Creative Play

So what do kids do that don't watch TV? Well, they use their imagination and come up with creative things to do instead. These are a few pictures of what my 10 year old, Kaitlyn, did the other day. It is amazing at what they will find to do when you turn the TV off. We do not watch TV during the week and only limited TV on the weekends, which is getting ready to be more limited.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not judging anyone. My kids use to watch quite a bit of TV. From the time they woke up to the time they went to bed , it was on and off through out the day. I finally decided enough was enough. They have learned to find things to do that are a lot more constructive than watching TV.

So I give you this challenge. If your kids watch a lot of TV, try turning it off and see what they find to do. It may take some coaching from you for a little while because they will not be use to thinking of things to do due to the fact that they have been fed information from the TV instead of coming up with their own ideas. Be patient, it will be worth the wait :)

Church Picnic

Every year our church has two picnics in July as a time for fellowship. We meet at the Lenoir City Park and one of the things that my children love to do is go on the pontoon boat rides. Our church rents two boats and gives free rides around the lake from 2:30 - 5:00. This picnic is so much fun for our church family. There's the boat rides, praise and worship under the trees, great food and volleyball. Even after it's over our children are already looking forward to next years picnic.

I want to encourage you, that if you haven't found a church that you feel at home at or that you don't feel like part of a family, then find one. It's great for the children and great for you. This is the family that will help you get through some of the tough spiritual times you may go through and encourage you when you need it the most. It's important that we commune one with another.

Just thought I'd share a few pics from our ride on the boat. Enjoy!

Jonathan

Kaitlyn and Josiah

Matthew

Christiana and Micah

Me and Joshua

Taking Out the Trash? Wordless Wednesday

Wordless Wednesday

Tuesday's Tip

I have to admit that today's tip is not my original idea. I got it from Raising Olives a while back,but it has been helpful enough that I wanted to share it with you.

With the price of milk these days it's hard to keep enough in the fridge to drink as well as to use in recipes. A cheaper way to keep milk on hand is to buy the dry milk. Now before you decide not to read anymore, I'm not suggesting you drink the dry milk (Yuck, I can't do that). Instead, use it in your recipes that call for milk. You won't be able to tell any difference in a recipe. I like to make up about 2 quarts and just keep it in the fridge for use in a recipe so I'm not having to measure and mix each time I need milk. It's cheaper than using your drinking milk and you can save your expensive gallon of milk for the pure joy of drinking or adding to your cereal. Hope this helps :)

Buddy Helpers

On Friday nights we have Friday Family Night. They usually consist of some sort of pizza dish, dessert, a movie and popcorn, then the kids get to stay up late and we watch movies together. Well, now that my kids are older (and of course not because I'm pregnant and low on energy) I let them make the dessert. This past Friday night Christiana requested that she make the brownies and I was completely okay with it. Matthew, who is 4, is her buddy and she decided as a way to help him take his nap, that if he would go to sleep he could help her make the brownies. Sure enough, Matthew fell asleep and when he awoke he couldn't wait to make the brownies with her. So, when it was time, he was ready.

I love that my children enjoy working together and how well they work together (most of the time). I thought it was very creative of Christiana to make a deal with Matthew that would help him take his nap, and that she was willing to share doing something that she enjoyed doing with her buddy. She let him do everything he could possibly do and I think they both had fun. It was so sweet that I had to take pictures and I thought that I would share them with you. Enjoy :)

Birthday Club - Tuesday's Tip

I was unable to put up a tip on Tuesday because my internet was down, but I wanted to share this tip with you so I decided just to do it today even though I know it's Friday.

As you know, Matthew's birthday was a couple of weeks ago. One of the things our kids look forward to around their birthday is the Baskin Robbins Birthday Club free cone they get. I signed our family up earlier this year and for every birthday we get a coupon through our email

for their free cone. (You do need to be able to print the coupon)

We take this opportunity to spend one on one time with the birthday child. We do not take any other siblings (except maybe the baby) and we let them enjoy hanging with Mom and Dad eating ice cream. It's fun and I have to admit that I look forward to this time as much, if not more, than the kids.

Our closest Baskin Robbins is in a gas station with a Subway as well. So the picture below is Matthew eating his Rocky Road with the market in the background. I love little, messy ice cream faces :)

To get your family signed up for the birthday club you can go to http://www.baskinrobbins.com/. Just go to the tabs at the top and you'll find Birthday Club at the far right. Then just follow the directions. It's really easy and as well as getting your free cone you also get a discount coupon for an ice cream cake.

Enjoy!

Where's Josiah?

The day before yesterday I was in the kitchen and Josiah was in the living room reading some history. All of the sudden I noticed that he sounded very far away and muffeled. Wondering where he was I began to search for him. Once I found him I had to grab the camera and record what I saw. Please excuse the mess in my living room. I had been sorting clothes all morning and hadn't had the chance to put them all away or do any other cleaning, but this video was too cute to keep to myself.

It's amazing where kids choose to read sometimes, but hey, as long as he's reading, I'm ok with it :) Enjoy.