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JDaniel4s Mom

growing & learning with him

Deirdre Smith writes/owns JDaniel4’s Mom. After twenty years as a elementary school and technology resource teacher in Northern Virginia, she became a stay at home mom in upstate South Carolina. Her blog features ways she and her 5 year old are exploring learning, crafting, creating healthy meals and living life to its fullest. Deirdre can also be found on twitter as @jdaniel4smom and on her blog's FB page. You can also check her out on Google+.

Recipe for Easter Breakfast Trifle

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Easter Morning is such an opportunity to feast on doughnuts, Easter candy, and other sugary treats. This wonderful Easter breakfast trifle offers the opportunity to serve something deliciously healthy to counterbalance all of the sugary foods that you may want to serve or eat on Easter morning.

This breakfast trifle is not only delicious to eat it is deliciously easy to make. I made it to take to my mom’s group at church a few weeks ago and the bowl was almost completely empty when I went to gather it up to take in-home at the end of the meeting.

Ingredients

12- Blueberry muffins crumbled ( I used some made from a mix.)

1-32 ounces. container of low-fat blueberry yogurt

1- 32 ounce container of low-fat strawberry yogurt

2 cups of strawberries sliced

1 cup of Raisin Bran cereal with granola

Directions:

1. In a large bowl place 1/3 of the crumbled blueberry muffins.

2. Place 2/3 of the large carton of blueberry yogurt on top.

3. Place 1/3 of the strawberries on top of the blueberry yogurt.

4. Add another layer of crumbled blueberry muffins.

5. Add 2/3 of the large carton of strawberry yogurt on top of the muffins.

6. Place 1/3 of the strawberries on top of the strawberry yogurt.

7. Add the remaining crumbled muffins on top.

8. Place the remaining 1/3 of the blueberry yogurt on one side of the bowl.

9. The remaining 1/3 of the strawberry yogurt will go on the other side of the bowl.

10. Sprinkle the Raisin Bran with granola on top of the yogurt.

11. Place the remaining strawberries decoratively on top of the granola.

12. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight.

True Meaning of Easter Rocks or The Jelly Bean Prayer in Rocks

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Jelly Bean Prayer Rocks- Each colored rock and the word it displays shares a part of the Easter story.
I love the Jelly Bean Prayer. I found it mentioned on the 1+1+1=1. In fact, I printed out the little coloring book 1+1+1=1 has on her blog last year to share with JDaniel.
The idea is that you share the gospel with your child as you give to them the jelly beans one at a time while they learn the poem that makes up the prayer.
Red is for the blood He gave,
Green is for the grass He made,
Yellow is for the sun so bright,
Orange is for the edge of the night.
Black is for the Sin we made
White is for the Grace He Gave
Purple is for the hour of sorrow,
Pink is for the new tomorrow.
While I love the idea of using jelly beans to share the gospel with children, I didn’t want to have to give JDaniel jelly beans every time we went over the Jelly Bean Prayer.
Little boys love stones and they love to hold them. I decided to have JDaniel help me paint some stones the colors mentioned in the prayer. I later went back and wrote the message each stone conveyed in the poem on it.
This set of stones is so easy to work with. Right now it lives in a basket in our kitchen and I have pulled it out to go over the prayer during meal times a few times this week.
By the time we get to Easter Sunday JDaniel will have a real understanding of Easter and of God.

Here are some other wonderful Easter activities for kids:

Legend of the Dogwood Craft

Chalk Bunny Hopping

Experiments with Egg Parachutes

Plastic Egg Greenhouse

Plastic Egg Patterning

You will find even more Easter activities on my Easter board on Pinterest. 

This post is linked to Mrs. Matlock’s Alphabe Thursday.

Pause Life for a Moment- Literal Mom

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You are in for such a treat! Melissa of Literal Mom is an amazing mom and word weaver. Word weavers have the gift of painting pictures with words and leaving you with a feeling that you have just read something very special. Just take a moment to read what she has shared in her guest post below and on her own blog when you have finished. You will be so glad you did.

Literal Mom

Mid March through the end of April brings an interesting scenario to our lives. Each child’s Spring Break fell in different weeks. My husband’s still buried in Tax Season, so pulling one child out to go on a family Spring Break during the other child’s break won’t work. And to top it off, because of Tax Season, we’ve planned our family trip for late April, when neither child will be off. Confused yet? Yeah, me too. And a little put-out, frankly. While my husband was chugging away at his job in a time when he’s at his busiest (read: never home), I’m going to lose a ton of productivity not one week, but two! And then after that, comes our family vacation. Another week lost.

Until I realized that I’d been given a gift. A gift of private, quality time with each child, individually, for an entire week. A week where we could either go where the wind blew us or carefully plan what THAT child wanted to do without any input (read: vocal objections) from her sister.

And a gift it’s turning out to be. In ways I didn’t really expect.

For example, both of my children picked the zoo as a special place to go on their week off. One child wanted to stay for less than one hour when we went. She just wasn’t feeling it that day. At all. And guess what? If her sister had been along, we would have never been able to leave within the hour. Because her sister? We will be there 5 hours, easily. And I’ll STILL have to cut short some of the things she wants to do.

And the movie The Lorax. We saw it as a family. Then my youngest wanted to see it again as her “movie day.” We had a great time together, just she and I. No jockeying over who’s sitting where, who had their arm on the seat, who gets what snack. And guess what? This week when my oldest is off? She wants to see The Lorax again too!

I’m tempted to say, “Good Heavens, this is ridiculous. I’m doing the same things with each child on their week off that I could be doing with both of them to save time!”

I could easily say that because it would be true.

But instead, I’m treasuring each moment, replay that it is for me, with each child. Alone. Because I don’t often get private time with just one of them. And I get to appreciate each girl in a way that SHE needs to be appreciated, not in a way that’s balancing between their two needs simultaneously.

And when we (finally!) take our family trip at the end of April, both of their emotional tanks will be full because I’ll have been able to spend not just a moment, but an entire week pausing with them. Drinking them in. Loving them for their unique qualities.

And that gift may not come again next year. So this year I’m appreciating every minute of it.

Muffin Tin Monday- Sneaking Carrot Lunches

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I am super lucky that JDaniel eats vegetables and I don’t have to sneak them into foods he likes. There are a number of moms I know that have to sneak in veggies through purees of vegetables or baby food.

With Easter right around the corner, I thought I would try creating two sneaky recipes using carrots in muffin tin meals that any bunny or child would love.

The First Lunch

The first meal contained whole grain rabbit sandwiches with cream cheese mixed with carrot baby food spread on top. JDaniel loved them. He enjoyed licking the cream cheese mixing spoon of much that I placed some into celery bites.

JDaniel is not big on celery. It is too strong for his taste. He was willing to eat it with the special cream cheese in it.

The rest of the tin contained foods rabbits would love to nibble. Strawberries, cauliflower, veggies straws, and kiwi grass were all placed in the tin.

My growing bunny loved all of them.

The Second Lunch

The second muffin sneaking carrot lunch has carrots hidden in two foods. The macaroni and cheese have carrot baby food mixed into it. The grilled cheese sandwich has shredded carrots hidden inside.

Actually, when you bite into this special grilled cheese sandwich you don’t notice the shredded carrots in it. The carrots are mixed with a small amount of mayonnaise and a 1/2 cup of shredded cheddar cheese.  The shredded cheddar looks just like the shredded carrots.

I served this sandwich to JDanie and his friend Jake and they both loved it.

The meal is rounded out with a small fruit salad.

Both meals were a big hit. If you have a child that avoids carrots, you might want to try one of these sandwiches or the mac and cheese. The carrots are hidden in plain sight, but your child may not even notice they are there.
This post is linked to Muffin Tin Monday.

April Fool’s Day Hat of Fruit

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With all the wonderful fresh fruit we have out in our local stores, it would have been foolish to not celebrate April Fool’s Day with a fruit salad in the shape of a jester’s hat.

You may have to squint to see the hat I envisioned in my hat just prior to constructing this fruit creation.

Regardless of whether you were able to see the fruit above as shaped as a hat, I hope you have a wonderful April Fool’s Day. May you find joy and laughter in the pranks pulled on you and may others find joy and laughter in the ones you pull on them.

Read.Explore.Learn.- Hopper’s Easter Surprise

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Welcome to Read.Explore.Learn.! This meme was designed to be a place for you to share the learning opportunities, crafts, field trips, and other activities you have done this week that tie into children’s books.

I look forward to seeing the ways you have learned with and explored books.

Steps:

    • Link your activity below.
    • Please place the Read.Explore.Learn. the badge on your post or create a link back to this meme.
      Read.Explore.Learn badge
                  
    • Please try to visit at least three of the other people that have placed links below and leave a comment. I will visit each of you and leave a kind comment.
    • If you are not linking up an activity and are just visiting, please try to stop by a few of the links below.
My Book Tie-Ins of the Week:
Hopper of Hopper’s Easter Surprise by Kathrin Siegenthaler and Marcus Pfister is a delightful book about an arctic hare that long to be different.
Hopper’s mom points out that he has a blue-tipped ear, but it isn’t enough for him. His mom points out that his fur will change in the summer and that isn’t enough. Then Hopper’s mom points out that he will look like the Easter bunny. That comment gets his attention.
Hopper wants all the facts he can get on the Easter bunny from his mom and seeks to find out some facts for himself.
On the way, he finds a fox that chases him, meets a friend, and tries to carry an egg the way he thinks the Bunny would.
When he brings his friend home they discover the Easter Bunny has been at Hopper’s house and delivered him an egg. Hopper and his friend fall asleep dreaming of how they will decorate the egg.

What did we do?

Spool Painted Paper Bag Season Trees

Hopper was interested in how his fur would change when the season changed. I thought it would be a great opportunity to talk about the seasons and paint colors to match each of them using a spool.
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Spring is… Allergies

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What do you think of when you think of spring?

Blooming trees

Flowers pushing through to display their glory

Warm days filled with playing outdoors

Riding bikes down streets filled with black plastic bags filled with newly cut grass clippings

Lemonade out on your porch

Digging in dirt to plant a garden

Sweat-filled brows and dirt-covered jeans

For many of you, the visions you have of spring resemble the glimpse of spring moments I listed above. Spring is the time of year when your family spends tons of time outside exploring, working, and playing.

For my family spring are a time of ever dripping noses, rashes caused by topical allergies, and itching eyes.

For my family, spring means checking the pollen count level that is sent to me in a daily e-mail. If it is a high pollen day, the medicines JDaniel takes at night during most of the year are taken in the morning so, he can play outside during recess at school or attend a birthday party outside.

For my family, spring means long socks worn under lightweight pants to prevent the skin on his ankles and legs from having a rash.

For my family, spring means skipping playgroups if the host of the week chooses to host playgroups at a local park.

For my family, it means playing for a short time in the early evening when the pollen count has dropped.

For my family, it means exploring the library for new books, the children’s museum for new exhibits, and exploring the play equipment at an indoor playground.

For my family, it means doing loads of crafts, playing loads of games, and playing with a load of construction equipment in JDaniel’s room.

I hope spring will change for us. JDaniel’s allergies have lessened a little this year. Maybe someday he will be able to play a spring sport, work in a local community garden and not fear the green that coats the world outside in the spring.

Until then we wait for mid-summer when the things he is allergic to diminish and the green haze fades.

This post is linked to Mrs. Matlock’s Alphabe Thursday.

Seven Things We Do To Ease JDaniel’s Allergy Suffering

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Those of you that have been following me for awhile know that JDaniel has horrendous allergies to nothing. Yes, nothing. According to the prick test he took two years ago, he isn’t allergic to anything. There was a slight allergy to dust.

Well, he is allergic to pollen, grass and a few other things that he takes medicine for year round. We just don’t know it from the test. We do know that JDaniel’s eyes well up, his nose drips, and he has been know to get skin rashes and wheeze in the spring, summer and early fall.

I thought I would share with your seven things we have done or a starting to do to try to help him suffer a little bet less during allergy season along with all the drugs he takes.

 

    1. Change his clothes when he comes in from a short time outside.

 

    1. Take his shoes off as soon as he gets in the door. ( He can’t leave pollen footprints around he house if he doesn’t have shoes on.)

 

    1. Comb his hair right outside the door. ( He can’t carry it and have it fall in his face if we try to get rid of it outside.)

 

    1. Wash his hair and/or his whole body after being outside and before bedtime.

 

    1. Give him lots of fluids to drink.

 

    1. Wash his hands every time he has been outside or use alcohol free hand sanitizer. (JDaniel rubs his eyes a lot during allergy season. Hand sanitizer with alcohol would sting his eyes if he rubbed them.)

 

    1. Give him local honey. ( His allergist doesn’t think this is necessary, but it can’t hurt.)

 

My friend Kristen of Busy Kids= Happy Momsent me another tip. Her tip was to make sure you keep all windows closed in your car. Jdaniel always trying to roll down the window near his car seat with his feet.

 

Pause Life for a Moment-Preppy Girl in Pink

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Preppy Girl in Pink is such a fun blog to visit! Kristen loves being a mom and you can read that in her wonderful posts about her family. I so enjoy visiting to see what her family has been up to and Kristen’s wonderful insights on motherhood.
Kristen is also an amazing commenter. I love getting to read what she has thought about one of my posts. We are blessed with the opportunity today to get to comment on one of her posts today on Pause Life for a Moment.

Pause Life for a Moment

I have to tell all of you that I was honored when JDaniel4’s Mom invited me to participate in “Pause Life for a Moment”. I wish I would’ve known about blogs when my girls were younger because a blog like this one, makes it easy to pause life for a moment with your children. There are so many fun ideas on this blog that I always try to make them a bit older for my own girls or I make notes for when I have younger kids over to our home.

My New Year’s resolution was to actually slow down, show patience and focus on my family more. So many times we let life get in the way of fully living. I looked up one day and my girls were older than I knew and needed me less. My heart reminded me that our time together doesn’t have to be about need, it can also be about want.
I started thinking about a family project. I knew that if we could come up with something that we all loved doing that we would reap the benefits for years to come and that it would always give us reason to pause life for a moment.

I wanted us to do something big…something that would take a lot of effort for us to make happen. I wanted something that would bring us together and keep us close…close in our hearts and close in our thoughts. I wanted it to be something that we all didn’t need but would want.

We talked a bit about a few different ideas but the one that came first and the one that kept coming back to us in our discussion was a very large butterfly garden. We will begin to break ground in just a few weeks and we decided on an island that we have in the middle of our driveway that has never truly shown its full potential.
When we talked about what we could do as a special family project, a butterfly garden just made sense. My girls have always loved butterflies because their Great Grandmother (whom they called GG) loved them. She had them in every room of her home, wore them on her necklaces, and always pointed them out to my girls when we were out and about. When their GG passed away, there was a butterfly that seemed to watch over the burial service from a headstone close by. My girls (and I, truthfully) believe that it was GG’s spirit. Since then, butterflies are a connection that they hold close to the fun memories and love that they shared with their GG.
We plan to not only pause life for a moment when spending time with our girls planning out and planting our new butterfly garden but also when it is completed. We want them to see the beauty that can come from the soil. We want them to smell the fragrance that can come from a budding flower. We want them to hear the music of the butterflies flapping their wings. We want them to pause life for a moment and not only be reminded of their GG but their life right there at that moment. We want them to give thanks for the time that they are allowed for true reflection and peace as a family.

We want them to learn how to pause life for a moment when they are young so that when they are older it will become a natural thing, not something they have to put on their calendar like a dental appointment. We want them to know that with just a short amount of time in a place that is surrounded not only with beauty but created with love that there is always a safe place to land…just like this garden will be for a butterfly.

Read.Explore.Learn.- Whose Garden Is It?

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Welcome to Read.Explore.Learn.! This meme was designed to be a place for you to share the learning opportunities, crafts, field trips, and other activities you have done this week that tie-in to children’s books. I look forward to seeing ways you have learned with and explored books.

Steps:

    • Link your activity below.

 

    • Please place the Read.Explore.Learn. badge on your post or create a link back to this meme.
      Read Explore LearnPlease try to visit at least three of the other people that have placed links below and leave a comment. I will visit each of you and leave a kind comment.

 

    • If you are not linking up an activity and are just visiting, please try to stop by a few of the links below.

 

My Book Tie-Ins of the Week:The book Whose Garden Is It? By Mary Ann Hoberman is such fun to read. A mother and her son stop by to admire a neighborhood garden while out on a walk.

Mrs. McGee comments and asks who owns it and the man tending the garden says that it is his.

Mrs. McGee hears voice after voice claiming that the garden is theirs. The rabbit, bees, rain, sun, dirt, worms, seeds and about 15 other animals and elements of nature claim that it is theirs.

This book is in rhyme and is such fun to read. The words flow easily of the reader’s tongue and give young children the opportunity to guess that the last rhyme of each page will be.

The pictures are gorgeous. The watercolor painting will each page and surround the words.

This books has quickly become a favorite.

What did we do?

Planted Seeds

I found some wonderful seed kits at the dollar store that contained peat pods, pots, and seeds. The coolest part about them is that the peat pods grow when you place them in warm water. It is amazing to watch the soil rise.

 

 

Then we placed the pots into a cute metal tub I aslo found at the dollar store. Oh! We put paper towels under the pots to absorb the water that drained out of the pots.

Created a Upcycled Watering Bottle

We used a hammer and a nail to put holes in the top of an old juice bottle. I later put a label on the bottle to make it look pretty.
The key to using this upcycled watering bottle is not to hold it upside down. You  tip the bottle forward and then you squeeze the sides of the bottle. The water will squirt out of the top.

What have you been reading and creating this week?

 

 

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