Top Posts of 2012

Candy Birthday Card:

12 Ways to Play with Baby:

Ways to Recycle Household Items:

Bedtime Stories and Routine:

Trying to be Healthy:

5 Free Apps for Mom:

Family Goals

I know I just shared mine a couple of days ago but after thinking about I decided I needed to get my children involved in goal sitting too. 

I have a 13 year old and a 6 year old and thought it would be a good lesson for them. My 13 year old is just like any other boy at that age. He plays video games, uses the computer and draws. However, my 6 year old loves to read and learn. Total opposites.

So I decided to have a little talk with my children and explained the importance of sitting goals. How it would be great to learn to sit them and then find out how they could reach them. It took a lot of coaching the 13 year old but he finally did it.  

Here is what my children came up with. I only asked my 6 year old for 3 but he came up with 10.

Mr. I's 2013 List:

Go to the Tulsa Air and Space Museum.

Got to church every Sunday.

Play fair with my friends.

Be nice to my brothers.

Be an artist.

Write notes to God and my family.

Go to a Thunder game.

Be my best at school. 

Be quiet in the library.

Make crafts and arts my best. 

I want you to know I did not coach this kid. He came up with all of them by himself. So proud. 

Mr. B's 2013 List:

Get a new game chair.

Pay more attention in math.

Do good in art class.

Be alive.

Get payed. 

My 13 year old loves to be silly. However we can work this this list. I already got some ideas in mind for the be alive and get payed. :)

Happy New Year!

It's a new year and usually that means it's time to set some goals. I usually make them and break them but I think it's because I set my goals to high so this year I'm going to try some obtainable ones.

Here's my goals for this year:

Read some classic stories to my children. I'm going to check out some from the library or go to our local discount book store and find them there. 

Read the Bible. I have never read the whole bible and this year I thought I would try it. There is a great app called YouVersion it has several plans for reading and I'm going to use it. I also noticed you can listen to it as well. 

Make a menu each month. I started this last year and it worked out so well. Making a menu saved me time and money at the grocery store. I also started using my crock pot and that is a great time saver. I'll have to post about it sometime. 

Keep my house in order. The house can get crazy with three boys so keeping up with it will be a major task. I am going to focus on doing one big thing for the day and then maybe it will be better. 

Start a bible study. I have wanted to for a long time and I hope this year will be the year to start it. 

Spend time each month as a family. This is a huge one for me. My children are so spread out in age that is makes it hard for us to do anything together but I'm going to make it happen. We can do movie nights and game nights. I will plan a couple a month. 

Say I love you more in different ways by doing small acts of kindness for my family. I say I love you but I don't always show it. I wanted to find different ways to express my love to my husband and my kids. My examples might be taking out the trash for my son sometimes, cleaning the kids rooms, taking the kids to their favorite places, making their favorite meal. 

Send out at least one note each month. I miss hand written letters. I use to send my cousin one each week and receive one back from her. This year I will pick someone each month to write a hand written letter too. 

Make myself a reminder in my calendar for my goals. I tend to forget my goals and get side tracked from doing something about them. This year I don't want to forget. I set up my calendar with reminders through out the month so I will remember. 

Write a love note to Jesus every month. I really want to enrich my relationship with Christ this year and I thought this might be a great way to do it. 

What are your goals for 2013? 

Love to Loom

Looming is something I picked up a couple of years ago and really love. I have so many different items I would like to master. You can make scarves, hats, blankets and so many other things.

The looms come in different shapes and sizes. I have only used the round looms but there are several on the market.

I really love the easy use of the loom. I have never been able to master the art of knitting or crocheting so this was right up my alley.

I'll have to share my other items at some point.

The picture above is my most recent project. It's a super easy cowl. I love the way it turned out, however it's a little itchy. I'll make a new one with softer yarn at some point.

Here is my pattern for the cowl:

Cast on Chain.

Purl first round. 

Double wrap and knit second round.  

Work until desire length. Mine is about 24 inches. 

Used round knifty knitter loom with 50 pegs.