Our summer plans

I am enjoying summer with the girls so much.  We have have no schedule and I am loving it!  The girls have been playing so well with each other.  Every time I turn around they are playing school or house or barbies.  But there are some fun things  I have started or am hoping to start with them this summer too!   They are growing so quickly and I really want to enjoy them and teach and guide them as much as I can!  So here's what is happening this summer in this all girl household:

1.  Fabric paper dolls.  This has been the biggest hit for all ages (3,6,9).   I have a huge bag of old clothes that they can cut up into fabric scraps.  I then print off black and white copies of free printable paper dolls (available all over the internet).  The girls spend at least an hour cutting up fabrics and creating different outfits for there girls.  When they create that perfect outfit (and accessories) they glue it on and we hang them up.     When friends come over, this has been very popular too!

2.  Read alouds.   There are many benefits to reading aloud to your children and not just when they are young.  My 2 oldest daughters can read, but when I grab a classic and we all huddle together and I read aloud to them, there is something magical as well as educational.    Currently our read aloud is, The little house in the big woods.  I love the this time!

3.  Summer Binders.  I opted to cretate my own summer program this summer than to choose a workbook to keep the girls current with their math, writing and reading.  Each girl has a binder.  In that binder is a pencil and dry erase marker.  I then filled each binder with plastic page covers.  In the plastic page covers I put specific skill worksheets for each child.  For example, my 6 year old daughter's binder has worksheets on addition and subtraction facts, handwriting practice, phonics worksheets, bible verses, some fun mazes and printouts.  Everything can be filled in using the dry erase marker and then wiped off and used again.  I also have a blank page for tic tac toe or hangman!   They do these everyday, usually they do them when they are bored and I don't have to remind them!   They can easily be taken in the car and on vacation as well!

4. Our own library.   We have reading time, where the big girls read on their own and I read to my 3 year old.  I make sure we have tons of books constantly available to them.  We have bookshelves filled with approriate reading levels all around the house and compfy chairs that invite you to sit and read and enjoy books.  I love to create our own library and Goodwill has been amazing at helping grow our library. 

5.  Creating plays.  The girls have been creating plays and then performing them for me.  I remember doing this when I was young.   I just love sitting on the couch and watching them perform.  Sometimes we record them on the i pod or someone will be the director and record.

6.  For my oldest.  My oldest is 9 and I can see that this year she needs more planned activities than previous years.  I make sure we play with friends about 3 times a week and we have found some special things that she enjoys.  She has a journal that she keeps with her throughout the day and writes about things she does, feels, sees, thinks, etc. She is really enjoying this right now.  And she really likes making her own friendship bracelets with embroidering floss.  This is a fantastic boredom buster and creative outlet.   And she is thinking of others and making them for others.  

7.  Family serving project.   I am really trying to think how we can serve Chirst as a family and teach my kids now that showing love to anyone in need is a mission trip.  I would love to go over seas and help and serve, but a mission trip can happen anywhere we show Christ's love to someone in need and I know there are people in need all around us. 

8.  Playdates.   Playing with our friends and spending time enjoying our days with friends is what makes summer special for my girls so I plan playdates a few times a week.  Usually, the parks, the beaches, summer movies, skating, or just playing at each other houses.  Since I have all girls, sleepovers are a big request here!  

Between all of the above fun and excitement we will also have a 2 week vacation to New York and a couple of VBS.  Summer sure does go fast, but it so sweet! 

Kid Dates

Giving your kids the gift of your undivided attention is something they will never get spoiled on.  If you have mulitiple children , date nights with each child alone is essential.   Below are some ideas to get you on a date with your child! 

1.       Barnes and Noble- share a cookie and tea and then go into the kids section and grab all the books you can and read to them and have them read to you

2.       Go to the park and play WITH them, don’t just watch

3.       Pack a picnic and grab a blanket and find a special spot to have a picnic

4.       Lock yourselves in their room and play a game with them

5.       Go for a walk or bike ride

6.       Create and Keep a date book of ideas you create and want to do together and try to cross them off through the year

7.       Volunteer together.  Pick up trash, visit an elderly community, or call and set up some time to volunteer by calling a local organization

8.       Play miniature golf

9.       Go to a movie in your car and pop some pop corn

10.   Turn on some music and create a dance together

11.   Write  a book together and publish it on the computer, take your time creating the characters and using your imaginations

12.   Get a joke book from the library and tell jokes and LAUGH

Make sure your unplugged from your cell phone, your iphone, your computer and every other distraction.  This is their time with you, a chance for you to show them they are special and deserve your attention, unshared with anything else!  Anyone have any ideas to add and share, I would love to keep a growing list…..

Guiding my girls

Last night I watched the Secret Millionaire on television with my 9 year old daughter.  It was really quite a good show to watch together.   It takes millionaires and puts them into areas of peverty in the country and without anyone knowing who they are, they volunteer and live in the destitute area. After meeting the people, seeing the faces, seeing those trying to make changes in the area, the millionaires reveal who they are and write checks to people and agencies that they learned about.

  It gave my daughter a great understanding of poverty in America and also it showed different non profit agencies in that city that are trying to help these areas.   The programs they showed were non profits that had no federal funding and were started and maintained by people who were truly doing what they loved, helping those who need it.   This reality tv show was truly reality tv.

As I watched this with my daughter I got an idea.  Why not do a monthly, family,  research project about a local community agency.  Find out what their mission is, who they help, who created it, how it is funded and any other important or interesting information.  After we research it together as a family, we go to the agency and present them with a check from our family.  Each month we will pick a different agency and give.  My goal is to teach my daughters how to meet the needs of others, how to do the research , how to give, how to love, how to solve problems, and share the information with others around us.

I am hoping this turns into something we can continually do together as a family.   What about you, how do you teach your kids about helping others and showing them how to serve?


http://www.wearethatfamily.com/

Make a communication journal for you and your girl

I am in continually trying  to guide my 9 year old daughter.   We have created a very close relationship and are able to talk about anything and everything.   At 9, she is at a very piviotal developmental stage.  She is forming many of the thoughts and ideals that she will hold for a very long time.    As she continually brings to me questions on friends, love, hurts, dreams, prayers, fears, sex, I try to answer her honestly with the information she needs at this age, with understanding and love, and with a bible verse.  

I have a found that she is constantly in thought about the world around her and sometimes she waits to ask me a question because she doesn't know how to bring it up to me.  In my own life I have found that writing to someone is easier than saying it to them (the writer in me).  So I came up with an idea to create a communication journal between me and my oldest girl blessing!

The journal is a special place for my daughter and I to write back and fourth to each other about topics that might be to hard to discuss face to face, at first.   Its a conversation starter and then find time to be alone and talk longer and more in depth.  These could include her thoughts about her body, her self image, sex, fears, a new poem she wrote, anything.   The point is to tell her this is a place for us to communicate about anything back and fourth.  This journal is in no way suppose to take the place of face to face talking time but just another creative way to keep encouraging a strong relationship.


You could have a secret place to put the journal, so if she wants to initiate a conversation about something a friend said to her that made her sad, she can write that in her journal and leave it under your pillow.   You could then write back with what you want to share with her and return it under her pillow.  Get creatvie and make it personal to your unique child and your unique relationship.  This is your opportunity to guide your girl through her struggles and thoughts in this world, not anyone else.


1. Use any notebook, I love the black and white composition notebooks
2. Sit down and introduce the concept of the communication journal and "alter" you journal together with special papers, stickers, etc.
3. Use paperclip to divide the journal into 6 sections or so and add paper tabs to label each section accordingly (ex. friends, family, fears, body, prayers, helpful scriptures, whatever is relevant to your daughter)
4. Cut a piece of pretty ribbon and use it to place as a page holder

Enjoy leading and guiding your daughter through this exceptional age and growing closer to each other during this time!

spit out the grumpies!

My little girl is in a foul mood. She just is. She has decided that she wants to stay in a bad mood, but we are about to embark on a trip to the grocery store with her other sisters and this mood must go or it will be an awful trip. I am tired and frustrated from a long day too, but not adressing this grumpy mood before going into the store will lead to meltdowns and poor behavior in the store resulting not just in a grumpy girl but a grumpy mommy!

I take a deep breath, open my door to get out and slide open the van door. There, face to face with a determined, six year old. Her little lip is pounted out, her eyes small , her face frowning. We have a stare down for a moment, she doesn't give, still stone cold and grumpy. Finally, unexpectedly I say, "spit out the grumpies", and I cup my hand under her mouth as to catch the grumpies. She stares at me, but she is now biting her lip from smiling. "Come on, spit them out, give them to me", I tease and tickle until she laughs and pretends to spit them out. I take the handful of grumpies and throw them across the grocery parking lot. "I hope some other kid doesn't find those grumpies. Lets go get some dinner", I extend my hand and get her down and grab my other children and she skips inside!

Through my 9 years and 3 chirldren of experience I have learned that this trick almost always works when attitudes are poor. As moms, it is so important to know some tricks that will adjust thier /our grumpy attitudes and go about our day instead of staying in those poor attitudes all day! So whats your trick to beat a bad attitude?

Guiding my girl

Whatever is pure , whatever is lovely ,whatever is excellent or praiseworthy, think of such things -Phillipians 4:8

My daughter is 9 and she beginning to start ask some really big questions. In all of these questions, what I am noticing that the "world" is having a strong impact on her thoughts. She comes to me and usually starts off with, "I don't know why I thought this but,...". I too am usually left to wonder why she thought such a thing, but glad she trusted me with her thoughts because I am now able to guide her. Just because we have unwholesome thoughts doesn't mean we are stuck with them and it doesn't mean we can't fight back. I wrote out a scripture to help my daughter fight back when her mind seems worldly. She is repeating in her head Phillipians 4:8 everytime she has unwholesome thoughts. It seems to be working for her, helping her refocus on what is appropriate to think of. What she also enjoyed was when I explained that this verse it telling us to think of things that are noble, right, lovely, pure and excellent because we probably won't. We must guide our minds and hearts , not follow them and who or what better to guide us than God's word? God's word doesn't change over time, we do, but it doesn't and the answers to our problems are still there in those pages and I want her to see where I got the answer from, to see how God knew what we would struggle with here on earth, but he gave answers, always anwers if you look. Parenting three girls is tough in todays world but I feel like I win against the world when I am able to guide my girl in God's word with practical ways that help her.