Camp Momanmee!

Morgan's preschool hosts a special mother-son date night each year for preK and K.  This year's theme was  Camp Momanmee.  They really put in a lot of hard work and did an outstanding job. GG came over to stay with baby Carter so that Dad could hit up his favorite place, Buffalo Wild Wings, while Morgan and took off for our special night.  This is the second time that she's watched Carter for me and the second time that I've been away from him.  Carter did great!

We arrived and were ushered to a stage decorated with a bunch of Christmas trees, huge tent and fake campfire.  They also had one of those silly vignettes where you poke your head through a hole for a picture.  So, we had our photos taken there and then joined everyone for dinner.  Then, the Critterman came.  He has an 18 year old tarantula!  ICK!  Evidently the females live 30 years and the males live 5 years.  So, female is the way to go if you have to be born a tarantula.  After the Critterman they divided everyone up into four groups and we were off to different stations.  We had a bug hunt, bounce houses, camping bingo, made s'mores (Morgan called them snores), went on a flashlight hike in the dark and painted wooden snakes. The kids were all given bags and earned merit badges with each completed station. Then, we all joined back up to sing songs to the pastor's guitar around the campfire and hear a story.

 The pastor mentioned that he might be a little afraid to go home because his wife and daughter were out of town.  His talk focused around praying to God for help.  So, he said that he would pray to God for help.  Afterwards, Morgan went up to him to tell him a Bible verse we learned a while back, "Fear not, for I am with you.".  It's somewhere in Issiah.  Morgan was trying to reassure him.  How precious!

I'm using a Blogger app from my phone and I can't figure out how to reorient these photos.  So, until I figure that out... crank your head sideways!

Amazing Birthday Party

I'm not typically wowed by a kids' birthday party. But, my friend Kimberly really impressed me!

It was a 50s theme party. Which I find funny because these kiddos will experience their own 50s in less than 40 years. We first arrived to a "hair salon" where the kids all got spray colored hair. She went all out with custom labeled soda pops, malt milk shakes, 2 different bounce houses for the kids, themed games, a themed craft, hula hoops, a full lunch, prizes and a cute crazy straw cup party favor. She also made individual "hamburger & fries" baskets. They were actually cupcakes, brownies and icing. Amazing!

Check out the pics. Morgan started crying when we had to leave.

I Have a Lot of Photos to Recreate

The images on top are Morgan and the ones on the bottom are Carter.  I took Carter’s with my phone.  Maybe I should revert to the old camera to get the same look.  I think that Carter is also a little older than Mr. Morgan in these pics.

We’ve Created Morgan’s TWIN!

I’ve been gone from the blog for a while.  I need to get back.  Baby Carter was born February 2, 2012!  We just love him to pieces.  He may look familiar to you.  He looks JUST LIKE Morgan. 

Baby Morgan is the one wearing the shoes.

Here’s baby Carter!

Wait!  When did baby Morgan grow so big!??!?

Sweet brothers.

Telling the Easter Story to Children

Today in children's church they discussed the last supper. There was an actual crown of thorns in a glass display at the welcome desk at church. Morgan calls it the crown with the pokies.  We talked about how the people made Jesus wear it because they were making fun of him and that they did not believe that he is our king. We have gone over the Easter story and the boys just watched a video called The Awesome Story of Jesus. Ok, and get ready to cry... the pic above is Gabriel and Morgan pretending to the be the cross and Jesus. I didn't realize how difficult this is to explain to children. In a nutshell they have been told that Jesus died and came back to life so that our sins can be forgiven and we get to be in Heaven with God. Jesus is alive today. Sin was explained as when we do bad things like be mean or lie. But, that God forgave/forgives us and that is what Easter is all about.


I'm hauling out all of the children's Bibles and we are looking at the different pictures and stories that relate to Easter. The kids really side tracked me when they started talking about our dog Bali that died on Christmas. They kept asking me when Bali was going to come back to life. I told them that Bali is in Heaven with God.

Gabriel told me that he thinks that "Jesus is cool". I was really worried about explaining this to them because I didn't want them to be scared. But, they really like the story and there was A LOT of emphasis on the fact that Jesus came back to life. I also know that they will be discussing the story at children's church during the service. So, I wanted to go over it with them before Sunday.


We have about 10 different children's Bibles.  Here are our three newest ones and they are our favorites for the four year age range. 

This one is both Morgan and Gabriel's favorite. http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0781444039 It has pictures like icons inserted in the text and the adult points to the picture so the child is actually reading alongside the adult.  The kids think that it's a lot of fun and remember the stories.  Thanks Allison for turning me on to this book.

The Jesus Storybook Bible is good because it isn't just a random collection of stories.  It ties every story to Jesus.

My ABC Bible Verses is great because it focuses on character traits.  It also teaches the ABC's by starting with a verse, followed by a modern story about a child's dilemma.  Then, it has a follow up question section and a short prayer.  Each section is a two page spread.  So, it's a really easy add on to story time at night since it's so quick.

Good luck to everyone looking to explain the heavy issues to sweet young minds!  And, happy Easter to everyone!