Exciting Christmas News!

Today I stopped by Pastor Kathi’s office and asked her if I could decorate the Kingdom Kids (birth – 5years old) area this year for Christmas. She said “YES” and we spent the better part of an hour talking about neat ideas we had seen and cool craft projects we could make happen to keep the cost down. We were both on the same page about the theme!!! How awesome this that??? I don’t have the “full vision” yet, but here are some pics that are going up on my inspiration board at work this week……

How cute is this gonna be. I’ve also got to get some ideas for the children’s church in Conway!!! I will be decorating in like 5 places this year… YAY!!!

~mandy~

Getting a Special CPC post together…

A couple of months ago I posted a link to a new website called “Impress Your Kids”. This is the same website where I have been getting my CPC: CONWAY - ABC sermon ideas from. 25 days ago Amanda (the author) started this series called “31 Days to Impress Your Kids.” She shares some practical things to help you imprint the Word of God on your children’s heart forever. I have not had a chance to go through the days yet, but that is my plan this after noon and I am excited to share the post with you!!! As a step parent I am constantly trying to find ways to teach the girls about life and God on a level they can understand and they can remember, I believe I have found the website series to help me with that. SOOOOO, get ready, I am excited, you should get excited!

~mandy~

Secret Confession

Why? Because I do.

Usually people need something RIGHT THEN and I am in the middle of 400 other things.

OR they want to ask a question that I am not a liberty to tell them the answer to.

OR it’s a problem that I have to fix when I don’t know how to fix it.

OR a teacher didn’t show up in the nursery.

OR it’s something that they ‘really’ don’t need to talk to me about.

OR I forgot to do something and it’s at panic stage now.

OR ……. well you get the point.

SO, if you ever come up and say “I need to talk to you” and I have a panicked look…. this is way.

Be kind to me. Please.

~mandy~

:)

Vacation Pics….YUP

You knew it was coming…. I did find out that I didn’t take nearly as many pics as I thought I did…. Oh well.

Literally 20 minutes after we got to our condo we were headed to the beach. This was my attempt to walk and take a pic of Jess and I . The bottom one -  Brand took the camera to get our pic, but a bug decided to attack Jess at that time…. I was very concerned for her safety…as you can see.

Day 5 we went to Fort Morgan – further down the beach – to check out the area and see if we wanted to stay there on another vacation….

We decided that CenterPoint should buy this house and all the staff be able to use it….It was for sale…… just sayin.  :)

Rain storm from the 16th floor – pretty neat.

Morning sky

Our CONDO!!!

Last Night

We had a great time!

~mandy~

CPC:Benton BIG DAY & CPC:Conway Update

This past Sunday our church, CenterPoint Church, finished our 7 week series, the Magnificent Seven, with a BIG DAY!! We had a cookout and blowup games for the kids… a super great time. We also had a water baptism after service, but those pics are on my camera and I don’t have the cord at the moment.

Our BIG DAY in Conway is this Sunday!!!! We have been busy getting ready. Krystle and I have spent the last couple of Monday’s getting the nursery and children’s church areas spiffed up for the day….

We painted “popcorn box” party favors for the “baskets” of our hot air balloons.

Turned out super cute!

 

We then started a felt Autumn Garland……it turned out amazing!!!!

 

We have some soundproofing issues in the nursery, so Krystle and I are always looking for ways to work on that. This week Krystle had the amazing idea to “draw” a couple of trees with glue, let it dry, and then paint over it, for a fun texture. Behind the canvas we put some fabric behind it to absorb some sound.

I brought paintbrushes…..but they were all tiny brushes. I had the idea to “paint with napkins” ….. that should work, right???? Well……not really, but I came up with a really cool effect and SOOOOO we went with it.

Kinda cool…..They look better in person. So you should come and see them in person one day… just sayin’.

Got home from CPC:Conway around 8:00 and sat down to eat some yummy Slim Chicken’s, which I had brought back from Conway with me.  :) There are several more things we have to complete, so I know we will have more pics to share……

~mandy~

Sneak Peak

Change is in the air. Weather, life, seasons, work…everything is changing and becoming better and better. With that “change in the air” and because I know that the holiday season is crazy busy, I tried to do a little planning ahead. In the nursery/toddler/pre-school area at CPC:Benton (Kingdom Kids) I got the volunteer calendar for October pretty much squared away and when I pulled my November calendar out I was pleasantly surprised to see that I didn’t have to do much to it! It was already all filled in with happy volunteers…. YAY! They are SO awesome! After the calendars were hung in eyesight, I moved on to working on the November and December Lessons……it went so well that I got our lessons planned out till August of next year!!!! What???? I know.

(wall of inspiration….well black board)

I then moved to my favorite part of working in the Kingdom Kids area (other than the kiddos of course) is ….. CRAFTS!!!! You should have expected that one.  :) Here is a sneak peak of a few crafts we will be pulling out in November…..

(made this today!)

(pretty excited about the Thankful Tree…..So gonna do this at home too)

 

Of course when you talk about Thanksgiving you automatically want to move to Christmas!!!!! There will be a party for the Kingdom Kids at church on Sunday the 18th, don’t know all the particulars, I DO know it will be a BLAST. We’ll have games, crafts, coloring sheets, candy and cute snacks…..sigh, I am a little sad it is only October.  :) Here is a quick sneak peak of a few goodies we will be doing that day (IF all goes to plan).

How cute are these??? Really?

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I can’t show you anymore, the rest you will have to see in December.  :)

I am also planning a Volunteer Appreciation Christmas Party for all my wonderful workers at my home sometime in December….. I am excited to be trying out a couple of recipes….. here is a sneak peak of those ….. get your taste buds ready……

Garlic Parmesan Pull Apart Bread

Chicken and Bean Soup

Monkey Bread Muffins (AMAZING)

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That’s all I can tell you, I am getting really hungry.  :) It’s gonna be a great season, and I am excited to share it with friends and family and starting new traditions and reliving some old ones….. EEEEEEKKKKK It’s gonna be awesome!

~mandy~