Glass Jar Lanterns

I used this cute idea for my YW girls. We had a lesson on Learning to Share the Gospel.
I used the girls' first initial to personalize the light.

They were fun to make. I got the idea at Under My Umbrella. I'm thinking about making some more to hang outside this summer. 4th of July ones would be really cute. We'll see where I go with it. I used some baby food jars and some 18 gauge galvanized steel wire from Lowes (4.88 for 110 feet). I bought the spray at Michaels (9.99 for a small spray can...I used 40% cpn to lower the price...then found out later I could have bought a bigger spray can for around $5 at Lowes).

I made a couple extra flower ones just in case of a visitor (or two) so Kyla has claimed one of those for her room. Nathan wanted the other one, so I told him I'd try to make him one this week...without flowers :)

Happy Summer...

Today is the last official day of school, so when I came across all of this pretty nail polish, I thought it'd make a perfect gift for Kyla for celebrating her doing so well in school this year...break out the flip-flops!!

Teacher Gifts

The school year is at an end this week, so I made a little something to go along with a card to tell Kyla's teacher how much I appreciated all of her hard work. She really is a great teacher. Kyla has also had a classroom "Grandma" helping all year, so we made one for her, too. I also had Kyla make each of them a card to tell them Thank You as well. (She was thrilled to do so)

I had fun making these fun little pin wheels: (I've made some hairbows with them, so more to come on that soon)
I got the printable for the pot at Skip to My Lou.

For Free...

I love that you can get free stuff with coupons....I used some doublers at Albertsons and some internet coupons (2 computers) and got all of this free in 3 transactions. Just had to pay 18 cents tax for each transaction!

Unbroken

by Laura HillenbrandI finished this book. Wow. I have not read a book like it. It was like a train wreck that you don't really want to know the gruesome details, and yet you do so you keep reading. There were parts in the book that really got to me. It's about war...and a story that I had not heard about being a POW. It is about Louis Zamperini, who started as a juvenile offender, then turned into an Olympic racer, and later an Air Force pilot in WW II. He crashes and is stranded in the Pacific Ocean and after long nights at sea, is imprisoned by the Japanese. I enjoyed learning about different points of World War II and the impacts it had and an individual and on the world as a whole, but descriptions and detail were a bit to much for me, so I have mixed feelings on recommending this book to anyone.

Easter Hunt- The True Meaning of Easter

One of my awesome friends gave me this idea for teaching my young kids about Christ at Easter time. I love that it has fun visuals to go with the scripture, something that gets my kids attention. They really enjoyed this for scripture reading this week. We will be doing it again next year!! (Thanks, Julia!)

Easter Hunt - The True Meaning Of Easter

1. An egg carton or Easter basket containing 12 plastic colored eggs. Each plastic egg is filled with an object that symbolizes a scriptural reference for the resurrection.

Scriptural Reference Egg Containing

1. Matthew 26:39 Sacrament cup (Let this cup pass...)

2. Matthew 26:14-15 3 Dimes (30 pieces of silver)

3. Matthew 27:1-2 Pieces of knotted twine (bound Jesus)

4. Matthew 27:24-26 Sliver of soap (Pilate: "I am innocent")

5. Matthew 27:28-30 Square of red felt (Jesus' robe)

6. Matthew 27:31-32 A nail and toothpick cross

7. Matthew 27:35-36 Dice (cast lots for Jesus' robe)

8. Matthew 27:50-51,54 Bag of dirt and rocks (earthquake)

9. Matthew 27:58-60 Piece of white cloth (Jesus wrapped)

10. Matthew 27:60,65-66 Stone (rolled in front of the tomb)

11. Matthew 28:25 Bay Leaf (Herbs on Jesus)

12. Matthew 28:6 Empty (He was resurrected)

Procedure:

Ask children (one at a time) to choose an egg out of the basket. The eggs will be numbered so scriptures can be read like the list above. The egg will contain both a small object and the scriptural reference it relates to. Read the scripture and discuss what the object symbolizes. Also, the eggs can be hidden around a room and once all twelve are found they can be opened in numerical order.

The children should gain a deeper understanding of the true meaning of Easter.

Easter Grass

This is my new Easter decoration:
I used wheat for the grass seed. I let the kids help with the planting and they've had fun watching the grass grow.

I found this group of pots at a yard sale...
it was orange, so I used some spray paint to change the color...gotta love spray paint!