Tot Time - The Week we almost died of sweat.

This week I had fabulous plans but then a heat wave hit and, quite honestly, we did nothing.  As a matter of fact my 31 month old who hasn't taken naps for a year, fell asleep in the living room on Tuesday and Wednesday and slept for 3-4 hours all from the heat.  We did a lot of reading this week and that's about all! 

So, what I wanted to do was share a link with you for some great teaching ideas that you can use!

One of my favorite sites besides 1+1+1=1, which inspires my Tot Time ideas, is Oopsey Daisy.  You can access her full blog by clicking the button above. 

Currently she is doing a series on Fridays that is all based on activities to do with books.  To check it out just click the button below :

She also does fabulous Mommy School Packets and has a new one posted for M is for Monsters.  Plus she has a tab for other packets as well.

It is supposed to be cooling off so hopefully I'll get my motivation back (it disappears when it is HOT!) and I can get creative!  My printer is no longer usable to print Tot things and I don't have a office supply store local where I can go and print things.  I have a few ideas for next week to use with colors and numbers so we'll see how I do :-)



21 Days of Prayer Challenge - Day 2 Submission to Authority

How did you do on Day 1?  I found that new habits are hard to fit into an already busy schedule but I did get the time to pray the prayers for each of my boys today (in between saying "Please obey the first time I ask" - kinda fitting, isn't it? LOL)

Before I hit the challenge, Kristi, From Warrior Prayers, has opened up a Flicker group where we can all post a picture of our "Whys".  If you are like me you are scratching your head at what that means.  It took me about 30 seconds (and the fact that I read the rest of her email she send to leaders) to realize that she meant our reason for doing this challenge - our boys!   I posted one picture out there but thought I would post a few here for you to see my 2 "Whys"

Isn't that just too much fun?  These were pictures we had done recently for their 1/2 birthdays :-)

One last piece of info - in case you were wondering why the leader guide is not in the same order as the book . .. that was a mistake!!  I'm going to go in the order of the leader guide so just flip in your book to the section for the day - we will hit them all, just not in the right order.

Today's challenge : Commit to praying the 10 prayers in the submission to authority chapter during day two. 

This topic flows perfectly with Obedience, doesn't it?  All of their lives, our sons will find themselves needing to submit to someone.  From parents, to teachers, to bosses, to government officials, and even to God Himself, they will always have someone in a position of authority over them.  Most of us tend to buck at the rules, don't we?  I attended a pretty conservative Christian College and it always amazed me at how many people broke the rules because they felt it was their "right".   Or, when I worked outside the home in the banking industry, I was amazed at how employees would purposefully break rules just because they didn't agree with them.  Somewhere in my life (probably from my parents HA) I was taught that if you choose to attend a college or work somewhere, you chose to follow the rules.  You don't have to agree with everything but you have to follow them.  If that authority asks you to do something that is either legally or morally wrong, then you must do what is right even if it costs your job or means you have to walk away from where ever you are at. ( Isn't that the basics of submission?  Accepting the guidelines and living by them?  I am convicted sometimes by the example I set for my boys - am I showing submission?  I'll just say I drive a lot slower now than I did before I had kids :-)

I listed a few ideas yesterday on how to organize your prayer time - here are a few more ideas.  I can't promise new ideas every day so feel free to share anything you do too!

1. Tape a copy of the prayers in your kitchen and/or your bathroom mirror.  Every time you enter the room, commit to prayer 3-4 prayers (or as many as you can fit in).  You'll find quickly that you'll end up praying through those prayers several times, not just once.

2. Place a copy near your computer at work or home - pray through those prayers as you do your computer work.

If you have missed a post, just click HERE and it will link you to only the posts related to this topic. 



What I'm Loving Wednesday

I'm loving . . .. that it is going to be cooler by the weekend (how's that for not complaining about really  hot and humid days?)

I'm loving . . . that the 21 day Challenge from Warrier Prayers started today - nothing better than praying for my boys!

I'm loving . . . .checking out books from the library!!  The boys love the variety and I love the savings (I used to think I had to buy every book for them . . . )

I'm loving . . . .that I got my little garden planted.  We'll see how it goes . ..

I'm loving . . . I'm little family of three - they are so much fun!!!!

What are you loving today? 

21 Days of Prayer Challenge - Day 1 - Obedience

Today begins day one of the 21 Days of prayer for our boys!  Whether you are a mom of a boy or a grandma praying for your grandsons, this will be a powerful tool for both you and those boys. 

To begin with I would like to share a little about myself so that you understand where my heart is and why I feel this is important.  I have two boys - one is 2 1/2 and the other is 1 1/2.  They are active, busy little boys!  My husband and I have been married almost 10 years and, when we got married were told more than once that we would never have children.  We had more than accepted that, actually, and were enjoying traveling, spoiling nieces and nephews, and pretty much doing what we wanted.  That all changed when we found out we were expecting - even the doctor was surprised (his words were" Wow, I guess that is just a reminder that I'm not God and He can do anything" LOL)   As I watch this two adorable little guys grow, I've been burdened with how I can do more to impact their heart - their spiritual well being - even at this very young age.  I get discouraged with what is offered in church for the little ones (yes, they can still learn songs and love hearing stories) but I also understand that the nursery workers rotate and no one is planning anything for that age.  Besides, in reality, the responsibility fully falls on our shoulders as their parents - no one else has that responsibility.  Someone had mentioned this book at a workshop I attended back in February - I wrote it down and put it on a list to do in the future but, when I saw the Challenge pop up, I felt God pulling my heart to do this now. 

How will this work?  As a leader, I will be posting daily - my goal is to have this post go up by 12:00 AM each morning.   That way, the challenge for the day is up and ready for you to read first thing.  I also have other posts that I do each day so if you happen to check in later, make sure you scroll down if needed to get to this post.  Within the daily challenge, I'll offer a little encouragement (hopefully it will encourage!), let you know what the challenge is and maybe offer a little more insight. 

I have decided not to do a linky party but will leave commenting totally up to you.  If you want the accountability, post a comment when you have finished the challenge; write a comment about how you are being impacted by this (because you realize that you will be impacted just as much as your boys will be, right?) or leave a comment talking about how your family is being impacted - what ever you are feel led to do is fine with me.  If you write a post about what you are doing, either mention that we should check out your post or live a link within your comment.  I will try to link those into the next days post too so that others can check out your blog as well and read your full post.  Make sure and check out the comments each day so you can read what others are doing as well! 

Now, on to day one and the first challenge (in the future, the posts will be smaller and too the point) - Obedience!!! (Don't we ALL want that from our kids???)

First, I want to share the section from the Leaders Guide where Brooke (the author) hands out some encouragement.  I was going to try and paraphrase it but she states it so well, I'm just going to copy her words here:

"I don’t think there is another issue in my parenting that causes me as much stress as getting my children to obey me. I know it’s a vitally important concept to teach them. In fact, I’ve heard it said that if a man can’t submit to Jesus, he will never be able to lead a woman (Tommy Nelson, Love & Romance Conference). No pressure, right moms?

Depending on what methods we use, we CAN make our sons obey. We can MAKE them obey us. But at the risk of sounding a little lazier than I really am as a parent I would submit this:

Obeying God is intimately linked to loving Him. If we focus too much on forcing our boys to change their outward behavior, and forget to hold out the great depth of love that sent a Savior to the cross, we’re running the risk of raising little Pharisees."

Today, I challenge you to commit to praying the ten prayers in the obedience chapter of the book during day one.  Here are some differant ways to incorrporate this challenge into your daily routine:

1. Get up early and bathe your sons in prayer first thing in the morning.

2. Pray the prayers one at a time throughout the day

3. Make the prayers a part of their family devotion time, praying the prayers out loud over your sons

4. Spend some time in concentrated prayer late at night, around bedtime.

If you are a mom whose boys have left home or a grandma whose grandsons don't live in your home, consider writing a note to send once a day with the prayers you have prayed for your sons/grandsons.  What an encouragement it would be to receive a note a day from mom (or grandma) with specific prayers. 

One last side note:  If you haven't purchased the Warrior Prayers book/ebooknecessisity - the main goal over the next 21 days is to just pray - so feel free to skip all of the reading and save it to focus on after the challenge!!)  I will be doing this right along with you so lets commit to pray also for each other over the next 21 days; I will be praying for each of you in this group as well.

Too Cute Not To Toot!

First up is something from one of my favorites - Oopsey Daisy  She is hosting "Summer Camp" every Friday all based around books.  There have been some really cute ideas - make sure and click below to see what posts have been done and to follow along throughout the summer. 




I saw this idea for an outdoor caddy over at Increasingly Domestic and fell in love with it.  When the boys and I go outside, it takes forever and I always have my pockets stuffed full of things like my camera and my phone.  I love that I can keep this on a shelf on my drop cabinet and have it ready - filled with some magazines, bubbles, sun screen, off, baby hats, and a place to put something to drink and the camera. 

This is a really cute idea of 4th of July from over at Simply Designing.

Ok, how sad is this weeks post? LOL  This is 100% my fault - I totally missed  some linky parties this week plus when I sat down to do this on Monday night the blogger picture tool was down so it kinda defeated my purpose! 

Hopefully I'll be back on track with some more great ideas next week :-)

Crafty Crafty - Graduation Albums

As my oldest nephew was reaching the time of his graduation from high school, I started to think about we could as something special for him from the entire family.  I was, at the time, really just getting into Scrapbooking full force so, creating a Graduation Album was the perfect idea.  Since that time, I've made 4 more, including two this year.  I thought I would share the basics of what I do to create this wonderful gift.  Obviously, the first one, was a surprise, but since than, the nieces and nephews all expect these and even offer advice on what color album they want :-) 

The first step in creating the album is to get the info out to all of the family members.  Normally, somewhere during the month of February of the year of graduation, I will send a litter to my brothers and parents which includes the following: Instructions, due dates, blank scrapbook pages.  I ship this off with hopes of getting them back on time ha!!  Each family is "required" to create their own scrapbook pages which include a family picture (or pictures), and than a letter written by each family member to the graduate.  This letter can include memories, funny stories or just advice for the graduate.  For the youngest members, they can make pictures (this year, since my boys are so young, I actually traced each of the boys handprints to put in the book.)  The family also decorates the pages as they wish.  They return them to me and I add them into the final book . Originally, they only had to send the letters and I created all of the pages but one year, my sister-in-law, Nora, send back full pages and I realized how special those pages really were and therefore, changed what I did!

While the family is working on their pages, I am pulling all the pictures I can find of that person with family members.  Some are easier than others based on how closely we lived to each other but I'm always amazed at the number of pictures I'm able to gather.  I also ask the family to provide me with photos but, I don't get many LOL  Also, I used facebook to pull pictures as well since that seems to be such a great storage place for so many people. 

This year, for the first time, I created the albums digitally.  I used Creative Memories photo software to create all of the pages.  That way, I only had to drag and drop the photos into place, add journaling and than print.  It was so nice and they turned out so well!!  Here are a few samples:

For most of the pages in each of these books I used predesigned pages but you can also create your own pages as well.  One of the tricks I use in a lot of books I create is to take a specific photo to use as a background.  For example, if we are at the beach, I'll try to get a great shot of the sand or water and that becomes the background that I use for the beach photos. 

The best part of the book though, are the letters,  Everyone enjoys reading what is written but, for the graduate, it is such an encouragement. 

Here are a few pictures of a finished book - the most recent one.

Sorry for the turned photos - blogger doesn't like them today :-)

If you would like info on the Creative Memories Software feel free to ask but this post is really just show off my latest "craft" :-)

Deep Cleaning 101 - Redo :-)

Ok . . .. well . . .all good plans . . .fail LOL  Yes, I totally planned on having a Deep Cleaning post for you today as I stated here but I kinda forgot about a couple of things.  1) Memorial Day weekend . .. when I really planned on getting my Living Room/Dining Room/Entry done . .. well . .. we were gone much more than I thought we would be!  2) I thought I could get it done during the week but . . well .. it was HOT!!!  3) I planned on getting it done this weekend DESPITE knowing my husband had to work on Saturday . . and I needed to go to the Grocery store with the kids . ..  .and I had to meet my husband for a concert which meant leaving home at 2:00 in the afternoon on Saturday AND then being done most of the day Sunday.   Oh well.  I don't really know why I ever thought to start this endeavor in the heat of summer but I hope (cross my fingers!) to get at least one area done so I can post everything NEXT Monday.  It is supposed to be in the 90's this week and Humid . . .so I may do nothing except, well, melt :-) 

A funny story --- we don't have air (that is NOT funny) so every June I tell my husband these words "Just a reminder that it is now hot out which means the house will no longer be clean until September.  Especially the Kitchen" LOL  And yes, I stated those words today!!!!

So, enjoy your week and stay cool!