{Freebie} Church Notes

I encourage my kids to participate and listen during church, so I like to have a little worksheet for them to fill out as the service goes along. I tinker and adapt it from time to time, and here is the current format, for writing age and upward. Actually, I like to fill it in as well, I listen better and my mind doesn't wander if I'm writing at the same time. Anyhoo, thought I'd share:

Click HERE to download the PDF. 

{instructions: print page 1 first and then put the paper back in the printer and print page 2 on the backside. Then fold in half like a booklet}


And here's a simpler version for early writers
{instructions: it's also double-sided, but makes two copies per paper. So just cut down the middle)

And another that's a combo of the two versions:

Lent.

We don't currently attend a liturgical church that observes the religious calendar, but in my quiet studies I like to have these seasons of reflection and preparation, particularly during Advent and Lent. I've been struggling with what to do this year. I've been a person to "give up" something but my friends have inspired me over the years, and last year I chose to give up a specific ipad game. It seems silly, but I had  gotten into the bad habit of playing the game first thing in the morning instead of doing my usual Bible reading. So I used the weeks of Lent to get back on track spiritually by intentionally setting  my game aside and re-establishing my regular time in the Word. This year I already feel on track and focused in my walk, so I can't think of a specific tangible thing to give up for this season, or forever, that would better my relationship with God.

Some people choose to add in a new habit, which is great! But for me, I feel like I am already doing that as my goal for the whole year. And I don't want my Lent to be full of Busy and Activity like Advent.  I want it to be a season of stillness.

I browsed for a family devotion we could do but just couldn't find something that wasn't entirely centered around the act of fasting. So this is what I decided. I sat down and wrote up a list of verses to meditate on as a family for this Lent season. We will reflect on:

Repentance

Forgiveness

Salvation

Righteousness

Love and Devotion

(eternal) Hope

(I guess it's real similar to the Color Gospel actually.) For various reasons intentional Bible teaching with the kids has become something I just don't do consistently like I desire. We do talk about faith quite a bit as we go about our day and life and in prayer so I trust that they see and know that faith is a relationship not just a Sunday event. But still, I want to help create opportunity for their spiritual growth by doing study as a family. For them and for me. So here goes Lent 2015.

Birthday Celebration Week!

I started a new tradition for our family last summer with Eli's birthday and for all the kids' birthdays apparently. I was thinking of how during Homecoming Week at school the kids do "spirit week" and they all dress up as something specific each day of the week. I thought we could do a sort of "spirit week" for birthdays too. We don't do much for presents and try to go out for a special outing instead, and I thought we could add on to that idea and celebrate Birthday Child and his/her favorite things all week long by doing a special activity each day.  Now,  just like with Advent activities, I do NOT like things that require prep. Party decorations, themes, fancy games and cakes...I hate all that stuff. But THIS, I can handle. And most importantly, the kids love it. What child doesn't love to be heard and the freedom to CHOOSE??  I hope they truly know how loved and special they are.  

So here are the specifics and ideas of what types of activities you can do each day:

* Read his favorite book (or 5).
* Play his favorite game. Inside or out. Eli has a summer bday so he picked kickball at the baseball field. Carter picked Jenga and Duck-Duck-Goose.
* Watch his favorite movie.
* Everyone in the family wears his favorite color for the whole day. Whether it's the full outfit or just a colored string around your finger, it doesn't matter.
* Eat his favorite snack.
* Go to favorite restaurant.
* Go on a special outing.
* 1st all day.  First in line, first served, first pick, first whateverthekidsalwaysfightabout.
* Party day!

In this house party days don't always land on the actual birthday week. Neither does the outing necessarily. But in the pictures, BOTH happened to land during birthday week which made planning the activity days easier. Had to get creative and work with the calendar and the available time each day, but it's worth it, fun, and memorable!

Hannah's birthday is next week so we'll be gearing up to do this all again! If you have other activity ideas, leave 'em in the comments!  Thanks!

SUMMER TIME!!

Starts tomorrow and I can't wait!!  The kids basically stay on the same sort of routine year round. They wake up just as early, never sleep in, and thus they typically go to bed by about the same time during the summer months too. We try to follow this sort of routine for each day...

and this for the morning activity throughout the week:

I put it in our plastic fridge thing, behind our chore chart, so I can fill it in each week with a dry erase marker. (It will probably be highly determined according to the weather.) And these are the activity ideas I jotted down...

Make it Monday: homemade play dough, foam dough, baking soda clay, bird feeder, giant bubbles, homemade jam, dandelion tea?, glow bottle, DIY board game, play set additions?

Time to read Tuesday: library trip followed by park reading

Wet n Wild Wednesday: wash car, ice block with toys frozen inside it, water table, water bin, lake, pool, sprinkler, marble maze.

Thoughtful Thursday: letters and/or cards, service project, random kindness, neighborhood popsicles, book house donations

Fun Friday: outing, hiking, kids read-alouds with friends, lemonade stand, kickball, board game day, pond, orchard, zoo, playdate, etc

We don't usually have "bored" issues around here but if we ever have that then we'll implement this:

Over the duration of summer, the kids also keep a book log and when 100 (different) books are completed, they get to host an ice cream party with friends! They love doing this and were already ready to start our list a couple days ago!

Cheers to an awesome summer!!

A post in which I rant about the messes.

I really hoped that when I took the kids' toys away it would help our house stay cleaner. But it didn't. The kids still have SETS of things--card-making stuff, bead set, dress-up clothes, and art supplies. Along with Legos, homemade Lincoln logs, and Hot Wheels cars for the boys. 

Doesn't matter what they have, or don't have, they wreck everything. Daily. Hourly. Minutely. 

I know they're young and playing, these days are fleeting, yada yada, and it shouldn't upset me. But it does. I can't stand it. I want them to learn responsibility and consequence but it seems like they just don't. get. it.

Yesterday afternoon Hannah worked to tidy up her room. And within half hour the kids were all in there playing again and they TRASHED IT. All the blankets thrown off the bed, the bed was moved and pulled out from the wall, chairs and STUFF all shoved BEHIND the bed, card paper everywhere, dress-up clothes everywhere, laundry everywhere. Of course THEY are the ones that have to clean it ALL back up but it takes more than an hour to enforce that. Excruciating minutes of enforcing and following thru and making sure everyone's helping, and helping dictate where all the crap goes back to. It's so awful, and I hate it, really really really hate it.  

This scenario is basically what happens every day, all the time. Spend hours cleaning up and then it EXPLODES again within minutes. Out-of-control EXPLODES. A handful of bracelet rubber bands tossed onto the couch or floor or table in a second takes 30 minutes to pick up and sort back out!

So please, I'm pleading, what's the solution?? How do you handle these situations?  

No going back. Becoming a minimalist.

They don't fight as much.
They are more content and play longer.
They are more creative and imaginative.
They "read" even more than they already did.
There is WAY less mess which in turn makes our home more peaceful.
They enjoy not spending as much time picking up every day.

What's the magic trick?? 

I took the kids' toys away.

All in the same week I came across three different things that inspired me to make this change in our home. The first was this super old-school book I got for free titled The Real Book of Games by Joseph Leeming, published in 1953.  It's full of simple games that...here's the kicker for me... require NOTHING or next to nothing.  Games that kids used to play decades ago. Games like I Spy,

number/letter guessing, question games, thumb war, battleships (on paper), duck-duck-goose except with a newspaper, those song clapping games, and alllll these other games like "we stand this certain way and push on each other and see who falls over first" sort of games. They're amazingly simple and again require nothing but fun and imagination! The book includes active games, quiet games, inside, outside, ice breaker type games, and games just for two. And I love it all. And almost all of it are ideas that have been lost through the years. Because of technology and things with bright color and noise.  And our need to be entertained by SOMETHING, even us adults. And it's sad. So that was the first thing that really got my heart stirring.

The second was a blog post titled "Why I took all my kids' toys away and why they won't get them back".  The results this mom had were shocking and inspiring and I immediately wanted to take action.

And another article AGAIN, titled "Why Fewer Toys Will Actually Benefit Your Kids". It explains the value of toys and how kids learn thru play, but at the same time it re-emphasizes the idea that less is more.  Keeping it basic. And again all those wonderful results of doing just that.

I figured, why not at least give it a try? So I went for it. And it has been glorious, amazing, wonderful, and I'm becoming very passionate about living this way and sharing it with others! I hear so many friends talking about how they need to figure out a way to organize their spaces, and my simple solution is really to just have less stuff!!!

Now here are the details. I've always been very reserved about the amount of toys we gave the kids, but still our home was very full on every corner, it seemed. It was organized but it still took a LOT to maintain that, and the kids were always overwhelmed at sorting everything back into their spots. Fighting was a constant, and while that is a heart issue that also needs dealt with, sometimes you reach a point where you just want to diminish the battles altogether.  So I did. One by one I packed up the stuff from the playroom and hauled it to the basement so that all that remained was a full bookshelf of books, a shoe box of Hot Wheel sized cars only, Trio blocks, art supplies, and the play kitchen (minus all the kitchen STUFF) but left a set of tea party stuff. And guess what, the kids never said a word about where everything went. It's been three weeks maybe and still not a word, not a single complaint. They did ask for something specific a couple days ago so I brought it up from the basement, and when they were done, back it went.  I've done much of the same with their bedrooms, pulled out the miscellaneous STUFF and left the basics. For Eli and Carter's room, it's the under-bed bin of Legos, the box of wooden train tracks, and art supplies. The kids mostly love having the closet empty so they can pretend it's an office and play school. And for Hannah's room, it's her jewelry-making set, small set of legos, books, art supplies, and one small bin of baby doll stuff for her one doll. Again, no comments, no complaints. It's amazing.

For now it's still a trial. Everything is neatly stored in basement shelving and not yet gone forever. And I do hope it gets asked for or cycled in in place of something else or whatever. But there is definitely no intention to stuff the rooms full again. Ever.

Simpler is ALWAYS better. Try it.

Summer.

School is now out and today is the kids' first day of summer vacation! Growing up (in Iowa) we always went to the very end of May and if there were snow days to make up it sometimes went into June. When we lived in Connecticut, the school I worked at went to the END of June! So I'm thrilled that here we get out in mid-May. We don't get many breaks during the year, but it's worth it if this is what comes of it!  

This summer....

I can turn off the alarms on my phone that dictate the rhythm of our day. Shoes on NOW, Go out to Bus, Bus is coming home, etc

I can part with my phone altogether. I usually feel like it's one of my limbs for fear that the school child will get sick or hurt and the school will need to reach me urgently.

I can sleep in if I want.

We can stay up til sundown.

I can take the kids on TONS of adventures.

We can READ.

We can utilize ALL of daddy's days off, not just the ones that happen to land on actual weekends. 

We can have picnics outside almost every meal and I won't have to clean the dining room as much.  ;)

We can see our friends any of the day of the week because we don't have a list of obligations!

I. Love. Summer.

We have a vacation planned at the end of June but we otherwise don't have much of anything on the summer schedule whatsoever. Just tons of local adventures. Last summer was amazing so we will follow much of that same pattern. We organized activities weekly to do together with our friends.  We will do some service oriented projects, we will have story times at the park so the kids can practice reading aloud to each other, we will hike and stay active, we will try to do a craft/project each Monday, and we will just kick back and have fun.  We now have two little ones that can ride on two wheels so I want to get a bike seat for Carter and go for family rides-- we have a great trail here we haven't yet explored.  There's too much fun to do to waste any opportunities!! 

Have a great summer!!

Love.

Love is patient.
Love is kind.
It does not envy,
it does not boast,
it is not proud.
It is not rude,
it is not self-seeking,
it is not easily angered,
it keeps no record of wrongs.
Love does not delight in evil but
rejoices with the truth.
It always protects,
         always trusts,
               always hopes,
                     always perseveres.
Love never fails.

(1 Cor. 13:4-8)

Lord, help me to be patient with my children this morning and not easily angered. Help me to lay down pride and put them first. Help me to hold fast to the truth that these children are a wonderful gift. Help me to forgive and not keep a record of wrongs that I can tell to Kevin when he gets home from work. Help me to persevere and seek Your strength throughout all of today's challenges. Help me to love with my actions and attitude. Fill me with your Spirit that in me they see YOU. Amen.

What does it mean to Love?

Here are a few questions about love and marriage that I can't wait to ask my kids this week.  Would love to know what their perceptions are as they age through the years...  =) 

Download printable HERE.

Reset Button

Our culture has gotten far too lazy. With the world at our fingertips within our electronics, we tend to sit on our butts WAY too much while still FEELING like we are doing something!  I've shared my struggle with Facebook, and I've still been processing thoughts about it. About why it's such a struggle...

1. Motherhood.  I kind of feel like a lot of my role is to hover nearby the kids all day long. To be there and ready when a boo-boo needs kissed, fights need broken up, discipline needs to take place, feelings get hurt, little guy needs taken to the potty, or a drink needs filled.  These things don't happen quite EVERY minute of the day (although sometimes it sure feels like it!) and the in-between minutes aren't enough to get into any project too INVOLVED.  Heck, as soon as I go upstairs to fold laundry, someone is screaming downstairs.  That's just life right now.  I do chores when I can but not ALL day, so those in-between minutes while I hover nearby my kids are often spent on FB. Because it's easy, it's not involved, it's community.  Now don't get me wrong, I play WITH my kids and read WITH my kids and and do some chores WITH the kids and we do spend a lot of time OUT of the house. But when we're home and they want to spend the day playing, this is why I'm often on Facebook, why it's hard to not go there.

And now. It's become habit. It's become the norm.

For many of us.

2. And anything outside the normal is then a struggle.  So I want to reset. To establish a new norm. One that doesn't involve the constant itch to check in on my friends every single day. I have selected a small group of people I truly want to keep up with on an everyday basis, deleted almost 100 friends that were only ever an acquaintance, and left many of the friends I still want to check in on only from time to time.  Yet I still find myself going to facebook.com many many many times a day. Because I'm restless and bored.

So.

I want to rediscover small pastimes that I enjoy. Like Sudoku.  I refound a Sudoku magazine I'd gotten awhile back for Eli, stuck it in the little drawer of our new coffee table and I've thoroughly been enjoying working those puzzles when I have a few minutes! It's easier to NOT do something (Facebook) when you have something else to replace the time with (activities with the kids, or little hobbies).

And for 2013 I want to work on a project list.  I have sooo many projects that could probably be done in only 1 day.  And I'd like to tackle at least one a month! To feel the satisfaction of checking something off as DONE.  To let my kids see the things I enjoy, like sewing, and to learn the basics of these skills.

So here is my list of the quick projects:

1. Finish sewing the last two panels of curtains for the office.

2. If that leftover fabric is enough, make pillow covers for the living room.

3. Finish the Quiet Time Book I'm making for the kids. 

4. Hem my bedroom curtains.
5. Make a set of cloth napkins.

6. Touch up paint in the dining room.

7. Find Eli's baby pictures so I can start his baby book.
8. Organize new recipes.  
9. Finish Eli's spelling book.
10. Finish Hannah's (soon to be Carter's) homework book. 
11. Finish Hannah's drawer project for her room.

Long-term projects:

12. Europe scrapbook

13. Annual family photo albums.
14. Finish conversation calendar.

This year simply must be different. Changes must be made or my kids will grow up doing the same thing. And I hope for more than that.

How we do Christmas

I LOVE the Christmas season!  I think it gets more and more meaningful and fun as the kids get older!  

Here is what we are doing this year...

We kicked off the season in November by participating in Operation Christmas Child.  The older two each packed a shoebox for another child their same ages. This year I remembered to print tags online so we can track what country our boxes are delivered to! It will be exciting when we get that email! Next year Carter will be old enough to understand more of what's going on and help pack a shoebox as well.

As you probably already know, each night/afternoon this year we've been doing an advent activity from our calendar, and we are LOVING this tradition.  I like that I can secretly switch the cards around sometimes if I'm feeling too lazy for what was originally assigned.  These have been a fun way to keep the meaning of Christmas simple and true.

I also wrapped all our Christmas books that we hadn't seen since last year and  each night we open and read a new book.  Some of them are even library books and those are numbered for a specific date so they can be opened and returned.  And a couple of them are actually nativity puzzles, just for a fun surprise, cuz we love doing puzzles!  

After we open the Christmas book, we also read a few stories from the Jesus Storybook Bible, starting all the way at the beginning. Every story connects to Jesus and is perfect to read again this time of year, reminding us why we NEED a savior, why we are so thrilled that Jesus has come!  The kids LOVE these stories and beg me to keep reading, saying with great excitement how they "love the Bible!!"  

As for actual Christmas and presents, we don't do Santa so we actually haven't even been talking about presents AT ALL.  But this year for the first time I am doing "something you want, something you need, something to wear, something to read" for each of the kids.  So I FEEL like I'm really only getting the kids one main present and even that one isn't extravagant.  We fill stockings with little things and on Christmas Eve they'll each get a new pair of slipper jammies. We rarely buy actual jammies for jammies, we do a lot of tshirts and sweats, so new jammies is special.  

And that's it!  But so wonderful!! 

Kids: Church Notes

Now that my oldest is able to find passages in the Bible, write, and spell on his own, I want to start changing what I have him do in church. So I made up this simple notes sheet for him to fill out, hoping to work towards more active listening instead of entertaining.  Write the passage reference the pastor is reading from for the day. Pick a favorite verse from there to copy. Write your own notes. And listen for keywords (this is mostly a bank of common words to help with spelling) Mom chooses for the day. It's not necessarily just the tally-mark game, but it could be.  It's just a half-sheet of paper, prints 2 per page, plus there's the blank back-side for more writing, or drawing. Simple but hopefully effective! He didn't want to do it last week, but this week I might it more of an assignment, something I want him to show me back home for us to talk about. And it's something I want to (and did last week) fill out for myself too!

You can download the PDF HERE.

And here is a sheet of the New Testament books of the Bible. Just print on cardstock and cut apart. Then select a few or select all of them and have child arrange them in order. Gaining confidence in the   order will help children be able to find Bible passages. You can do the same with Old Testament but we aren't there yet! =)

Live Simply.

Over the past year I've become pretty disgusted and saddened by the craze of our nation with electronics. Ipod, ipad, iphone, kindle, DS, data phones, video games, computer games. Anytime, anywhere. People, myself included, are becoming increasingly addicted to these things, distracted, restless, and unable to just BE. To wait. To find something creative to do. Or do nothing at all. To really be PRESENT with one another. We adults have been sucked into all this, and the kids, even the youngest of them, are falling right into the same trap. At play dates and birthday parties I hear kids asking to play video games and it's just soo sad to me!!  

Lately we have put all these things up. Kids used to wake up before us and play games on the ipod until we were up. Now I put the ipod up in the evening so they can't get to it, and they are encouraged to find something quiet to do or read instead. And in the fall I'll be downgrading my phone OFF of the data plan. I can hardly wait. I'm tired of the distractions, the restlessness, the constant need to check Facebook cuz I'm bored. The constant need to share a picture the minute its taken. It's ridiculous. Can we not simply just enjoy the moment? Pictures are important. But the need to share immediately is not. Now it's not that we're COMPLETELY anti-technology, but it's a treat around here, and I like it better that way.

Anyway.... done with my rant now... the point of this post is that I got inspired by Pinterest to use an old window pane as a picture frame. I was bummed that we didn't really have anything and then I realized one day when digging in the shed that we DID! And quickly my idea came together...

I started sorting through old pictures and chose my theme to be "Live Simply" featuring the simplest and most wonderful moments of life. Each of our children being born, picking flowers, blowing dandelions, splashing in puddles, swinging from a tree branch, sandy toes, sunsets, and of course some pictures of our family together. 

This frame used to be our front door until the wind caught it and busted it from the rest of the door. I wiped the glass windows but the rest is exactly as it was. Not repainted and hardly even cleaned. The pictures are just taped.

It's hard to take a picture of the whole thing because of all the reflections from the windows on the opposite wall so there's a bunch of pictures to see everything up close...

{Rainyday activity} Homemade butter.

I've been wanting to try this for awhile now. It really is oh so easy. Full instructions here. But basically...

just fill a glass jar with heavy whipping cream. I added a marble to help it mix well. 

 Put the lid on tight and...

 shake shake shake!!

  shake shake shake

 everyone takes a turn!

first peek: look and taste and touch!

tasted like whipped cream without sugar. definitely getting creamy though!

it didn't take long for results!

 shake some more!

 

second peek. getting thicker.

look, poke, taste again.

 

 

 add some salt. shake a lil more. 

and done!

 We had bread n butter with our dinner tonight! It tasted good! I'm thrilled!! 

We just might be doing this again!!!

Well on our way!

We've filled out almost 2 of these sheets of books that we've read and once complete, we get to host an ice cream party for our friends!

(the starred titles indicate the ones Eli has read on his own. After starting, I realized getting to 100 books wasn't going to be all that much of a challenge, so the rule quickly became 100 different books)

{Summer activity} Park Clean-Up

I LOVE planning things and organizing events (probably to a fault at times, right dear??). I LOVE going places and getting out. I LOVE being with friends. I do also LOVE spontaneity and adventure and being able to decide on a whim that we're going to do something new or drive all gravel somewhere just so we can discover the backcountry. I rarely decide to just hang around the house. I feel restless and would rather call a friend over and invite them over for a playdate than just BE home, though we DO have some of those days too. 

Anyway, I already have several things in mind for the summer, some we've already done, so I thought I'd start sharing, in you case you wanna do it too!

A couple weeks ago the kids and I were visiting a "new" park in a nearby teeny tiny town that seems pretty dead. No businesses, school or anything really. The park is actually impressive but I noticed it really needed cleaned up. There were weeds all over the sand volleyball court so the kids and I started pulling them. But time ran out and there was still just so much more to do. And what bothered me most was shards of pop cans all over, and I know those would be so sharp for little bare feet to step on! So I decided to come back again with supplies--rakes and trash bags--and invite our friends and turn it into a little event!  

It suddenly hit me that service projects like that are a great thing to add into our summer plans! So the next week, here we are... The kids did great! They weren't thrilled of course, but I figured even if it was mostly us moms working (which it really wasn't!), it would still be a good example to the kids and maybe open their eyes to what's around them and the idea that THEY can help whenever they see trash laying somewhere. Such a fun afternoon project!

I had promised a cold treat afterward!

 And then the kids played!

Just might do this one again!