Our Little Penguin's Winter ONEderland Birthday

Though Shane does not turn 1 until this coming Tuesday, we celebrated his birthday with family and friends yesterday.  We are beyond blessed to have people in our lives who care for our kids and take time out of their own busy lives to help us celebrate them.   I probably say this in every birthday party post, but we are just so grateful to be doing life with such generous and loving people.

Shane was looking quite distinguished today.  Thanks, Lisa, for the perfectly-fitting-the-theme shirt!

Since Shane was born during a very snowy and cold time of year, I decided to fully embrace this and go with a Winter ONEderland theme for his party.  I thought I was pretty clever to come up with this term, but apparently I'm not the first one to use it. =)  As my researching and planning progressed, penguins became the main focus.  And, trust me when I say that if you ever need to to plan a penguin party, there is no shortage of ideas out there!

The invitation:

(In real life, the red line wouldn't be there!)

My mom made some wonderful batches of chili to serve for lunch, and we ordered some chicken as well.  For the rest of the meal, I was determined to go with an all-out penguin theme.  I know, I am a little crazy.

Igloo shaped cheese ball, with snowflake crackers...

Olive & Cream Cheese penguins...

(Igloo and olive penguins inspired by here.)

"Ice Chips" and "Ice Cubes"...

"Penguin Food" and "Tuxedos"...

PB&J "Snow-wiches"...

Penguin fruit snacks...

 Hot chocolate bar...

Penguin cupcakes...though they came out a little "owl-ish" looking...

(Penguin cupcakes inspired by here.)

The birthday boy enjoying some crackers...

Crafts...

 

Our kiddos' finished "Footprint Penguins"...aren't they cute?!

(I'm so proud of Caleb, who cut out his footprints all by himself!)
(Craft found here.)

 Bean Bag Toss...the creation of this was surely a team effort.  Kris built the thing, I painted the penguin, and Nana sewed all the penguin beanbags!

The kids had fun throwing the bean bags back and forth through the hole....

And, a bunch of penguin beach balls were also a hit! I wish I had more pictures of the kids playing with these...

Singing "Happy Birthday"...

Shane loved his cupcake, along with the cookies that were on top.  LOVED it.  

He ate it all.  With no problem.

We asked that guests, instead of bringing a gift, bring a coat, hat, or mittens.  Everything that was brought will be donated to a nearby community that has a need for these items this winter.  We collected a lot of warm and wonderful things....THANK YOU!

Penguin washcloth puppets for all the kiddos to take home...

 

Overall, Shane thought the party was a hit!
 

To top off the day (as if there wasn't enough excitement already), we went to the zoo to see the lights.  As we were leaving, we ran into this guy and just had to take a picture with him.  As you can see, Shane was thrilled.

Today, Shane opened some presents.  He wasn't too interested in this.  He did enjoy playing with some of the paper and some of the gifts, though he mostly just crawled around while his siblings fought over who would open what next.

Caleb and Meredith helping taking over the present-opening process....

Nana made Shane the sweetest present....a knitted penguin.  Shane immediately loved this soft friend.  He hugged it, smiled at it, "talked" to it, and kissed it.  Seriously, this guy is the cutest thing ever.  What a sweet sweet gift, thank you Nana!

 

Thank you so much to everyone who helped us with any and every part of celebrating our sweet baby boy!   I can't believe he will be one in just a couple of short days.  He brings indescribable joy to our lives each and every day.  We love our Shaner-bug so so much!

Stay tuned for a "Shane-is-officially-1" post later on this week!

Shepherds

In our Countdown to Christmas (Days 10-14), we are learning about the shepherds...how they first heard from the angels regarding the birth of God's Son, how eager they were to go to Him, and how they shared the good news of His birth with others.  

Luke 2:8-17

And in the same region there were shepherds out in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. And an angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were filled with great fear. And the angel said to them, “Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.  And this will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger.” And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying,   “Glory to God in the highest,and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased!”  When the angels went away from them into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, “Let us go over to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has made known to us.” And they went with haste and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby lying in a manger. And when they saw it, they made known the saying that had been told them concerning this child.

So, we made some toilet paper roll shepherds.   

Once again, I can't seem to resist crafts that use toilet paper rolls!  

These 2 kiddos also really like the small cardboard wonders...

They also love to cut.  Caleb is getting pretty good at cutting precisely.  Meredith is just learning to actually use the scissors.

Meredith's is on the left, Caleb's is on the right.

 (Printable template for the toilet paper roll shepherd can be found here.)

 And, we had to make some sheep as well (Meredith left, Caleb right)....

(Handprint lamb idea found here.)

love.

O Little Town of Bethlehem

Our latest Countdown to Christmas activities...

Day 7 - God had promised that Bethlehem would be the birthplace of Jesus. 

(Micah 5:2 - But you, O Bethlehem Ephrathah, who are too little to be among the clans of Judah, from you shall come forth for me one who is to be ruler in Israel, whose coming forth is from of old from ancient days.)

The kids painted, with water colors, a picture of Bethlehem.  We also listened to and sang the song O Little Town of Bethlehem.  We like the Sarah MacLachlan version. =)

Day 8 - Mary and Joseph went to Bethlehem to be registered. 

(Luke 2:3-5 - And all went to be registered, each to his own town. And Joseph also went up from Galilee, from the town of Nazareth, to Judea, to the city of David, which is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and lineage of David, to be registered with Mary, his betrothed, who was with child.)

For this day's craft, they each made a donkey to represent Mary's & Joseph's journey to Bethlehem.  The idea to use colored (or in our case, painted) clothespins for the donkey's legs came from some website, though I can't remember which one.  It's cute, easy, and the donkeys stand up so they can actually be played with. 

Day 9 -  Mary gave birth to baby Jesus in a stable.
(Luke 2: 6-7 - And while they were there, the time came for her to give birth. And she gave birth to her firstborn son and wrapped him in swaddling cloths and laid him in a manger, because there was no place for them in the inn.)

Of course, we had to make a "Baby-Jesus-in-the-Manger" craft.  So, here it is.

I came across this idea here.   She was right, we had all the materials on hand, except for the raffia (I have red raffia, but that doesn't work so well for hay, for obvious reasons).  And, I have to admit, any activity that calls for the use of toilet paper rolls is a win with me.

 The kids' recent crafts have worked themselves into playtime with the nativity set.

I recently came across this story, and it's a really sweet reminder of Whose birth it is we celebrate at Christmas time.

Practice

A little practice for those walking days ahead (never mind the pink stroller)...

Angels

We started our Countdown to Christmas yesterday (I still can't believe it's December).

 Today, the kids learned about the angel that appeared to Joseph to inform him of Mary's pregnancy.

Day 2 - An angel talked to Joseph about the birth.  
(Matthew 1:20 - But as he considered these things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, “Joseph, son of David, do not fear to take Mary as your wife, for that which is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit.")

 Tomorrow, we'll look at Matthew 1:21, when the angel gave Joseph some more details....that the baby would be a boy, that they were to name him Jesus, and that He would one day save people from their sins.  (Wow, what a night that must have been for Joseph!)

Day 3 - The angel said that Mary’s special son will save us from our sins.
(Matthew 1:21 - "She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.")

In the spirit of these verses, the kids made cone-shaped tissue paper angels (idea inspired from here).

I think they turned out pretty cute.

 Meredith's is on the left, Caleb's is on the right.  Caleb insisted on putting "teeth" on his angel, thus the "jack-o-lantern" look to his angel's smile....

Go here to see the angels we made at this time last year!