Garden of the Good Shepherd week 7

All Finished!

As much as we've enjoyed the Easter season and the Garden of the Good Shepherd activities, I am glad we done ;)

Day 43: The Water

Revelation 7:13-17

We were going to visit the fountains at the local zoo, but...

Day 44: The Deer

Psalm 42:1-5

nada!  Deer cupcakes were tempting...but we're really sugared out.  So, we were going to get books about deer.  But I didn't get to the library :(  So, no books either.  (man, I'm really slacking around here)

Day 45: The Lion

Daniel 6:14-23

We had a Daniel in the Lion's Den coloring page.

Day 46: The Beehive

Judges 14:5-9

We read Berlioz the Bear by Jan Brett. 

Day 47: The Peacock

1 Kings 10:21-25

These cupcakes are the best!!!!  The peacocks Kelly made are really cute too.  I saved the info for next year.

Day 48: The Pelican

Genesis 1:20-23

We went to a local wildlife center and saw many of this week's animals.  Pelicans, deer, some water and yes, some bees.

Day 49: The Phoenix

Job 29:14-20

We couldn't come up with anything.  Shrimp were suggested, but most of us don't like shrimp (weird...I know)

Day 50: The Dove

Song of Songs 2:8-17

Pentecost!  I'll make a separate post for this one :)

Our completed calendar...

Next year I think we're going to do the weekly parties.

Garden of the Good Shepherd week 6

Obviously we've kinda dropped the ball around here with posting and even with the activities...oh well...here's what we've been doing...

Day 36:  The City Gates
Revelation 21:9-14

The kids colored Heaven's gates...

Velcro Boy's

Doodlebug's

The Professor isn't much into coloring lately, though he does love to draw...

go figure...

Day 37: The Temple

Revelation 21:22-25

We were going to build a temple out of Lego's

Day 38: Hallelujah!

Revelation 19:6-9

We listened to the Hallelujah Chorus from Handel's "Messiah".

Day 39: The Thrones

Revelation 22:1-5

We watched The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe.  We read the series a while back, so The Professor was thrilled with this.

Day 40: The Bride

Hosea 2:18-20

We looked through wedding albums.  The original and the one from our convalidation nearly 2 years ago (how DOES time go so fast?!?)

Day 41: The Groom

Revelation 19:6-9

Tuxedo Strawberries!

YUM!!!

Day 42: The Crowns

Isaiah 62:3-5

We were going to make a crown cake.

I forgot to get a picture of the calendar to this point.

Garden of the Good Shepherd week 5

We've been staying away from the sweets lately, so this week is book based.

Day 29 ~  The Tree of Life's Leaves
Revelation 22:1-5

We read Why Do Leaves Change Colors?
Fall Leaf Project
Fall Leaves Fall

Day 30 ~ The Tree of Life's Flowers
Isaiah 55:12-13

We read Planting a Rainbow

Day 31 ~ The Tree of Life's Fruit
Galatians 5:22-26

We made Ambrosia! 
11 oz can mandarin oranges, drained
13 oz pineapple chunks, drained
1 c. flaked coconut
1/2 c. whipping cream, whipped with 1/2 tsp vanilla and 1 1/2 Tbsp sugar
1 c mini-marshmallows
mix all ingredients together and chill overnight.

We also did a fruits of the Holy Spirit maze.

Day 32 ~ The Owl
Psalm 102:6-12

Though I was sorely tempted by these super cute and yummy looking cupcakes, I exercised restraint and we just read Owl Moon and my kids painted some owls.  Sorry, no pictures. :(

Day 33 ~ The Olive Tree
Genesis 8:6-11

The kids did some Easter activity pages and coloring pages.

Day 34 ~ The Palm Tree
John 12:12-17

We read Chicka Chicka Boom Boom

Day 35 ~ Roses and Lilies
Song of Songs 2:1-7

We ended up celebrating this one a few days late (Monday in fact :) )
So we had the roses hubby bought for Mother's Day and we read The Rose in My Garden.


Our calendar...

Garden of the Good Shepherd week 4

Day 22 ~ The Boat
Matthew 8:23-27

We made boats from Colonial Kids!

Read Boats by Anne Rockwell.

And hung some of The Professor's pictures of boats...

This last one is the Dawn Treader from The Chronicles of Narnia series.

We read the series as our evening read-alouds and the Professor really enjoyed them.  

I think he'll get more out of them in a few years though.  

Some of the material seemed over his 6-year-old head ;)

Day 23 ~ The Mast

Ezekial 27:4-7

We were going to make cross-shaped sugar cookies, but we're all way too sugared out from the treats lately :)

Day 24 ~ The Sail 

Acts 27:33-44

Berry blue sailboats!

Doodlebug even made a shipwreck ;)

Day 25 ~ The Net

Mark 1:16-20

Net-shaped pretzels!

Day 26 ~ The Fishes

John 21:4-8

We went to see fish (and cats) at the pet store.  We also had Goldfish for snack.

Day 27 ~ The Barbecue

John 21:9-14

Nada

Day 28 ~ The Leviathan

Psalm 104:24-30

We went to the aquarium at the Science Museum and read  My Visit to the Aquarium by Aliki.

Garden of the Good Shepherd week 3

This was another fun week, though we didn't seem to do too much...

Our calendar to through the end of the week...

This week's theme was The Heavens Tell God's Glory!

Day 15 ~ The Sun
Psalm 19:1-6

We made Sunshine Shakes! (I forgot to take pictures, we were in a hurry to get to the library)

6-ounces frozen concentrated OJ
3/4 cup milk
1 tsp vanilla
3/4 cup water
6 ice cubes

Blend together in a blender.  Makes 4 servings.  

I found this to be just so-so, next time I'll use all milk and no water.  Or maybe yogurt...  hmmm....

We also read a few books:
Sunshine Makes the Seasons by Franklyn Branley
The Sun by Seymour Simon


Day 16 ~ The Cloud
1 Kings 8:2-11

We looked around NASA's website for information on cloud formation.  The Professor was *thrilled* to do this.  They even found a video!

We read The Cloud Book by Tomie dePaola. 

Day 17 ~ The Rain
Matthew 5:43-48

We read a few books:

Where Does the Butterfly Go When it Rains?
Rabbits and Raindrops
Down Comes the Rain

Day 18 ~ The Lightning
Job 28:20-26

We read:
Flash, Crash, Rumble and Roll
Thundercake by Patricia Polacco

Day 19 ~ The Hail
Job 38:28-30

We ended up not doing anything this day, too much else got in the way :(

Day 20 ~ The Wind
Ezekiel 37:7-10

We read Feel the Wind.  And decorated our dragon cake!

Day 21 ~ The Rainbow
Genesis 9:12-15

We read Planting a rainbow by Lois Ehlert.

We were going to paint rainbows and make a rainbow fruit salad, but again time escaped me...  Oh well...next year.


Overall it was a fun week and we're looking forward to next week :)  Stop by Catholic Cuisine to see other garden parties :)

Garden of the Good Shepherd week 2

Day 8 ~Divine Mercy Sunday~

The Table

Genesis 43:26-34

We had strawberry shortcake for desert to play up the red and white theme for Divine Mercy.  Yummy!  I had originally planned an Easter tea party for today, but we had to change plans.  We did it Monday instead.  Unfortunately I forgot to take pictures :(

Day 9 ~The Chairs~

Read Genesis 18:1-8

We had our Easter Tea today.

Day 10 ~ The Bread

Ruth 2:8-14

We made Resurrection Rolls! (again...no pictures :(

Resurrection Rolls

1 package Crescent Rolls, divided into triangles
Butter, melted
8 large Marshmallows
Cinnamon/Sugar mixture
8 squares of foil, sprayed with cooking spray or parchment paper
Cookie Sheet

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Give each child a triangle of crescent rolls. The crescent roll represents the cloth that Jesus was wrapped in.

Give each child a marshmallow. This represents Jesus.

Have the child dip the marshmallow in melted butter. This represents the oils of embalming.

Next, have the child dip the buttered marshmallow in the cinnamon and sugar. This represents the spices used to anoint the body.

Demonstrate how to wrap up the coated marshmallow tightly in the crescent roll (not like a typical crescent roll up...but bring the sides up and seal the marshmallow inside). This represents the wrapping of Jesus' body after His death.

Place on a cookie sheet and bake in the preheated oven for 10-12 minutes. (Ours took 15 minutes.) The oven represents the tomb--pretend that it has been three days!

While waiting for the rolls to bake, read the story of Christ's Passion and Resurrection, and add the Jesus Tree symbol to the tree for today.
When the rolls have cooled slightly, the children can open their rolls (cloth) and discover that Jesus is no longer there, HE IS RISEN!

Day 11 ~ The Wine
Isaiah 55:1-2

We had grape juice with snack,
read The Grapes of Math: Mind-stretching Math Riddles (The Professor liked this one),
and we painted our own bunch of grapes.

Day 12 ~ The Milk

Deuteronomy 26:8-10

We made milkshakes !

 1/2 cup WHOPPERS Malted Milk Balls
 1/2 cup milk
 1-1/2 cups vanilla ice cream

 Directions:
 1. Place candies and milk in blender container. Cover; blend until candies are finely chopped.
 2. Add ice cream. Cover; blend until thick and speckled with chocolate. Serve immediately.
 Two 8-oz. milkshakes. (We doubled the recipe)
 Add extra flavor and garnish with whipped cream and cherries!

 These were sooo yummy!!!

We read the following milk themed books: 

The Milk Makers by Gail Gibbons

Milk: From Cow to Carton by Aliki

It Looked Like Spilt Milk by Charles Shaw

I also borrowed Reading Rainbow: Farm Life from the library.  Don't you just love the dazed awestruck look they get when watching t.v. ?!?  (especially since we don't have one, so they only get the occasional video on the computer)

 

Day 13 ~ The Pot of Honey

Mark 1:4-6

We read 

The Honey Makers by Gail Gibbons

Honey in a Hive by Anne Rockwell

The Life and Times of the Honeybee by Charles Micucci

Day 14 ~ The Fruit

Song of Songs 4:16

We read some books about fruit: 

A Fruit Is a Suitcase for Seeds

Eating the Alphabet: Fruits Vegetables from A to Z

Fruit by Pascale De Bourgoing

From Flower to Fruit

How Do Apples Grow?

I also made a yummy fruit salad!

Strawberries, cantalope, blueberries and grapes.  

I was also going to add mandarin oranges, apples, plums and kiwi, but ran out of time.

Check out the giant mutant strawberry from the pack we bought!

And I don't have a small hand!

Garden of the Good Shepherd week 1

The Garden of the Good Shepherd is a sticker countdown calendar for the 50 days of Easter.  There is a different theme each day and a sticker to go along with it.  There's also a scripture reading for each day.

Day 1 ~ The Good Shepherd 

John 10:14-15

Rejoice!  The Lord is Risen

Day 2 ~ The Shepherd's Crook
Psalm 23:1-6
We made crook shaped breadsticks and read Legend of the Candy Cane.

Day 3 ~ The Sheepfold
John 10:1-6
We made "sheep"...

Popcorn!

Day 4 ~ The Gate of the Sheepfold
John 10:7-10
We made garden gates...

The Professor's

Velcro Boy's

Day 5 ~ The Ewe and the Ram

John 21:15-17

We made this Ram craft

The Professor's

Velcro Boy's

Day 6 ~ The Lamb

John 1:35

Lamb of God cupcakes!

This is the version we made for the Ascention

I decided to go a different route this time.  The marshmallows would be overkill given the rest of the candy around here lately :)

Day 7 ~ The Wolf

John 10:11-12

We read Saint Francis and the Wolf by Richard Egielski.  Such a cute book!

Overall, this was a good week.  We didn't keep up with each day, but we were able to catch up the next day.  Jessica and Charlotte are hosting a weekly party over at Catholic Cuisine!  Come on over!