Book Club Blog Hop: Week 1

For as long as I can remember I have listed reading as a hobby of mine.  And while that has always been mostly true, I've grown to enjoy reading so much more over the past few years. I've read books that encourage and inspire.  Books that challenge me, make me think and have a refining affect on me. Books that make me laugh, cry....you get the point.  That's why I am joining 8 other bloggers for a summer book club blog hop during the month of June.  Sounds fun doesn't it?  

This month I wanted to take the opportunity to review books that I've recommended many times over to friends of mine.  When people find out that I am willing to talk about the sometimes taboo or difficult topic of intimacy in marriage one of the first things they will ask me is about how to talk to kids about such an important topic.  How young is too young? When should they begin talking about the subject?

My opinion: it's never too young to share with children how much God loves them and has a plan for every area of their lives. The book I am writing about today is, I believe, an incredibly age appropriate book about purity.

The Princess and the Kiss by Jennie Bishop follows a young princess as she makes the decision about the kiss God gave her at birth.  Will she find a prince who is worthy of such a precious gift? After all, it is hers to keep or to give away. 

My favorite part of the book is when the princess becomes overwhelmed with the enormity of her choice.  Feeling distraught and discouraged she confesses to her mother that she is not sure if she will ever find a man special enough to give away her kiss. Her mother comforts her and tells her she believes God will bring her a husband and that if He doesn't she is free to treasure her kiss forever.  "The princess took comfort in that thought, for she knew that God could be trusted, and she cherished the kiss with all that she was." (emphasis mine)

That's what I want my kids to know, God can be trusted.  He can be trusted to help them through all their emotions and feelings. Raging hormones are not a surprise or a curse.  God created them and knows them intimately, and He does desire what is best for them regarding purity.  In today's society, sexual purity goes against the norm, it's completely counter cultural. That's why I believe it's important to talk about and teach from a biblical standpoint what God says is best in this area. 

Seeing how I have girls, I've never read the boy counterpart for this book. (The Squire and the Scroll) If any of you have read it, feel free to leave a comment and let me know what you thought.  That's all I have for you this week. If your kids are older than storybook age, consider following the next few Wednesdays as I review a few other books that may provide more age appropriate information for your kids. And don't forget to check out these other ladies blogs for some ideas for good reads.

Blessings!

Clockwise, from top center:

Lorrie @ Life and Lessons Learned, Audrey @ Everything Beautiful, Tracey @ Building My House, Jessica @ Redeeming the Home, Charli @ WV Urban Hippies, Selena at Campbell Clan, Kathleen @ Positive Adoption, and Maria @ The Joyfully Frugal Home 

Not pictured: Megan @ Parenting Beyond

Summer: Off to a great start

To celebrate the end of school we decided to spend the first day of summer vacation at the park. In fact we had a cousins day at the park by inviting Lydia and Emma's cousins to join us.  We had a great day running, swinging, rolling down the hill (I'm not as young as I once was!) climbing and laughing together.  The weather was absolutely BEAUTIFUL and we found a really fun hiking trail behind the park. We've played at this park for years and never knew it was there so, yay for adventure!

Now enough about the details, here are the pics!

One Climbing tree at the park

Rolling fun (sure is a big hill)

Just Hangin' around and having fun

We had a "treemendous" time (all these cousins are full of puns)

Cousintastic

Twizzler fun

Emma's friend Winter

twisting around

riding the waves on Winter

Piggyback Creativity

I love creative people. From time to time I like to think of myself as creative but in the end my favorite way to be creative is to piggyback off of other people's creativity.  When it comes to ideas for what to do with my kids, new recipes, tips and tricks of organizing or cleaning I am a master adapter not a master inventor.  I find inspiration and creativity all around me and then adapt it so it works for me.

When it comes to sharing any summer sanity tips it's only fair that you understand this about me. I have not come up with all these ideas on my own. I'm simply sharing what works/has worked for us and chronicling for future reference what our days consisted of in the Wright household. 

Here are two of my favorite "Piggyback Creativity" ideas for summer:

1. Summer Bucket List -

We can't possibly do all the wonderful and cool things there are to do around here but we can narrow it down to a list of 20-25 items.  Picnics, playgrounds, pool days, star gazing, fireworks....these all make it onto our summer bucket list and then we cross them off as we finish them.  For more ideas check out The Happy Family Movement. It's great fun to see what other families are doing and get some ideas of how you can adapt their ideas and make them your own.

2. Summer Reading Fun -

I am fortunate, Lydia and Emma LOVE to read. I don't have to convince them that spending time with a good book can take them anywhere they want to go.  For more reluctant readers though, joining a library summer reading program or the Barnes & Noble summer reading program may provide more incentive to hide away with a good book. This year I made a poster board called "Catch the reading bug". The girls school and the library program we join require them to track all the books they read. For us, that's a lot of books! This summer I am going to hang the catch the reading bug poster and attach clipboards with lined paper so they can write down each day the books they read.  I am hoping this will eliminate the, "So what all did you read this week?" question and ensuing writing cramps from writing it all down. 

I would love to hear what your families favorite books and series are.  We enjoy historical, magical and educational series, so please let us know what your families love reading.

Reminder: There is still plenty of time to enter the Summer Sanity Giveaway. Just leave a comment on the giveaway post and then each subsequent comment on summer sanity posts gives you another entry.

Join the conversation:
How do you "piggyback creativity"? What resources have you found most helpful in doing so?

Blessings!

Summer Sanity: Giveaway

Apparently my lack of posts over the past week proves I need to build a little more margin and space into my life. Maybe instead of "Summer Sanity" it should just be called, "Serenity Now!". (Any die hard Seinfeld fans reading?) Anyway, I wanted to let you know about the giveaway I  am running here at Parenting Beyond this month.  This month I am giving away a Summer Sanity Basket.

The Summer Sanity Basket includes:

• KoolPops - for all those hot days!
• Water Ball Sling Shooter
• Sidewalk Chalk
• Paper Plates/plastic utensils - at least you won't have to do dishes for 1 night!
• The Mommy Diaries - Finding Yourself in the Daily Adventure (devotion book)

To enter the giveaway just leave a comment on this post with your best sanity saving tip. Anytime you comment on a post in this series (specifically tagged "Summer Sanity") you will earn an extra entry. The winner will be selected randomly and announced on June 1st 2013.*

Now, to get the ball rolling I'll share one of my sanity saving tips.

Why leave all the hunting of brightly colored treasures for Easter time? Around here we go hunting for hidden treasures all year long.  Every year when we prepare our flower bed gardens we find rocks in our soil. Our idea: take some bright colored paint, decorate the rocks and then take turns hiding and finding. It's always a good time to hide and find.

Now it's your turn. Go!


For anyone who does not share a fondness for Seinfeld, here is a Serenity Now clip to see for yourself.

Blessings!

*Giveaway for Continental US Residents only. Thanks.

Summer Sanity

Who can resist that face! The look of summer. Relaxed. Living life. Or at least that's what I want summer to look like. Last week I attended the Summer Sanity Savers Webcast with Lysa TerKeurst and Crystal Paine. It was a fun way to spend an hour, gave me a few tips and inspired me to gather up some of my own summer sanity tips that work for our family.

(This photo is 3 years old but it's so stinkin' cute. It epitomizes summer for me)

Over the month of May I will share what works and enables our family to enjoy our times together during the summer months.  Even more importantly though, I want to hear from you. What works for your family? What helps save your sanity when things get a bit "hairy" in your home? Let's help each other out this summer and join forces to make this a great summer for our families!

My favorite piece of advice Lysa shared during the webcast was this:

"Exchange whispers with God before shouts with the world." ~ Lysa TerKeurst

No matter what time of year or season of life I am in, this is a truth I must remember.  Before I set my mind to what I need to "do" on any given day, I desire to focus my heart and mind on Who God is and what His plans for me include.  Great advice I desire to apply to my life.

Looking forward to this month as I am planning some guest posts and a giveaway. So, stay tuned and join in the fun!

Blessings!

Budding Artists

Last night the girls and I had a huge treat, we attended a DaVinci and Dessert fundraising event hosted by their school. Knowing how much both girls love art (after out art unit last summer) we splurged and chose to attend an event with a professional artist, dessert and a take home art canvas of our very own. 

Here are some pictures I snapped during our girls night out.

Ready and waiting

Lydia and Mommy did the sketching

A family fun time

Concentration

Starting to look good

Finished Product

So proud of their work

Admittedly, I am not in love with the subject matter of the painting but the event was fun, unique and special. We all had a great time and it was definitely a night well spent. I would attend again in a heartbeat.

Skills without spills

Step # 1 - Ponder how you are going to teach your child to ride their bike without training wheels?

Step # 2 - (Being a modern woman) search youtube for videos on "how to teach your child to ride a bike without training wheels" and find an appropriate video.

Step # 3 - Preview video and then have your child watch video.

Step # 4 - Take child and bike to open space and have them try techniques learned from said video.

Step # 5 - Big smiles, skills refined, celebrate with an ice cream treat.

No tears, raised voices or falling involved! (not that there would have been...ahem)

When little legs get tired, just climb around on big rocks instead

Dairy Cream Corner

 Congrats Lydia! You did a great job.