Deirdre, Author at JDaniel4s Mom

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+.

Pausing Life for a Moment- Praying for Christmas Card Senders

December 27, 2011 By Deirdre

I really look forward to getting Christmas cards every year. Some come from people I haven’t heard from all year.

The photo cards display how much friends’ and family’s children have grown, the vacations they have taken, and their wonderful homes.

Other cards contain updates on what they have been doing or changes in their lives.

These wonderful cards share give me something else too. They give me the opportunity to know how to pray for these special people along with the reminder to pray for them.

At our house, we put Christmas cards in a basket that we keep in the kitchen. From time to time we reach in, take out a card, and pray for its sender during our dinnertime prayer.

Here are some of the cards we received and prayers I have for their senders:

This card came from my one paternal uncle. He lives overseas. I last saw him at my wedding five years ago.

My prayer for him is safety abroad and good health. ( I have other prayers for him too!)

This lovely card came from a friend in Northern Virginia.

My prayer for her is that she would finally get to get married. She has been praying for a long time to have a family or at least a spouse of her own. If that isn’t God’s plan, I pray that she will find contentment in her singleness.

This beautiful card with an amazing creche came from a dear friend and her husband. She lost her mom this year. She wrote in her card about all the amazing support she has received this fall.

My prayer is that she will find peace and comfort in this difficult time. I also lift up praise that she is surrounded by amazing people who love her.

This last card came from my former pew buddy. Before I got married I sat with two widowers at church. I had grown tired of sitting with the singles after a while and sat with a lovely older couple. When the wife passed away, I ended up sitting with the husband and another widower. They were my Sunday pew buddies. One of them still sends me a card every year.

My prayer for Walt is for good health (He isn’t doing well at all.) and safe travel home from his winter stay in Florida.

I hope you will take a moment today to pause and pray for the people that send you cards this year.

Muffin Tin Monday- Layered Christmas Tree

December 26, 2011 By Deirdre

Merry Christmas! I hope you and yours had a wonderful day yesterday! I have been seeing all kinds of Christmas crafts with strips of paper and other craft materials. I decided to try to make one with food that we had at home rather than buy special foods. Next year I may try other foods that look more like strips. This one is okay, but it isn’t what I pictured.This year’s tree has plain yogurt with a star made of sprinkles, cheese bells, multi-grain crackers, ham cut to look like Christmas lights, red grapes in festive cups, and truck of a cracker.JDaniel really enjoyed this snack! He really enjoyed placing the cheese on the crackers. The grapes were also dipped in the yogurt. The remaining yogurt was eaten with a spoon. This post is linked to Muffin Tin Monday.

Mary vs. Martha Christmas

December 24, 2011 By Deirdre

Do you remember Mary and Martha in the Bible?

Martha was the one that toiled away trying to be a wonderful hostess for Jesus during his visit to her family’s home. Mary was the one who sat at Jesus’ feet and listened to what he had to say. Martha was the one who was frustrated and angry at her sister. Mary was the one that had peace and was the one Jesus said was doing the right thing. On this wonderful Christmas weekend, I have a question for you. Will you be like Mary or Martha?I know that you may be hosting relatives in your home that have to be cared for and fed. I know that you have children that need to be watched over as well as be cared for and fed. I know that this weekend may be stressful and frustrating. I know that you may want someone to come alongside you and help. ( I hope they will.)But even if you don’t…
When you do have a quiet moment or two this weekend will you fuss and whine about lack of help to God or will you listen to the words God is speaking to your heart?I am hoping I am like Mary this weekend. There have already been several Martha Christmas days at my house. May you have a Merry Christmas!

May you and yours find Jesus on his birthday day!

May you find that you too are like Mary in your heart this weekend!

Read.Explore.Learn.- Singing and Reading to Tiger Tales Books

December 23, 2011 By Deirdre

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. a badge on your post or create a link back to this meme.

- 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:

I love both of the books from Tiger Tales books. Veronica Vasylenko has beautifully illustrated both books based on Christmas songs with pictures that jump off the page. The books have glitter and raised pictures that really make the pictures pop.

In Jingle Bells, a mouse family is traveling to see their grandparents; in Deck the Halls, the grandparents are traveling to see them.

JDaniel loved it when I read and then sang the books. After a while, he started singing too.

What did we do?

I took the book Jingle Bells to JDaniel’s preschool classes’ Christmas party to read. When we were finished we did a craft and I planned a game to play.

Craft

I passed out foam bells and foam stickers and the class decorated them. I got the bells and stickers at Dollar Tree. The whole craft was $3.

Game

We ran out of time to play the game, but I wanted to share it with you anyway.

Jingle Bell Pass

Supplies:

Two Christmas stockings

Two jingle bells

Directions:

1. Have the class sit in a circle.

2. Put a bell in each stocking.

3. Have the students pass the stockings around the circle while singing “Jingle Bells”.

4. When the song ends the two children holding the stockings, get a prize.

5. Repeat steps 3 and 4 until many or all of the children get a prize.

Disclaimer: I was sent Jingle Bells and Deck the Halls by Tiger Tales Books to review. All opinions are my own.

Is it Santa’s birthday too?

December 21, 2011 By Deirdre

Christmas Activities- Christmas Treasure Tree

Is it Santa’s birthday too?(A pause was taken and he added.)If Christmas isn’t Santa’s birthday, why do we celebrate him?JDaniel age 3 1/2We had just stopped by a local hot dog restaurant to pick up lunch on Friday to take to my mom’s. (JDaniel and I always spend some time with my mom on Fridays and sometimes we surprise her with lunch.) The car hadn’t even made it out of the parking lot when he asked me the question above.

I was shocked that my not yet three years old had come up with the question. I really shouldn’t be. He comes up with questions like this a lot. He is just wired for them. Hearing how he processes and thinks through things is the best gift!

“No, it isn’t Santa’s birthday,” I replied. After a minute I added,” I am not sure when his birthday is.”

I don’t have anything against Santa. I really don’t. JDaniel told me what he wanted from Santa when it looked like he wasn’t going to get to have the next door neighbor’s four years old write it for him. He didn’t want me to send a letter to Santa.

We chat about him from time to time and JDaniel has seen Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer on television. He gleaned a lot about Santa by watching that show, but it also filled him with many questions.

He doesn’t get why Santa wouldn’t want to live someplace warm like South Carolina or how everything fits in one sleigh. I have tried to briefly explain the reasons why.

One of the things he doesn’t know is that Santa comes into the house deliver gifts. I think he would be nervous about someone we don’t know coming into our house. He thinks that Santa just lands on your front lawn. My husband asked JDaniel what he should do if he sees a man and his sleigh on the front lawn. JDaniel said, “Check to see if he has a lightsaber in his sack and then send him away.”

I have had to make some Santa choices.

Will I wrap presents from Santa in a different paper? I don’t know.

Will we put out chocolate or cookies for Santa? I have heard from a reliable source that he really likes Reese’s Cups so, I will leave them out.

Will I clarify that Santa comes into the house to drop off presents and eat the snack? No, I will not! I want him to sleep in his own bed on Christmas Eve.

Did we have a picture with Santa at the mall? JDaniel said that he won’t do anything but wave as we walked by him at the mall.

Will the pumpkins JDaniel has held onto since Halloween been eaten by reindeer that are hungry? Yes, they will. Reindeer are big pumpkin eaters and will need a snack too.

We will be having a birthday cake for Jesus on Christmas Day. If we find out when Santa’s birthday is, I will be very happy about eating a cupcake or slice of cake in his honor too.

Muffin Tin Monday- Away in the Manger

December 19, 2011 By Deirdre

I had it in my head that this week’s Muffin Tin Meal needed to be a manger scene. It was hard to wrap my brain around how to make it happen. Some weeks it is really easy to put together lunch.

Putting the Manger Meal Together

What I couldn’t figure out was who needed to be in the stable. Did I need to have Mary and Joseph or the animals? I finally decided to place a hard-boiled egg on a bed of mozzarella cheese in a holiday muffin tin cup. The yellow of the egg is supposed to represent his face and the white is the swaddling clothes.

The stable was the easy part. JDaniel is big into cheese and crackers right now and these crackers were on special at the grocery store. I think they look a little like a stable building material.

I couldn’t decide how many stars to include in the lunch! The cheese star was a given. The apple stars were added to dress up the plate a little and add a fruit to the meal. I know the Bible doesn’t talk about stars circling the stable, but I do think they look pretty.

If you like this manger lunch, here are some other food creations we have had at my house.

Apple Chicken Salad Bento Lunch

Lunch Ideas with LEGO

Minion Lunch with Blueberry Overalls

Giving Others Christmas: Week 3

December 18, 2011 By Deirdre

Welcome to week three of Giving Others Christmas!

When I was little, there was a lot of joy when Sears Wishbook would arrive at our house.

My sisters and I had to take turns looking through the toy section. It filled many hours of our time. Every toy we could possibly think of was in it.

I think we were patient while the other two looked through it. It must have been hard though.

My mom would let us pick one toy out of the section to get for Christmas. We usually got a couple of other things too, but the toy from the Wishbook was the “big gift”.

Choosing a big gift was a huge decision! If you made the wrong choice, you ended up with a dud gift while the others enjoyed theirs.

JDaniel spent hours looking through catalogs and Sunday paper ads to create his wishlist.

I know he is getting some of the things on his wishlist. I am hoping and praying that many other children do too.

How this link up works:

There are so many in need during this Christmas season. I am hoping you will join me in giving to others in your community or beyond this holiday season.

Each week I will feature a way my family is giving to our community during the month of December. I am hoping each of you will take the time to not only give to your community but to write a blog post about it. If you do, I would love for you to link it up below and include a link to this post or this badge.

My posts will go on Sundays, but feel free to share your giving post any day of the week that works for you. The link-up will be available during the rest of the month of December and will appear on every Giving Others Christmas post.

What did we do?

We took some toys to the Toys for Tots bin at our local Big Lots. I really love the organization and it was on my way to JDaniel’s preschool.

Read.Explore.Learn.-Special Christmas Trees

December 16, 2011 By Deirdre

Steps:

- Link your activity below.

- Please place the Read.Explore.Learn. badge on your post or create a link back to this meme.

- 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:

I am featuring two very special Christmas books this week about Christmas trees. I love them both.

The first is called The Little Fir Tree by Margaret Wise Brown. It is an amazingly moving book about a tree that is dug up every winter just in time for Christmas to be taken to a little boy who is bedridden. When Christmas is over he is returned to the woods to grow and wait.

The tree looks forward to making this special trip be part of the celebration while the seasons come and go.

One year the man doesn’t come and the tree starts to worry and dislike the now frozen world around him. As Christmas nears the man comes with the whole family including the little boy walking on his own.

The tree gets to celebrate Christmas in his home this year bedecked with berries, apples, and cookies!

The second book is called Night Tree by Eve Bunting. One Christmas Eve as a family sets out into the woods to find a tree.

When they find the perfect tree, they decorate it with popcorn, apples, sunflower seed balls, and tangerines for the animals that live in the woods to feast on. They spread breadcrumbs beneath the tree as well as nuts and apples.

After the decorating is done the family spreads out a blanket and sings songs while sipping on hot chocolate.

When they finish, they pack up their things and leave the tree for the animals to enjoy!

Both of these books have wonderful illustrations and messages. I hope you get the opportunity to read them both during the Christmas season.

What did we do?

Decorated a JDaniel’s Tree

When JDaniel was six months, old my husband planted a tree for him. It is still small and so it is easy for JDaniel to help decorate.

I strung together a cranberry garland for his tree and JDaniel created decorated pinecones with peanut butter and bird seeds.

This post is linked to Feed Me Books Friday, Link and Learn, Let’s BEE Friends, La La Home Daycare and It’s Playtime.

Finding the Topper for Your Tree

December 14, 2011 By Deirdre

This is the first year we have done a full-size tree for Christmas. In previous years we have done small tabletop trees that JDaniel couldn’t topple. I wrote about last year’s tree in a post called Maybe This Tree Will Grow Next Year.

JDaniel was super excited about selecting a tree. We visited several stores to find just the right one. He lobbied hard for a bright blue tree, but we ended up settling on a traditional green one.

After setting up the tree, we hung up some of our non-breakable ornaments along with the ones we have made while doing the Truth in the Tinsel curriculum and some homemade ornaments.

The tree was missing something. It needed something on top of the tree. We hadn’t looked for a star, dove, or angel while looking for the tree so, we had to head out again to find a tree topper.

JDaniel fell hard for a multicolored star that lit up and since I hadn’t given on the blue tree. I went with the star he picked out. When we brought it home and tried it on the tree, the top of the tree began to lean toward the floor and the star decided to not stay stationary on top of the tree.

JDaniel was so disappointed. He really loved the star, but it had to go back in the box.

I decided to create a game out of our star search by having him search for things around the house we could use on top of the tree. It was raining that afternoon and cold I really didn’t want to head out and start the tree topper search again.

He came back within ten minutes with a box loaded with things for us to try.

We tried:

A Playskool Man

A Rocket

A Sippy Cup

A Chenille Worm

A Wrench

A Fireman’s Hat

None of these really fit well with the rest of the tree.

A few days later we headed to Walmart and found the perfect star. My husband and I love it. JDaniel would still like to keep trying.

What is on top of your tree?

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

Adventures-In-Mommy-Land- and a Christmas Craft: An Egg Carton Tree

December 14, 2011 By Deirdre

I saw the tree below in a Christmas craft book and knew we had to make it. Once I had gathered all the materials, creating it was sort of an adventure. JDaniel wanted to play with the decorative elements and I wanted to decorate the tree. Actually, he wanted to pretend to bake a cake and decorate it with decorative elements. He really enjoyed it.