Kids

  • Creative Kids: Invisible Writing

    The girls love to do crafts and all kinds of fun activities…..(so do I)! 🙂  As I was getting ready to leave for a few hours the other day I left a “secret” note on the girls bar stools.  They didn’t realize it was a note because it was invisible .  The night before the girls had asked if they could paint again soon so I decided that since the paints were going to be out anyway I might as well leave an invisible note for them to discover the next morning.

    These invisible notes were a hit and super easy to do.  Take a white piece of paper, write a message in white crayon, and have the kids paint over the letters to decode the message.  Once the girls figured out it wasn’t just a plain white piece of paper on their bar stools they quickly decoded the message.

    They decided it was pretty neat and the next spent hour writing invisible notes back and forth to each other.  I love it when I start a fun activity and they run with it.  Thankful that the girls get excited over the little stuff.

    These would work really well for younger kids too.  You could do a picture instead of a note as well.

  • Family Fun: Adventures With Our Cousins

    Cousins hanging out at the park together!

    We had an opportunity a few months ago to spend some time with Jake’s sister and her family.  The girls were in school during their stay with us but we still found plenty of time to have fun.  It was great having an opportunity to hang out with them and create new memories, especially since it will be quite awhile before we can get together again.

    Oh MY…..your lips look different today…..Silly girls with silly mouths!

    My cute little kitchen helper!

    Noah helping with the “science” experiment!  Loading up the ingredients into a Ziploc bag.

    It’s going to blow!!!!  We did an experiment with baking soda, water, and vinegar inside Ziploc bags.  When we sealed the bags they bubbled up and they popped!  The kids really enjoyed doing this one.

  • Intentional Living: Weekly Goals

    I am getting back in the swing of things now that schedule is returning to the somewhat normal.  One kid is in school and the other one is home recovering from surgery.   Last week my goals were pretty basic.  I did get a lot of items done and I am hoping to make some big headway this week (fingers-crossed).

    Last week’s goals

    • Bring in the 2013 New Year – Celebrating with Family and Friends
    • Spend some one-on-one time with my man
    • Spend Quality time with the girls
    • Daughter’s Surgery
    • Go over our goals for 2013 – started, but with a little one recovering from surgery and Jake having to work extra this weekend we were not able to get it completely done

    There were a few more noteworthy ones on the list that I didn’t write out that I was able to do as well:

    My goals for the upcoming week

    Family Goals

    1. Read Farmer Boy by Laura Ingalls Wilder to the girls
    2. Lunch Boxes & Book Bags packed the night before
    3. Daily School Activities & Homework Completed
    4. Attend After School Activities
    5. Plan one special Activity with the Family
    6. Take care of the little one recovering from surgery
    7. Write Thank You Notes
    8. Finish going over our 2013 goals

    Personal Goals

    1. Exercise at least 5 days this week
    2. Drink 8 glasses of water each day
    3. Start with my new YouVersion plan(s)
    4. Finish reading One Thousand Gifts by Ann Voskamp

    Home Management Goals

    1. All laundry for the week washed, folded, and put away in one day
    2. Weekly Dinner Menu planned out for the week
    3. Finish Wrapping & Prepping for the Christmas Events
    4. Pay all upcoming bills

    Business Goals

    1. Work on ideas for upcoming blog posts
    2. Keep up with the day to day items that need my attention
    3. Complete a current client work project

    Ministry Goals

    1. Meet a friend or family member for Breakfast or Lunch
    2. Write and Send Out Community Group Email
    3. Email a meeting reminder to the Alms & Legs Ministry Team

    Financial Goals

    1. For my January Grocery Budget I am replacing my typical Groceries $40 for 4 with my Life Simplified: No Grocery Shopping in order to use up some extra items in my fridge, freezer, and pantry.
    2. Payoff the Van
    3. Emergency Fund – save 3 months worth of living expenses

    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.

  • Intentional Living: Weekly Goals

    It has been wonderful having extra time with the girls since their out of school for the Holidays!!!!  With the New Year Holiday this week I have a few more days with the kids before school starts back up.  I am taking the time to really focus on spending extra time with my family this week.

    Although it will be quieter this week on the blog I wanted to share my top 5 goals:

    • Bring in the 2013 New Year – Celebrating with Family and Friends
    • Spend some one-on-one time with my man
    • Spend Quality time with the girls
    • Daughter’s Surgery
    • Go over our goals for 2013

    While my goals are still important and I will be doing a lot of them throughout the week my highest priority is my family.   January is filling up FAST, but I am super excited about some upcoming adventures!!! 🙂  I will be back to my regular goal updates  and posts soon.

    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.

  • Blessing Lives Everyday with Special Surprises (B.L.E.S.S.): 25 Days of Christmas Blessings (Week 4)

    We had a blast playing the 5 Second Rule game by Patch with extended family today!

    We just finished our fourth and final short week of  25 Days of Christmas B.L.E.S.S. (Blessing Lives Everyday with Special Surprises).   It was a really busy week and I didn’t have as much time to take pictures (and a couple of the ones I took didn’t turn out).  It has been an awesome doing the daily activities and finding ways to be a blessing to those we meet.  Seriously, I feel like we walk away from an activity feeling more blessed then we did going into it because it is so much fun bringing cheer to the people around us.   What a joy it has been participating in intentional acts of kindness during the Holiday Season.

    In some cases we get to see who receives our B.L.E.S.S. gift and in other cases we will never know who is on the receiving end.  We pray that whoever receives or finds these gifts will experience joy during this Holiday Season.  Each night we take down the B.L.E.S.S. activity for the next day and read the verse and the activity then pray for those who have and will receive our little BLESS’ings.  Throughout the week we also try to find additional ways to brighten people’s days so sometimes we do multiply activities during the day.

    Our B.L.E.S.S. Activity Adventures:

    • Day 22 – went to the store to purchase a couple items for Christmas Dinner.  Spent some time talking with the cashier and person bagging our groceries, including asking them about their families and Christmas plans.   She thanked us for waiting to check out and for asking about her family.
    • Day 23 – went to church with the family and ran a few errands afterward.  We were able to run in and pick up a couple things we needed, but towards the end of our errands Jake got a phone call from work and had to head home to handle some work issues.  Every where we went we made a point to smile at everyone we met and ask them how they are doing.  A smile and kindness will go a long way during a busy day.
    • Day 24 – was able to spend some time with extended family today.  We ate a delicious dinner, played, and had the kids exchange gifts.  Thankful for our family and the opportunity to spend time together.  Sometimes the best gift or blessing you can give to others is the gift of time. 

    Shortbread cookies ready to go into the oven!

    • Day 25 – Enjoyed some time with my family.  I actually didn’t go out at all on Christmas Day so today I decided to make a special treat for my sweet, hardworking, kind, loving husband. I am thankful for him and all he does for our family.  He is my best friend and I always love my time with him.   I made him one of his favorite Christmas cookies – shortbread (with sprinkles on top)!  🙂

    It has been a lot of fun working on ways we can be a blessing to others.  This verse talked about “humility” which can be difficult at times because sometimes we want people to notice us.  We talked about why it is important to demonstrate humility.  One of the ways we decide to practice humility was by leaving gifts anonymously if we don’t know who was on the receiving end of the B.L.E.S.S. it is a lot easier to not be proud.  We all agree that leaving “surprise” gifts are one of our favorite activities because we completely leave-it-up-to-God to choose the person to get the blessing.

    It is fun be to be a blessing to others not because we anticipate any rewards or benefits from it, but because we were given the greatest gift of all.  God’s love, grace, and mercy.  He wants us to give cheerfully from the heart.

    I am super excited to see how great this B.L.E.S.S. activity is going already.  It has been a true joy sharing with others (many of whom we’ll never meet).  It has been a great experience and I look forward to seeing what will happen with our fun adventures this week.

    The main purpose of this activity is to teach our family the joy of giving and sharing to those around us.  I plan to do another update on our fun B.L.E.S.S. adventures next week.  Sometimes it’s the little stuff that can make the most positive impact.  I would love to hear how you are spreading the Christmas cheer this Holiday Season.

    To learn more about our 25 Days of Christmas B.L.E.S.S. activity and what we have done far check out the links below:

    Below are the printable versions of the  25 Days of Christmas B.L.E.S.S. activities, verses, and sheets to handout so here they are for your family to enjoy as well:

  • Cousins Night Out!

    We ended our fun adventures in town that evening with a special treat! Ice cream cones!!!! This is the only picture of the 5 of them, everyone was having so much fun playing I didn’t want to make them stop to pose for a picture! 🙂

    Paul and Mirm were able to get away one night to meet friends and spend some quiet time together so we kept the kids.  Since Jake was working when Paul & Mirm left I took the crew to Par Tee Time which has bounce houses, batting cages, and miniature golf for the kids.  After Par Tee Time we picked up some pizza, had a picnic in the park and played.  We ended our night out with the cousins at Bruster’s for ice cream cones than headed home to get everyone showered and ready for bed.

    Whose up for a game of miniature golf?

    Sweet girl having a blast on the bouncy castle!

    The three older chickies having a blast giggling and playing

    Come on NOAH!  We know you can dunk that ball!

    Even my sweet little niece joined the big kids in a game of miniature golf!

    Concentrating hard on getting the ball into the hole!

    Practicing his swing in the batting cage

    Next one up to bat

    Karlie taking a whack at it

    Got those frogs…..Brina having a blast playing with her little cousin!

    Getting some extra air on that jump!

    Look out here she comes!

    Snapped a quick picture of Brina as she zoomed to the bottom of the slide!

    Karlie Cool Cat having a blast

    Did you just see me dunk that ball!

    Goofy girl, she makes me laugh!

    Eating pizza at the park

     

    Playing at the park

    I had a blast with the kids.  They did really well bouncing around and playing together.  Thankful for some extra time with my nieces and nephew.  The girls always enjoy their time with their cousins. A lot of great memories of their time with us!

  • Intentional Living: Weekly Goals

    So thankful for my family.  We decided to celebrate our Christmas over the weekend since Jake had off and could spend more time with us.  He did get a few calls, emails, but the girls were great and were willing to take a break to play, read a book, or help make a snack whenever he had to get away for a few minutes.  Thankfully he was able to do everything he needed from home and didn’t have to go into the office.

    With the girls being out of school and the Christmas Holiday this week I am taking the time to really focus on spending time with my family.  While my goals are still important and I will be doing a lot of them throughout the week my highest priority is my family.  I love having the kids out of school so we can do more together.   It is really important that I give the kids (and husband) my attention and create memories so it will be quieter this week on the blog.  I will be back to my regular goal updates  and posts soon!

    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.

  • Blessing Lives Everyday with Special Surprises (B.L.E.S.S.): 25 Days of Christmas Blessings (Week 3)

    Gifts for the girls teachers

    We are into our third week of  25 Days of Christmas B.L.E.S.S. (Blessing Lives Everyday with Special Surprises).   It has been an awesome doing the daily activities and finding ways to be a blessing to those we meet.  Seriously, I feel like we walk away from an activity feeling more blessed then we did going into it because it is so much fun bringing cheer to the people around us.   What a joy it has been participating in intentional acts of kindness during the Holiday Season.

    In some cases we get to see who receives our B.L.E.S.S. gift and in other cases we will never know who is on the receiving end.  We pray that whoever receives or finds these gifts will experience joy during this Holiday Season.  Each night we take down the B.L.E.S.S. activity for the next day and read the verse and the activity then pray for those who have and will receive our little BLESS’ings.  Throughout the week we also try to find additional ways to brighten people’s days so sometimes we do multiply activities during the day.

    Karlie wanted to leave her dollar and card inside the candle holder box at the store.

    Here is what we have done so far and a couple pictures to share of our adventures:

    While the little one was taking a nap the older 3 cousins did their Gingerbread and Christmas Tree Craft together

    • Day 15 – Spent time watching my two nephews while my brother worked and my sister-in-law had Christmas program practice at our church.  The girls had a blast with the boys.  We played cars, built with legos, did a craft, ate a snack, and more fun stuff during the morning they were with us.  The girls played really well and were very willing to help their cousin start to get the peels off the stickers.

    Gingerbread men goody bags to hand out to classmates

    • Day 16 – We picked  up and put together items for the girls school Christmas Party.  They will share these goodies with their classmates.  Both were very excited to share with their friends.  Some of the items they picked up were cookies, cupcakes, grapes, carrots, pencils, stencils, twizzlers, stickers, balls, and a couple other some things.

    As we were sticking a deposit in our banks night drop box with left a note and candy cane for the next person!

    • Day 17 – Since we had a make a trip to the bank on the way home from another activity we decided to spread a little cheer by sticking a note and candy cane on the night drop box to be a blessing to the next person who drove through.

    Brina placed her dollar to share in the craft section at Dollar Tree

    • Day 18 –The girls went with me for a quick trip to Dollar Tree.  On the way to the store we discussed our B.L.E.S.S. activity and prayed that it would be an encouragement to someone today.  Brina chose to leave her dollar in the craft section at Dollar Tree.  Karlie’s location surprised me a little more, she wanted to leave it in the candle section so an adult would find it.   She also decided that it would be best to leave the dollar folded so the person that found it would see the note and know that it is ok to take the dollar.

    Left a note and candy cane on the pump at the gas station

    • Day 19 –The girls and I were filling up with gas earlier this week.  They decided it would be a great place to leave a candy cane surprise for someone else.  So we taped a note and candy cane to the pump.  As we were pulling out of the gas station both girls and I each prayed that God would lead the perfect person to it when they went to fill up with gas.   (a neat side story…..the person who received the note, Mary, contacted us to say “thank you”!  What a blessing it was to find out that we were able to brighten her day!)

    Christmas goodies packed up in the box for the teacher (a picture of the outside of the boxes is at the beginning of the post)

    • Day 20 – We wrapped up some goodies to give to the teachers for Christmas.  The girls picked out some of the items they wanted to give their teachers.  They gave Hand Sanitizer, Clorox Wipes, a box of Kleenex, Glue Sticks, Fresh Citrus Christmas Potpourri, and a Christmas Card with a photo.

    Left a Christmas Card and a bundle of Fresh Citrus Christmas Potpourri for our mailman

    • Day 21 – We left a Christmas Card and gift for our mailman.  He always delivers our mail with a smile.  Whenever he has a package to bring to the front porch asks how the kids are doing and stops to pet Skipper.  We’ve had the same mailman since we moved here over 10 years ago so he has delivered a lot of items to our house!   We are thankful for the people we have gotten to know a little better over the years. 

    One of our favorite verses this week went along with our Day 17 activity.

    With all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love.   – Ephesians 4:2

    It has been a lot of fun working on ways we can be a blessing to others.  This verse talked about “humility” which can be difficult at times because sometimes we want people to notice us.  We talked about why it is important to demonstrate humility.  One of the ways we decide to practice humility was by leaving gifts anonymously if we don’t know who was on the receiving end of the B.L.E.S.S. it is a lot easier to not be proud.  We all agree that leaving “surprise” gifts are one of our favorite activities because we completely leave-it-up-to-God to choose the person to get the blessing.

    Twizzlers and pencils are ready to be packed for the girls class party!

    It is fun be to be a blessing to others not because we anticipate any rewards or benefits from it, but because we were given the greatest gift of all.  God’s love, grace, and mercy.  He wants us to give cheerfully from the heart.

    I am super excited to see how great this B.L.E.S.S. activity is going already.  It has been a true joy sharing with others (many of whom we’ll never meet).  It has been a great experience and I look forward to seeing what will happen with our fun adventures this week.

    The main purpose of this activity is to teach our family the joy of giving and sharing to those around us.  I plan to do another update on our fun B.L.E.S.S. adventures next week.  Sometimes it’s the little stuff that can make the most positive impact.  I would love to hear how you are spreading the Christmas cheer this Holiday Season.

    To learn more about our 25 Days of Christmas B.L.E.S.S. activity and what we have done far check out the links below:

    Below are the printable versions of the  25 Days of Christmas B.L.E.S.S. activities, verses, and sheets to handout so here they are for your family to enjoy as well:

  • Love It – Village Naturals Foaming Bath

    Jake and the girls gave me Village Naturals Therapy Foaming Bath Oil & Body Wash, Aches & Pains Relief with Eucalyptus, Rosehips, and Chamomile earlier this year for Mother’s Day.  I love it! 🙂  I never thought I would get so excited over bath items, ha!  It wasn’t long before the girls were begging to try it out.

    Village Naturals Therapy Foaming Bath Oil & Body Wash gives you a lot of great long lasting bubbles.  The girls are always asking to use this whenever they have a “long” bath because they love all the bubbles.  One time they stayed in the bathtub for over an hour splashing around.

    Our family has had a round or two of sickness since I received it.  The Village Naturals Therapy Foaming Bath Oil & Body Wash works really well for when you have a cold and are congested.  You can find it in a lot of stores, including Walmart, or online.  The best part it is only a few dollars and it lasts a long time.  You only need a couple drops to get a bath full of bubbles.

    Even though the girls and I have used this many times we are still on our original bottle.  If your looking for a great bubble bath or body wash that will be a big hit with the lady (or kids) in your life you should check this out.  It is a great way to relax after a busy day!

    “Love It” is a series of posts on items that I use regularly in my household that I love!  There are some items in our daily lives that make life more enjoyable, efficient, or just plain fun.  I will be sharing with you some of the products that have been given to us (or to me) that have made it to the top of my list.  It’s my way of giving a huge thumbs up!

  • Teaching Our Children: How to Wrap Gifts

    Letting the kids wrap their own gifts

    As I sit in the middle of the floor with little scraps of Christmas wrapping paper around me I have to smile…..  The girls LOVE going to the store to pick out the perfect gift(s) for each person.  They also really like to wrap the gifts!  While they have a tendency to make a mess, use more wrapping paper, put on too much tape, and take a long time wrapping they have a blast doing it.  Although, I have noticed that every year they get a little better and more efficient.

    Each girl starts the gift wrapping activity by picking out their own roll of wrapping paper to use for their gifts.  They use that roll of wrapping paper on all the gifts they have to wrap until there are no more gifts to do or the wrapping paper is gone.  They do the entire wrapping process on their own from cutting the paper to taping and even labeling the gift.

    While we still have the occasional – “Mom, I didn’t cut the wrapping paper big enough” overall they are getting better at the whole process.  At times, I’ve even had problems not cutting the paper big enough!  Typically, we spend an evening or two (depending on the amount of time we have) doing a “wrapping party” while listening to Christmas music.  As they wrap their gifts I will tackle some that I need to do as well.  Everyone has fun and we get a lot accomplished at the same time.

    I love that they take the extra time to not only wrap the gifts but label, add little notes, or draw pictures on the outside of the gifts.  They started doing this on their own last Christmas.  It was so cute reading their notes and talking about their drawings as we opened the gifts.  They were so proud of the gift and the wrapping which they did from start to finish.  Here are some of the sweet drawings and notes we found under our tree last year:

    Silly notes written on the gifts…..made me smile

    Brina even picked out turtle food at the store for the turtles and wrapped it for them.

    Karlie drew a planet, specifically Saturn, on this gift

    I Love You note on the gift

    Brina drew little “heart” people on the outside of this Christmas gift.

    Picture of the sweet sisters on the gift

    While the gift wrap my not win a decorative prize the girls are proud of their work and are excited to share.  They are learning many lessons during this too (hand-eye coordination, measuring, sharing, giving, etc….).  Pretty soon I will have to start delegating more gift wrapping tasks to them! 🙂