Inspiration for Mothers

Mothering Authentically from Amelia Maness-Gilliland on Vimeo.

He Loves Us and We Love Him, New YW book

Have you ever heard of Laurel Christensen?? She's published a few books and works for Deseret Book. She also an ever present face at TOFW!! I met her a few years ago and talked to her about a blog she had called, Ask Laurel, (which I can't get to work, I don't think she has it anymore). I blogged about her blog before too, you can see it here. She's cute, she's funny and super sweet. I just found out she's publishing another book for LDS Young Women. It looks pretty cool! I'm excited!

You can pre-order it at Desert Book, it's only $10.00!! What a great Christmas present for teh Young Women in you life! Here are some quotes from the book. I took this directly off Laurel's blog.

FAITH"

The reality is that faith isn’t about me. It’s about Him. And the Lord Jesus Christ has a pretty impeccable past record…not just in my life but in the countless lives and experiences of God’s children. That is why if my faith is really centered in HIM, then I’m always okay. Always.

"DIVINE NATURE"

Regardless of who your parents are or how they have chosen to raise you, you have inherited qualities from your Heavenly Parents that are 'in your blood.' It's just who you are.

"INDIVIDUAL WORTH"

Trust that God has a divine mission waiting for you and JUST for you. Trust that He, even now, is orchestrating details of your life to help you fulfill what you were sent to this earth to perform.

"KNOWLEDGE"

The most important knowledge you will gain in this life will be the knowledge that is put into your heart and your mind through life's experience by the power of the Holy Ghost.

"CHOICE & ACCOUNTABILITY"

Every choice has a consequence. But, the Lord loves you enough and trusts you enough to let YOU choose throughout your life. And a daughter of God who understands who she is has the power within her to make good choices and then gets to enjoy the consequences of those choices.

"GOOD WORKS"

One of the characteristics of God's daughters is that we have a natural inclination to nurture other people. We want to love them and serve them and help them. It's one of my favorite things about being a girl. And it's one of the things that makes a girl beautiful.

"INTEGRITY"

That is the epitome of integrity--not simply acting right when you have the chance to act wrong, but acting right when you have the chance to act...right.

"VIRTUE"

The culminating experience for a daughter of God who lives the values is being as close as possible to her Father in Heaven and to her Savior as she enters the doors of God's Holy House--the temple."

Now scoot on over and pre-order it for all the beautiful Young Women in your life!!!

5 New Daily Reads

Fun Way to Practice Spelling Words

Have you ever heard of Spelling City? It's this great and FREE website where you child can play games with their spelling words. We used it the last year and are utilizing it again this year. I love it because not only are the kids practicing their spelling words, they are becoming familiar with the keyboard and learning to type in the process.

At our school, the kids have to practice spelling words every night. We have to log the practice and send it back to the teacher each week. You can actually print out some of the games and activities to show your work.

It's a great resource. I have lots of fun sites like this that we use. My kindergartner uses Starfall every day. It's a great learning to read resource.

What are some of the websites that you use? Let's share and make learning a lot more fun!!

Punky Brewster Elephant Shirt

This one was a little bit labor intensive. I kept trying to come up with the perfect color scheme. In the end, I really liked this. Reminds me of Punky Brewster! The yellow stiching all the way around is what gives it character and is perhaps my favorite part! I know it's not perfect, but that is what gives it character. I hope the jewel will stay on. If not I'll find a bright button to stitch on. The templates can be found on Martha Stewart! I am working on an owl shirt right now! It looks so cute on!! She even broke it in by making mud pies and getting it dirty!

Mud Pie's

I promise to get back to posting regularly!! I'm in the middle of School Carnival and I just found out that I will be teaching preschool 4 day's next year instead of 2. I've been busy trying to come up with ideas and boy, do I have some! I think I'll milk it for all it's worth and just post as we go!
I totally encourage mud pies! This was how we spent several day's last week. I think I may do a mud pie day at preschool next year!

Rythm of the Home, has this darling mud pie kitchen. I may have to make one before next summer. Such a cute idea!

Prayers are Needed...

Have you ever been to the blog, Got Chicken? I've been a follower for a long time and love to visit her blog. Laura is so darling and has a fun blog and a beautiful little family. This weekend she lost her 20-month-old daughter , Mikkie, in a tragic accident.

Any prayers you could send would help. I've seen the blogging world do amazing things and hope that we can somehow help Laura at this time. Please visit her blog and let her know that you are praying for her. The prayers of many will bring comfort.

Thank you.

Letter's To God

Sniff, sniff. Excuse me, while I wipe away a tear. This movie was one of the most heartfelt movies I have ever watched! I wasn't even sure what it was about, but I decided to watch it after I learned that Jason Deere, who is the master mind behind the Nashville Tribute band, had written a song on the soundtrack.

No matter what faith you are, if you believe in a Heavenly Father, you will be able to relate to this story. It's the story of 8-year-old Tyler, who is suffering from a very aggressive form of cancer. It's the story of his family and how his life touches those in his small neighborhood. Tyler has the faith to move mountains and is an amazing little boy. Tyler likes to talk to God and he talks to Him through these letters that he writes. And that pulls in a rather down on his luck, mail man. And Tyler's letters do amazing things for Brady. In the end his letters do amazing things for so many people.

It is such a feel good story. I loved it. My little boys watched part of it with me last night, but had to go to bed before it finished so we will be watching it again tonight. I don't know how I'll handle it again. I was sobbing by the end of the movie. It's got such a great message, it is definitely one you should watch. It leaves you a little bit better than when you started watching!

Oh, and Tyler's little friend, Sam is the cutest thing ever! There is one scene in the lunch room, where she shoves a little boys face into his mashed potatoes for making fun of Tyler, and I laughed and laughed. I have a feeling my little Piper will be a lot like that one day. I really loved her character.

Hope you enjoy it! It's a definite must see.

The Hour Glass Door and The Golden Spiral

My sister-in-law gave these to me last weekend to read. I had never heard of them, but she said she had really enjoyed them. I started to read the first one Saturday night. I was up until 2:30, so that I could finish it!

Started this one on Sunday night and stayed up most the night. Finished it off on Monday morning. I couldn't put them down!

Synopsis:

Abby is enjoying her senior year of high school. She has a cute boyfriend, great friends, and the possibility of a college education. But everything in her world changes when Dante Alexander, a foreign exchange student from Italy, walks into the auditorium during play rehearsal.

Abby is drawn to Dante and, before she knows it, their lives are intertwined. But Dante isn't who Abby thinks he is, and she is drawn into a mystery reaching all the way back into sixteenth-century Florence.

Everything she's worked so hard for, everything she thought she wanted, is threatened by the dangerous truth of Dante's past. Only Abby can make things right, but is she strong enough to open THE HOURGLASS DOOR?

Fans of the Twilight series will appreciate this trilogy. Also if you liked The Mortal Instruments, or Harry Potter saga's, this is a book for you. It's geared toward young adults, but is definitely a great read for anyone! I thought it was a lot more age appropriate than Twilight. I appreciated the fact that it was extremely clean. No swearing and the physical part of the romance is kept in pretty strict bounds. It was just a fun and clean read!

My only complaint, I have to wait an entire year to find out what happens!! The third book doesn't come out until next summer!! If your interested, Amazon has a great price on both of the books. You can check them out here.

Vintage Apron

I needed a birthday gift for Piper's best-friend, Addison. I didn't have time to run to the store, so I hurried and threw together this cute, vintage themed apron!

I love it! I made one before and you can see it here. It is an easy pattern to follow! And if your a beginning sewer, it is a good one to start with. I modified this one just a bit and changed the waistband, but it is so cute. You could also flip it so you could see the entire strip of pink across the top, but you'd lose the cute flower.

I have more of the material, so I am thinking thinking that I need to make another one for my little girl!

Teacher Gift

So, I've been home for a week! I'm really trying to get back in the swing of things, but these few last day's of summer have been so enjoyable. We start school tomorrow and it's exciting and the last week has been spent having a lot of fun and trying to catch the last few days of summer fun!

Here is a fun little project that I put together as a back to school gift for the teachers. I got the idea at Eighteen25. I added the jolly ranchers and some gum.

Hope your enjoying the last days of summer!