Praises of a Wife and Mommy

This year we are getting creative with our egg hunt.  We still have about 2 feet of snow still outside so doing an outside egg hunt sounds cold and wet!  We put some glow sticks inside each egg and hid them inside our tent with a ton of ball pit balls.  It was a blast!  Each of my kids took several turns of finding them.   So if you are a fellow Wisconsinite or Midwestern with still a lot of snow on the ground here is a new spin for your Easter!  :) Go have some fun and make some new memories with your children, but don't forget to share the true meaning of Easter!  HE IS RISEN!!  

Next time you are at the Dollar Store stock up on Glow Sticks!  There is an endless amount of fun that you can have with them.  Here are a few ideas for you to get started.  Click on each link to see my post and more information on each of them.  :)     Glow Sticks in the Bath    Glow Stick Valentines Card    Orbeez beads and Glow Stick Sensory Fun    Glow Sticks in Balloons    Glow Stick Noodle Bowling

With the extreme heat lately I have tried to find some fun things to do inside to keep cool.  I had seen on the Parenting website an article showcasing night bowling outside using glow sticks so I took that idea and changed it a little bit.   1. We went to the basement where is was cool and dark instead of waiting for night time.   2. We used a toy bowling ball at first but then my son grabbed the pool noodle and had a ton of fun knocking over the "pins" with that instead of a ball.  3. I added food coloring to the water bottles and then used 3 glow sticks in each bottle. The pictures did not turn out as well but it was a lot of fun!  :) We also brushed up on our colors, counting, and taking turns during this activity.  

  I had really difficult time trying to get some good pictures so please forgive me on my blurry pictures.  I did not get any good pictures of my 4 year old dancing but trust me she enjoyed this! I should invest in some photography classes and save for a better camera.  :) :)  Again the Dollar Tree had the two items needed for this activity.  1. Balloons and 2. Glow Sticks  Then turn the music up and turn the lights off!  Have fun!   We did pop a couple balloons but then we created another game.  Use the Glow stick to bat the balloon and keep it in the air.  Fun and challenging for a 4 year old. 

My daughter got one of those Orbeez bead sets for Christmas.  I was so amazed at how those beads grew in the water.  It was so much fun!  :)  My daughter made her necklaces with the beads but we had a lot more m beads so we have been using them for some fun sensory play.     We put the beads in a dish and we got some glow sticks and put them in the container with the beads.  The beads looked really awesome.  :) My daughter loved it.  She played in the dark with the beads and glow sticks for a long time.  :) 

I got this idea from Pintrest but I changed it up a bit to fit AWANA!  :)  The sticks are glow sticks that are taped to the Valentine message.  I really wanted to remind the students that Christ should be shining through you for all to see!  :)    I had a hard time choosing a verse because there are so many light references in the bible.  I used Mathew 5:14 "You are the light of the world.  A city set on a hill cannot be hidden."  Then it says, "Let Jesus shine through you" and "Happy Valentines Day.  Love, Selah."