Yes, I think I am the coupon queen when it comes to holidays and birthdays.  I just LOVE giving them out for people to use.  So when I came up with the Father’s Day and Mother’s Day coupons, I thought, why not birthdays?  My children love their birthday wall of fame, but they love the coupons even more.  Every year they take those off first.  This year, I didn’t put them up and what happened?  The first thing they asked me was, where’s my coupons?  It made me laugh and feel good at the same time that they see it as a tradition.  So here they are, use them, and enjoy them.

Birthday Coupons PDF

We created this artwork “JUST FOR YOU!”

For personal use in your OWN HOME ONLY and NOT

for RESALE . . . It’s got our copyright!

If you would like to share, please refer them to THIS blog!

Have you ever thought about having your own Olympics at your family reunions?  We have done it for many many years now and it’s the highlight of the day.  My Uncle started the idea when they realized there were a lot more children now and they needed something to do more than just hang out with their other cousins.  Thus the Olympics were born.  There are 5 to 6 games that are listed on a paper with a scoring sheet for each one.  ( We try and introduce a new game each year and our tote is becoming quite full.)  Put everyone’s name into a bowl, adults included, and draw out two names to make a team.  This works so well because you are forced to get to know that individual better and it’s hard to stay distant with someone you are playing games with.  This year I have made a new game, which you will have to read about in the next post!  At the end, every team adds their score up and the winner is announced.  They receive a trophy that has the past winner’s names on it and get to take it home.  They have to put their names on it and bring it back the following year.  In the event it has people of different homes on it they have to decided who is taking it home, or even share it for half a year.  It’s become a tradition that has created many memories over the years and produced thousands of laughs!

I have a memory problem when it comes to remembering my cousins names and also the names of their children.  Add that to the fact they come to the Family Reunion every year and it stresses my memory.  To help myself, mostly, but also my children to know their cousins better I have come up with a game idea.  This year for our Family Olympics new game idea I asked everyone to email me pictures of members of their family as well as the name of every member of their family.  (Everyday pictures, not the professional kind.)  Using my computer I am making them into a card size memory game.  On one card it will have their picture and on the other card it will have their name.  The idea of the game is to match the name to the face in the fastest time possible.  You will receive a higher score if your team gets a faster time.  This works well because you have to start to identify people with names forcing your brain to remember just who that person is.  Below is a sample of what I did, it’s easy to do and a fun game to play.  You can even do this idea with your ancestors to have your family get to know them better.  You can even put a fun fact on the card with their name to learn more about them!

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!)

Is it the end of the school year already???  It’s time to think about thank you gifts for your child’s teacher.  I usually do something simple.  However, last week I had to go into my 1st grader’s class and do a thank you for their teacher for teacher appreciation week.  Parents watch the students and do a thank you for the teacher so that the teachers can all have lunch together.  I needed something that would keep the kids busy for a little while and something that would be fun for their teacher to receive.   I decided to use the flowers that we gave you for Mother’s Day to create a thank you flower pot for their teacher.

I bought a pot at Walmart for $2.50, some craft sticks (about $1.99), and some rocks to put in the bottom of the pot (these were the most expensive – you could probably get more creative and find something less expensive – they were about $3.00 a package and I needed 2).  I printed enough flowers for each child in the class to have one.  I also printed some extras that I put “Thanks a bunch” and “Thanks for helping us grow this year” on.  We have a small photo printer that will print passport size photos.  I took each child’s picture and then had them cut out their flower, tape it to a craft stick, and glue their picture on.  It only took about 15 minutes to make and it turned out really cute.  If you don’t have a photo printer, you can always just take the photos and print them at home.  That way it will be a surprise for your teacher on the last day of school.  If you want to make it less complicated, you can buy a small potted plant or flower and add a few sticks to it.  One with your child’s photo, one that says “Thanks a Bunch”, and one that says “Thanks for helping me grow this year”.  Get creative and add whatever you would like.  Your child’s teacher will love how thoughtful you were!   This is a great project for you and your child to do together.

Mother’s Day is just around the corner.  Did it sneak up on you like it did me?  In lieu of flowers for all our wonderful friends who visit our blog everyday, or at least every time we post, we are giving you some of our Mother’s Day ideas that you used to have to purchase from us.  HAPPY MOTHER’S DAY!

The first one is our famous Mother’s Day Purse which is a great idea to do, especially for those Mom’s who just LOVE purses.  I did this with my Mom last year and she loved seeing more and more goodies inside the purse, instead of just the purse.  There is a cute little notecard to go along with the different items to put in the purse.

The second one is an idea I did for my grandmother, mother, mother-in-law, sisters, sisters-in-law, and aunts.  Yes, I WAS very ambitious in 2008.  They all loved it, so it was worth it.  I bought super various sizes of  clay pots, printed out my flowers, cut them out, and taped them on to shish kabob sticks.  In the center of each flower I put a round picture of each of the children, grandchildren, and great-grand children, depending on who I was giving it to.   (You’ll find the PDF file at the end of the post.)  We would love to see pictures of how your’s turned out.  Send it to us and we will add them to our blog.  support@myheartandhome.com

Look Whats Blooming

First I need to apologize for not posting a Family Home Evening idea yesterday.  I have to confess that I have been reading “The Hunger Games” and I had a hard time tearing myself away in my free time (really – free time? – okay so not free time, but down time like waiting in carpool line and at night before I go to bed).  I should warn you that it is a bit violent but I was glued to it nonetheless!  It was a little like my Twilight experience.   My husband also works at home on Mondays so getting computer time is quite a feat!  Anyway, I hope you will all forgive me.  I also hope that you planted a tree last night as a family.  If that is the case, I have just the thing for you.  I finished the scrapbook pages for Earth Day and they are attached below.  I  want to give credit to http://polkadotscraps.blogspot.com for the cute components of my scrapbook page.  They are fabulous!

Earth Day 2010 Scrapbook page

Earth Day 2010 Scrapbook page2

The first page is for your first year and the second can be used in later years to keep the tradition going.  Plant a tree, and plant some hope!  Have a great week!

Happy Earth Day!  I thought I should post today instead of tomorrow since it relates to Earth Day.  I hope you are enjoying this crazy weather we are having today if you live here in Utah.  It almost feels like the earth is making itself known on its special day!    I was out with my children this morning on Fieldwork for school planting trees, pulling weeds, and beautifying a local trail here in Ogden and we were doing it in the snow!  Now (of coarse after we are finished!) it is actually sunny and beautiful outside.  What a crazy day!

I was recently talking with my friend and she was on her way to purchase a tree for her new baby boy.  She said that they plant a tree for each child the year they are born so they can watch the tree grow as they grow.  What a great idea!  I love it!  Unfortunately I have had my 5 children and have yet to plant a tree.  However, I think this is something my children would really enjoy.  I think if you are just starting your family, this is an awesome tradition.  If not, it can be started with older children or even grandchildren.  Take advantage of Earth Day and plant a tree that they can take care of and nurture.  As the tree grows they will be reminded that trees are important and they will take pride in the fact that they planted it and took care of it.  There are so many things we can teach our children about taking care of our world.  Teaching them about the importance of trees and nature seems like a great place to start!

I am working on a scrapbook page for you so make sure that you take pictures of your beautiful kids and/or husbands while you are planting your trees!  I’ll let you know when we have it ready.  Making memories is so much fun and looking back brings so much joy!  You can choose to plant a tree every year (there are a lot of parks and places in your area that could use some trees or plants of some kind) or you can pick something new to do each year (i.e., pick up trash along the road or at the park, learn about recycling, pass off something in scouts that has to do with taking care of the earth, start your garden if you haven’t already or plant something special in honor of Earth Day, etc.).  The possibilities are endless and your children will appreciate learning how to be responsible for the world around them.  Have a happy Earth Day!