Fruity Ice Cream

Boy is it hot outside!  I want something frozen to cool off.  I also want to increase my family's fruit and vegetable intake.  We've been making a fruit based frozen dessert.  Want to try it?  My kids and I love it but it's a little too healthy for my husband.

1/2 cup frozen banana chunks

1/2 cup frozen strawberries

1/4 cup milk

1/2 teaspoon vanilla

1 teaspoon sugar

I put all five ingredients in the blender.  I use a Ninja blender system that I love.  Thanks hubby for getting it for me for my last birthday!  Puree until it is the consistency of soft serve ice cream.  This makes one large serving or two small ones.  We were celebrating Independence Day when we made this batch of ice cream, so I sprinkled on some blueberries for a red, white, and blue effect.  

2016 Summer Bucket List

Yay!  Summer is here again.  We've planned some fun things to do.  What have you planned?

Play Wal-Mart Bingo 

Explore Aviate 

Enjoy Urban Air

Sleep Over!

Bowling

Roller Skating

Play Checkers at Cracker Barrel
Visit the Wichita Art Museum

Host a Tasting Party

Visit the Humane Society and bring NO animals home

Swim at the lake

Show at the health food store with the Owens.  Get the healthy food tips.

Swim at the pool

Wii family game night

Go fishing

Go to Exploration Place

Prepare all the recipes in Greg's cookbook

Visit the zoo

Walk around Botanica

Paint with water guns (canvas or shirt)

Enjoy the amenities at Watson Park

Tie Dye

UFO day - finish a project

Play basketball

Baseball game

Camp out

Water balloon fight

Kids make supper

Backwards Day

Visit the Valley Center Historical Museum

Paper Airplane party

Build a blanket fort

Pick peaches

do Random Acts of Kindness

Well, that sounds like enough to do in summer!

What did you do for Labor Day weekend?

We spent Labor Day weekend at Camp Comeca near Cozad, Nebraska.  It was nice; more like being in a hotel than camping.  On Sunday morning we sung a new-to-me hymn.  One of the lyrics really touched my heart: “Be still my soul; the waves and the wind still know the Christ who ruled them while He dwelt below.”

What a poetic reminder!  The forces behind the trials in our lives are subject to the Lord just as the wind and waves were in Mark 4:35-41.  I’m going to tuck that lyric into my bag of tricks for when I am freaking out.  Be still my soul; the wind and waves still obey Him.

Painting Party

We had a painting party at our house this week!  I picked up these 8 x 10 inch canvases on sale for only $1/each.  It was too good of a deal to pass up.  Each kid got to paint their very own master piece, myself included. 

Phoenix went with a princess theme, of course.  Greg experimented with a splatter paint technique over the Bat Signal.  I made myself an important reminder to hang over the doors to the kids' bedrooms.  It's inspired by 1 Samuel 1:27 " I prayed for this child, and the Lord has granted me what I asked of him."  These are the words of Hannah, mother of Samuel.  Samuel was one of the High Priests, but he was also a prophet and the last judge of Israel.  At God's command, he anointed Saul and later David as king.  Prior to the conception of Samuel, Hannah suffered with infertility.  You can read about her struggles in 1 Samuel 1:1-20.  She was so distraught she refused to eat during her family's yearly sacrifice at Shiloh. Instead of feasting she fervently prayed, asking the Lord for a son and promising to devote him to God all the days of his life.  When the child was weaned, Hannah presented him to High Priest Eli so Samuel could serve the Lord in the temple.  You can read about that in 1 Samuel 1:21-2:11.  Why do I tell you all this?  Hannah asked God to give her a child.  Toby and I asked God for both of our children.  We struggled with a season of infertility before the birth of Phoenix.  I can relate to Hannah when she said "I prayed for this child, and the Lord has granted me what I asked of him."  Since I so desired these two beautiful children, you'd think all my days mothering them would be like a dream come true.  NOT!

Some days are difficult.  Some days they do nothing but bicker.  Some days one of them throws screaming tantrums in public places.  Some days they refuse to pick up after themselves.  Some days they completely overlook all the cool activities I plan and focus instead on one or two things that they cannot do.  Some days I wake up cranky and exhausted because one (or both) woke me up a couple of times in the night.  It's not always a walk in the park.  On those days, I need a reminder.  Something to help me shift my focus from the annoyance to the blessing.  Something to remind me that I did indeed ask for this and I really enjoy being Mom.  So I painted my canvas to serve as this reminder.

Here's how I made my painting.  I must warn you, I am not an artist.  I'm probably using some very poor techniques.   But if you want to make your own little 'reminder painting', you might be able to follow these steps and get similar results.  

1) Cover the crafting area with newspapers.  You'll thank me for this later.  Whatever color you want to use for the letters, paint the entire canvas that color.  Even paint the sides of the canvas, but don't paint the back.  The class I recently attended by Paint the Towne instructed us to paint using criss-cross brush strokes.  

2) Allow this layer of paint to dry completely.  The brush I was using continually shed bristles into my work, so I threw it away and got a new one to use.  Using a ruler to create a straight line, arrange letter stickers on the canvas to create the desired message.  I didn't draw a line on the canvas.  I just laid the ruler across the canvas while I placed the letters on top.   

3) In theory, when you paint over the stickers they resist the new layer of paint.  This keeps the canvas concealed by the letters the original shade of paint.  It doesn't work perfectly, but it does work.  I painted a purple-blue over the entire canvas, letters and all.  Again, I used those criss-cross brush strokes. 

4) When the top layer of paint dries, you pull of the letter stickers to reveal the underlying paint.  I peeked before the blue paint was completely dry.  From my experiences, the stickers came off easier when the paint was slightly damp.  The stickers that I left until the paint was completely dry were more difficult to remove.  I also painted a little red heart.

  

5) I peeled off all the little stickers and put a second layer of red paint on the heart.  As you can see, the stickers do not repell the top coat of paint perfectly.

 

6) I decided to touch up the yellow paint on the letters.  I used a very tiny paint brush with a very fine point.  Some places I had to go over twice.  It was tedious, but worth it.  Kind of like raising kids sometimes!

Happy Crafting! 

Book Reveiw: A Perfect Pet for Peyton by Rick Osborne and Gary Chapman

What did you do for Valentine’s day?  Go on a date?  Write sweet notes?  Make heart shaped pizza?  Toby and I decided to order A Perfect Pet for Peyton for our family on Valentine’s Day.  It introduces kids to the five love languages.  What is a love language?  I’ll let the book explain.

“Each of us especially likes to love and be loved in one or two of these languages; some love kind words, others like touch.  Some enjoy spending special time with people.  Others love gifts and some like to do nice and helpful things.  We all need to love people in every way.  However, God made use each special and we all love a little differently.”

This book teaches to concept of love languages through the playful story of twin Peyton and Penny’s birthday party.  Our kids love the tale and the colorful pictures.  Each picture has a ‘seek and find’ activity.  I would recommend doing the activities after you read the story.  Doing them while you read breaks up the story line too much. 

A Perfect Pet for Peyton helped our family converse about how we can make each other feel loved and valued.  It also reminded me of something special from my childhood to share with them.  My parents read to my two brothers and I before every nap and nighttime.  They were very busy with three children born in the span of 31 months.  I knew their busy worlds would stop to spend quality time with me at last once a day.  Toby and I share this same ritual with our kids. 

If you would like to discover your own love language, take the quiz at http://www.5lovelanguages.com/

Mmmm Chocolate

The kids and I just finished this book.  We really liked it, but I know it’s not everyone’s cup of tea – or hot chocolate as the case may be.  It is very whimsical.  You definitely have to practice suspension of disbelief while you’re reading it.  I tend to agree with “A little nonsense now and then is relished by the wisest men,” a philosophy from the 1971 film Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory.  The book does record a few exchanges of harsh words between characters.  The kids and I used this as an opportunity to remind each other to season our words with kindness.  Sorry kids, I’d like to tell you that one day you won’t need to be reminded to bath your speech in gentleness, but that has not been my experience.  We are all a work in progress. 

One paragraph particularly stuck out to me.  It’s in the last chapter when Mr. Wonka tells Charlie and Grandpa Joe that He wants to give the entire chocolate factory to little Charlie. 

“Listen,” Mr. Wonka said, “I’m an old man.  I’m much older than you think.  I can’t go on forever.  I’ve got no children of my own, no family at all.  So who is going to run the factory when I get too old to do it myself?  Someone’s got to keep it going – if only for the sake of the Oomp-Loompas.  Mind you, there are thousands of clever men who would give anything for the chance to come in and take it over from me, but I don’t want that sort of person.  I don’t want a grown-up person at all.  A grownup won’t listen to me; he won’t learn.  He will try to do things his own way and not mine.  So I have to have a child.  I want a good sensible loving child, one to whom I can tell all my most precious candy-making secrets - while I am still alive.” 

I’ve often meditated on Matthew 18:3 “Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.”  I’ve often asked God what He means here.  A little child is dependent.  They unabashedly rely on their parents for sustenance, shelter, stimulation, and comfort.  A little child has unbridled faith.  They have not learned the logical limitations that rule the adult world.  A child believes that a mountain can be uprooted and thrown into the sea, but we adults struggle with this idea.  Through Roald Dahl’s words I see a new aspect of coming to God as a little child.  Adults have their own way of doing things.  Children listen and watch.  They learn by mimicking their parents. 

Lord, thank you that unlike Mr. Wonka you do go on forever.  I want to know your most precious secrets – candy making or otherwise.  Please tell them to me.  I want to listen to you and learn your ways.  Forgive me when I do things my own way instead of yours.  Be my patient teacher.  To you be the glory. 

Motivation

Last night was one of those nights.  Phoenix went to sleep cranky and with a fever.  She woke up crying at about 1:45 am.  She was awake for over an hour before we could get her back to sleep.  This is a coffee morning!  Notice the coffee pot buried behind dirty dishes.  I'm sure that you know what is in the dishwasher.  That's right - clean dishes.  What will motivate me to put away those clean dishes and load the dirty ones?  My desperate need for coffee.

The Bogner Missing Toe

Families have genetic markers: detached ear lobes, tall foreheads, pug noses... Almost everyone in the family, no matter how little they look alike or how distantly related, will show that characteristic. In my family we have a wide gap between our first toe and the other four toes. The gap is so large that it appears we have one toe missing. It seems to be pretty dominate too. Most of my cousins have it. My son has it. It's a genetic marker that's been passed on threw hundreds of generations. I've been thinking about it lately. My ancestors lived their lives hundreds of years ago. They wrote about their lives or others wrote for them. They interacted with friends and community members. Now time has erased their names from history. But this little piece of them remains, the Bogner missing toe. That's neat to think about. When time has moved me into antiquity and scrambled our language to the future generations, some little memories of me will still remain in the genetic traits that I leave behind to my children and my children's children, and their children...

Greg saw his first movie in the theater last night!

We saw Toy Story 3, very fitting since Greg is 3 years old! It was so bittersweet too. The movie is about growing up and that's what my sweet little boy is doing. He was mesmerized by all the lights inside the Warren Theater. We took him the store and let him pick out a Toy Story 3 shirt just to wear to the movie. Then he got to wear a Buzz Lightyear pj top to bed. He was very excited about the wings on his pj shirt.

Rules, Rules, Rules...

Gosh, I'm afraid to tell you this because some of my friends are here and have received cards from me... When I sit down to write a card I often feel rushed. I keep one of those books of mementos close by and I look something up in the book. It's just so much easier to find a formula for a thoughtful note than to actually put my heart and mind into writing an authentic note. But my use of rules and formulas goes deeper than that. When I'm knitting or crocheting stripes, I have a formula for placing the colors. I put them in rainbow order. It's just easier than laying out all the colors and experimenting with different combinations. Of course I have a formula for preparing meals: protein, fruit or veggie, carbs. So much easier than looking up a recipe. Rules and formulas are great, especially for busy, task-oriented people like me, but they are not so great when we create rules and formulas for our relationships.

I think one of the greatest Biblical examples of rule-users is Saul. In 1 Samuel 15, God commands Saul to completely destroy the Amalekites and their possessions. Does Saul do it? NO! ^"7 Then Saul attacked the Amalekites all the way from Havilah to Shur, to the east of Egypt. ⁸ He took Agag king of the Amalekites alive, and all his people he totally destroyed with the sword. ⁹ But Saul and the army spared Agag and the best of the sheep and cattle, the fat calves and lambs—everything that was good. These they were unwilling to destroy completely, but everything that was despised and weak they totally destroyed."
Of course the Lord's prophet Samuel finds out that Saul has disobeyed God's directions. When Samuel confronts Saul, he has this answer:
²⁰ "But I did obey the LORD," Saul said. "I went on the mission the LORD assigned me. I completely destroyed the Amalekites and brought back Agag their king. ²¹ The soldiers took sheep and cattle from the plunder, the best of what was devoted to God, in order to sacrifice them to the LORD your God at Gilgal."

²² But Samuel replied:
"Does the LORD delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices
as much as in obeying the voice of the LORD ?
To obey is better than sacrifice,
and to heed is better than the fat of rams."

Did you see Saul's thinking? I can do whatever I want if I say that I'm sorry after and make a sacrifice to God. What a rule! I have complete control over my life. Please note Samuel's reply, of course God forgives us when we confess our sins, but He's more pleased when we obey Him.

Please don't get me wrong. I'm not talking about when you sin and authentically repent before the Lord. 1 John 1:9 tells us "If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness." We can't fool God. He knows when we are truly sorry for what we did and when we are just sorry that we got caught. His words tells us that in Hebrews 4:12 "For the word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart." We can't apply the rule of sinning followed by a sacrifice/confession to our walks with God. He wants a real relationship with us. He desires that we seek Him out. Jeremiah 29:13 "You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart."

Contrast Saul's rules about God with his replacement, David. When difficulty came to David's life he boldly sought God's counsel. We see it in 1 Samuel 23:4, 23:10, 30:8, 2 Samuel 2:1... I could go on, but you get the idea "David inquired of the LORD." There is no replacement for your personal walk with God. No rules can guide you through life like a real relationship with God.

I'm sure you've noticed that this is also true of your relationships with others. No amount of rules or formulas can replace authentically and openly sharing your heart. Think of your acquaintances at the gym, work, or play group. You talk with them, but you don't tell them what's really going on. You keep everything on the surface, nice and polite. Real relationships must go deeper than this. They get messy. You share your struggles and emotions. Your real friends challenge you to be more open. You challenge them to grow. Rules and formulas cannot replace you being present and engaging your heart and mind. My hubbie and I are learning this anew in our marriage. We were following the rules: we spent time together (sitting on the couch watching TV), we prayed together (a rote prayer before meals), we were faithful to each other (but we didn't really share our hearts with each other), and we grew apart. God allowed difficulty into our lives in the form of a miscarriage. We had to connect. Now we take a few minutes every day to talk about our struggles (mine is overeating) and pray for each other. We feel so much closer.

I know you are busy. I know you have a lot of demands on your time. I know you may be afraid that if people really knew you and what you struggle with, then they would run away screaming. But you will only find the intimacy you crave with God and others if you break out of your insulating rules, formulas, and plans and become vulnerable. I encourage you to do this in a small group where you will be cared for and where you can care for others. I also encourage you to do this in your own personal time with God. Remember: Jeremiah 29:13 "You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart."

10 Great things about Vince that we are really going to miss

1) Vince had a great Italian-Brooklyn accent. We enjoyed listening to the way he talked.
2) Vince was a great chief. We loved the foods he prepared and also the cuisine he introduced us to at restaurants.
3) We appreciated Vince’s direct, no-nonsense communication style.
4) We really respect Vince’s intellectual prowess. He was smart and a life-long learner.
5) Vince always had the coolest gadgets. He embraced change in technology.
6) Vince was a self-made man. He perused his interests without allowing others to dictate how he should live his life.
7) Vince was motivated to pursue his interests. Hard work did not deter him.
8) Vince had a great sense of humor.
9) Vince encouraged us to follow our dreams.
10) Vince was a wonderful friend and companion to my Grandma.

Our week on sequences

Top, middle, and bottom

• Build a tower that is one color on top, another in the middle, and a different one on bottom.
• Sing "Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes." Discuss which body parts are on top, middle, and bottom.
• Sing "On Top of Spaghetti." Make spaghetti for supper.
• Make a Three Layer Desert from pudding, whipped topping, and crushed Oreo cookies.
• Make 3 monsters. Cut them into head, torso, and legs. Trade sections to create new monsters.

First, next, and last

• Sing "Peanut Butter" song. Talk about what you do first, next, and last to make a peanut butter sandwich. Then make one!
• Do Five Little Pumpkins (or variation to fit the current holiday) finger play.
• Do the Cheerios counting book.

The Little Red Hen

• Read the book
• Use YouTube to show harvest, threshing, and grinding the wheat into flour. John Deere also makes videos on this process.
• Make bread or cookies. Discuss the value of working.
• Build a cottage for the little red hen out of blocks.

Three Little Pigs

• Collect straw, sticks, and bricks to show him what they look and feel like.
• Act out the story. Take turns being the wolf and pigs.
• Make pig tales from pink curling ribbon. Tuck them into your pants waistband. Chase each other and play tag by capturing the other person's tail.
• Make pigs in a blanket for supper.

One, Two, Buckle My Shoe

• Do the rhyme.
• Play hide and seek. Emphasize counting to ten.
• Practice buckling a belt or shoes.
• Put two stripes of making take down on the table top. Practice lining the pretzel sticks up between the lines.
• Glue pictures inside a file folder. Cut doors to lift and guess what the picture is while only reveling part of it.

Weather Week

We love discussing weather. Every morning Greg and I talk about the current conditions. Is the sky cloudy or sunny? Is the temperature hot or cold? Is it windy or calm? During weather week we read God's Plan for Weather

Temperature (hot vs. cold)

• Make a paper doll. Dress him for hot and cold weather. Discuss the type of clothing worn in different conditions.
• Play Hot and Cold. Hide an object. Clue him to where it is by using the word hot to indicate he's close and cold to indicate he's far away from the target.
• Make pudding. Pour it into Popsicle molds. Freeze and eat.
• Melt crayons in the oven. Then pour the melted crayon onto paper and watch it solidify. Discuss the changes in the crayon that the changes in temperature create.
• Freeze a small toy inside an ice cute. Then put it in a warm spot and watch it melt.

The Sky (sunny vs. cloudy)

• Play shadow tag. Point out that you can only play shadow tag on a sunny day.
• Paint with water on the sidewalk. Discuss that the sun makes the water evaporate.
• Look through a prism to show the colors in sunlight.
• Cut out different types of clouds from a poster board. Put the clouds on the ground. Hop from cloud to cloud.
• Cut out 6 different clouds. Trace them on a blue piece of paper. Shade in the traced clouds in gray. Have child match the cut out with it's shadow on the blue paper.

Rain

• Sing Rain Rain Go Away.
• Use a spray bottle to make 'rain' on a cookie sheet. Compare the sound of a mist to a downpour by adjusting the nozzle on the bottle.
• Play umbrella up-side-down. Toss squishy balls into an upside-down umbrella.
• Watch storm footage on YouTube. Find rain, tornado, and hurricane footage. Discuss that dark clouds are often full of water droplets and bring rain.
• Draw a storm scene with crayons. Then paint over it with blue water colors.
• Create static electricity and compare it to lightening.

Wind

• Use wind to blow bubbles. Chase the bubbles as the wind blows them.
• Make a kite from a paper bag and yarn. Decorate it with crayons/markers and stickers. Go outside and fly the paper bag kite.
• Rock a stuffed animal and sing "Rock a bye Baby"
• Try to blow several item across the table with the 'wind' you make from your mouth. Which things float easier?

Snow

• Ice skate on the carpet. Use rectangles of wax paper under you feet to slide on the floor.
• Snowball fight. Crumple white paper into balls for the snow balls.
• Cut snowflakes from pieces of paper.
• Make a marshmallow snowman. Anchor him to a Graham crackers. Use frosting for features. Use pretzel stocks for arms.
• Fill a box with the flake style fake snow and play with it like sand.

Shapes Week

This week we studied shapes: circle, square, triangle, ellipse (I was told this is the new name for oval), and rectangle. We read the book The Wing on a Flea by Ed Emberly. As a special treat on Saturday, we went to the Kansas BEST Robotics competition to cheer on Southeast High School. Greg was intrigued by the robots. We came home and built our own out of Lego's.


Circle Day

• Play "Ring Around the Rose"
• Play with the ring stacker and discuss the sizes of the circles
• Put circle stickers (colored dots) on each other and on a box. Play inside the box as our "Dotty House"
• Eat round butter crackers
• Draw circles on the sidewalk with chalk. Step from circle to circle.
• Hit a balloon back and forth with circular paper plates.

Square Day

• Do Washington Square rhyme: From here to there to Washington Square; when I get near, I'll pull your hair.
• Eat Cheese Zit type of crackers
• Build with square alphabet blocks. Make squares out of the blocks and count the squares.
• Cut squares out of sand paper and make crayon rubbings of the squares.

Triangle Day

• Bake cup cakes inside ice cream cones (that didn't work so well)
• Make pizza and cut it into triangle slices.
• Play music on the triangle.
• Set-up the Tee-Pee and play.
• Make a triangle hat out of folded newspaper.

Ellipse Day

• Put a chocolate chip inside 15 different Easter eggs. Parent hides the eggs. Greg hunts for the eggs and we discuss the shape.
• Throw the football.
• Hit balls off the T-Ball stand with a tennis racket.
• Slice bananas at an angle to create ovals.

Rectangle Day

• Make a stained glass rectangle to hand on the window. Make two identical rectangles out of wax paper. Use a cheese grater to shave crayons. Sandwich the crayons between the two pieces of wax paper. Use an iron on low heat to melt the crayons and seal the wax paper together.
• Build with rectangular blocks.
• Make rectangles out of cardboard and step on them as if you were in a life size board game.
• Make lasagna in a rectangular pan.
• Build a fort out of a large, rectangular blanket.

The Pumpkin Carvers

We love pumpkins! Greg loves to go out into the pumpkin patch and pick them right off the vine. Our first adventure was to the Priest Pumpkin Patch in Winfield, KS. We were one of the first customers of the season to walk thought their fields of large green leaves and orange pumpkins. Look at all this variety in their farmer's market area!

Last year Greg and I had so much fun at Walter's Pumpkin Patch, that Toby decided to take a day off of work to go with us this year. Walter's Pumpkin Patch has so much to do. First we rode on a wagon pulled by a tractor to the pumpkin patch to pick our pumpkin.

We also got to slide down pumpkin hill on a saucer sled, jump on the giant inflatable pumpkin, play in the corn, pet the goats, ride adult and child-sized tricycles, go through corn and hay mazes. Greg also climbed this rope ladder. I was so proud of him! He did it with very little help.

We did Bergmann's Corn Maze, but I don't have any pictures of that. We went at night. It was fun, but I must give you some warnings. Expect mud. Bring your own flashlight. Be prepared to carry your 2 yo. You must pay for the inflatables advertised on their web-site with cash. Don't rely on the info in the web-site; call to confirm their hours of operation.

This year we participated in the pumpkin carving party at the zoo. That was so much fun. We each carved a pumpkin for the Night of the Living Zoo celebration. It was a cold night. Next time we will make sure to wear more layers and bring gloves. They did provide some piping hot chocolate. Just in case you can't tell, the pumpkins are dotty, kissing grommies, and a dog's face.