Saturday, July 25, 2009

My Church Bag!

The past couple of days, I have been feeling kind of crafty. So, I've totally ignored my child (Elmo has been an excellent baby sitter) and gotten together a church bag for Kirk. My kid is just too little to sit through church without a lot of entertainment. He is also too little to go to nursery. Something had to be done because we were only making it on a wing and a prayer (and a lot of fruit snacks). I got the idea from my mother in-law to have a special bag only for Sunday, that way the things inside would be new and more exciting. Months ago, I started cutting out squares for a quilt. I got really angry (I'm not patient enough to cut out a thousand squares) and threw what I had already cut out in the back of my closet. During my craft session, I pulled those squares out and made a little bag especially for church. Its not the best bag ever, but it will do the job. Then I set out to find stuff to put in the bag. I cannot take credit for any of these ideas. I stole them all, 100%. The first thing I made was the match stick parsley shaker deal. I washed out an old parsley container and chopped the heads of a few matches. He can shake out the matches and put them back in over and over again. Then, I made a crayon holder. I put a few more of the ex-quilt squares together and fixed it up. I'm pretty proud of that one. He also has a Dollar Tree folder full of paper. Then we have the picture flip book. I printed out like, maybe 20 pictures, wallet sized. There are pictures of church things, like Jesus and the temple and a little boy praying, then there are pictures of family and friends, and then pictures of his favorite animals. They are all pictures that he can recognize. I laminated those and hole punched them and put them on a key ring. Excellent! We also have a picture book of "Sunday" things. It has things from socks and ties to the sacrament to the church water fountain. It is pretty neat-o. I'm also thinking about making him a quiet book. I'll have to work up bravery for that one. I guess I've said all this to say, if anybody else has any ideas to pacify the mind and hands of a 14 month old for a few minutes, I'd love to hear it. After a few Sundays of coming home wet in sweat and tears (of my own) I'm open to suggestions! We are going to try out the bag at church tomorrow. Danny is going to be on stage singing in the choir, so wish Kirk and me luck!

3 comments:

Amanda said...

That is awesome!! You did a fantastic job lady. I hope all went well.

Melissa said...

Good job! After three kiddos you would think I would have something like that for Savannah, but I don't. After chasing her around at church today, you have inspired me... thanks!!!!! (we start nursery in 2 weeks!!hooray)

Anonymous said...

AUNT MARIANN SAYS: Great job Marca...Color Wonder has saved me...I don't have to worry about him marking up the benches and there are suprises on each page...they are kinda pricey though...I just wish they would make 5X7 size for church! Now I am wishing I had YOUR bag...so much more fun! I love all your efforts and creativity! Your family will always be grateful!Yea Dan for singing in the choir! Way to support where you can! Keep singin! And Marca thanks for being willing to support him doing that...as a choir director you can't believe how many people could support IF a spouse was willing to have the kids for a while by themselves! So you will both be blessed for your efforts! Love ya! Keep up the great work!