19 hours ago
This year was my oldest boy's 10th birthday party, and as his birthday approached in February, we knew we wanted to do a special "double digit" party for him. Our kids don't get birthday parties every year, and with five of them we've had to think about which ages we wanted to plan to be party years. Hitting the double digits is a special year, so we were thinking about what we could do to celebrate Wyatt.
Our options for parties outside of our house were limited, with most places requiring limits on the number of people or requiring everyone to wear masks. So we decided to do something creative at home instead. What we came up with was a Nerf gun war/capture the flag birthday party inside our house!
Since we have limited space in our house, and since I knew this party could get crazy, we limited our invites to just immediate extended family and one close family friend that we knew would be game for a crazy Nerf war. And it did get crazy, but it turned out to be so much fun!
We basically played capture the flag, with the teams divided between the upstairs and downstairs of our house. In order to make our house feel like an appropriate environment for a Nerf war, we took down all our breakables, hung up plastic sheets to divide some of the rooms, moved the larger furniture so it could serve as barricades, and planted buckets of darts in strategic places as reloading stations.
For food I made cupcakes, layered finger jello, multi-colored white chocolate fudge, and snacks foods like pretzels and Chex mix, with chili for the main dish. We also bought little single-shooter dart guns from the dollar store as favors for all the kids!
Each team took some time to hide their flag, and each team had a designated "jail". People were supposed to freeze for five seconds after they got hit by darts, based on the honor system, and they could be "captured" and walked to the jail (the bathrooms), where they had to wait five minutes, or until a jail break. The flags had to be hidden in a place where they were visible from three directions (thought that rule got a little tricky). Everyone got a green or blue bandana and glow stick bracelet, so we could see who was on which team even in the dark. The first team to bring the opposing team's flag back into their territory won!
We also came up with a Nerf War Playlist to accompany the mayhem (it's a pretty great playlist, if we do say so ourselves).
We made sure to split up the adults and kids evenly among the teams, and I'm happy to report that no one was injured! We played three rounds, and we had a blast! I think it was especially fun for the kids to have the adults playing the game too, and I think it will be a good memory for everyone!
Mother Culture is a popular concept in Charlotte Mason circles, and it basically just means that mothers should be learning too. It's important to keep learning as a homeschool mom, and as I learn, I'll be a better teacher for my kids.
A mother culture basket is kind of like a morning time basket for the mom, and I think it can include not just books that help me to learn, but books that I find refreshing as well. For the last couple years I have my own morning basket of sorts - actually it's a morning shelf in my reading nook in our front room - and I thought it would be fun today to share a few things that I have on my shelf right now. These are books that I read after my morning Bible reading, and usually before the kids are up and about for the day, but I'll sometimes squeeze a little reading in here and there during the day as well!
Since we were in Kentucky anyway for our trip, we decided to visit Mammoth Cave National Park. Before our trip we researched the different tour options, and delayed buying tickets a little too long. Unfortunately for us, by the time Danae and I tried to buy tickets for a cave tour they were sold out! We tried calling the park several times and never got an answer, so we decided to stop by Mammoth while we were there to see if it was worthwhile without a guided tour.
I must say, before researching this trip, I was not aware how many caves are in Kentucky. There are caves all over the place down there! When we realized we weren't going to be able to take an official tour at Mammoth, I did a little research and found so many private caves in the area. We decided to book a tour at one of the private caves as well, just in case we couldn't get into Mammoth Cave.
We drove down to the Bowling Green area on the third day in Kentucky, and arrived at Mammoth Cave around lunchtime. We were happy to find out that we could indeed buy tickets for a self-guided tour! I was so happy we still got to see Mammoth Cave, and now we can cross one more national park off our list!
The cave itself was more impressive than I expected. I have been in Carlsbad Caverns before and thought Mammoth Cave couldn't be much different than that, but I can say now that I think they are both their own, unique experience. The caverns we saw in Mammoth cave were huge! There was also a park ranger inside the cave to answer questions, and he gave us some interesting information about the way Native Americans explored the caves. Another park ranger stopped us to show us a bat hiding right on the wall of the cave. I was also interested to see that there was a World War One memorial inside the cave, erected by mothers of fallen soldiers.
After we checked out Mammoth Cave, we drove the rest of the way to Bowling Green and visited Lost River Cave for a boat cave tour. Yes, we really rode a boat into a cave! It was a pretty cool experience in itself, and the history of this particular cave was pretty colorful. We found out it was a popular courting spot during the Civil War, that the cave used to host a nightclub in the 1920's, that it's flooded countless times, and was even at one point filled with trash before it was cleaned out and preserved in the 80's! Apparently they still host wedding receptions on the old nightclub platform, and I thought it was such a cool spot.
We enjoyed another dinner together with our friends on this last night before we made the long drive back home. I am so grateful we were able to do this trip with such dear friends! All three of our destinations - the Ark, the Creation Museum, and the caves - were that much more special to do with good friends, and I'm so happy we'll always have this fun memory to look back on together! Thanks, Danae and family, for taking my crazy suggestion to go to the Ark together seriously! I'll always be thankful we went!
When the air gets crisp in the fall, and the leaves start to drop from the trees, I always insist we go on some sort of fall hike. I enjoy the family time, I enjoy getting out in nature, I enjoy taking pretty pictures with the autumn colors.
But mostly I like the smell.
The main kind of deciduous tree we have in our mountains is the aspen tree, so I can't testify whether every tree produces the same type of spicy, woodsy smell that aspen leaves do when they fall. But I do know one thing - that is close to the top of my list of favorite scents in the whole world.
I always said if I could bottle that scent up, I'd be a happy lady. Well, a few years back I stumbled a scent mixture that, while not exact, is pretty close to my favorite fall-leaves-on-the-ground scent.
I had actually used a Bath and Body Works aromatherapy lotion, and then rolled on a little of a thieves essential oil blend. When I sniffed my wrists, I couldn't believe it! It was shockingly close to the scent you get when you clomp through a grove of aspen trees and disturb the fallen leaves. Success!
Anyway, ever since then, this combination has been my favorite scent to diffuse in the fall.
Aspen Leaves Essential Oil Blend
2 drops Bergamot essential oil
2 drops Orange essential oil
2 drops Germ Fighter blend (or any traditional thieves blend)
Fill your diffuser with water, and the above quantities of essential oils, and enjoy the spicy/woodsy scent that fills your room!
Disclaimer: I am not a big essential oil enthusiast, I just like to use them for air freshening in certain areas of my house. I make no medicinal claims of any kind. If you are pregnant or have young kids or pets in the house, be aware that not all essential oils are considered safe for everyone. Several oils in typical "thieves" type blends may not be recommended for kids under 6. Do your research and use your good judgement!
Since we discussed planning for a restful Christmas earlier this week, I thought I'd share a few posts from the archives about Christmas stress, and planning ahead for Christmas. I told you, this is something I've struggled with for a long time!
But it wasn't until more recently that I realized that if I'm too busy to spend meaningful time with the Lord during December, then I am too busy. A couple years ago I realized that was the missing piece, and that is when Christmas seasons really started improving in our house.
Still, there are some good tips in my older posts too, as I ironed out the mechanics of how to make room in my Christmas schedule, so they're worth a re-read!
In this post I give ideas for activities to add to your mom to-do list to add a little fun to your Christmas. Most of these are short and easy to add into the December busyness!
Five Ways To Destress During The Christmas Season
In this next post, I shared six common Christmas stress points, and how to ease some of the stress for each one.
This post was written at the height of Pinterest-perfect Christmases, and even though it was inspired by a sponsorship (I was heavy into the blog sponsorships back then), this was my little manifesto about what is and is not important to do at Christmastime. It was the first time I had really started to question the Christmas madness and try to think through a better way to do things. There are echoes of this one post in all the posts I've written about Christmas stress since.
Any tips you have for combatting Christmas stress?
One thing I would add to all these posts is that if you are in the baby/toddler phase, for goodness sake, don't try to do so much during Christmas! I think expecting too much during the little years was a big problem for me during that season of life, and it's what led me to write about the topic of Christmas stress in the first place.
Am I the only one that keeps tabs open in my internet browser way too long? Sometimes I find something interesting, and I don't want to lose the link or forget about it, so I just open a new window and keep going with whatever computer work I'm doing. This can become a problem, especially on my phone where windows can stay open indefinitely (or until I reach the "open tabs limit" which is quite high). I just cleaned out my browser on my phone, and there were some tabs I had left open from a year ago!
Instead of dealing with this ridiculous browser tab backlog, I decided to start a series sharing a peak into my digital "notebook" each season, as a chance to bookmark seasonal freebies, podcasts, blog posts, etc., that I have found and enjoyed. Hopefully this will be a fun source of ideas and inspiration each quarter for you - and saving things here will allow me to feel like I can close some browser tabs!
Blogs:
I found a homemaking/decorating website randomly one day called Home Made Simple, and I am a little obsessed with her fall decor choices. Even though she falls into emphasizing neutrals more than color, there is something so cozy about the way she puts items together. Will I ever be able to decorate my house like this for every season? Probably not, but it's fun to look and get ideas for little touches I could add. I am bookmarking her budget fall decorating tips to read later, and she also has a printable resource library with lots of good stuff in it, including a holiday planner I like.
I've also been browsing the literary dinners on the Ardent Bibliophile quite a bit - the book-themed dinner party photoshoots are so beautiful!
Printables:
I already mentioned the Home Made Lovely resource library, but I've found a few great resource libraries this month. The Little Coffee Fox printable library has a ton of great bullet journaling printables, and I've also found some good homemaking resources in the Simple Living Mama library. The Kitchen Table Classroom library - though I don't endorse everything mentioned in there - has lots of fun activity sheets for kids (I found it because I was looking for printable gratitude journal sheets for my kids).
I also got a bug to get the kids writing more letters this fall, so I went on a hunt for free letter-writing resources and printables. I found a bunch of cute printable postcards (Christmas postcards, blank postcards to decorate, and wildlife stamp postcards), some really great tips on writing a good letter, and a post with fun things you can include in your envelope. There are all kinds of fun snail mail ideas in this post too!
(As a side note, I have also been trying to revive my letter-writing habit, and postcards are a great way to get started - I bought this set of bookish postcards, and they are extremely cute.)
At our homeschool support group meeting, my friend showed everyone a field trip report she has her kids fill out for each field trip. Hers was in a planning book, but I thought I'd seen something similar before, so I tracked down a couple free options online. One from ChristianBook, one from The Canadian Homeschooler. The one thing my friend's form had, which these don't, is a place for kids to grade themselves on how they represented Christ on the field trip, which I thought was a cool idea to include. We may try using one of these next time we go!
Magazines & Newsletters:
Sometime in the last year I signed up for emails with Homeschooling Today, and every quarter I get a new homeschooling e-magazine in my inbox. The articles have been really uplifting, and they often come with free printables as well! You can sign up to receive the magazine for free here.
Also, did you know that a Christian History magazine subscription is free? If you can donate, I know that helps them a lot, but yes, you can sign up to get the magazine for completely free. I've really been enjoying the C.S. Lewis issue that just came out, and it's making me want to pick up another Lewis book.
I recently read a post on Modern Mrs. Darcy about her favorite email newsletters - if I was to write such a post, Humility and Doxology's email newsletter would be on it. She sends out homeschool encouragement emails, which are packed with resource suggestions, freebies, etc. I especially love her poem suggestions, and have started to incorporate more poetry in our homeschool in part because of her emails.
Recipes:
I already mentioned this, but guys, pumpkin fluff dip is so good with apples, and easy to make. Plus it's not bad for you, especially if you make it with sugar-free pudding mix! We've all been devouring this as a snack this month.
Podcasts:
I've really been enjoying getting my news from the Morning Wire podcast - they keep me up-to-date without it getting too overwhelming or stressful. When I'm not in the mood for my longer news podcasts, this is the one I listen to!
I've also enjoyed the Elisabeth Elliot podcast - one of her recent ones on the Christian family was really challenging to me in my parenting.
That's all I have for you for my fall "notebook"! Now I'll be gathering a few things for a winter edition, coming in December to February!
I am going to attempt to type this up while the kids are listening to their science textbook on audio. Right now the narrator is talking about narwhals. Aren't narwhals interesting animals? I'm already getting distracted.
It's a good day for a "currently" post.
Currently...
Listening to...Well, at this very moment I am listening to a very cheerful narrator talk about baleen whales, but I have also been listening to Martin Luther by Eric Metaxes on audio this week. I highly recommend that book on audio - I had a hard time staying focused when I attempted to pick up the hardback last year, but it's hard to hit pause on the audiobook! I've also been thinking about how difficult it must be to write a biography of a person that lived 500 years ago. You'd want to make sure your information was right, but I imagine there would be a lot of digging through legends and misinformation.
Watching...I've been watching a lot of Gilmore Girls this month, and I am remembering anew how much disappointment comes with the later seasons of Gilmore Girls. They ruined Rorys's character for me at the end of Season 4, I despise Logan, and why can't the characters just be happy for goodness sake? It's been years now since I watched the reboot movie on Netflix, so I may have to track that one down again, because I can't remember what happened to Lorelei in the end. I remember what happened to Rory, but the weird ending was not a surprise since I gave up on her finding love a long time ago.
That was a lot of thoughts about Gilmore Girls, but I have been watching other things too. I recently rediscovered American Gospel TV, and there are a lot of great videos on there for free! I've been considering a subscription, because I'm a documentary nerd, and everything I've seen from them has been edifying.
It's definitely time better spent than all the Gilmore Girl nonsense, but I've been enjoying both overall.
Wearing...All the things in this post, but especially warm flannels, and I've officially broken out my sweater collection this week. It's cold lately! We finally got our wood-burning stove working properly as well, and we've been enjoying cheerful fires this week. Now just to dig out my fuzzy socks.
Reading...I have been in a major reading rut this month, unfortunately. I am attempting to read Lianne Moriarty's new book, but it's just not grabbing me at all. I'm going to attempt to give it a proper go this weekend, but I'm not optimistic. I think the other problem is that we have been ridiculously busy this month. This is the first week where I don't have more than two days spent out of the house during the week (two days is still too much for me right now). And then this weekend we have plans to visit a pumpkin patch, go to the kids' last soccer game, have lunch with Derek's dad, and possibly go on a hike. Now that I'm thinking about it, planning for any reading time this weekend is probably optimistic in itself. I think things will start to slow down in November.
My morning books (ie. books I read after devotions, before starting my day) have been going much better, and I'm making good progress on In The Year Of Our Lord. I should be able to finish that one this month.
Drinking...More chai tea and coffee. Not a lot new there. I will say, however, that Derek and I have both decided that the International Delight Pumpkin Pie Spice Creamer is particularly good. It does not taste like a pumpkin candle, but has the appropriate amount of cinnamon and spice in it.
Prepping...For lots of thankfulness activities with the kids in November. I've been feeling like I need to put more effort into celebrating Thanksgiving. Not only is a uniquely American holiday, but it's a Christian holiday that has not been corrupted as much as even many of the others. It's difficult and unnatural to be "thankful" without recognizing Who we are giving thanks to, and there's not much else to the holiday except being thankful. I actually bought a Thanksgiving tree, and plan on decorating it with "leaves", pieces of paper expressing all the blessings God has given us. We have friends who do this with their kids each year, and I have been wanting to start a similar tradition leading up to Thanksgiving - this is the year it is going to happen. I've also been searching for gratitude worksheets, Bible studies, etc, and I'll probably have more on that in the next couple weeks.
Planning...For Reformation Day next week! I got this great new Reformation Day guide that I am going to work through with the kids this year, and it has all kinds of treats and activities that will keep the celebration fresh. I'm planning on heading to the store this weekend for a few ingredients and supplies to make it a fun week.
Borrowing...Derek's big flannel shirt coat. I told you, it's cold out there!
Buying...Christmas wrapping paper! I mentioned earlier this week how I am concerned that wrapping paper may be one of those things that becomes scarce because of supply chain issues. Our Hobby Lobby has no wrapping paper right now, which is unheard of this late in October. Thankfully on Tuesday I found a couple mega rolls of double-sided wrapping paper at Sam's, so we should be set!
Eating...Derek and I went to this really cool ice cream shop last night while the kids were in Awana, and we tried rolled ice cream. It was just too impressive not to share. Please enjoy this 30 second video, and try to watch to the end if you can, because that's when it gets interesting!
Looking forward to...Is it awful if I say I am looking forward to the end of my 31 Days Of Old-School Blogging challenge? On the one hand, I've been enjoying taking more time to write and share posts on the blog this month, and I think this is the first year ever that I've made it this far into the month of October without missing a day. I actually feel quite accomplished, and I know it'll be so satisfying to finally make it 31 days after 3 or 4 years of trying! But on the other hand, I have let a lot of things fall through the cracks this month - reading is a good example, and finishing my photo album project is another. There are cardboard boxes of photos scattered on shelves and counters, waiting for me to get my act together. I also wanted to get my Christmas newsletter written (I figure taking a year off social media calls for sending out an actual newsletter), but I have no writing time left to spare until this month is over. I love October writing challenges because it kind of gives me a burst of writing energy and creativity at a point in the year when I usually need it - but I'm ready to catch up on everything that I've put on the back burner.
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