Easing Your Kids’ Back-to-School Nerves

  We’ve all experienced the first day anxiety of something…You know that YUCKY feeling you get on the first day back to school when your stomach is turned upside down doing somersaults like it’s in the Olympics. As a former school teacher, I have seen that agonizing look of fear on so many faces on the first day of school. You know that YUCKY feeling you get on the first day back to school – 10 ways to ease your child’s nerves Click To Tweet  Believe it or not, most teachers go to great extremes to help ease their students’ …

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20 Memory Making Ideas for Summertime Fun

“There is a time for everything,  and a season for every activity under heaven” Ecclesiastes 3:1 I love the summer! How about you? Everything is alive and lively. The days are longer, the air smells sweeter, the kids are out of school and it’s time to play! Unfortunately, when my children were young, I often found school was knocking on the door of our summer fun before we really got to enjoy the season that seemed to all-too-quickly slip through our fingers. Making memories with our kids means we have to intentionally plan our days; purposely putting some things on …

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Help Your Children Find Their Inner Geek

  Let’s face it. There’s something about each of our lives that only we can get excited about. You know what I mean. You wait with baited breath to tell someone the most wonderful thing that has happened to you in weeks and . . . they meet your excitement with a blank stare and eyes darting for another topic. Maybe you’re a rare key collector, a plane engine buff, or someone who loves to discover how other people’s favorite color relates to their personality. Maybe you’re the world’s best Salsa dancer. Or pogo stick bouncer. Or plant whisperer. When …

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5 Tips for Kids and Daylight Saving Time

It’s only 60 minutes, but Daylight Saving Time can rock a child’s world. That means it rocks OUR world too, mom! About ¼ of the world observes Daylight Saving Time (that’s right – no “s” on the end of Saving), so the slight change hits  ALOT of the world! Not everyone is a fan of the time change. Even in my country, Hawaii and Arizona don’t play along, but most states do. In 2015 Daylight Saving Time begins Sunday, March 8 as we move our clocks forward an hour, and it ends Sunday, November 1st (Fall BACK, Spring FORWARD). Because our …

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5 Easy & Fun Ways for the Family to Get Healthy

I did it again!  I overate during the Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays. And so did my kids. How about you and yours? Too much sugar? Too many carbs? Too few veggies? Little or no exercise? Is that as true for you and your family as it is for ours? There are a ton of ways to get healthy and stay healthy, but there are a ton of reasons (a/k/a excuses) why we don’t. Some may be legitimate reasons and real life seasons when we can’t fit it all in or get it all done, but if we were honest, it’s …

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10 Ways to Make Your Child’s Lunchbox a Healthy One

You’ve heard it said before, “You are what you eat.”  So are our children. Recently, statistics have unveiled a startling truth about our children’s eating habits. It seems as though the number one food that children eat is chicken nuggets. Some chicken nuggets aren’t so bad, but I think because we think they are eating chicken, we forget that most of them are deep friend in hydrogenated oil. In The Making of a Mom, I wrote about how loving our children well includes making sure they eat well. But healthy doesn’t always come easily in a world full of drive thru’s …

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Beach Safety & First Aid by Karen Ketchie

We’re blessed to hear from 2 registered nurses this weekend as they share about water safety! Yesterday, RN and M.O.M. mentor, Angela Mackey shared about how to recognize drowning and what to look for with what is called secondary drowning. Today, we are blessed to have another registered nurse, Karen Ketchie share about beach safety and first-aid! AND… At BETTER TOGETHER, Angela Mackey will be sharing some amazing workshops…one of those workshops is called, Sex, Sex, Sex…When and How to Talk to Your Kids About It. And Karen Ketchie will be sharing a workshop called, First-Aid for the Family. You …

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Water Safety

It is nearly Summer. School is out and temperatures are beginning to soar.  That can only mean that swimming pools, lakes, creeks, and oceans are calling our name. Most of us think we know what drowning looks like. We’ve seen it on T.V. or in a movie. Right? Someone is wildly flailing their arms and crying for help. That is how we know someone is in trouble. But is that reality? According to Dr. Frank Pia – over 20 years experience as a life guard – there is an instinctive drowning response that looks less like the movies and more like …

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Mom the Enforcer or Mom the Evaluator by Lori Wildenberg

Do you sometimes feel like you are the Enforcer? Or the Parent Police? Okay instead be the EVALUATOR!  Summertime is filled with countless decisions because of the additional flex time. Evaluating every activity deciding, whether or not to give the go ahead nod  or deliver the dreaded no is exhausting. No matter the age of your kiddo, youngster to young adult, constantly  thinking  on your feet to determine if your answer is a  yea or nay is such a brain drain!  Constantly thinking on your feet to determine if your answer is a yea or nay is a brain drain! …

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A Story Like Yours… or Maybe Not ~ But a God Who Makes Beauty Out of Ashes…OH…and a Conference You Just Can’t Miss!

Hey you. Yeah. You! The one who may have had a rough day, a bad past, or are feeling a little lost in this great big wide world. I want to share a bit of my heart with you about what God has brought me from and what God has brought me to. It’s not a rags to riches story…but is is beauty from ashes story. It’s a story about a girl…a girl whose story might be like yours…or maybe not. But it’s about a God who is really good at making beauty out of ashes. It’s a story about …

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