Family Brings Joy - MY Family Brings Joy

Right Frame of Mind

February 22, 2013 By Shan Leave a Comment

I’m up early this morning. Youngest girl is going on a field trip. She was so excited. We pulled on her skinny jeans, slid on shoes and tied her scarf. I should have taken a photo. After preparing her sack lunch with a peanut butter sandwich, Cheetos, Oreos and G2, she was off. DH took the kids to school on his way to work. Thank you hubby.

I’m going running this morning. After scrounging up my layers of running clothes, including sliding on my compression socks and shoes, I decided to watch an inspirational video to get me in the right frame of mind. This one was perfect. I felt compelled to share it with you, my lovely readers today.

Doesn’t that put everything in perspective?
I think so.
Have a beautiful Friday my friends.

Sincerely,

Filed Under: Home Brings Joy, Me Time Brings Joy, MY Family Brings Joy, Photography Brings Joy, Running Brings Joy, Values Bring Joy

Sending You Love Via Video

February 14, 2013 By Shan Leave a Comment

Found this fabulous FREE printable by falala designs. It’s perfect for today.

love never fails.

And for your entertainment pleasure…hubby & I made a video just for you!

Personalize funny videos and birthday eCards at JibJab!

Happy Valentine’s Day,

Filed Under: MY Family Brings Joy, Photography Brings Joy, Values Bring Joy

Grandparent’s LOVE – A Valentine’s Day Mantel

February 13, 2013 By Shan 3 Comments

Valentines Mantel 2013 familybringsjoy.com

As usual it’s been a work in progress. Meaning I finally added the finishing touch yesterday.

I’d like to call this “Grandparent’s LOVE.” I decided to add photos of our grandparents in the window frames to feature them. This is a great opportunity for family history discussion within our family. Two couples represented are my grandparents. One couple is my husband’s grandparents. The other two couples are my great grandparents. {Just for the record, I’m not playing favorites. I found these photos quickly and they were the right size to fit on the heart doily} The legacy of enduring love exudes from these grandparents.

Great Grandparents familybringsjoy.com

I am blessed to have one of these grandmother’s living in Arkansas looking and acting as young as ever. I am grateful our children are able to spend time with her. There’s nothing like the love of a grandma. We love you so much Oma!

Valentine Mantel collage1 familybringsjoy.com

I also wanted to feature some of my kids previous handmade gifts of love. My son made the clay heart with the arrow going through it years ago. My youngest daughter made the clay heart inside the small lantern. I think it’s important to display items our kids have made us. This shows them how grateful we are for their works of art, but also encourages their creativity. I’d much rather have a handmade gift than a store bought gift from them.

I found the 2 free printables on Pinterest. You can find them on my Valentine’s Day Pinterest board. I added them to frames I had on hand. The heart photo album is the one I have blogged about in the past. And of course you can see my Stringed Heart Sculpture I just blogged about in the previous post.

Valentines Mantel collage2 familybringsjoy.com

I added the wood “You are the…” board I gave my husband as an anniversary gift one year. The Generosity board I purchased in the past and felt it went with the theme. {I’m also trying to teach this concept to my family. } Last, but certainly not least, is the Christus I glazed at a church activity around 18 years ago. Christ is the epitome of LOVE. He almost always is on my mantel, if not there, then somewhere in our living room where I can see him. The only money spent on this mantel was for the heart doilies and supplies for the Stringed Heart Sculpture. It’s so much fun shopping from home and using what I already have. You should try it.

Celebrating enduring love,

Filed Under: Crafts Bring Joy, Home Brings Joy, MY Family Brings Joy, Photography Brings Joy, Values Bring Joy

Start Your Own Family Book Club

February 1, 2013 By Shan 2 Comments

You know it amazes me where I receive inspiration. Recently while showering I came up with a super great idea.

Here’s the deal. I’m always looking for good wholesome recreational activities for our family. I’ve also been wracking my brain over ways to engage my kids in other activities on their own which don’t consist of TV and computer games. Hopefully this idea will help.

Family Book Club familybringsjoy.com

I introduced Family Book Club on Monday during family night.

This is what we did:

1. We talked about books which are for ages 9 and up. {since our youngest is 9} I looked up some books I thought would be appropriate for all of us to read. {resources further in post} We read the reviews for each book. The 2 older kids chose suitable books they came up with on their own.

2. Each family member wrote their book choice on a piece of paper. The papers went into a bowl.

3. We all rolled a die to see who could draw/choose a paper out of the bowl. The highest number won and drew a paper out of the bowl.

4. My youngest won this time and she ended up drawing her book. It was completely random. Next month she will not write a book choice on a piece of paper nor will she be able to draw a paper. This way everyone will have the opportunity to choose a book and draw a name. It makes it completely random and in my ‘book’ (no pun intended) FAIR. When everyone has a chance to have their book read we will start over again.

5. We set a date for our family book club: February 25th. I plan to have a treat that some how goes with the book.

I found some really good resources online for finding books by ages:

Author James Patterson has a wonderful site called Read Kiddo Read. The site is incredibly easy to navigate through with the following categories:

readkiddoread categories

I also found an article from USA Today where they interview James Patterson. I was surprised to find out he hated to read when he was young. We have that in common. I also hated to read when I was young. He explains what he did for his kids to encourage a love of reading. It is an excellent article worth your time to read. It’s called Inspire Your Kids To Read.

“It’s the parents’ job to find books for kids that they’re gonna love. A lot of parents don’t get that.” James Patterson

Another resource I found was a site called Book Browse: You’re Guide To Exceptional Books. I couldn’t believe how many hundreds of book titles they suggested for ages 9 and up.

****Don’t forget you can always find an audio version of books for you and your kids. This is how I read most of the time. You can read more about how I do that by clicking here and here.

Now, let me tell you that my 14 year old Son was not happy about this idea. He says he’s not reading the book. “It’s too girly.” Honestly, this is no surprise to me. He likes to give us grief so we’ll see what happens. However, I’m looking forward to being able to talk about the characters in the books and have teaching opportunities.

Here’s the book we are reading this month:

Want to join us and start your own Family Book Club?

Who would be interested in maybe a link up party where you share your family’s book of the month?

Read On,

Filed Under: MY Family Brings Joy, Reading Brings Joy, Values Bring Joy

LOTS of Change

January 15, 2013 By Shan 7 Comments

“No blog worthy posts right now?” Hubby asks.

I have a list compiled of blog worthy posts, yet it’s not happening.

There was Christmas.

There was sickness.

Hopefully, I’m on the tail end of this obnoxious sinus infection. I feel way better than I have been, just not back to normal.

The New Year…2013…what has she brought our family so far:

Let’s see…if you’ve been following me on Instagram, you are aware that during my sickness phase my Daughter had oral surgery.

after oral surgery familybringsjoy.com Boy was that a doozy! I really should write a post about how to prepare for having your teen’s impacted wisdom teeth removed. Ugh! Fortunately, she has recovered and no suffering of dry socket, thank heavens! {Photos above show my Daughter with one of her BFFs who came & help nurse…THANK YOU AGAIN C!}

Two days ago, Sunday, DH was released from his volunteer calling of Bishop for our local church congregation. He served without pay and in addition to his full time career for almost 3 years. This is a HUGE change for our family. The Bishop has many responsibilities as leader of the congregation. I am grateful for his service, time, dedication and devotion to that special calling. I am also grateful it is only for a few years. I look forward to a new beginning for our family…more time with my husband and more time for the kids with their dad. I took a photo of hubby & I after church to document this milestone in our lives.

released familybringsjoy.com

Last but not least, I realized I haven’t blogged about my haircut which happened 6 weeks ago.

before and after Nov29 Short Hair Collage familybringsjoy.com

I really love it! It feels like me. LOTS easier to do and I feel lighter. {My hair is extremely thick!} Thank you for all the kind feedback from everyone online about me going very short again. The family was extremely shocked about my decision, but now they say I look weird when they look at photos of me before. lol They are used to it now. Sometimes, I look back at photos of me before and have a teensy bit of regret, but not for long. My husband was right when he said, “it was time for a change.” So glad he agreed.

Before I sign off, I just want to take a minute to say something. If you read this whole post and you are not related to me, I am grateful.

I have been reevaluating my blog. As I have mentioned in the past, I struggle from ADD & depression. Sometimes, when I am feeling low I wonder why anyone would want to read about me who is not a good friend or family member. Heck, I know many friends and family members who don’t visit consistently or at all. Yet, even though you may not comment, I see you coming back here. How? Well, there’s this little website in the blog world called Google Analytics. Occasionally, I go there to see what people are reading or if there are any people at all visiting. Last year 20% of my visitors are returning visitors. That’s you! Thank you. Even though I’m not always consistent with my blog writing you still return. Thank you for caring about me and my family. Otherwise, why else would you be coming back? Sure, I have a few good ideas here and there, but not enough for you to check back to see those. So, again, thank you. I appreciate each and every one of you. You help this silly, eccentric and sometimes lonely Momma feel as though I matter. I know I matter to my family, at least I hope/think I do, but it’s not the same. I am indeed grateful to know I matter to Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ, which is most important. I just hope the talents He has blessed me with can help bless others lives. YOU matter to me and to Him. For it is through others that He meets our needs.

I appreciate YOU,

Filed Under: MY Family Brings Joy, Other Emotions, Photography Brings Joy, Values Bring Joy