Creating Family Christmas Traditions - Guest Post

One of the people I follow on Twitter, Jenn from @KeepCalmandMom offered to guest post on my blog.  I was happy to oblige!  If you enjoy her post, be sure to follow her on Twitter to see where her next posts will appear.

Christmas is the best time of the year for reinforcing family values and traditions that will be passed down by future generations. The blended family as well as the traditional family may come together during this wonderful season of giving to carry on timeless crafting and creation. There are so many opportunities for family, and friends alike, to interact in festive holiday activities.



Aside from the parties and delicacies that define the season, there are activities that everyone can participate in that will become events that all ages will look forward to. Some of these may include:


Building a gingerbread house - Wilton.com has great gingerbread house ideas, lists all the ingredients and tools needed and even gives you step by step instructions. Planning and designing, baking, cutting, assembling and decorating are just some of the tasks to be shared in creating the gingerbread house. Each year a photo can be taken of the finish project with the construction crew and used for a Christmas Card.



Wreath making – While her instructions may be a bit involved, Marthastewart.com has some of the most beautiful and unique wreath ideas out there. If you are fortunate enough to live where natural materials like vines and evergreens are readily available, it a great fun to collect these items and have everyone create there own wreath. Grape vine, wisteria and Virginia creeper are a few of the many vines that can be wound for a form. Be sure to identify the vines when they have leaves. Poison Ivy can make you itchy in the winter too.

Make Snow Globes – Kaboose.com offers a great instruction guide that’s great for the younger children. All that is needed is some glycerin, a few miniatures, available in any craft store, some glass glitter, glue and a jar. Add a little imagination and a self contained fantasy can come to life.



Put the family Christmas photo on your iPhone case – Online services like TinyPrints.com can take your family portrait, or informal fun shots, and put them on an iPhone case that you choose yourself from a vast collection of designs. Make the family Christmas photo something you can take with you all year long.



There are so many more activities to get everyone involved, creating a future yearning for the season in the hearts of all. It might be decorating and baking holiday cookies or crafting ornaments. Decorating a gourmet tree for the birds and animals each season will be fun to do, fascinating to observe and appreciated by all the fauna that can work less and eat more.



With Christmas becoming more commercialized and stressful each year, it is healthy to participate in some festive family fun as the holiday draws near. Create memories for your family that they will cherish, while instilling values that will benefit them for life.

AboutOne - Getting Organized

It's that time of year again, fall is in the air, school supplies are on sale, and football practice is in full swing - yes we have officially hit the busy season in the Malloy residence.  And even though I am incredibly busy this time of year, life keeps happening.  There are doctor's appointments to go to, pictures to sort through, events to keep track of, and I was on the hunt (yet again) for how to get organized!

I have tried the traditional paper planners and calendars, but I always miss getting something written down, because I forget to keep them with me.  I can't count on my fingers and toes the number of times I didn't have a planner with me when I was making an appointment, when I got an email football practice schedule change, or when I was on the phone and needed to write something down.

That being said, I am a digital girl- I don't go anywhere without my iphone or my pad!  So, I was excited to find that there was a service called AboutOne that served as a digital filing system and more.

Not only does AbouOne serve as a  calendar/ planner where keep track of my appointments and important telephone numbers, but it also lets me keep track of my family information such as health and education records.  I can also keep track of health information (which with a family of 6 boys is easy to lose track of)!  Now I don't have to wonder was it Parker or Powell who need to have antibiotics before dental treatment? Or which boy HAS NOT had stitches yet (that would be only 2 of them).  It has given me a place to keep track of the names of our medicines we take as well which is very helpful in the doctor's office when they ask you and you can only remember that it starts with the letter A.

I love that in the very same place, I can keep track of household and car maintenance information.  No longer do I have to keep files and files worth of paper.  Since I am always trying to think of how to declutter our house, this is really a big deal!

But... I have to say, one thing that really sets this service apart from other planners I've tried out is that you can easily share items with friends and family.  As you enter the information into the program, it keeps track and simply plugs into various features such as a family newsletter and even a baby book!  With 6 boys, it has been tremendously difficult for me to document all of those important days and first times.  While I was great at it when I had the first baby, each additional baby has a sparser and sparser baby book.  With AboutOne, that is about to change.  I can update a certain event - like Luke's first football game, and it automatically can be posted to a family newsletter to email, tweet, or post to facebook for all of our friends and family to see.  I can also print it out and slide it into a scrapbook for each of the boys and viola - their memory books are all updated!

I haven't even BEGUN to play with all of the features AboutOne has, but here is another one I can't wait to try:

Here is a video overview of even more features!




Now, AboutOne is offering you the chance to try out its program for FREE - and also to enter to win a $500 AMEX gift card and an upgrade to a free subscription to AboutOne.com to 1 grand prize winner + a $250 donation to the school of their choice.  All other entries will receive an email with a code for 25% off a one year subscription to AboutOne.com.

Mandatory Entry:

1. Sign up for AboutOne free trial (absolutely no credit card info required) - and try it out for yourself! You will get a full 17 day trial -17 full days of usage with no expiration date (requires no credit card information). Use each of your 17 days whenever you like. The Yearly Plan gives you a full year of access to AboutOne for the low price of $30 per year.2. Complete the form below.




Rules: One winner will be chosen at random from all entries across all blogs to receive the following prize: $500 AMEX gift card and an upgrade to a free subscription to AboutOne.com to 1 grand prize winner + a $250 donation to the school of their choice. All other entries will receive an email with a code for 25% off a one year subscription to AboutOne.com. This giveaway ends September 9th at 11:59 p.m. ET and is open to U.S. residents age 18 or older.


 

How to Make a Water Sponge

With summer weather in full effect. your kiddos are probably looking for ways to keep cool.  Here is a how to video for making water sponges that your kids will love. And pay close attention to Tyler - he is hilarious!

Totally Together = Less cleaning and more time with your family! Review/Giveaway

When people find out that I have 6 kids (and especially when they hear that they are all boys) - they often ask, "How do you do it?"  Usually I handle things quite well, but I must admit, it seems like a few balls seem to get dropped every once in awhile.  And lets face it, cleaning up after boys takes an awful lot of time, time that I would rather spend having fun with them.  That is why I was super excited to learn about Stephanie O'Dea's new book, Totally Together Shortcuts to an Organized Life.  My copy just arrived this weekend, and let me say, I am more than just a little impressed!

• The first thing that I love is its small size ( about as tall as a paperback book but just a tad wider) - it fits easily into my purse our on the kitchen counter.

Another thing that I love about this book is that it is not just a traditional calendar, Stephanie O'Dea actually gives tons of practical advices for streamlining your life.  From cleaning tips to time management, she spells it all out.  She spells out what chores are absolutely essential and gives you tips on getting them done as quickly and efficiently as possible so that you can get on with your life.  Love that!

Flip through a few more pages and you will find weekly calendars for you to customize.  On the right is a Daily 7 checklist (In the book O'Dea gives you a list of 7 daily cleaning activities to keep your house looking company ready all the time), a weekly checklist, and some weekly advice.  On the left is a weekly calendar for you to write in your own personal appointments or "to-dos".

A photocopiable grocery checklist is included.

She has also included a blank photocopiable meal plan along with a completed sample meal plan for inspiration.

Totally Together is a great go-to book for the both working and stay at home moms.  To find out more about Stephanie O'Dea and her great organizing tips, visit her websites at http://www.stephanieodea.com/ and http://totallytogetherjournal.com/.

ONE Homeschool Parent reader will win a free copy of Totally Together.

(This is a must before any other entries will be accepted) Follow me on Google Friend Connect, and leave a comment below telling me what your biggest organizational challenge is.

1. Subscribe by email to Homeschool Parent. (2 Entries – leave a separate comment for each)

2. Follow me on Twitter. (1 Entry)
3. Like Homeschool Parent on Facebook (1 Entry)

4. Tweet about this giveaway (can be done 2Xs per day for a total of 2 entries per day) You can copy and paste the text below:

"Get Organized! Win Totally Together from @kellys3ps and here http://t.co/43Jtw54 #HSPlanning"


5. Comment on any other post on this blog and tell me you did below. (Unlimited entries)


Please read the fine print:



-Open to USA



- Please leave your email!



-I will verify links/names -Winner(s) will be notified by email & announced on my Blog and Twitter. Winner has 48 hours to respond or another winner will be chosen.



-I will choose my winner using Random.org,



-Winner will be snail-mailed their prize.






Disclosure: I was given a free copy of this book to facilitate the reveiw.  No additional compensation was provided.