faith

Holy Week

What is Holy Week? Growing up , I never really heard the term Holy Week. We celebrated Easter and talked about the sacrifice that was made but thatโ€™s where it stopped . As Iโ€™ve gotten older , I have wanted to learn more about Holy Week ,lent and fasting. Some of these special moments and observations around my faith.I am still learning and by no means an expert but itโ€™s been so good to actually learn what they are .

Holy Week is the week between Palm Sunday and Easter Sunday. It is a week to reflect on the great sacrifice that Jesus took for each of us on the cross.

One of my favorite verses in the Bible is โฌ‡๏ธ โ€ฆ

โ€œAnd you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross.โ€
โ€ญโ€ญColossiansโ€ฌ โ€ญ2โ€ฌ:โ€ญ13โ€ฌ-โ€ญ14โ€ฌ โ€ญESVโ€ฌโ€ฌ

โ€ฆ. notice that it says All of our trespasses and that He forgave us and canceled our record of debt!!! Praise God!

I pray this week as you remember the greatest gift that God gave us through His son Jesus that you will remember that all that he did, He did for you and for each of us. He willingly went to the cross . He did that so that we would be able to one day be with him in heaven.

This week ,I encourage you to spend time in prayer thanking God for this tremendous gift. If you donโ€™t know God , this is a great time to talk to him and tell him hey I donโ€™t know you and I donโ€™t know if you are real I hear what others say but itโ€™s hard to understand or to believe. If you are there can you make yourself known to me? Show me and help my unbelief . Then watch how He answers .He willโค๏ธ

And for those who feel like you could never be forgiven or your too far gone .. if God can redeem my life, and he did in a mighty way, then he can do the same for you! What better week to accept that forgiveness and walk in freedom.

Gathered thoughts

International Childrenโ€™s Book Day

Today is the perfect day to cozy up with your favorite childrenโ€™s book and read to your littlesโค๏ธ
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A little history โžก๏ธ
International Childrenโ€™s Book Day is celebrated on the birthday of the Danish author Hans Christian Andersen. He wrote some of our favorite children’s stories, ‘The Emperor’s New Clothes’, ‘The Little Mermaid’ , ‘The Ugly Duckling’ and โ€˜The Princess and the Peaโ€™.

Gathered thoughts

Happy St. Patrickโ€™s Day โ˜˜๏ธ

Happy St. Patrickโ€™s Day โ˜˜๏ธ

Wear green and celebrate today

family adventures, travel

Carlsbad Beach ๐Ÿ„

Carlsbad beach is simply breathtaking ๐ŸŒŠ

The view captured there was absolutely amazing!

There were surfers ๐Ÿ„ riding the waves as the sun was setting which was so fun to watch.

The ocean was captivating as the tide started to move in and we couldnโ€™t help but get caught by it as it came in. Such a beautiful moment โค๏ธ I wish we would have had a whole day here just to enjoy it .

family adventures, Review, travel

Family Tour of the USS MIDWAY

One of our first places on our must see list in SanDiego,Ca was the Uss Midway . The Naval Aircraft carrier is bigger then life and is located in downtown San Diego at the Navy pier.

Finding parking was not the easiest . The parking in the Uss Midway parking lot is small but very affordable ( around 10$ a day) but hard to find. Thankfully we were able to drive around the block and find an open lot to park. The cost was around 30$ for the day .

Once parked, we looked for a Starbucks to grab coffee since it was almost Tea Time . Thankfully, right on our walking path to the pier there was a Starbucks . Yay!

The walk on the waterfront is beautiful! Just walking to the Uss Midway was a treat. It felt like a warm summer day at Christmas ๐ŸŽ„

The cost of the Uss Midway for our family of 5 was around 115$. More then we would normally pay for a Museum but now that we have done it .. we would do it again. It was well worth the money. Just to note ..active Military and law enforcement/ firefighters are free admission โ€ฆ.love this!

Upon boarding the ship, you are offered an audio device to wear around your neck or to use your own device. This allows you to hear more hands on experiences as well as sounds to bring the displays alive .

Once you walk into the ship , it is a visual overload. There is so much to see! Not quite sure where to start, we did the typical right to left plan.

One of the displays that we really enjoyed upon entering was being able to hear the biography of different heroes of the Midway.

One of our favorite finds was the used bookstore hidden behind a display. There were so many unique books in here! There were used and new books and some that can only be found there so it was so hard to choose!

We then climbed stairs to explore ( you will climb LOTS of stairs) . There was something to see everywhere we went. Amazing! Even our littles were so engaged in all the displays . Something about walking through a living history museum like the Uss Midway that is so exciting . Just being there makes it all come to life!

There were so many interactive displays that our whole family was able to try . So cool!!

We then headed to pick up our Uss Midway junior pilot activity sheet for the littles to earn their pilot wings. Kelly was great in helping us get started! Tip: This should be your first stop when you enter ship.

Another thing we loved about the Midway was most of the crew were volunteers! There were so many that had served in the Navy on other ships or in some way that just taking the time to thank them for the service and hear little tidbits of what they experienced was so much more then any history book could offer. Pricelessโค๏ธ

We then headed to the flight deck to do the island tour and oh my was it amazing! Definitely want to experience this if you are going to visit.

The boss and mini chairs were fun to get pics inโค๏ธ

There is so much history here as you tour. You canโ€™t help but learn a little while having fun.

On the flight deck there were so many helicopters and planes that we were able to walk in or sit in. The littles enjoyed being able to look at their own pace and explore.

Embracing Peace ~The Kissing Statue

This was a replica of the famous Life magazine photograph in 1945 . It is quite stunning to see in personโค๏ธ

It was fun to see the NCIS room on the Uss Midway. Itโ€™s one of our favorite shows to watch the reruns of so that was pretty cool.

Our time on the Midway was Amazing! If you are in San Diego then itโ€™s a must on your adventure plans .

American Girl Doll, homeschooling

Marie-Grace~American Girl Doll History classโญ๏ธ

Marie-Grace & Cecile from @americangirlbrand was one of our Dolls of the Month.
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The story takes place in 1853 in New Orleans and is full of history, an epidemic, and a friendship that transcended all social barriers at that time.

Most of the people in New Orleans at that time spoke French so it was fun learning a little french and speaking it at our tea party.

For our tea party we served chocolate drizzled croissants , scones and walnuts ( for our take on pralines)

We played a game from American Girl instead of doing the vocabulary bingo and the girls loved it!

The girls then decorated masquerade mask for their dolls and for themselves.

Such a fun day!
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Resource links below โฌ‡๏ธ


http://web.archive.org/web/20140815135703if_/http://www.americangirlpublishing.com/media/Spring2012/AG_CM_CostumeSearch.pdf

http://web.archive.org/web/20140815135712if_/http://www.americangirlpublishing.com/media/Spring2012/AG_CM_Fans.pdf

http://web.archive.org/web/20140815135724if_/http://www.americangirlpublishing.com/media/Spring2012/AG_CM_FrenchLesson.pdf

http://web.archive.org/web/20140815135748if_/http://www.americangirlpublishing.com/media/Spring2012/AG_CM_TheaterNight.pdf

http://web.archive.org/web/20130829071546if_/http://www.americangirlpublishing.com:80/media/Spring2012/Mystery%20Event%20Kit%202012/CrossGrid.pdf

http://web.archive.org/web/20130829071845if_/http://www.americangirlpublishing.com:80/media/Spring2012/Mystery%20Event%20Kit%202012/CircusSquares.pdf

http://4littlepiglets.blogspot.com/2013/03/american-girl-lapbook.html?m=1

http://www.usa-printables.com/50_States/LA/la-pics/louisiana-map-01.gif


http://allfreeprintable.com/cont/gms/pdf/mardigr-triv.pdf

http://web.archive.org/web/20140815135734if_/http://www.americangirlpublishing.com/media/Spring2012/AG_CM_MarketGame.pdf

Family activity, Review, travel

Grand ole Opry

This has been a bucket list adventure since I was a little girl watching Hee Haw โญ๏ธWe had the opportunity to go visit @opry and do a backstage tour.
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Upon arriving,you are ushered into this beautiful room that is rich with history all over the walls.To see some of Country Musics Performers ,past and present is amazing.

You are then greeted by a virtual Garth Brooks and Trisha Yearwood as they walk you through the Opry’s history and how it all started.Seeing the past performances is pricelessโœจ

It was also pretty cool to learn how they brought the wood circle from the Ryman with them when they moved.For performers, it is the highlight if their career to step onto the circle โœจThe Opry has a limited amount of performers that get asked to become a member of the Opry . It is a lifetime achievement moment for those that are asked.

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It was so amazing to see the look at the @opry through the years. It totally took me back to watching the show sitting with my Grandma & Grandpa and the sweet memoriesโญ๏ธ
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If you are visiting @nashvilletn then you need to put this on your listโญ๏ธ
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a few tips .. DO NOT BUY ONLINE we figured this out the hard way . We bought tickets online and the service fee was slot more then if you just buy on property. The only time it would benefit you to buy online is if you are on a strict timeframe and need to plan your visit .

American Girl Doll, Book, homeschooling

Felicity~American Girl Doll History

Felicity

Recently ,we had the opportunity to learn about Felicity Merriman for our American Girl Doll History Class.
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It was so fun going back in time to Williamsburg, Va and taking a peek inside Colonial living and what it would have been like living in Felicitys time.
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We jumped right in and started with making our butter and our spiced almonds.

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The butter took lots and lots of shaking the heavy cream .. then letting it sit and then shaking throughout which gave us two products, A cream to use with our scones and then shaking some more produced the butter. 

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We also worked on coating the almonds in between the butter so we rotated everyone through to have a chance to make the spiced nuts. 

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While the spiced nuts cooked, we sat down to have our tea party . We enjoyed scones with raspberry compote( our version of the raspberry flummery) and the cream from our shaking. We also enjoyed Felicityโ€™s Liberty Tea which is actually red Raspberry leaf tea without any added sweeteners. We also talked about proper tea service and table setting , something Felicity would have learned at her Tea lessons. Itโ€™s fun seeing how these simple traditions are carried through time. 
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Below are some helpful links, the recipes, printables , books and activities,I used in classโญ๏ธ


Butter in a jar:

https://www.playdoughtoplato.com/how-to-make-butter-in-a-jar/


Spiced Nuts:

https://dandridgehousedolls.com/2019/05/17/felicitys-spiced-nuts/


Felicity Lesson plan:

https://fieldsofdaisies.com/product/colonial-america-american-girl-felicity-printable-power-pack/


Books :

Movie:

We are an Amazon Affiliate and receive a percentage of your purchase when you use our links…Thank you for supporting our blogโค๐Ÿงก๐Ÿ’œ

American Girl Doll, Book, homeschooling

American Girl Doll History~Kirsten

We recently learned about Kirsten for our American Girl History class.
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@americangirlbrand Kirsten series is a wonderful story with historical roots . Her story starts as a family immigrating from Sweden and gives you glimpses of what it was like to be on board a boat headed for America.
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It was a wonderful read with some hard parts of loss and what is was like in that time era.
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Our Tea Party was pioneer themed. We had heart shaped cakes , cheese and crackers.


The heart shaped cakes were based on the Little House on the Prairie and the heart shaped cakes that Laura received in her stocking. The pioneers treasured flour and sugar and so it was a fun way to incorporate this treat into the Kirsten Tea Party.
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While the girls enjoyed their treats and tea, we shared our favorite moments from the books.
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We then played a fun bingo with vocabulary words on the bingo sheet that were from the books. This was a fun part that really helped reinforce what they had learned and it gave the girls a chance to earn class money to use in the class store.
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The girls also had the opportunity to learn to sew. They made aprons to match their dolls. This was the perfect craft for this time era since aprons were such a big part of the pioneers and their daily lives.


We then finished up by ๐Ÿ› shopping. The girls had the opportunity to use the money they had earned to buy items for their dolls โค๏ธ
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I am attaching some of the printables and the links we used for this class below. I hope you find it helpfulโค๏ธ

Heart cake recipes

Map where we put a sticker of the doll for where she lived

We purchased the history packet here .It was a wonderful tool! It had the bingo and crosswords and so much more!

Amazon is a great place to pick up the books as well as the mini stickers to have to add to your map. The coloring book below has several dolls to color including Kirstenโค๏ธWe participate in affiliate programs, including the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites. Thanks for supporting us by clicking below to purchase your productsโค๏ธ