A Summer Tradition

- Mama 9 Comments

So I’m not sure how it happened exactly… but somehow this post that I wrote the day after Labor Day got caught in some sort of blog filter. My thoughts and feelings still resonate with me, so I really wanted to go ahead and continue to post this as planned. I hope that it resonates with you, as well, and I hope that, despite it’s long after Labor Day, it will still make sense in the grand scheme of things.

Labor Day is pretty much the official end of summer. It’s the last real sign that summer has just about thrown in the towel, and it’s time to get ready for fall. But Labor Day weekend also marks one other very important sign of the end of the summer, and that is the very last night of the Drive-In for the season.

I have been very lucky to grow up less than half an hour from one of the greatest summer family fun activities in history, and that is heading over to a drive-in movie. You simply can’t beat paying a few bucks per person to see a double-feature in the comfort of your car (or your lawn chairs).

We make an evening of visiting the drive-in. We almost always pack snacks, blankets, and a frisbee and soccer ball. It’s a part of our family’s tradition to get there early, as soon as the gates open, so we can park in the very front. We have ample grass space for Zach to crawl around on his blanket, and we’re right by the playground and grass area so everyone else can play a pickup game of soccer or hang out on the swings until dark.

At dark, the movie begins to play, the snacks come out of our bags, and we curl up under the stars, watching the film and bonding as a family.

Hundreds of thousands of families have visited a drive-in since the first drive-in opened in New Jersey in 1933. It’s truly been an American past-time. It’s always fun to take people who have never been to a drive-in, too… we frequently take friends who have never been, and they absolutely love it.

However, the last night of the season has never been quite as sad to me as last night. The movie, Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Dog Days, was hilarious, of course (we didn’t stay for Paranorman). But it was the sinking realization that, if Hollywood doesn’t change some things, this will be the last season I get to share this tradition with my family. It made me really sad to realize that Zach might not have memories of going to the drive in as a child, because the drive-in might not come back. Ever.

See, Hollywood has been working hard to make the switch to digital for a very long time. Which is fine, for movies in a traditional theatre, but it makes it very hard for a drive-in to survive. Often, they just don’t make the revenue to make the switch, and that switch is an incredibly costly one… to the tune of $150,000-$200,000.

Drive-In owners certainly don’t own a drive-in to get rich. Many times, the cost of running it barely covers their costs enough to make a profit, but it’s such a strong American tradition that they don’t want to see it go. $150,000-$200,000 is a lot of money to get new equipment, especially since the media requirements change every few years, requiring more and more money to keep up-to-date.

A traditional theatre could easily afford this change because there are many screens with many daily showings. Drive-ins typically only show 1-2 films each weekend, charge less than most regular theatres, and only have these two showings to get revenue from concessions from. Additionally, they only show 2-3 days each week.

There are a few things that a drive-in could do to combat the large cost, but only one is a perfect solution for the drive-in itself.

First, a Drive-In theatre could pay the obscene prices to upgrade to the new format for films. The downsides to this, obviously, are the high cost and the fact that media changes so even more money would be going out the door.

The second option is for a drive-in to only air movies that were previously released in the old format, but even then, a film can only be played so many times before it wears out, and not as many people will pay to see previously released films as will new releases.

The last option is for Hollywood to make sure they support not only drive-ins, but also vintage independent theatres, by releasing the films in the old format while still moving ahead with their digital plans for most other theatres. The best of both worlds, though, of course, twice the work for Hollywood.

To me, going to the Drive-In has been a life-long tradition, and I fully want it to be part of my son’s traditions, too, or even preferably part of his children’s traditions. I feel like drive-ins are a dying art already. What used to be over 4,000 drive in theatres around the country is now only 368, and each year, that number gets smaller and smaller…

Someday, I hope my son will continue to know the joy of heading out to the Midway Drive-In on a weekend evening, playing before the show, and munching on snacks as we watch the films, cuddling up under a blanket as a cool chill fills the air… but unless Hollywood can do something to support this American tradition, I’ll have to let that dream of mine fade out, just like the lights after the last showing on Labor Day…

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Have you ever been to a drive-in theatre? Have your kids? What do you think about the Hollywood vs. Drive-Ins debate? Let me know in the comments below!

The Beginning of Fall

- Mama 2 Comments

There are a lot of different indicators for the start of fall. For one, cooler weather has been afoot lately, which is nice after the long, hot drought our area has been facing. School starting back up and getting back into the swing of our homeschooling has been another sign that fall is just around the corner. Halloween costumes and candy are starting to pop up everywhere– including my personal favorites like Cadbury SCream eggs and Pumpkin Spice Kisses– and it seems like that holiday is just around the corner. We just had Labor Day, which includes the last weekend of the drive-in, and I’ve even started seeing sale prices on fall apples.

But none of those really indicate the beginning of fall to me as much as a tradition that is a huge part of my hometown. Every year, my town has their annual Fall Festival.

It has all of the markings of a small-town festival, including picking the Fall Festival queen, the Citizens of the Year, and having a fair with booths from everything from homemade crafts to Thirty-One consultants and everything in between. Everyone in town makes an appearance, it seems, and many college students and full-grown adults make their way back to their beloved hometown for this event.

This event brings a heck of a lot more people back than homecoming, but it’s the small town feel that really makes the whole weekend, which is capped off by the annual Street Dance featuring local sort of bands.

This year, the weekend started with a movie in a park, which the entire city was invited to attend, followed by a parade first thing the following morning, the craft fair all day (and of course the entire evening before, as well), and then the street dance each night. Food trucks featuring all of the fair hits, like Fried Oreos and Funnel Cakes, really brought the atmosphere of fall to the whole experience.

Growing up in town, the Fall Festival has always been a huge part of the experience of living in my town. It’s a great chance for everyone to see everyone else and catch up on the latest events with the kids, the town, and even a little gossip (it IS a small town, after all). To me, it’s almost like our very own slice of Wisteria Lane, without all of the perfect hair.

I really love how the leaves crunch under my feet as I look over the booths, picking up a few free pens and talking to people I’ve known almost my entire life, plus meeting people I’ve only recently gotten the opportunity to know. It’s nice seeing our community gather around to watch demonstrations from our town’s Performing Arts group, our high school Dance Team, and the Jazz Band from the high school, as well.

Does your hometown have a sort of festival or gathering in the fall? Tell me about it in the comments below!

My Red Hat Afternoon with the Valley Springs Valley Girls

- Mama 1 Comment

I was so delighted recently to get a message from my dear friend (and major blog supporter!) Pat, asking me if I would come to her Red Hat Society meeting and demonstrate my Duncan Hines Cherry Masher Sandwich Cookies, which were award-winners in the Duncan Hines Frosting Creations baking contest.

I was so honored to be invited to demonstrate my recipe, especially since I’ve never actually done a presentation like that before today. It was thrilling getting to actually bake in front of people and have them ask me questions, both personally and professionally, about my life, my cookies, and my blog.

First off, this week has been a whirlwind, which has made it difficult to blog as frequently as I typically do, because not only did I really want to prepare for my presentation, but my brother also turned 12 which meant a two-tier cake and three dozen cupcakes for his castmates in his play.

It was worth the time off, though, because I was able to make so many great real-world connections this week with some great ladies.

Of course, when I first got to the meeting place for this fun and fabulous group of Red Hatters, I was practically shaking. Even though Pat is a great friend and I knew that I would end up doing well with my demonstration, it’s always a little nerve-wracking to stand up in front of people and demonstrate something you’re passionate about! The thought goes through your head with “what if they don’t like what I made?” or “What if I forgot a key ingredient at home?”

As I started baking, though, I really got into the swing of things. I came with everything pre-measured, so that helped me fumble a little bit less with my presentation.

All in all, the ladies really seemed to love the recipe (and my family appreciated my demonstration because it meant making a test batch for them at home, as well, so everybody got to taste some of my test cookies, too).

I wanted to tell you guys a couple of anecdotes about my cookies, though.

First, when I entered the Duncan Hines contest, I had actually baked 8 recipes in one weekend trying to choose which ones to submit. At the time, we had a couple of exchange students spending the weekend with us, and I literally just started calling people, saying “Come sit in my kitchen while I bake– there’s way too many desserts to go around and someone has to eat them!” People just sat in the barstools in the kitchen as I spent hours upon hours baking items for the contest, tasting them, giving their opinion, and waiting as I submitted the recipes to the website.

Then, everybody left. I cleaned up the kitchen. My mother went out of town with my brother. I had the house to myself, just my son and I, and when he was napping, I had the thought that I should really do just one more. Just one more recipe, that would do it. I whipped up the cherry masher sandwich cookies, thinking I wanted to make something that was a cross between a cookie, a cherry mash, and a cherry cordial, but was still delicious and interesting in a new and exciting way. What resulted was a not-too-sweet shortbread cooking with a cherry vanilla filling and a chocolate coating– this was before the lovely chefs at the Duncan Hines kitchen suggested that I make it a drizzle instead of a coating, which made the cookies a million times better.

I made the cookies, tasted one, and I knew these were gold. I posted the recipe, but… there was no one there to try them. I ended up polishing off the entire batch over the span of a couple of days, yes, entirely by myself (this is why I’m not a size 2 or even a 12).

When Duncan Hines contacted me to let me know I was a winner, I asked which recipe I won for. Was it the gimme s’more bars that my brother raved about? The strawberry pie that was a hit with my mom? The coconut amaretto bars that went on to win an Amish Friendship Bread Kitchen contest? No.

The winner was the Cherry Masher Sandwich cookies.

That NO ONE. No one tasted. Except me.

When I told everyone who had come and sat in my kitchen that weekend that I was a winner, everyone was exclaiming “Really?! For which recipe? Which one?” and all of them were a bit disappointed that no one had even tasted the award-winner.

Honestly, when I made those cookies, as good as they were, I really wasn’t sure I’d ever make them again. For most events, I have a handful of go-to recipes that are family favorites, and then I have a couple of new recipes that I try here and there, but for the most part, I just don’t repeat many recipes. There’s so many new things to try that I don’t always make a recipe again, even if I liked it (none of the other recipes I submitted for the Duncan Hines contest have been made again, although several I’d like to make again sometime). So, I really assumed before I was told that I won that, yes, the cookies were good, but no, no one would get to try them since I had already finished all of the cookies.

Now, it’s my most-requested take-along. Everyone wants to try them. I’ve made enough batches of those silly cookies that I could probably make them with my eyes closed and hands tied behind my back (not literally. You kind of need hands when you’re rolling out cookie dough). They’re really easy, but they’re definitely something you want to make a day in advance because of the freeze time.

It’s just so funny to me that what was just a cookie I made on a whim, last minute, one last entry into the contest, that no one tasted and I never thought anyone would get to try, ended up being a cookie that I’ve become known for. That cookie has singlehandedly driven a lot of people to my blog, sent me to New Jersey and back, gotten me an article in the newspaper, and led to a fun demonstration with an incredible group of Red Hat ladies.

I am so blessed that this little cookie recipe I came up with has taken me so far, that this simple cherry sandwich cookie with an amazing flavor has given me so many blessings, and so many great opportunities. In some ways, I have Duncan Hines to thank, and in many ways I have my mom’s amazing inspiration to thank, and of course, I have everyone who tastes my recipes and gives me feedback and helps with Zach while I’m destroying the kitchen to thank…

And for today, I have the amazing Valley Springs Valley Girls to thank, because I got to share a great day with them and I got to share my true passion of baking with them. And beyond that, I made connections that I hope will continue on for a very long time to come.

The ladies were so kind to gift me an adorable Red Hat bear, as something to remember this special event by, and I know that there’s no way I’ll be forgetting today anytime soon. I really feel blessed that I got to spend this time with them.

I made a very special recipe card for my Red Hat friends, and I wanted to share it with you, as well, so all of you can make these delicious sandwich cookies anytime you’d like.

As I told the ladies today, these cookies freeze very well for 2 weeks or so (as if you’ll have any left for that long!). If your church or group is having a baby boom or something and you need to take a lot of meals to people, it’s easy to whip up a double or triple batch of these and keep them in your freezer in an airtight container, then package up a baggie of 6-12 cookies to put in with a meal. It will seem like you spent all day slaving in the kitchen, but really these gems were just in your freezer, ready to go to whoever needed a little blessing.

I prettied these cards up using a digital scrapbooking kit in Photoshop. The kit is called Bake Me A Cake by Kristin Cronin-Barrow and is available here at Sweet Shoppe Designs, so you can make your own pretty matching set of recipe cards or digitally scrapbooking any other kitchen memories you have.

Snot Noses and Big Boy Beds

- Mama 2 Comments

Zach and I are having a ridiculously lazy day today. Both of us have snot… literally everywhere. It’s so gross. I opted not to take a picture to spare you the gorey details.

We’ve spent half of the day in bed, just lazing, napping, and doing nothing. It’s so refreshing to just take a day off, but it stinks that we’re having to do this because of an illness. You can tell Zachy is completely miserable, but because it’s just a runny nose, congestion, etc thing, there’s not really anything that can be done aside from pumping the (Dr. Approved) Benadryl and Ibuprofen. And Dayquil for me (The doctor okayed that, too, since I’ve got a breastfeeder on my hands).

But here’s the deal. The Benadryl thing just was not cutting it for Zach. The doctor had prescribed it last spring, when Zach was a lot smaller than he is now, so I was giving him the dosage the doctor recommended at the weight he was ages ago. It was not working. And then my doctor turned me on to a really amazing tool. Have you heard of Dr. Sears? For me, he’s a total attachment parenting guru, and I almost totally hang on every word he says. I love his thoughts on a lot of things, and I like his fairly organic approach to things.

Anyway, this tool on Dr. Sears’ website is more clear on weight dosing than a package from the store… it is intended to allow you to give “strong but safe” doses, and closes the weight/dose window from a 15 or so pound span to only about 3-5 pounds. It makes the dosing far more accurate, and makes it so your child can beat his illness faster. You can check it out at Dr. Sears’ website, by typing the medication you need information on into the search bar.

Dr. Sears’ website is also a source of a ton of other great information, from how to cure diaper rash to breastfeeding help, if you need it.

On a totally unrelated topic, Zach’s room got a little bit of a makeover recently. I mentioned back in March about how we added awesome rain gutter bookshelves, along with doing a small furniture re-arrangement. This time around, we took out the changing table, since Zach was getting too long to use it comfortably anymore, and a little too wild and wiggly. We also added in a toy box to make his stuff more accessible. It was recycled from his uncle Jeffrey, who is becoming a teenager and no longer needs a toy box.

But the most exciting part, in my opinion, and crazy part, was that we decided to remove the front of Zach’s crib and turn it into it’s toddler bed stage. When buying a crib, I decided to pay extra for one that was convertible, because I loved the idea that the bed would grow with him. Zach pretty much went from a bassinet to co-sleeping, so his crib hasn’t gotten much use as a crib at all. Plus, now that Zach is old enough and tall enough to climb out of a crib, it’s best, and safest, for us to remove that front end anyway. His bed is now a lovely toddler day-bed, which he is loving using as a couch! He crawls up there with a good book or a stuffed animal and reads for large chunks of time.

I love that his room is more functional for his age now, and allows him to actually have space to play and read, and it’s a lot more comfortable for me to sit back here in my awesome leather recliner and get some work done while he’s entertaining himself. I love knowing that he can entertain himself for some periods of time between us playing together, but I also love having the space to be close enough that if he needs me, I’m here.

I just can’t believe he’s growing up so much that he needs a toddler-sized bed! It’s amazing (and scary) to see how fast he is growing.

Luckily, or perhaps not as luckily, we still have sicky-poo days like this where he is still sweet and cuddly. Otherwise, I don’t think he’d sit still long enough for a hug or five.

 

At what age did you switch your child from a crib to a more “big boy/girl” bed? Let me know in the comments below!

Take A Silly Picture

- Mama 3 Comments

These pictures are old. I mean old old. Like, last spring old.

I was going through images that I needed to edit and get moved over to my external hard drive when I found these. They’re adorable, and I distinctly remember that Zach had just woken from a nap about 20 minutes before I took them. Echo jumped up on the bed in order to get some lovin’s from me, and Zach picked up his books. He looked at Echo, patted his butt as if to say “sit,” and started to read his books to Echo.

It was arguably one of the cutest moments I’ve witnessed in my entire life. I couldn’t resist snapping several photos since my camera was right there.

But, since children move and dogs move and I was just snapping away on auto mode, my pictures just weren’t that great. They weren’t lit perfectly, they were a bit blurry, and they just weren’t…. perfect.

I have this habit when I photograph things. I’ll snap about 400 photos of something, and then I’ll open them up and really look at them. I may adjust the lighting, I may tweak them, and I’ll go through and delete every photo that just doesn’t… work. If there’s a blurry patch, it’s gone. If there’s poor lighting, it’s gone.

As I’ve worked on this blog, I’ve tried to improve my photography enough that you can see what I’m doing with the food I’m making or the activity we’re working on in school, or whatever I happen to be blogging about.

The problem is that sometimes this professional side of me bleeds over into my personal life so much that sometimes I’ll ignore a set of photos that are cute, but not perfect. I overlook the fact that with a few minor tweaks and the memory intact, it doesn’t matter if these photos are perfect. It just matters that I’ve captured some sort of memory there.

These photos serve that purpose.

They’re blurry. They’re not perfect. There is no way that I can go back to that day, recreate that scene, shoot the photos again.

I have to live with the photos I got, and honestly, at second glance, they turned out really adorably. I notice that the blur really shows the pace Echo and Zach are moving at. It shows the scene, even if the pictures didn’t turn out perfectly, professionally, well-lit, evenly cropped, nicely framed.

They capture the spirit of my boys, and that’s enough for me.

So here’s what I want to challenge you to do.

Grab a camera. Take a silly photo. Take 10 silly photos. Take pictures of your son, your daughter, your grandchildren, your pet, your husband or wife, your brothers or sisters, your parents, yourself… whoever you want. But capture that memory. Take a bunch of photos. Throw perfection out the window– focus on the memory. If it’s blurry, it’s blurry. If it’s poorly lit, it’s poorly lit. If you get a perfect shot, even better. But focus on getting that memory, if nothing else.

I’d love it if you’d come back and share with me the shot you took, and any story behind the photo. I can’t wait to see what you guys come up with.

Pretty Fresh Flowers

- Mama 3 Comments

I am a huge fan of fresh flowers. In fact, it’s one of the few decorating items that I spend money on monthly. I think it’s amazing how much a few dollars can spruce up a space and change a space for a few weeks.

Throughout my life, I’ve never really actually enjoyed getting flowers from anyone as a gift. I mean, I like flowers. But from a boyfriend or something, they seem like such an obvious gift. (Not that I wouldn’t love to get flowers, because I totally would…) They’re just the gift that everyone chooses as a go-to for V-Day.

But I do love flowers. And when I put flowers out, I love to use interesting vases, or even non-vases to store them in.

Like this awesome milk jug I got from Shatto Milk… When you buy Shatto, you pay a deposit for the glass bottle. I can do one of two things… I can take the pretty bottle back to the store and get my deposit back, or I can save that bottle for awhile and reuse it as a vase.

I am in love with the look of Shatto’s bottles, so it’s not unusual for me to be that annoying girl at the store who is digging through the bottles to find the one with just the right saying. It has to be perfect. This time, I chose the word “family.” I thought it was a perfect descriptor of the most important thing in my life, which really made it fit right into my arrangement.

So, when I saw these b-e-a-utiful flowers at the store, that look just like red, white, and blue fireworks to me, I knew I had to have them. I knew that they’d be just right in my trusty milk jug. And I knew exactly where in my house I would put them.

The red, white, and blue looked so cool next to one of my retired Scentsy warmers, which is also an Americana themed warmer. I also grabbed some wooden letters off of another surface in our house and brought them over.

One of the best decorating tips I’ve ever gotten was to arrange things in odd numbers… my Scentsy warmer and flowers would look funny, I think, just the two of them, but adding that third piece really rounded out the picture and made it a lot more visually interesting.

When it comes to buying flowers, I tend to pick some from the reduced price sections and fill them out with some that are sold in bunches for $3.33. It’s a real bargain because I can buy several bunches and divide them out in different rooms in my house, from the office, to my bedroom, to the bathroom, perking up each space for only pennies per bud.

I try to change out the varieties that I have and the rooms I put them in to keep things fresh and new. And after looking at these beauties, don’t you think it’s well worth it?

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Do you ever use fresh flowers to brighten a space? Which kinds are your favorite? What tips do you have for brightening up a space without much cost or effort?

A Very Special Post

- Mama 3 Comments

I’ve been hinting about big things coming to the blog for a couple of weeks now, and I am so excited to announce that TODAY is the day!

Not only is this officially my 200th post on this blog, but this 200th post is a very special one because there are some huge changes coming.

First, a brand spanking new name! Life as I See It worked really well for the first several years when I didn’t have as many readers, but now, I have a new and special name to better describe what my blog is all about—DigitalEraMom!

You can now find my blog by visiting digitaleramom.com, so if you still have my bookmarked as 867popcorn5309.wordpress.com, you’ll want to update your bookmark so you can keep finding me over here at the new address, which is a lot easier to remember… www.digitaleramom.com!

A new name also calls for a new watermark, so from here on out, whenever you see this watermark around the web, on pinterest, or on facebook, you’ll know that it came from my blog.

For years now, Life As I See It has been a great source of recipes, parenting articles, homeschooling tips, and many other things. Digital Era Mom isn’t going to get rid of any of that. Instead, it’s going to be packed with more of everything you love about the old website.

Would you like to keep up to date with me? Go like my page on facebook or follow me on twitter, then go pin with me on pinterest! And thank you all SO much for the support these past several years! It has meant the world to me, and this new chapter as Digital Era Mom wouldn’t be possible without all of you.

Sweet Sugar Fried Doughnuts

- Mama 3 Comments

I’m going to tell you a secret.

These are the easiest, most delicious doughnuts you’ll ever make. Seriously, they take less than 10 minutes to make, start to finish.

To me, doughnuts seem like things that are complicated to make. It seems like it would be difficult to do, but it’s really not as intimidating as it seems. But these, these are special doughnuts. Almost magical.

My mom made them frequently when I was growing up, and they are so easy that a child could help you make them. Except for the frying part. Probably not a good idea to let your child do the frying, unless they’re an older child!

So. Step one. Open up a can of biscuits. Any refrigerated biscuits in a can will work for this, but I really like Grands, since they make the biggest, fluffiest doughnuts. I try to avoid any flaky biscuits because they just aren’t the same, but like I said, really almost any kind of biscuit will work.

Just get out your biscuits and separate them out, into individual biscuits.

This is where it kind of depends on your own style of doing things. I like to use my mini circle cutter to cut holes out in the doughnuts, making them more of a traditional shape. My mom likes to just take a knife or kitchen shears and cut the biscuits in quarters. You can leave them whole, you can take a cue from my mom and I and cut them however you prefer, or you can cut them any other way you desire. You could even use cute tiny cutters to cut out a fun shape (like a star or heart!) out of the middle of the biscuit and make creative doughnut holes to nibble on.

Grab your favorite frying pan and pour some oil in it. This is where I’m kind of funny. We have a whole slew of quite expensive frying pans, and instead of choosing to use those, I prefer to use this $10 pan we got on sale one time. It seems to be the most non-stick of all of my pans, so I always use it when I fry things. I wish I remember where I had purchased it, because I’d buy a whole flock of them and get rid of most of my expensive pans.

Pop those puppies in the frying pan on medium heat, and start preparing your cinnamon sugar mixture. Mix cinnamon and sugar in a bowl until you feel like you have the right amount of each. You can also play with spices here, if you’d like– sometimes I add nutmeg, cloves, pumpkin pie spice, apple pie spice, cinnamon maple crunch, whatever sweet yummy spices I have in the cabinet, I tend to cycle through them on days I make doughnuts. Keep an eye on your doughnuts!

From here, things will go very quickly. When the side of the biscuit puffs up and starts to rise, it’s time to flip them. You’re going to want them to be golden brown on the side you were frying, like the biscuits in the upper right corner of the photo below.

The ones on the bottom left aren’t quite ready, so I flipped them back over to get them a little more golden on that side.

As you pull the biscuits that are golden on each side out, drop them into the cinnamon sugar mix and coat them on each side with the mixture, then put the coated biscuits on a paper towel to drain off any extra oil.

Then, serve the whole pile of biscuits to your family or friends, or eat them all yourself, like I’m prone to do. They’re delicious plain, but I especially like mine drizzled with warm maple syrup. Honey also works, or even chocolate sauce or even topped with a pile of whipped cream or fresh or frozen fruit.

Delicious!

My dear brothers and sisters…

- Mama 3 Comments

Isn’t that verse just awesome? I’ve read James before, but honestly, I’ve never really taken particular note of that verse until now.

Just the other day, Jeffrey was looking over one of his assignments for school. For language arts, we’re using Total Language Plus, studying the book The Sign of the Beaver. Total Language Plus covers a comprehension, grammar, spelling, and vocabulary all surrounding a particular book. It also has Bible verses related to the book. We’re so excited that all of our curriculum now contain references to the Bible, something that has become very important that we introduce in our lessons.

Jeffrey came across this particular passage as part of his study, and he and mom took time to look it over and discuss it. Later, they decided that it was a good verse to share with the entire family.

As we discussed the verse, and also took time to look up some study notes regarding the verse so we could dig deeper and unpack the verses a little bit. When we took the time to really read the verses and pay attention to them, we realized that these are important verses for our family.

While we are working very hard to have family discussions instead of arguments, and listen instead of talking too much while someone else is talking, we still slip up sometimes and get in that “me me me” mode.

I wanted to share with you guys some thoughts that my study Bible had on these verses. While they seem pretty straightforward in saying “Listen. Don’t talk too much. Don’t get angry too much.” there is a lot more to these verses than what’s on face value.

First off, I wanted to share Jeffrey’s reasoning behind the verses. He’s eleven, but he bears a lot of good insight into the passage. When we talked about it, he simply said “You should be slow to speak. Otherwise, you might say something really stupid and make someone angry.” He is totally right.

My study Bible says that when we’re talking too much, and not listening enough, we’re communicating that our ideas are more important than anyone else’s ideas. James is saying here that we need to do this process backwards… we need to take the time to listen first, and put others first, instead of being selfish. Think about it. When you’re having a conversation with someone, and they’re just taking the time to talk about their viewpoint, do you really feel valued? Do you feel like they really care what you’re saying? Or do you feel like they might have a bit of an ego, thinking about what they have to say rather than paying attention to what you are saying?

Have you ever met one of those people who talks and talks, and then when it’s their turn to talk, they’re not focused on what you’re saying, but instead, they’re just waiting for their next time to speak? Yeah. It sucks when that happens. I hate being in conversations with people who are just waiting for their turn to speak. But, as much as I hate to admit it, there are many occasions when I am one of those people.

In addition, these verses hold a little more hidden meaning. When it says we should be slow to become angry, James is speaking about a very specific kind of anger, it seems. You see, it’s okay to get angry about sin and injustice. We need to have anger when others are being hurt, to help stop those injustices from happening. James isn’t saying to just lie down and take these beatings… he is saying that it’s still okay to stand up to fight for others against injustice. What he is speaking against here is that “ego anger.” You know what I’m talking about… the anger when you are upset, when your ego is bruised… the anger where you say “My ego is hurt. I am hurt. My opinions aren’t being heard. Me. Me. Me.” We don’t need to be angry when we aren’t winning an argument, or when we’re feeling offended or neglected. That’s selfish anger, and it’s all about you.

And I’m selfish angry fairly often. Just today, when I was trying to read what my study Bible said about this particular verse, and instead of taking the time myself to listen to what it was saying and to reveal God’s truth about this passage in my life, I was upset because Jeffrey was working on finding some lunch at the time, because he didn’t drop everything he was doing to listen to me. My ego was bruised. I felt upset that I took the time to go get my Bible and look up the passage and Jeffrey wasn’t even giving his 100% attention to it! I had worked on that specifically for him, and he didn’t even listen!

It’s then that I realized that I was really being kind of a jerk. I was doing exactly what James was warning me not to do! And I was even doing it right as I was reading what I should be doing, but instead was doing the opposite.

It’s definitely something I need to pray about, because it’s something I still struggle with.

Is this something that you struggle with? Do you experience anger like this sometimes, where your ego is bruised? How does this passage from James reflect what you feel regarding your own anger?

Like Nailing Jell-O to a Tree: Sensory Activity for Little Dudes

- Mama 3 Comments

I recently posted about my intentions to start homeschooling my one-year-old son. Remember, I’m using the term homeschool very loosely in this instance, as a word to describe the structured play activities that Zach will sometimes participate in.

Our very first day of school last week was exciting. I wasn’t entirely sure how Zach would respond to the new layout of our day, but of course, it was very important to me to work at his pace and really focus on his own personal emotional state. Learning won’t be fun if you sit there and force a child to do it.

Because last week was a “partial week” in school, since we started on a Thursday, I didn’t get Zach started on some of the lessons I planned for him yet. Instead, we focused on one very exciting task for his first day of “school.”

Jell-O. Yes, Jell-O.

To me, it is important to give a child opportunities for messy play. After all, they’re washable for a reason. So, I stripped Mr. Zach down to his diaper, and put him in his high chair for a fun, wiggly jiggly structured playtime.

I first have to stress the fact that due to… who knows what… my Jell-O didn’t actually fully set. I don’t know if I just did it wrong, or if it was the humidity and heat at our house that week, or whatever reason it might have been, but my Jell-O was more of a slime than an actual Jell-O. I do plan on repeating this activity again sometime, with Jell-O that actually sets up.

Zach munched on some Chex while I got the Jell-O out of the fridge and ready for play, which is why his face has a few Chex stuck to it. My son just can’t eat without saving a little for later!

He stuck his hand tentatively into the blue slime. He looked at me with a puzzled expression, I think almost questioning if it was okay for him to really squish into this slimy blue stuff.

It didn’t take much coaxing, though, for him to start really squishing, smacking, splashing, and trying to pick up the Jell-O, which only seemed to ooze out of his hands…

Perhaps it was the texture, or perhaps it was just the fact that this cool blue gel was quite refreshing in the 100+ degree temperatures we were having last week, but this stuff was really cool to play in! Plus, because it hadn’t quite set up, it was easy to trace letters in, or just run your fingers through it to make drawings. Zach and I both worked together to draw in the Jell-O mixture and really play with the goo, and I have to admit, it was a lot of fun for me, too.

After taking some time to squish and play with the Jell-O, Zach decided perhaps it would be worth a taste. He was pretty pleased with it!

Then he decided to throw his goldfish into the Jell-O!

I must admit, the cool blue definitely looked like water for fishes to swim in, so I thought it was pretty creative of him to come up with that! Of course after the goldfish crackers went for a swim, he decided to eat the Jell-O coated goldfish, and that idea was a little less appealing to me…

Of course, the activity ended like this, face first in the Jell-O. Because the Jell-O was both tasty and hard to pick up, Zach finally decided just to remove the middle man and go for a direct-to-mouth approach. This was accompanied by a lot of slurping, followed by a nice warm bath to get rid of the blue stuff.

Here’s what I learned from this activity:

1. Not everything is going to go as planned this school year. My Jell-O didn’t set up. Instead of tossing it out, I decided to see what Zach would do with this Jell-O. As I mentioned above, I will try to repeat the activity with completely set Jell-O in the future, but I feel like it’s going to be a completely different experience. This Jell-O, being very liquid, was incredibly difficult to pick up, which gave us more of an opportunity to do things like run our fingers through it as though it was a finger paint.

2. It’s important for Zach to lead the activity. I didn’t show him what to do with the Jell-O, instruct him to put the goldfish into the Jell-O, or anything else. Everything he did was purely the product of his own ideas of what to do with the Jell-O. This gives him a chance to be creative and to figure out exactly what he wanted to do with a very new and unique substance. He’s never felt anything like this before, so it gave him an opportunity to form his own conclusions and decide exactly what he wanted to do with it.

3. It was important for me to follow his lead. As the parent, I could have chosen to walk away and let him enjoy the activity himself. Instead, I sat there with him and decided to participate by following what he did. When he used his finger to draw in the Jell-O, I did the same. When he splashed the Jell-O, I mimicked his play. This gave him encouragement that he was doing the right things with the Jell-O, and gave him the confidence to continue exploring with it.

4. Sensory play should involve as many senses as possible. I like the Jell-O activity because it’s not just stimulating one sense, but instead, all five. Zach could see the bright blue Jell-O and visually notice what it looked like, that it was translucent, and perhaps a bit gooey. He was also able to touch it and reinforce what he was seeing. From there, he could hear the sounds that the Jell-O would make as he did various activities like splashing it. Even though it had a similar color and reflectivity as water, it didn’t sound the same, nor did it feel the same. He was also able to smell and taste the Jell-O, which helped him to understand more about what properties Jell-O has, and to realize that sensory play is something that involves each and every sense.

After trying this activity, I know it is one we will repeat again in the future. I also feel that it will be interesting to try the same activity with Jell-O that is actually fully set, because I think it will have an entirely different learning experience for Zach, due to a chance in texture and appearance.

What do you think? Have you tried a Jell-O activity with your kids? Tell me about it in the comments below!