Climbing Our "Family Tree"!

Behind my house, in my back yard is a maple tree. It is no ordinary maple tree. It is enormous! It is behind our two-stall garage and it extends far above and far to both sides. It is enormous - well, not compared to a Redwood trees . . . which are truly enormous - but compared to normal Michigan Maple trees, this one is enormous.

March 2nd is National Banana Cream Pie Day

The month of February has been the Great American Pie Month, so as February comes to a close I thought I'd share one more pie recipe - and since March 2nd is National Banana Cream Pie Day, it seemed like a good idea to share my favorite Banana Cream Pie recipe with you - you will have time to gather supplies so you are able to celebrate with a tasty pie on Saturday!

VBS 2024 - Outback Rock from Group Publishing

Please share this with the Children's Ministry leaders in your church -  

I'm delighted for the opportunity to once again share Group's weekend VBS with you . . .  Outback Rock. The idea with this resource is to provide two affordable 2 1/2 hour sessions, plus a one hour celebration which churches could use over one weekend . . . or over three weekends . . . or they might be able to spread it out for one Saturday a month for a Summer of fun! And, if you do not mind repeating games and focusing more on the same Bible Adventure, you could stretch it for a week of VBS.

crafting with grandma - Dr. Seuss & the Foot Book

Since Dr Seuss' birthday is on March 2nd and the month of March is a fun time to celebrate the creativity of Dr. Seuss, I thought it would be fun to look at a Dr. Seuss craft today! But, first, a bit of info (I found on Wiki) on the man known to children everywhere as Dr. Seuss . . . 

Today is the Day After Tell a Fairy Tale Day

When you were growing up, did you have a favorite Fairy Tale? A story you really loved and wanted your parents to read to you at bedtime? Or, as you grew up, did you enjoy reading Fairy Tales, such as; Beauty and the Beast or  Cinderella or The Cunning Shoemaker? Or, did you enjoy making up your own Fairy Tales? As you became a parent, did you enjoy reading Fairy Tales to your children and now enjoy a good Fairy Tale with your grandchildren? Well, if you answered, "Yes!" to any of these questions, then even though yesterday was, "Tell a Fairy Tale Day", today is still a great day to gather the children you love and tell them a Fairy Tale.

Today is International Tongue Twister Contest Day

One day eleven years ago when my grandsons were at my house, my then four-year old grandson sat down and read several books . . . as you might imagine, there is no shortage of books at this grandma's house for boys to read! It made my heart happy to see him choose to take some time for himself to just enjoy reading books!

After a bit, he found me in the kitchen working on fixing lunch and said; "Grandma! I just read, Fox in Socks and my tongue is NOT numb!!!" If you have not read this classic book lately, on the back cover it asks, "Is Your Tongue Numb?" My sweet grandson was pretty happy he had read all those tongue twisters out loud and did not end up with a numb tongue! It made this grandma happy, too, and remembering this today it makes me happy again - because of the wonderful memory and because today is International Tongue Twister Contest Day!

VBS 2024 - Hometown Nazareth by Group Publishing

Please share this with the Children's Leaders in your church - 

Today I'm happy to look at "Hometown Nazareth" from Group Publishing - which equips you to take the children in your church and community on a visit to Jesus' hometown, Nazareth, where they will be able to experience village life as Jesus might have lived it when He was a boy! 

Celebrate Dr. Seuss' Birthday with a "There's a Wocket in My Pocket Rhyming Scavenger Hunt"

In a less than a week it will be Dr. Seuss' birthday so if you would like a fun idea for something you could to do with the children you love to "celebrate", check out this idea. When my grandsons were younger I browsed on  Pinterest  and found an idea I absolutely LOVE . . . a "There’s a Wocket in My Pocket- A Rhyming Scavenger Hunt" - we did this and it was SO much fun!

Today is National Chocolate Covered Nut Day

I personally LOVE dark chocolate covered almonds! I eat a few each day because they are good for me, and because I LOVE them! So, when I saw today is National Chocolate Covered Nut Day, I thought I'd share this tasty day with you! Did you know . . .

Fun with Grandsons - Making S'more Pops!

Today I am remembering ten years ago when I was blessed to spend a couple days with two, too-sweet-for-words grandsons (although I never am truly at a loss for words when it comes to telling how sweet they are :-)!) We had so much fun! One of the things we did was make s'more pops (you'll find how to make these at this link).

Dr. Seuss Quotes - Just for the Fun of It!

The month of March is Dr. Seuss Month, so, I thought I'd share a few quotes to get us ready for my Month of Dr Seuss Quotes!

grandma's cookbook - Today is National Banana Bread Day!

My family enjoys banana bread . . . for good reason; banana  bread tends to be moist, soft, and flavorful . . . in short, it is a tasty treat for sure! So, when I discovered it is "National Banana Bread Day", I had to share this bit of news with you! Days of the Year (dot) com says, "Banana bread first started to become popular back in the 1930′s, during the Great Depression. Cultural historians suggest resourceful and creative housewives of the era created the recipe as a way of not wasting over-ripe bananas. In fact, the riper the bananas, the better the taste of the banana bread, so it ended up being a very clever creation! It is traditionally known as a 'quick bread', but is actually more like a cake in both texture and flavor."

Yes! VBS Does Make Solid Dollars & Cents for Your Ministry!

Please share this post with the Children's Ministry Leaders in your church . . .

There was a time, not too long ago, when nearly all churches budgeted for VBS. Most considered it (and rightly so) a part of their evangelism budget as VBS was one of their biggest evangelism outreaches of the year. In many churches it was their biggest outreach of the year. Then in the years leading up to COVID more and more churches stopped using VBS - far, far too many stopped any ministry opportunities to children in the Summertime. Then COVID hit and pretty much all churches stopped offering VBS - and everything in person for two years. Last year some churches were starting to plan for VBS again, and this year even more churches are taking a serious look at VBS. I am very happy to see this as VBS is a fantastic way to reach into your community - it is one of the best and most effective ways you are able to make use of the money you budget for evangelism. Why is this? Consider the following . . . 

Today is National California Day

Today is National California Day - my husband is from California, we met on an active volcano in California - yes, there is an active volcano in California . . . Mount Lassen - and we lived there a few years when our children were young, so I personally find the silly laws and interesting information about California to be, well, interesting! Whether you live in, or have lived in California or not, I hope you find this post interesting, too. Let's start with the silly laws, did you know . . .