Sunday School and/or Church Camp Songs for Younger Kids

 FireFamily Talks Faith, Reviews  3 Responses »
Jul 212009
 

We have always had some Sunday School CDs in our music library. In fact, we bought one last year at the camp bookstore that has been a huge hit with TheBrothers. (Let’s be honest: anything that keeps a child’s interest for an entire year is a keeper! Money well spent.) I wanted to add some new CDs to our library for camp this year.

CDs

I purchased Songs Kids Love to Sing: Sunday School Songs because it had some favorites from our other CD plus some other great tunes. Plus, I’ll be honest: I liked the cover. That’s right. Not only do I judge books by their cover but I also judge albums by their artwork. Don’t judge me. The 25 songs include everything from “Arky, Arky” to “O Be Careful Little Eyes.” It’s been a hit thus far. I will tell you, however, that LittleBrother cannot listen to it at naptime. Otherwise, he starts yelling, “AMEN!” with the kids on the CD during that one song. It’s cute but not conducive to sleeping.

And, so, I also ordered Songs Kids Love to Sing: Bible Action Songs. Yes, it’s by the same people and has the same appealing artwork on the cover. (Really. Stop judging me!) This particular album has those songs that you remember from Sunday School (or church camp) that get you up on your feet and moving, dancing or wiggling all around. (Unless your church didn’t dance. Then, well, sorry about your luck but these are good songs with motions! Move around!) Our favorites (or, uhm, my favorites) include “River of Life” and “I am a C.” (Come on! I know there are those of you out there singing them and doing the motions in your head right this very second just by having mentioned them!) BigBrother really likes this CD because he likes to move and groove.

And because LittleBrother needs music to sleep, we added a quieter album as well. (To be honest, BigBrother needs music to sleep as well but he can listen to anything from our classical piano CD to the Incredibles score and still manage to get all of his zzz’s.) The quieter album is Sing Over Me: Worship Songs and Lullabies. I was a bit worried because, prior to this point, LittleBrother had always slept, nap or nighttime, with an instrumental CD (the aforementioned classical piano one). I wasn’t sure the voices of this particular CD would be conducive to sleep for someone who, while a good sleeper, isn’t quite the sleeper that his older brother has become over the years. (Give him time. He has FireDad’s genes.) We’ve loved it. In fact, I love it. (Which is good as LittleBrother sleeps in my room at camp forcing me to fall asleep to whatever he is falling asleep to!) The voices are beautiful, the music is calming and the message is glorious. I love to sing along for a song or two while I’m putting LittleBrother down for a nap.

I do believe that we’ll be adding all three of these albums to our list of traveling music for our drive to the beach next month. For now, they are with us at camp. I’m hoping to learn which songs they are having the preschool class sing for their program on Saturday so that we can play them non-stop in our cottage. Last year, BigBrother wouldn’t really sing and wasn’t all that into hand motions. Perhaps with some extra fun work he’ll put on a show on the stage like he normally does for us at home. We’ll see!

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[Note: We are at camp, likely without internet access, through July 25th. I will most likely be unable to reply to any comments or email until that time. Do not take offense. I'm not ignoring you. Just enjoying some (much needed) quiet time with my family.]

Doing More with a Lesser Easter

 FireFamily Talks Faith, Holidays  7 Responses »
Apr 102009
 

We decided not to spend a lot on Easter. I’m having some guilt about it but, in the end, I know it is the right decision. We just made the purchase of new windows for our home ($$$$). We’re still saving up for our summer vacation(s) ($$$$). And, really, have you seen the junk that they sell for Easter? Do we really need more cheap, plastic toys that won’t be played with? More stuffed rabbits that will be ignored? No. We don’t. So, we’re accidentally having a slightly green-er Easter, too. Look at that.

What will the boys get? Well, BigBrother is getting a (Lightning McQueen) fishing pole. He’ll finally get to go fishing with FireDad. LittleBrother is getting some cars to play with in hopes of adding more cars to our collection so we can stop fighting over the cars that we currently have. (That’s never going to happen, is it?) I’ll be using last year’s Easter grass which may very well be Easter grass from my childhood. It all looks the same: annoying. I do have plans to stop and get some bubbles as well. As for candy, BigBrother will get a few lollipops. Otherwise, they’re just getting (homemade) cookies. We don’t really do candy, especially not for LittleBrother yet.

To be fair, they’ve already received some nice presents from my parents as we “Easter-ed” with them last weekend. We now have two Buzz Lightyears and two Woody dolls in the house (and they still fight over them, sigh) and some Toy Story 2 figurines to make noise with and crash off the couch and hurt my feet when I step on them. I’m sure other grandparents have purchased some things that we’ll receive on our Sunday jaunts. I’m okay with this as long as there are no useless stuffed rabbits. Or those can stay at the offending house. Now that’s an idea.

When it comes to clothes, I didn’t buy myself a new Easter dress. To be honest with you, I said that I would if I lost the weight to hit my next goal. And I didn’t due to some continuing health issues. So, no new dress. (Sigh.) LittleBrother is wearing what BigBrother wore two years ago. (I’m so excited about it!) BigBrother is wearing an outfit that doesn’t match (oh no!) but that was on super sale. Turns out if you wait long enough (read: procrastinate), they put Easter outfits on sale for 50% off! (Also, look for an upcoming gender rant.) FireDad has to pick up his suit that he had cleaned. In short, one is wearing khaki and white, one is wearing black and yellow, one is wearing navy and white and one is wearing a black suit with a tie yet to be decided. We don’t match at all. My Mom has told me this is okay. It feels wrong. But we’ll survive, right?

As for activities, we are spending four dollars per child to attend a local Easter egg hunt tomorrow. (Money goes back to the city so we feel okay with this expenditure.) We’ll also be releasing some purple balloons in honor of Madeline Spohr. We will be dyeing our eggs today as well. We bought our dye-kit at the dollar store and it’s the very same dye-kit I would have purchased at The Store That Has Everything From Easter Egg Kits to Tuna but for three dollars less. After church on Sunday morning (during which I have a special craft planned for the nursery), the kids will have an Easter egg hunt as well before we rush off to FireDad’s mom’s for lunch and, later, his paternal grandparents for supper. Busy but in a good way.

Hopefully, through all of this, we can remind our children why we celebrate Easter. LittleBrother can now say Jesus. I know he doesn’t know what it means other than a word in a song or a book or a character in the Veggie Tales manger scene. But BigBrother does in his three year old way. When trying to decide how to explain the complexities of the holiday to him, I decided to go with an easy, age-appropriate approach. When asked now, he will tell you that we celebrate Easter “because Jesus loves us.” In the end, that’s what it is all about. I have a few Jesus-centered Easter coloring pages along with some blank eggs to decorate ready for downtime on Saturday and Sunday. And we have some books that will be featured at story time throughout our weekend. No new books this year.

I feel somewhat cheap. But, in the back of my mind, I know that it is more about what we do as a family this weekend than what we spend. Our children don’t want for anything and remembering that on a holiday is sometimes difficult. They are loved. They are healthy. They are (mostly) happy. And so, while their baskets may not be filled with fancy or expensive gifts, we’re going to be making some memories this weekend. LittleBrother likely won’t remember this Easter but, as my Dad dropped our Easter cake in a puddle the Easter that I was three and I remember it vividly, I know that BigBrother could likely retain something from this year.

Hopefully it will be something good. Even if our outfits don’t match. At all.

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