Girls To Grow

Nurturing moms in their walk with God

How Not To Decorate Cupcakes

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As I mentioned in my weekend in review post yesterday, my eight-year-old and I made homemade Flag Cupcakes together on Saturday. We used the One-Bowl Chocolate Cupcakes recipe from Martha Stewart and the Vanilla Powdered Sugar Frosting from All Recipes. Both were easy to follow and turned out pretty well.

The dilemma came in decorating the cupcakes. We mixed blue food coloring into part of the white icing and my daughter piped the dots onto the cupcakes. The red stripes were supposed to be red licorice, which neither of my girls like. I thought it would be easy enough to substitute a red fruit roll-up cut into strips and laid on top. (In retrospect, I should have just tinted some of the white icing red and piped it on in lines.)

I do buy the packaged fruit snacks from time to time, but don’t know that I’ve ever bought fruit roll-ups – and at this point doubt that I will again. I unrolled one, thinking that I could just lay it across a plate and use a sharp knife to cut it into strips. Nice try – the whole thing adhered to the plate and I could not get it off!

I finally put the plate in the sink and had to soak it in hot water to get the fruit roll-up to come off. Meanwhile, I’m thinking “If it does this on a plate, what does it do to your insides when you eat it???”

My next idea worked a bit better; I unrolled part of a fruit roll-up and laid it on a piece of aluminum foil. After several attempts, I was able to get enough little pieces cut for my daughter to lay three on each cupcake. The finished product looked fine, but I must admit to lifting off the red stripes when I ate my cupcake!

Visit 5 Minutes for Mom and Talk About Tuesday to see what others tackled this week.

Teach Them Diligently

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And these words, which I command thee this day, shall be in thine heart: And thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up. Deuteronomy 6:6-7

This third verse on my list of five favorite Bible verses related to parenting instructs me to teach the precepts and principles of God to my children as part of our every day life. This helps me know that it is not the church’s nor the Christian school’s job to plant the words of God into my children’s heart, although they may be a help in that area.

My husband and I, as parents, are responsible for teaching our children about God and His commandments. This can be a bit more formal as we sit around the table after supper and talk about Bible principles or some character trait they should have in their lives. It would also involve just being available to talk when they have a question at bedtime about some situation or discussing what they learned in Sunday School during the ride home from church.

The neatest part of this verse is that spiritual instruction can and should happen throughout the day as part of our normal conversation. It’s not relegated to a sit-down teaching time, but just happens as we move throughout our day.

I’m certain that I miss so many opportunities to capture teachable moments, but hope that I will focus more on listening for those times to teach my girls about God and His Word. My husband grabbed a quick moment this past Sunday to do just that. One of our girls was talking about taking money to church to put in the offering and my husband took the chance to ask her about why we give money at church and briefly mentioned what our heart attitude should be as we give.

According to these verses, I am to be diligent about training our daughters in the ways of God. My prayer is that I might be more mindful of this responsibility and look for ways to incorporate it into our daily lives.

photo courtesy public domain pictures

American History

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This week’s summer learning theme is history. We ended up focusing on American history and got the following books at the library yesterday.

The Boston Tea Party by Matt Doeden Both girls wanted to read this book as it is written somewhat like a comic book.
Roanoke The Lost Colony: An Unsolved Mystery from History by Jane Yolen and Heidi Elisabet Yolen Stemple
Let It Begin Here! Lexington & Concord, First Battles of the American Revolution by Dennis Brindell Fradin
How They Lived: An American Pioneer Family by Robin May
The Story of the Statue of Liberty by Natalie Miller
What Do You Know About the Civil War? By Lynn George
The Declaration of Independence by Terry Allan Hicks
Pearl Harbor by Stephen Krensky

My eight-year-old wanted to read a couple of books about World War I and World War II, but I couldn’t find anything at the library that was on her reading level. If you have any suggestions along those lines, please let me know.

We added a couple of other books for pleasure reading: A Little Book of Teddy Bear Tales by Hutchinson Children’s Books and Mole and Shrew All Year Through by Jackie French Koller. My younger daughter has already finished reading her books for the summer reading program at the library; her age group only had to read 15 books. My older daughter had to read 15 hours to get all her prizes and she has read just over 10 hours. Many times she’ll be reading and forget to write the time down on her sheet!

Since we will be going out of town around the middle of next week to visit family, I am going to use next Monday and Tuesday to have them do a little extra writing in their notebooks. We’ve had some fun outings as a family and with friends, so I’m trying to have them write a few sentences or draw a picture about each experience so that they can look back at the end of the summer and remember all the things they did.

A Summer Rite of Passage

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For me, Vacation Bible School is an integral part of summer. As a child, I loved going to Vacation Bible School at our church. We sang fun songs, made neat crafts, played games outside and had flower-shaped cookies and Koolaid for snack. Most importantly, I heard stories about missionaries in foreign lands telling others about Jesus and a clear presentation of the gospel, an invitation to accept Jesus as my Saviour.

Now I have the pleasure of watching my children enjoy Vacation Bible School each summer. Snacks have definitely moved up a notch since my day, but the essentials are still the same. For one or two weeks, they get to experience what I did when I was younger and, amidst the fun, hear the truth about God and how He made a way for us to go to heaven.

So to all Vacation Bible School teachers and workers, past and present, who take time from their own busy schedules to influence children’s lives for a week during the summer, thank you. Introducing even one child to Jesus or showing His love to another is one of the finest things we can do.

This post is linked to Finer Things Friday and Gratituesday.

All About Animals

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We finished up last week’s Ocean theme by heading to the beach on Friday afternoon. I love going a bit later in the day as there are more people leaving than arriving (and we always stop for supper on the way home!)

Sometimes things work out even better than you could have planned. This week’s theme is animals; it’s also the week of Vacation Bible School at our church, where the theme is……jungle animals!! Since the girls are studying Bible verses for VBS, I decided to skip the memory verse I had planned on them learning this week.

At the library, they chose books to read on the following animals: arctic fox, big cats, cheetah, deer, elephant, horse, leopard, moose and skunk. (My younger daughter chose the skunk book; she tends to choose her books based on which ones have the least number of words per page!) I also checked out a video on baby animals and am planning to give them the book I recently reviewed (which they don’t know I have) Jungle Jack’s Wackiest, Wildest, and Weirdest Animals in the World.

I have found a great website for creating free printable math worksheets: The Math Worksheet Site. My favorite feature is that I can customize each page by function and by what numbers I want included in the math problems. I usually have the girls do these worksheets by way of review two or three days a week.

Some days it definitely takes a little more effort to fit our summer learning time in, but I think it is well worth it. It gives all three of us time to work independently and keeps the girls in a mindset of reading and learning even through the summer.

photo courtesy public domain pictures

Books About The Ocean and Its’ Creatures

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Following our weekly themes for the summer, our visit to the library this week included checking out books about the ocean and sea animals.

The following are the ones we liked the best:

March of the Penguins Okay, I suppose penguins aren’t technically sea animals, but one of the girls saw this book near the ocean section and asked for it. It’s adapted from the National Geographic film so the pictures are wonderful. We all really liked this book.

Octopuses by Deborah Coldiron

Jellyfish by Elaine Landau

The ABC’s of Oceans by Bobbie Kalman

Both daughters are still in the American Girl mode – they selected seven of those books to bring home this week. The younger one also chose The Missing Shapes Mix-Up by Wendy Wax from the Disney’s Read and Grow Library.

While we didn’t buy any books from the library sale shelves per say, they did have a collection of Highlights magazines and Puzzlemanias which appeared to be brand new. My older daughter enjoys those, so I allowed her to choose seven of them to buy; at ten cents apiece, it’s a pretty good deal for quiet entertainment.

On Wednesday we made a quick stop at a used book store for dollar day and got the books below for $3.75. (Three of the books were only a quarter apiece.) Maybe I could be wealthy if I never bought any books??


Pocahontas and the Strangers by Clyde Robert Bulla I had this book when I was a girl.

The Adventures of Old Mr. Toad by Thornton W. Burgess

The Boxcar Children Spring Special #2: The Mystery in Washington, D.C. by Gertrude Chandler Warner

A Louisa May Alcott Christmas (a collection of Christmas stories)

The Story of Doctor Dolittle by Hugh Lofting Couldn’t believe we didn’t already have this one. It was a great deal for $1 as it is hardback and in great condition.

Heidi by Johanna Spyri We already had this book, but it’s mine from when I was young and literally falling apart.

No new books for me this week; I’m still working on the same stack. I’m now almost done with Do Hard Things by Alex and Brett Harris and would highly recommend reading the book. I want both of my girls to read it when they are approaching their teen years.

Visit The Happy Housewife to see what others are reading this week.

Train Up a Child

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Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it. Proverbs 22:6

On Friday I listed for you five of my favorite Bible verses related to parenting. The one above topped the list, probably because I believe there is so much wisdom packed into that short verse.
 
To begin with, there’s the word “train.” To me, that implies being proactive instead of reactive. If I desire that my child behave in a certain way, it is my responsibility to show him what I expect rather than wait until he is in the situation and then react when he doesn’t do what he should.
 
This can apply to many aspects of a child’s life, both large and small. One of the most obvious applications would be obedience. Decide on an act that you feel your child should be able to follow through on given his current age and developmental level, then begin to train him in that area.
 
It seems to be easiest to start at home with little things – for example, calling him to come to you and then showing him what you want him to do. Practice it a few times, then plan to call him several times throughout the day, expecting him to come right away and being ready to deal with him if he doesn’t obey. While doing it this way takes a lot of time and work, it’s much better than waiting until you are out in public at a store or other location, trying to call him and having to chase him down if he doesn’t come to you. While there will always be moments when a child tests his parent, training can save a parent and child from some of those trying times.
 
As for the phrase “in the way he should go,” isn’t it neat that every child might have a somewhat different “way” to go? Of course the way each child should go involves accepting God’s gift of salvation and learning to discern between right and wrong, but I think another aspect involves me as a parent recognizing the fact that all children are different in their makeup. One may have book smarts while another can disassemble and rebuild a motor by the age of twelve. The key is for me to invest the time it takes to really know each of my children so that I can guide them in the way that is a fit for them.
 
Now we come to “…and when he is old, he will not depart from it.” I’ve heard two different explanations on this; some say it is a promise, others that it is only a principle that is generally true. I can say that I know children who appear to have been raised in Godly homes, yet have made decisions of their own free will that have taken them far from God. Our girls are still young and I know the coming years will hold many challenges. One thing that I am confident of is that by teaching my daughters about God and the principles He gives us in His Word, they will certainly be more likely to make wise decisions and follow in the footsteps of Christ. Many days I feel inadequate as a mother and know that I need to constantly be praying to God for His wisdom in guiding these young lives He has entrusted to me.
 
I’ll continue with more on the other four parenting verses I listed in the days to come. I’m always looking for good books on parenting and rearing children, so if you have any to recommend or just have further thoughts on this particular verse, please leave me a comment.
 

Whose Day Is It?

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I guess this started about the time our younger daughter was old enough to talk…….a situation comes up during our day in which one of the following takes place: they have to take turns (who goes first?); a video can be chosen to watch; Mom needs a helper but can only handle one at the moment; who gets to sit by Daddy in the booth or at the table when we go out to eat? It would then fall to me to choose which one should go first or get the privilege over the other one.

I read this tip some place years ago and, after nearly reaching my wits’ end over the constant decision making and attempts to be fair, I decided to try putting it into practice. Since we only have the two children, I divided six days of the week between them. Monday, Wednesday and Friday are designated as my older daughter’s days; Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday are my younger daughter’s days. Anything that comes up during the day, be it a privilege, a first turn at something OR an extra chore that needs to be done, is assigned to the daughter whose day it is.

What about Sunday? Since most months have four Sundays, the first and third are my six-year old’s and the second and fourth are my eight-year old’s. If it’s a five Sunday month, the fifth Sunday is Mom’s and she gets to make all decisions without argument. How can you keep all that straight, you may ask? I really don’t have to – they police themselves quite well and usually already know when they get up in the morning whose day it is. Assigning responsibility and less refereeing – that works for me!!

This post is linked to Works for Me Wednesday.

Oceans of Fun!

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Before I move on to talk about this week’s Ocean Life theme, let me give you an update on how things went last week in our summer learning program.

From the nine different countries the girls read about (each read about four different countries and both of them did Russia), we decided to do two meals incorporating types of foods they would eat in some of those countries. (Some of these recipes came from the Internet, some from the actual books we read, so I’m just going by those sources for authenticity. If you’re from one of these countries and think there’s a better option, feel free to leave me a recipe to try!: )
 
Last night we combined Individual Pizzas [Italy], Pasta with Feta, Tomato Salsa and Green Beans [Greece] and Creme au Chocolat [France]. (Any meal that lets you combine pizza and chocolate can’t be all bad!!) The individual pizzas included my first attempt at homemade pizza dough and I was quite pleasantly surprised at the result! I used Money Saving Mom’s recipe; my eight-year-old helped with the kneading, both girls topped their own pizzas and they were quite tasty. [One tip: I rolled out the dough into four circles for the individual pizzas, then put them on the baking sheets and baked at 450 degrees for five minutes. I think it gives the dough a bit more texture – just a personal taste thing.]
 
Things didn’t fare quite as well with our chocolate, however. I’m thinking it was supposed to be like chocolate pudding; ours would qualify as chocolate soup. It was totally my fault since I substituted half and half for heavy cream. After we all slurped a little bit, I poured the rest into popsicle molds and have them in the freezer, hoping to create homemade fudgsicles.
 
We’re preparing our other meal on Thursday night. It will consist of Israeli Spice Chicken [Israel], Potatoes with Chorizo [Cuba] and Russian Tea Cakes [Russia]. An update on that one next time!
 
At our weekly library trip yesterday, we got books about the Ocean and Ocean Animals (more details to follow in my book basket post on Thursday). I also checked out a forty-five minute National Geographic Kids Video entitled Really Wild Animals Deep Sea Dive. We’ll use that as an afternoon diversion today! It has been so hot and humid this last week, I haven’t been making the girls spend much time outside. We did enjoy our morning bike rides last week, however, and I hope to continue those. As planned, our outing will be a trip to the beach one afternoon toward the end of the week.
 
So far we have done well with following our daily schedule. A few days we’ve had things going on in the morning and have just moved our “school” time to the afternoon. I thought the Bible memory verse for last week was a bit difficult, but both of the girls had it memorized by Friday afternoon.
 
They are really enjoying using their notebooks. Besides their daily writing, we also do a page for each fun event they do, which last week included swimming with friends. I love the idea that at the end of the summer they can look back and see all they did.
 
The girls only seem to be tolerating the Spanish CD’s so I was surprised when, at lunch on Sunday, I asked them if they remembered any of the words they’d learned in the past week and they could tell me quite a few of them. I would still like to find a good early-learning Spanish curriculum, so please let me know if you have a recommendation.
 
This post is linked to Talk About Tuesday and Tackle It Tuesday.
 
photo courtesy public domain pictures

Book Review: God’s Little Princess Devotional Bible

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With two little girls growing up at our house, I’ve come to know a lot about princesses. God’s Little Princess Devotional Bible by Sheila Walsh is a devotional book for young girls that highlights character traits a true princess would have and connects them to a Bible character or passage.

 
The format of the book is simple and straightforward. Each devotional begins with a passage from the International Children’s Bible. Due to the style of the writing in that particular version, it makes the verses more of a story or summary of the Scriptures as opposed to actual Bible verses. That is followed by a couple of pages that further illustrate the story – sometimes a play to be acted out, a scenario that includes a multiple choice question to answer, a memory portion, song or further discussion and application of the given passage.
 
The book, from the cover design to the inside pages, is very pretty and “girly.” Each devotional related well to the passage given and all were very age-appropriate. I like the princess theme and thought it was well-followed and developed throughout the book. This would be a good resource for a mom and daughter to read through together. It would work with a little girl as young as four or five for a read-aloud and as a read-alone for one who was a bit older.