Friday, June 29, 2012

Something Special Just Happened.....


My baby, Sydney Loren Clare, turned 8 last week. Following a tradition started by my parents, my children receive their own nice set of Scriptures when they are baptized. Syd is going to be baptized on August 25th, because her uncle is baptizing her and they won't be able to make it to Missouri until that date. So I havent ordered her Scriptures yet.

She has been using the Scriptures I received when I was 8 years old. They are beat up but she loves them. Today just a few minutes ago, she asked me if I would "pass them down" to her. She said she wanted to use them, then when her baby turned 8 she would pass them down to them! Well, I'll be. LOL. I was thrilled! We carefully marked out my 8 year old handwriting that said my name and phone number and we wrote her name and phone number in them. I told her that I had carefully marked the Scriptures that were important to me and also, that I had used those Scriptures for seminary. She said she would mark the Scriptures that were important to her, and one day my grandkids would get to use the Scriptures ! I just felt so wonderful. So you see, something special just happened to me...... a tradition was started between me and my youngest child. I feel pretty great right now :) What special things have happened to you today??? :) Happy parenting! Love, JL~

Tuesday, June 26, 2012

Children Need Adventures !


The other day, my son Dylan ( pictured above) informed me that he needed to have some adventures so that when he grew up and had children, he could tell them all about the great adventures he had as a child! That made me stop and think, what in the world could I do to make it so that my boy had some adventures? ! 

Living in the great town of Hannibal, MO- I should know how to have adventures! We are the town of Tom Sawyer for heaven's sake! So I talked with my husband and told him that our boy needed to have some adventures! So he took him fishing! ( way to go Tom Sawyer!)

Children who have adventures, meaning they get to experience life first-hand, are less self-centered and more interested in the great world around him. While children defintely have the right to be silly, when they get to experience learning and knowledge thru first-hand experiences they can say, I know this because I experienced it! They have confidence and power. They often want to share their experiences with others. I love it when my kids get excited about something they have experienced and they want to teach others about it. Some examples, when we caught tadpoles and watched them grow into frogs, when we got chickens and bunnies, and when they show their friends the "woods" behind our house.

Children need enivronments that stimulate them and experiences that excite them! Their minds grow and they stay excited about the world and learning. So what kinds of adventures can you have with your children? Start with simple things, that involve nature like catching fireflies at night. Take them on an adventure at the local state park. Sleep under the stars one night. Catch snowflakes on their tongues and build snow forts.

Here is a great link for some fun activities that you can turn into adventures! This website is super cute too!
http://www.notimeforflashcards.com/2012/03/50-simple-outdoor-activities-for-kids.html

So, what kind of adventures do your children have? I want to know!!! Coming from the home of Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn.... I love adventures! :)
Happy Parenting! Love, JL~

Monday, June 25, 2012

How To Teach Your Children To Be Prepared

 

food storage

The world is a scary place. I have been feeling deep inside the need to prepare my family for these Latter Days. We hear it in General Conference, we read it in the Scriptures. It is time folks. Time to be ready! So how do we go about teaching our children to be prepared, without scaring them?

I truly think that the best way to do this is by example. When they see us getting excited about food storage, and emergency preparedness, then they might want to join in. Make it a game, the preparation part, but also you need to have some serious FHE’s about the subject. We need to look for inspiration and pray for the words to say, to teach our children about the Latter Days. Not only do we need to teach them about the physical preparation such as food storage and getting out of debt, we need to seriously teach them about our spiritual preparation. The following links will take you to some great sites that have a lot of fun ideas about being prepared and also some spiritual lessons for us to share with our children. I will be checking them out in depth!!!! Happy Parenting! JL~

 

The Family Food Bank

Food Storage Ideas from Sugardoodle.net 

Emergency Preparedness from Sugardoodle.net

Blog about preparedness- she knows her stuff!

LDS.Org Provident Living Site

Saturday, June 9, 2012

For the Momma's Soothing Secrets

Soothing.... what a beautiful word. It brings to mind so many beautiful images and a feeling of calm. As momma's, we need this feeling of calm! I have been looking around for some fun ideas for a little pampering, and a soothing few minutes of peace. I love nothing more then a long bubble bath! The smells, the feel of the warm water, the peace and quiet!!! Here are some easy little ways to get a soothing moment of peace!

Put on your fuzzy slippers and have a warming or cooling drink.  A good recipe for a warming drink:
1 teapot with infuser
16 oz boiling water
2 Tbsp French Lemon Ginger tea
1 cinnamon stick
3/4 tsp fresh mint
splash of mint
* Put water and cinnamon stick on to boil. Add tea and mint to infuser. Once water boils, remove cinnamon stick and pour the water into teapot and infuse for seven minutes. Remove infuser and pour contents into cup and add splash of milk.

A good recipe for a cooling drink:
3 cups unsweetened apricot juice
3 cups ginger ale
1 Tbsp lemon juice
* Chill both juice and ginger ale thoroughly.. mix and enjoy! Makes 6 cups... I can't wait to try this one!!!!!! I have apricot trees and am going to use the juice from those! YUM!

Now that you've enjoyed a drink, put on some soothing music! My favorites include piano, celtic, or any of those awesome Relaxation CD's you can buy at the dollar store!

Light a candle, this is your special time! Some of my favorite scents for relaxing: Bergamot ( it smells delicious) and anything lemon or verbana or chammomile, lavender etc. There are so many neat companies out there that are making candles that target specific things like relaxation or sleep etc.


Bubble bath time! My number one favorite bubble bath of all time: AVON's Soft Pink, it reminds of my Nana, she would always give me bubble baths in that scent. It's super hard to find now. Once again there are tons of neat companies like Bath and Body Works that have wonderful aromatherapy bath gel, salts etc. Here is a "recipe" for a relaxing bath you can make yourself :
1 cup Epsom Salts
6 drops Peppermint Oil ( to soothe tired achy muscles)
4 drops Tangerine Oil ( you can use Lavender Oil for bedtime)
Fill the tub with warm water and add these ingredients and SOAK!!!

Now on to the massage ( you need hubby for this!) You can make your own massage oil, or use commercial brands like Bath and Body Works etc. Here is a "recipe" for a soothing make your own massage oil:
Use a carrier oil- I like Sweet Almond Oil. Then add essential oils like Rosemary, Chammomile and Rose... you can find all of these online at any soap making supply store. SO GOOD!!!!

Of course, hehehehe, the soothing massage from your hubby may be the end of your time alone, wink wink, but if not, read a good book, try some meditation, pray, rub some lotion on your hands, feet and elbows, enjoy yourself! We momma's need some time to ourselves!!!! Love, JL~

June Family Network Challenge


When it was decided that we would have a "Family Summer Bucket List" theme for our challenge this month, I thought, Pish, easy-peasy! I'll just write up this cute little pooooost about all the cool things you can doooooo and it will be so greeeeeaaaat.

But then as I was Pinteresting one day, I realized that there were 872,902,523,165 other blogs that had written cute posts about summer bucket lists. And they all had way better pictures than I did.

So I changed my strategy.

Instead of writing out all these ideas that have already been written, I am providing a link list to a bunch of other blogs that already have bucket lists so you can gather ideas, then provide you with my personal Top Five List.

Don't give me that look! Of course we do more than five things every summer! Yeesh! But these are five new and different things! Because yes, we ride bikes and go to the zoo every summer.

Is that okay? Hopefully that's not cheating.

Because I'm not a cheater.

Unless I'm playing Skip-Bo with my mom. Then cheating becomes necessary. Seriously, she's a card shark.


If you know of other blogs with bucket lists, be sure to add them by linking them up!

Creating a Summer Bucket List

100 things to do with kids this Summer  - by Six Sisters Stuff
50 things to do this Summer - by iMom.com
20 Activities to make Summer awesome for everyone - by parents.com
Summer Bucket List... Bucket - by A mom with a plan
Building a Summer Bucket List - by JDaniel's4mom
32 things to make using a cardboard box - by Tip Junkie
100 Free things to do with your kids this summer - by Digital Reflections
Summer Bucket List - by The Taylor House
Summer Bucket List Bucket - by Delia Creates
Our Summer Bucket List - by inner child fun
Summer Bucket List Party - by little wonders' days
Summer Bucket List - by embellishing life everyday
Summer Bucket List - by whatever....
Summer Fun - by the crafting chicks
Kids Summer List (with pizazz) - by home stories A2Z
Summer Bucket List Banner - by Fakin' It
Summer Bucket List - by A lilly blog
125 color coded ideas - by The Home Teacher
Summer of fun bucket list - by Dine & Dish
Summer Bucket List - by Creative Family Fun
Summer Fun - A Bucket List - by Homeschool Share
Erins Summer Bucket List - by Todays Mama
Bingo Summer Chart - by Delia Creates
Summer Fun Checklist - by Come Together Kids
The Summer Bucket List - by The Happy Family Movement

As I went around and collected all these sites that had such fun and creative ideas, I managed to accomplish two things.

1- To understand that I am the world's lousiest mom. I've never made a "bucket list" before! I'm a total, fly by the seat of my pants kind of girl. Making a bucket list sounds way too exhausting!!

2 - I've had the realization that some people put a scary amount of thought and time into their summer plans. Whatever happened to SIMPLIFY!

Hey, I'm just trying to rationalize my own lack of bucket list creativity here.



But seriously, I think I'll just pick five things I know I really want to do this summer and go with that. So, here's my list.

1. Make a backyard sprinkler park! 
I have seen so many great and cheap ideas for making your own with pvc pipe and those little floaty noodles. Oh, I've got plans....

2. Make our own indoor playhouse.
Because let's face it. Sometimes it gets to hot you just need to be inside!! And for those of you who haven't seen those super cute playhouses you make to fit over a card table or pvc pipes, you should totally google it. Because it's awesome.

3. Make our own sidewalk chalk/paint
Okay, so maybe that sounds super lame to you, but I really think the kids would LOVE to make it themselves and go all crazy on the driveway!

4. Make Glow-in-the-Dark Bathwater, and let the kids go "fishing" for all the magnetic letters we have on the fridge.
Because I think that would be cool.

5. Build a car track for the stairs with 1x4's and cardboard. 
I bet it would keep the kids busy for hours. The trick will be to keep them from fighting over turns.

Bonus:

Survive T-Ball
Just sayin'.

So there you have it!!




June Family Challenge: Make a Summer Bucket List
Let us know how it goes by:

1: Commenting right here on our blog! 

2: Jump on over to our Facebook Page and leaving a comment or a link for everyone to see!
3: Or simply share your Summer Bucket List on your blog and leave the link to your post via our inlinkz tool below: