The Rules for Family Rules

The thing about having kids is that they are always growing.  always changing.  as soon as i figure something out that works, it no longer works, or i get distracted.  but i wrote these rules for coming up with our family rules when my oldest was 5.  i knew a lot about being a mom back then.  now my oldest is nearing 10, and i know very little.

but my friend, rachel, reminded me of my rules and asked to borrow them.  so i read back over them, and they're pretty good.  good enough to go back over them with my kids and see what happens.

rachel is posting the rules over at Every Days Best today. she is too kind in her introduction, but we have been friends since forever.  and when i read in proverbs this week, love wisdom like a sister, it made me think of her. 

do you have a set of family rules?  how do you teach your children your expectations?  

Our Letterboxing Birthday Party

My Boo is 6!  Last Friday we had a letterboxing birthday party for him and his homeschool buddies.  

Being able to have weekday birthday parties that free up your weekends is reason #28 that we homeschool. You think I just generated that number, but really, this semester already, I've made a list to remind myself why we homeschool.  I'm wondering if anyone can relate.  

If you've never letterboxed, letterboxes are boxes hidden in public places, like parks.  Clues are left on websites like letterboxing.org or Atlas Quest.  The boxes contain a notebook and a rubber stamp.  Finders make an imprint of the letterbox's stamp in their personal notebook and leave an impression of their personal stamp on the letterbox's visitor's book-or logbook.  Got it? 

We started the party with each guest making their own letterbox to take home to hide somewhere.  The kids each made their own stamp from foam sheets glued to  dry sponges, and two foam stickers stacked on top of each other.

Once everyone had a personal notebook and stamp, we split the partygoers into two groups-the first grade boys and the siblings. Two letterboxes were hidden in our neighborhood park, so  one team followed clues for one  box, while the other team  found the other box.  Then, they switched clues and  found the other box.  

Then the pizza arrived, along with cupcakes!  Because what's a party without hot pink icing? 

    

And the very next day Boo told me one of his teeth hurt.  I looked at it- and it's about to fall out!  First one for him, and it seems like such a milestone!  The saying "the days are so long, the years so fast" is too true, isn't it?  How is he six?  and why am  I so tired all the time?  Sheesh.

July 2011

Hello August!

While I was away from my blog, I was with my family-on possibly our first family vacation.  It was a near perfect getaway for us-out of the Texas heat and up into the Adirondacks.   

  

I'll be back soon with some other projects I worked on this summer.   

It's good to be back.  

How was your summer?

Summer Break

We just started our summer to-do list, and checked one off today by stopping for some shaved ice. While we're out getting these things done, I'll be taking a little break from blogging for the month of July. Then  I'll be back with a few projects I hope to work on.     

Do you have a summer list?  What's on yours?   Enjoy your summer!

Father's Day photos of the kids in the woods

I am not a photographer and I don't know what I'm doing.  I wish I was and did.  

But I am really thankful for a smart camera and cute kids.

  

I have a few kids, so this post is picture heavy.  

But it's really for the Dad's in our lives, anyway.  

Hope everyone else has a wonderful day celebrating the men in their lives this weekend.

Happy Father's Day, Opa, Giddo, and Daddy!

Our Custom Father's Day Card Idea + How we celebrate Mother's/Father's Day

 above: as a frame-able print

below: as a greeting card

I don't think either one of us have actually said, "well, you're not my _______(father, mother)."  

But the first few years, it really seemed like we were owed the world 

for the sleepless nights and thankless days.  

Our expectations were high and disappointments were inevitable. 

I'm not sure when we let it go, but I'm so glad we did.  It's not that we don't do anything for each other, but the Days are much more about encouraging the kids to honor us.

This year, Father's Day is most likely going to look like a special breakfast, and lots of hugs and kisses and Happy Father's Day wishes from the kids.  We'll also give him these cards -one from each of the kids, with three things they love about their Dad.   And hopefully a good photo of all four kids for his desk at work.  Something like this one...minus the letters.  

If you'd like to use ours as a template to print card or print your own, I'd be happy to email it to you!

How do you celebrate the Days?

I'm linking this up to Today's Creative Blog.

How I Keep My Kids Still

Baby has had one ear infection after another, on top of another.  Tubes are in her near future.  All that means is we've had a few doctor's appointments lately.  

And what I don't like about doctor's appointments is taking the other, healthy, kids along, where 

they touch germ-y things and pick up new illnesses that bring us back to the doctors.   

So I tell them, "Don't touch ANYTHING." 

except our drawing bag.  

It's the second bag I made a few weeks ago.  It's filled with sketch pads, step-by-step drawing books, colored pencils and crayons.   I keep it in the car, for whenever we need to go somewhere and be still and not touch anything.  You know those errands.  

Remember the other bag we keep in the car?  What do you keep in your car? 

And what do you do to keep your kids still?

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While you're here, can I  tell you about my friend Rachel?  She has been a writer all her life and is now writing at Every Day's Best where she talks about God's big shoulders, His trustworthiness, hope and forgiveness.  Because of a real personal loss, she knows what she is talking about. She's hosting a give away today and also guest posting at (in)courage.me today, so please stop by.  That is all.  Thanks!

Healthy Kids Meals

We've been eating, for the most part, gluten-, dairy- and sugar-free since the beginning of the year.  So, like 3 weeks.  But it feels really good to be eating so healthy-that I really think it's going to stick.  

The kids are doing great on it, too.  Except for missing their chocolate milk (which we added back last week buying Horizons Organic Chocolate Milk), they haven't seemed to notice.  And they love the healthy lunch chart. They now know they need to eat from each category, and because they are fixing their own lunch, it sometimes looks like a hodge-podge of a meal-like rice noodles, tomato, pear and raw almond butter.  But it's balanced and healthy and they made it themselves so they eat it all.  And I'm happy.

Most days, we've settled into a lunch routine...Belle loves Nori rolls with brown sticky rice, carrots, tomatoes and avacado.  We've had a sushi roller for years.  I'm so glad she's getting use out of it. 

Boo fixes rice cakes with peanut butter and raisins-and usually a tomato.

We're still looking for good, filling snacks though...and ones that are good to grab and go.  Any ideas?  

Is God Really Good?

At some point in any God-believing person's life, the question exists.  Sometimes it is barely whispered, or only a fleeting thought.  Other times, it is a gnawing overwhelming silence.  

I'm reading One Thousand Gifts and have found hope for the fear that surrounds the unanswered question.  Ann Voskamp has lived through the question after several tragedies and found the answer in the ordinary: gratitude.  She explains, "It is impossible to give thanks, and simultaneously feel fear."  

Yesterday, at fifty pages into her story, I challenged myself to write down 1000 things to give thanks for.   Dressing for church this morning, as a I slipped my hand into a coat I rarely wear, I found a note of a quote I must have wanted to keep. I collect them, you know.  Yet, this one, I forgot.  

"We walk by humble miracles everyday.  They give evidence that God is good."  

Ann's book is the first item on my beginning list.  The note is the second.  

These moments from our simple Saturday evening at home are also on my list.  
My littles masked in lemon and mint clay. 

I hope your weekend was sweet and full of humble miracles that went noticed.  Have you started reading Ann's book? 

Links to Click

Or maybe it's only me.  I thought I came to the conclusion that I did not, in fact, have an addictive personality.  Although of late, I've taken to a few obsessions.  I think new years do that to me.

• I need new thoughts around my home.  These printables are perfect. 
• I have been on hypothyroidism medication since the '80's.  Recently I learned of a possible reason:  a gluten sensitivity (not gluten allergy).  I'm planning to eliminate gluten (and while I'm at it, dairy and sugar) for a trial period...I've read The Whole Life Nutrition Cookbook (more than a cookbook) cover to cover.   
• I love this FREE chart to help kids make their own healthy, balanced lunch so much, I laminated it.
• One Thankful Mom has started a Rocking Mama Challenge -to rock your child for 15 minutes a day for 28 days.   I dare you to try it.  

Ok, tell me I'm not the only one with runaway enthusiasms--  what are you up to?  

Handmade Holidays: Perfect Last Minute Gift for Moms

Or for yourself...you know, a "merry christmas to me" thing. 

For months now-- ok, really since school started, I have struggled getting my older kids to stay on task from one assignment to the next...they'd want a break, or a glass of juice, or second breakfast, or ...and it would only be 9 o'clock.   Now, if the kids were in school, I believe they would have no trouble sticking with their work...but then again, I can remember even in school getting to pick something from the treasure box after a week of good "on-task" behavior.  Maybe what my kids could use is a little reward or encouragement to stay on top of their work...

So I asked my friend, Ana Degenaar to help me, and by "help" I mean, spend way too much time making me the coolest set of rewards cards I've ever seen.   They are so great!   There are 38 rewards worth 1, 5, or 10 minutes-depending on the value of the deed or work they were caught doing-and range from a piggy ride to playing a board game with mom.  

And now that I have mine, Ana has the cards in a pdf file in her shop, so they can be yours-to keep or give...and since it's a file you print, you can give a set to every mother you know!  

And they will thank you.  

What mom of small kids wouldn't love a set?