Are you in need of some ideas for your next family vacation trip?  Kids getting on your nerves fighting with each other in the car?  Tired of them always playing electronic games the whole trip?  Well, you are in luck!

I am working on the plans to keep my 3 kids ages "almost 14", 10 and 7 not only occupied and entertained during our LONG road trip to Maryland and Virginia in a couple weeks, but also quiet and not fussing/fighting with each other and driving mom and dad crazy.
I have compiled some tips online, from friends and some that I have personally implemented to share

Just received an email from our local Inspired Arts Academy  . . . thought I would share some of these great indoor winter ideas.

  
Some fun things to do on your day in? 

Dance party in the living room! 
Make art out of food or draw a still life of fruit! 
Karaoke to your fav song on radio! 
Do headstands on couch!! 


Some ideas my kids added . . . 

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Are you juggling motherhood, marriage--and perhaps a career? Whether you're a career woman  or a stay-at-home mom, you want to give your all in every part of your life.

Personal time and romance become distant memories and the stress

Christmas 2013 was a wonderful time for family and friends to gather together, sharing food, love, conversation and just enjoying being together in one place.  For our family, Christmas Celebration begins with the Advent Services each Sunday leading up to Christmas.  Seeing the lighting of the Advent Candles at church gets my kids excited about lighting them in our own home each Sunday. 

They learn more about the events leading up to Christ's birth and the reasons why we Celebrate each year.  Although we love the beautifully decorated trees, seeing the lights on  many houses around town and finding lots of wrapped presents under the tree on Christmas Morning, we try to remember and Celebrate the Reason for Christmas each year with special traditions.

My children's favorite

I am planning our first trip to Disney World for this April during Spring Break from school - and I am already overwhelmed.  I have already figured out how to save big on our hotel (off-site but nearby) - and have planned to visit possibly 3 days of our stay at Disney - but alternate a Disney World day with a day in between for rest or going to the beach/pool so not to overwhelm and tire out too quickly.

Now, I am trying to find

Ok it is the very first day of a brand New Year - and what am I doing?  Searching the internet to help me decide what my "New Year's Resolutions" will be and how I can actually achieve them.  After finding that I have been online for nearly 3 hours, I've finally come to the realization that making "resolutions" is the wrong way for me to start my New Year (plus getting off the computer might be a good place to start as well - lol)

So, starting now, I am working on a more reasonable "New Year's Task List" that I will check off as I accomplish each little Step of Each Task - making smaller goals that are easier to achieve and give a sense of accomplishment and purpose to start out this 2014!

Task #1 - Take Care of My Needs

As a Stay At Home Mom in a One income Family - I usually ignore my personal wants and sometimes even my needs in order to take care of

Have you ever considered becoming a Virtual Assistant?  Here is your chance - I just completed an online VA course through Divas Stamp of Approval Program.

My instructor

 On a beautiful bright and sunny fall day, my family and I were getting ready to leave a wonderful and inspiring Church service to head home.  My husband and son were deciding whether or not to take a drive out to practice for hunting season, when we exited the building.

Overly warm, humid 67 degree weather, bright sun, with lots of white fluffy clouds flying across the sky seems like a perfect Sunday.  Except for the increase of wind and a horrible, frightening sound off in the distance.  It sounded vaguely familiar but was far enough away that I could not quite figure out what it was.  The sky was much darker off that direction, but it didn't phase me much as we headed through the windy yet sunny morning to get in the car.

After arriving home and shooing the kids upstairs to

Here is a spoof on some of the most popular sleep training methods, from a baby's point of view. I found this on a fellow blogger's blog and asked if I could share it with you.  It is so funny, enjoy!




'OK, here’s my situation. My Mommy has had me for almost seven months. The first few months were great. I cried, she picked me up and fed me, anytime, day or night. Then something happened. Over the last few weeks, she has been trying to STTN (sleep through the night). At first, I thought it was just a phase, but it is only getting worse. I’ve talked to other babies, and it seems like its pretty common after Mommies have had us for around six months.


Night 1: Cry every three hours until you get fed. I know, its hard. Its hard to see your Mommy upset over your crying. Just keep reminding yourself, its for her own good.

Night 2: Cry every two hours until you get fed.

Night 3: Cry every hour. Most Mommies will start to respond more quickly after about three nights.

Some Mommies are more alert, and may resist the change longer. These Mommies may stand in your doorway for hours, shhhh-ing. Don’t give in. I cannot stress this enough: CONSISTENCY IS KEY!! If you let her STTN (sleep through the night), just once, she will expect it every night. I KNOW ITS HARD! But she really doesn’t need the sleep, she’s just resisting the change.

If you have an especially alert Mommy, you can stop crying for about 10 minutes, just long enough for her to go back to bed and start to fall asleep. Then cry again. It WILL eventually work. My Mommy once stayed awake for 10 hours straight, so I know she can do it.

Last night, I cried every hour. You just have to decide to stick to it and just go for it. BE CONSISTENT! I cried for any reason I could come up with. My sleep sack tickled my foot. I felt a wrinkle under the sheet. My mobile made a shadow on the wall. I burped, and it tasted like pears. I hadn’t eaten pears since lunch, what’s up with that? The cat said 'meow'. I should know. My Mommy reminds me of this about 20 times a day. LOL. Once I cried just because I liked how it sounded when it echoed on the monitor in the other room. Too hot, too cold, just right - doesn’t matter! Keep crying!! It took awhile, but it worked.

She fed me at 4am. Tomorrow night, my goal is 3:30am. You need to slowly shorten the interval between feedings in order to reset your Mommies internal clocks. Sometimes my Mommy will call for reinforcements by sending in Daddy. Don’t worry, Daddies are not set up for not needing sleep the way Mommies are. They can only handle a few pats and shhing before they declare defeat and send in the Mommy.

Also, be wary of the sleep sheep with rain noises. I like to give Mommy false hope that listening to the rain puts me to sleep sometimes I pretend to close my eyes and be asleep and then wait until I know Mommy is settling back to sleep to spring a surprise cry attack.If she doesn’t get to me fast enough I follow up with my fake cough and gag noise that always has her running to the crib.At some point I am positive she will start to realize that she really doesn’t really need sleep.

P.S. Don’t let those rubber things fool you, no matter how long you suck on them, no milk will come out. Trust me.



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When in doubt about how to get the kiddos to get along during school breaks - separate them.


If that doesn't seem to work, or you want them to learn to get along - make them play a game together - come up with a NEW way to play an old game - or work together on a fun project (like a welcome home banner for Dad who is on a work trip) - oversee them for a few minutes to get them started - then tell them to find the best way to work together without arguing!  

You can even offer a prize or incentive for getting along well! (yes I do resort to bribing my kids on occasion)

My two girls are spending some time with their grandparents this weekend, so my son is the only kid home for the next few days.  While Dad was at work yesterday, he and I went to see Despicable Me 2 in our local theater.  It was his choice for the movie (I wanted to see Monsters U)

The movie made us both laugh, repeatedly and was a joy to watch.  My son and I had fun spending some quality bonding time together and laughing at what I call "boy humor" throughout the movie.

It is always good for Mom (and Dad) to spend individual time with each and every child.  I get quite a bit of one-on-one with each of the girls, but my son tends to spend a lot more time with his Dad than with Mom.  So getting in some Mom/Son time was a joy for us both and something I look forward to again in the near future.

Have you spend any one-on-one time lately with your child(ren)?  Tell me about it!  leave me a comment and let me know how it went, what you did, where you go?

:)