Ok, back to the park... Last week sometime, I was talking with a friend of mine about places to stop and play when we go into town. We both live outside of town by about a half an hour and when we go to run errands, we usually try to get as much done as we can. That makes for a long day for our children. AND usually means eating out. UNLESS, we pack a lunch and head to a park... so now we are caught up... ANYWAY, her husband is a landscape engineer and designed the park nearest to my church. So that is where we decided to go on Saturday :-)
This park had THE COOLEST TOY!!!!!
The kids are calling it the spider web. They must have played on it for an hour before I told them that we had to leave. They were climbing all over it, hanging upside down, squeezing themselves through tiny little openings and back up again. They pretended that each little opening was a different land... one was Narnia, one was Pony land, one was under the sea, one was candy land.... you get the idea... They would climb down into this little hole, and when the came out the other side, their faces were excited and wide... They would shout with such excitment "WOW! Look at all the candy!" or "Oh my gosh! The trees look like people!!!" or "WOW! I can breathe under water!" And each time, they were excited again. They would play in their new "land" for 5 or 10 mins and then they would crawl back up through the same little hole that they came through before and find a new hole to go down and start all over again. :-) It was the MOST fun thing to watch EVER!
Lizzie was in Narnia climbing on the back of a sea serpent.
Steven was in Spiderman land... I hope he was one of the good guys
Jeremiah was just really cute :-)
Allie was "Under the Sea" I think she might have been at the surface of the water watching a ship or something.
Rebekah was in Ponyland... I think she was riding on the back of a pony, flying through the sky...
But, I have to add one more of the whole spider web so you can get a feel for it...
Isn't that Amazing?!! Heather got to come back with us later. She was dying to know what the other kids were talking about. Apparently I forgot to let them climb back into the "real world" before we left the park, so they were all stuck in Narnia :-)
Ok, only one more picture... that way I can show you where Heather WAS when we all came to the park the first time....
Heather and her partner at AWANA Jamboree. Look at how well they did! Congratulations girls!
I just finished making... wait for it.... LASAGNA!!!!
Our kids use these to count the days until Christmas. We make them right after Thanksgiving, then beginning December 1, we cut off one chocolate kiss per day until Christmas. To motivate the children to think of others, we tell them they cannot have the day’s kiss until they’ve done something sweet for somebody else — which may mean reading a picture book to the baby, making their sister’s bed, folding their brother’s laundry, raking a neighbor’s leaves, etc.
Cut a yard-long length of clear plastic wrap, and lay it flat on the table. Position 25 chocolate kisses along the edge of it, leaving a little space between each kiss. You may use more than 25 candies if you want to start counting early, fewer if you’re making the chain later in December.
Carefully roll the kisses into the wrap, forming a long tube. Young children may need help with this step, as the wrap is very clingy. Ideally, there should be at least a double layer of wrap around all the kisses in the chain.
Cut yarn or ribbon to uniform length, about 4″ long. This is easily done by wrapping it loosely around your hand twenty-six times, then cutting through the loops once.
Tie a piece of ribbon or yarn between each kiss. Tie it tightly, so that the kisses won’t fall out.You should have extra wrap left at one end, but do not cut it off yet.
Staple or tie a name tag at the top of the chain (especially important if you have more than one child making this project). The excess plastic wrap will help in attaching the tag. Then hang it on your bulliten board, and you’re ready to go. Remember to “do something sweet to get your treat!”
Roll a ping-pong sized ball of white clay into a long, uniform roll, approximately 3/8″ diameter. 
Fashion it into the shape of a heart by slightly pinching the ends together to form top of heart, and pinching another point to form the bottom. To make it easier to transfer ornament to the oven, you may want to work on a piece of aluminum foil or a cookie sheet. 
TCut a loop off a paper clip using wire cutters, and bend the ends up sharply (sort of like a wide “W” with the loop in the middle). Press this into the top of the heart and smooth clay back over the sides of the “W”. 
Flatten the heart slightly by pressing all around the edges gently with your fingers. 
Use the sharp end of a paper clip to make indentions all around the top surface. These “holes” need not go all the way through the clay, only about half-way down. 
Cut a loop off a paper clip using wire cutters, and bend the ends up sharply (sort of like a wide “W” with the loop in the middle). Press this into the top of the heart and smooth clay back over the sides of the “W”. 
Take a little bit of red clay and roll it into a snake-shape, slightly thicker in the center and pointed at the ends. Coil this into a rose, place it between the leaves and press it into the heart by using the pointed end of the paper clip to bore a small hole in the center of the flower. Bake according to package directions. Once it has cooled, thread a loop of gold cord through the paper clip eye and hang it on your Christmas tree.