Making a bow holder

I enjoy finding ways to make gifts that are simple, practical and inexpensive.

I had bought a bow holder from a craft fair a few years ago. It was a simple wooden crown shape painted white and pink with a long wide ribbon glued underneath to hold hair bows.

What a neat idea! A few months ago, I was invited to a baby shower and thought I'd try my hand at making one myself using a wooden letter.

I painted it light green to match the baby's room. Then I added some little flicks of pink paint on the edge of the letter to give it a little more "character".

I also, made some bows for the baby to add to the gift. I thought it turned out so cute that I might do this next time I go to a baby shower for a girl. I don't have any ideas for a boy shower, but maybe I'll find something.

Since my girls have so many bows, I made one for them using colors to match their room. I think it turned out really cute. But the best part is that it is simple, practical, and inexpensive!!

Egyptian Meal

We are studying Creation to the Greeks with My Father's World. http://www.mfwbooks.com/

We are enjoying our study through Genesis. Today we finished up the story of Joseph and have been studying Egyptian culture and life. We had a meal of fish, cheese, pita bread, nuts, fruit and vegetables dipped in plain yogurt.

I borrowed these platters from my mom. I thought it looked nice served on them. :) I'm not usually too concerned about how things look when we're about to eat it, but I tried to make a nice presentation. Plus, lately I am all about some paper plates, which, by the way, we ate our Egyptian meal on, hee, hee. Kind of funny after being served on a silver platter. Oh well!

My eight year old daughter said this was the best meal she ever ate. Not sure if that's a compliment or not considering she eats almost anything.

By the way, the story of Joseph is one of my favorite stories in the Bible. I get teary eyed every time I read Genesis 50:20.

Making Homemade Laundry Soap

To save money, my husband put up a clothesline for me and I've also been making my own laundry soap. The funny thing is a few years ago I thought it was kind of crazy to do that, but it's so simple and cheap! Why didn't I try this before! Here's what you need: washing soda (Arm & Hammer) - NOT baking soda Borax (20 Mule Team) Bar soap (I use Fels-Naptha Laundry soap, but plan to try some Dial Mountain Fresh scent) You need a 5 gallon bucket with a lid. Mix 1 cup soda and 1 cup borax with 3 gallons warm water in bucket and stir. Bring to boil in large pot 4 cups of water. While water is heating up, grate the bar of soap and then slowly add soap pieces to boiling water and stir until all is melted. You will end up with a pot of soapy water. Pour soapy water into the bucket and stir over the next several hours. Each time you go by the bucket give it a stir. It will be ready to use after 24 hours. Use 1 cup per large load. If you don't believe how easy and cheap it is- give it a try! I won't say I told you so!

Easy Breakfast Idea

Quick and easy breakfast ideas are a necessity in our family. I try to find things that are quick and easy without just eating cold cereal every day. My mom made these for the kids a few years ago and they loved them. They are easy to whip up on a school morning. Ham and Cheese Biscuits 2 cups self-rising flour (I prefer White Lily brand) 1/3 cup shortening 2/3 cup milk, buttermilk or a mixture of plain yogurt and milk 1- 1 1/2 cups diced cooked ham 1 cup shredded cheddar cheese, or more if desired Cut in the shortening with the flour until crumbly. Add in the milk and mix together. Then, add the ham and cheese and mix together. Using a spoon, drop onto a lightly greased cookie sheet. Bake for about 14 minutes at 450 degrees or until cooked through. Yummy! *** If you don't want to make your own dough, just add the ham and cheese to any bicuit mix and it should work the same.

Make Your Own Play Dough

Our play dough stash was in need of some help so instead of pulling out some cash, I decided to try my hand at making it myself. The kiddos were very excited and I let them each pick which color to make. I have these moments every now and then where I try to do fun stuff without getting stressed out about messes. I am trying my best to make these moments more common. Yes, play dough is a mess to make-especially when you let the kids do most of it themselves, but it was worth it. My 8 year old girl and 6 year old boy had fun stirring it and putting in the food color. They had flour everywhere (translation- fun for them!) We made 4 colors. My two year old had to make lella (translation: yellow) since it's her new favorite color. Her 4 year old sister wanted to make red, but it turned out pink (she really loved the color anyway). The older two made blue and green. The mess turned into lots of fun for everyone- even me. I sat and made some shapes with them, too. We got out the cookie cutters and enjoyed ourselves.

Spilled Milk

Yesterday morning began with spilled milk at breakfast-not once, but 3 times by the same child! Yikes! Can I go back to bed and start over? I thought about going back to bed and letting the kids go play. I really didn't do that or even seriously consider that, but it did cross my mind. I was determined to press on and not let a small slip of the fingers determine how my day or my child's day would go. We continued on and I even let them play with play dough. I am trying to follow the leadership of my Lord and not allow myself to get caught up with selfish desires or thoughts. My job is to train and teach, not put down and demean. 1 Peter 1: 5-9 " And beside this, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue; and to virtue knowledge; And to knowledge temperance; and to temperance patience; and to patience godliness; And to godliness brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness charity. For if these things be in you and abound, they make you that ye shall neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. But he that lacketh these things is blind and cannot see far off and hath forgotten that he was purged from his old sins." What a wonderful reminder of where these things come from. It is not from within ourselves or any of that psycho babble you hear from the world. It is from the Lord.

Tugging at my Heart

We took a day trip last week to a play place and the beach. We had a nice time and the kids had a blast playing and walking in the water. They didn't want to leave! It's so nice to be able to get away if only for a day. I needed it and so enjoyed it myself.

My heart has been so burdened lately. My children it seems are constantly arguing and fussing. The selfish behaviors are extreme. I have been trying to find the source. Well, I know the source of selfishness is sin, but I guess I was looking more at myself to see where I was teaching them wrong.

My heart has been convicted of my own selfish attitudes and actions toward my children. I realized that they are probably getting a bad example by looking at me. I'm not perfect by any means and I had to confess my sin to the Lord.

This morning before we started our lessons we had a time of individually talking through these things and I explained to them where this begins. Restoration is a wonderful thing! Even though I don't like seeing my own faults, I must as a Christian, turn from my evil ways and seek the Lord to help me and forgive me.

Frozen pizza anyone???

I've been making homemade pizzas for my family for a few years now, but especially in these last 6 months. My family raves and raves over them and my husband says I could go into the pizza business( I think he's just trying to give me a super nice complement). I used to buy those little cheap dollar pizzas and feed them to my children for lunch. I can't buy them anymore after tasting the good stuff. Well, a few weeks ago my favorite grocery store was running a fancier frozen pizza for a great price, plus I had a coupon that doubled so I think I paid about a dollar for one. Anyway, we ate it today and let's just say "it was very disappointing". I probably will save my dollar for something of greater value next time and just make another yummy crust in my bread machine, spread some tomato sauce on it and add some toppings. So delicious and very simple!!! Those are two things that make me and my family very happy.

Chores, Chores and More Chores

My children have been doing chores for several years now (well at least the 8 and 6 year old). I am trying to gradually add in things for my 4 year old, but she is still in need of a lot of assistance. Despite the regular assignments of kitchen duty, putting up laundry, etc. their rooms seemed to always be a mess. This brings a lot of nagging and fussing in our home so I came up with a plan. I read a lot of organizing books and articles and they all (or most anyway) say to do a particular chore each day. A light bulb went off in my head one day during one of those nagging, frustrating "your room is a mess" moments. I took an index card for each of them and put this on it: Monday- Desk Tuesday- Bathroom Wednesday- Dresser Thursday- Closet Friday- Nightstand and shelf I explained to them that on each of the days that this is the area you are to work on each day. We put it up in their room where they are able to see it often. It has taken a few weeks to get into the habit, but it seems to work well so far. Yes, they still forget or have to be nicely reminded. I figure if it keeps me from nagging them, and I just simply remind them to check their card it's a good thing for us all.

Garden update

We've finally gotten a pretty good harvest from our garden. It seems to be drying out now though. My mom likes to plant sunflowers around the edge of the garden each year. They have all bloomed beautifully. Don't you think? We've enjoyed cutting them and enjoying them in our kitchen, also, but they make a lot of mess. Despite that we still enjoy their beauty made by our heavenly Father. I need to can some tomatoes since we still have a good amount on my kitchen counter and probably won't be able to eat them all before they go bad. My mom has put up 24 cans of them so far. Even though the garden looks extremely dry, there are many blooms on the string beans, butter beans and peas. The squash did not produce well this year. Not sure why. All in all it was a decent garden. We'll see if anything else grows. Have a wonderful weekend!

Yikes!!!

I'm not sure what has happened to my background. I've tried to change it and I think it worked, but the colors are all messed up. Maybe I'll get it back or this will have to work :)

Using a clothesline

Well, don't ever say "never again". After living in North Africa for a few years I promised I'd never use a clothesline again. We hung our clothes out every day on the rooftop of the apartment building. They'd be dry in no time, but still I missed my dryer. Well, here I am 8 years later and I asked my husband to make me a clothesline. I'm trying to cut down the electric bill since times are tough and I thought this might help. He is all about saving money, too. Plus, he's very handy and he had it up very soon. This is my third week using my clothesline (although I still use my dryer occasionally). I hope to see a drop in that next electric bill. What about you? Do any of you use a clothesline? And does it save money? Side note- I'm actually enjoying hanging out the clothes, but don't tell anyone :) shhhhh

Update on our Summer

We've been fairly busy all summer here. We have enjoyed some veggies from our garden. I pulled a muscle in my back so I didn't get to do much of the picking, but was able to help out shelling, putting up, etc. We took a two month break from school work and started back two weeks ago. We like to start early so that we can take breaks when necessary. I'm thinking of doing year-round schooling so that we could take off a few weeks here and there. Not sure yet- just in my mind. Our Home School Curriculum: We are doing My Father's World Creation to the Greeks. This is our 3rd year with MFW. We really enjoy it. We're using Singapore math for the 2nd year. For reading, I'm using living books that we already have, some from the library and ordered a few more. It's going well so far. It's been challenging to keep my 2 1/2 and 4 year old occupied while I'm trying to work with the other 2, but I've tried to make a "schedule" of activities, reading, lessons for them. That's just so that I can be ready with things and not have to come up with something at the last minute. What's interesting is that for the past two days they've just played and didn't even ask to "do" anything. I try to read to them early in the day so that doesn't get put off. I feel that is very important for their development. Plus, my older children like to read to the younger ones, also. I've tried so hard to be extra organized this year. It requires a little more planning for me, but it's well worth the extra time. Each day I make a list of all the assignments they are required to complete and then after they complete them they check it off. They seem to like to know what they're expected to do each day. It works for me!

How does your garden grow?

Well, our garden is planted for the year. Since we've moved next door to my parents we are having a big combined garden. It's gonna be a lot of work, but the end results will be yummy- I hope! Things we've planted: red potatoes, broccoli, onions, corn, tomatoes, cucumbers, squash, bell peppers, zucchini, peas, green beans, and butter beans. I think that's it. The potatoes, corn and broccoli are looking good. Now we just need some rain! I hope to share some pictures of these wonderful growing plants soon! Stay tuned!

My Favorite Time of the Year!!!

Don't you just love Springtime? I so enjoy the warmer weather and longer days. This week I began spring cleaning. I got off to a good start and am excited to see what the rest of the week holds. I'm trying to clean one room at a time so hopefully I'll have lots completed by Friday. My children even got in on the "fun" this morning. After playing for a while, they helped by cleaning window sills, light switches, doorknobs and windows. This afternoon I got outside with the kids and we moved some sticks to a burn pile. I'm so thankful for a wagon or we'd probably still be out there. It won't be too long before we'll plant our garden. I'm looking forward to that. Actually, I'm really looking forward to the harvest. The other stuff is just in anticipation of the harvest. :) How are you spending your days lately?

Home school studies: Mexico

We studied Mexico back in August and I'm just now posting these pictures. Oh well, better late than never. During our studies we're trying to cook a meal or at least a few recipes from the country of study. During the Mexico study they recommended having a fiesta at the end of the study. Well, since we were in the process of moving, our fiesta turned out much different than I'd anticipated. But my children seemed to enjoy it anyway. That's what counts. I'd planned to make tortillas with them, but had to compromise on this mix that you just add water to. I don't recommend it at all. It was a mess and they tasted terrible, but I didn't have the time to get anything else accomplished that week. The children had fun patting and shaping the tortillas into balls and then flattening them out. Looks like my pictures are in reverse order, but you get the idea! We also had rotel cheese dip and chips, guacamole and taco rice. Not very authentic, but it worked for us. Overall, our fiesta was a success even though it didn't turn out quite like I'd planned.

Bible Reading for 2010

It's been a few years since I've taken the challenge of reading the Bible through in a year, but I plan to take on that challenge this new year. I'm going to use the Book at a time plan. In years past I have done the plan that goes through the New Testament and Old Testament. I hope to stay on track and spend time learning more and more about the scriptures. Will you take on that challenge and read with me in 2010?