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Family Togetherness: A Tradition of Storytellers – johanna
March 8th, 2010 | Filed under: CREATING MEMORIES
I met the Bogarts when I was teenager. I took dance classes at the same ballet studio as Mrs. Bogart. Mr. Bogart was a music producer and Christian music artist. They lived in a vintage home a few streets from my house, making it convenient for both them and myself on the nights they asked me to babysit. They had two children, Sammy and Alex (3 and 2), who I adored immensely. The children loved to watch the “Sammy and Alex” home videos. And so after our adventurous excursions outdoors we would clean up and then sit down to enjoy the life of Sammy and Alex.
I love to pick through photos. I read a book once about a girl who loved to collect old photographs. She enjoyed imagining a story behind the photo. Creating a life for an unknown character, as an author would when writing a book. Stories give us courage, hope, a place to escape, a reason to weep. Family stories told through the generations create ties that bind each generation to the next.
Several years back I took on the task of creating a family cookbook. The preface of the cookbook told the story of how my Grandparents met, married and ended with the courting and marriage of my parents. I loved hearing the tantalizing tale of my Grandparents riding off into the sunset on my Granddad’s motorcycle to elope. As a parent, I can see why the elopement was only mentioned once or twice. Maybe my mom did not want to give us any ideas. But for my mom to hold out on her own love story is an injustice to all hopelessly romantic teenagers.
At family gatherings we always had to bring up my playing in the motor oil in my Uncle JK’s barn. I was five years old. Hey it looked like mud and I oh so loved playing in mud. (I can’t get my kids near the stuff) My Aunt Ruth was great for stories. She told so many stories of her life growing up and about my dad I felt like I was there. Stories are so much fun, well unless you were the one they were laughing at in the story. Still, I doubt a young man has lost his girlfriend because a loving mother revealed his naked baby pictures or told his intended he used to shoot peas out of his nose.
Many of us replay our daily stories to our spouses or even perhaps our friends. But you know who would love to hear how about the day they came home from the hospital or the first time they laughed or the day they sprinkled fairy dust all over the kitchen or that Grammy went sky diving when she was young. Things we may think are unimportant even boring to us are fascinating to a kid. To a child stories give them a sense of where they belong. They love to see themselves coo as a baby and hear about the adventures they created as a preschooler. Teenagers love to hear about the lives their parents lead. It makes them seem human.
I have the worst memory but every night I try to remember some part of years past to tell the kids at their bedside. My kids remind me of my two friends Sammy and Alex every time they beg me to tell them another baby story. Reminiscing has reminded me of all the fun and happy times we have had together. Sometimes that has a way of getting lost in a hectic life. Stories are another fun topic at dinnertime, while we are playing games as a family and at family reunions.
A tradition of telling our stories will bring us closer together as a family. We learn to laugh at the embarrassments and share a common inside joke. Keep a written record to give the kids when they are older. They will enjoy looking back at all the mishaps and sillies of childhood.
February the “Month of Love” – johanna
February 15th, 2010 | Filed under: CREATING MEMORIES, THE BOOKSHELF, THE DISH ON PARENTING
Source: “Valentine’s Day Heart” by Claudia Bear
Franklin Convey once said it takes 26 days to make a habit. Child Development therapists tell us when disciplining our children to modify one behavior at a time. I decided to take their approach to my New Year’s resolutions. Rather than become overloaded by all I want to accomplish my quest this year is to pour my heart into one goal each month. In the flavor of “Love” this month my goal is to plant seeds of kindness and grow some love.
Many, many, many years ago I had a roommate I could not stand. In addition to a very long list of irritating habits, she had a deviated septum that made it difficult for her to breathe through her nose quietly. What I remember is that I really started to despise the girl. You have to understand I am a peacemaker. Born in July makes me a Cancer and so I tend to try my best to avoid confrontation. So I set out to seek advice from a wise old man on how to remedy my problem. I was told to love her. Yep, love her. How do you treat someone who grates on your nerves with kindness? Well I will tell you this, it was not easy. At first I made her bed every morning. Then I would grudgingly give her compliments. By the end of 6 weeks she and I became great friends.
It seems in relationships the first line of defense is to ignore the problem or enact revenge in the form of hurtful words or actions. Or in the case above with my friend I would have allowed negative feelings for someone I hardly knew ruin a potential long lasting friendship. I know sometimes we just want to wallow a little in our sorrows. It is ok to feel hurt, even anger and jealousy, but it is not ok to act out on those feelings. Move on. I know, easier said than done. The way I explain it to my five year old is like this; when we harbor negative feelings they begin to grow until they take over our bodies like the Dark Side did to Aniken Skywalker. We have to forgive ourselves, the person we wronged or the person who wronged us and move on so we do not turn to the Dark Side.
I really had to think about what I wanted to achieve by my Love Dare. There is always room to improve when it comes to expressing love but I did not want my goal to be too vague or corny. I had to narrow it down enough that I would remain interested and most of all see the results. The answer came to me the day I was filling out a “Get to Know You” questionnaire for our kindergartner. The last question asked “Name one thing my parents think is especially great about me.” Mason could not grasp what the question meant. More importantly I wondered how often we express to him the things we admire most about him. His answer was “I play with the baby to distract him.” How sad is that? I decided that not only is it important to tell our children daily how much we love them, we also need to help them see how great they really are. The same thought can be applied to all of our relationships, most especially our spouses.
Ways To Give More Love:
- Forgive and Forget: Accidents happen. Our mantra states “That’s ok!” All messes can be cleaned up. Some just take a little more work than others.
- Be positive: No one likes a sour-puss. Nothing is worse than being told you cannot accomplish something. Be supportive of others and their dreams even if you do not share their enthusiasm. If we dream hard enough we can touch the stars or at least feel confident it was a successful failure.
- No Nagging: Nagging is contention and contention creates nothing but negativity. Negativity can lead to animosity and the destruction of a soul. This can be a difficult feat to accomplish with kids. A kind warning and a strict consequence is easier on the ears than harsh criticisms for not following through.
- Compliments Galore: The way to a man’s heart is not food but compliments. It is like their energy source. Fill them up with superhero power and they will dazzle us. Our friends and family could use a good dose as a pick me up too.
Chinese New Year - Year of the Tiger – johanna
January 18th, 2010 | Filed under: CREATING MEMORIES, THE BOOKSHELF, THE DISH ON PARENTING
Photo By: Yang Yi, in China Hejin, Shanxi Province
I am not superstitious; yet, I will admit I get a little nervous when salt is spilt. I do not believe in horoscopes; however, they really have my personality pegged. The Chinese baby gender calendar called the gender of each of my three children. The “Chinese Day Of” calendar that reveals the major personality trait based on the day you were born is surprisingly accurate as well. So don’t call me foolish when I realized that this year, 2010 is the year of the tiger. That is me. And I admit there was a second of hopefulness that this year would bring us some luck.
I started this year two weeks behind on everything. News Years Day had me sitting at my desk pondering if I should go ahead and mail out my Christmas cards. I didn’t. I hated starting the year in such disarray. But… it is a new year and I was not about to dwell on the negative. It was after all the first day of the year. Hey, I started the day off right. I ran that morning and we went out on a family outing and later that day I bravely took the kids on a bike ride. There was much to rejoice over. So I cleared my desk and began writing thank you cards. I am THE worst at remembering to write thank you cards. If I do write them I forget to mail them. I decided if I did not master anything else this year I am going to be the best at writing thank you notes.
I am pledging to forgo one larger New Years resolution in favor of smaller monthly goals that are more attainable for my ADD brain. For one month I am going to focus on one goal. If at the end of the month I am a complete failure I will not beat myself up and melt into a year long depression. I will arm myself to work even harder the following month on a new daunting task.
First up is laughter. This year I vow to laugh more. Yes, this was my New Year’s resolution last year and I think I did fairly well. Laughter, as the saying goes, is the best medicine. The tricky part is learning to laugh in the face of adversity. I think we could all use a lesson in putting our best face forward. The point is, I want to teach my kids that life is full of spills and falls and embarrassments and it is ok. If we want to find happiness we need to discover laughter first.
A good hearty laugh can:
- Lighten our mood.
- Reduce stress.
- Lower blood pressure.
- Boost our immune system.
- Stimulate the brain.
- Reduce anxiety, depression and aggression.
- Produce endorphins that stop pain.
- Is a great abdominal workout.
- Increases our energy level.
- Breaks down barriers.
- Help us cope.
Learn to Laugh by:
- Being silly with the kids.
- Being adorable with the significant other.
- Hanging out with people who are genuinely happy. Laughter is contagious.
- Quit trying to act so grown up. (Who made the rule that grownups have to be stiff?)
- Find a reason to celebrate.
- Abandon the negativity.
Laughter, of course, won’t make our problems go away, but it can help us get through them gracefully. How do we pick our way through the briar patch? We slow down. We take the time to enjoy a cup of laughter.
Family Dinner Fun with Word Play – johanna
December 7th, 2009 | Filed under: CREATING MEMORIES
I took the kids on a little road trip to the bigger city with an actual mall to pick up a package for Stephen. While we were waiting for the store to open the kids and I ran around the child’s play area. Everett, my drifter, saw the electric cars across the way and took off. Everett and Adelin jumped from one seat to the next pretending to be an ice cream truck driver, in a Nascar race, an astronaut… A young boy and girl approached the stationary cars. The boy an awkward teen. The girl giddy with a crush. I watched the boy show off by squeezing into the circus van. His girlfriend rewarded him with a giggle that said “you are so funny…and cute.”
When I was young I did some pretty lame stuff too like speaking in different accents in public or having conversations with people I did not know using certain precalculated words in a sentence. We thought we were so witty. I am sure most people saw us as knuckle-brained teenagers.
Games are a fun way to strengthen the family. They can break down barriers relieving awkward feelings. Games such as Word Play not only help little children with their language they provide a means for communicating.
How to Play:
1. Make a list of 3-4 words.
2. Choose a topic to talk about.
3. Start the conversation. During the discussion each person must use all the words on this list.
For example one time the topic was God and the words were astronaut, popcorn and pencil.
You may also choose to time the game. Maybe who ever does not use all the words in five minutes has to do the dishes that night.
Saint Nicholas Feast Day: Breakfast with Santa – johanna
December 4th, 2009 | Filed under: CREATING MEMORIES
©James Christensen. ©The Greenwich Workshop®, Inc.
The legend of Saint Nick began with a real man. And while he did not fly a reindeer-powered sleigh or slide down chimneys, he did become famous for his gift-giving.
Saint Nicholas was born in Lycia (modern-day Turkey) in the fourth century AD into a wealthy family. Upon the death of his parents he received a considerable inheritance, but he kept none of it. While he was still a boy, Nicholas was chosen by the people of Myra to be their new bishop. But it wasn’t long before the king began persecuting the Christians, and the new bishop was imprisoned. Eventually Saint Nicholas was released living the remainder of his life rendering kindness and charity to others.
The most famous story of his generosity was about a desperate poverty-stricken man. The old man knew that without a dowry his daughters would never marry and so was prepared to sell his three daughters into slavery. Saint Nicholas heard about the old man’s plight and for three nights as everyone slept, he slipped past the man’s window and tossed in a bag of gold. The money was enough to provide a dowry for all three daughters.
Eventually, in Northern Europe his name was changed to Father Christmas or Santa Claus. In many parts of the world, December 6 is celebrated as Saint Nicholas Feast Day, reserving Christmas day for the religious observance of Christ’s birth. On the eve of this feast day children fill their shoes with carrots and hay, for the white horse Saint Nicholas rode, and leave them by the fireplace. When they wake they find them stuffed with oranges, chocolate coins, nuts and small gifts.
This year celebrate December 6th with a Breakfast feast. Below is a list of some kid friendly breakfast foods. It is certainly not limited. After the feast perform a service project such as leaving an anonymous basket with goodies on someones doorstep or raking the leaves or shoveling snow in your neighbors yard.
Breakfast with Santa menu:
-Beverages-
Hot Chocolate
Orange Juice
Milk
-Main Course-
Pancakes
Sausage or Bacon
Scrambled Eggs
-Extras-
Yogurt
Bagels with Cream Cheese
Muffins
Oatmeal Bar
Omelet Bar
Cranberry Chicken Salad Croissants
Rainy Day Fun: Animal Habitats – johanna
November 4th, 2009 | Filed under: CREATING MEMORIES, THE CRAFT CLOSET
With the onset winter comes rain. Most days kids love to play in the pouring rain and stomp in the puddles. On the days the kids are stuck inside create a magical forest to host a tea party or fight off the bandits.
We made a zoo animal habitat. We had a lovely time learning about the way different animals live. We used the animals we made in a puppet show. The cave was their favorite place to hang out.
Use plastic animals or create your own from paper.
For the desert we set up a bowl with sand and used a work lamp to simulate the hot sun. We discussed the purpose of a camels humps and how some of the dessert animals dig a hole in the sand to keep cool.
For the jungle we used brown paper found at a teacher supply store or the shipping supplies section of target. We stapled leaves to yarn for the vines.
In the cave we talked about what animals hibernate and why. We read the book “Old Bear” by Kevin Henkes.
We jumped over the river made of blue construction paper. You could also use a sheet or towel. Have your child sit in the center while you make ripples by flapping the sheet up and down. We sang a song about the five little monkeys teasing Mr. Alligator.
In the savanna we crept like lions and jumped like kangaroos.
Halloween Mystery Dinner – johanna
October 23rd, 2009 | Filed under: CREATING MEMORIES, RECIPES - Appetizer, RECIPES - Beverage, RECIPES - Main Dish, RECIPES - Treats
It is that time again. It is time for Halloween dinner fun. Here are a few tantalizing ideas for this years Halloween Mystery Dinner Menu.
Beverages:
Appetizers:
Entrees:
Witches Caldron and Bread Stick Brooms
Desserts:
Making Time for the Family: Family Bike Night – johanna
October 21st, 2009 | Filed under: CREATING MEMORIES
Family bike night was an integral part of my early childhood. I can’t say when it stopped, most likely when our evenings were filled up with youth group, sports and scouts. I can remember a feeling of closeness to my family as we rode through the streets with the wind in our faces.
I wanted to create the same experience for our children for as long as possible. We have enjoyed cruising around the neighborhood together and creating new adventures while riding to the park. It is a nice relaxing way to end the day or start one. Choose a night, or day, when all the kids are home such as a lazy Sunday afternoon. Sure the older ones will fight you about it at first but in reality they will not miss the TV show or the video game. If it is one thing I have learned even with little ones is deep down they will be glad of the effort even if they do not show it.
Fun Affordable Halloween Costumes – johanna
October 14th, 2009 | Filed under: CREATING MEMORIES, THE CRAFT CLOSET
For my birthday this year I received a large box stuffed with old family photos from my mom. I have to say it was a priceless gift that I enjoyed thoroughly. One of the pictures I liked most was a snapshot of a group of kids dressed up in their Halloween costumes. The moment in time captured in that photo was an era of innocence and simple fun. Costumes were made by either talented mothers or Grandmothers or assembled from items found around the house. I remember wearing mason jar rings on my ears one year when I was a gypsy.
I love Halloween. I always say it is my favorite Holiday that is until Christmas time when I am caught up in the glee. I find I can no longer allow my children to look at the costume magazines because the majority of the contents are gore. This year I noticed sites directed toward kids are filled with Halloween suggestions that are a little too much on the scary side rather than sweets pumpkins and black cats. So I decided to go back in time and find some fun costumes and other Halloween goodies that will tantalize a child’s soul and mind not scare him to bits.
I know that making your children homemade costumes is time consuming and when your time is limited who wants the added stress, right? I admit I have purchased my kids costumes for the past five years. So I am in no way pointing fingers. This year after I ordered my daughters mermaid costume for an insurmountable sum of money I came across the site for the mermaid costume listed below. I hit my forehead several times repeatedly telling myself “dummy, you could do that!” And for a fraction of the cost.
The experience also brought to mind a fun activity with a youth group I helped chaperon years ago. We loaded the kids up and took them to the local Goodwill. Each teen was allotted $5.00 to purchase items they needed to combine with something at home to create a Halloween costume with. They all had a blast and the costumes were a hoot.
Here are several links for cheap and simple fun costumes for kids. Good Luck, have fun and most of all Be Safe!
Back to School Brunch – johanna
August 11th, 2009 | Filed under: CREATING MEMORIES
Photo property of ehow.com
For many school is already back in session. We still one more week of summer fun. Hard to believe it is already August. To help get the kids into the spirit of regular bedtimes, early morning wake up calls and homework throw a back-to-school brunch.
The Spread:
Pancakes
Muffins
Bagels
Eggs
Cream Cheese
Yogurt
Bacon or sausage
Fruit
Milk
OJ
Decorations:
-Hang a pennant banner made from paper or fabric.
-Butcher paper table cloth to color and draw on.
-Yellow, red and/or blue plates, cups and silverware.
Activities:
-Science Project
-Play games: Play Red Rover, Freeze tag or Kickball.
-Don’t Miss the Bus Race: pack a lunch, grab homework, collect milk money from mom, put it all in their backpack and hop on the bus.
-Organize their backpacks so they are all ready for school. Have everyone bring their school supplies. Decorate book covers and binders. Swap supplies.
-Scavenger Hunt.
-Show and Tell: Invite guests to bring something to show what they did over the summer break.
-Make play-dough.
-Make book marks.
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