Family

Dirt Won’t Hurt Them

- Mama 2 Comments

I had another post planned for today, but yesterday, I saw my son explore something he’d never gotten to explore before, and it changed my mind on what to write about. I felt this topic was so important, weighing on my heart so much, that I really need to share it with you.

I remember a few years ago, before my son was born, when the Crayola colored bubbles first came out. I was excited about them. When it turned out that they stained, I was okay with that. You know what? That’s why we have some stained hand-me-downs. No big deal. Another mom and I got into a discussion, and at one point, it got fairly heated. She said that she was absolutely not okay with her children playing with things that would get them dirty; she went on to say that destroying clothing, even old ones, was a waste of resources, and it was a waste of energy to clean up after the mess. I always said I wouldn’t be “that mom.” When I was little, my mom frequently allowed me a roll in the mud. She firmly maintained the stance that both children and clothing were washable.

So, when the new Crayola colored bubbles were released (still staining, but not quite like the original), I bought them. And honestly, Zach loves them. The thing is, I can’t tell you how many times Zach has come to me with a new marker tattoo when the pen strayed off of the page. I can’t tell you how many bubble-and-sand hairdos we’ve had.

One particularly fond memory was an evening when I gave Zach some chocolate pudding. I handed him a spoon, and he started eating it, the same way he does with his yogurt. Suddenly, though, that spoon was not enough, and before I knew it, he had chocolate pudding all over. His face, his ear, his hair, it had pudding. Chocolate, smeary pudding.

As soon as I saw him, I shouted “Zach! What are you doing?” Then, I saw him look down, ashamed, and I thought… wait a second. It’s not getting on anything. (Well, except for Zach). So I opened up another pudding cup, and began eating it directly out of the cup. Before I knew it, I had pudding on my nose to match his.

So yesterday, when Zach and I were playing outside, and I noticed a large stream of water flowing through a muddy path in the backyard, instead of keeping him out… I opened the gate and said “Go for it.”

He splashed. He slid. He used it kind of as a slip-n-slide. He went mud skating. He mushed it in his fingers. All of this is important. It’s a texture that he’s never felt before, a feeling he’s never experienced. And this was one more step in his learning process.

Sure. His clothing got muddy and wet. His hands were icky and mucky. If you look closely, you can even see some green marker from an incident earlier in the day.

As Zach grows, naturally, he will learn that there is a time for messy play and a time for clean play. Dressy clothes aren’t for mud pies, and mud pie clothes aren’t for church. But for now, these experiences mold and shape him. They make him who he is. They help him learn about different consistencies and textures, as well as the thought that dirt and water combine to create something that isn’t really dirt or water, but some sort of substance in between.

Obviously, as soon as his mud play was over, he went straight into a bath. And, within 30 minutes, you couldn’t even see a speck of evidence of the mud or the marker.

In some ways, I have to compare this to my journey in faith. I go through life. I sit there, and I get all of this muck, and filth, and dirt, and grime, and it’s everywhere. It’s in every nook and cranny, under my nails and between my toes. And I am gross. Disgusting. And then, I get this healing water, this Holy washing, basically, and I am made clean. I’m renewed. I’m a NEW creation in Christ. And all of that filth, that dirt, that grime, is gone. Washed down the drain, out of sight. Just like the mud on Zach’s skin. It’s just… gone.

I love that. I love when life provides me with a metaphor that helps me so clearly relate what happens in my life to what has happened to me spiritually, what is STILL happening to me spiritually. I still sin. And even then, God washes me and makes me new.

In the end, I really have no control, and no desire to have control, over whether or not another parent will let her kids play in the dirt and mud. In many ways, I kind of feel like they will anyway. Dirt, mud… it isn’t for everyone.

But as for me and my son, we’re going to be stocking up on a lot of stained clothing, colored bubbles, and pudding cups, because I see a LOT of messy days in our future.

(Products in the layout above are from www.designhousedigital.com)

A New Connection with ConnectMyDNA

- Mama 3 Comments

The symbol above may look like some odd form of tribal art, or a strange emblem from a tattoo or CD cover. But this emblem, it isn’t any of that. It’s actually a very personal representation of my DNA. Isn’t that crazy to think about?

I should start at the beginning. This year, in Jeffrey’s homeschooling unit on Exploring Countries and Cultures, we thought it would be interesting to find out a little more about the countries and cultures we come from. So as soon as we saw a groupon for a company called ConnectMyDNA, we jumped on the opportunity to buy a couple of test kits!

The kits arrived as a nondescript envelope, something small, that when you opened it up, held something very powerful and personal.

The inside of the envelope contained two swabs and an envelope, as well as information on how to register your barcode (which is also printed on the envelope) on the website.

You start by taking a cheek swab on each of the two swabs, making sure to twirl them as you swab, so you can totally collect your DNA.

Cute, right?

Once your swabs are sealed in the envelope, you mail them off, and within a couple of weeks, you get an email letting you know your results.

I honestly didn’t expect to be surprised by mine at all. I’ve always known that I have some pretty strong ties to Ireland (as evidenced by the red tones in my hair and my incredibly fair skin), and it’s no shocker that I’ve got all kinds of European blood in me.

When I got my results, I looked them over. Irish. Number one. No surprise. Farther down the list, Bosnia and Greece… I had no idea about those! Portugal, Cyprus, Macedonia.

My number 2 match was more of a surprise… Peru? I had never known that I might have South American heritage. A look at my family tree reveals a lot of Europe, but not a lot of South America, if any.

I mean, I knew my ancestry was pretty mixed, pretty blended, but I had no idea what kind of diversity I had floating around in my own bloodstream!

I’ve always made a point to think about my Irish heritage, to learn more about the German heritage I got through adoption rather than blood. And I’ve worked hard to follow my family tree when I can. But… to find this whole world, literally, of heritage that I had never known was thrilling.

Countries I never expected to have anything to do with, I found out, were a part of me!

I am a huge history and geography junkie. I love to know about cultures, which is why I love the My Father’s World unit, Exploring Countries and Cultures. Every two weeks in the curriculum, we go to a different country, in our minds, and learn as much as we can about it.

To extend that into a chance to find out where we’re REALLY from using ConnectMyDNA is amazing.

And it definitely will make me think twice about using the “come here” motion with my index finger to ask someone to come to me– apparently, in Peru, that’s not a nice signal at all!

Check out my results below on my personalized DNA poster!

 

Have you ever been surprised by some family history you’ve stumbled upon? What do you think of the idea that you can have a DNA test tell you where you’re from?

 

Hall of Fame

- Mama 1 Comment

It is so strange to me that having just one or two rooms out of commission for renovations can so throw off my entire schedule! It seems like while we’re in the process of these renovation products, I am not getting as much accomplished, but then I remember how many things I am accomplishing around the house.

It’s hard, though, because I miss being here to check in with the blog daily as I was before. With any luck, though, the house will be done soon and we’ll be able to share some amazing before-and-afters with you.

One of my biggest projects lately has been getting our photos and art back on the walls as we finish each room, and in the meantime, updating what pictures are shown in our frames. We’ve always had a hall of fame approach in our hallway, with photos from posed to candid lining the walls, featuring every member of our very large family. Many of the photos show off our individual talents and passions… a photograph of me holding my Cherry Masher Sandwich Cookies from my Duncan Hines win, photos of Jeffrey being a soccer star, and photographs of Zach drumming.

It truly is like our own Hall of Fame, showcasing the best of our lives, and I love that. It makes me feel accomplished, proud, and enthusiastic to continue.

We also have our own set of candid shots of us just being us. No special significance, no special skills… just each of us, doing what we do. To me, this is great, because it helps me remember that in life, we have just as many bloopers as we do highlight reels. It’s a mixture of both.

This song by The Script and Will.I.Am shares a lot about how I feel about our own Hall of Fame. It also shows a lot of my wishes for Zach, so every time I listen to it, I get a bit teary-eyed. I’ve never understood those parents who said “My child can be anything.” I always thought, “yeah, but surely there’s some sort of caveat there, surely you know there’s got to be something they’ll not do.” But really, seeing my son, day in and day out, seeing him explore and change and grow and learn, I firmly believe, right now, he can be anything he wants to be. He can be a politician, a leader, a teacher, an astronaut… he has all of that potential inside of him, and I know he can do any of it.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mk48xRzuNvA]

The best part is? No matter what he does or where he goes, he’s my son, and I will be proud of him, and I will love him.

Tell me about your personal hall of fame moments. What is your biggest accomplishment? Did you ever think you’d get there when you were younger?

One Little Word 2013: Capture (Continued)

- Mama 2 Comments

I said at the beginning of the year that the word I wanted to focus on the most was Capture. I felt like there were so many little moments that I missed, so many things that weren’t making it into the family photo albums or being remembered or reflected upon.

I have been trying so hard to be really conscious of this effort at the moment, making sure to take daily snapshots of what life is like. I didn’t want to look through Zach’s albums when he grew up and see nothing but birthdays, holidays, and special events. I wanted to document the unremarkable things about life, too.

It used to be that we only documented the big events out of necessity. I mean, think about it. 150 years ago, if you wanted photographs, you’d have to carry around boxes of toxic chemicals just to take them. That’s not that long ago– just a few generations. It wasn’t until 1901 that Kodak came out with the Kodak brownie, making it easier than ever for people to photograph things themselves, but even then, prints were expensive, hard to reproduce, and not exactly the quality options we have today.

Even when I was younger, it wasn’t easy or cheap to take photos, and a roll of film only gave you so many chances to get it right. There was no burst mode, no delete button, and no way to view the photo you were taking until it was printed, so even if you thought you got the shot, there was that chance that you didn’t.

Now, I have a camera that can take multiple shots per SECOND, be viewed right on the screen as I take them, and I could even print them out in my own home if I wanted, no darkroom equipment necessary.

Because of that, I shouldn’t feel limited to taking photos only of really extra awesome things that happen. I can snap photos of ridiculous things.

Like a dorky self portrait.

The tattoo Zach decided to draw on his knee.

A late night craving for pudding.

Zach all dressed up for our Valentine’s Day date.

A favorite lunchtime salad.

A particularly blue sky.

A crazy cake mustache.

My favorite flowers.

A little bit of spilled granola.

That time we shared Cheetos with the dog.

The day the hot water heater went crazy.

Or hanging out at the airport.

 

None of these things are particularly remarkable. None of them are even remotely “extra special.” They’re just bits and pieces of our everyday life together, and I love that I’m able to capture these snapshots.

To me, this is what my word is about. It’s about capturing the memories, the date, and a few words about what was happening. It’s about a special moment in time, remarkable or not, that I’ve been able to capture.

100 years ago, would Zach spilling a box of granola on the ground have made it into the scrapbooks? Probably not. In fact, even (just a few) years ago, when my mom was younger, she had a similar experience while making her family breakfast as a young girl, but that photo wasn’t captured. We have the story, and we have photographs from holidays around that time, but we don’t have that particular event captured.

Sometimes, I wonder if I’m doing the right thing by capturing grainy images on my cell phone, questioning if these will be good enough quality, but then I’m reminded of a quote someone recited to me not too long ago, saying “The best kind of camera is the one you have with you.” If you happen to have your DSLR ready at a moment’s notice, perfect. If not, your cell phone will work just fine.

Just go out there, capture the moment. Report back to me– I’d love to see your favorite moments captured so far this year!

Love Yourself First

- Mama 3 Comments

When I was younger, before all of the stupid stuff with my cartilage happened and I was actually more mobile, I was a dancer. But, even then, 13 year old me realized that there was something different about me than the other dancers, and it was hindering my ability to dance.

I had boobs.

I had a butt.

And, when you’re in a room full of mirrors and no one else has those, it becomes painfully obvious. The older I got in the dance world, the more I realized that I didn’t really have the body for it. And the more I realized that, the more I shrank into my shell, the less I wanted to dance, and the less I liked who I was.

I didn’t feel comfortable in my skin, and I certainly didn’t feel comfortable in a leotard. Not when mine was two sizes bigger than the other girls and I had to wear some supportive bra-ness underneath to keep things in place.

After my disability came to light, and I started to become painfully aware that working out would be a lot harder for me, my appetite stayed the same, but my movement didn’t, and the weight came, and came, and came.

I didn’t like myself. And I certainly didn’t love myself.

When you get into that cycle, where you don’t love you, you let other people say all kinds of horrible things about you and to you. You begin to believe lies, you begin to feel like you aren’t good enough, and you begin to doubt yourself.

For me, the cycle was obvious. The more I’d eat, the bigger I’d get. The bigger I’d get, the more people would talk. The more people would talk, the worse I’d feel. The worse I’d feel, the more I’d eat.

I’m not my goal weight. I’m nowhere near it. I have memories of ways people have made it clear to me that I wasn’t something desirable or pretty. I remember one morning when I was married to my now ex-husband, one of the first mornings of our marriage, the morning after one of the first times he had seen me pretty bare-skinned (I know, this is a family blog, and I know, this is a blog my mother reads, but seriously, it’s important to the story). He got up before me, walked to the store, and bought me a pack of Slimfast.

I was devastated.

He knew what I looked like before we got married. What was underneath a couple of layers of clothing couldn’t have been that much of a shock, could it?

It makes me think of that J.J. Heller song, “What Love Really Means.” I listen to that song about a thousand times on Spotify. There’s this verse that says “Her office is shrinking a little each day. She’s the woman whose husband has run away. She’ll go to the gym after working today, maybe if she was thinner, than he would have stayed. And she says, who will love me for me, not for what I have done or what I will become? Who will love me for me? Because nobody will show me what love, what love really means.”

I’m not saying my ex-husband left me because I was overweight. Not even close.

But I am saying, I know how it feels to ask myself “Who will love me for me?”

In the past week, I’ve been reading, and thinking, and pondering, and staring at the ceiling, and I’m reaffirmed.

God loves me. He loves me overweight. He loves me skinny. He loves me happy with myself and when I’m not happy with myself. He loves me and wraps his arms around me, no matter who I am, no matter what I’ve done, and no matter what I look like.

And because of that, I’m challenged. I believe I need to love my enemies. What I forget sometimes is that I tend to be my own biggest enemy.

If God loves me, I need to love me. If my family loves me, I need to love me. And honestly, I can ask myself a million times why I’m still single, but the biggest answer I’ve found is… because if I don’t love myself, why do I expect anyone else to?

JJ Heller sums it up in the final chorus of her song, showing God’s love for me.

“I will love you for you. Not for what you have done or what you have become. I will love you for you, I will give you the love, the love that you never knew.”

A friend of mine stated it pretty well online this week, saying “Girls try so hard to look so good for those few idiots who make them feel like they aren’t good enough. Most guys will tell you there is nothing sexier than a girl who is confident with herself and natural, doesn’t try to be more than herself.”

I’m going to challenge you, as we head into a weekend, and a lot of us are out and about, running errands, going on dates, spending time enjoying nice weather at the park with families, whatever it is you do on weekends…

 

STOP. Stop overthinking your flaws. Stop worrying about what is wrong with you. Stop feeling like you’re not good enough, not pretty enough, not special enough.

I’m telling you right now…

You are.

You’re pretty. You’re special. You’ve got amazing qualities. There are so many reasons people like you. And trust me, people do like you.

Smile. Let your hair down.

Love yourself first.

Saving With Smartphones

- Mama 2 Comments

Okay, I told you guys recently that I got a smartphone, partially to help me with my One Little Word, Capture, partially because I’ve been dying for one forever, and partially because, as I’ve mentioned before, I am an avid couponer.

I love to save money. It’s thrilling, it’s fun, and it’s something new all the time. As a single mom on a limited income, I love to make sure that I’m saving anywhere I can, and that means saving money on everyday items like diapers, cereal, orange juice, dog treats, laundry products, and things like Neosporin.

I knew that getting a smart phone would be hard on my budget-conscious self, especially since a data plan would increase my monthly bill by $20! I knew that I had to find some way to recoup those costs if I was going to get a smart phone, so the very first thing that I did when I got home with my new phone was begin searching for the best savings apps.

I found several that I’m totally obsessed with, and I have to tell you about them, so if you have a smartphone, you can check them out, too.

First off is SavingStar. The best thing about SavingStar is that you don’t have to have a smartphone to use it. You can just use it with your computer! That means that everyone can use it anytime. The SmartPhone app is great because I can quickly add an offer in store, save money by not having to print the list of items I want to purchase with relevant details about sizes to buy, etc, and I can add an offer unexpectedly, like today, when my mom needed me to pick up some yogurt at the store. I hadn’t accepted that offer earlier, thinking I may not use it, but when she said that, I was able to accept the offer on my phone easily, right there in the store.

With SavingStar, there are three main kinds of offers. The first kind is an offer where you just purchase one… this works kind of like a regular coupon in that you usually get a certain amount of money off when you buy a certain number of products in one transaction. For example, my yogurt offer was able to get me $0.40 off when I bought 6.

I then take time to combine SavingStar savings with coupons and store sale prices to get the best deal… the yogurt, which is usually $0.89, was actually on sale this week for $0.50 each. I had a coupon for $1.00 off when I bought 8, and then a SavingStar offer for $0.40 off of 6, meaning I purchased 8 (regularly $7.12, on sale for $4.00) to get an extra $1.40 off… a total of $4.52 off of the regular price, making the yogurt only $0.32 each! For the name brand!

The second type of offer that SavingStar has is called a One Or Many deal. The One or Many deals are great because you can purchase them over several transactions. For example, last month, one of my great one or many deals was $5 off when I spent $15 on International Delight Coffee Creamer– my favorite. Because the SavingStar said I could spend it on either the singles or the refrigerated liquid, I was use my coupons to get about $30 worth of creamer for $15, and that $15 met the requirements of spending $15 on I.D., which meant I got $5 back, getting me $30 worth of creamer for only $10… score!

The final type of offer from SavingStar is an unlimited offer. This means that you can earn as much as you’d like by spending a certain amount of money. One such offer that appeared yesterday on my phone was 3% back on any purchase of Elmer’s glue or glue sticks, as much as I needed! That meant whether I bought 1 bottle or 50, I’d get 3% of my total purchase price back.

The major thing that you need to know about SavingStar is that you won’t see the savings come off at the register. Instead, it will keep track of your purchases and the money will show up in your SavingStar account several days later. When you earn at least $5, you can pick your payout of either a direct bank deposit, cashing out for PayPal, an Amazon.com gift card, or a donation to the American Forests organization. I typically choose either the bank deposit (so I can put the money towards bills) or an Amazon.com gift card, so I can spend it on books and apps for my Kindle Fire.

You also need to know that SavingStar works with your store rewards card, which is how it tracks your purchases. You tell them what store you shop at (there are TONS of stores across the country) and register your card with SavingStar. I use my Price Chopper Midwest card to save. If your store participates with SavingStar but doesn’t have a loyalty card, you can use a Upromise keytag, which is available for free at the customer service desk of participating stores.

I’ve been using SavingStar for 1 month now, and I have redeemed $8.90 worth of rewards, with $4 more pending. That’s a total of almost $13.00.

You can sign up for SavingStar at their website. Remember, you do not need a smartphone to use SavingStar, though there is an app available for iPhone and Android.

 

The second app I’m loving right now is the Coupons.com app. The coupons.com app is not much different from the coupons.com website, other than you can select the coupons you want on your phone, and then send them to an email address to print from later. I love it because I can have my phone out while I’m watching Sesame Street with Zach, tap on the coupons that I want, and when I get time during his nap, log in from my laptop quickly and send them to the printer, then while they’re printing, I have the rest of his nap time to do something else, like blog or work on a project, rather than sitting at my computer sifting through coupons. I can even select the coupons I want while I’m on the go– obviously not while driving, but if I’m riding in my family’s car as a passenger, I can be clipping coupons to send to my email account while we’re driving and chatting away.

To be honest, you don’t really need the app in order to save money, but I’ve found that I am more conscious about getting the coupons I need when I have them at the touch of a finger. I’ve been using this service for months, and I save an average of $20 per month on my average grocery purchases with it.

You can access Coupons.com at their website. Again, you don’t need a smartphone to use Coupons.com, but it does make it more convenient for me personally.

 

My all-time favorite money saving app of the moment, though, is Ibotta. Holy cow, Ibotta. This is an awesome app, and I am actually even willing to say that this app was worth getting a smart phone for. If I had no other app available to me on my phone, I would be okay, as long as I had Ibotta.

First off, Ibotta is available for use at tons of retailers, and they’re adding more all of the time. My favorite two stores to use Ibotta at are Wal-mart and Target. It’s super simple stuff to use the app. You open it up and go to the pages of items. The offers are for various items anywhere from Neosporin and similar products, to shampoo, conditioner, orange juice, cereal, chips and crackers, diapers, dog treats, and more. All you have to do is tap on an offer you want, and it’ll open up a screen with various options. Sometimes you can learn a fact about the product, take a poll about the product (usually a question like “how often do you purchase this product?”), answer a trivia question, watch a short video (usually a 15-30 second commercial), share on facebook that you are saving money with that item, getting a recipe, or viewing nutrition information. There are 2-3 different savings opportunities per product, and you can complete as many of the offers as you’d like to, meaning on many products, you can save over $1.00 off your purchase! And, again, these awesome deals stack with coupons.

Today, I went to purchase cereal at Wal-Mart. I bought 6 different boxes, from brands like Special K, Raisin Bran, Rice Krispies, and Corn Flakes. I had $1.00 off EACH a certain kind of Special K (Oats and Honey), a certain kind of Raisin Bran (the Cinnamon Almond variety), a box of Rice Krispies, and a box of Corn Flakes. I purchased 2 boxes of Special K, 2 boxes of Raisin Bran, a box of Rice Krispies, and a box of Corn Flakes, making sure I bought the sizes and varieties listed. If I was unsure about which ones to buy, I could use my Ibotta app to scan the barcodes of the boxes to make sure that I got them. I also had coupons for $1.00 off if I bought a box of Rice Krispies AND a box of Corn Flakes, $1.00 off two boxes of raisin bran, and $1.00 off two boxes of Special K. That meant I got $4 from Ibotta and $3 off using coupons, meaning my $17.00 cereal purchase ended up only costing me $10.00. For 6 boxes of cereal, you can’t beat that with a store brand!

When I finished at the store, I used my Ibotta app to take a photo of my receipt, then scanned the barcodes of the qualifying items that I purchased. Within 30 minutes, the money was posted to my account, and I could either cash out for a PayPal payment, or donate money to the school of my choice in the United States. I decided to cash out for the paypal.

Several days ago, I had gone to Target and purchased items using the Ibotta app. One of the items I got was a tube of Neosporin. Target had priced all of their Neosporin 10% off, meaning the tube was priced at around $4.00. I had a $3.00 off coupon that had printed from the Target Catalina at my checkout on my previous trip, and I ended up having $1.50 in Ibotta savings. Combined, I ended up not only getting my Neosporin for FREE, but I actually MADE $0.50 on my purchase!

I have been using the app for 1 week and have redeemed $13.00 in rewards.

You can sign up for Ibotta by clicking the link below while on your SmartPhone. Once you redeem your first offer, you’ll get $5 in BONUS cash for free because you went through my referral link. Ibotta is only for smartphone users, but it is possible to use it on either iPhone or Andriod devices.

 

Finally, I also love to use store apps on my smartphone, such as the Target app, the Walmart App, and the Hobby Lobby App. All of these allow me to check the weekly ad directly from my phone, as well as snag special offers for each store. The Walmart and Target apps also allow you to use their app to refill your prescriptions. Hobby Lobby’s app allows you to get their weekly coupon directly from the app.

All in all, I have not changed my purchasing habits at all when it comes to what I buy– I’m buying the same items I always do, and purchase the same items that I have always purchased. The difference is that I am saving, and I’m really not having to get that much more effort into my normal shopping list– I’m able to access my savings from anywhere and easily save the money, without a ton of effort. I love that I am able to save not only enough to cover the cost of the data plan on my phone, but I’m also able to save more on top of that. I cannot believe how much money I have been able to redeem and save off of my normal purchases, and I’m so happy that I am able to afford a smartphone because of smart shopping.

I’ve realized that I can have both worlds– a tight budget, AND a Samsung Galaxy S3. I don’t have to compromise completely in order to save money, and in fact, this smartphone has saved me MORE money than ever before.

One Little Word 2013: Capture

- Mama 4 Comments

A lot of you who were following my blog last year probably remember that I chose a One Little Word last year, inspired by the craze created by Ali Edwards. My 2012 word was Growth, and I feel like, in so many ways, I really did grow a lot in the past year.

I grew with my blog, taking it on as a full-time career and getting featured by Duncan Hines, Jell-O, International Delight, Citrus Lane, and several other brands. I ended up getting over 12,000 new visitors last year alone, and had many people visiting from around the world- 93 countries in all.

I grew with my baking, inventing over 100 new recipes over the past year, and even getting invited to the Duncan Hines test kitchen as a Frosting Creations winner.

I grew as an educator, getting into the swing of where I fit in in terms of homeschooling, and discovering the right curriculum for Zach.

I grew as a mom, figuring out how to create a better routine for Zach, meeting his needs better, and learning how to figure things out.

I grew as a photographer, finding my niche in terms of style, and figuring out exactly how I wanted my photos to look. I also learned how to do better post-processing to make my photographs look as brilliant as possible. I even had a company email me and tell me that my photos were “the most professional in-action shots of their product they’ve ever seen.” Hello, awesome.

I’m not saying any of this to brag. I’m saying that, by focusing on the word “growth,” and focusing on the areas in which I wanted to grow in 2012, I ended up achieving so many of my goals, finding new ones I hadn’t thought to plan for in January of last year, and really, truly, embracing my word with gusto.

And that’s why, this year, I’ve decided to choose a One Little Word once again. This year, my word is…

 

Capture.

(From Unglued, by Lisa Terkeurst)

I want to better capture life. Even with my blog, and even with my improved photography skills, I felt like I failed to capture the day-to-day life that we lived. I captured the big things, yes, but so many little things, like the way Zach’s hair stuck up into a unicorn horn one morning when he woke up, and the day that Zach finally understood the sign language for “all done” were lost to history.

This year, I’m really embracing the idea of capturing. I purchased a smart phone recently (yay! I’ve reached the 21st century!) and got instagram (follow me! @jengerbread88).

I want to photograph more, post more, share more, and remember more.

I’m also trying to do Project Life, a project initially created by Becky Higgins and adapted by hundreds of thousands of scrapbookers, in formats like paper, hybrid, and digital. The concept of Project Life is that you take a few photos a week, put them in an album, and include relevant journaling to capture the every day life of your family. You don’t have to take a photo every day, and you certainly don’t have to work on the project every day.

I can’t guarantee that I’ll make it through the entire year. In January, I start out with a lot of things, feeling very gung-ho, and end the year without it. But this year, I’m looking at it as, every week I DO actually complete is just one more week captured and that’s what my goal is all about anyway.

So here’s to focusing on capturing more than ever in 2013.

Do you have a One Little Word for 2013? What are you planning to focus on over the next year?

The Target $5 Challenge

- Mama 3 Comments

For Advent, we’re always looking for creative ways to bond as a family, as I’ve previously shared. I love trying to do this in new and different ways. I had been considering ways that we could really either get to know each other better, or prove that we knew each other very well as a family.

When I saw these awesome Gift Card coins from Target, my idea came to me pretty suddenly.

Aren’t they adorable? They look like little cookies! You can load any amount on them, but the only catch is that all 5 coins in the package have to be loaded with the same amount. I chose to load $5 on each gift card, meaning that this pack was $25 total. I can think of so many awesome ways to use these other than the way we used them, such as:

-Teacher gifts. Buy the whole package, load the amount on all of them, and have your student pass out a coin to each of their teachers.
-Stocking stuffers. Put a certain amount in each one and slip it into stockings for a great gift that allows the recipient to pick anything out they want.
-Rewards. Potty training? Give your little trainer a gift coin for every certain amount of times they use the potty. Give them for good grades, one coin for each A, give them for doing extra work around the house or as a reward for siblings being extra nice to each other one day.
-Allowance. Instead of giving the kids cash for allowance, try a gift coin. Since you can pre-load the amount on multiple coins at once, you can keep the stash and give them out one at a time (or to multiple kids at once).
-A way to put yourself on a little bit of a budget. If you’re like me, you can’t enter Target without spending ridiculous amounts. By purchasing these with my limit in advance, I can go through the post holiday sale knowing I only have a certain amount of money to spend. Then, come Valentine’s day sales, I can pull out another coin and spend that amount in THAT sale.

I’m sure you can think of a ton of other ideas for these awesome coins, but for our gift challenge, this is what we did:

When we entered the store, we had a small pow-wow. I gave each person a gift coin (since our family has 6 people, I had to purchase one extra gift card separately) and each person drew a slip of paper with another family member’s name on it. Each person had $5 and 30 minutes to find the perfect gift for their recipient. I personally had to shop for my person, and help Zach find his gift for someone, as well.

The best part of the challenge was that, sometimes walking around the store, you’d see someone else in the family. Immediately, one of you would dart behind a sign or head down another aisle. Since none of us knew who had us, we didn’t want to spoil our own surprise, and we didn’t want the person we were buying for to see their gift, either. I kind of felt like a super spy when trying to participate in the activity!

At the end of the activity, we each checked out separately using our Target gift coins, and then we met in the cafe area at the front of our store. Then, it was time to head home and unwrap our gifts. It was at home that we would find out who our Secret Gifter was. We gifted in order of age, youngest to oldest.

It turns out that Nicolas drew Zach’s name. Zach was eager to find out what might be inside of his shopping bag.

CARS!

Jeffrey was next…

Dad clearly did a good job with his! Jeffrey and Nicolas often have Nerf wars around the house, so it’s not uncommon to have a little orange bullet whizzing past your head at any given moment. It was a great choice under $5 for Jeffrey!

Nicolas got a great variety of snacks from Jeffrey, including some favorites like Goldfish and Hershey’s Kisses.

Mom bought me one of my favorite things– Ghiradelli chocolates filled with caramel!

When I drew mom, I found the perfect present for her quite easily… when she had gotten her shoulder surgery a few years ago, she constantly needed help from me. You see, she puts on socks at night, but then by morning, they’ve somehow fallen off of her feet. After surgery, I had to look for them, since she couldn’t search under the covers to find them!

I purchased some warm, cozy, fuzzy socks so that for years to come, we’d get to play the sock game.

Nicolas didn’t think it sounded very fun, so mom said “Don’t you insult the sock game!”

We wrapped up with Zach’s gift to my dad (his Grandpa), a pumpkin pie and a leg lamp stress ball!

It was amazing the creative gifts that we could get for only $5 each! It was really cool to see how creative each of us got and how much thought we put into our gifts. I loved that each person was thoroughly pleased with what they received (and with what they gave!). $5 was plenty to get an interesting and unique gift for each person… and it helps that Target has a lot of sections that have affordable gifts. It also helped me see how many great gifts I could get for Christmas, as well, even though I’m on a strict budget.

The front of the store has a great $3 stocking stuffer section currently, as well as plenty of items priced at $1 and $2.50. The seasonal section includes gobs of seasonal candy and gifts at great prices, as well as more stocking stuffers at a $5 price point. There are also many great books, CDs, and movies in the $5 range, as well as food, gourmet coffee, and gifts. For example, 4 pairs of fuzzy socks for $5? That’s awesome!

My family did consider ways that we could have done things differently. All of us thought that more time would have been helpful. A lot of us spent more time worrying about whether we were on time than if we were getting the right thing, so having an hour instead of 30 minutes would have made the experience more fun. We also were surprised that if we had $7 instead of $5, it would have totally changed what we could have gotten each other, and absolutely made a difference in the number of items or quality of items we could have purchased. It’s amazing what a huge difference $2 could have made!

All in all, it was the perfect evening for our family, filled with fun and giving, and we loved having a great opportunity to try to pick out the perfect gift for other members of our family.

On Reflecting and Memory-Keeping

- Mama 5 Comments

Today, for the very first time, Zach opened a door by himself. He did it again, and again, and again. He’s finally reached that height, and it was amazing to see his face when he finally got it.

This little event seemed so momentous, and, as with any new task he’s learned in the past year, I started to think about the things that he has learned, the ways he’s grown, and really, the ways in which my entire family has grown. We’ve been through a lot in the past year, like my grandfather’s illness and passing, my mother’s very scary illness over the summer (which she is still going through, but not to the degree she was over the summer), my sister visiting, our exchange students, my blog hitting over 100,000 views, purchasing my domain, my Duncan Hines trip, and so many other things.

Part of why I started blogging was to record these memories. However, there are still things that I just don’t share with my readers. I have a personal life, absolutely, and I like to sometimes keep that separate from the blog. Even though I’ve shared some pretty intimate details about myself publicly here, like my struggle with PMDD, or my heart failure during pregnancy, there are still things that are best kept private.

I feel like I’m missing so much, though. I always say I’m going to make a photo album, and to some degree, I definitely scrapbook. However, I’m really bad about dating the pages, and sometimes by the time I get around to the picture, I’ve started to forget the details of the story.

That’s why, when a friend told me about a website, I decided to give it a try. I swear I’m not advertising or anything– I am truly passionate about this website, and I feel like it’s something that my readers can benefit from. Also, it’s free.

I’ve bought a billion journals. I’ve written in the first page. I’ve forgotten or lost them. I’ve moved on. I’ve tried starting a private blog online, too, but then I forget to log in and update, and it just goes completely unwritten still.

But this, well, it’s revolutionary.

Let me ask you something. When you’re online, what’s something that you do every single day?

The one thing I think we all can agree we definitely do online each day is check our email. Right? This website, OhLife, sends an email to you every night (around 8pm), asking you how your day was.

You don’t have to go to their website to journal about your day. All you have to do is hit reply and type. You can type a little bit, or you can type a ton. It’s all up to you.

I’m seriously in love with OhLife, though. It’s the longest I’ve used a journal without fail. I love it because it doesn’t feel like journaling. I just start typing. And, the beauty, I think, of OhLife is that it’s private. There are no share buttons, no pin buttons, no tweet it buttons… nothing. It’s just your words, your thoughts, and it’s private.

I love sharing, don’t get me wrong. But some things, like I said, are just for you and your family.

I want to tell Zach’s story, and remember the skills he learns each day. I want to tell my story. I want to reflect on my emotions. On the occasions that I do scrapbook, I would like to have some journaling to pull from. And if I’m working on that journaling each and every day, it’s going to be fresh in my memory when I reply to that email at night.

I love the idea of journal-by-email. Oh, and there’s an export function, so you can eventually export your stuff if you ever need to. The website has been around since 2010, so it’s not likely to be going away anytime soon.

Did I mention enough that it’s FREE?!

Go sign up. Like now. www.ohlife.com. You’ll get a nightly email. Reply. Write your life story before you forget it.

If there’s one thing I’m going to resolve to do in 2013, it’s going to be to capture my memories better. OhLife is perfect for that. I hope you’ll join me on that adventure and work on preserving your memories, too.

 

 

Do you keep a journal or do you skip that altogether? Tell me about it in the comments below!

Walking In a Winter Wonderland at Bass Pro Shops

- Mama 3 Comments

Lately, in Kansas, it’s been very un-winter-like. We’re talking 70 degree weather kind of “not winter weather.” It’s been very hard to find a good way to get the winter feel lately amidst all of the sunshine and warmth.

Luckily, on our trip to see Santa, a friend suggested we check out the Winter Wonderland at Bass Pro Shops, complete with Santa. I wasn’t quite sure what to expect, since I had been in the Springfield Bass Pro Shops location many times, but never the one in Kansas, and never during their winter festivities.

When we first arrived, we were directed to the back of the store, where the ceilings were all aglow with hazy winter blue lights, to a small ticket booth.

Luckily, since it was early on a weekday, there was not much of a wait at all. However, we had this pass to make sure we could shop and explore until it was our turn with Santa. It helped calm down the line waiting, so you would line up at that time and have a shorter in-line wait.

During the wait, there were several cool stations to explore, including tables with crafts, coloring pages, and letters to Santa (plus mail boxes to deposit those letters into), slot car racing, and more.

Bass Pro has a couple of Wii games that they’ve set up for people to try out, including their hunting and fishing games. The boys had fun trying those out.

There was also a fun duck gallery set up for fun.

You could take aim with a toy bow (complete with suction cup, of course!) to hit the ducks and knock them down.

There was also a laser gallery set up with some guns that with laser beams that turn targets from green to red. Hit three, and you got a temporary tattoo! I passed off the camera and got a little gun action myself (and yes, I’m fully aware that I would NOT be able to shoot someone, the way I hold a gun…)

An arena was set up with an RC car, demonstrating how all-terrain it was.

All of the boys, young and old, had fun playing with the truck!

One of the older boys’ favorite activities was the indoor snowball fight, complete with little fuzzy snow bean bags.

I got directly into the line of fire in order to snap some photos of the boys in action.

The lovely Wonderland also had free carousel rides!

At first, Zach was not impressed with his moose, but he enjoyed it more later.

Jeffrey was a ham for the camera, as always.

After doing many of the activities, we decided it would be fun to cheese with the snowman for awhile…

Nicolas decided to hug “Frosty,” as he named them.

Jeffrey picked a fight with Frosty.

The tables turned.

But, in the end, they became bros…

Zach was not so impressed with my funny faces.

My favorite photo is this one, that captures the awe he had when he first approached the snowman.

And with that, it was time to approach Santa… the path to find him was lined with these great little animatronic elves.

By the time we got to Santa, though, Zach was not impressed. It’s that whole stranger anxiety thing… no matter how much we talked about Santa in advance of us going, or looked at pictures and videos of Mr. Claus, he still was not ready to see Santa in person this year.

This was the hilarious, but heart-wrenching, result:

Luckily, a candy cane solved the tears pretty quickly.

Would you like to experience Bass Pro Shops Winter Wonderland yourself? This awesome free event includes a free, studio-quality 4×6 print of your photo with Santa (you can, of course, order additional copies), plenty of free games to enjoy, and even crafts (as available, may vary) for the kids. Head to the Santa’s Wonderland section of the Bass Pro website in order to find a location near you!