I am sitting here listening to Chicago – 21, reminiscing about the good ol’ days of my life.  (If that doesn’t date me, I don’t know what will.)  Really ladies, and a few guys too, sometimes I think we make life a little too complicated on what traditions we have with our family.  I am just as guilty as the next person of doing this on more than one occasion.  Let’s get back to the basics of a good old American tradition, with a little tweak, of course!  The other day my boys were playing baseball outside and decided they need to make it a little more exciting.  Here’s a new way to play.  It’s called Water Baseball.  Empty out a few of the big totes of their contents, you could make this a FHE assignment and have the game be the activity.  Each person could be in charge of sorting through one of the totes, of course that could be a little scary too!  Take the totes outside and use them for your bases 1, 2, and 3, then fill them up with water.  Play baseball as it usually is played except if the players want to be safe they have to stand in the tote filled with water.  After today’s temperature, it would be a welcome relief.  Have fun ladies and remember to KEEP IT SIMPLE!!!!

Starting today, I will have a Spanish translation (as best as I can translate) of each of my posts, so if you know anyone who speaks the language and you think they would enjoy our blog, let them know about us!

Estoy sentado aquí escuchando a Chicago – 21, recordando los viejos tiempos de mi vida. (Si no me la fecha, no sé qué lo hará.) Realmente damas, y algunos individuos también, a veces creo que hacen la vida un poco complicada de lo que las tradiciones que tenemos con nuestra familia. Yo soy tan culpable como el que más de hacer esto en más de una ocasión. Vamos a volver a los fundamentos de una buena tradición americana de edad, con un pequeño arreglo, por supuesto! El otro día mis hijos estaban jugando béisbol fuera y decidió que necesitan para hacer un poco más emocionante. He aquí una nueva manera de jugar. Se llama Agua de Béisbol. Vaciar a cabo algunas de las bolsas grandes de su contenido, se puede hacer de esto una tarea FHE y tener el juego se desarrollará la actividad. Cada persona puede estar a cargo de clasificación a través de una de las bolsas, por supuesto que podría ser un poco de miedo también! Tome los totes exterior y utilizarlas para sus bases 1, 2 y 3, y luego llenarlos con agua. Juega béisbol, ya que normalmente se juega, salvo si los jugadores quieren estar seguros de que tiene que esperar en la bolsa llena de agua. Después de la temperatura de hoy, sería un gran alivio. Ha damas divertido y recordar para mantenerlo simple!!

I think technically you could call them both out, but I could only take a picture!

Father’s Day is coming up and it’s a perfect time for children,  young and old to celebrate their father’s, grandfather’s, uncles, and special males in their lives.  A few years ago, I was on a coupon kick and made all kinds of books for Mother’s Day, Father’s Day and Birthdays for children.  Now I am sharing those with you.  I had such a great time creating these a couple of years ago.  When I made these Father’s Day coupons I tried to make sure it was things that both girls and boys could do with their dads or grandfathers.  These were truly a labor of love trying to find the right paper and the right activities.  The love note on the Spouse version is how I really feel about my own husband.  Enjoy and Happy Father’s Day on Sunday!

Remember, if you download it, then leave some love in our comments.  Thanks a bunch!!  Let other people share the joy and direct them here.  We love it!

Grandpa’s Coupons – To Grandpa from Grandchildren

Spouse’s Coupons – To Spouse from you

Teenager Coupons – To Father from Teenager

Youth CouponsTo Father from Children

Have you survived the first few days of summer?  I have a cute sign on my front door that says, “Relax!” I really want to slow down this summer, enjoy my kids, and also feel like I’ve had a break from the crazy routine.  As I’ve thought about some goals for me and my kids this summer, I feel like we need to do a better job at our family scripture study.

The internet can be such a place for good!  I have found some fun ideas to start a summer scripture program for my family.  Let’s make the scriptures an exciting place to spend our time this summer!

*Family Tree Scripture Study Program

*Follow Christ Scripture Study Program

*Scripture Study Chart (My 12-13 yr. old sunday school class uses this chart!)

*How We Started Family Scripture Study (And Stopped Feeling Guilty) Great ideas from lds.org.

*scriptures4kids.com (So stinkin’ cute!  I love this website! They have a fun scripture reading challenge sponsored by Deseret Book!)

Since today is an organizing tip.  I wanted to share one of my favorites with you.  I LOVE our Holiday Organizer.  Not only does it come with fantastic pages to help you organize your holidays better, there is a place for everything you have related to your holidays.  Not including your decorations of course.  But there is a place to help you organize your decorations as well in our Holiday Organizer.  I am talking about all those Bingo games, Tom the Turkeys, Halloween Scavenger Hunts, Valentine’s Love Notes, St. Patrick’s day Neighborhood Lucky Leprechaun game, and the list goes on with our products.  Then if you have additional stuff besides that, you have a lot to keep track of.  I found a way to utilize our Holiday Organizer even better by keeping everything together.  Doesn’t that sound familiar?  After dividing my organizer into two binders, January through June and July through December, I have taken ordinary photo holders, page protectors and page pockets and turned them into my storage of holiday ideas and games.  I then placed each of my holiday games and ideas in front of the cooresponding month folder for that particular holiday.  It’s the perfect way to keep everything organized and keep it handy in one place.  I love being able to go to that month and see all my fun games and ideas without having to search endlessly for where I put them last.  Even they can get lost or even forgotten in a tote full of decorations.  To give you a better idea, I took some pictures of how I put mine together.  However, make it work for you and your personality.  Feel free to comment about what has worked for you or you are always welcome to ask questions in the comment section and we will answer them for you.

I found this great idea for Family Home Evening through LDS Neighborhood.  I love the idea of my kids getting to know their father a little better!    It lists a lot of different questions to ask your dad to get to know him better.  For example, his likes, dislikes, favorites, etc.  I plan on doing this on Father’s Day as a great Sunday activity.   This link will take you to the full FHE idea: http://clynnbeck.blogspot.com/2009/06/to-know-dad-is-to-love-him-by-cindy.html

There are so many things you can do on Father’s Day for Family Home Evening to honor your dad!  You can give a lesson on the priesthood, talk about the things your dad does for your family or just play and have fun with dad because sometimes you don’t get many opportunities for that!

Here is a specific idea on dads found in the scriptures:

Lesson:

Gather some ties that belong to dad.  Next, find scriptures that talk about a father and his family.  For example, Lehi taking his family into the wilderness, Mosiah praying for his sons to change their ways, Jacob leaving his blessing on his sons when he dies, etc.  There are a lot of examples of righteous fathers in the scriptures.  Then put a scripture reference and/or story on each tie.  Have the kids take turns picking a tie and reading the scripture.  Talk about what that father did and how it pertains to your family.  For example Lehi followed what Heavenly Father wants us to do and our dad’s follow the prophet today and his counsel, Mosiah prayed for his sons to stop being wicked and our fathers pray for us every day to make good choices, etc.

Activity:

Another idea is to put fun things on the back of the ties and have the kids take turns picking a tie with an activity on it that they can do with dad.  You can make these simple like toss the football around (I have boys, can you tell? ) or they can be things like get an ice cream – just you and dad.  You can take all week with this idea and let the kids take turns spending time with dad.  My kids love their “daddy time” and they need that time to bond with him.  It is also good for dad to take some time to talk with each child.  This is a great opportunity for personal interviews!

I love Mother’s Day and Father’s Day.  It is fun to recognize those that do the most for us in our daily lives!  You could also take time to spend with grandpa (make sure he is okay with that first) and put some activities with grandpa on the back of your ties.  My dad loves to take the kids one on one for fun outings and the kids love spending time with grandpa. 

Happy Father’s Day to all those fabulous dads out there!

This Father’s Day give your father, spouse, or grandfather a little something different.  Last year we came out with the Father’s Day coupons and they were a hit.  My husband thought it was cool to get sooooo many coupons from everyone.  There is even a teenager coupon book.  It has coupons like mow the lawn, fill the car with gas, yard work, and other really good ones.  My husband calls his coupons his stash of goodies to be used when he is feeling ready to just kick back and relax.  The ones to the grandpas are gems too.  They give the grandchildren and the grandpa more time to spend together and have fun while doing it.  Enjoy some great holiday memories this year and get our Father’s Day coupons for that special person or persons in your life!