Truth in the Tinsel

"Someone, someone!" says Mouse.

Vanilla Bunny, a gift to someone who likes bunnies.

"I made a crown because Jesus is the King!" Jonah declared.

Zechariah with wrinkly hands

Bethlehem

I'm so glad I found the Truth in the Tinsel eBook this year! We have been going through the Christmas story with that book, and it has been wonderful! We have not done the crafts in the book every day, but it has been nice to read and to discuss the scripture with Jonah. We even had Sunday school the other day when Jonah had a friend over, and we did one of the days in the book together. We will definitely do this again next year and I warmly recommend this to you and your little children.

Other than that, we have been making gifts. Jonah helped me with some of them, like the bunny.

Here is a book to read with toddlers that we received this last Christmas. I love the illustration and the different perspective of the Christmas story.  As I was googling a picture of this book, I ran into a lovely blog, Planet of the Apels, that had a list of children's Christmas books and reviews for them.

We also bought "The Very First Noel" short film and enjoyed it, too. There is one thing that bothers me about it, though…the wise men went to see Baby Jesus in the stable, whereas Scripture tells us they went to the house of Joseph and Mary (Matthew 2:11). Like with all books that have this common mistake, I just tell my kids while reading it how the story *really* goes.

There is so much to write about, and not enough time! I'll be back later, whenever I have a chance.

Getting Ready for Thanksgiving

This wall magnet calendar has been very nice for Jonah for learning and to plan his days out. I got it from Target last year when we were visiting the States.

We practised some stitching around the pumpkin, since Jonah has been asking for me to teach him how to sew and knit.  He did very well!

I found these wonderful free printable Thanksgiving decorations and activities online through Pinterest. You can get yours here and here.

Oh, Dinosaur!

Daddy enjoys this book almost more than Jonah.

These guys grow six times their size when you put them in water. Jonah got them from cousin E for his birthday.

What is it with little boys and dinosaurs? I was never too fascinated with them growing up and it has been interesting to see my son develop an interest in them, as well as many other so-called boy things. Those are anything that makes a lot of noise. It has been fun for me to see the world through Jonah's eyes and to explore it with him.

Books & Reading

We love to read. I don't get to read my own books as much as I would like, but I attempt to read with the kids as much as possible. I used to have all the children's books organized in a bookcase in color order, but ever since our little one became mobile, I moved all the books with paper pages up in a glass cabinet. The baby books are on a lower shelf and our one-year-old Sally has full access to them. She has picked her favorites: Your Personal Penguin and Snuggle Puppy!, both by Sandra Boynton. What is special about these books is that you don't just read them, you *sing* them. These two books were, and still are, loved by Jonah, who is now four and a half. He often joins me in singing whenever Sally wants to hear them.

Spot the Dog was one of my favorites as a small child, and my kids like to read and watch it too. The alphabet Jonah has on his wall was a free printable from funwithspot.com. It seems like we have the alphabet everywhere. There are flash cards, a poster, games, books, iPod apps, memory card games etc. Having all the letters and numbers around have paid off, too. Jonah learned his letters and numbers early and has now started to read in Finnish. He is still practicing reading in English.