Tag: children

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Looking Forward!

A new year is here and staring me in the face.  I can’t get away from the fact that another year is starting, with it comes all of the hope of a new start. So as I get out the new calendar there are things I want to improve or change.

https://www.etsy.com/listing/73146917/now-is-the-time-inspirational-art-prints

I have two Jon Acuff books that I want to read. They won’t take long and will inspire me toward more change. I also have several Beth Moore books that I want to read as well.

I have a some crafty things that I want to make for my house.

There are some home improvement projects that are “needing” to be done and some that NEED to be done.

I have a ton of crochet patterns that I want to write.

https://www.etsy.com/listing/168758302/black-fridaytypography-printblack-white

Blogging that is crying out to me.

A boy to graduate from high school and send off to college, which will put us down to one child at home.

College applications to send.

A house to clean, and dogs to care for.

https://www.etsy.com/listing/157870226/8×10-pattern-inspirational-quote-print

Friends and family to spend time with and two quilts to sew.

Some college kids to feed and listen to while they are here for Spring break and Thanksgiving.

https://www.etsy.com/listing/173613259/8×10-a-friend-loves-at-all-times

A garden I want to plant, sow, harvest, can and eat from.

Some computer skills that need to be learned.

Some bills to pay off.

2 sets of braces that will come off this year.

So my year is going to be full to overflowing and yet time marches on. I need to be careful that I spend time doing the right things or the busyness of life will overtake me and the important things will get lost in the shuffle of papers.

 

 https://www.etsy.com/listing/75996440/adventure-time-block-print-in-bold-blue

It is time for the adventure of the New Year. Are you ready?

I must go and get ready…

Karen

 

 

 

 

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Things to do with Kids: teach them how to Really Cook!

I started teaching my oldest (7) how to make toast in a toaster when a good friend told me that she was teaching her 7 year old to fry eggs on the stove. I was amazed here, yet again was a creative outlet for my then oldest (he was also 7) that would teach him needed skills. The pride he had when he finished frying his little egg was overwhelming. He quickly moved on to making cookies, spaghetti and other things. I, of course, supervised him closely when he was little. The harvest is great because now he is 23 and he can cook a whole meal for us (when he feels like it and has time)!  His younger sister can bake cookies, bread, follow a recipe and make cinnamon rolls.

All of the kids have made mistakes, cookies running off onto the bottom of the oven, no salt in the cookies, etc..! In the meantime they have all learned to pay attention to what they are doing. :0) The middle son learned to make pizza crust from scratch. He is rather a particular eater and his interest is being awakened to try new foods. All four of the kids know how to cook basic food from scratch and to follow a recipe.

I would also add that we use regular cookbooks. I am on hand to explain anything so the kids cookbooks don’t work for us. I guess there is not enough volume of food! Having four teenagers or near teenagers it worked best for us to use a regular cook book.

I would suggest that you allow them to cook and then clean up after themselves. Allow them to pick the recipe, if they are interested in the food then they will pay closer attention to what they are doing. Edit their choices a little, if they pick a pastry shop style cake redirect them to a pound cake with whipped cream.

We love the Betty Crocker cook book for its wealth of easy recipes.  We also like  learning  to use crock pot recipes and freezer cooking recipes. We will turn to www.allrecipes.com when we can’t find what we want in our home cookbooks.

Here are some Favorite recipes for young cooks:

Dip for veggies or fruit. (There are many recipes out there and no cooking is involved)

Chocolate Chip cookies, There are so many recipes out there for chocolate chip cookies. Just find one and follow the directions.

Spaghetti with sauce from a jar. Follow the directions on the package for the spaghetti.

Pound cake from scratch. There are many recipes on the internet for pound cake. It is really hard to ruin a pound cake.

Baked potatoes (I have the kids wash, prick and put the potatoes in a cold oven, that way they don’t get burnt. I also take them out if they are under 12.)

After they master some basics I would pretty much let them browse the recipe book, guiding them a little bit and keeping them from exotic ingredients that we didn’t have on hand.

What have you taught your kids to cook?

Talk to you later,

Karen

 

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Things to do with kids: Build a city!

Kids often need toy extenders as I call them. Things that extend their play in an imaginative way, props would be another word for it. There are a wide variety of ways that you can make a city for your kids.

1. Use cardboard

http://keriene.wordpress.com/category/homemade-toys/page/2/

As my kids are now all in high school or graduated. I am showing you Emelia’s beautiful cardboard city. There are more photos on her blog. http://keriene.wordpress.com/category/homemade-toys/page/2/

2. Wood houses. I really like these as you can write on them with chalk. I think these would make excellent Christmas gifts.

http://mommo-design.blogspot.it/2013/03/diy-for-kids.html?m=1

3. I love these little felt houses by Sarah Nichols.

http://www.sarah-nicol.com/shop.html

The kids and I usually made our toy extenders out of cardboard covered with paper that they cut out and glued on. It took more time that way and they were practicing their fine motor skills. We would use the houses until they looked like trash and then recycle or put them in the trash. What things do you make to help your children’s imagination to grow?

Talk to you later,

Karen

 

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Monday Goals

When I list out my goals it tends to look a lot like a To-Do list of a type A incredibly organized person. I have needed to scale back on my To-Do lists and just write the most important items down.

Family

1. Make cookies with the kids

2. Pick up the college girl for Christmas break

3. Take youngest DS driving so he can get his license

4. Bake Banana bread

Home

1. Do a basic clean sweep of the house.

2  Organize the Laundry room

3. Touch up the paint in my bathroom

Studio

1. Get shipping ready every day

2. Pick up the clutter in the studio

3. Work on custom orders every night

Personal

1. Water Aerobics once this week

2. Read pinned information about blogging

3. Complete devotional times

4. Plan 2 Christmas dinners….and see what needs to be done!

5. Complete Christmas shopping

6. wrap gifts

Ok, I just need to stop. This list is huge already and I keep tacking things on.

 

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Christmas GIfts #2 Toys

I love giving and receiving homemade Christmas gifts. It just seems to add a little more heart to the season. It also means that I don’t have to spend time driving around trying to find the perfect gift.

Here are some wonderful handmade toys!

http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/newborn-guinea-pig

https://www.etsy.com/listing/167137792/crochet-pattern-bowling-crochet-toy

https://www.etsy.com/listing/100400839/crochet-toy-pattern-ice-cream-amigurumi

https://www.etsy.com/listing/128879584/amigurumi-pattern-for-crochet-toy-of

These are so cute that no words are needed!

I hope that it inspires you to create something wonderful for the children in your life!

Karen

 

 

 

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Just for fun!

One day a week a homeschool friend and I trade kids. She teaches mine Algebra 2 and Pre algebra and I get to play in the art supplies with hers.  I know that I have the better end of the deal! Here is what we finished up this week. This is mine in the middle of the work. Yes, it is an artwork off of Pinterest.

IMG_3208

 

Working with her boys is lots of fun. We cleaned the table off with Shaving cream and they loved that. We will water color next week.

See you later,

Karen

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Long term projects….1 down and several to go!

I have had a busy six weeks. It is incredibly boring to sit around doing nothing for six weeks while you recuperate from surgery.  I can say that I am working on my list of boring hard things to do; finish the AARP defensive driving course, finish up the sequin stocking kit that I started in 1999. Yes, I did finally finish it, minus the instruction sheet and cover sheet. I found a photo of the complete kit on E-bay. Printed that picture out and went to town on it yesterday. It is now just waiting on me to put the embroidered name on it for my sweet new daughter in law. She and our son will now have matching Christmas stockings. I am now on to the dreaded 1994 cross stitch project. I have finally found all of the parts, pattern, cross stitch, missing threads but I am missing a cross stitch needle. It will turn up quickly and I will get this done and marked off my list. I am  sorry about the size of this photo but I took it with my phone and it is just not working quite right I can’t figure out how to resize it today. Tomorrow I will have more brain power I am sure. I do know that if you click on it, it will take you to another window and show the a bigger photo if you are really want to see it.

So we will see if I get to show you the finished project. I will have to say in my self defense that having four children under nine is not the time to be doing counted cross stitch anything. So now that they are older (23,20,18, and 15) and we have moved four times. I think I can get it finished.

See you later,

Karen

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Little pears

Long ago, well about seven years ago, I planted a half dead pear tree at the wrong time of year. It had been on sale at the end of the planting season so the choices were small and trees in bad condition. It was a simply a stick with two leaves. I simply planted it in hope that it would some day bear fruit. I watered it faithfully for the first summer season and then promptly forgot it. It was at the bottom of the yard and outside our backyard fence (so the dogs wouldn’t be tempted to chew it up) We had two summers of incredible heat and drought. I had forgotten that it was even there. Every once in a while I would think about it and wonder if the kids  had mowed over it or if it was still there. I could see it was getting taller and in each Spring it would have a few  more leaves. I still wondered what was happening to it and would it bear fruit or be barren. This year we have PEARS! Only about 30 or so but it is growing and looks great! 

Evidently even neglected fruit trees bear fruit. My little thought this morning is that we and our children are much like this little pear tree. There are  great character qualities growing in them and us that we have planted that we never see until it is the right time, season or condition for them to show up. Those little forgotten twigs of hope, faith, kindness, love, gentleness; are there growing and leafing out. We just need to water them and encourage them to grow. We must not loose hope or think that they haven’t taken root.

Talk to you later,

Karen

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Baby Days….

I promised some new things today and I just have time to do a quick photo listing. It is Monday with a vengeance today. Here we go.

 

Ok, must run. See you all later,

Karen