Dear Moms of Girls - Wordless Wednesday

Today's Wordless Wednesday won't be so wordless.  Today, I just want to encourage you to encourage your daughters!  There are so many influences out there in the world, so many trends to follow, and don't let me get started on the social media world.  My oldest daughter made a post last week about staying true to you and she doesn't even realize how much that post blessed me.  I remember being the girl at school trying to fit in with the crowd, changing who I was just to feel accepted!  That is something I never wanted my girls to go through.  So I make sure as their mom, to pray for them and let them know daily that they are each known, loved, and accepted.

Balancing Diapers and Deadlines - Review

I'm writing this as I sit here and sip on a nice, warm cup of coffee.  You see I realize that life can be full as a wife and mom.  Full of appointments, errands, needs, wants, lists, plans, love, tears, prayers I could keep going, but I think you get the point.  If you add homeschool to that it gets even fuller, a work from home position, now it seems like the bubble is about to burst at any moment.  The joys of being a stay-at-home wife, homeschool, working, mom...
Did you hear the tires screech?  Now, in all seriousness it is joyful, however, life can seem overwhelming and stressful if we don't manage all of our hats right.  That is why I was thrilled to take the Balancing Diapers and Deadlines course from Lisa Tanner Writing.  Being a homeschool blogger is fun and I love to encourage other homeschooling moms, BUT my family MUST always come first.  That's why I happily agreed to review this course; to get some work-at-home productivity tips.  I hope you don't run when you see the word diapers.  Stick around and see what this time management for busy moms course has to offer.

No Longer Little: Parenting Tweens with Grace and Hope - Book Review

I have been a parent for 15 almost 16 years and I can still remember when I was pregnant with my first child all the warnings I got about the baby keeping you up at night, or the "terrible twos" and even the sassiness of girls, and roughness of boys.  I made it through those stages with flying colors all 4 of our children were great babies and toddlers.  I remember thinking "wheew" we made it.  However, what everyone forgot to warn me about were the tween and teen stages, so my husband and I walked right into them unprepared. You know what? Come to think of it maybe they did, but we just ignored it because we made it through the other stages clear of disaster.  As parents of 4 children, we pretty much thought we had this parenting thing down to a science.  I mean love them, discipline them, feed them, teach and train them, provide for them, nurture them, and most importantly share the Word of God with.  We thought it would only get easier the older they get. LOL  If I can be honest for a second, well I'm always honest, but it seem like the right thing to say in this sentence, ok back to what I was saying the tween years of 10-14 has been the most challenging for us in our home for both the child and us so I am glad I had some help from Great Waters Press with their newest title No Longer Little: Parenting Tweens with Grace and Hope.  I received this book in exchange for my honest review and I will start by saying it is amazing!!

Kid Friendly Email Account - A Review

Although we don't allow our children to freely roam the internet there are a few things we would still like them to learn.  Things like how to send/receive emails and proper email etiquette.  In learning that we don't them to be exposed to inappropriate spam mail or have to worry about who they are sending and receiving emails from.  Kids Email helps alleviate a ton of the worrying.  Which is why we were happy to review a one-year subscription to their Kids Email Safe Email for Kids.  This has been a great way for them to continue practicing their keyboarding skills, writing skills, and spelling.  They really enjoyed being able to keep in contact with their grandparents and the grandparents enjoyed it just as much.

Mom Tip Tuesday - Introduction

I just wanted to introduce my readers to a new ongoing series I will be starting here on my blog.  I know the majority of you are moms, so I thought it would be fun and interesting to start what I am calling, "Mom Tip Tuesday."

PARENTING MADE PRACTICAL - Taming the Lecture Bug and Getting Your Kids to Think Review

Do you get tired of repeating yourself a million times to your kids?  How many times have you had to have a lecture with your kids about the same thing?  Have you ever repeated your self so much that you start feeling like you are the bad person?  Maybe you have fussed so much that you start to feel like maybe what you are fussing about is really not a big deal after all.  I know I am not alone in this.  I was just beginning to think it was part of parenting.  You know, one of those things you have to do until they get older and it finally sticks.  I was tired of nagging and fussing because I didn't want to be that mama.  The one that is always fussing about something.   Being apart of the Homeschool Review Crew has given me so many opportunities to review and be exposed to things that I would not have considered on my own.  Being able to review the Parenting Made Practical book Taming the Lecture Bug and Getting Your Kids to Think and the DVD with the same title was one of those opportunities.  I was happy because I already love to read and I'm tired of fussing and lecturing about the same thing every day.  It's not just tiring it's exhausting!

Baby Names A-Z

Our youngest child is 9-years-old and my husband and I are not planning to have any more children, but I am always thinking of cute baby names especially when I am having baby fever.  I remember when I was pregnant with all of my kids I would look through book after book trying to find names that my husband and I agreed on.  Guess what, none of my children names came from any of the books I read.  I like unique names and if it wasn't unique I wanted to a least spell it unique.  I thought it would be fun to come up with baby boy and girl names for every letter of the alphabet. You may or may not like any of the names I suggest but at least you can look through and share them with others.

Modest Teen Fashion - Cleo Madison Review

Is it just me or is it hard to find cute, modest clothes for teen girls?  I'm always on the hunt for clothes for my oldest daughter. She's 14, very tall, slender, and she's at that awkward stage where she's over the kiddie section clothes, teens section is way too skimpy, and the women's section is too "old ladyish".  We can never find jeans long enough for her long legs or shirts that aren't cut too low or rise too high. The struggle is real!  Please, tell me I'm not the only mama going through this. You do understand, right?

This post is sponsored by Cleo Madison

Parenting Tips for 2018

Parenting.....  It's one of  the most rewarding jobs (my sister hates when I call it a job) there are, yet it can be overwhelming and even hard at times.  I remember being pregnant with my first child, reading every parenting book I could get my hands on, I just knew by the time she was born I was going to be a pro at being a mommy.  Ha!  I remember her crying, me trying to feed her, burp her, sing to her, bounce her, play soothing music, everything the books had told me to do.  She was still crying and so was I by now. What was wrong?  What about the first time she refused food and I tried playing the airplane game, telling her how good it was, even tasting it myself?  What now?  Fast forward now I have four kids.  I have repeatedly asked them to finish their chores. Why do I have to remind them everyday.  Why am I constantly saying things like, "be nice to your brother," "stop throwing that football in the house," " yes you have to eat it" no you can't watch that" I could go on and on forever.  I've come to realize parenting is never ending, consistent reminders are necessary, and grace for both child and parent is a must.  I have now been a parent for almost 15 years, wow that makes me feel old, so I think its ok to share a few tips I've learned along the way.