This is a picture of all my boys playing outside on our trampoline. They slept in (well most of them), and when they all got up and realized how warm it looked outside the first thing they did was to ask to go outside. Of course I couldn't say no, they were still in their pajamas. You truly have to enjoy this fall weather when you can, because here in Texas it doesn't last long.
Some of the things on my check-off-list to do this break are:
- Buy some Christmas and birthday gifts.
- Finish up sewing project (making tote bag from old jeans and dress).
- Go through the dreaded mail and shred all the dang credit cards they try to send to us! Or other junk mail that has any personal information on it, uhh I hate doing this!
- Let kids play outside as much as possible! Seriously you never know when it's going to get too cold or wet here.
- Of course eat lots of food, THANKSGIVING is the best!
- Spend time with family outside our immediate family while we can.
- RELAX try not to consume every moment with something planned to do, this is actually really hard for me to do.
As far as teaching what Thanksgiving is really about to our kids, I did a few different things this year. First I have always heard about a 'Thankful Tree' there are many pre-planned ideas online, but never did one. I decided just to do one of my own, I got some construction paper and make a tree trunk with a few branches. Nothing fancy as you can see. Cut out some leafs using different fall colors on construction paper. Then as a family (about once a week until Thanksgiving) we sit around our table think about what we are thankful for, and put it on a leaf. Sam (my sweet pea, now 3 y.o.) put down ones like; God and cousins. Matt (my rambunctious 5 y.o.) actually came up with some very biblical ones like; Jesus and that Jesus rose on the 3rd day. Josh (my practical 8 soon to be 9 y.o.) came up with ones like; our house, bible, sports, and family. I thought about what Daniel (my spunky now 20 mon. old) likes and wrote down things like; candy and cars. Dad was very insightful and wrote things down like; heater, home cooked meals, and a job. I put down things like; coffee and warm clothes. We all put down; friends, veterans, and grandparents. We still need to add some, but this was so simple and really made them think about how blessed we are.
I also just printed out some thanksgiving pictures, that they colored. We talked about how the Pilgrims came over and had a very rough first year in America. How the Indians helped us learn how to grow corn and other things for food. The first Thanksgiving the Pilgrims and Indians gathered together to celebrate their friendship and the hardship they had overcome. They used watercolors to paint the Mayflower. My oldest has learned some more facts in history but, really just used an informal way to learn and talk about Thanksgiving.
1 Thessalonians 5:18 (NKJV) 'in everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.'
Up next on my blog will be my Thanksgiving Menu!
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