Family Stuff - Faith and Family Reviews

Tag Archive for Family Stuff

We’re Back from Duluth, Minnesota!

Posted by html404 on April 19, 2011
in Business, Family Stuff, Travel, Wordless Wednesday

I know, you didn’t even notice we were gone unless you happened to miss my reciprocal comments on your blog, which were done this afternoon by the way!

We spent the weekend in Duluth, Minnesota working as a vendor at their homeschool convention selling a nutrition curriculum and promoting our Young Living business a little bit. We did sell half our books so that is a good thing. We really enjoyed it. We were able to pick up some homeschool supplies and sign our daughter up for a satellite school for the upcoming year. More streamlining happening around here.

Photo credit: Richard I. Bong Bridge, Duluth-Superior by Travelpod Member Donstevenson (but picture choppy waves and overcast skies!)

The weather was very cold and windy. What a treacherous drive going over the bridge from Superior, WI to the Duluth conference center in our 15-passenger van and high winds! We did not get to do much sight-seeing nor did we get to play outside at their many parks due to the weather. 🙁 The children enjoyed seeing the ships and waves on the water, as well as swimming in the hotel pool. Believe it or not, we did not get a single picture of the entire weekend! I am still disappointed over that one.

Wordless Wednesday Update

Last week I stumped most of you with my supplements in my Wordless Wednesday post. I started taking many of them when I was pregnant last year with Go-Go boy who is our eighth child. I had severe heartburn and struggled with a yeast infection my whole pregnancy and friends recommended Barley Green and a good probiotic during my last trimester, so those are two of them. And yes, one of them is my prenatal vitamin since I am still breastfeeding. I did not have access to a natural progesterone after the first couple of months and after reviewing Bebe-O prenatal vitamins and not experiencing constipation, I have stuck with them for extra nutrition and hopes of having baby “stick”, which he obviously did. That’s three supplements down. The others are: flax seed (great for omega-3s, fiber etc.), Omega Blue (fish oil) and Resveratol (antioxidant, longevity and I am using it for a review!)

I have to be honest and tell you that I did not take my supplements for the four days I was gone and have been incredibly tired, even after getting two good nights of sleep. So I am back on my supplement regimen, with the exception of my Resveratrol since the capsules disintegrated in the cooler when its bag got wet. 🙁 My girls did not hear me when I said I was not going to bring them with us – they are pretty efficient when it comes to packing up our clan, but did not get the memo on this one since they packed up food cooler while I ran errands the night before.

Upcoming Giveaway

Would love to have some entries into a new giveaway I will be posting later today. Thanks to all who entered last week’s. The winner will be posted in the upcoming giveaway post. So stay tuned…..

{2 comments}

Yoga by the Dozen DVD Review & Giveaway

Posted by Brande on April 8, 2011
in DVDs & CDs, Education, Faith and Family Reviews Friday Giveaway, Family Stuff, Fun Stuff, Giveaways, Health, Health and Nutrition

Faith and Family Reviews received the following product in exchange for writing a review. While we consider it a privilege to receive free products to review, our reviews are our honest opinion and thoughts of the product.

“Discover an exercise that fosters respect, coordination, and self-confidence for kids! It’s Yoga, of course! Children are natural yogis because of their “in the moment attitude”. Yoga nourishes their mind, body and spirit and paves the way for a life-long tradition of health and fitness.

Yoga By The Dozen™promotes a healthy lifestyle for kids through their highly acclaimed ‘Yoga By The Dozen’ DVD and their complete line of lifestyle products for yoga. The top-selling DVD is a fun, interactive children’s yoga video, designed especially for kids ages 2-6. JoAnna and her 12 friends demonstrate a ‘dozen’ fundamental poses that will introduce your children into the exciting world of Yoga.”

Key Benefits:

Increase Cognitive & Motor skills
Confidence, Courage and Self-Esteem
Balance & Coordination
Memory Retention and Concentration
Nurture Creativity and Self Expression
Respect for themselve and each other
Proven therapy for kids with ADHD and Autism

About JoAnna Ross: “Founder of Yoga By The Dozen™ was trained at City Yoga in Anusara teach-training program. A life long performer, having danced on Broadway for years, found her natural charisma as a performer instantly clicked with kids.”

My Review: I discovered a few things about myself when reviewing “Yoga by the Dozen”. I need A LOT of practice, I have little balance and no flexibility.

My daughter (2 years old) and I put on “Yoga by the Dozen”, she loved it! Watching the children on the DVD (who are little older than her) bend and stretch their bodies into poses. She was following along (she’s needs to work on her balance too, must be a family trait) and trying to say the different poses on the DVD. She’s a big fan of the Virabhadrasana #3 (Warrior #3 Pose). The DVD is approximately 30 minutes. JoAnna demonstrates the pose first and then one of the children replicates the pose to refresh the other children. Then the whole class does the pose together. I enjoyed watching the kids, they are all really enjoying themselves in the DVD. We are going to continue practicing our yoga!

This is a wonderful DVD for beginning adults and children of all ages. On the “Yoga by the Dozen” website www.yogabythedozen.com, you can also visit their store, they have yoga mats and yoga t-Shirts for kids and adults; and don’t forget your video for only 17.99 (plus s&h).

“Yoga by the Dozen” was generous enough to enable Faith & Family Reviews to host a giveaway!!

Giveaway

Enter to win a Yoga by the Dozen dvd! Estimated value $17.99

Mandatory Entry: Tell me why you want to win!

Extra Entries (Please be sure and leave a comment and link for extra entries):

1 Entry:Follow Faith and Family Reviews On Twitter

1 Entry: Follow Yoga by the Dozen on Twitter

1 Entry:Like/Friend Faith and Family Reviews on Facebook.

1 Entry: Like Yoga by the Dozen on Facebook and leave a comment on their wall saying- Faith and Family Reviews sent me.

2 Entries: Follow Faith and Family Reviews on Google Friend Connect (on the our right side bar).

2 Entries: Tweet about this giveaway, but only one tweet per day please. Include your tweet url with your comment. You may write your own tweet or use this one:

Giveaway: Enter to win a dvd from Yoga by the Dozen! http://bit.ly/h5C1CB @faithfamilyrevw! Please share! Thx!

5 Entries: Blog about this giveaway and link back this post and Yoga by the Dozen

1 Entry: for every comment you leave anywhere else on this blog, but please leave a link with your comment!

Details:
This giveaway will run from April 8th, 2011 to April 21st , 2011 at midnight CST. The winner will be chosen through Random.org. Yoga by the Dozen will send one winner their prize. Winner will be contacted via email on or before May 1st, 2011 and will be asked for their contact and other pertinent info. Winners will have 48 hours to send me their e-mail at [ffr] [giveaways] [at] [gmail] [dot] [com] (without spaces and parenthesis). Please note: This giveaway is offered to USA only.

Thanks and have fun!

{No comments}

“Honey, I Blew Up at the Kids” – Admitting Failure

by Erin Brown Conroy

“I blew it. I’m sorry.” These words are some of the hardest words in the English language to say.

Mistakes. Failure. Unhealthy responses. Poor behavior. Most of the time, our hearts know what is “right,” and our inmost desire is to respond our child in loving, kind ways. Unfortunately, as parents – and human beings – we’ll never be perfect. Even though we’d
like to act and say all of the wonderful “parent things” that we know are the “best,” we just won’t. We’re prone to fail.

So what happens when we do “blow it”? When we’ve said something unkind, yelled in anger, turned our back and ignored a situation where we should have intervened, or just plain said the hurtful thing – What do we do?

Admit Failure

It takes a “big” person to humbly realize when we’ve failed. It takes a bigger person to change our heart, our inner thoughts, and our feelings, to a place where we are experiencing sorrow and recognizing the need to “make things right.” It means letting go of my “right” to hold anger or pride, dropping self-defenses, and putting myself in a place of vulnerability called “humility.” Humility allows us to see the wrong, admit the error, and then do something about it.

If I admit failure, I’m not saying I’m a “bad parent.” I’m simply recognizing that I’ve done something that – either knowingly or unknowingly – hurt my child. I’m recognizing that I need to take steps, either in my words or my actions, to repair the damage. We then take action to change our attitude and our approach to our child to one of gentleness, humility, and positive kindness.

Change

Anyone can say the words “I’m sorry.” It takes a special something to go beyond the words and feelings to actually changing a behavior. From the time when my children were small, I’ve always told them that “sorry means change.” If we’re truly sorry, it
impacts us deeply on the inside. If we’re impacted deeply on the inside, we’ll make a change in our behavior in the future.

Change is not easy. We’re creatures of habit, pattern, and comfortableness, even if what we’re hanging onto isn’t in the category of healthy behavior. In order to take an old action or habit and create a new one, we need to have a new resource to dig into for raw
material for the change. We need to put a positive in the place of a negative.

New Information

For most of us, that means putting new information into our lives. Through reading, video or audio programs, or conversation with others, we need new material to draw from. We need examples to follow, mentors to watch and learn from, and other families.

to interact with and learn healthy responses from. Change just won’ happen on its own. We need to replace the old with new.

Accountability

Accountability means that someone is there for me to help me make the changes that I need to make. It means someone will talk to me on a regular basis, checking in with how the process of change is going. It means that I know that someone cares enough about my succeeding that they’ll ask hard questions of me, checking regularly with me as to whether or not I’m following my plans for change. Whether it’s a spouse, friend, relative, or professional counselor that holds me accountable for my change doesn’t matter. What matters is that I know someone is there for me to cheer me on when I succeed and help me to take steps forward again when I fail.

“Every Day is a New Day”

I have a good friend who went through some extremely tough times about seven years ago. Left as a single parent of his young son, dealing emotionally with unfaithfulness and abandonment in his crumbled marriage, I could count on the same greeting each and
every time I met up with him. “How are you doing? How’s the day going?” I’d ask. He’d reply with a reflective grin, “Every day is a new day!” What a life lesson in that simple phrase.

Years ago, I heard it put this way: “This is a new now.” Each day, each hour, each minuteis new from the one before it. And with that newness comes new opportunity, a new chance to begin again. A new moment for change.

Admitting failure takes us to a fresh point of a new beginning. It allows us to change, grow, and become the parent we want to be. Admitting failure isn’t the feeling of sitting at the bottom of the well. It’s the feeling of looking up into the clear blue sky above and
climbing out.

About Erin

Erin Brown Conroy, MA, is a writer specializing in books on relationship connections, curriculum, and web marketing. She is a freelance writer/consultant, the DL Professor of writing courses for Patrick Henry College, and a Master Teacher for the PHC Prep Academy Online. Erin is also the mom of 13 children by birth, marriage, and adoption and has been homeschooling for 27 years. She lives in Ohio with her husband, five children still at home, and three amazingly-smart (and cuddly) Australian Labradoodles. You can read more of Erin’s articles on parenting at www.erinbrownconroy.com

Parenting CAN be Easier and More Enjoyable – Through Realistic Expectations

By Erin Brown Conroy, M.A.

I want life to be easier, don’t you? Sometimes that’s not possible. But many times, easier is possible, and we don’t know it yet. We just need more information, new thoughts, and new strategies that take us to that place.

Often times, making parenting easier depends on the way that we think about our kids—specifically, our expectations about how we think our kids should behave.

We think and act within the framework of our expectations. We measure our thoughts by what we think should happen. But what if what we think should happen is off base? Then what? Then we have unrealistic expectations. An unrealistic expectation with our kids means that we expect our child to do or to be something that they’re not capable of doing or being. Whatever we expect just isn’t going to happen. Period.

Unrealistic expectations are a sure-fire way to stir up stress, frustration, and anger and dump it smack-dab into the middle of our everyday lives. Unrealistic expectations create difficulty and unhappiness all around. In fact, unrealistic expectations will just drive you crazy. The good news is that our kid isn’t really driving us crazy. Most of the time, our kid’s behavior is “normal”—for a kid, that is. It’s our thoughts and expectations that are driving us crazy. Really. It’s true. Here’s an example…

Barbie(TM) Hair in My Brush

I don’t have blonde hair; my hair’s a deep brown color. So why is it that I keep finding blonde synthetic hair in my brush? My six-year-old’s simple answer: Barbie™ needed the brush first.

Never mind that I’ve created a “hands-off” drawer in the bathroom that holds my brush. The brush just seems to disappear into thin air, only to reappear a day or two later back in the drawer, down in the cushions of the couch, or in the car with strands of blonde Barbie™ hair twisted among the bristles. I think we have a transporter from Star Trek hiding somewhere in the house.

It’s funny—the same thing happens with my favorite throw blanket on the couch. And my favorite pen. And the baggie full of colored Sharpie™ markers that no one’s supposed to touch (because they’re full of permanent ink that ravages permanent damage). They all magically disappear and appear randomly. My hair spray travels around the house on its own. My socks, shoes, and scarves slink away. Even my favorite eye shadow pops in and out of existence. Like in the movie Toy Story, are these things coming to life when I’m not looking?

No one claims to use any of these personal items. But I know differently: It’s a conspiracy. When I’m busy upstairs and the kids are downstairs, I know they all race to the living room and gather into a huddle. The designated quarterback (probably the oldest) whispers the plan in concise detail: “OK. You—lift the brush and the blanket. You—take out the markers and pen. You—hock the hair spray. And you—you cover the stairs. When you hear mom coming, give the secret whistle. Break!”

On second thought, I don’t think they could pull off that kind of teamwork without me or my husband. Oh my gosh—maybe he’s in on it too.

There’s always the Black Hole Theory. You know—the one that says that everything eventually falls into the Black Hole when you’re not looking. Like socks in the dryer. Like a worm hole in space (here I am again, back to Star Trek). But that wouldn’t account for the items randomly reappearing. Could there really be Leprechauns?

All the funny stuff aside, when it comes to my things, my kids don’t appear to understand the concept of “owning.” Oh, they “get it” when it has to do with their things: “It’s mine! You can’t touch it!” But when it’s someone else’s stuff to borrow—well, sharing is a wonderful thing. Sharing is a wonderful thing.

But respecting others’ possessions is too. One day they’ll get it. In the meantime, the light hairs you see mixed in with my dark ones aren’t white; they’re blonde. I don’t need to spend money on highlights. Mine are free—from Barbie™.

The Realistic Expectation to Remember

Here it is: “My children will use my personal possessions.” That’s reality. Respect of others’ property is learned. Parents must purposefully teach their children to respect others’ possessions. But realize this: It takes time for children to learn those boundaries. Consistently take time to discuss what is “in bounds” and “out of bounds” in touching possessions.

Talking about boundaries gives our children the ability to determine how to know what to borrow, how to ask others for the use of an item, and when it’s appropriate to do so. When your child “borrows” something without asking, take the time to teach. Sure, you’ll repeat yourself over and over. Expect it. Like the tortoise racing the hare, calm repetition will get you to the end of the race—to win.

About Erin

Dye Job – Easter’s Coming!

I was looking at my Food Network Magazine(April 2011) and found on page 115 a great way to dye Easter eggs with stuff you may have at home. The article goes onto say…

“This year’s egg-dyeing kit might already be in your pantry: We tried dyeing eggs with ingredients we had on hand – candy, spices, fruit – and ended up with this amazingly colorful half dozen. To make your own, boil 2 cups of water with 1 tablespoon of vinegar, add your “dye” (12 Now and Later candies, one 7-ounce box of Red Hots, 1 tablespoon Jell-O or Kool-Aid, 1/2 cup of frozen blueberries or 2 tablespoons turmeric) and simmer 15 minutes; strain into a mug for dyeing. Experiment with ingredients in your own kitchen: If it’s something that stains your clothes, chances are it’ll work wonders on an egg!”

I made 2 different dyes on Saturday. One blueberry (on the left) and the other to the right is mixed berries (strawberry, raspberry, & blueberries). Here’s the proof….

It works! I left them in the dye for about 20 minutes. They are lighter than the packaged dyes you will get at the store, but at least you know the ingredients in these dyes! I was thinking about maybe trying beets. What are your ideas?

Sunday Smiles

Posted by html404 on March 20, 2011
in Family Stuff, Humor

Friday night our three year old son Nookie says, “My pillow’s naked.”

I laughed and said, “Your pillow’s naked? Does it need something on?” He said yes, so I dressed his pillow.

He’s my inspiration to post more Sunday Smiles. 🙂

Saturday Rewind

I know, I know, I have not been posting this week. I did not get to Monday Motivation or even a Wordless Wednesday! And I have plenty of photos to share. So I thought I would try to catch you up on the happenings around here with a quick little Saturday “rewind” post this morning.

Family/Work

We have been incredibly busy. On Monday we went on a maple syrup tour with friends and had a lovely time learning about maple syrup. The tour was very hands on for the children, who were able to help find a hole to drill in the maple tree, do some of the actual drilling and taste maple sugar. It was a beautiful sunny day. Then I had to work for a couple of hours by attending a meeting with area farmers. I could have even gone out that night to a nutrition meeting, but thought it would have been a bit much to say the least.

Then the past couple of days I have worked a couple of hours at my colleague/friend’s greenhouse helping get her caught up on her seed planting. Onions, kohlrabi, lettuce, broccoli are all sprouted! It is so exciting. Can’t wait to munch on some of those fresh organic veggies! Yummy!

My husband was able to attend yet another farmers meeting last night and learned some new things about what our county is doing to preserve farm land in our area. Do you know that there is a farmer who is 93 who is still driving his tractor and farming? He is the last farmer in his family. Quite amazing. I bet he has some stories to tell.

The children have been enjoying getting to play outside more now that it not only warmer, but DRYER. Yes, we are getting rid of the mud pit out back (out back, what am I Australian? Just kidding! Would love to visit Australia, so I am not implying being Aussie is a bad thing).

Baby boy is on the move, crawling, walking along furniture and wouldn’t you know it, he donks his eyebrow square with a corner two nights ago. I couldn’t sleep last night for fear he’d break his wound open again. It is bad, but not bad enough for stitches. I need to hurry so I can relieve the girls from “holding” duty. Yes, I am “holding” him captive by cradling him in our arms to keep him safe while his owie heals.

Here he is, but he’s quite happy despite the “check mark” owie. The children think it looks like a check mark, what do you think?

Techie Problems

My laptop had to be sent to be repaired, again. My dear husband and three year old were playing beside me while I was typing away and dear son did one of his somersaults and smacking his head against my screen cracking it pretty much from top to bottom. 🙁 Thankfully, the accidental warranty/insurance covers it. I was worried it wouldn’t. Oh and Nookie’s head is just fine. Obviously he hit it hard, but I don’t remember him even crying much. He’s a tough little cookie….has to be with two big brothers.

My faithful Green Drive is not working properly either, so I have been trying to get the company’s help on figuring out what is wrong. So far they have not asked me to send it back, if only it could be resolved easily without sending it back or risking losing all my data and photos.

Our printer is also on the blitz, I just think I need all new office equipment, what do you think? Maybe I should enter one of those business grants/contests and see if I can win. The thing is I have tried and usually give up because it seems that no one votes for me when I try to promote it. Maybe I give up too soon though and an entrepreneur should not give up easily. (Can you hear me pouting here….believe me I am pouting!)

So that about sums up the rollercoaster week we have had, how about you, what is new in your neck of the woods?