Play Update #1

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We did 30 Days of Playing in June! I had been planning to post a few updates along the way, not just for accountability, but for inspiration, as well, because it's always fun learning new ways to connect with our kids.

But here we are, weeks passed June, and I'm just posting the first list. I guess we've just been having too much fun playing to stop and sit at a computer!

Here is what we played the beginning of the month. Maybe you can find a new toy or game to play with your family. Feel free to share what you've played last month, too!

1. Frisbee -- This ring frisbee is a fun variation of the classic and much easier for little ones to catch.

2. Rummikub -- This is our current favorite game! It's a rummy-style game played with tiles for 2-4 players. Alyssa (11 yr) loves this one because you manipulate the tiles to do what you want. It's a great strategy game for the older ones, but also a good game to reinforce numbers and matches for our 4-year-old. 

3. Football -- This is my favorite football! It's small enough that it fits perfectly in my hand and is a much better fit for the younger kids. It's softer than a regular football, too. Easy to catch, easy to throw. Perfect. The kids and I spent many hours tossing it around. 

4. Water Balloons -- Who doesn't love water balloons on a hot, summer day?! We grabbed a pack of 100 from the dollar store and filled them all. Many were thrown in a typical water balloon fight, others were reserved for tossing back and forth, and some were used for slow-motion videos. We had a lot of fun throwing the balloons on the ground or hitting them with a baseball bat and watching the replays in slo-mo.  

5. Melissa & Doug Castle Puzzle -- A few months ago we started putting together regular puzzles as a family. After many years of babies and toddlers in the house, we're at a point where we don't have to worry about a little one pulling pieces off a table or putting them in their mouth. We've mostly done 1,000-piece puzzles, but I had gotten this 200-piece castle one a couple years ago and never opened it. It's since been discontinued, but it was a fun and super quick build. I have my eye on this colorful doors puzzle next!

6. Football -- We spent another full day tossing, throwing, playing, and tackling.

7. White Mountain Candy Wrappers Puzzle -- Another puzzle! I had just purchased this one because the price had dropped and even though I hadn't been planning to assemble it right away, the kids asked. We finished it up that evening when Leighton came home from work. The White Mountain puzzles are our favorites. They are well-made and have fun designs. This candy one was a fun puzzle for everybody!

8. Painting and Shopping -- No, those things aren't really playing. I know. Leighton had pulled up the carpet in our living room and had just refinished the hardwood floor. Since the room was empty, I thought it was the perfect time to paint--the living room, the entryway, and the hallway. It took the whole day to get it done. Even though there was no time to stop and play, I let the older kids paint for a bit (they thought it was like playing!) and then took them with me grocery shopping after the first coat of paint. We laughed and joked a lot and still spent quality time together even though we didn't play a game.

9. Yes and No -- We've been playing this game for so many years that I don't remember how it started.  It's like Twenty Questions, except the number of questions doesn't matter. Everything has to be a yes or no question and it has to be something everyone knows. Even toddlers like this one, even if they don't fully understand. We play mostly during dinner, but car rides are fun, too. Whoever guesses correctly gets to pick the next round.

10. Pirate Maze Book -- This is such a fun puzzle book from Usborne! It has over 60 pages of pirate-themed mazes. It is filled with cute details and tons of sailor, undersea, and treasure references--perfect for pirates and landlubbers alike. My younger boys love this book and have spent hours poring through the pages. There is so much going on in the book that we always find something new to enjoy when we do it.

That's only some of the fun we had during our 30 Days of Playing challenge! The fun hasn't ended just because the month did though, so feel free to list some of your family's favorite games and toys! 

And be watching for more ways that we played in the month of June.

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30 Days of Playing

I participated in a challenge years ago to play with my kids every day in the month of June. Since I just shared that my Word of the Year for 2019 is play, I knew that revisiting this challenge would be perfect! 

I explained that even though my kids are with me all the time, I don't always participate in their playtime. Even with our experiments and activities, I'm always right there snapping pictures and relishing in their joy, but I don't always join in on the fun myself.

This year I'm working to change that!

I've been making quality playtime with my kids a priority this year, but the month of June I'm making it a daily fundamental.   

I'm challenging myself to dedicate time daily to playing with them. Not just watching them. Not just being near them. Not just taking pictures to remember the excitement. I pledge to actively participate in the fun!

Last time. the challenge was to play for 30 minutes a day for 30 days. I'm not focused so much on the length each day, as hitting that half-hour mark is easy to do. I certainly don't want to be distracted by keeping tabs on the countdown. And, honestly, kids will notice that dedication to daily playing even if it is just 15 minutes. 

So, what do you say? Do you want to join me in this challenge of playing with your kids? You don't have to be a slave to their favorite toy day after day. Take the initiative and ask them to play with you! Teach them a game from your childhood or learn a new one together.

Let's make June an opportunity to invest quality times of fun with our kids!

  

Word of the Year: 2019

Choosing a Word of the Year is always an exciting time for me. That one little word becomes my goal for the next 365 days as I strive to weave its importance into my life. It might be something that is specifically directed towards myself like with purge, something that focuses on our family as a whole like with teach, or even something that is based on others like last year's give.  

Along with that excitement though comes a tinge of apprehension. This single word is a reminder of what I need in my life. While there is the thrill of a new challenge, there is also some embarrassment that accompanies it. Just like looking into a mirror shows you all your physical flaws, my word for each year is a reflection of my life. I don't choose this word casually, but instead pray about it for weeks and allow God to show me where He wants me to change.    

The word for this year came as no surprise to me.

Play.

play, verb

1. to use any exercise for pleasure or recreation
2. to do something not as a task or for profit, but for amusement

When it comes to the story of Mary and Martha in the end of Luke chapter 10, I relate to Martha. That drive to work, to accomplish a task, to serve your family--that speaks to me. I want my kids to have a strong work ethic and understand that work comes before play.

But far too often, I let the constant work of caring for a family overshadow the importance of my personal recreation. Managing a home, nurturing a handful of children, and home educating along with church involvements and other responsibilities fill my days. Clutter is a stress trigger for me. If I'm not careful, I am prone to let my duties keep me from truly playing with my children.

When my first couple kids were born, I spent countless hours playing with them daily. Then another was born. We started homeschooling. Days were filled with teaching and training, Make It Monday, Tasty Tuesday, Theory Thursday, Smiles on Fridays. And then another baby. Now that we have 5 children, they each have plenty of playmates to keep them interested.

And I have much to keep me busy. Blogging, my hobby and record-keeping of sorts, has taken a very distant backseat to my other responsibilities. My days are based around serving, not leisure. I tend to justify my lack of playing because my kids are with me nearly every second of every day. They help while I'm cooking, they're playing next to me while I'm folding laundry, they do school with me, they read with me. We eat meals together always. We go on family outings often. They have my attention all day.

But I need to be intentional in playing with them.

Oh, it's not that I never play with them. It's that I need to make it more of a priority. It's finding the balance of determining which chores need to be done now and which can wait 30 minutes so I can play a game with my kids. It's teaching my children that responsibilities are important and work needs to be completed, but that they also need to make time for quality recreation.

We are halfway through this year, and though I am just now finishing up this post that I started many months ago, I have been applying this word to my actions. In fact, I've tried multiple times to type this but stopped because a child asked me to help him build with Lego or play a game.

I've never liked the saying "It will be there tomorrow" referring to dirty dishes in a sink or a pile of laundry on the couch implying that playing with your kids is of utmost importance. Yes, those dishes will still be there--along with many others. God doesn't want us to ignore responsibility. But he also doesn't want us to be "cumbered about much serving" or "troubled about many things."

The last 6 months I've been more intentional in saying yes to playing.

I've been more deliberate to be like Mary, but instead of sitting at the feet of Jesus, I'm sitting on the floor with my kids. I'm taking more time, not for task or profit, but enjoyment and pleasure.

Play. That's my "good part" and my focus this year.




I initiated a challenge in the month of June to play with my kids! You can read all about it and join in the fun of 30 Days of Playing.

WAY Comes Home Review

I am a firm believe in making learning fun. Kids learn best through play. They need activity and hands-on experiences. HomeSchool Scholastics, an i4 Learning Company must believe the same, because their WAY Comes Home Kit is all about learning about health and wellness in a fun, active way.

The WAY (Wellness, Academics, & You) was designed specifically for elementary homeschool. The resources provided help you teach your child all aspects of health through physical activity and fitness, nutrition and healthy eating, health communications, emotion heath, social skills, and critical thinking skills.

The kit comes with everything you need for an entire unit of study for 3 different age groups.

• Parent's Guide --  This book contains everything you need to teach the material. It includes detailed lesson plans for each of the 3 levels, including step-by-step instructions, art projects, fun activities, additional resources, and more.
• Student Journals -- Journaling is a main aspect of the curriculum. It encourages creativity, critical thinking, and language development. The journals have sections for recording personal information, writing reflections, and charting progress. There are blank pages for writing and drawing pictures, but there are also many pages with activities like coloring, marking choices, and more.
• DVD -- The DVD has video clips that enhance the lessons and motivate the students. Each level has its own clips that match the themes. Each theme has an introductory video that allows the students to meet the characters and establish the personality of each program. There are also physical activity videos. Each "deskercise" segment allows is set up so you can be active and healthy while in your homeschool room, the living room, the kitchen, anywhere.
• WAY Comes Home to MyPlate -- The food pyramid has been replaced with a practical, life application-based icon called MyPlate. This booklet breaks down the components of MyPlate and explains them in an easy-to-understand way. It takes the five food groups--fruits, vegetables, grains, protein, dairy--explains their nutrition, benefits, examples, and amounts. Charts are included so you can see how much of each group is an appropriate serving for all age levels. 
• Vocab Cards & Illustrations -- Many flashcards are included. All pages are printed on card stock and provide dashed lines to show where to cut. The vocab cards feature various words to further your healthy journey, like fitness, nutrition, respect, endurance, consumtion, and more. Each word is printed in blank block letters so the student can color them as he chooses. There are also flashcards depicting good choice/poor choice, animals, transportation, and actions. The final illustrations are face masks that can be colored, cut, and attached to string to portray the characters from Health Safari level.
• Equipment Tools -- Various supplies are needed throughout the lessons. Common household things like scissors and crayons are not included, but instead the kit contains items that are harder to find. It includes a stethoscope, stamp pad, 2 foam balls, 3 small baskets, fulcrum balance scale, glitter, vinyl tape measure, eye chart, plastic eggs, and clear counter chips. 

The curriculum is written for 3 ages levels, each with its own theme. Because it was written for homeschoolers, there are tips and activities to expand each lesson to involve children of various ages. Each theme also has its own colors to make it easy to find the sections throughout the book.

• Health Safari -- This section is geared towards kids in kindergarten-1st grade. The theme follows Samantha and the Safari Land animals as they promote physical activity, healthful nutrition, and general wellness. The videos are animated. 
• Me Mysteries -- This level is for 2nd-3rd grades. The detective theme encourages the students to explore everyday health issues through communication skills, physical activity, healthful nutrition, and critical thinking skills. The videos feature kids.
• Innerspace Adventure -- This module is for the 4th-5th grades. The WAY TEAM helps them learn about personal health and wellness. Students will develop writing skills through journaling and focus on important health issues. These videos also feature kids.

My kiddos range in age from 10 years down to 4-years-old. Since we like to do as much schooling together as we can, I chose the Me Mysteries level to use because it's right in the middle range. This curriculum is jam-packed with information and tips. Each lesson is written in the same format: Parent Prep, Lesson at a Glance, Get Things Ready, WAY Vocab Words, What To Do, Art Attack, Weekends with WAY, Pray/Reflect, WAY More Resources, WAY More Fun.  

The kids and I have enjoyed learning about health through many fun activities. Adding clothespins to paper plates to show inner way and interactive way, exercising and charting our pulse rates, coloring a model of the human heart, balancing the calories we eat with the energy we use by placing marbles on a scale, being detectives and figuring out how germs are spread with the help of glitter are some of the ways we learned.I personally found the acting in the video segments cheesy and a little over-the-top, but the kids enjoyed them. I appreciate all the varying activities throughout the book. Even though we used just the one module for all the kids, we did implement some of the ideas of the other levels, like inspecting our thumbprints and noting cause and effect actions.

The kids' favorite part of the study was the physical activity videos. We had so much fun exercising and getting active! Even the toddler joined in on the fun and was dancing around trying to imitate both the kids on the screen and the kids in our house.

One "extra" that I think is pretty neat is the WAY More Fun sections. We liked reading through the facts and learning fascinating new things. Do you know why apples float, which direction Charles Dickens slept and why, eating which food will burn more calories than you consume, or which activity doubles the number of germs on your fingertips? You can learn all these and so many more with this book.

The WAY kit is great for teaching health and wellness for multiple ages. It's multi-sensory format appeals to every kind of learner and keep them engaged. There are many additional resources that will help you stretch out the learning activities and make this a full health curriculum for your family.
 

You can connect with WAY Comes Home on the following social media sites:
Facebook
Twitter
Pinterest

If you'd like to see more fun through the WAY Comes Home kit, please read the reviews on the Schoolhouse Review Crew blog.

Active Play

My kids love to exercise. After the last couple babies were born, I used a postnatal tae bo video to help lose some of the extra weight. Each time, I'd have little sidekicks exercising right along with me. They ask even now if we can pull the video out and all exercise together. Imagine 3 little kids and me standing in a tiny living room trying to bend and kick and punch. Zac, the 3-year-old, jumps randomly around the room; Alyssa, the 5-year-old, mimics everything I do and practically stands on top of me; and Jake, the 7-year-old, thinks he's a martial arts expert; all while I attempt to follow the video and avoid punching one of my children in the head. Yeah, we don't pull out the dvd all that often. 

So, when I told them about Dr. Craft's Active Play books and explained that Active Play! Fun Physical Activities for Young Children was their very own exercise book, they were excited! Needless to say, this has been one very fun review.

This spiral-bound book is filled with 52 activities and is meant to get toddlers and preschoolers physically active while having fun. Not only are these activities good for exercising, they're also good for strengthening gross motor skills; recognizing objects, shapes, letters, colors, and numbers; teaching spatial relationships, following directions; and pretend play. The book is written primarily for childcare providers, but can easily be used at home by parents.

There are plenty ideas for both indoor and outdoor use. Some require a little setup and others can be played immediately. Most of the equipment is regular household things that you probably already own: balls, baskets, paper plates, hula hoops, nylons, socks, etc. There is also a chart at the beginning of the book that lists all the activities and the skills they develop. 

Since the book was written with young children in mind, I had to be a little creative to get Jake interested in some of the activities. Even though he's only 7, there are times he thinks he's 17. For the game Alligator Pit, you place flattened pool noodles on the floor and carry objects across the balance beam while avoiding the "alligators." It just so happened that we had found a  buried treasure! We had to carry it across the bridge over the alligator pit to reach our get-away plane on the other side. But if that wasn't bad enough, we had to hurry because the natives were chasing us to steal the treasure. We were halfway done when Zac slipped off the bridge and almost fell into the alligator infested waters! Thankfully, Alyssa grabbed him just in time and she and Jake pulled him to safety. We got the treasure all in the plane only to discover that it wouldn't start. We then had to drag the box containing the goods all over, trying to find someplace to hide. We encountered many hardships along the way, but eventually got the treasure home!      

  

 

The kids ask every day if it's time to play our exercise game. With games like Clean out the Backyard, Hoop Limbo, Lug-A-Jug, and Sock Tails, it's easy to keep that excitement. I love that the book is simple to use, the equipment is easy to find, and my children are physically active. But the thing I love the most? Listening to my kids laugh as they're playing.  They truly have fun and enjoy the activities. That makes for happy kids and a happy momma.

Now, you think they'll let me exercise on my own???

The Active Play! book costs $39 and includes a dvd that features some of the activities. There is also a section that list activities for infants 6-15 months and a section for school-aged children. You can download sample pages on their site.

If you'd like to learn more, you can read more reviews of Dr. Craft's Active Play book from the Schoolhouse Review Crew. 

Flowering Baby

Young kids are inquisitive and love to learn. Each new experience is exciting; each day an adventure. As a parent, especially a homeschooling parent, I try to give my kids many rich experiences now, while they're young. I believe that giving them a good educational foundation will encourage a lifetime of learning. I've said many times that to me homeschooling is a way of life. It's not setting aside x-amount of time to do school, but is a continual learning process. It's not solely about math and history, but is also about learning valuable life skills.

That's why I like Flowering Baby. It's a whole-child developmental approach for learning.  What's really exciting is that they offer curriculum for birth through age 5. It is designed by year and broken down by month and can be started at any point at any time.

Birth to One Year
I've had people ask me when I start teaching my kids. My answer? From birth! Really, you do it too. Babies are learning all the time. When I cry, mama picks me up. When I open my mouth, food comes in. When I throw my toy on the floor, daddy picks it up. When I squeal, my siblings laugh. Cause and effect. The Flowering Baby curriculum helps the parent have an intentional plan to teach baby. Working with your baby for 20 minutes a day, 20 days of the month can greatly increase his learning.

With Tyler, we used the 9-12 month portion of the program. Some days just he and I worked on an activity, but most of the time the older kids played along with us. We played games like stacking blocks, banging on boxes, pushing cars across the floor, standing, and carrying on "conversations." Sure, they are all simple things to us, but to a tiny baby, they are learning experiences. They listen to sounds, strengthen muscles, practice balancing, and so much more. They also learn how much fun it is to play and hear everyone clap and cheer! Each day there is also a building of the arts, whether it be listening to Classical music, reading a book, or singing a song.
Click here for a sample of the Birth to One Year curriculum. 

 

Three to Four
The 3-year-olds' curriculum looks a little more like school with things like math (counting, patterns), language (ABCs, sounds), and science (weather, nutrition.) There is also teaching about community helpers, safety issues, self-help abilities, Spanish, social skills, physical activities, and so on. Like the Birth to One Year, there is also time for listening to music, singing, and reading.

A typical day might include singing the ABC song, counting toys in a pile, coloring, reading, and listening to music while completing another task. Some days, especially ones that involve discussions or games will take much longer to accomplish. Overall, the curriculum suggests 30-45 minutes a day, 10-15 days a month purposely teaching your child.    

Along with the general monthly guides, there are 25 theme guides as well. These are designed to complete 2 themes a month and to encourage the child's intrigue of topics by delving into more detail for an extended period of time. There are book and activity suggestions included for each theme.

Zac was so excited to have his own list of things for school. Usually, I just grab a few hands-on things for him to do or allow him to play school games on the iPad while I'm working with the older two. I haven't spent much one-on-one time with him, specifically to do school. Unfortunately, when the baby wakes up, or the 7-year-old is dragging, or dinner needs to be prepared, or, or, or, . . . the poor 3-year-old is the first to get left out of school. I was reminded just how important it is to purposely include him and just how much he loves it. For instance, we played a game where you take a toy (or any object really) and cover all but a tiny portion with a blanket. Then, the other person has to guess what's under the blanket. He loved it! We've played so many times since then. He'll say. "Let's hide toys again!" Not only does it get his little brain working, it gives us precious time spent together. I have a renewed dedication again to intentionally teach him.      
Click here for a sample of the Three to Four curriculum.


Four to Five
The curriculum for the four-year-old is similar to the three-four group. It starts with the same basic monthly guide of 30-45 minutes a day, 10-15 days a month working with your child. It uses the same theme guide as well. The difference? The skills required are more advanced; the content learned, more difficult. The child will begin writing letters & numbers, counting to 50, sounding out letters, completing simple science experiments, and more. There is still an emphasis on singing, reading, listening to music, and playing.

A typical day might look something like this: Sing the ABC song, practice writing the letter J J, look for items that start with J, count to 30, put together 2 puzzles, read a book about triangles, draw triangles on paper and cut them out, build a pyramid using blocks, discuss the difference between a 2-D triangle and a 3-dimensional one, practice kicking different kinds of balls with each foot. 

Alyssa loves school. She loves learning. She loves doing work. She soaked up each activity from this curriculum that I presented to her. In fact, if I hadn't yet started working with her during the day, she'd say, "I thought we were going to practice writing Os?" Yep, she's my little schoolgirl. Most of the things in the curriculum were already very familiar to her since I've been working with her for a while. We learn best through repetition, so it was all very good practice for her. Also, children learn best through play and hands-on activities, which are abundant with this program.
 Click here for a sample of the Four to Five c urriculum.


What do we think of Flowering Baby? We love it! It's a thorough program that can be accomplished multiple times a week. All the activities and resources are listed, making it very easy to schedule a day. If the child is feeling overwhelmed by the work, simply leave out portions to make it more manageable. The program builds on itself, giving your child a solid foundation for school. I really like that the Three to Four schedule mirrored the Four to Five for things like books, music, themes and such since it made it much more doable when using this program with 3 kids. We all tend to do activities and book reading together, so having the curriculum the same saved us some time because of the overlapping. I really like that it has a strong literature base. Some of the books on the list we own, some were found at the library, and others can be read for free online. The program uses household items and typical children's toys, so you don't have to buy any special materials to complete it. Simply use the things you have around your house.

Flowering Baby is sold on CD and is in PDF format. (There is also a link on their site to purchase it online and immediately start downloading the program.) The yearly plans for birth-1, 1-2, and 2-3 cost $30, and the plans for 3-4 and 4-5 cost $38 a piece. Or you can purchase all 5 years for $132. The author has also graciously offered a 10% discount to our readers. Simply use Blog10 at checkout on floweringbaby.com.

If you'd like to see what other families thought of Flowering Baby, check out the Schoolhouse Review Crew blog for more reviews.

Disclaimer: As a member of the Schoolhouse Review Crew, I received the entire Flowering Baby curriculum in exchange for my honest review. No other compensation was given.

Wordless Wednesday 2/13/13

Wordless Wednesday 8/8/12

30 for 30 Challenge: Days 8-30

It's hard to believe another week 2 3 weeks have already passed. We're continuing with our challenge of playing 30 minutes with our kids each day in the 30 days of June. (You can see what we played the first week here.) Here's what we played the past 7 14  21 days.

And that's as far as I got with the post. I started it at then end of the second week, but never finished. Then on week 3, I updated the time frame by crossing off the incorrect numbers, but still didn't write up the post. Can you tell I had good intentions of completing it???? Here I am 3 days passed the end of the challenge and I'm just now finishing recording what we played. Oh well, I guess the important thing is that we did play. Here's the short version.

Day 8: hide and seek 

Day 9: outside

Day 10: church

Day 11: created our own stories

Day 12: Legos

Day 13: Trios

Day 14: outside

Day 15: Battleship

Day 16: Polly Pockets

Day 17: church

Day 18: painting

Day 19: Geotrax

Day 20: playdough

Day 21: puzzles

Day 22: Legos

Day 23: tea party

Day 24: church

Day 25: cars

Day 26: outside

Day 27: Legos

Day 28: Toydle fort 

Day 29: Wii games

Day 30: LeapPad games


We definitely had a lot of fun this past month. I'm thankful that playing was a priority. Life gets so busy. It's nice to just slow down every now and then and take time to fully enjoy it. My kids are always happy when I set aside my chores to play.


Did you join the challenge? What are some things you played?

Father-Son Day

Last Saturday was a day of just Daddy and Jake. I already told you about Jake at Work with me. Later in the day we went up to the church for the annual Father-Son Cookout. It is a time when all fathers and sons are invited to come for food, fun, and fellowship.

When we arrived at the church I looked over at Jake and he was out. It had been a long day already and we had a long time left before the end. When I shut the truck off he startled awake. "My eyes were tired," was his immediate statement. "A little tired, Aye?" "No! I'm fine! Just my eyes are tired." Right.

Food was the first thing on our agenda. It's simple, bring a side dish to pass. The church provides hamburgers and hot dogs; if you want something else grilled, bring it. We stuck with the hamburgers and hot dogs, and brought mommy's awesome Cole Slaw to share.

After lunch we found this great little game that one of the men brought called box hockey. This is a game that will get your heart rate up without going real far. You just stand next to this eight inch tall box and try to hit the puck throught the walls and into your goal. Believe it or not it is a very exciting game.

There was also Ladder Ball, Volleyball, and some other activities; but Jake ended up on the playground with a bunch of other boys for quite a while. They were having a blast. The majority of the time they were on a car play thing that they were pretending was an army jeep with a machine gun in the back. When an argument broke out as to who was in charge the idea was put forth to take turns being in charge. The response was, "Then we all be in charge, that won't work." In the end the idea of taking turns was used. As I was sitting there I was able to gather a few quotes I found humorous. At one point the driver yells out, "There is a dinosaur in the way!" Which was followed by the response, "Just drive over it!" Later on when the driver, a different boy on rotation, finished explaining that the jeep was stuck in the mud his comrades responded in unison with, "Just hit the gas!" A little later they were all ducked down in the back one peeked up and yelled, "BOMBS! Jump up!"

Over all we had a good time. Jake had a blast playing with the boys. They normally sit in Sunday School and maybe run around a room together, but Saturday they got to interact on their own.

It was a fun day. I enjoyed being able to take my son to work and actually show him a little of what I do. And then to be able to go and watch him have so much fun exploring his imagination with other boys doing the same thing. It was awesome!

30 for 30 Challenge: Days 1-7

The first week of the 30 for 30 challenge has ended. How did you do? Did you play with your kids? I made sure it was a priority this week to play the games and with the toys that my kids chose.

Day 1 - Since it was Jake's half-birthday, I spent a lot of time playing with just him for many hours. We played with LEGOs and LEGO Batman on the Wii. It was a special day with just the two of us.

Day 2 - We had a lot of fun racing pinewood derby cars at church.  At home, we played a few rounds of Jake's new favorite game on the iPad, Battleship.

Day 3 - Sunday's are always very busy. We leave for Church at 9:15 am and don't get home until 1:00 pm. We leave again at 4:00 pm for choir practice and the evening service. We usually get home 8:00-8:30 pm. This week though, we had a graduation service and a fellowship afterwards. We didn't get home until after 10:00 pm. Needless to say, we didn't get in any playing with the kids.

Day 4 - We made up for our lack of playing together on Sunday with over an hour on Monday - more Battleship, more LEGOs, Memory, and Polly Pocket people.

Day 5 - Zac loves cars and trains. We drove them around and made them zoom down his Wheelies track.

Day 6 - If you follow us on our Facebook page, you'll remember that we had a lot of fun being pirates. We transformed our couch into a ship and sailed the open sea in search of buried treasure. We battled enemy pirates, loaded the cannons, saw sea monsters, and found the treasure!

Day 7 - We spent a lot of time creating with Buckyballs. It was interesting to see what things the kids could make with them. We also played outside.

I've really been enjoying this time with my children. I also realized that when I made playtime a priority, we often got caught up in the playing and 30 minutes were gone in a flash. We spent well over the half hour time on many days.

What did you play?

30 for 30

{written by Erika}

I read about this challenge a couple days ago and knew I wanted to join. The plan is to spend 30 minutes every day in the month of June playing with your kids. Oh sure, I spend lots of time every day with my kids between schooling, crafting, cooking, experimenting, reading, talking. My kids are with me constantly. I call them my little ducklings since they follow me from room to room around the house. If I'm not careful though, I fall into the rut of not actually playing with them. I'm in their presence while they're playing, but I'm not partaking in the fun. I'm taking pictures, but I'm not actively involved. I try to justify it because of all that time that I'm with them each day.

You see, it's not that I don't want to play. It's just that I always feel pulled in so many directions. On top of the schooling and raising of the children, I have a household to care for. I have a newborn who requires much attention. There's laundry and cooking and dishes and cleaning - for 6 people. I really need to teach my kids (and hubby!) to clean up after themselves more. Trying to do all the work for a family of 6 with 4 kids ages 6 years and younger keeps me constantly busy. Sure, I could try to ignore the clutter. I could cook from a box or freezer bag. I could buy our cleaning supplies, laundry detergent, and various other things instead of making my own. But I'd be unhappy. Instead, I try to juggle it all.

If I'm feeling overwhelmed by all that needs to be done and notice that I'm not taking the time to play, I'll implement the timer. I'll sit and play LEGOs or cars or babies with the kids for 10 minutes. When the timer beeps, I'll clean or wash dishes or fold laundry for 10 minutes. Then, I go back to playing and so on. It helps me get chores accomplished without neglecting the fun with my children.

This challenge will help me be more aware of the quality of time spent with my precious gifts from God. For the month of June, I vow to play!

Things That Make Me Smile 12/23/11

1. Alyssa took an impromptu nap while at my parents house and woke up very sweaty. Upon seeing her own reflection in the mirror, she said, "Um, my hair is not right. We definitely need to brush it."

2. Our church performed our Christmas cantata (musical drama) on Sunday. With Leighton being the choir director and in charge of the whole production, we (especially he) have been very busy with practices and preparations and such. We performed both Sunday morning and evening and had over 100 visitors between the 2 services! During the evening performance, a man in our church talked Jake (who was one of the characters in the play) into adding to one of his lines. After he said, "I'm a sheep cowboy!" he yelled out "Yee-haw!" Jake was so excited about that last part that he skipped over the lines that came before. 

3. Me to Zac: "You have the cutest little face."

Zac, very adamantly: "No! Lyssa do!"

 4. Alyssa had a mini-spiral notebook and a pen and was testing me on my letters. She'd write an A. "Mommy, what's this?"  Then she moved on to a T and on it went. It was good practice for letter writing for her and evidently good practice for letter recognition for me. 

5.  I just love this picture of Jake and Alyssa coating pretzels in white chocolate. They were having so much fun! . . . Maybe even too much fun. 

6. Alyssa's and Zac's teachers at church made foam snowmen ornaments with the kids' pictures in the center. Once Zac saw them hanging on the tree, he walked over to his, squatted down, and said, "Hi Zac!"

7. Wednesday evening was the children's Christmas program at church. Alyssa moved her mouth as she "sang," though I'm not sure any noise actually came out. Zac walked around looking confused and never even attempted to sing. Jake was in the play for the older kids. He said his lines well and was the cutest little shepherd. He didn't sing much of the songs expect for "Go Tell It On the Mountain." That one he was the loudest of all the kids - but just on the chorus. The kids mumbled their way through the verses, then sang at the top of their lungs for the chorus, with our Jacob being the loudest of all.  

8. Alyssa came running into our room in the middle of the night. She was nearly in tears when she asked, "Are we ever gonna see Sugar Cookie again?" Jake had misplaced his beloved teddy bear the night before. Apparently it was still traumatizing to his sister. (P.S. He probably should have looked in the Christmas tree!) Even being woken up from a sound sleep for something as trivial (to me) as a lost toy made me laugh.

9. Alyssa said "I can fix that easily." Ok, that statement might not mean anything to you, but after all, this is a list of things that make me smile. The English teacher in me beams with joy when my kids use adverbs properly.

Merry Christmas! I trust you'll have lots to smile about during the next few days!