Christmas Card

I absolutely LOVE to receive and send Christmas cards. However each year I am not able to send out as many as I would like due to cost. So if you didn't receive one from The DeLoach household, please know you are still loved!

Merry Christmas from the DeLoach's!

Not Me Monday

I did NOT let my kids decorate their Christmas shaped cookies however they pleased. It did NOT pain me for the cookies to not look like snowmen or Christmas trees afterwards. Just a sugar overload.

Yes, I realize Isabel is in a spider / Halloween shirt to decorate Christmas cookies. I battle dirty laundry daily and on that day, dirty laundry won.

Gingerbread Nativity

Seems like everywhere we go people are asking the kids what Santa is going to bring them and even what their elf's name is. I know lots of you are into the whole elf thing, but just so you know if you ask my kids who their elf is they will look at you with blank stares. This momma doesn't do the elf on the shelf.

We do have a fun activity each day that we do together as a family. Go here if you missed that post.

Last year we made a Gingerbread house to put as the centerpiece of our dinning room table. This year I wanted something more Christ focused in our decorations. This is what I found. The Gingerbread Nativity.

We read from the Bible the story of Christ's birth. Then made our own Nativity.

It was such a fun craft that we have actually made several. We made one with my sister, one with our church family, and one with a neighbor. Such a great way to share the birth of Christ with kids.

Not Me Monday

I do NOT love wrapping presents more than buying them. I also do NOT love to purchase wrapping paper.

Discovery Clubs

Serving isn't easy sometimes. Especially with 4 kids in tow. A question I often ask myself is how I can serve and NOT have to hire a babysitter? For us, Discovery Clubs was one answer. One day a week Ben and I along with all four of our kids drive down the street to Robinson Elementary where we get to interact with a special group of kids. It's not always easy to get there and it requires Ben coming from one direction with 2 kids and me coming from another direction with the other 2 kids. Many days I have to take a deep breath before I enter the room, but once I see the smiling faces of those 2nd grade girls it's all worth it. It's not about me and what is easy for me. It's about spending time with these children and loving them as we show them the love of Christ. We get to sing, have snack, teach from The Jesus Storybook Bible, pray, meet in small groups and most importantly share Christ with these kids. We are also thankful to be doing this with 6 other people from our church (absolutely LOVE serving along side these ladies each week.)

As a little side note, I will say I am NOT a fan of the yellow vest we are required to wear. However, I do obey the rules and wear it.

The guys teach the 2nd grade boys and the women teach the 2nd grade girls. It's actually a perfect setting to take my boys to since they are 1st and 2nd grade. Even though Isabel is 4, she fits right in with the girls. Cannon, well, he watches from the stroller and does a great job at being the perfect baby.

In the schools that Discovery Clubs are offered they begin with the 2nd grade and if there are enough volunteers they add others grades up to 4th. There just aren't enough volunteers to offer more at Robinson right now. We meet once a week right after school lets out. Now don't think that Discovery Clubs are just offered to inner city schools. They are all over Birmingham. Remember, it's not just the inner city kids that need Christ. The school where Carter went to Kindergarten, Mt. Laurel, is in a very "well to do" area and they have a club that meets on Thursday afternoons.

I would say it's only a one hour a week commitment, but by the time you arrive at the school - spend time with the kids - then wait till they have all gone home, it's about a 2 hour a week commitment. Of course if your doing the teaching part it requires some prep time as well.

If you are interested in serving with Discovery Clubs I would be more than happy to get you connected, just let me know. You can go here to see all the schools that offer Discovery Clubs as an after school program.

Countdown to Christmas

I found lots of different ways to count down to the day of Christmas.
Here's how the DeLoach's are counting.

I am a sucker for using something that I already have at the house.
I painted some larger Popsicle sticks green and some smaller ones yellow.

Then cut out some folding cards and placed a number on top. I got the number printable here.

I then hot glued some of my green sticks together (made a group of 3, 4, and 5). Then glued my yellow ones together to make a star.

Final product - a tree.

Add a little ribbon to the cards and place them on the branches. Ta da - Christmas Tree countdown! Each day when they open the card there is a fun surprise.

It may be as simple as family game night or their favorite so far - tent in living room and dinner inside.



How do you count down the days till Christmas?

Art

I've mentioned before that we let each of the kids pick an activity or sport they wanted to do. Caden decided he didn't want to do a sport just yet, but he did want to take art. Since September Caden has been going once a week to art. He is absolutely in love with the painting and drawing. I have to say he is coming home with some pretty impressive stuff. Now just where do I put it all? Until I can figure something else out, right now his art goes on his bulletin board in the classroom.

Since Isabel doesn't get to go to the co-op we let her take art as well. Same teacher, but she goes while her big brothers are at school. Their teacher is amazing!

She even came home with a new decoration for her door.

Not Me Monday

I did NOT go get the pipe cleaners out to make a craft and find that they had all been turned into snakes.