I do!

The kids!
Thank you Beeps for the bunny ears! Nice!

Miss Bean & My Girls!
Our whole family!
My Man & I
Bret & Nicole

Last weekend we went to the Tri-Cities to celebrate and witness the marriage of a dear gal in our family.

Weddings...I love them!

Mmmm.....Cookies

Mom, "I sure want some cookies!"

Bud,"I'll make you some!"

Life is good!

Organized Choas: Tip of the Week #4

This is one of my favorite organizaitonal tips for families with young kids. This gives them the "organizational bug" that will last them a lifetime...guaranteed! I also find that children are more content with what they own when it's not all thrown into a room and messed up. I'd hate to wrap a present or make a craft when all of my stuff is thrown together into several boxes mixed with tools & winter clothing! If it's just too messy they don't even want to try and find what they want to play with either.

Organize your kids toys and belonging into groups. They can be either all the same types of objects or themes. Examples would be blocks, little vehicles, doll clothes, dinosaurs, or Leggos. Purchase lidded containers in your preferred sizes, taking in to account what you will storing in them. Place a pile of the toys on a table and take an aeriel view of them. Repeat with the rest. Have your photos printed and then tape them to the front of the box with packing tape. Cover every surface of the photo with tape. Place toys inside and voila!...your child is organized!

I started this when my kids were really little. This method teaches them #1 we value and appreciate what we have so we take care of it #2 that everything has a home #3 that I can always find my favorite toys because I know right where they are! The photo on the front helps them to know what goes exactly in the box, especially children that can not read yet. When my kids were able to read I replaced the photo with written words. The possibilities are endless, really. We have boxes down stairs right now that say Leggos, Ello, BB Guns, & Nerf to name a few. And as a collection grows, say Nerf guns, you get a bigger box, create a new label & save the smaller box for something else.

~This also works well with the development of a child. They can learn to play with one box of toys and stay focused on the playing-at-hand. In the older child is also creates spontenaity. "Let's have a Nerf war!" Ok...we know exactly where everything is!

~This block box is the only original one left. These blocks belonged to my nephew who is in his early 20's now. They were passed to my kids, that's when I made the box. Then I passed them back to my sister whose kids play with them today. Lots of Ruff kids teethed on those!

Twitterpated #7

The birdies are growing up! Here they are, about to molt their baby feathers. You can see their beaks beginning to turn orange.

Greek Statue

This is one of the reasons why I love that my girls are home with me during the day!

Sugar is Beeps own Greek Statue!

Prayer Cards

Sometimes I find that I need many things "organized" in my life. My prayer life has been one of those areas at times.

With a busy household and lots of things to talk to the Lord about, I felt it necessary to make Prayer Cards as helpful reminders. Occasionally I'd feel as if I was praying the same prayers over & over again or forgetting to pray about specific areas of my life or the life of others. These have helped me stay focused in my time with the Lord & I find that the days prayer card reminders stick with me throughout the day. I am reminded more often to pray about specific people, circumstances and areas.

This is my version 2.0 that I wanted to share with you! I will hang this on my bedside lamp shade. I like to pray in the morning before I leave my room while I'm still in bed.

My Prayer Cards include every day of the week. Monday is Dave, then Tuesday is the kids, Wednesday our family/home, Thursday my extended family, Friday my church family, Saturday our world, and Sunday me. Each card has the topic of that day's prayers as well as being broken down into more specific areas. One example is the kids: their physical protection, spiritual protection, health, spiritual growth, future spouses, & future plans. Another example is the world: neighbors, community, city, state, nation, world, & our Leaders.

I printed each day onto an 8 1/2 X 11 piece of cute paper using a business card sized template on a computer program I have. I also printed a cover card. Then I went to Kinko's and laminated them inside luggage tags. Kinko's provides assorted clips to choose from also. I chose a name badge holder clip. The whole set of Prayer Cards cost me $12.

Prayer

PRAY.....it's hard to stumble when you are on your knees.