January Pictures

 Slowly catching up! Here are pictures from our life in January 2013.

Kaleb hard at work!

A totally normal picture for my children:

 Rick Strickland doing special singing at church:

 Impact Service at church:

 "I don't need a nap!" 20 minutes later...

 Pretending to sleep on the comfortable hardwood floor:

Stephen's Christmas present from me - Zac Brown Band in concert:

Easy Handprint Fish

Okay, I'll admit it. You all know I'm a sucker for inexpensive, cute crafts I can do with the kids to keep them from getting bored or getting on each other's nerves!

I saw this craft a long time ago on Mom to 2 Posh Lil Divas and just now was able to try it out with the kids. It's a winner, and incredibly easy.

What you need:
Any color paints the kids pick out
Paint brushes
White paper
Black marker

To make the fish paint the bottom of the palm nearest the wrist in one color. This will be the face. Then, paint the remainder of the palm in another color. Finally, paint the fingers in alternating colors.

Or basically, do what you want with the paint.

Make the handprint and allow it to dry.

Once it has dried, add the eye and the mouth to make the face.

We also dipped our fingers in blue paint to make air bubbles.

The kids love to do things like this and they turned out so cute!

Homemade Silly Putty

From: Frugal Fun 4 Boys

I've been wanting to try this activity for about two years and my kids are finally at the perfect age for it! I grew up loving Silly Putty, did you? I put that stuff on everything to make cool designs. Well, it turns out you can make it in your kitchen!

What You'll Need:

• 1/2 tsp Borax
• 1/4 cup warm water
• 1/4 cup cornstarch
• 2-3 oz school glue
• Food coloring (optional)

Dissolve the Borax in the warm water.

Mix together the borax/water mixture with the cornstarch and glue, and food coloring if desired. Mix it all together. It starts out pretty gooey but the longer you mix the more it will become putty-like.

I noticed mine was pretty moist and squishing out water so I added a bit extra cornstarch as I was kneading it, just like I would do when making bread. 

Also, the more playing the kids did, the more it became the consistency that I remembered as a kid. The food coloring didn't really add anything to it, so it's definitely optional.

We started out with the obvious choice to run over the putty - a tractor. The pictures aren't great but you get the idea.

 A pony pranced through Brianna's silly putty:

Now this is the consistency I remember growing up. Cool!

And this stuff is strong! Brianna strapped it onto a big truck and pulled the truck around with the putty.

If you want to save it and play with it again later, dip it in water and place it in an airtight container.

Thumbs up to this fun project! We'll be doing this again!

Fire Department Tour

Today, we were super fortunate to be invited along to a fire safety event at one of our local fire stations! I'm always looking for fun/educational/free reasons to get the kids out of the house for a few hours! It was really awesome and I would recommend this to anyone with young children. They had lots of videos and simple discussions for the kids, and let them climb all over a fire truck at the end of the presentation. Thank you to Whispering Pines Fire Department for a very fun and informative event!

The Golden Years Review

I recently read a great book by Christopher Bogosh called "The Golden Years: Healthy Aging and the Older Adult". Now you might be wondering why I wanted to read this book, considering I am years away from being considered part of the "golden years" age group. But I am so glad I read this book. This is the second book I have read by Bogosh and he is so intelligent and really knows what he is talking about.

The book covers so many bases. In the section on aging, he talks about each system of the body and how it is affected by the aging process. In the healthy living section, he talks of vaccines, exercise, sleep, dental care, and many other facets of being healthy. He has a whole section on preventive healthcare which talks a lot about the Affordable Care Act, so it is very relevant. He even has an entire section on healthcare management which speaks a lot about the end of life and the decisions that individuals and families both have to make. And he ties in every single aspect to scripture.

There are so many things to think about with the aging process. Many of these were things that had never crossed my mind because of my age. But I do have grandparents in this stage of life, and in a couple more decades my parents will be in this stage of life. It is better to know what to expect than to be surprised.

I highly, highly recommend for people to read this book.

Thank you to Cross Focused Reviews and Good Samaritan Books for a copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

Boot Camp Review

When I got the opportunity to review "Boot Camp: Equipping Men With Integrity for Spiritual Warfare" by Jason Hardin, I jumped at the chance. The day it came in the mail I handed it to my husband instead of reading it right away. My husband loves the idea of battling when it comes to spiritual warfare because it makes him feel more prepared and stronger to fight. He loves the visual of that.

Hardin's book did not disappoint. He uses plenty of examples from the Bible to show us men who struggled with spiritual warfare and how it made them grow spiritually. He goes through topics such as selfishness, jealousy, hypocrisy, and fighting temptation. And of course there is a whole section on how we can be strong in the Lord's power.

This book is a great read. It is interesting and will capture your attention. It has things to say which I believe are very important, particularly for men as the leaders of households. I highly recommend reading this, or doing it as a book study with others.

Thank you to Cross Focused Reviews and DeWard Publishing for a copy of the book in exchange for an honest review.