Battle Gear Bible Study for Youth

I got to review Battle Gear with my boys, Jack and Eli.  This is a Dig-In Discipleship Bible study, designed for 10-12 year olds.  My boys are 10 and 13, so it was perfect for them.

Author Penny Reeve takes readers through an interactive study of Ephesians 6:13-18 with questions, activities, and more.  Far from just looking at those verses, however, Penny references other passages in both the Old and New Testaments.

However, what my boys liked the best were the activities!

In this one, they're instructed to set up their army men and then use marbles in a cardboard tube to "attack" them.

This game is called Standing Firm.  Other activities included labeling the Armor of God, puzzles, and various ways of answering questions.

One of our favorite activities was making snow globes.  The book called for soldiers, which I ordered from Amazon.  I chose to use a penguin for my snow globe, so the boys can continue to play with the remainder of the pack of soldiers.

While making the snowglobes, we discussed water displacement, and added some glue to the water for viscosity, to suspend the glitter in the water better.  It wasn't a "science project," but we did sneak some learning in there.

Eli is gluing a ribbon around the lid edge of his finished snow globe.

Jack's finished globe

If you have active boys in the 10 & up age group, this may be a great tool for them.  Penny has several other Bible studies for kids, as well as children's fiction and adorable preschool books.  There are some Christmas specials going on right now, as well!

Since Penny is in Australia, it may be more cost effective to order her books through her publisher, or from Light in the Dark, with $5 international shipping.  You can connect with Penny on Facebook.

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Photo Shoot With Katie & Boutique Girls Wear #giveaway

I got a super cute package from Girls Crochet Headbands for review purposes recently!  I couldn't wait to get Katie dressed up for a holiday photo shoot.

Poking around the GCH website, I noticed they have a large variety of very affordable boutique girls wear items, including many types of hair accessories and crochet tops for tutus, as well as the tutus themselves.

I couldn't resist placing a small order, since their prices are so reasonable.  Katie's hair clip was only $2.25!

Her leg warmers were $2.99, and the hat was $2.79.  Seriously, these prices can't be beat!

Although GCH does carry lots of cute boutique necklaces, the one Katie is wearing here was from zulily.com.

The snowflake tutu pictured here is out of stock now, but they carry a nice selection of other tutus, including reversible ones, lace ones, and tutu dresses and sets.  I got this one for Hannah.

In addition to the crochet headband shown (pictured with optional flower clip), they have several other varieties of headbands.

Are you ready to win a $10 gift certificate to Girls Crochet Headbands plus FREE SHIPPING so you can select your own special dress up items and accessories for the little cutie in your life?  Stop by their Pinterest boards for some super cute dress up ideas!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

They're having a photo contest, so if you could take a second to VOTE FOR KATIE we'd so appreciate it!  Thanks!

I received one or more of the products mentioned above for free using Tomoson.com, and there are affiliate links within this post.  Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will be good for my readers.

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What's in the Mailbox?

I get lots of fun packages, and I thought I would share a couple of recent ones with you.

I bought found shirts for the girls and I.  They were for an adoption fundraiser.

Wet Ones!  Not just for me, but some to share, too.  I love passing out samples and coupons!  Don't worry, you can print a coupon, too.  I was really glad I had the travel pack in my purse on Halloween.  Katie had cotton candy for the first time, and it was all over her face and hands.

Children's Mucinex.  Here's one I hope we won't need to use, but hey, great to have on hand because you know when a cold strikes, the last thing you want to do is take sick kids to the store.  And lookie there!  A $2 coupon for you, as well!

I received a very special package from Cuts By Laser!  When I heard that my friend Jennifer was making custom wood cuts, I asked if she could do a map of China for me for a project I had in mind.  She sent me two, and even added some extras so I could see the neat things she's been making.  My project isn't finished yet, but you'll want to go check out her lovely Christmas ornaments.  She's offering free shipping on orders over $10 right now.

We got Baby Orajel Naturals, also from Smiley 360.  Luke has been drooling a ton and has his fingers in his mouth all the time, so I'm wondering if he's teething.  I like that it's not full of icky chemicals like the old formula was.  You can get a coupon for it, too.

Coming soon:  a fun photoshoot with Katie and some holiday dress ups!

Last week, we received a box with not one, not two, but THREE fun games from Hasbro!  Brianna immediately claimed Simon Swipe, and Eli has to wrestle it away from her to get a turn.

I love all the exciting mail that shows up at our house!

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Katie's November Tot Trays

Let's see what Miss Katie has been up to this month!  I confess, I haven't been as intentional about having activities for her to work on in the school room.

She's really good about playing by herself, and quite happy to sit and "read" board books or do puzzles in the school room with us when she gets bored with the toys in the playroom.

Her love of pop beads continues unchecked.  She delights in creating necklaces and bracelets.  The boys like to make long strands of them for the cat to chase.  I had to put a stop to them "tying" people up with them.

Dot markers are also still popular with her.  I'm using up the dot marker books we have.  Whereas with the older kids, I would make a copy for them to use, with Katie, I just tear the page out and give it to her.

Many of the pictures are suitable for both dots and regular markers, so Katie is coloring her snake with a marker, after filling in his stripes with dots.

I'm glad to see Katie loves books.  Pretending to read, and knowing how to treat a book carefully are important pre-literacy skills.  The book she's "reading" here is Noah, a wordless book that we reviewed.

Katie has also been enjoying her new Kimmidoll, both with and without Hannah.

Initially, I let the kids play with the peg stackers.  But it's easy to "sneak" education into play with these.  Colors, counting, patterns...

Katie now recognizes the letter K.  I wrote her name on our personal chalk board, and made dots for her to trace the letter K.  I am planning to continue working on just the letters in her name before introducing the rest of the alphabet.

She's finally got all her colors down, thanks in part to these fun light blocks.  I'm really thinking I need to make a light table of some sort for her.

This was so cute.  Katie was making a "birthday cake" with the peg stackers, and the tall ones are the candles.

We had the Chinese Blocks out recently.  The puzzle side is pretty hard, especially since there's no picture of what the map and dragon are supposed to look like.  Brianna was using the blocks to learn some new characters.

I kept meaning to get the Wikki Stix out last month, and it never happened.  Maybe in December.

I noticed when we made Thanksgiving cards that Katie makes a + instead of a K unless she's tracing.  We'll continue to work on that.

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