A hearty holiday greeting from my Sonflower Sisters group.

I like to take the children on “dates” to local theater productions. Breanna is finally old enough to get in on the fun. This night we went to see Harold and the Purple Crayon. She loved it! I loved sharing it with her.

A few weeks ago, we had the Sons of Thunder father-son discipleship group and their families over for some good, clean fun.

It was full of targets and shooting,

serious propulsion,

and cyclonic fun!

Funny enough, the families all had Sonflower Sisters in them, too. Here are two original sisters, and dear friends, Phyliss and Juniper.

What a FUN day!

Brooke bought a set of bunkbeds for her Liberty doll. I didn’t take a “before” shot, but they were uncushioned, covered in a red calico print.

Brooke added a 2″ thick foam cushion and used a pillowcase to re-cover them.

Aren’t they just adorable? You can see how we just wrapped them like Christmas gifts on the ends. We could have taken a little more effort to match up the stripes on the ends, but I wanted Brooke to be able to do this by herself without getting frustrated. 

She wanted to add pillows, but we didn’t have any pillow forms. So we made them ourselves out of felt and leftover toulle. She liked the crisp white look so much, she didn’t even want to make a pillowcase for them.

I’m so proud of how she’s learning to create beautiful things herself.

We’re loving the book we’re using this year, Dannah Gresh’s Secret Keeper Girls: The Gift of True Friendship.

May’s theme was BFF’s (best friends forever’’s).  I’m happy with what good friends the Sonflower Sisters have become over the past four years.

They crafted–their favorite part of the gatherings–cards to other friends, letting them know how special they are to them.

We finished up with a group brithday party. What fun!

What a blessing we have in our Sonflower Sisters BFF’s.

Last month our Sonflower Sisters group took us on a journey of trust.

We had to trust Ms. Melanie wouldn’t let the big vulture out of the cage, first. TeeHee.

We practiced trusting one another on hikes through the woods. Yes, the girls did blindfold and lead me. And no, I didn’t peek!

We trusted the rain wouldn’t ruin our swimming session.

And, biggest of all, Breanna trusted me that swimming in big pools is fun. What a breakthrough!

I love when we learn new things from our Sisters.

Our Sonflower Sisters group has always been a comfy place for the older girls.

But now it’s become a welcoming place for our very youngest. My three year old Breanna chimed right in on the Mean Girlz discussion, telling about how her older brothers and sisters wouldn’t let her on her own swing set.

Look at that face, so excited to be grown up!

Last month’s Sonflower Sisters’ theme (from Secret Keeper Girls’ The Gift of True Friendship) was Loving Your Neighbor.

We made blankets for Project Linus.

Afterward, we headed outside to enjoy the warm day.

Breanna enjoyed herself on the playset

while we moms chatted on the deck.

What a fun time we had learning to serve our neighbors.

Our Sonflower Sisters group is making our own Scripture memory verse “pads” from $1 chipboard packs from Michael’s Craft Store. Here’s a short tutorial even children can follow.

Trace the chipboard flower on the back side of decorative paper.

Cut out the paper flower.

Glue the flower to the chipboard.

Trace a cup to draw a circle to fit onto your flower.

Cut out the circle and glue it on your flower.

Write your Scripture Memory Verse on the circle. (This is a photo of Brooke working on her own, which is on different paper from her sister’s.)

Voila! A beautiful, sturdy Scripture Memory Verse pad.

In Sonflower Sisters, we are memorizing 1 Corinthians Chapter 13 this year. Yes, the entire chapter. I was trying to find a fun, girly way to go about keeping the verses close, and came up with these cute flower (get it, sunflower?) chipboard pieces I covered in complementary scrapbook papers. Then I hung them on the bag Brooke keeps her Sonflower Sisters materials in.

I’ll just print out parts of the chapter on white paper and glue them right to the flower. So quick. So cheap. So cute.

You could use them for anything!