FamilyFun
There's the surface and then there's what's underneath. What's underneath is what's true. - A. Trigiani
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U.S. 4D Map Puzzle: A Timberdoodle Review
_____________________________________________ This is a review post. Timberdoodle graciously sent me a free product in exchange for a review. A review that is always my own, honest and truthful, and hopefully helpful. _____________________________________________ Every March a homeschool conference takes place in our town. People drive from miles away, they stay for several days, they attend lectures and listen to experts and shop for new school curriculum and seek out advice and opinions and new ideas for their own homeschools. This annual event happened just last week. Although I didn’t attend the actual conference this year, I did head over to the exhibit hall for the free evening of perusing the curriculum…
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these days ….
Every single day someone at our house says something about how none of us can believe that it is December. The year that crawled by also flew by. I can never explain it. Amid ALL THE THINGS, I am finding it nearly impossible to write over here. I’m also not making any more progress on my book. I was afraid of losing momentum when my class finished. And my fears were accurate. It’s time to put it on a calendar and set aside time. But I’m always so tired. And so busy. And so full of excuses. I saw a sweet friend post the other day about being exhausted after…
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Chasing the Christmas Chain
I don’t know how long it’s been. Probably since kids were tiny. Those little countdown calendars of some sort, you know. Nine years ago the format shifted from adorable and quirky to a low budget paper chain. And paper chain it has stayed nearly a decade later. Like EVERYTHING currently, it is more and more difficult to find daily time to chase the tradition. But if you know me, traditions matter A LOT, so chase it we must. The kids still all look forward to it, even those teenagers, so I’m willing to make it fit and work it out and do what we can to keep the chain going.…
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The Game of Keigley
I’m certain the idea came from an issue of Family Fun magazine almost ten tears ago. Recently, the kids unearthed a hefty stack of fluorescent index cards wrapped in a rubber band. The Game of Keigley. Taking an idea from the magazine, I had created a game custom-designed for our family about our family. The goal of the game was to have fun learning about family details and testing our knowledge about how life in our home operated. Plus, it had the added bonus of encouraging positive habits, such as turning out the lights and picking up your dirty clothes. The set up is simple. A stack of cards.…
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something borrowed
For more than eight years now only one magazine subscription has faithfully been renewed year after year at our house. Family Fun. Because the ideas are good. They are practical. And because I sometimes imagine acquiring a paid, regular writing gig for them. They have a section of their magazine called “My Great Idea”. Or at least – it used to be called that. I think now it’s called “Creative Solutions” but me and Family Fun go way back so sometimes I get a little Old School with the names of their departments. And on one recent month one of the reader-submitted “Creative Solutions” was a winner for our house.…
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The Leaf Song
A few days ago we were heading out on some routine errands. London hopped into the car with two pieces of rolled up construction paper in her hand. “Mom, do you ever like to write songs?” she asked me. “Sure,” I told her. “That’s fun to do. Do you make up songs too?” London admitted that she did and added, “I make up new words to tunes I have already heard and they mostly sound like this” and then she hummed a melody. She pushed her orange construction papers to me. “This one I made up to sound like this.” And she sung it for me. London said she wrote…
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Now, THAT Was A Good Time
Friendship is a sheltering tree. -Samuel Coleridge There are just some people that you love to be around – aren’t there? People who make you laugh. Who make you feel good about being exactly who you are. Encouragers. People who are not naively optimistic but yet exude warmth and cheerfulness and hopefulness. I have a friend like that. And this past week she and her two adorable boys came to our house to hang out for a few days. We did a lot of silly little things (pretended our kitchen was an internet cafe and played on our laptops simultaneously). We seemed to eat a lot of food (like creating…
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Do It Yourself
Look at these cute bags. We made them ourselves. We took the idea from our favorite magazine – FamilyFun – so I cannot claim original creativity here. It was so easy. (And it has to be for an amateur at the sewing machine such as myself.) The kids all picked a favorite too-little t-shirt. I cut the bottom off and turned it inside out before stitching it together. (With purple thread because I have no idea how to change the bobbin thread. I need help with that. Soon. Yes, this is me begging. Don’t teach me. Just do it for me.) I also trimmed down the neck and the sleeves…
