Make Your Own Family Baby Board Book

My new little nephew loves little more than looking at the wall of family photos at his Grandma’s house. I decided to take advantage of this “picture love” and create little board-type books for both my little nephews (great-nephews, technically). My sil was great to get me photos from both sides of each family. I’d seen some neat links on Pinterest that showed people covering board books with their own photos, but I really wanted something the boys could handle, carry around, and that we wouldn’t have to worry if they put in their mouths. Then I remember the bargain laminator I’d purchased some time ago. Bingo!

I bought a package of 4 x 6 laminating pouches ($5) and used my hole puncher and spiral coils (from our Mini Flips) to make two really cute photo books. I put all the pics in Photoshop and added the names underneath. I decided it would be less expensive to order the prints than to spend on ink printing them out. After that, it was pretty easy and made for an appreciated yet frugal gift. The pouches even come with rounded corners so they’re nice and safe.

The boys (and parents) were thrilled! If you don’t have a hole puncher or coils, you can have it done at your local copy chop pretty inexpensively.

Fun & frugal gifts work for me. To see more Works for Me Wednesday tips visit We Are That Family and Crystal & Company.

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siggy-dena

December 27, 2011 | Filed Under Homemaking | 2 Comments

Goal for it!

Have you, either as an individual or a family, set some goals for 2012? Resolutions are great, but specific goals are even better. Whether savings goals, character goals or accomplishment related goals, it’s been shown that goals are more likely to be met when clearly defined, written down and tracked. Teaching your children to set and meet goals is a valuable skill and one that is great to work on as a family. Remember, your children learn more from what they see you do than from what you simply tell them. (Scary, huh?)

Don’t forget to make sure your goals are S.M.A.R.T goals: specific, measurable, attainable, realistic and time-specific. While your at it, make sure your chores are S.M.A.R.T. as well (our Clean ‘n’ Flips will help with that!).

Whether you’re saving for a family vacation, trying to lose 10 lbs. or teach your kids basic Spanish, goal tracking can help. Below are some neat resources that make that easy.

Check out this post for a list of 11 online goal-setting programs that you can use. These can be especially appealing for teens.
How Does She has a great pdf download to help you create goals in different categories, prioritize them and even set up rewards for meeting benchmarks.
Goal For It is a fun program geared just for kids. It will even work as a chore chart.
If you prefer a written plan for your kids, have them complete this printable each month. What a great way to be intentional in what you hope to accomplish each month.

I hope these resources give you that added push you need to set a few goals and keep on them!

If you have some great goal-setting tips or traditions, I’d love to hear them!

Linking up to the Carnival of Homeschooling , Works for Me Wednesday and Crystal & Company.

siggy-dena

December 27, 2011 | Filed Under Home Business, Homemaking, Homeschooling | 3 Comments

Drive Your Kids Nuts!

Here’s my mommy tip for the day: drive your kids nuts at Christmas! Well, it’s possible this won’t bother your kids as much as it does mine, but it makes mine batty. See?

Can you tell what drives them crazy? It’s the lack of names on the packages. Hehe. I was sick of the kids spending so much time under the tree trying to figure out what their gifts were so last year I came up with a code system. The kids forgot all about it until I put the gifts under the tree this year. I had to laugh when I heard, “NOOOOO!!! Not again!” come from the living room.

If you adopt this plan, you’ll want to change your code each year so they don’t catch on.

On another note entirely . . .

Dayspring has started their Christmas sale a bit early, plus they have some great decor items on sale. The website says free shipping on a $50 order, but with the code SHIPPING25, you can get free shipping on a $25 order.

I’ve been wanting a cute apron forever and found these for half off ($12.50). Just search for Ever Grateful Apron to find it. They have lots of great decor items marked down as well. It’ll be easy to find $25 worth. If you’re like me, you have some friends who don’t mind their gifts being a bit late. Or, this is a great time to stock up for birthdays, showers, hostess gifts, etc.

Linking to Works for Me Wednesday and The Mommy Club.

December 21, 2011 | Filed Under Homemaking | 4 Comments

Merry Christmas!

Here is our Christmas “letter” for this year (the Wood family). Lest you think I’m this amazingly creative all on my own, I’m sharing the link I found the template at (thanks My Three Monsters!). It’s probably too late for Christmas this year, but it would make a nice New Year’s letter as well.

year-in-review1