10 Christmas Gifts for Kids (That Aren’t More Toys!)

November 23, 2015 - Mama Leave a comment

Last Christmas, as I loaded up some of the toys my son was no longer playing with to get rid of, I finally stepped on the LEGO that broke the camel’s back… With toys tucked in every corner, I simply couldn’t take adding another one to the house at Christmas time. Zach has a tendency to get toys throughout the year, of course, and our over-stuffed toy bins were clear indicators that he wasn’t exactly hurting for toys. So, I made a decision: No. More. Toys. We weren’t getting rid of the toys he loved, and we certainly weren’t eliminating toys from the house, but instead, my entire family agreed that we would make a conscious effort to purchase a little more creatively for Christmas, and that meant not buying any new toys.

DIY Inside Out Memory Spheres

November 16, 2015November 18, 2015 - Mama 3 Comments

This shop has been compensated by Collective Bias, Inc. and its advertiser. All opinions are mine alone. #InsideOutEmotions #CollectiveBias

Learn to discuss tough emotions-- like anger, sadness, and fear-- with your children. These DIY memory spheres from the Inside Out movie are a craft that gets kids talking! #InsideOutEmotions #ad

Emotions are tough. Seriously, they can be really hard to navigate, especially when you’re young and don’t always have the words to share how you’re feeling. But then, Inside Out showed up and gave kids examples of what those emotion words felt like. Plus, it was a super adorable movie– cute enough that we decided to see it like 4 times in theatres! So as soon as I found out it was available at Walmart, we ran to the store right away to pick up our copy.

How to Start Art Journaling Your Bible Study

July 27, 2015July 27, 2015 - Mama 1 Comment

This post is part of a social shopper marketing insight campaign with Pollinate Media Group® and DaySpring, but all my opinions are my own. #pmedia #DayspringSadieRob http://my-disclosur.es/OBsstV

If you're wanting to feel a deeper connection to the scripture, or meditate on it more, try art journaling your verses. Regardless of your skill level or your medium, it's a great thing to incorporate into Bible study. Here are some tips to get you started. #DayspringSadieRob #liveoriginal #PMedia #ad

Sometimes I feel disconnected. Like… I am reading the words God is putting in front of me during Bible study, but like they’re not always connecting as well as I’d like. It’s not my comprehension. It’s my worry– it’s the constant string of thoughts on my mind that prevents me from fully disconnecting with the world and connecting with God in that peaceful, calm, quiet moment. As I read, it seems my mind is on a million to-dos, all of the things I haven’t accomplished. And I needed a way to disconnect. I really, truly did. I thought about how much I love to meditate over a coloring page or any other form of art. And then I realized… “I can do that with the Bible. I can have that meditative disconnect between me and the world so I can hear what God is saying to me.” So, I decided to make Bible art journaling a priority.

Writing Letters to Your Children, Part Three: The Prompts

April 23, 2015April 23, 2015 - Mama Leave a comment

So you'd like to write letters to your children as the perfect wedding gift, graduation gift, or just to instill a little wisdom in them.... but you don't know where to start! Here are 70 prompts to get you started on writing to your kids! They also make great journaling prompts!

Over the past two weeks, I’ve been sharing some ideas on writing letters to your children for a future date. The first week, we discussed why it was important to share these stories with your children. Last week, we talked about the best ways to write these stories and store them so they wouldn’t get lost or damaged over time. Today, I want to give you some ideas and prompts for what you can write about– it’s easy to say that you will or want to write letters to your child, and choosing a format is pretty easy, too, but it’s a lot harder to come up with ideas when you do sit down to write. Here are some prompts to get you started.

Writing Letters to Your Children, Part Two: How to Organize Them

April 15, 2015April 12, 2015 - Mama Leave a comment

Writing letters to your children can be a great gift to them when they're older-- at graduation, or on their wedding day. But what do you do once you've written the letters? How do you get started and how do you store them? Here are some ideas.

Last week on the blog, I shared my heart in terms of why it’s important to write letters to your children for them to read when they get older. Writing letters helps you leave a lasting legacy to your children and tell them stories that you want to preserve– don’t wait until it’s too late to share these stories. This week, I want to give you some ideas of how to prepare your letters for your children.

Writing Letters to Your Children, Part One: Why You Should Do It

April 3, 2015March 30, 2015 - Mama Leave a comment

Should you be writing letters to your children? Letters make an amazing keepsake for your children, and allow them a special connection, even after you've passed. They're also a great way to convey information to your children. Here are some reasons why you should write to your kids.

As parents, it’s so essential to us to impart as much wisdom as possible into our children’s lives while we have them. It seems like, as kids grow so fast, in a blink it’s gone, and they’ve grown up. It means there’s only a short amount of time that we can give them the wisdom we’ve learned through the years (and hoping desperately that they follow our advice, despite knowing that all of us have to make some mistakes ourselves in order to learn). Writing letters to your children is the perfect way to share that wisdom with them for years to come, even after they leave the nest.

An Open Letter To My Son: I Will Protect You

February 9, 2015February 10, 2015 - Mama 3 Comments

This shop has been compensated by Collective Bias, Inc. and its advertiser. All opinions are mine alone. #LoveAndProtect #CollectiveBias

Zach, do you remember that time you climbed that tree? I knew you were climbing too high, I just knew that you’d fall, but you urged me to let you, begged me to let go of your hand so you could reach the next branch. And you know what happened? You made it. You reached it. You didn’t fall. I let go, and you stayed safe. It’s in my nature to be a little bit overbearing at times. I’ll always have worries– am I raising you the right way? Are you growing the way you should? How much life insurance should I have in case something happens to me? What sort of things do you need to know before you prepare for kindergarten?

I want to tell you right now that I don’t have all of the answers, but I do want to make you some promises.

Live Like You’re Dying: Making 2015 Your Best Year Yet

January 2, 2015December 30, 2014 - Mama Leave a comment

Tomorrow, on your way to work, you’re going to get hit by a bus. Tonight, as you’re out walking to the mailbox, a freak storm will hit and you’ll be struck by lightning. When you take your daily shower, you’re going to slip on a bar of soap and hit your head.

Okay, so these things probably aren’t going to happen. Chances are, you won’t die tomorrow. But what if you did? Would you feel fulfilled? We’re inundated with bucket lists– your summer bucket list of must-do items, your must-capture photos of spring break… heck, I even posted a must-do list for the month of January earlier this week. Those are all okay things. But how often do we take 5 minutes to think about the idea that “if I died right now… what is one thing I wished I had done?”

Create a Family Time Capsule: The Perfect New Years’ Tradition

December 31, 2014December 30, 2014 - Mama 1 Comment

I am all about tradition during the holidays. Our annual trip for Thanksgiving, Christmas advent calendars, gingerbread houses… but then I realized my family has zero traditions for New Years’ Eve. Our idea of an NYE party? Flipping channels and drinking some sparkling grape juice at midnight… IF we make it to midnight. But that has to change– I can’t have a holiday without a tradition! So we’ve decided to build a family time capsule that we can open together. When I sat down to think about what would go in this family time capsule, I had a few ideas…

Preserving Flowers Easily and Affordably

April 4, 2014 - Mama 1 Comment

It’s prom season. Can you believe it? It seems like just yesterday was Christmas, then Valentine’s Day, but now, it’s the season of puffy, glittery dresses, limousines, and flowers. I remember my own prom like it was just days ago, and then suddenly realized that it’s been nearly a decade. I find it so hard to believe that I’m closer to my ten year reunion than I am to my high school prom… what’s even more amazing is that I still have the corsage from my senior prom tucked away in a box.

How did the corsage survive almost a decade? With careful preservation. But you don’t need a lot of expensive materials or a difficult process… it’s actually quite simple to preserve flowers from a special occasion like prom in the comfort of your own home.

You only need 3 things: your flowers you’d like to preserve, a shoebox (great opportunity to recycle the box from those pretty prom heels!), and Borax, which you can find at retailers like Walmart in the laundry section. Borax has many great uses around the house, and it’s often in the homemade laundry soap recipes floating around the internet. Borax can be used to unclog drains, deodorize garbage pails, and more. The great thing is that it’s about $0.08-$0.12 per oz, which is incredibly affordable.

Grab your shoebox, pour a nice layer of Borax in the bottom, and gently nest your flower, corsage, or other floral piece onto the Borax. Carefully pour Borax over the flower, covering it. Make sure you’re gentle to not distort the flower.

Close the box (and optionally, tape it to ensure it won’t spill), and mark the date. Let it sit undisturbed for two weeks.

Now, it’s time to unseal the box and see if it worked!

On the left is an unpreserved pink carnation, and on the right, the preserved pink carnation. As you can see, the vibrant color was preserved, the shape and size was preserved, and each fold of the flower was carefully preserved. It looks pretty true to the unpreserved carnation, which you can tell is starting to experience a little bit of wilt.

Now, you never have to worry about a treasured memory going to waste, because preserving a flower at home is easy and affordable.

What memories do you have of your prom? Did you save your corsage? Talk about it in the comments below!

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