Archive | October, 2011

Hand in hand, Daddy and daughter, explore the ice on a recent outing together. It’s Karis’ first time ice skating and she stumbles and trips many times, but Daddy’s strong arms are there to hold her up. The glee is all over her face as she holds on tight and learns how to glide across the ice rink. She’s been looking forward to this time for weeks.

A fun way to build relationship with your child is to schedule in regular date times out together. In our home, we plan monthly daddy/daughter dates for my husband to pamper and love on our daughter, Karis. He is just starting to take our two year old, Titus, out as well (mainly going on errand to Home Depot or riding escalators at the mall together). These are fun little events that our children love. There is nothing like going on a special date with Daddy or Mommy. I like to plan fun things to do around the house for special one on one time with each of my kiddos. Life is so short and these precious years are going fast. We want to build wonderful memories of sweet moments together while helping to guide and direct the hearts of our children. One on one time is so important for building a relationship of trust and open communication. In these younger years, there is not much heart to heart conversation happening, but that will come in time. Now is the time to show them they are truly loved and special.

Here are some other fun and frugal ideas that we have done. I keep my eyes open for Groupon, Living Social, or Google offers, and have found many great deals for plays, painting pottery, and local museums this way!

Hiking
Matinee
Visit a local museum or zoo
Ice cream
Coffee shop for hot chocolate
Paint pottery
Walk to the park
Have a picnic
Read books together at the library
Watch airplanes take off
Have a tea party
Paint fingernails
Bike ride (Daddy takes the kids in the bike trailer currently and they love it!)
Miniature golf
Ride the max/train/subway
Watch a play/ballet (local children’s theaters or high school productions offer a wide variety of productions, exposing the kids to the arts and having a fun date at the same time!)
Photo booth (these little booths at the mall have been the source of many fun date times with cute results!)
Ice skating

What ideas can you share for fun and frugal date outings with your kids?

Written by monthly contributing writer, Natalie Didlake.

Ready to pull out the board games for the cold weather, but tired of Monopoly and Clue? Playing games as a family is a great bonding experience and builds memories for years to come. A collection of games is also very useful for hospitality events in your home. It is an easy way to break the ice, build relationships, while enjoying good laughter together!

There are lots of great board games out there you may not have seen before. Many are European made, just gaining popularity.

We’ve been collecting these games for a few years, so I’ve assembled a list of our favorites. They are all wholesome, engaging, and lots of fun!

(Note: You’ll pay a little more for these games, but I promise you will not get tired of them! We have played these over and over, and they still haven’t gotten old!)

KIDS GAMES

Orchard – This is our favorite kids’ game! Roll a wooden die to collect fruit before the bird eats it! Well-made, sturdy pieces. Great for colors and matching. Our 2-year-old even plays. Best of all, it’s a team game! Players work together instead of competing against each other.

Hisss – Players build colorful snakes by matching colored cards. It’s so fun to wait and see who will draw the last card of a snake! Very simple and easy to play, also short. We can usually play at least 2x in one sitting.

Uno Moo – Great for preschool age and older. Variation on Uno, obviously. Get rid of your farm character pieces by matching either color or animal. Great for learning basic strategy. Very colorful and cute!

Bingo Link – Get a “bingo” by connecting hexagonal spaces across the board. Each hexagon contains a tiny photographed object. If you like the “I Spy” children’s books, you’ll love this game, because it’s made by the same people! Also easy enough for the youngest children to play. Sturdy boards and pieces.

ADULT GAMES

Ticket to Ride – Start with this game if you’d like to try one but aren’t sure where to begin! Simple to play, but challenging. Build train routes across the U.S. from city to city, before someone else does. Would be great for geography fun, probably 8 and up.

Dominion – My all-time favorite! A game using cards, in a medieval setting. Build your deck in order to gain the most points. Cards can be changed each game, making each time you play unique and very exciting!

Some may not want to purchase, as this game has a witch card and a curse card that deducts points for the person who receives one. Alternately, the game could be played without these cards.

Settlers of Catan – This game is becoming more popular, so you may be familiar with it! Takes one or two games played through to catch on, but very fun once you master it. Players barter for sheep, wheat, bricks, and other commodities in order to build the most roads and cities. 3-5 players required.

Big Boggle – My first love (at least in games) is for word games, so I have to list at least one! Boggle is great, but this version has a 5 x 5 grid instead of  4 x 4, so you can make more and longer words. My hubby and I keep in our room and play a round (or 5) before bed sometimes. Don’t forget the dictionary!

Agricola – We think this one is the ultimate board game! Has about a million tiny, wooden pieces, takes 2-3 hours to play, very involved, but soooo fun. Especially for those who love strategy games. Another medieval game, build your farm, buy animals, add children, and feed your family. Can be played with 2, but best with a small group.

Do you have any favorite games to add? We are always looking for a new one!

One of my richest memories growing up in my family was the sweet times of family devotions, or “wisdom search” as we called it. A couple mornings each week, you could expect Mom to wake you up at 6:30am and herd us all together into the living room. With most of the eight of us children it was certainly pulling teeth to get us out of bed, but in the long run it was certainly worth it. Dad would lead us through a chapter in the Bible and we would each take turns reading 5 verses and sharing a comment. “What golden nugget can you share with us? What stood out to you?” Mom or Dad would often ask.

It was a simple time together. Not longer than an hour. Some times our response was minimal, but they would faithfully encourage us to think about the verse and share any thoughts that come to mind. Each time we were digging deeper into the Bible and growing in our love for God’s Word. My parents faithfulness certainly made an impact on my walk with the Lord. Praise God that all eight of us are walking with the Lord. Certainly a testimony to God’s grace.

Ultimately, it can be as simple as reading one Proverb a day, as we did over and over again.The Word is living and active, and sharper than any two edged sword. (Hebrews 4:12)  You can come together in the morning, evening, or around the meal table for your devotions. Whatever works best for you. Now there are numerous wonderful resources available to give you tools for helping hide God’s word into the hearts of your children. Here are a few recommendations that we have used or previewed.

For the toddler/preschool age, we have used and love the Jesus Storybook Bible. We have read it through at least 4-5 times now since my daughter was 2. It is so solidly Biblical and rich as it traces the story of Jesus’ redemption through each chapter. This takes maybe 15 minutes depending upon how many stories you read and discuss. We read it together before our school time each morning. Another good one is Big Picture Story Bible and Family Time Bible (we used this one primarily for the beautiful artwork, the stories are shorter than the Jesus Storybook Bible but it also covers many stories that other picture bibles do not include).

We also integrate this with bible memory verses and character reading. My ABC Bible Verses has verses that correspond to the alphabet along with character building stories. Along with this we are memorizing the catechism questions in Big Truths for Little Kids by Susan Hunt. I’ll ask, “Who made you?” And I love hearing my 2 & 4 year old shout, “God!” or “What are the three persons of God?” and they proudly declare, “The Father, The Son, and the Holy Spirit.” It’s so much fun.

For the elementary ages, some recommendations include: Long Story Short: Ten Minute Devotions to Draw Your Family to God by Marty Machowski. This book is fabulous for short devotions together whether you are tight on time or lacking in the area of children being able to focus. The devotions are simply reading a short passage of Scripture followed by discussion questions. Mighty Acts of God (another longer storybook style), Training Hearts, Teaching Minds (devotions based upon the shorter catechism), and Big Truths for for Young Hearts by Bruce Ware (a great introduction into the study of doctrine and theology- probably best for 10-12 year olds) are a few other excellent resources.

A recent new release by Nancy Guthrie, called One Year of Dinner Table Devotions and Discussion Starters, is another I am really excited about. Here’s a snippet about it:

“Whereas most family devotionals focus on Bible stories or on practical moral lessons, Dinner Table Devotions and Discussion Starters focuses on biblical themes, concepts, and words, in ways that are understandable to children without talking down to adults or teens. It will help your family take a step back to look at the big picture of what God is doing in the world and his purposes and plans in creating and redeeming the world. Once you and your family have worked your way through this book, you will have discussed nearly every major attribute of God and a host of profound theological truths, such as justification, redemption, substitution, and sanctification–without all those daunting words. You will have looked into important concepts from the Bible, such as covenant, adoption, judgment, and redemption, as well as spiritual realities, such as hell, angels, resurrection, and glorification. This is not dry theology for theology’s sake, but living theology that makes a huge difference in how we do battle against temptation, deal with disappointment, and determine our futures.” Sample the first 10 chapters here.

From a young age, at least when we were first able to read (5-6 years), my dad would purchase for us our own Bible and encourage us to start our own personal devotions. We would start with The Picture Bible for our own reading before graduating up to a full bible. The Picture Bible was one we all loved and was so well read by each of us it would start falling apart. So we would do a personal devotions time followed by family devotions each day.

I pray you would be encouraged and blessed to press on in planting God’s Word in the hearts of your children! It’s a worthwhile pursuit.

What tools or tips can you share for establishing family devotion time together?