Feeds:
Posts
Comments

Archive for the ‘Fun’ Category

Indian Christianity

Posted in Fun, tagged , , , , , on 16 August, 2010| 2 Comments »

One of our favourite tv programmes used to be Goodness Gracious Me. This clip is one I only came across fairly recently –  a very appropriate Vicarage theme.

Read Full Post »

Why We Love Ventures

Posted in Church, Fun, Kids, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , on 12 August, 2010| 4 Comments »

Last week we got back from the Edgehill Pathfinder venture. We’d stayed in  a boarding school in Devon with our kids, a brilliant bunch of leaders and 65 11-14 year olds. We had loads of fun (3 wonderful beach trips, fantastic crafts, excellent games and some lively humour, which included the consumption of delights such as oven-baked tarantula). We made lots of friends (even us mummies who were caring for kids whilst the dads led activities). And we heard the gospel told afresh. The Queen, the Joker and the Engineer were old enough to attend the sessions alongside the Pathfinders for the first time this year and they (aswell as their teenage friends) were gripped by the lively and faithful teaching.

The head honcho, Tim Ambrose posted this thanksgiving prayer letter on his blog last week:

Read Full Post »

Kids in Church – Poll Results

Posted in Family, Fun, Kids, Parenting, Polls, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on 9 August, 2010| Leave a Comment »

Sorry not to have posted these results before. Somehow it’s harder to find time to do things in the holidays… Anyway, here they are:

Technique Votes Percentage
Colouring/quizzes 23 21%
Books 21 19%
Other (see below) 15 14%
Extensive pre-service briefing on loving ones neighbour by not distracting them 13 12%
Breadsticks or other healthy snack 12 11%
Threats 8 7%
Cuddly toys 8 7%
Sweeties or similar 7 6%
My kids always sit nicely, I don’t know what you’re talking about 1 1%

Other Answers (all 1 vote each)

Participation

  • taking time to answer all questions about what’s going on and being said
  • Get them to play in the music group!
  • OH actually tries to get him to follow the lesson and sing the hymns!
  • cuddles, sitting on knee and talking about what is going on
  • Participation in the worship
  • Quietly talking them through what’s happening.

Training

  • Teaching and training parents in how to develop their kids’ attention level

Extreme

  • Gags
  • taser

Distraction/other

  • wandering round with them so they can focus on something ‘more interesting’;
  • Not always possible but don’t take them until they want to
  • “What’s Daddy doing now?”
  • Have child-focused services and a creative vicar
  • Just letting them be
  • i dont have kids!

So the recommended techniques seem to be a combination of activities (including participating in the service), food and working on expectations (both children’s, parents’ and congregation’s – the latter was mentioned more in the comments).

It’s a tricky area for us all I suspect and I guess we need to encourage one another to persevere. We want those kids to be real church family members now as they will be the core church family of the future, God willing.

This subject is ripe for future polls, so watch out for more once the summer hols are over and my thinking head is less distracted by screaming kids beating each other up. We like to set a good model of Christian family life here in the Vicarage.

Read Full Post »

The Bling Bling Girls

Posted in Family, Fun, tagged , , , , , on 3 August, 2010| Leave a Comment »

One of the things I’ve loved about taking the Engineer to school this year is that in the Reception class you get to walk in with your child, help them locate their coathook and get their lunchbox in the trolley. And then you get to hang out with them and their friends for a bit. I used to wait whilst the Engineer wrote his name in marker pen on the big piece of paper on the easel, and then nose around a little to see if there was anything new on the wall…

In April I went away with some girlfriends (to listen to some edifying talks on the Trinity, natch) and happened to buy a FatFace necklace (can’t think how that occurred). I love my new necklace (and the Trinity, of course). And it is also loved by three of the Engineer’s classmates. Every time I wore it into school (quite frequently – it goes with many outfits) they would gather around me. Then they would grab onto the necklace, fascinated by the surprisingly heavy beads. Then they would hang onto me  and my necklace until I managed to disentangle myself. I called them the Bling Bling Girls.

Their teacher says this is why she never wears necklaces to school.

Blingy, eh?

In other news I was very proud of myself when I successfully mended the necklace this evening after a thread snapped and one of the steel beads fell off.

Read Full Post »

Another Week, Another T-shirt

Posted in Fun, tagged , , , , , on 20 July, 2010| 4 Comments »

When I’m stressed I like to comfort read. Something I know well and that makes me feel like all will turn out happily ever after. When I don’t have time to read the Book of Revelation, Pride and Prejudice usually does the trick. So this one could be the answer:

And she ships internationally! Total cost $22+$5.75=cheaper than last week’s t-shirt. [HT Abraham Piper]

Read Full Post »

I Need This

Posted in Fun, tagged , , on 13 July, 2010| 3 Comments »

It’s been a tricky few weeks here in parish. Relationships can be really hard in places where people are already bruised by life in general. So I think I need to get (and wear) this t-shirt. In fuchsia I think, don’t you?

Read Full Post »

What Goes Through Your Mind in Church

Posted in Church, Fun, tagged , , , , , , , on 12 July, 2010| Leave a Comment »

Well, a small sample of it. Not listed are the additional Vicar’s wife’s concerns of ‘why isn’t so-and-so here?’, ‘has the Vicar remembered to bring his sermon notes?’ and ‘am I on coffee or Sunday school this morning?’

Happy Monday morning all.

Read Full Post »

Vicarage Kitchen Gadget

Posted in Food, Fun, tagged , , , , , , on 6 July, 2010| 7 Comments »

Actually, not so much a gadget as a bowl. Or is it a colander? Or a sieve? Well, that’s what makes it so great. It’s a metal bowl that you can also run water through. So *TA-DA* rinse your soft summer fruit and then serve it IN THE SAME RECEPTACLE. Cunning AND elegant, eh?

Sorry, I know I shouldn’t be too bothered about stuff but this bowl does lift my heart in the summer months. Got it in a French market, natch.

Don't eat them all at once, now

Read Full Post »

The Vicarage Cheese Mystery

Posted in Fun, Vicarage, tagged , , , , , , on 5 July, 2010| 3 Comments »

Not what you want to be doing at 5.20am

At last the Quinquennial builders have finished decorating and twiddling with our house. On their last day they had a fair bit to finish up and rushed around trying to tie up all the loose ends but they didn’t quite have time for everything. One loose end that they missed was the wire feeding electricity to our burglar alarm. The battery gave up at 5.20am the next morning. And then the alarm decided it had been tampered with and proceeded to go off almost constantly throughout Thursday until the alarm people came to sort it out.

As you can imagine, we were rather spacey throughout the day. My irritation was tempered, however, by the cheese mystery….

As the chaps were pottering around the house on their final day I  had decided to sort out the airing cupboard, which I needed to finish emptying and restock with sheets and towels that had been soaked in an earlier Quinquennial mishap. I went in to get the final bits and pieces out and… discovered a cheese.

How did it get there?

It was a Sunday night Vicarage supper cheese that I’d bought a couple of weeks ago. I’d wondered where it was on the previous Sunday evening. And there it was. Sitting in my airing cupboard. Not oozing or stinking yet, but perfectly ripe and ready to eat. A cheese mystery. And to date the mystery is unsolved. All Vicarage inhabitants deny putting cheese in the airing cupboard.  Perhaps I did it in my sleep – maybe it’s a sign that I need to go on holiday sooner rather than later.

One Twitter friend suggested that perhaps I would then find perfectly ironed linen in my fridge, but alas I only found some wizened ginger and lots of jars of obscure oriental relishes.

In the meantime, the mystery of the airing cupboard cheese makes me laugh every time I think of it. And we are considering leaving all our cheese in the airing cupboard in the future. As long as we don’t leave it there too long.

Read Full Post »

Vicarage Garden Fashion

Posted in Fun, Garden, Vicarage, tagged , , , , , on 10 June, 2010| 4 Comments »

I did some gardening at the weekend. To make sure I got it absolutely right, I tried to dress like Alys Fowler. But I only took a piccy of the skirt and wellies, as I’ve a long way to go to grow my hair and make it look all Pre-Raphaelite. I need to dye it red, too.

I’m sort of hoping that if the seeds see the look, they’ll behave as they would for Alys, but I may be being wildly optimistic.

Read Full Post »

« Newer Posts - Older Posts »