Finding the Time

I was busy with one kid, but really busy with two. We went on vacation. We've had family in town, and I've been frantically working on my summer to-do list.

Some things (blogs, for example) just end up taking a back burner to others.

I was a little scared, but it turned out okay.

A few years ago, I heard a woman say that she prayed one year to become organized. It was the worst year of her life. The next year she prayed for organized friends and things have been great ever since. Well, yesterday, my organized friends, Mandie and Aimee came to visit. Mr. Bean and Filbert took off with the kids and I was left to fend for myself against the organizational push. Three rooms were tackled and defeated. Mandie made me get rid of my wedding shoes and then even after that she said I had get rid of at least one more pair, but preferably three pairs. (This is when it got scary.) (This is also when the term Nazi entered the conversation.) (In my defense, it was actually Mandie that said it.) (I just quietly agreed.)

After about 3 hours, 3 rooms were clean and organized, except for a couple of piles of Filbert's stuff in our bedroom. I even went a little further after and Aimee and the Nazi Mandie left. My entire fabric stash is organized and stored on a book shelf. Yay me!

And Yay for Organized Friends!

Movies

Every mom knows that going to the movies takes an act of God. The last time I went to one was over Christmas to see Tale of Desperaux which I insisted on because I'd read the book. Poor Mr. Bean endured it. (The book was much better than the movie.)

It is just killing me to watch television and see ads for movies that I'd love to see. Here is a list of recent (and upcoming) movies that I'd love to go see:

Up

My Sister's Keeper

Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince

Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian

Public Enemies

Julie and Julia (August 2009)

Time Traveller's Wife (August 2009)

One of these days we'll just have to bite the bullet and go out on a date night to see a movie!

Kids and Money

I recently discovered a great website, MomTV. They show live shows on various topics where the moderator has a webcam and invites others to join either with webcams or with in the chat room.

I recently caught Vicki Hoefle's show, "Your Family, Your Solutions." Vicki is a mom to 5 kids. Some are out of the house and others are in high school. On July 14, she had an amazing show on how to teach your children about money. I would encourage you to watch it, but it seems they have been having techincal difficulties with recording that particular night's show.

Here are the main points:

-Start giving your kids money as soon as they stop putting it in the mouths (age 3ish).
-Give the allowance as $1 per year of life. 3 year olds get $3 per week, 4 year olds get $4 per week. This will eliminate the "Please buy it for me mommy!" arguments while you're shopping.
-Allow them to save some, spend some, and give some away.
-Don't withhold due to behavior or chores. Always give it to them so they can learn how to manage it.
-Watch your child squander it the first several weeks. In time he/she will learn that money has power and if it is saved it will go further.
-Don't hold their money for them. Make them responsible. If they leave it somewhere, put it in a vacation jar for the family. This teaches responsibility.
-Make a family rule that for every penny spent on candy/soda, a penny must be put aside for the dentist because mom and dad don't pay for cavities.
-When your child is old enough to handle their money well, get them an ATM card. (The bank will say they don't do it for kids, but they will if you press them.) This starts teaching them about credit without causing damage. (After all, they watch you whip out the debit card all the time!)
-When your child hits age 12, cut allowance in half. Make them earn the other half each week. This teaches work ethic.
-When your child reaches age 14, cut allowance completely. Now it is time for them to seek out ways to earn their own income.
-For children who have expensive tastes in clothing, tell them what the family contribution will be. Anything above that will be up to them to cover. Ex: Our family offers $30 toward sneakers. If you want something more expensive than that, you can cover the extra cost.
-Tell your children early on that you do not lend money to people you love as it causes problems. Teaching this to your child at age 3, 4, and 5 will prevent them from asking for large sums of money when they are older. They know the family rule.

There are so many other gems in this webscast that I have not captured here and Vicki does a much better job at explaining how this works. She also gives great examples of exactly what to say to your child to help them learn about managing the money they are given.

While I don't always have the same opinions and beliefs as Vicki, I love her idea of teaching kids about money. We are still a bit off from that with String Bean, but I'm seriously considering implementing this method in the future.

Impress Your Kids

Parents who are looking to raise godly children need to check out the new site, Impress Your Kids. Author, Amanda (who also writes for Oh Amanda) and Leigh, both mothers of two, co-author this site. In their own words, here is what the site is all about:

When my daughter was 2 years old she came home from church one day with a magnet that said, “Love God with all your heart.” (taken from Deuteronomy 6:4-9) We looked at it, read it once or twice and stuck it on the fridge. Then promptly forgot about it.

A few days later, we were making a card for Daddy. She was supposed to be writing “I love you, Daddy” but instead began to chant, “Love God with all your heart!” I was dumbfounded! My little toddler was quoting scripture!!

So, right then, I knew it was time I actively put God’s Word in her heart! I started doing an alphabet letter of the week, a craft and a verse. We call them our “ABC verses”. I began posting our crafts and activities on this blog to keep myself on track. One of my great bloggy friends, Leigh has a son the exact same age as my daughter. When she decided to do the same type of crafts and memorization with her son, I asked her to post, too. (She’s way more creative than me, so I need some ideas!)

As our kids have gotten older and we’ve moved past our “ABC verses” AND as parenting has gotten more intense, this blog has morphed into a toolbox of sorts. This is the blog you didn’t know you need. We post our parenting struggles, our triumphs, our creative ideas, our fun activities, special events and silly stuff—so dig around in our toolbox, use what you need and watch your kids grow into the life God has planned for them.

Text taken from ImpressYourKids.org at http://impressyourkids.org/?page_id=11.

Camping

My friend Emily has a shirt that says "Camping is In Tents." Get it? (I'll pause while you recover from that groaner.)

Tonight is the Great American Backyard Camp-out! So, get out those tents, find the sleeping bags and spray on some bug spray. Your kids will love it!