I hope you all had a restful and special Thanksgiving with your families and friends! What a great time to rest, reflect, and count our blessings (hopefully we do a little of those daily anyway?!)
Only days after and Christmas (and shopping) are in full swing. If you are like me, you are avoiding the lines, the hustle and bustle and early mornings in the cold weather. Shopping online seems to be one of the great revelations of recent times.
You may have seen my past posts about Ebates. If you are not familiar with Ebates or you don't know how it works check out my previous post here. It's a free rewards program that earns you rebates for shopping with your favorite retailers through their search engine.
We are "remodeling" what Christmas looks like in our family this year so we won't be doing a lot of shopping, but that's another post for another time. Some of the shopping we have done or will be doing is through Ebates and I wanted to share some of their "secrets" with you.
Ebates current offers for new members (membership is free):
- $25 for your first referral and $5 for each referral thereafter (that adds up quickly)
- $10 earned for $50 spent
Some of my personal favorite deals are:
**Ebates is now offering 4% cash back on most Amazon.com purchases (I buy many of our
homeschool items and books here as well as birthday and Christmas gifts).
**20% cash back on orders from Snapfish. In addition, Snapfish is offering a free 8x11 photo book and 100 prints for new customers and 60% off of photo books through 11/25 using the code TWINKLE60. (I use Snapfish to create our family photo books and love them).
If you want to check it out and start earning, click here.
Monday, November 26, 2012
Wednesday, November 14, 2012
Peek-a-boo!
Hi guys. I'm still here and I'm still alive and well. It's just been a few months since I've shown my "face" on this blog. A lot of life has happened in the last few months (mostly good, but a few setbacks) and something had to take a back burner.
Along with the busyness that comes with raising four little girls and being a home educator, my laptop went on the fritz (thankfully it's a fixable problem) and whooping cough ran its course through all 4 girls (yep, you read it right....whooping cough/pertussis). This was a crazy thing that happened to us even though we have chosen to immunize in the past It's a horrible and yucky virus and it was so hard to see them go through this - not to mention EXHAUSTING! I'm soooooo thankful it's over. There's no wonder they call it the "100 day cough" : ( I'm happy, however, to report that everyone is well!
So, thanks to those of you who have missed me (a.k.a my posts) or if you don't have a clue what I'm talking about and you didn't even know I had a blog....no hard feelings ; ) I've truly missed writing and connecting with you all. I look forward to sharing more of our beautifully chaotic lives with you and adding some fun and hopefully inspiring posts very soon.
Tuesday, August 14, 2012
Hooray! We did it...we did it!
Earlier in the summer, we planted cucumbers, tomatoes, green peppers and sugar snap peas.
Unfortunately, the sugar snap peas didn't make it. The green peppers are slowly but surely coming along. The tomatoes are doing pretty well (we've eaten a few already). Thus far, the cucumbers are a bit confusing!? The vine has gone wild and is growing every which way and there is only one enormous cucumber on it. hmmm We shall see?!
The kids are very proud of their efforts - watering, hoping, weeding and waiting.
In the meantime, we had fun reading books about planting and gardening, especially this one:
Are any of you reaping a yummy harvest of a home garden?
Friday, August 10, 2012
Monday, August 6, 2012
The Blame Game
The blame game. Pointing fingers. Blame shifting. We all know about it and we have probably all done it at one point or another. It happens from government offices, to large corporations, to school classrooms, to religious communities and at home. It is as old as time. Think of the story of Adam and Eve in the third chapter of Genesis. What was Adam's response when confronted by God about eating the forbidden fruit? In a paraphrased manner, [Eve made me do it].
Part of raising children into successful and mature adults, is helping them to understand how to take responsibility for their actions and owning up to their decisions - good and bad.
I was recently watching an episode of the Dr. Phil show (yes, on occasion I do enjoy watching it). He was talking to a teenage girl who had badly beat up one of her friends and posted the video online. There were a lot more excuses than confessions on her part. Finally, there was a little remorse shown and she basically said that what's done is done and there was nothing she could do about it now. To which Dr. Phil replied, "you can't take it back, but you can own it".
So what can we do as parents to help teach our children to take responsibility for their actions and own up to their choices?
Here are some tips that I think are helpful in doing this:
- Don't entertain (allow) phrases such as:
"It's not fair."
"It's not my fault."
"But....he/she did this or that so I did this or that."
"I didn't mean to."
- Consistency and follow-through when it comes to discipline.
When you set rules for your children, there should be consequences if those rules are broken...every time! Each family has their own rules/guidelines and their own consequences. Even at an early age, kids will know if you are serious about following through or if you are just nagging and threatening.
- Teach respect for authority and boundaries.
Teach children that they will always be accountable to someone for their actions, even when they become an adult - teachers, professors, law enforcement, their boss, the government and so on. I remember teaching at a school where an irate parent came in yelling at the administration for punishing her child for poor behavior (bad choices). She left the building ranting at how no one was going to punish her child except her. What kind of message did that send to the child?!
- Emphasize and re-emphasize the power of choice: the A+B=C theory.
Yes, it's true that there are things in life that are out of our control. However, let's be honest with ourselves and say that most things that happen to us and to others are the results of choices made.
When we bring a weapon to school, we will most likely be expelled.
When we speed, we are very likely to get a speeding ticket.
When we consume more than a moderate share of junk, we are very likely to have health
problems and become overweight.
When we don't do our homework, we are very likely to fail the class.
When we don't show up for work, we are very likely to get fired.
When we spend money that we don't have, we are very likely to go into debt.
Very simple equations really: A + B = C
- Teach them that their choices (good and bad) usually affect more than just themselves:
Very rarely, do our choices affect only ourselves. Mature thinking (and planning) looks beyond our own needs, wants and desires and thinks about how it will affect those around us. Learning this at an early age will save our children and those they love a lot of heartache.
From a Biblical standpoint, the Bible urges us in James 5:16 to confess [our] sins.
What a great way to keep a pure conscience and own up to those shortcomings and bad decisions that we all make from time to time.
I recently read the following very powerful and very true quote:
"Trying to grow up hurts. You make mistakes. You try to learn from them, and when you don't, it hurts even more." ~Aretha Franklin
Wednesday, August 1, 2012
We Choose Virtues Winner!
Last week I hosted a giveaway sponsored by We Choose Virtues. Thank you to those who entered. I wanted each of you to win, but......
congratulations to Ann who is our winner!
I love giving stuff away....but I don't like the fact that not everyone can win : (
So, for those of you who are really interested in the We Choose Virtues products, but didn't win the giveaway, I want to let you in on the latest discounts they are offering.
During the month of August, when you go to the We Choose Virtues site you can receive :
*25% off of family and homeschool kits (their most popular) - use code BTS25
* 25% off of any kit (which can be used by publc schools, Christian schools and churched - use
code START25
With our without these great tools, may all of us continue to inspire, encourage and model virtuous living within our families!
Pssssttt... if you didn't win, don't worry, I plan to do more giveaways. : )
Tuesday, July 24, 2012
We Choose Virtues Giveaway
Yay! I'm so excited to do this giveaway. The kind people at We Choose Virtues sent me some items to review and give away to you (well, at least one of you).
We Choose Virtues offers products (or "tools") that help teach and inspire character. The tools help teach lasting character qualities and how to put them into action in everyday situations. Character does not just happen haphazardly nor is it offered as a course in any school that I know about?! These products assist parents and teachers in being intentional about it.
We have and use several of the products ourselves and really enjoy them. I know that I learn (and need) these character lessons right along with my little ones.
There are so many reasons I like these products:
First, the products are so user friendly and easy to comprehend - even for younger ages.
They are well made with bright colors and great illustrations.
Their products can be purchased with a faith-based (scriptures included) or non-faith based approach. Therefore, they can be used by teachers in public schools, at home with family, for homeschooling or Sunday School classes and so on.
There are several purchase options that you can choose from to best benefit your class or your family. They offer complete kits or individual products.
Today, I will be giving away the Virtue Flash Cards (faith-based) and the 100 Days of Virtue Chart and Stickers. Thanks to the nice We Choose Virtues crew!
Want it and don't want to wait for the drawing?
We Choose Virtues is offering the following discounts for the month of July:
- 35% of Virtue Flash Cards with code "FLASH35"
- free Virtues coloring book download with purchase (they usually offer this each month)
Win It!
Giveaway guidelines:
- Enter by posting a comment below about how you could benefit from these products.
- One entry per person please.
- Entries must be made by 11:59 CST on July 30, 2012.
- Winner will be announced on Tuesday, July 31, 2012.
Best wishes and I hope you either win or will check out their website and products at We Choose Virtues. It's definitely worth the time, effort and expense.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)