Adventures with Daddy

This morning Kyle took the kids to Wesselman Woods which is a nature preserve in our area.  It is one of his favorite places to take Landon and Elaine.  I headed to visit with a good friend and Kyle (armed with our new camera) headed to the nature preserve.  I think they had a good time and he was able to capture some neat pictures.

Pictures from the Trip

Yesterday I promised to post some pictures from our anniversary trip.  The day before the trip my birthday present arrived...a new camera.  It is our first "real" camera.  So this trip was an experiment for us, and we were thankful for the automatic feature.  :)  We did learn a few things, but I plan to continue posting about our venture into photography and we can learn together.  For now here our some of the pictures.

This was taken at Applewood Farmhouse Restaurant in Pigeon Forge, TN

These were taken in front of our cabin On the Edge which was at Gatlinburg Falls Resort.

Teaching Tuesday: Time with Your Spouse

I know I am a day late again...My husband and I just returned from our 10th anniversary trip.  Our actual anniversary is June 3, but this was the best time for us to get away.  We took a trip to Gatlinburg, Tennessee.  My husband planned it all, as planning can be something that causes me stress instead of relaxation.  It was great.  The children stayed with Grandma and Grandpa, and we had 6 nights on our own.  I will post some pictures of the trip tomorrow, but today I wanted to highlight something I learned while on the trip.  We were able to enjoy lots of uninterrupted conversation.  Uninterrupted by kids, phone calls, life, etc.  I was reminded how important true listening can be.  Not just listening to the answers of questions we ask, but listening to whatever it is our spouse wants to tell us.  It is easy to just have conversations about the immediate and not really know what is on the heart of our spouse.  On our trip I learned some new goals Kyle has, and we set some together for our family.  It was a great trip and served as a good reminder for us to take time out to truly listen to each other.

Teaching Tuesday: Big Thoughts for Little Thinkers

Today I don't really have something to teach or something I have been taught.  Instead I have a tool that I think has been great in teaching my children basic Spiritual Truths.  The set of books I would like to recommend is Big Thoughts for Little Thinkers by Joey Allen.  These books present The Scripture, The Gospel, and The Trinity in a way that little ones can really grasp on to.  I know that each time we read through the books more of the truths really make sense to them.  The books have also been great conversation starters too.  Landon has even started conversations with his grandma about the Trinity.  I highly recommend Big Thoughts for Little Thinkers to pass on important Biblical Foundations to your children.  What tools have you used that seem to really inspire spiritual growth in your family?

Teaching Tuesday: Creating a Home for Hair Bows

Even though Elaine is only 2 she already has quite the collection of hair bows.  Her bows used to hang on a single ribbon hung with a lady bug thumbtack on the wall.  This solution was just not working anymore.  She had too many bows to fit on the single ribbon and the weight often pulled the thumbtack out of the wall.  Which brings me to today's project.  Here is how I made it...

1. Find a wooden cutout that would match the room decor. (I used a ladybug Elaine was given for Christmas)  Choose ribbon that will be thick enough to lay flat when clipped with the hair bows.
2.  Layout the ribbon and cut two equal pieces.  (Following a tip from my hubby I used a narrow red and black ribbon that I backed with a wider solid black ribbon.)
3. Seal both ends of the ribbon.  Here are tips on sealing ribbons.  I use the match method.
4. Then glue the ribbons to the wooden cutout.  Remember to glue enough of the ribbon to the cutout to support the weight of the hair bows, and to glue the "pretty side" facing the cutout.
5. Hang cutout on the wall and fill with hair bows! 

I also made a new hair bow for Elaine using some of the ribbon.  Here are the directions I followed.

We can park in the garage...

Well for all of you who came to the blog bright and early today to see that project I hinted would be discussed on this Teaching Tuesday, all I have are my apologies.  I did get most of the project done, but did not get to put the finishing touches on it, or load the pictures to be posted.  See my hardworking husband decided today was the day to clean out the garage.  Something that most definitely needed to be done, don't get me wrong, but not exactly what I had planned for today.  But all that aside, at the end of the day we can both park in our garage!  This is something that has not occurred since we moved into the house last August.  So you will have to check back tomorrow for those exciting project details.  I would push ahead and finish the project tonight, but I am heading to bed soon, as all that cleaning wore me out.  Hope you had a great Tuesday!