I am the Vine and You are The Branches

I made the kids in my 5th grade Religion class these boxes of m&m's. I wrapped the box of m&m's in white paper and added the Gospel reading that we are studying this week. The grape stickers add that little extra touch.

"I am the Vine and You are The Branches" - John 15:5

For snack time I made thumbprint cookies with grape jelly.

 We also made a grape themed craft - but we were having so much fun that I forgot to take a picture.

They loved the m&m's , cookies and craft. We had so much fun this week!

Bacon Wrapped Dates and My Super Busy April

Lately I have been making bacon wrapped dates every chance I get! They are so easy to make and make a perfect appetizer.

Ingredients:

dates (with pits removed)

goat cheese

bacon

toothpicks

brown sugar

Directions:

Preheat oven to 425 degrees.

Stuff each date with a small amount of goat cheese.

Cut each piece of bacon in half. Wrap the bacon around each date and secure with a toothpick.

Place the bacon wrapped dates into the pre-heated oven on a large cookie sheet for 7 minutes. Remove the dates and sprinkle each date with a little brown sugar and return to the oven for another 7 minutes.

My April has been so busy. I hosted Easter Sunday dinner for my husbands family. I bought a new car. I hosted a baby shower for my good friends daughter-in-law. I entered a tennis tournament. My neighborhood only allows a community garage sale once every two years. So I got rid of some furniture, clothes and kitchen items.  My son decided on an out of state college. And I have been super busy teaching my 5th grade Religion class. I am looking forward to May. 

The Good Shepard And Earth Day

Today I had the choice of teaching about Earth Day or The Good Shepard in Religion class. I decided to teach a little bit about both subjects.

So I made some Earth Day cookies for the snack. They are really simple to make. Make your favorite sugar cookie mix. Then dye half of the dough green.

Then dye the other half of the dough blue. I used gel food coloring.

Grab a piece of green dough and a piece of blue dough and roll into a ball.  Bake according to your recipes directions.

Then for the craft we made The Lord is My Shepard craft. The kids loved the craft and some of the kids in the class are very artistic.

We glued all different sized pearls on the sheep.

We did some scripture readings on The Good Shepard and talked about how Jesus is the Shepard and we are his sheep.

For the take home treat - Kit Kat bars. i covered the bars in green paper and tied the charm with blue ribbon in honor of Earth day, The gold charm says "Try God."

Lemon and Rosemary Soap - A Baby Shower Party Favor

I made some homemade soap for a baby shower party favor.  The soap was super simple to make and decorate.

Supply List:

Goats milk soap bar

Sharp knife

Pyrex measuring cup

Soap molds

Fresh rosemary

Lemon zest from large lemons

Parchment paper

Scissors

Twine

Paper roses

Glue gun and glue sticks

Directions:

Place some fresh rosemary into each soap mold.

Cut the goats milk bar into chunks and microwave in 30 second intervals. Once the soap is melted stir in the lemon zest. And pour the lemon zest soap into the molds.

Quick tips - I placed the molds on a large kitchen towel. And the goats milk soap base is sold at Michael's and Hobby Lobby.

Once the soap is completely hard. Pop the soap bar out of the mold.

The soap smells awesome.

Once the soap is ready to be packaged - start cutting parchment paper into strips. 

Wrap the parchment paper around the soap then wrap the twine around the bar of soap several times.

Then hot glue the paper flower onto the twine knot. These bars of soap would also make a wonderful hostess gift.

I am going to put these on a table by the front door. I have an empty picture frame and I am going to write in it "from our shower to yours."