Truth in the Tinsel Days 1-3

December 5, 2012 by Jules 1 Comment

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Monday {Dec 3rd} we finally started our
Advent book, Truth in the Tinsel.

I printed all the days titles on green & red cardstock and stuck them in an advent calendar we already had. This may prove to be worthless. The kids aren't really into the count down like I thought they would but are LOVING the stories and crafts!

Monday Day 1:: Light {Isaiah 9:2-7}

Rather than skipping to day 3 we just started on day 1 an plan to double up tomorrow {since we had a house showing again today!!!}. Maggie acted perturbed that I was asking her questions she already knew the answer to, "Who is the light of the world". Ugg I have to remind myself she'll have to persevere because the other 2 don't memorize things like she does and haven't' heard it as much as she has. She is a whole 18.5 months older than Izzie and 30.5 months older than J {hehe} I run into this with lots of things. homeschooling is gonna be rough if I don't get the hang of this...

Tuesday day 2:: Kingdom {Isaiah 9:2-7}

Since we were finishing up some HIPPY preK work with Mags this was quite a feet tying to help the little bitties with their craft. We skipped the pain and went for a more classroom-full-friendly-version, markers, crayons, & stickers. We actually cute the silver sparkly trim off some other stickers into triangles {aka diamonds} for our crowns. They didn't know the difference.

AND day 3:: Zachariah {Luke 1:5-25}

They though it was funny we were making faces and that pour Zach wasn't allowed to talk. We can't get our glitter glue to function correctly so I had to take off the lid and just glob it on for them. We also {finally} through out the bubble wrap from a random package forever ago so we had to invent something else for Z's mouth- hot glue glob! Hey, I just claimed it was because not being able to talk was kinda like God "glued" his mouth shut. My 2 {almost 3} year old was able to recall most of the story to me. #winning We're having fun!

How is your Truth in the Tinsel coming along?

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Filed Under: Advent 2012, Holidays, The Ones about Post Series, The ones about the Rothacher Home, Truth in the Tinsel

Advent 2012 Day 1 & 2

December 4, 2012 by Jules Leave a Comment

Well, I had high hopes off all this organization for advent this year...and then my hubs was finally off work! Who can think about planning and finalizing organization when your long lost best friend is home again. These 14 hour days are hard! I get to see my hubby about 3 hours a day...an most of that I have to share him. Boo Hoo

So anyways, he was off Friday & we declared a "do nothing, go no where day"! Then Friday we decided to go to the Rothacher's favorite consignment event to see if we could score some great finds for a couple of families we're helping with Christmas. Deals found: brand spank'n new tennis shoes & an adorable caterpillar my kids really wanted to claim; but they were allowed to claim the Little People Noah's Arch for $1!

We went to the in-love's house for nap time and then caught a quick lunch in the nest Vtown eating establishment. When we were heading out-of-town to hunt for Christmas PJs and the practical stuff for the families, my keen observation skills identified families claiming spots for a parade. WHAT!?! We text a friend and confirmed that the Vtown Christmas parade was that night. Score! We ran our errand real fast and made it back just in time to lay our a blanket right next to the road where we enjoyed a night pretending we are already part of the community with giant waves, cheers, and LOTS of "Merry Christmas"es! {WARNING: I only used a few pic to spare you from Cuteness overload}

Our Sunday was pretty typical: wake up entirely too early to get everyone up and ready for church an hour way in another town. Prepping for an afternoon of lunch out and possible fellowship. Matt and I were so excited to get to participate in oneChurch's Advent candle lighting that morning. We were blessed to have lots of hang time with friends.

Needless to say, we didn't get to the organized Advent crafting I had planned but I wouldn't trade those days of celebrating His coming for all the funky ornaments my kids could make. I'm attempting to be purposeful this season yet not so caught up in "the book" that I miss moments and memories with my little bitty family and our friends.

Side Note: be looking forward to post about the crafts we actually have done as well as a #ItsAboutGiving post about helping Compassion International meet their goal of raising $20,000 for children in poverty this Christmas season.

Filed Under: Advent 2012, Holidays, The ones about the Rothacher Home

Turkey Hand-print Gift Bags {Thoughtful Thursday}

November 22, 2012 by Jules Leave a Comment

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!!

I am Thankful for YOU!

Last week I told you that we make a fun fall themed snack mix for our neighbors. This week I'm going to show you how we made the quick & easy turkey hand-print gift bags we loaded the snack mix into for delivery.

Supplies

brown paper lunch size bag {1 for each child}
acrylic paint {we used green, blue, red, & yellow}
small cup of water
small paint brush(es)

How-to Trace & Paint
{my 3 & 4-year-old}

Put on paint aprons, strip down kids, or just go for it!
Lay your child's hand down & trace it with a pencil then retrace it with a marker {avoiding the marker on the kids hand} and then add the legs, eyes, beck, & gobbler
Squire a small bit of each desired paint color onto a paper plate and a small cup of water
Let your child paint the "turkey" {attempting to stay in the lines} with a paint brush {rinsing in water}
Let dry completely before adding snacks for delivery

How-to just Paint the hand
{my 2-year-old}

Put on paint aprons, strip down kids, or just go for it!
Squire a small bit of each desired paint color onto a paper plate
Hold your child's hand out flat & paint the fingers {I did skipped the brown on palm & thumb since the bag was already brown. Then various colors on fingers}: only do ONE hand at a time
Take your child to the sink and quickly wash the hand off well before they touch everything & before you do the other hand.
Let dry completely before adding snacks for delivery

I know this isn't an original, so how do YOU do Turkey Hand-Prints?

Filed Under: Advent 2012, Holidays, Homemaker, Parenting, Projects, The Ones about Link-Ups, The Ones about Post Series, The ones about the Rothacher Home, Thoughtful Thursdays

Saving the WORLD: one shoesbox at a time

November 17, 2012 by Jules 2 Comments

There's a-whole-nother world out there. Usually on the other side of the world. One that we American's can't even fathom. We can make a difference. It is possible to make disciples of all nations! This Christmas season, be apart of sharing the gospel with a child through Operation Christmas Child & Samaritan's Purse. It's as easy as:

It's close but possibly not too late for YOU to participate!

Go HERE to learn how to pack shoebox, HERE to find out about tracking your box!, and HERE to find a collection site near you!

By the way: many of you many not know that Operation Christmas Child is unique. The shoebox itself is not the Real gift. Children will be introduced to Jesus through colorful Gospel booklets that are handed out when the boxes are distributed. Local churches in that area of the world will invite them to a follow-up discipleship program that includes a series of engaging Bible lessons. Those graduating will receive a New Testament to encourage them to learn more about the Savior. These same children become witnesses of God’s love in their communities as they grow in their faith! Thanks for being intentional with your giving this year. A cup of water should NEVER just be a cup of water.

Filed Under: Advent 2012, Cool Ministries, Holidays, The Ones about Jules Life {Randomness}, The ones about the Rothacher Home

Thanksgiving Neighbor Love’n {Thoughtful Thursday}

November 15, 2012 by Jules 3 Comments

So, many of you know we Rothacher's love a good excuse to love on our neighbors! I wrote about several recipes {HERE, HERE, & HERE} as well as upcycled gift wrapping we often using during last years Advent series.

This past week we decided to make us some chex-mix to snack on. When we get out the stuff to make a snack like this, we go ahead and make a crazy big amount of it and share!!! It's fun to do these simple gestures and I've found my kids asking to make things for our neighbors, mail-carrier, and trash-men if we haven't done anything in a couple weeks. They get so desperate at my laziness that they scribble pictures to stick in the mail box. Yeah, sorry about that cute lil Santa-look-a-like mailman, you have my permission to through them away...just not in my trash can. It prolly already has the trash-man's pictures in it. ;o)

Snack Mix {Thanksgiving Style}

1/4 cup butter
4 tsp Worcestershire sauce
1 tsp salt
1 tsp garlic pwd
1/2 tsp onion pwd
2 tsp season salt
7 cups of cereal {variety of Chex}
2 cups Reeses pieces
2 cups Cheerios {caramel flavored}
1 bag candy corn
1 bag of bugles {chocolate/peanut butter flavored}
Lots of Love'n!

How to make the mix

PreHeat {bwahahaha} oven to 250'
Melt butter & blend with Worcestershire sauce. Mix all seasonings together then combine into liquid mixture. Stir Well. Mix all cereal {Just CHEX} in a giant bowl, pour liquid/seasoning mixture over cereal and stir {forever} to coat all the cereal evenly.
Dump coated cereal onto 1-2 edged cookie sheets & back for 1 hour. Stir At LEAST once in the middle {after 30 minutes}.
Cut open a paper bag {I used 2 small lunch bag} and lay out flat on a counter. Pour backed cereal across the paper bag {only 1 layer thick} and let dry for ~1 hour.

Once dried, dump it all back in a giant bowl. For this I used a big foil turkey basting pan. Add all your other yummies to the mixture and stir until its mixed well.
Now it's time to make some kind of cute package to deliver your treat to you neighbors. We made Turkey Hand-print Bags {while the snack mix was baking} for each house we planned to deliver some fall love'n.
DELIVER your Thanksgiving Neighbor Love'n door to door or place in mailboxes.
Left overs can be stored in an air tight container for fresh snack'n!