Faith, Family and Fun

I Think I’m a Proverbs 29.34 Woman

January 23, 2012 in Book Reviews, Faith with 8 Comments

This week in the How To Have a Heart For Your Kids Book Club, Chapter 2: Enrich Your Marriage

Yes. I meant 30.3444 or maybe 29? All I know is when I hear people talking about being a Proverbs 31 wife, I always think about how marvelous that would be, and how hard it is to really attain that.

It is interesting to me that in this book club, about how to have a heart for your kids, the author gets right down to business with what can really make or break a family. The first chapter is to put God first. And, next, your marriage. How do you protect your marriage? How do you get a great marriage? Well, I agree with the author that honoring your husband, serving him, and treating him like your best friend and ally, not just a work partner, is a good way to go.

Easier said than done! I think the sweeter your husband is, the easier it is maybe to take him for granted. I say that because my husband is very sweet and sometimes I take him for granted. Around here, I spend a lot of time with the few children who make the most noise. Anyone else have this dynamic?

And, when I am not being mommy, and not exhausted, I tend to try to find ways to be me. Maybe do something creative, or blog or even clean. Something not kid related. I don’t immediately go try to do for my husband.

This is funny to me, because when I was younger, I was a single, working mom of two boys. I always though once I had a good husband life would be so much easier…so magical. I saw married women treating their husbands poorly or ignoring them and I thought they were foolish. I would never be like that! Haha. Fast forward 10 years and I see that I am taking my husband for granted sometimes. But, there are only so many hours in the day.

So, how do you decide how to use your hours? Should I write a blog post, or sit and watch a football game with my husband?
Should I go get a new shirt I kind of need…or stay home and complete a project that I have been whining about?
Should I put a ton of effort into getting the children to bed so I can pay attention to some story from my husband’s day?

Well, when you really think about it, yes, yes and yes.

I should make my husband my number one priority. Still, I squirm about that, I mean, he’s not complaining and I have loads of things I want to do to make my life, my home nice. Right?

And, on top of all that, there’s the question of who is really the leader. I married a laid back guy who takes his time making decisions, and wouldn’t force anyone to follow anyway. I, on the other hand, love the idea of being the leader. I move fast! I have ideas! I get people on the boat and moving…sometimes, in spite of how anyone feels.

So which is right? Well, neither in every situation, which is probably why God has opposites attracting so often! But, if I truly believe the Bible and trust God, then I know that I am supposed to let my husband lead.

And that will make my home nice.

I know that, because when I am not stubborn and do that, it always end up lovely. No joke. Still hard to do!

So, how can I take this idea of serving my husband and make it real for him this week?

Well, I can try to not be stubborn when I think I am right about something this week
I can offer to do something for him ~ and mean it.
I can pray that God will help me to be the Proverbs 31 woman of our dreams. Because only God can do that.

*this post is loosely based on chapter 2. Really, get this book!

Would you like to join in? Visit http://thepelsers.com/2011/12/05/heart-kids-book-club/ for all the details!

We Choose Virtues

January 19, 2012 in family, Homeschooling, TOS Crew Review with 0 Comments

Emma has been choosing one card per week to put up on her wall and work on

“We Choose Virtues…simply inspiring character that lasts”

We Choose Virtues is a curriculum for character development that was created by pre-school teacher and children’s pastor, Heather McMillan. You can purchase the various components in sets or teachers and parents can just mix and match some pieces to choose and use the system for ongoing learning.

I received several items, including “Virtue Clue Cards,” from the creator. I think the artwork is fantastic and really got my child’s attention.

You have to see the character illustrations and the content of these! My daughter loves the cards and easily associates a behavior with the character “card” so I can say things like, “Em, remember Cake Jake? Lets get our wanter under control.” And she does! The set of cards represents the 12 virtues for the younger set:

They are…I am Diligent, I am Kind, I am Helpful, I am Obedient, I am Forgiving, I am Perseverant, I am Gentle, I am Patient, I am Self-Controlled, I am Content, I am Honest, and I am Attentive.

I also received ebooks of the Teacher’s Handbook, Memory Verses, Family Character Assessment and the Virtueville coloring book.

These products, from the Our Kids Set are for Early Education-Elementary kids (ages 3-11). The parts of We Choose Virtues are designed to use in a classroom or home setting, and can be used one-on-one.

I really have enjoyed looking at these with my six year old. She is very receptive to the colorful, fun characters and easy to remember concepts. I could see using this long term. Prices range, but for example, the clue cards are very inexpensive at $5.99. (on sale right now).

Go check out all the stuff!

During January, February, they are having some sales:

The 100 Days of Virtue Poster and Stickers will be included FREE with any Homeschool Kit purchase during these months.
Code VIRTUE15 for 15 % off the shopping cart is still available
Code FAMILY for $3.00 off the Kids Virtue Poster
Code SHIPFREE for free worldwide shipping

* only one code can be used at a time

Visit the We Choose Virtues Facebook page for tips on parenting, leadership and inspiring lasting Virtue.

See what my crewmates have to say about We Choose Virtues

I received the Virtue Clue cards, and several download files through the TOS Crew for review purposes. I have given my honest opinion.

How to Have a Heart For Your Kids Book Club

January 17, 2012 in Faith, family with 4 Comments

Book Club, Chapter 1: Have a Heart for the Things of God

So what is one fantastic way to Have a Heart For Your Kids? Do your own heart check. Where is your heart? In this chapter, Rachael shares on how having a heart for the things of God is the only place to start…

As I was reading this chapter, I thought about how my life, including my prayer life has changed and evolved over time. I would like to say I always get up at 6 a.m., make my family breakfast and then spend an hour or so poring over the bible. But, I am horribly undisciplined! Especially during the winter, I find it awful to get out of bed. Anyway, my little gets to sleep in as she’s not catching the yellow bus.

I do enjoy my prayer time that I have right now. I wake up with my husband and he makes coffee and gets ready for his day. He will bring me a cup of coffee in bed (I know, I am lucky) and then I’ll read my Bible, my devotional and pray for the days needs after he goes to work, before I wake up my youngest.

This seems to really work for me. Sometimes my youngest wakes early, but now, she’ll read her Bible as well until I am done. When I do this before my feet hit the floor, I do not get sidetracked by other needs. I used to have my big prayer time at night before I went to sleep, but between paying attention to my husband or being exhausted, that doesn’t work anymore!

Over time, I have done lots of reading plans and bible studies. Some I was very faithful with, while others I didn’t finish. A while ago, I did a Bible Study where I read a book called Stepping Heavenward, while reading through the Psalms and Proverbs and that has been one of my absolute favorites. It taught me to just slow down and really pore over a little bit at a time.

I used the Stepping Heavenward as a devotional for over a year and read through it slowly again while I read my Bible. I have read the Upper Room devotionals, and lots of others but what I always come back to is just plain reading my Bible. I feel like I am missing the important thing if I just read a book or devotional and run out of time to really get into the Bible in the morning.

For the past six months or so, I have been reading through the Bible, just as much as I want, each morning. I began reading at the beginning of Genesis and also at the beginning of the New Testament. I would just read a bit each day. Right now, I have finished the New Testament and started that over and am almost finished through Job in the Old Testament. After reading, I will pray for the day and often also write in my prayer journal, a pretty leather book I got. Sometimes, I will also read a devotional as well. Right now I am reading a devotional a friend gave me that I think is marvelous called, “Jesus Calling”, by Sarah Young. I also have one I am reviewing called “Mornings with Jesus 2012”.

I do tend to thank God during my prayer time, and make my requests known to him. I do feel I need to spend more time praising him as well. As far as the children, I pray for them individually each day and try to pray for specific things I feel are important, although lately, as most of them are teens, I feel the need to just let God lead my prayers and show me what he is trying to do in their lives.

Just the other day, I heard something “through the grapevine” about one of my children and I just sat right down and prayed that God would protect them and use the situation, however it turned out, for their good. I felt very peaceful and I think I was a better mom in this particular scenario because God did lend me a peace about my child.

While I do believe in discipline for one’s children, I also know that they have free will and I want them to choose to be light and salt in the world because they want to and they see God working in all our lives, not because I have great plans and schedules…and control. (Of course, I do not!)

Anyway, I wanted to share this personal stuff with you as I go through answering the chapter questions in the How to Have a Heart For Your Kids book. The book is fascinating and has really helped me clarify in my own mind what I really expect from my children and myself. I loved chapter 2!

Would you like to join in? Visit http://thepelsers.com/2011/12/05/heart-kids-book-club/ for all the details!

The Blessing of Giving. #CBias #AbbottCFK

January 17, 2012 in Collective Bias, kid's health, volunteering with 13 Comments

Mrs. R at the local Boys & Girls Club!

I little bit ago, I blogged here about the Champions for Kids Simple Service Project for January, The Abbott Nutrition Pack a Snack. This simple service project for this month is to create a snack pack and donate the pack to be used by a hungry child.

For example, you could create a little snack pack and drop it off at a food bank or pregnancy shelter. Or, something like starting a food drive at your work by simply placing a box in a corner of the break room and delivering it to a local Boys and Girls Club.

For this project I was hoping to go big, you know…start some wonderful giant project. I did not do that. I did do my one small thing, though, and I hope it was a blessing to some little children.

As Abbott is the sponsor, we hit WalMart to buy Pediasure, SideKicks and Zone Perfect bars to add some protein in our packs. You can see my shopping trip on my google+ album! Or, watch this slideshow:)

There really are tons of ways to help, and for me, the secret is in the “simple” message.

We all want to do tons, I know! But, with our own families and busy lives, it is hard. At least it is for me. But this concept of doing one small thing…with millions of people doing it…well, I can do that!

My family and I talked about what we would do. My daughter has volunteered at a local Boys and Girls club near our town, and she thought it would be very helpful to do something for the little children at that club. I was proud she was thinking about them and told my husband. He then mentioned how I really like to talk about nutrition and that we should do little healthy packs for the children, maybe let them decorate their packs with stickers and include activities.

We included some Pediasure, Zone Perfect bars, stickers and coloring sheets, word find...and organic lollipops for good measure!

Yes, my family is awesome! I loved my husband’s idea, so we went with that. We worked on this as a family and set up a dozen little packs for the k-1st graders and spoke with the Club director, Mrs. Regina. She was a love and was glad to do whatever to help, and said she’d love to do a little healthy class with the kids, let them design their bags and talk about proteins. She also said many of the kids could use the nutrition as this club serves a low income area.

My husband met with her and dropped off the packs and came home very content. He then mentioned that maybe we should try to get something started like the backpack program to help this B&G club. So, we’ll see where we go with this. I want to be careful not to overpromise, but I know my husband is already thinking about putting a donation box in his break room at work.

It seems so true, that once you notice something, you see it everywhere, and these simple service projects have made us, as a family, more aware of our surroundings.

Want to help? You can easily do a Simple Service Project in your town! Click here to see the Champions For Kids Simple Service Project page here.

Join in the Abbott/Champions for Kids Twitter party, January 19^th at 9:00 pm EST.

Thank you, Champions for Kids and Abbott!

“This shop will be compensated as part of a social shopper insights study for Collective Bias. I have given my honest opinion and I am pleased to be affliated with Champions For Kids!” #CBias #AbbottCFK

Your Mission, Should You Choose to Accept it………..

January 16, 2012 in Collective Bias, Dad's Desk with 1 Comment

From Dad’s Desk

…….is to infiltrate your local movie theater and enjoy Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol. This message will self-destruct in 5 seconds.

This is going to be a two phase campaign. First, I need to get into the movie theater. For that I will add Fandango to my team. Second, I will have to settle into my seat for an exciting ride through the world of Ethan Hunt and his IMF team.

Phase One: Access Fandango for movie tickets

*Head on over to Fandango.com and enter your zip code and hit the arrow key.

*Find your local theater in the listings. Choose the movie and showtime you want. Hit the “Tickets” key.

*Complete checkout process and head to the theater.

The process of getting the tickets was painless and took less than 5 minutes. It is very easy to access the information and the checkout process is similar to any online website. There was a $2.50 convenience fee for the transaction. Fandango does have kiosks at some local theaters that allow you to bypass the ticket counter. In my case, the kiosk was broken, but a swipe of the card I used at the counter produced the tickets. It was pretty much hassle-free.

Phase Two: Settle into Seat for Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol

In this recent addition to the Mission Impossible franchise Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise) and his newly assembled team are sent on a mission that quickly goes bad. Their cover is broken mid-assignment. In the process they are blamed for an incident at the Kremlin that sets the US and Russia on the path to pre-Cold War relations. IMF is disavowed by the US government and the President activates the Ghost Protocol in an attempt to stabilize relations with Russia.

Ethan and his team work against the clock to find a nuclear strategist with plans to plunge the world into a post-nuclear war world. As in all Mission Impossible movies, you will be treated to views of exotic locations that only a few will ever experience in real life and you get to see the latest spy gadgets and technologies in action. Over the the course of two hours (which flew by quickly) the team chases down their target, works to expose his plot and attempts to stop his plans for launching a nuclear warhead at the United States. Does this lone team of IMF agents succeed? While I cannot answer that question for you, I can tell you this movie is worth the ride. There are some surprising plot twists and turns that will have you on the edge of your seat. This Mission Impossible is a success.

Disclaimer

This shop has been compensated as part of a social shopper insights study for Collective Bias. All opinions in this post are my own.

Goalforit.com for Fun Chore Charts for Kids and More

January 15, 2012 in curriculum helps, family with 0 Comments

Reward Earned!

Over the years, I have tried loads of charts and graphs and reward systems as I raised my kids. Some worked great, some not so well. As most of my children are now teens, the charts are fewer!

Still, I have a six year old, and as much as she mimics her brothers and sisters, she still deserves some focus, some help with goals and chore charts…instead of her mother just fussing at her.

So, turns out, we both love this new site that offers free chore chart systems for kids and teens, called goalforit.com.

The site loads quickly and has bright and colorful chart graphics and loads of options for things to include in your charts. The options for little ones use pictures and words for chores, so even non-verbal young children can see what they need to do. Setup is so simple and they have over 50 templates to make your chart pretty. For example, Emma was much more excited to do her chore chart when it was designed all in hot pink, with a girl with a guitar. Haha!

We are able to print out a sheet for Em, but also, I let her login on the iPad and click on each of her completed goals. She loves doing that. I would love a little app for this too!

Anyway, goalforit.com has free charts for tweens, teens and adults as well. I made a chart for Nick and a goal setting chart for myself. There are good instructions on how to use everything, complete with video instructions if you need.

You can use the site free, and I have three charts on there currently. You can set up your charts to share with friends, which might in itself be a nice incentive, to say, add grandparents to see progress. Older kids could share with friends. I always do better with my goals once I tell the world about them!

So besides for maintaining Mom’s sanity, why else should you use a chore chart? goalforit points out a few reasons below:

“Responsibility; A Chore Chart is an ideal way to help your kids feel like they are making a contribution to their family by doing their part around the house.
Understanding right from wrong; Setting behavior goals is an important way to help children strengthen their character and judgment.
Healthy Habits; Teaching good habits involving nutrition and physical activity are the cornerstone of prevent obesity in children and adolescents.
Money Matters; The optional point system teaches children three important lessons for managing money; earning, spending and saving.”

So far, the kids like this and I really needed a boost to get the household more under control for this new year. I am excited to use these to be more consistent. As a mom, I know the consistency is so important. Goalforit.com makes it easy for me to be more consistent. If you like they will even send email reminders and parenting and goal setting tips.

Seriously, go check this site out and have a plan for the New Year!

Easy French with The Great Commission Languages

January 11, 2012 in Homeschooling with 0 Comments

A little while ago, I reviewed a wonderful French program for Nick.

At the time, I was more worried about Nick getting some language work done than my younger child. As we worked and after I really reviewed their site, the Great Commission Languages, I decided that the level Nick was using is just too difficult for Em.

Still, I had her work through the sample lessons on their site as Nick worked and she seemed to really enjoy learning French. So, I really want to get the junior level for her! Here is a sample from Le Francais Facile Junior Level. This is for k-3 and is great, with nice illustrations and characters that children can identify with.

In light of how much I like this curriculum and the fact that I would like to buy more I decided to become an affiliate for The Great Commission languages. I really do like this course, and i think many others will, too! They do also have Spanish, however I have not reviewed that one.

If you are looking for a language program, I encourage you to take a look at this one! And, please use my link if you do. You can find it here:

The Easy French

Thank you!

Do you like Great Commission Languages and want to be an affiliate too? Webmaster’s Earn Money Here!

Zeezok’s “Z-Guides to the Movies”

January 10, 2012 in Homeschooling, TOS Crew Review with 2 Comments

Zeezok offers a number of educational products, with a common denominator being their appreciation of history, art and literature. I have reviewed several products for Zeezok, and I am always pleased with the content of their products. (Here is a previous review for Flyboys Z-Guide) They are so creative. With all the ones I have tried out, my students learned while having a great time. The content was solid educationally, they learned…they retained…and they had fun.

The “Z-Guides to the Movies” are no different. These movie viewing guides with activities are great fun and can help introduce or reinforce many educational subjects. For us, we were working through the historical period of the Early Church and the Middle Ages. For a fun, snow day and a transition from Attila the Hun onto the future, I got the “Z-Guide to the Movies” for Knights of the Round Table (High School). I got this in an ebook, immediate download format for $12.99. The movie must be purchased separately. I was able to find this 1953 movie to accompany the Z-Guide to the Movies available for instant download for $2.99 through Amazon. (Of course, if you want to, you can buy this movie, also).

So, I was just waiting for a snowy day in January to work on this! Here is a brief summary of what exactly is in this Z-Guide to the Movies from their site:

Join Merlin, Arthur, Queen Guinevere, and Lancelot as they battle the evil Modred and Morgan Le Fay for control of the British Isles. This guide contains a topic overview, movie synopsis, and ten learning activities based on this classic tale. Learn more about medieval England and how to become a knight. Write your own code of chivalry or design a castle. Evaluate your personal beliefs with the “Worldview Activity.” Probe the director’s mind with “The Filmmaker’s Art” activity, and get the entire family involved with the “For Family Discussion” section at the end of the guide. Choose those activities which best fit your student’s course objectives, areas of interest, or time schedule.

So, we settled down to make this an all day thing, rather than do a little bit each day—which you also could. I ended up including my six year old as well as my highschooler, because with me sitting with them and the movie being pretty tame, I felt comfortable with this.

My highschooler ended up doing all the activity guide questions and especially like designing a castle. The little one was excited to hear about Camelot. Like I mentioned earlier, we have several of these now and I really like using these for a special treat with the kids. Take a look at these movie study guides for yourself, many titles are available and you can search by time period or by child’s ages.

Visit Zeezok at https://www.zeezok.com/ and see everything they have to offer.

Just another great Product from: