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‘Twas Mom’s Month Before Christmas
‘Twas the month before Christmas, when all through the stores Mom is out shopping for her girls and boys The sale ads are gathered among her toy stash, In hopes that she’ll save a good bit of cash The children have countdowns to their favorite day With fun advent calendars all on display Mom fills them with family fun to enjoy And maybe even a small trinket or toy At the end of the day, mom sits down for a bit Then leaps from her seat when she realizes it – The Elf on the Shelf! It can’t stay in that spot! So mom scours Pinterest for the next elfish…
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Mom and Son Date Ideas Boys Love
Mom and son dates have become a really important part of our family dynamic. We have four kids, and it is really hard to make sure that each one of them gets some special one-on-one time with us that’s more than just homework help or music practice. One thing we have done to give each kid some special attention is take them on a special date with just one parent. Sometimes it is something that takes planning, and other times it’s a quick at-home activity. But whatever it is, we make sure that we set aside time just for that child and focus on them. According to fancy scientific research,…
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5 Tips to Make You Enjoy Big-City Travel with Kids
Are you intimidated to travel with kids? Last week we took our kids to New York City for Spring Break. I think the phrase we heard most often from the local New Yorkers was “you are brave”. I suppose to most of the world, traveling with four kids sounds like a daunting task. For us this is just normal life. I mean, when you’ve traveled across the world twice, NYC sounds like a piece of cake! If you want to tackle Big-City travel, I’ve gathered … Five tips you can use to travel with kids, and enjoy it! 1. Bring hand sanitizer We all know that kids touch stuff. All.…
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Everything You Need to Throw a Birthday Party for Jesus
In a flurry of Santa Claus and elves, do you struggle to keep your kids focused on the actual reason for the season? Every year we have a birthday party for Jesus. It’s a fun and simple way to keep my kids centered and has become one of my favorite Christmas traditions. Here’s how to throw a birthday party for Jesus with your family. Party Games We always start our party with some lively party games. I choose games that use Biblical characters and themes, or add a twist to typical games. These are our top 5 favorites: Pin Baby Jesus in the Manger This is Pin the Tail on…
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4 Simple Ways to Fight Holiday Busyness and Burnout
Are you experiencing holiday busyness and burnout? While the holiday season can be one of the most magical and enjoyable times of the year, it can also be one of the most stressful. Gift giving, shopping lists, errands, parties, pictures with Santa, festivals, traditions, and family gatherings often end up becoming a to-do list that is almost impossible to complete. A time that should be filled with laughter and memories becomes tainted with a stressed-out mom trying to make sure that she doesn’t forget the cookies for this party and the gift for that teacher, forcing the kids to smile for a perfect picture as the people in line behind…
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8 Things You Should Never Ask Adoptive Parents
Remember that Friends episode where Rachel tells Joey that her boss wants to buy her baby? Everyone is completely flabbergasted that someone would be so insensitive and ridiculous. No one actually asks if they can buy your baby! Right?! Well, as a mom of four kids with two adopted from China, I must say that I have been asked some equally ridiculous questions about adoption. When my kids were younger, it didn’t matter if people asked questions. They were too little to understand or care what I was talking about. But now that they are older, unsolicited questions that highlight their differences or make them feel like they are not…
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Quarantine Survival: Three Small Tips That Make a Big Difference
In a matter of days, our entire world has turned upside down. We are all trying to figure out how to cope with living our lives apart from one another. It’s overwhelming, scary, sad, and just plain weird. In our house, we just completed week 1 of home school. Some things went well, and others didn’t. Overall, we survived, we learned a few things, and we are ready to tackle week 2 of quarantine survival. Heading into this week, I am doing three small things that made a big difference during our quarantine. Quarantine Survival Tip 1 Create a Simple Weekly Plan I never realized how much I relied upon…
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Simple Advent Celebrations for Families
Every year on December 1st I have these grand plans of how our family is going to celebrate Advent during the Christmas season. I have printed out advent devotionals, created an interactive Jesse tree, bought supplies to make ornaments, planned ways for our family to serve in the community – you name it, I’ve probably tried it. But by December 7th, life has gotten in the way and most of my ideas have fallen by the wayside. I mean, it’s a struggle to even remember the darn elf every night! This year as December 1st approached, I sat down and thought about what we could realistically handle as a family.…
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Take Your Kids Camping… Even if You Hate It!
When my husband first mentioned a family camping trip I looked at him like he was insane. Sure, we had been camping many times. But that was before we had kids and when we lived in the milder climates of Georgia and North Carolina. Now we had a baby and a toddler and we lived in Florida’s relentless heat. What sounds fun about getting a baby to sleep in a tent and sweating half the night? In a moment of weakness I finally gave in to his idea, and I am so glad I did. Here is why you need to take your kids camping, even if you hate the…
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How to Create the Perfect Family Mission Statement
It’s been a long time since I’ve gotten lost while driving. Probably since before the days of smart phones when I would print out faulty directions from MapQuest or accidentally leave them at home. Now I have step-by-step directions with map views at my fingertips to help me get anywhere and everywhere. Even if I know how to get somewhere, sometimes I’ll still get directions on my phone to see which way is fastest. If we rely on maps to go even to familiar places in our lives, then why on earth do we not use the same resource in parenting? We are hit with hundreds of questions that require…
