November 3: Paper Chain

For the third year running, we put together a paper chain to count down to Thanksgiving and Christmas.  Ty loves ripping a chain off each night before bed and looking at how close we're getting to the holidays!

Ty loves using the paper cutter.

Brielle wanted to try the paper cutter, too.

The finished product!

October 31: Happy Halloween!

The three cutest trick-or-treaters!

Brielle was so taken with the tiger costume that she had to try it on and roar at all of us!

October 27: Visit to the Dentist

The boys had their second trip to the dentist today and it went well!  The pediatric dentist we visit is fabulous!  Tysen actually let the hygienist take x-rays this time!  Both were cavity-free once again! :)

October 25: 10 Minute Cookie Bars

These are quick to make and great to eat! 

10 Minute Cookie Bars

• 1 cup butter
• 1 cup brown sugar
• 4 cups quick cooking oatmeal
• 1 cup chocolate chips
• 1/2 cup peanut butter

1. Melt the butter.
2. Mix the brown sugar and oatmeal in a bowl.
3. Pour butter over sugar and oatmeal and mix.
4. Press oatmeal mix into a 9x13 pan.
5. Bake for 10 minutes in a 400 degree oven.
6. Melt the chocolate chips and peanut butter together in a pan on the stove top.
7. Spread over the baked oatmeal.
8. Chill and cut into bars.

From takethemameal.com

October 23: "D" Verse

"...do to others as you would have them do to you."  Matthew 7:12

Another one from Steve Green's Hide 'Em In Your Heart  series.  We play these in the van and the kids are great at singing (and saying) the verses!

October 22: Another Birthday Party for Tysen

 Ty's final birthday party was with a few friends.  He wanted a Dinosaur Party!  We played Caveman, Caveman, Dinosaur (think Duck, Duck, Goose), Feed the Dino (Bean Bag Toss), Dinosaur Tail where the kids wore a "dino tail" and knocked over a stack of boxes, Find the Dino, Dino Says (like Simon Says), read dinosaur stories, and colored dinosaur pictures.  Overall, the event went well and ended with a dino feast of Dino chicken nuggets, rainbow jello, carrots, chips, and dirt dessert with dino crackers.  Happy Birthday, Tysen!

Can't you hear the dinosaurs roaring?

October 20: Sandpaper Leaves...or Not

I thought these Sandpaper Leaves were a perfect fall craft!  Ty did not agree so much.  He decided to do his own craft with markers, glue, and stickers and had a grand time completing it.  I know it's great to let kids explore and create using their own ideas, but I have to admit it's a little disappointing when he doesn't like the ideas I have.  So I made the sandpaper leaves and he made his own creation, and we enjoyed each other's company while working!

Brielle helped me select the colors for the leaves.

October 18: Birthday Oreo Cupcakes

 HAPPY 4TH BIRTHDAY, TYSEN!!!

Tysen requested Dirt Dessert for his birthday "cake" this year.  So we had it for his party on Sunday, and we'll have it again this upcoming weekend for his party with friends, so for his actually birth-day, I thought we should have some kind of cake.  We had plenty of Oreos for the Dirt Dessert, so I went online and found these Oreo Cupcakes (although the direct link no longer works!?!).  I thought a little variety in sweetness would be just fine.  They were a hit with the family!

Oreo Cupcakes

• Devils Food or Chocolate cake mix
• Eggs (number specified on back of cake mix box)
• Oil (amount specified on back of cake mix box)
• Water (1/2 - 1/3 of the amount specified on the cake mix box)
• Milk or Buttermilk (1/2 - 2/3 of the "water" amount specified on the cake mix box)
• 24 Oreos
• 1 1/4 cups whipping cream (for frosting)
• 3 Tbs. powdered sugar (for frosting)
• 1/2 tsp. vanilla (for frosting)
• 1/2 cup Oreo cookie crumbs (for frosting)

1. First, preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Carefully pull Oreos apart (one side should be plain cookie which can be crumbled to use in the frosting and one side with frosting).
3. Place the frosted halves of the Oreos cream-side-up on the bottom of the lined-muffin cups.
4. Put the eggs, oil, milk, and water together in a bowl and mix them with the cake mix.
5. Fill the cupcake liners 2/3-3/4 full over the Oreos.
6. Tap the pan gently on the counter to settle the batter.
7. Bake according to the directions on the back of the box.
8. Bake until a toothpick inserted into the center of a cake comes out clean.
9. Transfer cupcakes to a wire rack and cool for 15 minutes.
10. Let cupcakes cool completely before frosting.





Oreos on the bottom.

Frosting

1. Use an electric mixer to whip the cream, sugar, and vanilla until stiff.
2. Gently fold in the cookie crumbs. 
3. Frost cupcakes or scoop mixture into a piping bag to frost.





Excited about getting started!



Tysen's been perfecting his egg-cracking skills.



Reading the recipe.

October 16: "C" Verse

"Children obey your parents in the Lord for this is right."  Ephesians 6:1

I love that Tysen sings this song along with the Steve Green Hide 'Em In Your Heart song of this verse! :)

October 15: Birthday Party #1 and the Grand Rapids Kid's Marathon

It's a season of birthday parties for Tysen!  His 4th birthday is three days away and the week of partying has begun!

Happy 4th Birthday, Ty!

On an unrelated note, today was the Grand Rapids Kid's Marathon!  We've been preparing for this race since mid-August, and while we weren't as die-hard about it as we could have been, it was an excellent experience!  The idea is for kids to run or walk 1 mile three times a week for about 8 weeks.  The last 1.2 miles the kids all run together to total 26.2 miles.  The course is downtown Grand Rapids and is part of the Grand Rapids marathon which is run the next day.  During our 8 week prep period we walked some and biked some, and actually didn't complete all 25 one-mile treks, but we were intentional about our activity and had fun doing it as a family!  Maybe next year will be more of an offical marathon for our family, but this year was an excellent starting point.

The actual race day was WINDY!  Ty had a cold so he wasn't super excited about walking for the race which means he got a piggy-back ride from Daddy for part of the way.  Koen wasn't excited about it either, but once Daddy made it competitive ("I can beat you to that stop sign" etc.) Koen enjoyed himself, or maybe he just enjoyed beating Daddy.

The mascots posed with the kids and Seth after completing the race and receiving their medals.  They even gave one to Brielle who "strolled" the race.  The boys were SO proud of their medals...Ty even wore his to church the next day!  Koen was so proud he kept looking at it, so he was the one who noticed that the medal's date was 2010 instead of 2011!  We probably would have never noticed...leave it to Koen! :)

After the race, area businesses provided snacks for the kids:  yogurt, bananas, apples, and Culver's frozen custard.  Yep, our kids went for the ice cream despite the chilly, windy day.  Can't say I blame them! :)

October 14: Fire!!!

Now that we'd made candles we had to use them for an experiement!  I started by asking the boys if they knew of any ways to put out fire.  Both boys knew that blowing on the flame would put it out...thanks to birthday candles, I suppose.  Koen also came up with water being able to put out a flame.  So we put their guesses to the test!

I lit Koen's candle and asked him to blow on it.  Sure enough!  The flame went out!  Then I gave Ty a small cup of water and asked him to pour it on the flame.  What do you know?  The flame went out!  Then I asked them what they thought might happen if we put the lid on while the candle was lit.  They looked at each other and looked at me and said, "I don't know."  I encouraged them to at least make a guess...especially based on the last two things they'd seen.  So they finally decided that the flame might go out.  We tried it, and wouldn't you know...they flame went out!  I know they're not super confident about making hypothoses, but it's good to start small like this! 

After we experimented with the fire, I asked the boys if they knew what to do if any flames ever got on their clothes.  I hate bringing up "scary" topics like this...I don't want them to worry about getting fire on them, but I want them to have the knowledge.  Both boys denied knowing what to do in that situation, yet when I began to say they need to stop moving, Koen piped up that we need to stop, drop, and roll!  He was so proud of himself and I was proud of him.  So then we practiced what we'd do if fire go on our clothing -- see the picture below of the boys rolling. :)

October 13: Sietsma's Orchards and Jar-O-Lanterns



Mmmmm...donuts and cider!

This was our first (but not last) visit to Sietsema Orchards and Cider Mill.  We go to church with the third-generation Sietsemas and wanted to visit their newly opened store and pick some apples to eat and make applesauce.  Our friend, Andy, surprised us with delicious donuts and cider for the kids -- they were ecstatic!  The trip could have ended there for them. :)  But we grabbed some bags and headed out into the orchard with Andy's directions as to what to pick and where to find the trees we needed: Cameos to eat and a combination of Jonogolds and Northern Spies for applesauce. 

Koen heard "Spy" and he was immediately interested.  The only spies he knows are on Cars 2 and he was excited to learn there was a Spy Apple!  Even though we picked them to make applesauce, he insisted on only eating Spies because, "This is the tastiest apple I have EVER eaten!"  I think I need to make everything related to Cars or some other movie/story/book he's interested in...do you think he'd go for Radiator Springs Roasted Chicken or Mater's Potaters?  ;)

Hanging out on the hay bales in the store at Sietsemas.

 After we picked our apples and purchased some cider we were off for home again. 

Koen had this day and the next off from school for the Christian School Teachers Convention, so he got to participate in our project for the day:  Jar-O-Lanterns!  I saw this idea in the October 2011 issue of Family Fun magazine and knew the kids would enjoy it! 

Begin with a glass jar.  Cut masking tape in basic shapes to create jack-o-lantern faces.  We used a lot of triangles, squares, and rectangles.  Place the tape on the outside of the jar to create a face.  Then paint the entire outside of the jar with orange paint.  The instructions from the magazine suggested acrylic, but I didn't have any so we just used orange craft paint from Target.  Wait for the paint to dry and carefully remove the tape.  Viola!  Your jar-o-lantern!  The magazine said to use a battery-operated tea light, but again, I didn't have any, so we used the good-old-fashioned votive candle and just set them on the counter for us to see and not touch. 

 

October 12: Library Day

I usually don't post about library day as our visits are fairly uneventful (thankfully), but Koen had a half-day of school today, so he was THRILLED to be able to go along.  He has his own library day at school but is limited to only 1 book a week.  We usually fill up our library bag with books, but since we still had 30 library books from last week's vist at home (they weren't quite ready to give them back yet) I limited their stack of books.   The kids selected a few books and then were content to play computer games, trains, and the other interactive games, so we just hung out for a while.  It was an enjoyable visit, but Ty did miss story time.

October 11: Non-Baking Day -- Bonus Recipe Anyway

Ty didn't feel like baking today, and since I'd just made these bars over the weekend it wasn't crucial that we have more baked goods.  I had all the extra caramel from our caramel apples sitting around, and I wanted to use that.  I found this idea at food.com.  The recipe recommends keeping the bars in the fridge which I didn't do because it hardened the caramel so much.  Sadly, the bars got stale pretty quickly on the counter.  Of course, if I had used the caramel out of the jar like the recipe calls for it probably would've been fine in the fridge.  I did freeze some which helped a bit, but they still went stale quickly on the counter.  Live and learn...

Caramel-Chocolate Oat Bars

• 1 package yellow or white cake mix
• 2 1/2 cups quick-cooking oats
• 1 cup brown sugar
• 1/4 tsp. cinnamon
• 1/4 cup melted butter
• 2 tsp. lemon juice
• 1 large egg
• 1 cup caramel ice cream topping
• 3 Tbs. flour
• 1 - 16 oz. package chocolate chips
• 1/2 cup chopped walnuts or pecans (optional)

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Set the oven rack to the lowest position.
3. Butter a 9x13 baking pan.
4. For the crust, mix the cake mix, oatmeal, sugar, and cinnamon in a large bowl.
5. In a small bowl, mix the melted butter, lemon juice, and egg until well-blended.
6. Add oat mixture, mixing with hands until the mixture barely holds together.
7. Sprinkle 2/3 of mix into the baking pan and press down with your hands to spread evenly.
8. Bake for 5 minutes.
9. Remove from oven and sprinkle with chocolate chips and nuts.
10. For the filling, combine the caramel with the flour, blend well.
11. Drizzle caramel mixture over chocolate and nuts.
12. Sprinkle with remaining oat topping and press down slightly.
13. Bake 20 minutes or until lightly browned.
14. Let stand to cool until cool enough to place in refrigerator.
15. Slice into squares.

NOTE:  Best served warm when the chocolate and caramel are a little melted. :)  Then it doesn't matter if they're stale!!!

October 9: "B" Verse

"Be still and know that I am God..." Psalm 46:10

The boys really knew this one already since they sing the song in Children's Worship every week.  I love Bible verses set to music...it makes it so much easier to learn and remember!  We've been listening to a lot of our Seeds Family Worship CDs (thanks Aunt Jane!) as well as Steve Green's Hide 'Em In Your Heart discs.

I'm amazed at how easily the kids remember the verses!  Granted, they only have two to remember right now, so we'll see how it continues.  I wish we'd started this long ago.

October 7: Color Changing Milk

This science activity originally comes from the Steve Spangler Website, but it's no longer posted.  It is very cool, though, so here's what you do.  Take a plate and pour milk to fill it.  Drip one drop of a few different colors of food coloring in the middle of the milk.  Try to keep the drops fairly close together.  Take a q-tip and dip it in the middle of the colors to see what happens (do NOT stir it).  Then put a drop of dish soap on the q-tip and place it in the middle of the colors again (for 10-15 seconds) and watch what happens.  Ty and Brielle were both excited about the movement of colors!  You can repeat that last step and place the q-tip elsewhere in the milk and watch what happens. 

Food coloring drops in milk.

Food coloring reacting to the soap in milk.

So what makes the food coloring move? 

     "Milk is mostly water but contains some vitamins, minerals, proteins, and tiny droplets of fat suspended in 

     solution.  Fats and proteins are sensitive to changes in the surrounding solution (milk)."  (Steve Spangler)

Apparently, the soap molecules weaken the chemical bonds in the milk's fats and proteins and then the soap molecules "chase" the fat molecules to connect them them.  I didn't explain all this to Ty and Brielle...maybe someday.

We decided to try this same experiment with food coloring in water.  I didn't expect much to happen based on the Steve Spangler website's information, but I was wrong.  It wasn't as dramatic as when it was in the milk, but still fun!

Food coloring in water.

Food coloring reacting to the soap.

Ty wanted to try something else for an experiment, so I pulled out the water color paint books and told the kids to see what happened when they painted with water.  They spent the next 30 minutes painting with water!  So fun!

October 6: Ty Plans the Project

I had a project planned for today, but Ty declared that he was going to paint a dinosaur today.  Far be it from me to get in the way of his creativity, so "dinosaurs" it was!  He probably spent more time painting his pictures than he would have on my suggested project, and I'm sure he enjoyed it more since it was his idea!

Dino #1

Dino #2

October 4: Oatmeal Butterscotch Muffins

Another muffin recipe attempt:  Seth really liked them; Koen ate one, said he liked it, and then wouldn't eat any more; Ty refused to try them, and Brielle seemed to enjoy them...maybe because she was the only one who helped to make them!  Like most oatmeal muffins, these did begin to get crumbly after the first day or two.  We stored them on the counter, so maybe the refrigerator would've worked better in helping these last longer. 

Oatmeal Butterscotch Muffins

• 1 1/2 cups quick oats
• 1 cup milk
• 1 cup flour
• 1 tsp. baking powder
• 1/2 tsp. baking soda
• 1 tsp. salt
• 1 tsp. vanilla
• 1/3 cup melted butter
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 1 egg
• 3/4 cup butterscotch chips

1. Mix all together in a large bowl.
2. Fill muffin cups 2/3 full and bake at 400 degrees for 20 minutes or until golden.

Recipe taken from http://www.sarahsdeals.net/search/label/Recipes

October 3: Brielle's First Gymnastic's Class

For the past few weeks we've gone to For the Kidz gymnastics class for Tysen.  Well, Brielle has been eager to get in on the action.  You may remember that I brought the kids to an open gym at For the Kidz before re-enrolling Ty in class.  Since then, Brielle has wanted to go out to play each time we've gone in to Ty's class.  There was a parent-child class that met at 9am and Ty could switch to Mr. Randy's 9am class, so we decided to give it a try. 

The first day went pretty well.  It's a little tricky to get a 19 month to listen to a teacher to do exactly what's planned for the class, but overall, the experience was really good for her.  Ty had a difficult time focusing on his class with Brielle and Mom in the same room, so we'll have to see how he does in the future.  I grabbed the video camera for her first day, but most of the activities involved me, too, so I didn't get anything to post here.  It's a shame, really, she was so cute running around and bouncing on the trampolines.

October 2: "A" Verse

For some time, I've been feeling led to be more intentional about memorizing Bible verses and getting the kids involved.  I decided that each Sunday we were going to introduce a new Bible verse, using the alphabet as a guide.  While researching online, I found a few lists others have used, so starting with those and changing some to ones that are near and dear to my heart, I came up with our list. 

Why do this?

"Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength.  These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts.  Impress them on your children.  Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up."  Deuteronomy 6:5-7

So today after lunch I introduced our "A" verse:  "A friend loves at all times..." Proverbs 17:17

I wondered how difficult it was going to be for the boys to remember a verse, but I shouldn't have worried.  Monday afternoon, Tysen looks up from his trains and says, "Hey Mom, 'A friend loves at all times...' and then he smiled and went back to his playing.  WOW!  He was the one reluctant to say it after lunch on Sunday, but he got it!  Why have I waited so long to introduce this?!?

I'm trying to get them to remember where the verse is found in the Bible, but that's proved to be a bit trickier.  Koen always says "17:17" after the verse, omitting "Proverbs" and Ty just forgets it completely.  We'll talk about it each week, but I can't promise they'll remember it. 

October 1: Caramel Apples

Unwrapping (and eating) the caramels.

I hadn't made caramel apples in years!  I thought the kids might really enjoy the process and the taste.  After finding a crock-pot "recipe" for the caramel, the kids (including Brielle!) unwrapped 2 bags of caramels, ate a few, and tossed the rest in the crock pot with a 2 tablespoons of water to melt for a few hours, stirring every 20-30 minutes.  I punched some popsicle sticks into the bottom of some apples and let the kids start dipping.  Since it was Saturday, Seth was home and got in on the fun, too!  Unfortunately, despite repeated warnings, Koen got a little of the hot caramel on his hand and was done before he really started.  Be careful with hot caramel!  We let the apples rest on parchment paper and should have left them there.  I moved them to a plastic container, but then we had to wrestle them to unstick them from the plastic.  Don't make the same mistake!

Surprisingly, none of the kids really got too excited about eating the caramel apples.  We did end up slicing them to make it easier for the kids to eat, but they didn't like how chewy and sticky the caramel was.  We ended up sharing most of them with friends, and Seth was able to enjoy the rest on his own. 

Carefully unwrapping...

Dip and roll.



The finished product.