Sunday AM Song & Dance

On Sundays we have a full day with much to do.  Getting the day off to a good start is key.  However, getting myself and the kids ready and to church (and Sunday School) on time is often a challenge.  My husband helps when he can but reality is that Sundays are the busiest day of the week for him so it is easiest for all of us to have an established routine that doesn't involve him.  A key part of that routine is getting the kids into worship mode with some great DVDs that they can watch (dance and sing to) while I do my things.

A favorite DVD is Praise World (プレイズワールド). While it is a bit dated the kids don't seem to mind.  The first part reminds me of a late 80s workout tape for kids.  There are step-by-step instructions with the moves for the song and then a sing and dance section.  Here is a video of a recent dance/sing along on a Sun. AM...



Here are some of our other favorite DVDs:

Cedarmont Kids
Action Bible Songs
Sunday School Songs

Psalty the Singing Songbook
Kid's Praise 4 "Sensational Servants"
Kid's Praise 5 "Psalty's Camping Adventure"

Pool Boy

Kids around us are super busy with many different clubs, classes and activities.  Comparatively we live a rather tame life.  Zilla's one "extra curricular" activity over the past year has been swimming lessons at a local pool.  To me, swimming lessons are great for many reasons but the most important is learning the life skill of swimming.
It is expensive (in my view of money...) to take swim lessons here and there are many times where Zilla has tried to talk me out of going... and it is a half hour walk to the pool each way - which we don't mind usually but when it is hot/cold/rainy/snowy we find it to be bothersome.
Anyway, as we are busy during the next few months we're taking an official absence from the pool.  In the past 14 months Zilla has gained much confidence and skill but at the same time he still hasn't learned to shut his mouth when he's in the water! :-) (<-- like me...)


Zilla is the kid in the dark blue swim cap


Here is a jumping in exercise that has taken him a while to get comfortable doing

The pool Zilla goes to doesn't have an open swim or family swim time so I'm hoping over the summer break we can find some pools to go to as a family.  Mega is a real trooper every week coming along to watch her brother swim and I know she'd love to get into the water with him!

Father's Day Gifts

When it comes to giving gifts my kids get overly excited.  They have a very hard time waiting until an actual day to give something.  Father's Day being on a Sunday makes it tough to decide if we should celebrate early or late as Daddy is too busy on Sunday to celebrate.  So, we did the gifts early and out special time together late.

At preschool Zilla made 手伝い券（helper coupons)  for Daddy to use to ask for special help.  These have the potential to be very useful!

On the Pink and Green Mama blog I saw the idea for a shirt with a map on the back so that as the kids play dad gets a back massage.  Zilla and I had a great time drawing it while Mega napped one day.  Of course, as soon as it was done he wanted to test it on Daddy.  So, when Daddy came home 10 minutes before bedtime on Friday night we spent those 10 minutes opening his gifts because the kids couldn't wait any longer!
I think this is a gift we could make again in a few years when the kids are better at drawing.  It is such an easy and wonderful homemade gift!

Virtual Summer Camp

I just saw this page last week and have yet to really look over it but I love the idea!
A virtual summer camp organized by Melissa & Doug (one of my fav. companies!)
 http://blog.melissaanddoug.com/camp-sunny-patch-guide/
While our summer doesn't start for another 6 weeks I think we could use a number of these activities in the after school hours.
As I said, I love the idea of it and am looking forward to having some time to really look over the program!

Let's Pray... And Learn...

I know, I know, I should be praying too instead of taking pictures...

(this was taken during church a few weeks ago...)

But sometimes I just want to capture the moment...
And as you can see Mega caught me capturing it!

Here is another picture from church...
Can you guess the Bible story?

This was how I taught the Sunday School about the paralyzed guy whose friends took him up on top of a house and opened a hole in the roof to lower him down to Jesus who then healed the man. The kids have no concept of Israeli architecture so I used Lego's (as all houses in Israel at Jesus time were made of Lego's... ;-) ) to help them get the idea.