My Joy-Filled Life

Tuesday, June 18, 2013

Max - 6 Months Old

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Monday, June 17, 2013

How to Spend Quality Time With Your Kids - MOM 2 MOM Mondays {guest post - Joanie}

We cook, we clean, we may homeschool, take care of babies, and a lot of us run home businesses or work outside of the home. We are busy. When you have more than one child it can be difficult to find the time to spend quality time with each one individually. With a little planning and being intentional, you can spend some quality time with each of your children. My husband is currently deployed. I am pretty much stretched to my limits when it comes to my time. I have three kids ages four and under and I’m still nursing my youngest. During the course of this deployment, I realized how easy it is for my two older children to feel like they are sort of getting lost in the shuffle. The baby takes so much of my attention, and I know my oldest would love to have some quality time and attention from me. So, I decided I had to make it happen.

Plan Special Dates
I have started taking my older children on special dates. Each child alternates weeks and we do something special together that they enjoy. Last week my son and I went to a Lego Block Party at our local library. I cannot tell you how happy that made him. We weren’t gone long and my grandparents were able to watch my two younger children. My son is still talking about this special date. My two year old daughter adores the Dollar Tree. It’s her favorite store! So, on her special day we went shopping at the Dollar Tree. I like to get school supplies and cleaning equipment for the kids to use for their chores at the Dollar Tree. Of course, she had to pick out a balloon for herself. You don’t have to do anything elaborate or take a lot of time. You don’t even need to do it weekly. You can do the special dates as often as you like, or as often as you can get help with your other children. Something as simple as a trip to the grocery store with just one child can be a special moment. There was a little fussing the first time I took my oldest out alone from my two-year-old, but once we left and she was playing nicely with Nana and Papa, everything was fine.

Use Baby’s Nap for Quality Time
While your baby is sleeping, take a little time to sit down and play with your older children. Play with your daughter’s dollhouse, build a block tower with your son, or read your child’s favorite story to him. I know we are all busy and we have so many things to do, but our children are only little once. If you can take 10-15 minutes to play with them, you will make memories with them that they will not forget.

Teach Your Child a New Skill
I’m a strong believer in passing down important skills. For my daughter, I want her to learn homemaking skills before she leaves home. I have had to learn and I am still learning so many homemaking skills, but I want her to know how to do these things while she is still at home with us. I also want my son to know some of these skills, too. I let my kids help me in the kitchen. If my husband was home, I could have him do something fun with my boys while I got my daughter in the kitchen with me and showed her how to prepare whatever meal we were preparing. When she gets older, I would love for both of us to learn how to sew together. I love teaching my son how to take care of our herb garden. He has also learned how to sort laundry, steam mop the floor, and several other chores by spending time with me. Not only are we doing something productive together, but we are making quality memories and my kids are learning things that will serve them well into adulthood. Spending quality time with your kids is one of the most important things you can do with your children. It’s even better if you can carve out a little time to spend one-on-one time with your kids! You will develop your relationship, make your child feel valuable, and create lasting memories.

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Joanie Boeckman is a country mama who loves Jesus. Her husband is her American hero and her three children are her world. She loves watching her backyard chickens peck the ground, learning about real food, and homeschooling her babes. She desires to empower women in their roles as homemakers, mothers, and homeschool teachers at Simple Living Mama. Also check her out on Facebook for fun updates!

Sunday, June 16, 2013

My Pregnancy Journal #56: Week of 6/16/2013

Welcome to the {last} “My Pregnancy Journal” Link-Up.

Before I formed you in the womb I knew you,

before you were born I set you apart...

Jeremiah 1:5

As you may have read last week, there are some changes happening with the link-up!

Good changes!

Yes, this is the last My Pregnancy Journal Link-Up, but.......

Babies & Beyond will be taking its place!

Plus, I have two lovely ladies joining me in hosting the link-up.

Sarah @ My Joy-Filled Life

Katherine @ Proverbs & Pacifiers

Whitney @ Beauty in the Mess

If you don't know these bloggers, you should!
Head over and check out their blogs and say Hello!
{Thank you to Katherine for the link-up's new name}

Every Sunday, we will each be hosting the link-up on our blogs. You can link up at either one and your link will appear on all three blogs.
We will each pick a post to feature each week, so be sure to visit the three hosts each week to see if you were featured.

And of course we will be sharing any birth announcements that link up each week!

This week's featured mom is Daja @ The Provision Room.

Daja has been breastfeeding for 11 years, 11 months, and 11 days! She shares lots of wisdom and advice on the subject - a very informative post.

I'm a little sad that this is the last My Pregnancy Journal Link-Up, but I'm also excited for what's ahead!
I hope you will link up one last time with the My Pregnancy Journal Link-Up and then come back next week and share your posts at Babies & Beyond!

Friday, June 14, 2013

The ABCs of Homeschooling {a new series}

I'm super excited to tell you all about a new series coming to
My Joy-Filled Life!

The ABCs of Homeschooling will be starting on June 21st - a week from today!

Every Friday, one of my fellow homeschool bloggers will share a post that relates to homeschooling in one way or another. They will be sharing their ideas, wisdom, tips, and advice about the topic of their choice.

Here is a list of the topics and the blogs that will be contributing:

A - Alphabet Wildflower Ramblings

B - Bible Thinking Kids

C - Charlotte Mason Guiding Light Homeschool

D - Daily Life

E - Early Learning Teachable {Mom}ents

F - Field Trips To the Moon and Back

G - Gardening Vicki Arnold

H - Hybrid Family Adventures with Jude

I - Incorporating Multiple Ages Tolivers to Texas

J - Journaling Angels of Heart

K - Knowledge A Net in Time Schooling

L - Lapbooking Farm Fresh Adventures

M - Memory Work His Mercy is New

N - Nature No Doubt Learning

O - Outdoors Bow of Bronze

P - Prayer Upside Down Homeschooling

Q - Questions Life with Moore Babies

R - Routine Monsters Ed Homeschool Academy

S - Sensory Little Bins for Little Hands

T - Thanksgiving Are We There Yet?

U - Unit Studies Look! We're Learning!

V - Volunteering For This Season

W - Wonder Cultivated Lives

X - X Marks the Spot Proverbial Homemaker

Y - You Mommy Evangelism

Z - The Chaos and the Clutter

Grab a button or banner and help spread the word!

See you next Friday!!

Thursday, June 13, 2013

Hearts for Home Blog Hop #21

Welcome to the Hearts for Home Blog Hop!

I'm super excited to be teaming up with Jill from Enchanted Homeschooling Mom, Heather from Upside Down Homeschooling, and 7 other amazing homeschool bloggers! That's a total of 10 of us bringing you the Hearts For Home Blog Hop every Thursday. Do you know what that means? That means you will be able to reach a lot more readers with all of your fabulous posts, plus you will have even more wonderful posts to explore and meet some new blogging friends along the way.

Here are the posts that I'm featuring this week - the most clicked and a few of my favorites.

The Most Clicked:

1. Children are a Blessing shares the first part of her family's modesty transformation. I can't wait to read more!

My Favorites:

2. Teacher @ Home shares about her change of heart regarding advertising on blogs; a very thoughtful post.

3. Teaching Mama shares 5 fun, scientific, water activities; just in time for summer.

4. Under God's Might Hand shares a list of 7 children's books that spark family discussions on faith.

5. Mom's Mustard Seeds shares some great tips on how to find quiet time in God's word even in our busy lives.

We invite everyone to get "clicking" and have some blog hopping fun!

We have created a Pinterest Board so that we can help spread the word about the blogs that have been featured here. Make sure to stop by and check it out!

Clip art used in this blog hop by:
http://www.jessicaweible.com/
http://www.etsy.com/shop/MareeTruelove

*By linking up to the Hearts for Home Blog Hop, you are granting all participating hosts of the Hearts for Home Blog Hop permission to use and/or re-post photographs from your blog or website post that you linked up to this blog hop*

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