Kids
Kids “Make Your Own” Fruit Kabobs
Kids make your own fruit kabob bowl! Everything for the kabob is edible!
The other day one of my daughters had to bring a snack to an event. She wanted to bring fruit kabobs. The traditional fruit kabobs would need to be put together in advance plus they use wooden sticks.
My husband came up with an amazing idea! He put dry spaghetti noodles in a ziplock bag inside the bowl of mixed grapes. The kids loved making and eating their own fruit kabobs! They can even eat the spaghetti sticks if they want too! Super easy, yet fun for the kids!
Bag of dry spaghetti noodles for the kids!
Bowl of three different types of grapes for the kabobs!
Kids in the Kitchen: Winter Rice Krispy Treats
The girls made these super cute rice krispie treats. They made and decorated these special treats to share with friends. Thankful for kids who love to spend time in the kitchen. It is great seeing their creative juices flowing!
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My Sweet Cleaning Crew
Mopping the kitchen floor!
Every day I am reminded of how blessed I am. The other day one of the kids made a mess on the floor and I asked them to vacuum it up. The next thing I knew both girls were vacuuming, sweeping, mopping, and cleaning the house. They started with cleaning up their little mess, but continued on into the kitchen sweeping and mopping the floor. Next they went on to clean the bathrooms.
I cannot tell you how it makes my heart happy to see the kids willingly cleaning up not only their mess, but cleaning up other areas of the house. While this happens more often now that they are getting older it is not always the case. Sometimes when I ask them to pick up an item that they got out or clean up a mess they made you would think I asked them to move Mt. Everest with all the grumbling…..
When they do get into the cleaning zone it is amazing how much they can accomplish in just an hour or two. Thankful for my sweet cleaning crew and their willingness to pitch in to keep the house in a more livable condition. My husband is wonderful about pitching in to cook, clean, or fix items around the house too. I am blessed!
Scrubbing the floor!
Intentional Living: Weekly Goals
I had high expectations to get so much more done this past week. The good news is I was able to spend a full fun Monday with the girls since they did not have school for Martin Luther King Jr Holiday. It was wonderful soaking in those precious extra moments together!
I did not make as much progress as I had hoped on some of the other items on my list, but for the most part I am moving forward which is better than no movement at all. It is amazing how activities which appear to be easy or simple can actually take longer and eat into any extra time I had. Trying to stay positive especially on those tasks that seem to never get completed (or take a long time)! This week I have a lot of my list so hopefully it will be a more productive week. Here are my goals for this week:
Last week’s goals
Family Goals
- Finish reading Where the Red Fern Grows to the kids – getting closer (the busy weeks have slowed us down)
Plan one special activity with the familyPlay a Game with the KidsPrepare for Upcoming Winter EventsSpend time Tuesday – Friday helping the kids with Homework– they did not have school on MondayAttend After School ActivitiesLunch Boxes & Book Bags packed the night before
Personal Goals
Drink 8 glasses of water each dayContinue my YouVersion plan(s)Go to my Doctor Appointments Scheduled this week
Home (Yard & Pets) Management Goals
- All laundry for the week washed, folded, and put away in one day – still taking me 2 days, hoping to get back to normal schedule soon!
- Weekly Dinner Menu planned out for the week – I planned it out, but had to alter it a little more than I anticipated this week
Use up food items in our pantry and freezer- Clean House (Focus – Master Bedroom & Master Bathroom) – got our new bed put into the room, just have some more organizing to do before I can cross it off
- Organize Chaos (Focus – Kitchen) – got the pantry cleaned out, but have some more items I want to get done in the kitchen
- Yard Cleanup (Focus – Leaves) – although I did some raking with the girls this week hoping for a dry week soon so we can get the side yard blown and raked
Pet Care (Focus – Fix the Goat Fence)– my sweet husband got this fixed
Business Goals
Work on ideas for upcoming blog posts- Respond to Inquiry – Business Relation Emails – have a few pending projects
Keep up with the day to day items that need my attention- Work completed for clients – I have 2 projects I need to complete soon
Ministry Goals
Meet a friend or family member for Breakfast or Lunch
Financial Goals
- Payoff the Car – working on it
Sale Some Items No Longer Using on Facebook / Craigslist- Payoff Outstanding Debt – (replacement microwave, refrigerator, hot water heater, bed, medical, and other debt) – working on it
Pay Bills & File Paperwork- Go grocery shopping one time to one store this week and stay within budget – went to 2 stores and was $20 over budget
My goals for the upcoming week
Family Goals
- Finish reading Where the Red Fern Grows to the kids
- Plan one special activity with the family
- Play a Game with the Kids
- Prepare for Upcoming Winter Events
- Spend time Monday – Friday helping the kids with Homework
- Attend After School Activities
- Lunch Boxes & Book Bags packed the night before
- Plan a Fun Birthday Activity for the Kids
- Confirm my parents plans for their upcoming visit
Personal Goals
- Drink 8 glasses of water each day
- Continue my YouVersion plan(s)
- Go to my Doctor Appointments Scheduled this week
Home (Yard & Pets) Management Goals
- All laundry for the week washed, folded, and put away in one day
- Weekly Dinner Menu planned out for the week
- Use up food items in our pantry and freezer
- Clean House (Focus – Master Bedroom & Master Bathroom)
- Organize Chaos (Focus – Kitchen)
- Yard Cleanup (Focus – Leaves)
- Pet Care (Focus – Refill All Pet Containers)
Business Goals
- Work on ideas for upcoming blog posts
- Respond to Inquiry – Business Relation Emails
- Keep up with the day to day items that need my attention
- Work completed for clients
Ministry Goals
- Meet a friend or family member for Breakfast or Lunch
Financial Goals
- Payoff the Car
- Payoff Outstanding Debt – (replacement microwave, refrigerator, hot water heater, bed, medical, and other debt)
- Pay Bills & File Paperwork
- Go grocery shopping one time to one store this week and stay within budget
I think it is important to share and encourage each other as we seek to improve our lives and the lives of those around us. I want to live intentionally not just hope all my dreams and goals come true. When I focus on small steps of improvement I am able to see results as I get closer to my goals. Some weeks I get closer to the goals I have in my life and other weeks a take a few steps back (life happens, emergencies occur, people get sick). Once the goals are written down and shared it provides a guideline for what I aim to accomplish this week.
Why Share My Goals?
- To keep me accountable
- To share a piece of my life with you as I strive to be a better Child of God, Wife, Mom, Friend, Homemaker, Entrepreneur and the many other roles I have each week
- To have my goals consistently written down so I can gauge progress more accurately
- Create healthy habits in my life
- To encourage you to share your goals with me as you continue to grown and learn
How did you do this week on your goals? Feel free to share or link to your list of weekly goals.
The picture above is one that I created for my own purposes, however, The “SMART” acronym was originally coined 30 years ago by Peter Drucker in his classic work, Management by Results.
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Yes, That’s What My Kids Do During Their Free Time!
I love my kids! Sometimes the activities they do during their “free time” make me smile. The other day as I was walking through the dining room the dry erase board caught my attention. During their free time earlier that day they decided to work on some fun math skills. They enjoy pretending to teach school to their sibling or stuffed animals.
The best part of this play time is it provides additional learning opportunities for the kids. They get a chance to practice more of their skills therefore helping them solidify the multiplication facts more clearly. While they do not do this every time they have free time it is a fairly common occurrence at our house. I am thankful for kids who love to learn. Hope they continue to foster that love of learning for their entire life.
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Soda Pop Top Ribbon Bracelets
Two of the “Soda Pop Top Ribbon Bracelets” we made!
The girls have been collecting Soda Pop Tops from my husbands aluminum soda pop cans for the last few months. The other day we got all the soda pop tops out and made a bunch of cool bracelets. It was a lot of fun! We came up with some neat bracelets that we made out of the recycled soda pop tops!
These are super simple to make even for the kids to do themselves. There are so many variations you can make with these bracelets. Attached are pictures of four different types of bracelets we made that day. The kids also made decorative belts for themselves and a matching belt for their baby doll out of the recycled soda pop tops too!
You can use any ribbon you want! For this simple Soda Pop Top Ribbon Bracelet we choose white with red hearts. This would be a great Valentine’s Day goody your kids can make to share with their friends at school.
The bracelets were adjustable – wrap it around your wrist and weave the leftover strand of ribbon into the next one or two soda pop tops to lock it in place. It was very easy to take it on or off. With the ribbons we used the bracelet stayed on really well, we didn’t have any problems with them slipping off. If you have a thinner more flexible ribbon you can tie the two ends together in the back instead of weaving it through the pop tops.
Here’s another example of the Soda Pop Top Ribbon Bracelet with the simple weave as well,but with gold ribbon. The gold color really popped out against the silver pop tops!
This one was fun too! We used the same ribbon, but on this one we overlapped the pop tops and only weaved the bottom row which gave this bracelet a more 3D look which was super cute!
This Soda Pop Top Ribbon Bracelet turned out really well. We weaved the ribbon through a double layer of overlapping pop tops. The bracelet was thicker, but still comfortable and fun to wear.
The blue double layer soda pop top bracelet! They kids has a blast putting together all kinds of cool bracelets in various colors and styles. It was fun to see them use their creativity. They have worn these bracelets several times already and get a lot of compliments. These bracelets are simple and unique which make them fun to wear.
