kids
-
Love Language: Time: Spending Time with my Children
My feed post on IG on Valentine’s day talked about what I consider one of my top love language which is time. Spending time with my loved ones doing things they would like to do or going on vacations as a family to be able to spend extended quality time together is one of my ways to show my love for them. In respect to my children, being able to give them the gift of my time at some point of the day is a way for me to love them. Most day, time is spent playing with them for a while, whether it is 30 minutes or an hour…
-
Elderberry Syrup for Cold and Flu Season
“Elderberry syrup is known as a powerful cold preventative and remedy. Just one cup of berries contains about 58% of the recommended daily value of vitamin C. It’s also a great source of antioxidants — which may protect your cells from damage and help prevent heart disease and cancer” (google search). It is well kown that certain home remedies and more natural practice are more effective and better for you than the drugs that are offered on the market. Yes, I am a proponent of modern medecine when it is needed, but I do not like to give my children medicine when it is not needed. For seasonal allergies, we…
-
Another Disc Golf Adventure
Last Sunday, we had a little bit of time in the afternoon before my son’s birthday dinner and he asked us to go play disc golf at a new to us course less than 15 minutes from the house. It is located at a day use area so it has a $5 parking fee which really was not bad for such a fun area. There is the disc golf course, the river, picnic areas, a soccer field and volleyball net and several other areas where you can enjoy nature. It also has several hiking trails that we will need to explore. What made this course a lot of fun was…
-
Disc Golf and Planning Birthday Parties
December and January are hard months on the wallet in our family. After Nativity (Christmas) come two birthdays, 10 days apart. On the 3rd day of our vacation, our planned activity inspired me for birthday party themes for my soon to be 8 and 11 year olds. While in Morganton, NC, we came across a great park by the river with a fun and large playground as well as a full size disc golf park. We came across a wonderful park near the river with a great playground as well as a 18 hole disc golf park. My soon to be 11 year old loves disc golf which he learned…
-
Advent Activities and a Date Night Look
Oftentimes when on vacation with some time on my hands I like to plan ahead. It might be meal planning, activity planning or planning for another vacation. During our vacation at the beach, I decided that I want to change up our advent calendar this year by adding service activities to our craft projects. I am trying to stress the real meaning of Christmas/Nativity to the children which is celebrating the birth of Christ as well as fostering the children’s empathy and spirit of giving. I sat with the boys one morning to get some input and ideas from them (both crafts and things that would be helpful to others)…
-
Promoting Friendships for Your Children
Lately, the social and spiritual health of my children has been weighing on me. As parents, we guide our children as they grow from needing us for everything as babies, then growing into young children who need guidance and support and then into teenagers and young adults who crave independence but still need that guidance and support but maybe in a less obvious way. I have made many mistakes over the years, starting by being an impatient mom, giving too much independence, not enough, and expecting my kids to do certain things on their own but not realizing that they still need some scaffolding from me to become their own…
-
Planning an at Home Fall Break
We do not have any trips plans until our beach trip for Thanksgiving but the boys have 4 days for a short fall break. I decided to keep the budget low but still have fun: we will make use of those yearly memberships we bought this summer! My brother and family will be spending 2 of the days with us before leaving for their new home. So some of the activities will include them. Friday: Zoo trip with my brother and family. I will bring a picnic so the cost will be only the gas to get there since I have a membership. The 3 older boys will be at…
-
Back to School Thoughts
As the summer break ends and we start counting down the days till school starts (for us that is on the 11th), I wanted to reflect about this summer as well as look ahead. This summer has been a little different than the past couple of years where we traveled a lot including some trips to Europe and while I did miss the big trips, I really did enjoy this more quiet summer. We still managed a few long weekend vacations (Tybee Island and Arizona) and we will end the summer with an overnight weekend sans kids! Summer Highlights My brother’s wedding and our trip to Arizona weekend in Tybee…
-
Fun Summer Yard Games
I added a few things to our outdoor games and activities this year. While we do not tend to spend large amounts of time outdoors in our yard in the summer (think bugs and humidity) we do enjoy the occasional game and fun in the shade! I made a stop at Walmart at the beginning of summer and we stopped at Five and Below one day and from there came our favorite activities this summer. Badminton Set I think I have shared it in a Friday Favorites post but this badminton set has been gold for us. It came in really handy on the 4th of July and the kids…
-
Downtown Bike Ride
Our activities this summer have consisted of a lot free outdoors activities apart from two weekend trips. One of the new to us activities and riding our bikes downtown. We park at a nearby park as the hill to our neigborhood is not fun at all especially after biking and we typically pack some water and snacks or lunch. After doing it with just our oldest, we took all of the kids on our last expedition. From where we park, there are side walks the whole way as well as crosswalks which makes us feel safe. A large part of the ride is also in the shade so a late…