Christmas Giving - Give Back, Make a Difference

My boss told me the other day that I will probably die poor, but I’m the happiest person he knows. Yeah that pretty much sums up me! Sometimes I probably do give too much, but oh well you only live once right? And what good is money, you can’t take it with you when you die anyways. Christmas is the season for giving.

Tis the season for giving. So in an effort for the Dalton Family to give back I dedicated this weekend as our family give back weekend. It started Friday Luke and Anna helped me bring in food and new toys to their school office for the food/toy drive. Then we went through the closet in our house and got a giant pile of blankets, pillows, sheets and coats for the Hurricane Sandy Relief drive at Geez Louise & Kids Trading Post in Malone.

Saturday we went grocery shopping and bought 8 boxes of cereal and 4 containers of juice for the Catholic Charities Christmas Baskets. We will be dropping them off at the collection box at Ellis Auto on Monday. We also bought candies and frosting for our special project and came home to make 60 gingerbread sugar cookies for the 1^st grade class at CCS. (Ok so this one we get to give and get, YUMMY).

Later that night we did Anna’s special project. Her class is making Christmas Cards for soldiers that can’t be home for the holidays. We decorated it together and had a great time doing it!!

Sunday morning we wrapped Christmas gifts for the public for the Youth Group Fundraiser. Luke’s Sunday school class was making gift baskets for the home bound. His class was asked to bring cranberry sauce and stuffing so we got two things of each. He was very excited to bring them to his class! Anna asked to pick an angel off the tree at church. You have to attach $5 to the angel and they are use to buy poinsettia plants that go to our elderly and home bound parishioners.

Then we finished the weekend by stuffing envelopes to be sent out Monday. The youth group made lovely homemade Christmas cards, ornaments and bookmarks for the home bound, sick and disabled in our area to help make their Christmas a little brighter.

So that concludes our VERY hectic but wonderful give back weekend this holiday season. The kids enjoyed all our activities and it taught them it’s just as nice to give as it is to receive. We hope that they grow up to respect and give back to their communities. It doesn’t take much to give back. Some of our projects cost money, others our time, but each one will hopefully make a difference in someone’s life.

 

Do you have some free time this season? There are a lot of opportunities around town to volunteer and donate. Give back and make a difference.

Pennies from Heaven.....Do you believe??

Pennies from Heaven.....Do you believe??

I don’t know about you, but I always read the pennies from heaven stories in the Dear Abby columns, and think really? It must just be a coincidence that these pennies just appear and people are grasping for meaning. The other day was no exception. There was yet another pennies from heaven letter. After I closed the paper I thought…I just can’t believe angels would leave pennies for people to find.  Wouldn't they show a more meaningful sign? Then I went on with the rest of my day.

After the kids were tucked in bed that night I went to the kitchen for a glass of water before I put on my favorite TV show. On my way to the living room I saw a penny on the kitchen table. I thought it was funny seeing as how I had cleaned the table after dinner, but I figured the kids must have put it there at some point, so I picked it up went to the living room and placed it in our giant Pepsi jar bank that we are currently saving for our trip to Disney. (I had to think of something clever to get the kids to stop asking me WHEN we were going to Disney, so we told them when they filled up the jar they could go, evil I know).  

Later that night I got back up to head to the kitchen. On my way back I noticed a penny in the exact same spot the last one was in. I know there was only one penny there the first time I was sure of it. Never the less I picked it up, shrugged it off and went back to the living room.

The next morning I was getting ready for work and picked up my day planner to see what was going to be going on in the next few days. My day planner is my LIFELINE because my memory is GONE! I write every event, practice, school function down or else I would never make it anywhere. The day planner has NEVER been used to store money. As I opened it up a penny fell out on my lap. I finally decided something had to be going on. So I immediately looked straight up and said…

“Ok, I might believe in pennies from heaven now, but I defiantly don’t believe in $100 bills from heaven”

Unfortunately my mind tricks have not worked on these smart angels and I have no $100 bills yet… it was worth a try though lol

So I guess now I kind of believe in pennies from heaven, but I wish I knew who was sending them. Or maybe I have 3 someone’s, either way it gives me something to think about. I guess I now realize all signs from God don't have to be outlandish and crazy, the little things are just as important, maybe even more so.

Do you have a pennies from heaven story?

For those of you who don’t know the lore: They say when an angel misses you, they toss a penny down from heaven.

 

Homemade Gak Slime

I found this recipe online on how to make homemade gak slime! - Yes it's easier to buy it but a lot more fun to make it!

Materials:

Elmer’s Glue® (8 oz bottle of Elmer’s Glue-All)

Borax (a powdered soap found in the grocery store)

Large mixing bowl

Plastic cup (8 oz size)

Spoon

Measuring cup

Food coloring

Water

Zipper-lock bag (or plastic container) to store it in

Warm Water

This recipe is based on using a brand new 8 oz bottle of Elmer’s Glue. Empty the entire bottle of glue into a mixing bowl. Fill the empty bottle with warm water and shake. Pour the glue-water mixture into the mixing bowl and use the spoon to mix well.

Add a drop or two of food coloring.

Measure 1/2 cup of warm water into the plastic cup and add a teaspoon of Borax powder to the water. Stir the solution – don’t worry if all of the powder dissolves. This Borax solution is the secret linking agent that causes the Elmer’s Glue molecules to turn into slime.

While stirring the glue in the mixing bowl, slowly add a little of the Borax solution. Immediately you’ll feel the long strands of molecules starting to connect. Keep adding the Borax solution to the glue mixture (don’t stop mixing) until you get a perfect batch of gak. You probably wont use all the borax solution unless you want really stiff gak.

When you’re finished playing with your gak, seal it up in a zipper-lock bag or plastic container.

Playdough Geography

You can find the pdf of this project at:
http://www.hasbro.com/playdoh/en_US/discover/teachers/pdf/7F53D612-D56F-E112-497CE221E79B18F7.pdf?soc=fbk_doh_pds_0412_007

Purpose: Students are introduced to the term
continent. Students learn the names and locations of the seven
continents.

Objectives:
• Students learn the term continent.
• Students name and locate the seven continents.
• Students identify the continent they live on.
• Students use PLAY-DOH compound for a “hands-on”
activity to form the shapes of the continents in the location they belong.

Curriculum Areas:
•
Social Studies
•
Geography
•
Visual Arts
•
Mapping Skills
•
Math
•
Continents
·
Science
·
Language Arts
·
Fine Arts

Grade Levels
•
Pre K
•
K
•
1
•
2
•

Supplies Needed:
• PLAY-DOH compound (seven colors, enough for each
student to form continents)
• Large map of the continents (can be found at mapsofworld.com
website)
• Student copy of a map outline of the continents
Directions:
1.
Using the large map, show students the continents.
Point to each continent and have the students count them. Tell them that the
lands of the world are divided into 7 continents. Have them repeat each
continent’s name after you as you point to the continent.

2.
Point to
North America (or your continent) and tell the students that we live on the
continent of North America. Ask: “What continent do we live on?”

3.
Pass out the continent map outline. Explain that
the students will be getting a different color of PLAY-DOH compound for each
continent and they will mold the PLAY-DOH compound to the shape of the
continent. You may need to model this.

4.
Pass out the PLAY-DOH color for North America.
Have all students shape their PLAY-DOH compound on the North American outline.
Ask: “What continent do we live on?”

5.
Next, pass out PLAY-DOH compound for each of the
other continents; one at a time so that you can say the name and help the
students recognize each continent. Then have students mold the PLAY-DOH
compound onto each continent.

6.
Give each
student a bit of PLAY-DOH compound to make a small boat. Tell them that they
are going to cruise around the continents and say each name as the cruise by.

7.
Close the
lesson by having the students pretend with their boat to cruise the ocean to
each continent they molded and say the continent’s name. Review each day.

Extensions:
• Sing a song using a familiar tune that includes all of
the names of the continents. Point to the continents as you sing.

• Search the web for facts and pictures of each
continent.

Moon Phases - Fun with the kids

Science is Yummy Mom!

I found this awesome project on pinterest. Teach Moon phases with Oreo Cookies! I thought I would take it a step farther and teach them the definitions of the moon phases and also look up what the moon was doing right now!

#1 - Oreo Cookies (use Popsicle stick or butter knife to scrape off the frosting. (Of course we let the kids & mommy eat it) ;)

#2 - Found a cute Moon Phases Worksheet at(http://ww

w.education.com/worksheet/article/learning-moon-phases/)

We colored the sun to show how it lights up the moon depending on what stage the moon is in. It helped them to better match the oreos to the phases. If you want to expl

ain the phases of the moon her are their definitions.

New Moon - The side of the moon facing the Earth is not illuminated. Additionally, the moon is up throughout the day, and down throughout the night. For these reasons we cannot see the moon during this phase.

Waxing Crescent/Crescent - During this phase, part of the Moon is beginning to show. This lunar sliver can be seen each evening for a few minutes just after sunset. We say that the Moon is "waxing" because each night a little bit more is visible for a little bit longer.

First Quarter/Half During first quarter, 1/2 of the moon is visible for the
first half of the evening, and then goes down, leaving the sky very dark.

Waxing Gibbous/Three Quarters - When most of the Moon is visible we say it is a Gibbous Moon. Observers can see all but a little sliver of the moon. During this phase, the Moon remains in the sky most of the night.

Full Moon - When we can observe the entire face of the moon, we call it a Full Moon. A full moon will rise just as the evening begins, and will set about the time morning is ushered in.


Waning Gibbous/Three Quarters - Like the Waxing Gibbous Moon, during this phase, we can see all but a sliver of the Moon. The difference is that instead of seeing more of the Moon each night, we begin to see less and less of the Moon each night. This is what the word "waning" means.


Last Quarter/Half - During a Last Quarter Moon we can see exactly 1/2 of the Moon's lighted surface.

Waning Crescent/Crescent - Finally, during a Waning Crescent Moon, observers on Earth can only see a small sliver of the Moon, and only just before morning. Each night less of the Moon is visible for less time.

#3 After we had fun "learning" we looked up how the moon is suppose to look tonight.

(www.moonconnection.com)

#4 - And the best part is after we got to eat our "Moon Oreos" with some Milky Way Juice (aka Vanilla Almond Milk)