarks {Homemade Gift Idea}

I mentioned on Twitter yesterday that I was working on these charmed bookmarks yesterday to be some homemade Christmas gifts. Someone asked how I did it and I promised to take pictures and that I’d share with all of you.

This is so simple it’s not even funny.

What you’ll need:

Charms
Connector ring thingys (that’s a technical term)
Needle nose pliers (maybe)
Tape measure (optional)
Ribbon
Coordinating thread
Scissors
Sewing Machine

I found most of the supplies at Hobby Lobby. And when I was there, both ribbon and the charms were 50% off, making for some very cute, very inexpensive gifts.

The great thing is that these can be as simple or as ornate as you want. I like the simplicity of one charm, but you can use a string of them together or add beads as well if you like.

First attach the charm (or charms) to the little connector ring.

Measure out 12-15 inches of ribbon. Double that length and fold the ribbon in half.

Thread the ribbon through the connector ring of the charm until the charm is at the half way point. “Eyeball” or measure about 1 inch down from the fold.

Sew a short line at about that 1 inch point. I like to use a tight zig-zag stitch.

Make sure you cut the ends into a pretty angle cut.

And you’re done.

The idea is that the charm and ribbon will stick out from your Bible or book just a little.

And with the ribbon being folded and stitched, multiple pages can be marked.

So there it is. Have fun!

****

Edited on 12/8/09:

This post was linked up for Works For Me Wednesday at We Are That Family.