Family Drawing Time

I have been really into crafts lately (trying to find some great things to do for training my daughters to be keepers at home). I came across a GREAT idea of a family drawing time!

I don't know why I never thought of this. I mean, I have always heard of family reading time. And recently I have wanted to start giving the children paper and crayons to color what they are learning/hearing while we are reading (partly so I know that they are listening, and partly to get them in the habit of listening, and partly so that I have some proof for the state of schooling).

How cool is THIS? Backyard camping!!

WOW!! I came across this link for The Great American Backyard Campout! WHAT a fun and easy way to do the camp thing. There are tons of great ideas for backyard camping. I always thought you had to go to the state park to do real camping, but this site helps you have just as much fun in your own back yard! (Which is GREAT for the new momma who does not want to go camping with the new baby and can sleep inside with him and not have to worry about a crying baby upsetting the wonderful nature of the outdoors for others who are camping).

I Forgot!

It amazes me how often my kids "forget" a rule. Everytime I catch them doing something or being somewhere they are not supposed to, I hear the whiny "BUT I FORGOT!"

I recently started being consistant with consequences for actions. Even the little ones that I used to let go or think it was no big deal. How many times I have ____ God's word by thinking "it is no big deal if I do this, it is just a small thing." There are no "little" things to God. His world is full of laws. Black and white. And each time I break one, no matter how small (that little white lie I told to make someone feel better) quenchs the Spirit just a little bit more and more. And because there seems to be no immediate consequences, it becomes easier and easier to "forget" those laws.

So now each and every break of the "laws" that hubby and I have set up (like remembering to close the screen door when going in or outside) have a consequence. Leave the door open, and you must stay inside. I just told them this, and they have come in and out sevreal times, and AMAZING! They remembered to close the screen door!

I cannot wait to apply this to other areas of discipline.

Space is Dark

We had received free tickets to the Museum so Saturday we were off! It was about an hours drive to get there, and we had no idea the parking would be so horrid! But thankfully, God provided a parking space (and in the shade too!!!). We exchanged our vouchers for tickets and walked into the first exhibit - space. There was a simulation of Mars going on (woman in space suit and everything). We sat down and heard her talk for about 2 minutes when the power went out in the entire building!

The space suit was cool because you could see the little lights coming from the space suit to light up wherever she looked. We sat there and just waited for about 5 minutes until we were told to leave the area.

Then we waited in the hall with hundreds of others for about 10 minutes. Then we were told to evacuate the building. That took about 30 minutes (even though we were only 2 minutes from the door). While trying to get out the fire alarms went off. People did start moving a little faster, but not much. So we finally get outside, and 7 fire trucks arrive! WOW!

So they are telling everyone to come back a different day - get your tickets stamped and don't even bother waiting around because who knows when the power will be back on. So we get into our car and have to wait 20 minutes before someone FINALLY lets us out. Rather than waiting in that line, we head the oppostie direction and get out of the parking lot in only 5 minutes (compared to who knows how long it would have taken had we gone the direction everyone else was).

So we goto McDonald's (they have Pirates of The Carribean toys and I just HAD to get my Johnny Depp doll!!) and while there my husband asks the girls what they learned today. He expected an answer having to do with fire trucks or something. EE (4yr) replied "Space is dark." Yep. Space is dark honey.

The Right Perspective

SO we are trying really hard to clean up and get the house ready to sell (more on that later), and I want to make sure that all the games and puzzles have all their pieces. I had asked my oldest to put together one of the puzzles and she did and left it out on the table so that as we found pieces we would be able to see that it went with that puzzle.

My 3yr old woke up from her nap and came downstairs while we were cleaning. She proudly handed the puzzle box to me with the puzzle all cleaned up! LOL!

Now, the old me would have said "Oh sweetie! We needed that puzzle out, why did you clean it up?!" But how that would have wounded her spirit! Instead, I said "Oh sweetie, what a great job cleaning up and I didn't even have to ask you to! HIGH FIVE!" (high five's are our way of saying "great job.") She got the biggest grin. And I know that I am encouraging her to clean up.

I read today on one of my new favorite blogs about habits. I love what Lori said about how little "chores" can become habits (like putting things away when we are done with them, wiping the kitchen counter after dinner, etc.). I highly encourage you to read her blog and the links from her page. WELL worth it!

And I encourage you (as the Lord has been growing me and showing me lately) to get a good perspective on things. Remember to look at the positive in the situation! You might just be encouraging a lifelong habit (like seeing something that needs cleaning up and cleaning it up instead of just stepping over it!). LOL!

Digital Scrapbooking

As most of you prolly already know, I am an avid digital scrapbooker! I used to do the paper style, but it was SO EXPENSIVE! And because I did not have a lot of money to spend on stickers and ribbons and paper (OH MY!), my layouts just did not look good.

But with DIGITAL scrapbooking, not only are there TONS of freebies out there, but the kits are really cheap (only $3.99 for papers and ribbons and elements and such). Then you get to REUSE THE KIT! You don't have to worry about buying stickers only for one sticker and having the clutter of keeping all those other stickers just because you paid for them.

You also don't have to worry about leaving everything out because you are in the middle of a layout. You don't have to worry about the kids messing with your papers or worse SCISSORS!

My digital layouts look 100 times better than my paper ever did. Mostly because I have not had to spend a lot of money to make it look that way. And what is great (besides saving a TON of money) is that when it comes to my daughters moving out and wanting some of the pages from my scrapbook, I can just print them out their own copy! So each child can have their own book, with their own pictures AND if a picture has all of them in it, I can print out a copy for each child to put in their own book. My girls LOVE looking through my scrapbook! For Christmas, I am giving each child their own scrapbook with their own pictures! I will print out more layouts for them as I make them and if it gets torn up, NO WORRIES! I can always print out another copy!!

I recently came across this GREAT free link for podcasts on how to digiscrap!
http://www.scrapadelic.libsyn.com/

Out of all the places out there that you can subscribe to that are free (as a place to post your layouts, learn about how to make layouts, and get lots of freebies), I must admit that Digital Scrapbook Place is my favorite. WHY? First of all, I notice that there are a LOT of Christians there. They have a faithbook challenge and you can find a LOT of layouts with scripture in them. Secondly, they are all so nice and friendly. VERY quick to respond with an answer and encouragement. Not only that, but they have a TON of FREE tutorials to get you started. They have a "Step-It-Up" gallery where you can post your layout and ask for help on how to make it look better.

Your gallery is free, AND you can set up a PRIVATE album (for FREE), and you can create other albums (for FREE). So much free stuff here it is not even funny! LOL!!

If you join DSP, please do let them know lvg4him referred you. And PLEASE LET ME KNOW your username. Post it here for others to see. The neat thing about DSP is you have your OWN LINK to your gallery. It is your username.digitalscrapbookplace.com . So be sure to share your LINK to your gallery!! So my gallery is:
http://lvg4him.digitalscrapbookplace.com

You can see it and the updates by clicking on the PICTURES link on the right hand side of my blog.

Picture Time

OK. So my good friend over at Renaissance has posted some pictures of her CUTE son in the cutest outfit. So you know I gotta share one of mine.

Clean Home

How to clean your home in 19 minutes!

What a fun idea!

What a GREAT idea!

So my daughter has been so enjoying the books that I have been making her. But she discovered something a while back that I forgot to share until I was remembered of it watching a video my husband made for me of a recent homeschool speech.

My daughter had taken a realyl cheap photo album (like the ones you can find at Goodwill for $1). It held 20 4x6 photos. She created a picture and put one in each slot. Then she told a story with the pictures! She had made her own picture book.

The speaker (Judith Allee) suggested that you write on one page what they dictate to you. And to not only have a cover, but an "About the Author" page. What a NEAT idea! She would give the created books to Grandparents as gifts. What a great idea!! And what a fun way to see the children and how the grow (with each About the Author page.

Spelling Bee Musings and Homeschool finds!

So, who else never thought that a spelling bee could be so addictive?!?! I tuned in and could not stop watching!! I got so nervous. And then when the network did NOT put up the spelling (so I could make sure that they were spelling it correctly) I got so upset! LOL!! And that sweet girl who spelling the word correctly, was told she spelt it wrong, and then got a second chance because the judges realized that they had the word spelling incorrectly on their sheet? AMAZING!

But I must admit, I was really hoping that sweet little girl from Canada would win. She was ALWAYS SMILING! Did you notice that? The girl who won - I never saw her smile until she won. I know it was most likely nerves, but I liked the fact that even while nervous, the little Canadian girl kept smiling.

So today they had a HUGE used curriculum sale at a local church. (Can you believe I got Pre-Math-It, Math-It, Math-It Advanced, Winston Grammer, Winstom Grammer Advanced) all for $65!! What a blessing!! The lady (and her husband) were so sweet (and so generous)!! I will be going through all my finds and writting up reviews (for those who are interested).