Quality Time

Lately I have been realizing how hard it is to really spend quality time with each of our children...and we are a growing family so I imagine that only gets harder.

Since we have decided to home school (more on that later), I think I will get time with each of my children by default when I am teaching them, but what do we do with that time when our kids aren't in school yet or during the summer...and I don't want the only time I spend one-on-one with them to be during "teacher-student" time.

I often will take one of the girls with me when I go to the store and sometimes will stop with them for a treat just to get them by themselves. I notice during this time that they are different. They talk about different things and act differently when they are by themselves. It helps me know who they are as a person and not just as a sister.

So Tuesday night at dinner, Keira had one of her bright ideas (she has many of them and most of them are unrealistic). She said, "I think tomorrow would be a great day for daddy to take me fishing". (which they have never done.)

Tom and I looked at each other. I think we were both ready to deny her request but were both thinking, "why not?"

So, we slowly said something like, "That does sound fun" and discussed the actual option a little later when little ears weren't listening. We decided that he would take both Keira and Libby and since it was going to be a nice day, they would go first thing in the morning.

I don't think either girl is going to be an avid fisherman like their daddy and grandpa but I know that Tom enjoyed the time with them (when they weren't screaming about the worms)...and they enjoyed the time with daddy...though at this point, neither of them has a desire to go fishing again soon! haha.

They were deathly afraid of the worms. Keira was the only one who caught something...it was Libby. Libby didn't seem to notice the hook in her arm but cried incessantly that a worm touched her. 

Mommy would have been much happier if I had approved outfits ahead of time...mostly because Keira wore (and completely muddied) her new Stride Rite Sneakers! Ugh!

But I got the privelege of spending time with this little booger. Janessa is a handful right now with her climbing everything, chewing everything, thinking she is older than she is phase. But she is also the most cuddly, sweet, kissable 1 year old on Earth. 

We went for a long walk and I pushed her on the swings near our house for a while before heading home to clean the girls room! 

All in all, it was a fabulous time to spend with our girls. I highly recommend doing something impromptu with your kids on a regular basis! Make sure you know who they are and what is important to them outside of your home, away from the rest of the family.

It'll be totally worth your time!

No TV...huh?

I wish I had a picture of Keira's face last night when I told her that starting today we would not be watching any TV for a month...yes, you heard me a month. You would have thought that all of her toys just got thrown away on accident!

So, yes, we have decided to turn off the TV for a month in our home. We cannot control what goes on when we are visiting others and wouldn't even want to try to control that, but when we are home, we want it off for  a month.

So, this makes it sound like we waste a lot of time watching the tube and I assure you, we don't, however, my kids do watch a few approved shows almost every day. Sometimes they watch more than that (tisk tisk, I know) and sometimes they don't watch any. Truly this is going to be much harder on me than them, but still, it will be a sacrifice for everyone. I am still not sure how I will ever get to take a shower or cook dinner but I guess I will have to be creative...or dirty and hungry!

Why, you ask? Well, I would like to implement a system for earning TV time. My kids LOVE LOVE LOVE TV. I don't know why, but they do. So, I think that a "re-start" is in order. I just believe that this will be easier to accomplish if they haven't watched it all for a while rather than saying, "ok kids, today we are going to do things a bit different." They are going to have to think about what they really want to watch and I am hopeful that they will desire to watch it less. We'll see.

Really, we want less of this:

and more of this:

So...today marks day one of no TV...I'll let you know how it goes.

Enjoy the Rain

Tonight we were supposed to go to Tom's first Softball game of the season. (He plays on our church team). Last year was the 1st year that our church had a team, and although they didn't do so well, they had fun and the families/friends had a BLAST watching the games! Let's just say that our church REALLY likes to socialize and is very much a family. Well...the girls and I spent the day at home doing puzzles and playing games. I even got Keira to take a nap by telling her that she needed to rest up for the game tonight.

Then it rained.

We were all packed in the car with rain boots and rain coats (because we hadn't heard that the game was cancelled yet). I guess when you have a 6 week old and 2 pre-schoolers, you will just about do anything to get out of the house. Halfway there, we got the phone call...no game.

We had a VERY disappointed Keira.

When we got home, we told them that they could play in the puddles outside for a few minutes

Yes, we had 2 extremely wet, cold little girls, but they had so much fun. It reminded me once again how important it is to just let our kids be kids. We live in a time where they could so easily be consumed by other things in the world, but tonight, our kids enjoyed the rain.

Nativity Silhouette EASY CHEAP Decoration!

So, I got this idea on Pinterest but found that the idea that I loved so much, required a silhouette machine that cuts the pieces. Now...I admit, it would look pretty cool if you could cut the silhouettes out for more depth but here is what I did...and it cost me less than $5!

Materials Needed:

• Black Frames (I got mine at the Dollar Store a while ago)
• White Cardstock
• Hot Glue Gun
• Ribbon of your choice

Directions:

1. Find Silhouette images on the internet that you want to use
2. Edit them to the size that you want and add verses or Words that you like (I used Pixlr.com and Microsoft Word)
3. Print onto Cardstock
4. Cut Ribbon to your choice of length
5. Glue Ribbon down to the back of the frame
6. Glue Cardstock to the back of the frame (remove glass to lose the shine or leave it in if you choose)
7. Tie Ribbon and hang on the wall

DONE!

Set Apart

Hello and welcome to my new blog.

Lately, I have been noticing so much how even Christians are completely focused on the things that don't matter in life. Shouldn't or lives reflect what we believe? Should we not be consistently striving to learn more about what and why we believe what we do?

Well, that is my inspiration for this blog. I hope to inspire YOU to dig deeper into the word of God and really focus on what is important as we walk through this life together.

What are we teaching our kids? How are we being an example to them and others around us? Are we Set Apart? Do our friends, families, neighbors, strangers and all others see something different in us?

Let us be Set Apart together in order to glorify God!