Teaching Children about Christ's Resurrection

Besides reading books about Easter (or "Resurrection Day," as it is known to many Christians), I have used two other fun methods to teach Cooper about it this year.

The first is Resurrection Eggs (which I picked up at a garage sale last year for $1).  It is a set of twelve plastic eggs, each containing some sort of token which tells a part of the story of Jesus' death and resurrection.  The last one is empty, representing the empty tomb.  There is also a book to go along with them that explains what each token is for.  We did one each day for twelve days, and he could hardly wait from day to day to open the next one.

This morning we made Resurrection Rolls, which give you a chance to tell the gospel story while you are making them, and then you have a delicious treat to eat!

I have never done this, but I saw a recipe recently that I may do next year, Empty Tomb Cookies. 

Easter is my favorite holiday, and while I enjoy egg hunts and other frivolity, it is truly the holiest day in the Christian calendar, the day Christ was raised from the dead after dying on the cross for our sins.  While young children may not understand the full implication of this, it can't hurt to begin building a foundation of these wonderful truths.

Easter Eggs for Toddlers

I’m having our annual family Easter egg hunt this weekend.  This year Cooper, age two, will participate.  I got him some larger-than-normal eggs to distinguish his from everyone else’s, since he really can’t compete with older children and adults.

Which brings about a dilemma.  What do I put inside those eggs?  Everyone else’s eggs are filled with candy, money and toys.  I am not encouraging too much candy for him at this age, though I am putting that in a few of them.  He wouldn’t know what to do with money except, perhaps, eat it.  Pretty much any toy that is small enough to fit inside an egg is labeled with, “Not for children under 3.”  Hmmm.

So, I’ve thought about it and made a list of things that might be suitable:

Foods: Teddy Grahams, Goldfish, raisins or Craisins, pretzels, grapes.  I even found some “Cuties” (oranges) at Wal-Mart that are small enough to fit inside of these larger eggs.

Other: stickers, balloons (use caution), Play-Doh (the party favor size fits), and tiny bottles of bubbles.

Of course, be sure you save these eggs and “recycle” them for next year.  The only problem with that is that I’ve been doing it for years, and my collection keeps growing as we attend egg hunts or other people donate theirs to me.  Then I have more eggs to fill the next year.  Oh well.  No one who attends my egg hunts really seems to mind.

Reading

I have an education degree, and if you asked me what one thing you could do for your children to help them get a good start academically, I wouldn’t need to give it a second thought: read, read, read!

It not only provides a relaxing cuddle time with young children; it will increase their vocabulary and their knowledge about a variety of topics, usually help them learn their letters and how to read sooner and instill in them a love of reading that will last a lifetime.

It doesn’t have to be expensive.  The most obvious source of free books is your local library, but there is a wealth of other places to get books free or very inexpensively.

If you’re not familiar with Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library, you’re missing out!  Children from birth through age five can get a free book mailed to them every month just for signing up.  No strings attached!  I got Cooper involved just a couple of months after he was born, and we have gotten a lot of great books.  I always look forward to seeing what he will get each month.  (At this point that excites me more than it does him, but he enjoys reading them.)

Seriously, these (plus a few more) were all free!

I buy a lot of books at thrift stores (Goodwill is my favorite), garage sales and used bookstores.  Amazon.com also sells used books, but there is usually an extra charge for postage.

Although I’m partial to having a good, old-fashioned book in my hand, there are a lot of free or very inexpensive e-books available for children, and you don’t have to have a tablet computer to read them; they will download onto any computer.  You can go to Amazon and type “free ebooks for children” in the search box and it will bring some up, or you can do a search on your Kindle, Ipad or other device.  Many libraries loan out e-books as well.

This is one Cooper has learned to "read" himself

Cooper and I read when he gets up in the morning, before nap and before bed, and sometimes other times during the day.  It’s always a time we both look forward to.  Our routine is that he picks one book and I pick one, so that he gets to read his favorites, but I make sure the others don’t get overlooked.  I have a “once a day” policy on reading any book (to help maintain my sanity).  My husband reads to him as well, and when grandparents or other people are visiting, I encourage them to read to him.  It’s great bonding time!

Reading with Dad and Granddad

Staying Home . . . or Not

“Judge not, and you will not be judged.”  Luke 6:37

I was talking today to some of my MOPS friends (“Mothers of Preschoolers,” a GREAT place to hang out with other moms).  Some of them were expressing concern that they feel judged by their working-mother peers, maybe because they don’t contribute to the family income, or because they would not be prepared if something happened to their husband.  But we discussed how we sometimes tend to judge those working mothers too, because we perceive they aren’t spending enough time with their children, are too materialistic, etc.

Do we really need to judge each other?  Some mothers truly have to work (because they are single or for some other reason), but most of us have the freedom to make the choice, subject to our husband’s agreement and other factors in our lives. 

And we make different choices.  We place importance on different factors.  Some people want a nicer house, or they don’t feel like they have the patience to stay home with their children all day.  Some don’t think they could handle the isolation from other adults. 

I personally always knew I wanted to be a stay-at-home mom, and it took me longer than most to be able to achieve that status.  But now that I am one, I haven’t regretted it for even one day.  Maybe for a minute or two (I will look at someone’s nice house or car and wonder what it would be like to have that), but then I remember: there is no substitute, in my way of thinking, for what I’m doing now.  My son will only be young once.  I treasure those mornings when we get up and read our Bible story and just cuddle, sometimes for an hour or more.  I cherish rocking him to sleep, taking him to the zoo or other places and watching his eyes light up as he experiences things for the first time.  I got to see his first steps, his first giggle, and a lot of other precious things that I would have missed if he were in day care all day.  I get to teach him my values and reinforce the behavior I want to see in him.

I’m glad I am able to get things like laundry, cleaning and grocery shopping done during the day so that the evenings when my husband gets home can be relatively stress-free and we can have a relaxing dinner and family time.  But that’s my choice.  Thankfully, it’s my husband’s choice too, and what we believe God has called us to for this season of our lives.

But for others who are in a different place, that’s their choice too.  I will try not to judge them and hope they will not judge me either.

Leftovers

One sure way to include some waste in your grocery budget is to throw out leftovers.  I admit, I do it from time to time.  I always feel better about it if I leave them in the refrigerator until they're growing mold.

But let’s face it: that delicious dinner you had last night doesn’t look nearly as good on your plate the second time around.  So what do you do?  Here are some things I have come up with.

Eat Them for Lunch

I’m not a sandwich person.  Though I’m someone who really prefers a hot entrée, my standards aren’t nearly as high for lunch as they are for dinner, so I’m more likely to be willing to eat last night’s dinner again at lunchtime.  If you know you’ll be going to work the next day, pack your leftovers into a meal-sized container when you put them away after dinner.  That way you can just grab it and go the next morning.

Consolidate Them

I know: GROSS!  Not necessarily.  I keep what I call a “soup bowl” in my freezer, and when I have small amounts of leftover meat, vegetables, pasta, broth, etc., I add it to the bowl. When it gets full, I thaw it and heat it (add water or more broth if necessary to make soup).  It’s usually pretty good!  You’ll never have two pots exactly the same, which is kind of a bummer if you liked it.

Turn it Into Something Else

Cut that grilled chicken breast up on a salad the next day, or shred that pot roast and roll it up in tortillas with a few other goodies to make enchiladas.   Give old food a new life.  If you don’t want to use it right away, freeze it until you can use it.  There are several web sites (www.allrecipes.com is my favorite) that let you do an ingredient search.  Just type in the ingredient you need to use up, and it will pull up a whole slew of ways to do it.

Prevent Them

Since we have a small family, I often make casseroles in two 8” pans rather than a 9”x13” pan.  I cover the second one with foil, label it and write brief cooking instructions on top, and put it in the freezer.  That way, sometime when I don’t have much time to cook, I can just pull it out, thaw it and heat it up.  It will taste nearly as good as if it were freshly made.

Leftover Night

Thankfully, I was blessed with a husband who doesn’t mind eating leftovers (I’ve heard there are a few who do).  So, if all else fails, we occasionally have “leftover night,” where I heat up everything that is in the refrigerator (at least everything that is still edible), and we have a buffet!  So maybe it’s not a traditional “meat and three” kind of meal, but it’s usually sort of fun.

And last, but not least, if you have one of these, 

he or she will probably be very happy to polish off your leftovers for you.  I don’t buy into the old idea that dogs should only eat dog food, but you do need to follow a few guidelines.  There are some foods that dogs shouldn’t eat:

Chocolate (SERIOUSLY bad)

Onions

Peppers

Mushrooms

Tomatoes and potatoes should be limited

If you give your dog a substantial amount of leftovers, let it be a substitute for all or part of his dog food.  Otherwise, he will likely soon develop a weight problem.   Make sure he is getting his protein (meat) in, though, which is the most important element in a dog’s diet.

So, you see, there are lots of ways to use up those leftovers, and you will find your grocery dollars will stretch a lot further if you do.

Introduction

What a pathetic-sounding name for a blog!

It's really not THAT bad, is it?

I'm doing this blog to share the things I am learning in my day-to-day journey.  I have another blog that is for family and friends (or anyone who cares) to read about the more personal things in my life, but this one is designed to appeal to a greater section of the general public.  I plan to share recipes, parenting tips, ways I economize and whatever else I come up with that I think might be useful to others.

"Poor" refers to the fact that I am a stay-at-home mom.  We're not really poor (in fact, I believe we're rich in many ways that don't pertain to money).  We're getting by financially, but I often have to cut corners and economize to make sure our ends keep meeting.  These are some of the things I will be writing about.  I actually kind of consider it an adventure.  I'd rather be staying at home with my son than anything else, so I don't mind making a few sacrifices along the way.

"Old."  I'm not kidding about that.  I am 46 and have a two-year-old.    That's not the way I planned for things to work out, but my son is a wonderful blessing in my life, and I wouldn't trade him for anything.

Even so, I'm "tired."  Chasing a toddler is a lot of work, and it wears me out some days.  I have my strategies for making it work though, and I'll be sharing some of those too.

I hope the things I share will be helpful to others, and that many can relate (although I've come to the conclusion that when you're a 46-year-old mom of a two-year-old, you can't completely relate to anyone).  But I like to think being an older mom has given me time to acquire some extra wisdom, although, like most parents, I'm still learning as I go.

The cast of characters you'll likely be reading about include my husband, Don, who is nearly, but not quite, as old as I am.  We have been married for 7-1/2 years, and I thank God every day for giving him to me.

My son's name is Cooper.  Here he is, using my tortilla press as a laptop.  See, he's already learning to economize!  Actually, he is full of antics and, while I'll try not to brag too much about him (I'll save that for my other blog), it may come out from time to time.  That's just what moms do.

And then there's Nash, my cockapoo.  We currently call him "Velcro Dog," because he is badly in need of a haircut and everything sticks to him.  I usually give him a haircut in March (yes, I do it myself, to save money), but so far it hasn't been warm enough that I can do it and not feel guilty about it.

So that's me.  I'm sure you'll learn more about me along the way as I write.  And hopefully you'll learn a few useful things as well.