June News

It's June and it's finally warming up in Central Oregon! Woo hoo!

EVENTS:
There are lots of great things happening in the City Kids world and lots of great summer opportunities for your family to get involved. Our Summers in the Park will host lots of fun family events including:

Monday Fun-Days "Day Camp": Over the course of four Mondays this summer, kids have the chance to join us for a super fun morning "camp" in the park to learn art, Bible Stories, build community and enjoy being a kid in summer! There are 15 spots per session and the cost is $10 per session.
July 11: Puppet Making/ Story Telling
July 25: Paper Mache
August 15: Clay Sculptures
August 29: Self Portrait Collage

To register, call the church office, or sign up at the Children's table downstairs on Sundays. We are looking for great volunteers to help with this fun program!

Family Picnic is also coming! This will be on Sunday August 14th  following church so be watching for more information to come! Sack races, hula hoop contests, water balloon toss and good old family fun!

I hope you are all out enjoying the sunshine, and spending lots of family time together! See you soon!

Family Memories

Happy Monday! I hope you all had a fantastic Mother's Day! I just got home from a weekend at the Oregon coast with my family in the town we have spent every summer in since I was a baby. So many memories walking the trail in front of the little house we spent many summers in, climbing over the rocks looking in tide pools at starfish and laughing together. These are the family memories that shape us, the times we spend together. As we start to gear up for warm weather (it is coming despite the little bit of snow we woke up to today), I'm curious, what are your favorite family memories? Where do you spend your quality outdoor time? Have a great week!

CELEBRATE FAMILY WEEK: Get Outside

Getting outside with your family is a great way to spend time together, be active, spend time in our beautiful Central Oregon backyard, check out this great article for more ideas. All ages of kids can enjoy the outdoors with walks/hikes along the river trail, at Shevlin Park, Pilot Butte without really even leaving town! There are hundreds of hiking trails just outside of Bend as well.

Another great resource is the book The Children's Travel Guide to Central Oregon. Some of my favorite outdoor family activities include Shevlin Park, The Community Garden at Hollinshed Park and the new community garden going in at the Environmental Center on Kansas Ave. If you are looking for more ideas on getting outside with your family, why not join lots of local families for Earth Day this weekend? The Environmental Center is hosting the "procession of the species" parade, and you can look back a few posts to create your own animal mask and join in the parade on Saturday. You can find details about the parade and Earth Day Fair here.

What are your favorite family outdoor activities? Mine includes gardening...I'm starting veggie seeds inside in containers and eagerly looking forward to moving them out into my garden when the weather finally warms up enough. I hope your family is having a great week!!

CELEBRATE FAMILY WEEK: Serve Together

Good morning, everyone!

 Today I want to talk about teaching our kids about service. There are so many opportunities to serve in our community and it is a great way to bond as families, but also when kids see their parents serving it demonstrates to them the importance of helping other. Here is a list of resources your family can use to find great opportunities to help in our community.

With little ones: have them help you bake cookies for a neighbor, or help clean up leaves in an elderly friend's yard; make cheery kid are with a note saying "thinking of you" to send to family and friends.

With Older Kids: Take a family trip to the soup kitchen to help serve a meal, find a project on Volunteer Connect.

More information and tips on planning a great family service project: Article

"What do you gain by volunteering together as a family? First of all, you assure that elusive but much-sought goal of "quality time" with each other. You share a common bond while doing something worthwhile for others. You get to know your children in new ways, and vice versa. The process of demonstrating skills and learning new ones gives both age levels the chance to respect one another, work together towards the same goals -- and have something to talk about all week! " (http://volunteerguide.org/volunteer/motivation/volunteering-with-your-family.htm)

CELEBRATE FAMILY WEEK: Praying Together

How are you, families? Getting some good laughs and time together? After some technical difficulties last week we are back to the last few posts that didn't get go up last week. Sorry about that! Enjoy!

 Today is all about the significance of prayer as a family. We have focused so far on having fun together as a family through games, cooking and laughter, but prayer is also a very special gift we can give to our kids. Just as we teach kids the importance of brushing their teeth, being kind to others, we also must teach them to practice the habit of prayer. By making this part of your routine, not only does it give your family great connection, but also builds the practice into your children. God promised that if we "Train up a child in the way he should go ... when he is old he will not depart from it." (Proverbs 22:6 KJV )

Some great ways to incorporate prayer into your families' daily life is to pray together in the morning before everyone leaves for the day, then when kids come home from school ask questions about their day and what things they might want to add to the prayer list for the evening. Spontaneous prayer throughout the day is also a good thing for children to see. If something happens during the day to stop and pray about it in the moment helps kids connect that they can talk to God anytime during the day.

Then at the end of the day find some time for your family to gather, pray together and enjoy the instilling the pattern of prayer into your daily routine. Here is a great resource from NavPress on Creative Family Prayer Time. What are some of your favorite family prayer times (kids do pray the cutest prayers)?

CELEBRATE FAMILY WEEK: Let's Get Crafty

It's Wednesday and what better way to spend some quality family time than getting crafty together...for some inspiration check out The Crafty Crow Children's Craft Co-op...great ideas!

To get your creative juices flowing try one of these great ideas:
Pirate Newspaper Hats
Sew Cute Little Monsters

Or one of my personal favorites...paper plate masks...simple cut out holes for the eyes and let kids decorate with pipe cleaners, buttons, construction paper, magazine pictures etc.

With older kids, a great family idea, is to have everyone make a self portrait using images from magazines and words that describe you. Glue the images and words to a piece of construction paper  and then have each family member share theirs...you may be surprised what you learn about each other and this is a great opportunity to talk about how we are uniquely and wonderfully made in God's image.

Celebrate Families Week: Cooking Together

Happy Tuesday! Today is all about getting into the kitchen with your family to whip up some delectable treats the whole family will love! Invite your family to a cooking party...you could go on a scavenger hunt through the pantry and come up with the most creative meal and dessert out of what you have, or take an adventure to the grocery store and each family member has to pick one ingredient to use in the dish then come up with a wonderful recipe to use them all! Your kids will love the hands on involvement of getting to help create the meal, and you can use this opportunity to teach them about nutrition, health and about how God provides! The possibilities are endless!

You can also find a great article on getting kids involved in healthy eating from Chef Pete Solomita

"Safe & Easy Kitchen Tasks for Little Fingers...Cooking with your kids will be fun, easy and safe with these tips: Many chefs got their start hanging onto Mom's apron. Giving your kids a few simple tasks in the kitchen is a fun way to teach them about cooking and nutrition. They may not decide to be star chefs, but you can rest assured they'll know their way around a kitchen — and hey, you never know!

• Planning the Meal. Dinnertime doesn't have to be a battle over broccoli. Planning a meal with your kids is a great way to introduce some healthy ingredients into their favorite foods.
• Washing Fruits and Vegetables. Start your kids' culinary education with this simple but important step.
• Shredding Lettuce. Kids love working with their hands, so they might have so much fun tearing the lettuce that they actually eat the salad!
• Assembling. Let your kids stack their burgers and sandwiches just how they like 'em.
• Measuring. Teach your kids how to measure and they'll have mastered one of the fundamentals of baking.
• Stirring Dry Ingredients. Just make sure their aprons are firmly tied on — you want your kids to stir the dry ingredients, not wear them.
• Separating Eggs. What child doesn't relish the opportunity to get their hands gooey?
• Whisking. This job can be tough on little arms, but it's a great way to teach older kids one of the trickier techniques of the kitchen.
• Frosting a Cake. Encourage your kids to come up with their own frosting designs.
• Tasting — the best part! See what your kids think of their culinary creations and get some insight into their personal tastes." (from The Food Network)

Also, read about the great benefits kids gain from cooking in the kitchen from Quaker Oats

Happy cooking! I hope your week together is off to a good start! Blessings on your family!!