We got our schoolwork done a little early, so that we could do a few cutesy Groundhog Day printable activities this afternoon. We also looked up the news story about Punxsutawney Phil to find that he “predicted” six more weeks of winter. (And the kids cheered! How funny! I always wanted early spring, but they cheered for more winter!)

And then, when Luke got home, we celebrated some more!

We had ourselves a little contest to see who could make the best-looking Groundhog-shaped pizza.

Luke is the master of any pizza-dough-shaping contest! And Gracie didn’t do half bad, either. (The rest of us kind of gave up. My Groundhog face looked like Mickey Mouse, Ava made a heart, and the boys made dinosaurs.)

Luke's Punxsutawney Phil, before he was baked and eaten

Grace and her groundhog

Ava was happy with her heart.

And to top off the evening’s festivities, we had a scrumptious dessert…with P. Phil poking out the top (inspired by the cupcakes here).

For her efforts in the pizza contest, Grace won the chance to eat P. Phil from the dessert. Here he is before she devoured him…Isn’t he kinda cute? (Definitely not perfect, but kinda cute.)

Happy Groundhog Day, everyone!

Next up for celebrations…Valentine’s Day!

He was an interesting guy.

One small detail of his life was that God commanded him to eat a scroll. Grace drew a picture of this:

"Ezekiel ate a scroll because God told him to."

So, we made ourselves a little (edible) scroll out of a tortilla and honey. We wrote “Oh, Israel” on it, because Ezekiel prophesied during the time period just before the third and final invasion of King Nebuchadnezzar and the subsequent captivity in Babylon.

Then we rolled it up all scroll-like, and the kiddos ate it.

We decided a real, paper scroll probably wouldn’t have tasted quite so good.

We also talked about his experience of prophesying to a valley full of bones…and watching those bones come to life! Then we sang the old spiritual “Dry Bones.”

Good times.

But as we were talking over our A, B, and C verses last night, Jaden interjected with the A verse! I made him repeat it on camera today.

P.S. Please excuse that Jaden didn’t know the reference. We haven’t worked on it with him, and I didn’t mean to spring it on him like that. It was a valiant effort on his part.

As I prayed for breakfast, for our day, and for Luke’s day, I included in there how I was discouraged about there still being lingering sickness in our home. (J woke up with explosive diapers. And that’s the least gross description I could think of.)

When I was done praying, Grace said to me, “Mommy, you said you were discouraged. Deuteronomy 31:8 says, ‘The LORD Himself goes before you and will be with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you; do not be afraid; do not be discouraged.’”

Tears filled my eyes as my mind was filled with Scripture by my seven-year-old daughter. How thankful I am to be surrounded by a community of believers who encourages my children to memorize God’s Word.

Have you been working your Scripture memory together?

So far it’s been simple for our family. The first two verses are ones most of us already knew. But it’s been great to have these simple truths posted in our home, for us to remember and discuss and focus on.

So if you haven’t joined in, it’s certainly not too late! (For more details, visit Cindy’s blog.)

Here we go with our “C” verse:

“Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me.”
Psalm 51:10

Does anyone have a creative way to work on this verse? Please share!

But it sure is refreshing to see a happy face.

He climbed up on me as I lay on the couch, handed me the camera, and said, “Take a picture of me, Mommy!”

Well, okay, darling. I’ll do that.

Ava’s down for the count.

Pray for strength for Luke, since he’s dealing with this one on his own. I have a fever and feel awful. I asked Luke to kill me now, but he refused.

Earlier today he told me, “In sickness and in health, right?” It made me cry. I’m awfully blessed by this man.

Here’s the table of registration people. I like the guy on the far right. A lot.

At registration, each car has to be weighed, and not be over 5 ounces. Caleb’s car was fine, but Grace’s car was a whole ounce over, which was a ton of weight to get off. This is Mr. Nick, drilling Grace’s car.

The only difference between Grace and Caleb’s cars was that Grace’s car had a Lego man affixed to the top. We joked that he must have eaten too many donuts before the race.

Here’s Caleb, when it was his turn to race. #1. Doesn’t he look old? #2. He won three of the four heats, but wasn’t fast enough to win a trophy.

Bummer: I guess I didn’t get a picture of Grace during the race. But here she is with her car afterward. (I think she won four of the four heats, but didn’t qualify for a trophy.)

And last, Caleb with his car.

Ava’s already anticipating next year’s race, when she’ll get to participate, too!

Luke was up most of the night with a sick Jaden. How can one child get it twice in one week?!

And I spent my night by the toilet. Not my favorite night ever.