This year for Valentine’s Day, we decided to do a semi-diy project for my daughter’s class. I randomly found a pack of mini-bubbles in our upstairs craft closet. Who knows what they are left over from!

To go along with our little bubbles, we made some fun bubble paint cards! These are super easy and waaaay fun!

All you need is some cardstock, cups, straws, liquid soap, acrylic paint and water!

Pour about a tablespoon of water into each glass.

Then add a squirt of paint.

Then a big squirt of soap.

Mix it all together and start blowing! Yes, like the thing you’ve been telling your kids not to do because it’s rude? Let ‘em do it!

Once the bubbles start coming out of the glass, smash the cardstock down on top of them! They’ll pop and make pretty designs on the paper!

We actually found they made darker prints when we just kept the paper on top of the cup and blew bubbles onto it.

You might have to experiment with your measurements in the cups–we added more paint when we wanted darker colors and more soap when we felt like we needed it. It’s not an exact science! Or you can be like my daughter and blow into four cups at one time!

After it was all dry (and the mess wiped up), we cut the cardstock into little squares and wrote notes on them. I racked my brain to think of a Scripture that talked about bubbles. But I guess those hadn’t been invented yet!

Instead we went with, “POP-ing into say God Loves You!” and “God’s Love BUBBLES up for you!”. We’re going to tape them to the bubbles and deliver them on Valentine’s Day! Cute, huh?

Can you think of any other good bubble puns for me?

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Amanda is a stay-at-home mom of two who blogs at OhAmanda.com and Impress Your Kids. In her former life, Amanda was a Children’s Pastor — overseeing, organizing and developing ministry for kids in nursery through middle school, but now that she is a mom, her “skills” are used up on her kids!

I love the New Year because it is so fresh and clean! It seems like a giant piece of white paper stretching as far as the eye can see, just waiting for me to write my year on it! Every year, whether I make official resolutions or not, I feel like I have a theme, or a word or a thing that I just want to do for that year.

This year, for New Year’s I want to do something special as a family. Some friends of ours told us once about a family retreat they went on where they planned a family cheer. It was the cutest thing ever to see their 1st grader and preschooler chant their cheer together. My friend, Jill and her husband “give” their kids a scripture each year and then pray it over them all year long. I’ve read other parenting books that suggest family mottos and mission statements.

It kinda reminds me of the family rules canvas my friend Leigh made:

And this fun family motto from Make and Takes:

I just love the idea of having these words, phrases and goals around the house for all to see and on the tips of the family’s tongue. These small things can not only bind your family together, but keep important ideas in the forefront of your kids’ hearts and minds.

So, for our New Year celebration, we will be talking about, praying about and creating a family motto, a phrase or a scripture that we will adopt for this year. It will be something we can remind each other of when we’re tired, whiny and angry. Something we can ask God to help us show each other. Something that our family will be able to see come to pass in our home this year. I’m excited to see where God leads our family this year!

How can your family experience this new year together?

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Amanda is a stay-at-home mom of two who blogs at OhAmanda.com and Impress Your Kids. In her former life, Amanda was a Children’s Pastor — overseeing, organizing and developing ministry for kids in nursery through middle school, but now that she is a mom, her “skills” are used up on her kids!

source: babi

It’s the most wonderful time of the year! And not just for yummy food, gifts and parties. Christmas is the most wonderful time of the year for parents to teach their children about Jesus! Kids have been looking forward to Christmas all year. Stores, media and school talk about it every day. It’s the easiest time to focus on Jesus!

I’m not opposed to singing Rudolph the Red-nosed Reindeer or making stocking-shaped cookies at home. But I am opposed to making these things the center of our Christmas celebration when the story of Jesus can be just as fun, exciting and “magical”!

Instead of putting daily thought into what an elf on your shelf is doing, why not make daily memories and big God-connections with your kids about Jesus? It’s easy to do–here are some of my favorite ways:

1. Advent Calendar

source: mandi ehman

Advent calendars can be more than the open-the-door-and-get-a-piece-of-candy. There are tons of cute calendars where you can enter your own items. I like to put in a Bible verse or a special Christmas activity (like reading a book or delivering cookies to a neighbor). I love the above printable paper chain as an advent calendar!

2. Christmas Catalogs
I usually trash the toy catalogs that come in the mail during November and December. The only catalogs we look through are the gift catalogs from World Vision, Compassion and Samaritan’s Purse. We let our kids pick out one gift to give from those catalogs. Last year, my daughter picked bunnies to give to a needy family. My son chose a goat so a family could have milk! These are the Christmas lists I want my kids to make!

3. Christmas Books

source: katherine marie photography

I have an addiction to Christmas books. I just can’t pass them up! However, my Christmas books are about 95% about Jesus and NOT about Santa or elves. Not because I think Santa is evil, it’s just that there are so many fantastic books that focus on the true meaning of Christmas! We pull these books out only at Christmas and read them all month long. One of my favorite ideas is to wrap up 24 Christmas books and let the kids unwrap one each day leading up to Christmas. How fun if those 24 books were focused on the love and gift of Jesus!

My philosophy on Christmas (and lots of other things in parenting) is not to restrict my kids, but to overwhelm them with fantastic alternatives! I don’t have to control my kids from “believing in Santa” or give them this weight of “we’re not allowed to watch that” because we have so much fun learning about Jesus, the wisemen, and the shepherds. They don’t feel left out because our holiday is full of daily “magic” about Him!

How can you make the real story of Christmas fun and exciting?

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Amanda is a stay-at-home mom of two who blogs at OhAmanda.com and Impress Your Kids. In her former life, Amanda was a Children’s Pastor — overseeing, organizing and developing ministry for kids in nursery through middle school, but now that she is a mom, her “skills” are used up on her kids!

Before I had children, autumn meant sweaters and jeans. Thanksgiving meant turkey, green bean casserole and mashed potatoes. But as soon as my little girl met her first Thanksgiving, I wanted it to be meaningful. I want her and my son to know the One who makes us truly thankful!

I like to break down the word Thanksgiving into THANKS and GIVING. With each activity we do during this season, we try to have them center on these two ideas: giving THANKS to God or GIVING to others. Here are a few ideas we’ve done over the year. Maybe you can do one with your family this year!

A simple THANKS sign made from freshly fallen leaves and leftover cardboard! I’m a big big fan of banners and signs, so this was a great (and big) reminder to give thanks go God!

This is the time of year when people start collecting cans, clothes and more for people in need. We like to add a little flair to all the canned goods we donate!

Make a Helping Hands Thankful Tree this year to really challenge your kids AND yourself!

Laminated leaves are beautiful gifts to send to your sponsored children at Thanksgiving!

Holidays and season changes are perfect opportunities for you to show your children new aspects of God. The themes of fall and Thanksgiving are ripe for teaching children (and ourselves) to give thanks to God, being appreciative of what we have and giving to others.

What fun activities do you and your children do in Fall to focus on God?

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Amanda is a stay-at-home mom of two who blogs at OhAmanda.com and Impress Your Kids. In her former life, Amanda was a Children’s Pastor — overseeing, organizing and developing ministry for kids in nursery through middle school, but now that she is a mom, her “skills” are used up on her kids!

When my daughter was an infant, I followed a strict feeding, sleeping and playing schedule. I wrote down every time I fed her, how many minutes and more. As she started sleeping through the night (very early I might add–thankyouverymuch, schedule!), I was still nursing her once in the middle of the night, to tide her over. I called it a dream-feeding. And I loved that sweet, quiet, alone time with her.

photo by D. Sharon Pruitt

When my son was born, I tried doing a dream-feeding with him, too. He wasn’t sleeping through the night as easily as my daughter did (maybe because that schedule was hard to follow with a 3 year old following me around?) and I thought the dream-feeding would be a perfect remedy.

Unfortunately, that dream-feeding woke him up. He didn’t lay there quietly and eat. He’d wake up, cry, eat and then have to be settled back down for sleep which meant he didn’t sleep well and would get up early because he was overtired. *sigh* The unending cycle of tired babies!

That was one of my first signs that my children were different.

You’d think this would be pretty obvious. I mean, they don’t look too much alike. One’s a boy and one’s a girl. But, they are comprised from basically the same DNA. I should be able to raise them, feed them, care for them and love them the same way, right?

Nope.

It’s like love-languages. My daughter is a touchy-feely lover. She wants to hold my hand, sit in my lap, rub my face and hug me tight. My son, even when he could barely speak would say to his sister, “Don’t hug me! Don’t hug me!” He wants you to play with him. To roll on the floor with him. To sit right next to him while he’s reading a book. Just being with him is his thing.

But how does all this transfer to raising them? To disciplining? How can we train them in a way that will actually help them and lead them to Jesus? That is catered to them specifically?

Sorry. I don’t really know.

I struggle with it every day. The thing that works with my daughter doesn’t work with my son. She is potty-trained practically overnight with a chart. After two months my son still doesn’t have ONE sticker on his chart. My daughter will go to her room without a peep while my son pounds on the door. It’s more than frustrating. It’s overwhelming. I want so much to help my children, to grow them how God made them. But how do I do that?!

I remember something one of my {online} friends told me. She said, “ I often pray that the Lord show me my son’s heart.” She told me she realized that God knew her son’s heart completely and that He could see what was going on in there, so she asked God if he would be willing to “clue her in” on it and what she should do about it.

This prayer hit me like a ton of bricks! I had never ever thought of this before. Ask God to show me how my daughter works? Ask God to show me why my son responds this way? Of course God would do this! He promises to confide in those that fear Him.

Of course, this prayer doesn’t mean that I suddenly am super-parent. It doesn’t mean I know how to do everything right and understand everything about my kids. But it does point me back to the One who does know. The One who did knit my children together inside of my womb.

So now, when I stand with hands on hips glaring at my disobedient children, I can either yell, “What is WRONG with you two?” Or I can quietly, inside my heart, say, “God show me my children. Reveal to me how I can lead them to you. Teach me how to teach them about you.” And I believe with all my heart it is a prayer God honors. And answers.

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Amanda is a stay-at-home mom of two who blogs at OhAmanda.com and Impress Your Kids. In her former life, Amanda was a Children’s Pastor — overseeing, organizing and developing ministry for kids in nursery through middle school, but now that she is a mom, her “skills” are used up on her kids!