Hello, OSSS readers, it’s Amy here once again!
Family photos is something very high on my list of priorities, probably because growing up I don’t have a lot of pictures of my family. Now that I have a family of my own, we save up money every year to hire a photographer (or 2) to document our life.
Speaking from experience, here are some tips to help with hiring a family photographer that is a right fit for you.
Oh hey there! Happy Tuesday! It’s Mel from So Festive!, a blog sharing simple ways to celebrate. Halloween is just around the corner and it’s not too early to start thinking about some simple ways you can celebrate with your family.
I don’t know about you, but we love reading Halloween stories and watching family friendly Halloween movies to get in the Halloween spirit. Today I have a list of books and movies your family may love as much as mine at this time of year.
Hello, hello! It’s Brooke from Blissful Roots. How are you all? Finally settling into your school routines? My twins just finished their third week of school, and my preschooler began Thursday, so we’re definitely into the school routine at our house. I do have to say it’s a bit strange not having a little one around all day (although that will be changing in about six weeks when baby boy number four arrives). I miss doing fun and simple educational activities with my youngest. We still do things here and there, but with school and other activities keeping us busy, we don’t have a lot of free time to do some of the activities we used to.
And considering baby number four hasn’t even been born yet, it will be a while before I need to pull out my ABC activites again. But before I put them away for too long, I thought it would be fun to share them with you. Some of these activities date back to my first grade teaching days, and some are ones I’ve discovered recently in this technology-filled world of ours. My boys always loved doing these at home before their preschool years. We only have ever done one year of preschool with our boys because I love doing things like this at home for FREE! I promise if you do just one of these a day (along with reading) with your three-year-old, he/she will be more than ready preschool, and much more. So, let’s get started!
Hello, hello! It’s Brooke from Blissful Roots here with you today. I’m always so excited to spend time here with Mariel and her readers! And I’m always so excited about this time of year. Fall (my favorite season) is on the way, back to school time is just around the corner, and this year it will mean baby boy number four in October for our family. So many fun things to look forward to.
I like to try and add a few new activities to our countdown each year, just to mix things up a bit for my boys. In July, our family took a big road trip from Utah to Arkansas. I packed up a ton of activities to keep my boys busy during the 23 hour (one way!) drive. And ya know what? The big book of Mad Libs was their favorite! It was mine too, actually. I love how my four-year-old already knows that a noun is a person place, or thing (thank you, Mad Libs). And we all get a kick out of how funny our stories turn out. My twins laugh and laugh and laugh over them!
So, I thought I’d see if I could round up a few back to school Mad Libs to add to our countdown this year. They are the perfect way to add a bit of light-hearted humor to what can be a kind of scary first day.
Hi, it’s Amy from The Connection We Share. For a while, I’ve been wanting to teach Elle how to use a ruler to measure. Since this week’s blog hop is ruler themed, I thought it would be a perfect time to do that!
My goal for this invitation to play is to teach Elle to measure things with a ruler and practice writing numbers. I thought it would be fun for her to measure an object and write down its length on a Post It and let her stick it on the object.
Come check out this fun and easy project and… bonus! 7 other blog friends have come up with a ruler idea of their own, to celebrate Back-to-School!
Today’s post is all about something that up until last January, was super hard for me… consistent scripture reading. Whether you read The Bible or The Bible AND The Book of Mormon, or whatever else enriches your life, this can work for you.
Okay, so as a member of the Mormon church (The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints), we are asked to actively STUDY the scriptures. And despite the fact that when I do, I learn a ton, I evaluate myself for short-comings, I find answers to prayers, and I feel inspired to be a better person… it’s still hard to make it a habit to read the scriptures every day. It’s been hard my whole life. I get too busy, too tired, too lazy, whatever. But, now I got it down, sista. I haven’t missed a day since January 1st and it’s all because of a simple little trick. The best thing ever.
How many times, in your stressful life, have you dreamed about laying out on the beach with a great book? ‘Or so she says…’ to the rescue! So, to further expand on our favorites, all of the OSSS contributors got together to give away their favorite books, perfect for summer reading! The coolest part is, one person will win EVERY SINGLE ONE OF THEM. That’s right, the whole bundle! That’s 15 books, yo. Oh, but it gets better. Get Away Today, the greatest travel agency ever and ‘Or so she says…’ contributor, offered another winner a 3-night hotel stay in Anaheim or San Diego (winner’s choice) with their choice of two adult theme park tickets… PLUS, they get the 15 book bundle too!
Hey, Or So She Says readers! It’s Brooke from Blissful Roots. How was your 4th of July weekend? Fun, and festive, I hope!
I’m sure if you’re not sick of hearing it by now, you might be soon, but I pulled this children’s book and activity from my first grade teaching files. I’ve been wanting to share it for quite some time, and finally have gotten around to it. It’s the perfect activity for a lazy (or bored) summer day, and you can actually add to it all summer long!
This is the book you’ll need. It’s called A House is a House for Me (click here to listen to it on YouTube). Have you heard of it? If not, it’s one you need to add to your collection as soon as possible. It talks about all of the different houses in our world. A hill is a house for an ant, a web is a home for a spider, the sea is a house for a whale, a husk is a home for a corn cob, etc. So many clever ideas in this book! It makes your children (and you!) realize how many things house things in our world.
I learned something today! Ever since I added the new update on my iphone (iOS7), my wallpaper zoomed way in and I couldn’t get it back to normal size. Wallpaper is kinda important, ya know? I had a collage of all my kiddos on the screen and was so bummed when it was suddenly zoomed in, making it so only 3 of my 6 babies were visible. Not okay. I’m trying to keep my favorite kids a secret. 🙂 Just teasin. But, seriously… do you feel my pain? Did your wallpaper do the same thing?
Last year I gave my dad a photo book for Christmas. This book contains pictures from our annual family summer vacation. And he LOVED it. I mean he literally was over the moon about it. He though it was one of the most meaningful gifts he has ever received.
For me this was a BIG deal, because my dad is hard to shop for. The man has everything he needs and he is really practical. He always tell us not spend money on him with frivolous things. When I saw how much he liked the photobook, I knew I done well 🙂
So for this Father’s Day, perhaps consider helping your kids create meaningful photo books for their dad. There are so many great on-line book making companies out there and they are all so easy to use.
Helloooo! It’s Veronica and I’m so excited to be back! Here in the good ‘ol South, we are enjoying our last week of school. It FLEW by this year!! The kiddos and I are enjoying the craziness of field trips, field days, awards nights, different graduations, and the list goes on and on!
I love the idea of my kids answering questions that explain their life. It’s always fun to hear their thoughts and get a glimpse into their fantastic little minds. And because this is a crazy time of year for all of us, I love how simple this idea is.
Keep reading to see what I created for the END OF SCHOOL WRAP UP!
Hey! It’s Brooke from Blissful Roots. Summertime means garden time for our family. My husband and I both grew up in families that planted a garden every summer (which I am very grateful for!). I guess you can say it’s in our blood. Do you garden? I don’t want to spend this entire post on a gardening soap box, but I can’t tell you the number of benefits that come from having your own garden. My boys (and myself) have learned work, patience, you reap what you sow, the miracle of a tiny seed, the beauty of nature, enjoying the fruits of your labor, living off the land, being self-sufficient, and much, much more. It’s work, but magical!
Okay, enough of my gardening soap box! What I’d really like to share today are some of our favorite garden books for kids. I can’t say I really plan out themes for my boys all summer long, but I do like to build upon what we’re already doing. I love having great books to go along with the summer activities we do. And let me tell you, gardening takes the whole summer. Not all day, every day, but once again, you reap what you sow.