Slices of Life

Looking for family movie ideas? It sure seems like we're always looking for fun movies that we can all enjoy for our family movie nights.  We used to host family movie night once a month but it was becoming difficult to find movies that we could all enjoy together.   My middle school son would rather not watch anything with cartoons if it can be avoided but many live action movies have a lot of swearing, nudity or deal with topics I'd rather not expose my two younger ones to.   I've already compiled one list of family movies we do enjoy together and thought I'd put together a second list. The Three Stooges Movie Daddy Day Care Daddy Day Camp Are We There Yet? Around the World In 80 Days The Indian in the Cupboard Secondhand Lions Snow Dogs Eight Below ET Hook The Karate Kid movies Three Ninja's set  Dennis the Menace Sorcerer's apprentice   Indiana Jones (some of them are PG) Uncle Buck The Great Outd...

We recently had some friends over and I was thinking... "Hm... there's some new dessert I made last time that we just loved... what was it?"   It took me a few days but I finally remembered that I had tried making some blueberry cookies with white chocolate chips-- and we just LOVED them! We always pick a lot of blueberries in the summer because we have so many bushes near us.  I am often looking for new recipes to try out to use up those leftover blueberries. We also freeze a lot of blueberries each year.  I usually end up with a good 2 -3 gallon size freezer bags of blueberries and by this time of the year I'm trying to make sure they're all used up so we can make room for the new ones we'll be picking. I have one whole bag of blueberries left so we'll be making a lot of blueberry recipes over the next few weeks. I had only made these cookies using fresh berries but figured as long as I did not thaw the frozen blueberries out that I should ...

We had a great week filled with lots of summer fun!  We went to an amusement park, a water park, and even the beach!  We also squeezed in some schoolwork and some more summer art projects.  It may sound a bit busy but it seemed so nice and relaxing. Reading:  Ian finished up White House White Out and read Sleepy Hallow Sleepover .  Alec started reading Secrets According to Humphrey , read a few more chapters in Confronting the Dragon and began reading Story Thieves The Stolen Chapters .  Evan read a few more chapters in Miss Daisy is Crazy .  We started reading In Too Deep .  We finished up The Silver Chair and started re- listening to The Lost Hero at the boys' request. Math :  Evan worked on two more pages in his Dollars and Cents book each day while Alec continued plugging away at his Batman 5th grade math book .  Ian worked on a few more pages in his 6th grade math review book and it's such a relief to see all that h...

We had a busy day planned yesterday so I told the boys we wouldn't be doing any art.  I figured we had finished up two more projects for our 100 Days of Art Challenge and I wasn't going to worry about skipping a day or trying to add in an art project and make our morning more stressful than it needed to be.  Imagine my surprise when Evan asked if they could use the Stained Glass Made Easy kits that we had bought last week. It was the perfect solution.  They still got to be crafty and the kits are easy enough for the boys to all do independently.  These kits were also quick enough for them all to finish in one sitting so they had beautiful stained glass windows to hang up before we headed out for our day. My middle son got a few of these kits for his birthday and has loved them so much that I think we have a stained glass picture in just about every room of the house!  My other two sons never had a chance to work with these kits though and I could tell...

 I am so fortunate to have so many happy memories and moments!  My only problem was deciding how far back to go with this list and how much detail to go into.  Spending each day with my boys there aren't always huge moments that stick out in my mind. Looking back over the years there are many smiles, lots of laughter, and a whole lot of fun.  Here is a listing of my happiest moments: The day my husband proposed My wedding day Every moment of our honeymoon  The day we moved into our home When I found out I was pregnant  Listening to baby heartbeats in the doctor's office  The first time I felt any of my babies move while pregnant The birth of my children The short Disney trip my husband and I took when the kids were little and we left them home!  It was like a second honeymoon. Watching my boys during their preschool plays and graduation Family vacations; they all bring back such sweet, happy memories Watching my boys show mastery of...

We made a water bottle windsock and I just love how it looks hanging out in the sun! We were looking for a quick and easy craft project yesterday as part of our 100 Days of Art Challenge and the boys saw some of these colorful water bottle spirals on my Pinterest page; they could not wait to get started! Want to know how to make one?  They're so simple. Supplies: Empty water bottle Sharpie markers in a variety of colors Spray Varnish Scissors Wire or string Taking our clean water bottles, we removed all the labeling and started coloring them with markers.  We made sure to fill up the entire outside of the water bottle with colors. Evan really enjoyed this project! Once colored we sprayed the entire bottle with varnish.  I am hopeful that by spraying them with varnish the colors will hold up longer in the sun, rain, and elements. We waited for the varnish to dry and then we cut the bottom off of each water bottle and using our sciss...