Monday, January 28, 2013

Beautiful Website~ Love at Home~ LDS Printables

While perusing Pinterest... one of my favorite things to do.. I came across this beautiful printable :

It is so beautiful! What a great idea to have around your home , especially with Valentine's Day coming up! So I wanted to steer you guys in the right direction if you would like to print this out for your home!! Head on over to :  www.ldsprintables.com

  She is amazingly talented and there are SO MANY beautiful printables for you to hang up around your home! It is super easy with this blog to make your home a haven!

  Have you found any neat ideas on how to make your home a haven ? Happy Parenting! Love, JL~

Tuesday, January 22, 2013

First Vision and a GIVEAWAY!! Woot!






Now, personally, I don't have a flannel board... I cut out the pics and then put magnets on the back and let the kids rearrange them on the fridge and our big chest freezer... I put the pics in plastic baggies and label them and then keep them in a basket on a shelf near the freezer ( which is conveniently in the playroom -- hey I have a really small house LOL). How do you do flannel boards etc?

Since we are learning about Church History and D&C this year... I found these cute flannel board ( or magnet board etc) figures from The Friend  and also from some awesome friends on the internet ... Print and cut and go crazy! It is so fun!


http://www.lds.org/images/Magazines/Friend/Archive/friendlp.nfo:o:1526.jpg


http://www.lds.org/images/Magazines/Friend/Archive/fr08mar48_joseph.jpg


http://www.lds.org/images/Magazines/Friend/Archive/friendlp.nfo:o:2022.jpg


http://chocolateonmycranium.blogspot.com/2008/01/joseph-smiths-first-vision.html

( she is amazing! She writes at www.latter-dayhomeschooling.com where I used to write!! Love her!)

http://ayearoffhe.blogspot.com/p/j.html

(Can't forget to add this... I love how she has everything organized! Which is why her button is conveniently located on the right sidebar of my blog! )


Now , the amazing gals at www.greenjellowithcarrots.com have blessed us with a super cute giveaway!!!!

Check it out!



a Rafflecopter giveaway

Mentoring Our Own Webinar

A dear friend of mine is hosting an amazing FREE webinar on the subject of "Mentoring Our Own"... it looks to be an amazing inspiration and I think we, as parents, can all really learn from it!!

http://princessacademies.com/post/2013/01/21/Mentoring-Our-Own-Preview.aspx


Here is a preview!!!! I am very excited and as a parent, I can't wait! :)

Donna is the owner of www.princessacademies.com and she is such an asset to the LDS Parenting world! Please join us in this learning experience!!


We are living in a "material world".....





I have written about this before, but I just feel inspired to write about it again. With Christmas being over now, and my kids are starting to complain about not having any toys ( umm.... so not true), and talking with some friends about their kids complaining about needing more toys or video games etc. I felt the need to write about this again. It is something that I am always going to struggle with as a parent. I want to give my children the world. But I NEED them to be good, responsible, charitable people. It is important to me. I love to do service projects with the kids, and I think that helps, but there are times that they just need a reminder, and so do I.
I have talked about this book before.  It is seriously the best book ever for teaching our children about the material world and how blessed we are ! Some of the pictures from the book :
and :
IT is truly a beautiful book. It shows families from all over the world... with all of their material possessions. Now, I wanted to add in this amazing article I found while browsing about teaching my children not to feel so "entitled" it is a definite must read... All Parents Need To Read This!! 10 WAYS TO RAISE KIDS WHO AREN'T ENTITLED Tell me what you think..... how do you teach your children that material things are not what is most important???? Happy Parenting! Love, JL~

Emma Smith : My Story and Loving Church History

This is on Netflix now!! Incredible idea for Family Home Evening ! I have always been so inspired and in love with the stories of Joseph and Emma Smith. I particularly feel a great love for Emma. I have many books on the subjects and have studied their stories. I am so blessed to live an hour away from Nauvoo, and the Spirit there is so incredibly strong. I love to stand in front of Joseph and Emma's homestead and gaze at the river. There are some scenes in the Emma movie where they are standing in that same spot... and I feel that every time I stand there and gaze at the river... they are standing there with me. I feel so strongly that this is where they would've stayed if they could have.
( this is a picture I took standing in front of the homestead gazing out of the river ) With the fact that we are learning about The Church's history and also going into the Doctrine and Covenants... I am just so excited . I love this. I love the Spirit of the beginning of the Gospel being restored. I love the thought of teaching my children this!! Already they are learning in Primary and I can't wait to go into depth teaching my children about their heritage! So far I haven't found any amazing "pioneers" in my family history.. My parents are the first ones that converted... but we still have such a heritage just by belonging to this church! So my question to you.... have you seen this movie and what did you think? Did you feel the great spirit?? Have you been to Nauvoo? What ideas do you have to teach your children of their great heritage?? Ok.. one more pic of Nauvoo to end the post.. I have like a million so I need to use as many as possible in this post HAHAHA!!!
This is at Scovill Bakery... my children adore the brother and sister missionaries that are there. They have such love and compassion for their service. Happy Parenting! Love, JL~

Sunday, January 6, 2013

January 2013 Family Network Challenge and Giveaway!!!




Happy New Year from The Family Network!!!!!


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We are so excited here at The Family Network to have the opportunity to share a fresh new year with you! Encouraging and inspiring others on how to have fun with their family! For the first Family Network Challenge of the year we have something special planned! First of all, we have some fun ideas on how to connect with your family this year. Then we have a giveaway!! We wanted to do something fun for our readers and we have been blessed to put together a fun little package of things to do with your family! To be entered into the drawing, you just need to link up and tell us how you connect with your family... what are some special things you do together?


First.... a preview of the giveaway family fun box!






 Two fun games and a great book, written by one of the bloggers here at The Family Network!







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Now to get on to the serious stuff.... how do you connect with your family? It seems as though these days the world is so busy, we have a hard time finding a moment when we can really sit down and connect with our families. There is after school clubs, soccer games, church activities, and late night meetings for parents who work. One of the best ways to connect with your family is to have a meal together. If you can't sit down every night for dinner as a family, try to pick at least one night a week, or do breakfast instead! It gives us time to slow down, enjoy each other's company, enjoy food, and talk about what is going on in our lives!



There are so many fun ideas on how to connect with your family. Take your kids out on dates! One on one time with a child is a precious gift. Have them choose where to go.. maybe out for hot chocolate or to the park. Take time to listen to every little thing they want to talk about! Give them lots of hugs!



Make a family mailbox. You can use a simple box and then decorate it together as a family. Write each other letters and notes, put them in envelopes then designate someone to be the mailman for that week. This is a really fun way to not only connect with your family, but it fosters great communication skills and helps children with writing!






What about having a family slumber party? You can play games, watch movies, sleep in sleeping bags in the living room ( or camp out in the backyard!) and eat popcorn! Tell stories, share your silliest dream you've ever had, or just talk about life.



Choose a book to read aloud as a family every evening. There are some super fun classic books out there... or you can share one that you loved as a child, and it would be an opportunity to connect with them by sharing something you loved as a child.
In closing, I would like to share a quote from one of my favorite books ever, it is called " 250 Ways to Connect With Your Family" by Melodie Webb.

  " Place the highest priority on home and family. * Let the merits of your family outweigh the merits of the world. Don't be distracted by things that entice but never really satisfy. * Choose to spend quality time with your family rather than with trivial pursuits. * Make choices that allow you more quantity time with your family. * Live so that you won't say at the end of your life, " I wish I had spent more time with my family" * Through your actions, show that they matter most to you. * Live so that people can say of you that you are a "family man" or a "family woman". * Recognize how much your family contributes to your personal success in life. Give them credit for that success. * Verbalize daily in individual and family prayer how grateful you are for your family, and how much you desire to serve them. "

How do you connect with your family? Link up in the linky below and share a fun way that your family connects. This is going to be a great year! It's the year for us to connect with our families, and be the best families possible!!!



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The Family Network
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Fun on a dime spring blog button play with your family