Parenting with Scripture

I know this is a homemaking/organization blog, but I enjoy sharing other facets of my life with you.  As you know, I am a Christian who loves the Lord and desires greatly to live my life serving Him and growing in Him.  One of my biggest visions for my children is to have a strong solid Biblical foundation in their lives (Deut 6).  In order to do this, we use Scripture in our daily lives.  My friend, Holly, told me about a great resource called Parenting with Scripture.

It is a book that looks at nearly every topic of parenting issues (life issues) that will inevitably come up and gives a list of Scriptures that relate to that topic as well as questions to ask, practical application, and a prayer.  I love this!!!  It is great not just for parents, but for anyone who wants to know what God's Word says about _________.  I intend to use it to give me a quick reference of Scripture when I can't think of one (or need more than I can think of).  I would recommend using it as more as a reference pointing you to the Scriptures in the Bible and going to the Bible to read from so that kids see you reading (or they read) straight from God's Word. 

I hope this helps!

Thank You Notes

As I posted around this time last year (http://organizedhomemaking.blogspot.com/2011/01/teaching-our-children-about-thank-you.html), I am a big fan of thank you notes. I love writing them and I love getting them. I don't think it is ever to early to teach our children thankfulness, not just etiquette. When I was growing up the rule was you were not allowed to enjoy the gift until you wrote a thank you note. I remember writing them in the hotel room after our Bachelor/Bachelorette bowling party and on the plane to our honeymoon. LOL! Here is one of Luke's from this year. This year he wrote the whole thing. I was very happy to have our handwriting lesson for the week all ready to go. :)


Be thankful. - Colossians 3:15

Luke's New Bedroom

We moved Luke into our old office because he wanted a red room. We went with a Spiderman theme.

Here are some pictures.

Here is the door into his room.


Here is a picture of his bed. I love the giant Spiderman on the wall.

He got a new bookshelf since he has soooo many books. Hoping this keeps all of it better organized.


The giant Spiderman.

Toy shelves.

I am really happy with how this turned out.

A Month of CHRISTmas

I love CHRISTmas!!! We celebrate CHRISTmas for an entire month. Here's what we do:

#1 - We are doing a Jesse Tree this year. Each day you read Scripture, pray, and make an ornament for the tree. This is new for us this year. I will be sharing as we go. Last year we did The Advent Event which was similar and we loved it. Keeping CHRIST in CHRISTmas is big to me. We enjoy winter stuff and Santa stuff, but CHRIST is the reason we celebrate this season.

#2 - We have at least one fun activity to do each day of the month. I was going to plan them out and have a way for Luke to pick one each day, but then thought it would be stressful if we couldn't do the thing on the sheet each day. Instead I have a major list of what I would like to do and some plugged in on specific days.

Here are some of the things we are doing:
December 1st - Make countdown to CHRISTmas
December 2nd - Make cookies for cookie swap
December 4th - Family CHRISTmas get together
December 6th or 8th - Jump house playdate
December 9th - Go to Children's Museum and see Santa at the mall
December 10th - CHRISTmas musical at church
December 11th - Family CHRISTmas get together
December 13th - Homeschool day at the museum
December 17th - Serve homeless people downtown
December 18th - CHRISTmas caroling with church
December 23rd - CHRISTmas Around the World party
December 24th - CHRISTmas at Meemaw's house
December 25th - Santa at our house, CHRISTmas at Granddad's, CHRISTmas at Grandma's

Also on the list:
Write letter to Santa (before December 9th)
Make homemade ornaments:
Reindeer handprint ornaments - http://pinterest.com/pin/212161832415270585/
Salt dough hand/footprint ornaments - http://homemadegrits.blogspot.com/2009/12/handmade-christmas-homemade-ornaments.html
Make gingerbread house from a kit
Make snowflakes out of popsicle sticks - http://crafts.preschoolrock.com/index.php/crafts/craft-stick-snowflake-winter-preschool-craft
Make snowflakes out of qtips - http://pinterest.com/pin/212161832415256276/
Make snowflakes out of gumdrops and kabob skewers - http://pinterest.com/pin/212161832415256273/
Make popsicle stick snowmen - http://pinterest.com/pin/212161832415256282/
Make marshmallow snowmen - http://happyhomefairy.com/2011/01/12/winter-craft-marshmallow-snowman/
Make handprint mittens - http://www.houseofbabypiranha.com/2010/11/christmas-crafts-handprint-mitten.html
Make a gift for Jesus
Have a birthday party for Jesus
Act out nativity
Go on a CHRISTmas light drive
Have CHRISTmas movie night with popcorn
Read CHRISTmas books each night
Polar Express - give out ticket, wear PJs, read story, drink hot cocoa - http://www.mrshappyhomemaker.com/2010/12/creamy-hot-cocoa-in-crockpot.html, do crafts, watch movie - http://www.cape.k12.mo.us/blanchard/hicks/reading%20pages/Polar%20Express.htm
CHRISTmas shop for various people

What are you doing with your kids for CHRISTmas?

Dr Seuss Week

I know that a lot of my readers are homeschoolers or are interested in how we homeschool, so I thought that I would share something fun that we are doing.

This week is Dr Seuss Week. Dr Seuss was born on March 2nd. So we are doing a bunch of fun things related to Dr Seuss. We are reading some of our favorite Dr Seuss books - The Cat in the Hat, Hop on Pop, Fox in Socks, How the Grinch Stole Christmas, Green Eggs and Ham - and doing coloring sheets and crafts and other fun things related to the books.

I will be taking pictures and will share with you guys at the end of the week.

Today we are doing The Cat in the Hat. We read the story, colored his hat, did a "spelling test" with "at" words, are going to do coloring sheets, and are going to play tic-tac-toe with cats and hats.

Other fun things we are going to do:

Hop on Pop - coloring sheet and hop on daddy
Fox in Socks - coloring sheet and tic-tac-toe with foxes and socks
Grinch - coloring sheet, door hanger, Grinch mask, and make ornaments for a tree
Green Eggs and Ham - coloring sheet, tic-tac-toe with eggs and ham, and attempt to make green eggs and ham

I love homeschooling!!!

What It's Really All About

I know that a lot of my posts are about cleaning, organizing, couponing, and household management, but that is just a small part of my homemaking.

My biggest goal of homemaking isn't to have the cleanest or most organized home, to save the most money, or to keep everything perfect, it's

CREATING A HOME THAT IS FULL OF LOVE, HAPPINESS, AND AWESOME MEMORIES.

I pray that when my children grow up they will look back on their childhood and remember all the awesome things we did on a daily basis as well as on specific holidays to make great memories. I try to keep my home clean and organized so that when we want to have fun events we can. I try to save money with couponing and other methods so that we have money to do fun things like vacations or spoil them on their birthdays and holidays.

One of my favorite holidays is Valentine's Day. I don't think of it as just a greeting card holiday or a time meant for lovers to have romantic time. I think of it as a special day to focus on how much we love each other: moms and dads, parents and kids, grandparents, friends, etc.

Here are our Valentine's Day traditions:

1) Luke (and the other children down the road) gets a Valentine bag or basket filled with fun little dollar items (candy, toys, pencils, cute little knick knacks).

2) We make homemade Valentine cards and other projects. This year Luke made cards for his cousins and friends and we put his handprints on paper and he wrote Happy Valentine's Day 2001 Love, Luke on them.

3) We make homemade heart-shaped sugar cookies and decorate them.

4) We have heart-shaped pancakes or waffles for breakfast and any other heart-shaped foods we can during the day.

What are your Valentine's Day traditions? Other holiday/birthday traditions?

Diaper Bag

I went for almost 2 years without a diaper bag. To say it was nice doesn't even cover it LOL. Babies need lots of stuff. My awesome mother-in-law lives by the theory that mommies need something nice for themselves each time they have a baby (works for me), so she got me a Vera Bradley diaper bag. I had one with Luke but she thought I needed a new one (again, works for me).

I love Vera Bradley because if you are an organization junkie like me, you will love all of the wonderful pockets. You can put different things in each pocket and feel organized instead of digging through your bags looking for something. This diaper bag has a zipper pouch on the outside, a flip side with three little pouches on the outside, two end pouches, and inside it has three pouches on each side. It also has a matching changing pad. It also has a clasp to hook your keys to.

In my diaper bag, I use one end pouch for my wallet and one for a bottle. I use the zip pouch to put papers. I use the flip side pouches for my keys, cellphone, and hand sanitizer/tissues. I use the inside pouches for diaper cream (which we have never needed PRAISE THE LORD), those mini trash bags for bad diapers (we have needed a few LOL), pacifiers (we don't really use them, but I have them JIC), and nose bulb aspirator and saline drops. If Nathan is sick and needs medicine, I would put that in there as well.

In the main part, I keep a big stack of diapers, a travel pack (or two) of wipes, two extra outfits, two extra onesies, a couple of extra burp clothes, a bottle of water, a formula dispenser with enough formula for 3 bottles, and an extra bottle (sometimes I have more if I am going to be away from the house longer than one or two feedings. I would also put a travel bowl of cereal and a spoon if we would be feeding that while we are out. Sometimes I might have an extra toy or two if I don't want it on his carseat (it's not fun to sleep with toys whacking you in the head).

I always bring the diaper bag in the house after we go somewhere. My rule is: Go through the diaper bag as soon as you get home (or get a chance) and pull out dirty clothes, burp cloths, and bottles. Then replace what needs replacing (clothes, burp cloths, bottles, water, formula) and sit the ready diaper bag by the door. I know you could pack it before you leave to go somewhere, but I find that I am always in a hurry so this makes it easier. Plus if you have an emergency, you are ready to go.

Chores for Children

Since I am a full-time homemaker, I do a majority of the cooking, cleaning, and laundry, but Lee and I do think it is good to teach children responsibility and how being a part of a family is about helping each other out. So, we make Luke do chores. Lee and I have talked about chores and allowance a lot and have come up with one conclusion for our family, our kids should help out because they are a part of the family, not just for financial gain. As they get older and understand the concept of money more and can do more (ie mow the grass, wash the car, babysit their younger siblings), we will evaluate giving them an allowance then. But in general, we are going to stick to the "You are a part of this family and that means we all help out."

Luke's chores have changed over the years and will continue to change as he gets older, but I thought that I would share what his chores are right now. He is 5 years old.

Luke's Chores:

1) Make bed each morning - We started teaching him to make his bed and have encouraged him for every attempt. I know some of us tend to be perfectionists and figure if we do it, it will look better. Trust me, if you let them do it enough, it will get better and better. My goal isn't perfection, but progression. As Luke has gotten better, he gets more and more proud of himself.

2) Remove sheets, pillowcase, comforter, and blankets and bring to laundry room once a week and bring them back to your room when mommy is done laundering them (he doesn't put them back on because he hasn't quite learned the motor skills to do the fitted sheet)

3) Bring down hamper and sort into the bins when mommy asks you to - He has a lightweight hamper with handles that he collects his laundry in. A couple times a week I have him bring it to the sorted bins and have him sort them (socks and undies in the "whites" bin, khaki pants in the "khakis" bin, church shirts in the "nice shirts" bin, and the rest in the "Luke" bin). This helps me a lot because I go to one place to get the laundry.

4) Help with laundry - Sometimes I will have him help me with laundry. In addition to collecting his sheets and sorting his clothes into bins, I will give him an empty basket and have him collect a pile of clothes and bring them to the laundry room. Yes, I could do this all by myself, but I think it's good that he pitches in sometimes. He enjoys putting the clothes in the washer and dryer anyways.

5) Clean up toys - I refuse to clean up toys. We taught him very early on (as in 6-9 months old - we would pick up the toys in his hands and put them in the basket) how to do that. My theory is, "If you make the mess, you clean it up." We clean up toys before we leave the house, before nap, and before bed.

6) Set the table - I pull the plates, napkins, and silverware out and he takes it to the table and sets it out. He will also put salt, pepper, butter, and other condiments on the table.

7) Clear the table - He has to at least take his own dishes over, but a lot of the time he will help Lee clear the table while I wash the dishes.

8) Help mommy - Little things come up and when I ask him to do them he is expected to do it cheerfully.

I don't think our children's lives should be boring or excessively chore laden, but I do think they should learn to help out. I think this is a good start.

Please share what chores your children do (include ages) as well as your method of encouraging them to do it. I love hearing other ideas.

Putting Babies/Kids on a Schedule/Routine

Let me preface by saying, I understand that there are a million ways to parent and not everyone agrees on every method (hence the reason there are so many). I also know that what works for one parent/family/baby/situation doesn't always work for another parent/family/baby/situation. All of that being said, everyone knows how much I love organization and schedules/routines, so naturally I try my best to schedule/routinize my babies/children.

I am a huge proponent for the method presented in the Growing Kids God's Way series (AKA Baby Wise/Toddler Wise/Preschool Wise). Basically they use parent directed feeding (PDF). It doesn't mean that you have to absolutely stick to a strict routine, but it helps you organize your baby/child's day so that they are fed, played with, have their hygiene needs met, get adequate sleep, and grow and develop properly. You use your parental instincts and listen to your child, but generally speaking you direct their day/life.

It starts when they are born. You make sure that they get a good feeding (which is difficult at first), change their diaper, and put them to sleep (most babies are already asleep). You wake them every 3 hours (give or take 30 minutes) and repeat the cycle. They generally eat 8 times a day. As they develop more and are more alert, you make sure that they get a good feeding, change their diaper, play with them for about 30 minutes (give or take), and put them to sleep (watch for sleepy cues - rubbing eyes, fingers in mouth, fussy). You gradually change to a 4 hour routine and they start sleeping through the night. As they get older, you drop naps, add food, and do different things, but the premise is that you aim to have a consistent routine each day (especially for waking up, going to bed, naps, meals, bathtimes, outings, specific playtimes, etc).

We have followed all of the books in the series with Luke and he has done so great. He generally knows what to expect each day and it really helps him. We are following it with Nathan and given that he was 5 weeks early and I didn't start the method until almost 2 months old, he is doing great. He is sleeping 7-8 hours each night and generally goes 3 hours between daytime feedings.

Here is what his schedule looks like (in case anyone wants to see):

Roughly 8:00am - Wakes up, eats bottle, gets diaper changed, plays
Roughly 9:00am - Goes down for a nap
Roughly 11:00am - Wakes up, eats bottle, gets diaper changed, plays
Roughly 12:00pm - Goes down for a nap
Roughly 2:00pm - Wakes up, eats bottle, gets diaper changed, plays
Roughly 3:00pm - Goes down for a nap
Roughly 5:00pm - Wakes up, eats bottle, gets diaper changed, plays
Roughly 6:00pm - Goes down for a nap
Roughly 8:00pm - Wakes up, eats bottle, gets bath, gets in sleep clothes, gets rocked
Roughly 9:00pm - Goes to bed
Roughly 11:00pm - Wakes up (we wake him up), gets diaper changed, eats bottle, gets rocked
Roughly 11:30pm - Goes to bed (for the night)
If he wakes at night, he just eats a bottle and goes right back to sleep

We let him nap in his swing during the day. After his bath, he gets put in his sleep clothes (onesie and sleep sack/gown), gets rocked, and gets put in his crib to sleep. After his last feeding of the night, he gets swaddled and put in his crib. I think these specific things help him to know day versus night and when he is supposed to sleep longer.

Of course if he wakes early (30 minutes or less), I give him a few minutes and see if he goes back to sleep, but if he doesn't, I will go ahead and feed him. If he wakes up sooner than 30 minutes early, I give him some time to cry and go back to sleep. I never let him cry more than 15 minutes. I figure he might be hungry if he wakes up. Babies go through growth spurts or could need a diaper change/burp or just some comfort. That's the part that is pure parenting - knowing (or attempting to find out) what your child needs.

You don't just blindly follow the schedule and not understand your child. I think that's why GKGW/BW has gotten negative feedback at times. People assume you have to just make a strict schedule and follow it no matter what making your child miserable all day. I don't recommend following any book or method unless it works for you. You are the parent and you should do what you think is right and what works for you. This has just worked for us and I wanted to share. I have countless friends who it has worked for as well. Hope that has helped.

In case you want to know Luke's schedule, here it is:
Roughly 7:30am - Wakes up, eats breakfast, gets dressed
Roughly 8:00am - Plays while I feed Nathan, plays with Nathan
Roughly 9:00am - Plays, does art, etc
Roughly 11:00pm - Plays while I feed Nathan, plays with Nathan
Roughly 12:00pm - Eats lunch, homeschools
Roughly 2:00pm - Plays while I feed Nathan, plays with Nathan
Roughly 3:00pm - Goes down for a nap (yes, my 5 year old still naps everyday)
Roughly 5:30pm - Wakes up, plays with Nathan
Roughly 7:00pm - Eats dinner, plays with daddy
Roughly 8:30pm - Gets ready for bed (cleans up toys, takes a bath, PJs, teeth, books, prayers)
Roughly 9:30pm - Bedtime

Making Little Things Special

I love making holidays, events, and birthdays special. I can still remember my mom making heart shaped waffles for me on my birthday (my birthday is the day before Valentine's). I hope and pray my kids will one day look back and remember the special things we did for them on their birthdays and holidays.

My son, Luke, turned 5 this past weekend (yes I can't believe it). He loves pancakes (and all breakfast foods a lot). So I made pancakes using the recipe I shared earlier this week. I then took a cookie cutter in the shape of a 5 (I have cookie cutters for all holidays/seasons and the alphabet and numbers) and made him special pancakes. He loved them. Here they are:

It doesn't have to be something elaborate. This only took me an extra couple of minutes, but it was worth it to see his face.