Easter Review Game

Easter is almost here! In Sunday School we've been working on the events of Holy Week for sometime now. I teach a Kindergarten class and find that it can be difficult to find games and lessons appropriate for this age group. So, I made my own. It's very simple to make and reviews the events leading up to the death and resurrection.

Materials:
Paper/Pen or Computer
Plastic Easter Eggs
Scissors or Paper Cutter

Print or Write out the list below. You'll want one copy with the numbers to serve as your key (even us adults sometimes forget, maybe more than sometimes), and another copy without the numbers.

Take the copy without the numbers and cut it into slips.

Place the slips in the eggs.

Weather permitting, hide the eggs outside and let the kids go find them. If you're stuck indoors, place the eggs in a basket and let each child choose one. If you're doing this at home, you can have your children find the eggs from around the house.

Next, have the kids sort the slips of paper into the order that the events occurred (The same order as they are numbered).

This is a fun way for kids to review previous lessons about the events, and builds up a strong understanding of the scriptures for the future.

Here's the list that I've used. Feel free to adjust the list to meet your needs and cover the stories that you've studied.

1.   A Woman pours perfume on Jesus’ feet.

2.         Judas met with the Pharisees and agreed to hand Jesus over.

3.         The Pharisees gave Judas forty pieces of silver.

4.         Jesus sent disciples to find a house to have the Passover.

5.         Jesus said, “One of you will betray me.”

6.         Jesus took the bread, broke it, and gave it to His disciples. Jesus said, “This is my body.”

7.         Jesus took the cup and blessed it. Then He gave it to His disciples. Jesus said, “This is my blood.”

8.         Jesus told Peter that Peter would betray him three times.

9.         Jesus went to the Mount of Olives to pray.

10.     Jesus’ disciples fell asleep while Jesus prayed.

11.     The guards came to get Jesus.

12.     Peter cut off a guard’s ear. Then Jesus healed the guard.

13.     Jesus was taken before the religious leaders and before Pontius Pilate.

14.     The crowd asked for a criminal to be released and Jesus to be crucified.

15.     The guards made fun of Jesus and put a crown of thorns on his head.

16.     Jesus was put on the cross next to two thieves.

17.     The guards gambled for Jesus’ clothes.

18.     The guards gave Jesus sour wine to drink.

19.     Jesus said, “It is finished.”

20.     The guards pierced Jesus’ side.

21.     Jesus was buried in a borrowed tomb.

22.     The women went to visit the tomb, but Jesus wasn’t there!

22 Simple Steps to Sustainability

Earth Day this year is April 22nd! As a way to celebrate this year, I will be doing a short series on simples steps towards a more sustainable life. Many times the "Green" literature and organizations can be hard to understand and even harder to adopt in real life. My plan is to give you one simple step each day of April up to Earth Day that you can adopt to help move towards a more sustainable life.

Don't feel like you have to do everything. Not everything works for everyone. Choose one of the suggestions and give it a try. If it doesn't work for you, try something else. While I think these are easy steps that anyone can take, perhaps they aren't right for you. If that's the case, I hope that these ideas get the juices flowing and help you find ways to improve your lifestyle.

It isn't about being the "greenest" or having the lowest carbon footprint. It's about taking responsibility for the impact we have upon our environment and trying to be better stewards of the world with which God has entrusted us.

Champions for Children Workshop

I'm at the Champions for Children Workshop in Abilene today. I'm learning a ton of great stuff for parents, ministers, and teachers. I strongly believe that knowledge is for everyone and this is important information. I'll be posting some highlights later on. Topics include: drug endangered children, the CASA program, music and lyrics, and dangerous "games" children play.

Recipe: Homemade Cat Treats

I made these treats awhile back for Simon's birthday. He really liked them. The recipe makes a huge amount so I gave a bunch to friends. Many of their dogs also liked the treats. I think this is a great option for pets with sensitive tummies or food allergies as you know exactly what's going in to the treat.

The recipe calls for three simple ingredients: Flour, Corn Meal, and a can of Tuna (light chunk in water)

Mix all the ingredients together. Add water if needed. Work the dough until it's a sticky play-doh texture.

Bake at 350 until they start to brown. The treats will be hard.

Simon really liked the treats, but they were a bit big for him. I ended up breaking the treats apart when I gave them to him. The recipe makes a ton of treats! Unless you have a lot of pets, get ready to give some away. Ours ended up molding before we got through them all. You could possibly freeze some of the dough or baked treats, but I haven't tried that so I can't vouch for that.

Recipe: Taco Bake

I've been teasing that I'd post this husband-favorite dish for awhile now, so here it finally is! This recipe came from an issue of Cook's Country that I've adjusted for our tastes.

• Brown a pound of ground beef and season as if for regular tacos (we use a taco seasoning pack, but you can use whatever seasoning you like.)
• Take one can of Rotel Original and drain the juice.
• Once the meat is done, mix in the Rotel and cook for a few minutes.
• Use Stand-n-Stuff shells. Line them up in a casserole pan. Sprinkle a little first/mexican blend cheese in the bottom of each shell.
• Fill the shells with the taco meat/rotel.
• Top generously with cheese.
• Sprinkle with cilantro.
• Bake at 325 until the cheeses melted and the tops of the taco shells begin to brown.

Serving Size is two tacos. Serve with fruit, rice, beans, whatever!

This recipe is rather easy and is great for entertaining! For those who want a bit more spice, use a spicier Rotel. If you're serving picky eaters who don't like Rotel (I don't like the squishy-ness of the veggies), stuff some of the shells after the meat is seasoned but before adding the Rotel. Then, add the Rotel to the remaining meat and continue!

Etsy Update

It's been awhile since I posted an Etsy update, but I've been busy working on both shops. That's right, we now have TWO Etsy shops. I even have a third in the works! Eek! As you tell, I've been busy. Here's a quick look at what's new and coming in each shop.

Casa Campbell Soaps
While I'm not changing the shop name on Etsy, Casa Campbell Crafts is now focusing on soaps only. There are just a few non-soap items in the "Sale" section, but they're soon to be gone. I've also rearranged the sections to now sort the soaps by shape. Let me know what you think about this change-- I'm not quite sold on it just yet.

What's New:

• Three new scents have been added: Plumeria, Honey Almond, and Coconut. Honey Almond and Coconut are great mild scents that remind me of summer. Plumeria is a lovely floral scent.
• New Soap shapes have been added as well! Castles and baby bottles!

Castle Soap

What's Coming:

In the next few months I'm focusing on adding more variety to the shop including different scents, colors, shapes, and styles. I hope to get some petal soap listed again and perhaps some more soaps with insets.

Mog's Cave Creations

This is our new shop! This is a joint project with my husband and this shop focuses on all this fun and geeky! Some items from Casa Campbell have made their way over like the book scarves and some paintings. However, the shop features new pearler bead sprites. This unique craft is popular in the geeky world for it's ability to capture 8-bit and 16-bit art. Here are some of the favorite items:

Locke Sprite

Terra in Esper Form Sprite

There are separate Facebook pages for each shop, but they are linked with the same Pinterest and Twitter.

Facebook for Casa Campbell: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Casa-Campbell-Crafts/144467648913539

Facebook for Mog's Cave: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Mogs-Cave-Creations/336719926345450

Twitter: @casacampbell

Use the button to the right to follow my Pinterest boards!

Thanks for your support everyone! I've been so blessed by the outpouring of love of encouragement! Casa Campbell's Facebook has over 100 fans now and the shop has over 50 sales! We even had our first Mog's Cave sale recently! 

Cute Cat Captured!

Simon decided he wanted to lay on Philip's back. Philip welcomed the heating pad and just kept working. It was so cute, it had to be captured!

Happy Pi Day!

Recipe: Crock-Pot Whole Chicken

I have never been able to cook a whole chicken and it turn out okay, until now. My most successful attempt prior to this recipe ended up with half a roasted chicken burnt to a crisp and half still raw. To this day I don't know how that happened.

I saw this recipe on a green living forum and though to myself "That sounds simple." Lo and behold, it was!

The recipe is this simple:
Take the whole chicken and place it straight into the Crock-Pot.
Cut up two carrots, two celery sticks, two potatoes, one onion, and two garlic cloves.
Add to the pot.
Add some salt, pepper, oregano, and bay leaves.
Fill the pot with plain water.
Cook over night on low.

I cooked ours for about 13 hours. I put it on Saturday night and we had it for lunch after church on Sunday!
Not only was it fully and properly cooked (yay!) but it was so juicy and tender.
The only thing I might change is to season the chicken a wee bit more.

We had enough chicken so far for two meals and probably another two.
We had plenty of veggies to spare.
I also froze three bags of 1 1/2 cups of homemade stock!

Overall, I consider this recipe a huge success! I plan to buy a chicken or two on our next trip to Sams and keep this recipe in my back pocket.

Mog's Cave

Have you checked out our new Etsy shop? This one focuses on the fun geeky world and is just getting started! We'd love for you to swing by and give some feedback.

Mog's Cave Creation on Etsy



A moogle magnet from Mog's Cave Creations!



Putting Myself Out There...

So, I think it's time I start writing, and not just blog posts. There have been several projects that I have wanted to tackle for a while now. As I think about my career, where it is and where I would like to see it heading, I think it's time. Okay, well, half of me think's it's time. The other half is scared out of it's mind!

I think anyone who has ever considered writing and putting it out there for others to read and criticize knows how scary it can be. There's also that little concern of "what if I suck?"

Add to all that the fact that I don't know which of the many ideas I have that I want to work on. I think it's best to just jump right in, cross my fingers and pray! Any additional prayers or tiny shoves would be greatly appreciated!