Gift Ideas All Kids Will Love

One of my readers wrote me and requested a holiday gift guide for a boy who isn’t into the traditional boy items…no legos, no super heros, etc.

So I put my thinking cap on and came up with a few items that our our families faves. These are items our son loves to play with. Here we go:

Qba Maze

Seriously the coolest maze, hours of fun and there are so many add on pieces and kits.

Calico Critters

Both my son and daughter have loved to play with these through the years so I can attest that these are popular! They are so detailed and fun that your family will have years of enjoyment with these cuties.

Cooking Set

Nothing gives kids confidence more than having tools that were made for them in sizes that are easy for them to use. We love these kits from Williams Sonoma because they are durable and fun!

Weaving Loom

Both Emma and Cal love using our Weaving Loom. It’s a great item for when we are reading as it is quiet and something they can do to keep their hands occupied.

Gem Kit

These dig kits are so fun and they can be educational when paired with a gem book or a fossil kit paired with a dinosaur book.

Magic Kit

This is something that is so fun and can spark a curiosity that can last for years. A starter kit is a great place to begin and then trickier tricks can be added in.

If you don’t want to purchase a physical gift, a gift of an experience is always a hit! We love our membership to the Western North Carolina Nature Center because we have reciprocity to the ASTC and AZA centers…that’s over 450 zoos, aquariums, and science centers nationwide that are included. We love our membership and know you would love one too!

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So those are my suggestions, do you have any to add? I’d love for you to list them in the comments!

Our Favorite Thanksgiving Books

Ever since the kids were little I have tried to make the holidays special for them.

One of our favorite ways to do this is to curl up on the couch with one of our favorite holiday books in the coming days.

As a momma of two older children, I’ve had a lot of years weeding through a lot of books. I am a classic, nostalgic kind of momma…I will read new books but I love the books that take me back to the place as a child when I was in elementary school and was so excited for Thanksgiving because of the indian corn, the paper bag vests, the pilgrim hats, the whole atmosphere that the teachers created for us. I loved that excitement and I try to recreate that for our children.

So, here are our top 8 favorite books for Thanksgiving:

Cranberry Thanksgiving

I can still remember sitting on the carpet listening to our school librarian, Mrs. Byrd, read us this classic tale. It’s the best.

The Berenstain Bears and the Prize Pumpkin

Who doesn’t love a good Berenstain Bears book with a lesson? And pumpkins? Perfection!

Squanto’s Journey

We love this book because it tells the Thanksgiving story from Squant’s perspective which is very thought provoking.

Duck & Goose Find a Pumpkin

Oh my word, my kids loved this book when they were a little younger! LOVED. Such sweet illustrations.

Popcorn

So this book could be for Halloween or Thanksgiving but it has a clear message of opening your home and sharing your bounty. Love it and it is such a sweet story.

God Gave Us Thankful Hearts

We love all of the “God Gave Us…” books and this one is no different. If you are wanting a book to talk about gratitude with your children, this is a great one.

The Thanksgiving Story

This award winning book is classic Thanksgiving. You might feel inspired to make a paper bag vest or a pilgrim hat out of construction paper after ;) .

Thank you, Sarah: The Woman Who Saved Thanksgiving

While this is not a traditional Thanksgiving book this quickly became a favorite in our home and I love how it talks about the importance of giving thanks for what we have.

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So those are our favorite Thanksgiving that have stood the test of time (meaning that we’ve been reading them for at least the past 5 years). There are so many other books that you could love too….if you have any suggestions, please let us know!

A final tip that I’d like to share is to put these books away or somewhere where they are not being read all year long. I know, I know, how weird that I am suggesting that you don’t read books when we love books but by putting them away and getting them out at Thanksgiving time, these books will be special and new to your kids each year.

Save for Later:

White Elephant Gift Ideas Under $10

Our family every year has a white elephant gift exchange. As it goes, the theme every year is to try to outdo one another in the silliness department. So if you are looking for some serious silly or sass, here are some gifts for you to go with. These are all under $10 so you won’t break the bank.

I love this little planter which just happens to be a throne.

And who doesn’t love bacon? These Lady Gaga bandaids will be perfect for any carnivore.

Life feels weird now that I don’t know if mentioning a fanny pack will make you think that is funny or cool. I guess either way this is a pretty sweet deal, as Napoleon Dynamite would say.

Here you go, for the person who has everything.

Can anyone tell me why this highlighter set is so hilarious to me? These are great!

And finally you guys, a literal white elephant!

I hope this helps you guys! Our white elephant event always sneaks up on me so if you are last minute, most of these are prime items which will help a lot. And like I said, when I wrote this all of these items were under $10 so you won’t break the bank celebrating with your family.

Save for Later:

A Rough and Wonderful Weekend

This weekend was weird.

I spent a lot of time away from the kids and Nick. I was working at camp and was gone basically from Thursday until late Saturday night.

When I am at camp I love it and enjoy my time there, don’t get me wrong, but man I missed my family.

Not to mention that when I got home the house looked like it had exploded.

Not only was I busy and gone but the kids had lots of activities this weekend.

Emma had the opportunity to perform in the ballet La Fille Mal Garde. She had 4 performances at Notre Dame. Thankfully I was able to get home to go watch the Sunday performance.

However at the same time Calvin had an awards ceremony for his ceramics work and I missed that.

The moral of this post is, it’s hard being a working mom.

Everything is a juggle and sometimes, like this weekend, I feel that I am not so good at juggling.

But it is wonderful to know that Nick steps in to pick up the pieces when I need to be gone. And we were able to split the parenting so the kids had someone at their big moments. The house got cleaned Sunday morning (I think the Lord understands!).

Sunday evening when we all returned home we were in the mood for something different so we decided to hit the road.

We drove up into Michigan to St. Joe and had pizza at my favorite spot, Silver Beach Pizza.

We ordered my favorite, margherita pizza and the antipasto salad.

After dinner we went down to the beach to play on the playground and to watch the sunset. It was so beautiful!

It was a great end to the weekend.

It was a rough weekend.

But it was a wonderful weekend

Here’s to this week!

A Big Thank You for Your Prayers

My heart is overwhelmed at all of you.

So many friends have called me, texted me, facebook messaged me, whatever to say that they are praying for me.

And let me tell you, it is so very much appreciated and needed right now.

Our first camp of the summer is this weekend.

I realized the other day that it is so true, that when you are doing the work of the Lord, Satan loves to chew up and spit out our family.

It has been an especially difficult last couple of weeks. Unsupportive people stirring the pot, marital strife that seems to make no sense and came out of no where, developmental setbacks with Cal, tension between the two kids…it all comes on like pulsating waves, ever coming, never diminishing, just slowly growing in their power and tenacity to set us over the edge.

But it won’t break us. For we know who our God is. And I know why we are having these problems.

Because when I am on my knees and my forehead is on the ground at the foot of the cross for these children who will come to camp is when my back is exposed for the enemy to attack.

But I won’t stop. We won’t stop. We won’t stop praying in intercession for the children who come to camp, whose home lives are in shambles, who don’t know where their next meal is coming from, who just so desperately want to be loved.

We won’t stop praying for the children who have been sold into sex trafficking, who don’t know whose house they are living at when camp is done, whose mom takes the week of camp to abandon the family. We won’t stop.

For all of the children we won’t stop. For we are raising up the future generation of world fighters, dominating ninja power changers of the world. And if we can have them into camp and pour God’s love into their little lives, what can that do?

Will we plant the seed that will grow missionaries up? Can we invest in people who will go into the darkest of the dark to save those who have no voice? And if I can show the meekest of the meek the awe inspiring love of God, the love that makes noise become white and tears come to the eyes in nothing but pure passionate love, then can’t the world truly then be changed through these children?

Each year I have a number of kids I want to have come to camp. To the board members it seems small, to some it is a fiscal amount. But to me? And all of the countless volunteers? And to the other camp directors? To us it is the number of kids that we are going to pour into, who will leave our introverted bodies frail and stiff and wretched at the end of the day from pouring everything we have into their lives, into their souls, into their hearts.

And so that is why I will never stop fighting. And why right now I am coveting your prayers. The enemy is out there friends and he can’t stand what God is doing. What he will do. What he promises will be done.

Please continue to pray for us, to pray for the ministry, because this really has nothing to do with me and everything to do with Him.

And you know what?

Spoiler alert, but I’ve read the end of the book…and He wins!

Love you friends!

It's Never Going to Be Perfect

I sat at the counter at one of my good friend’s houses this week and had some deep and meaningful conversations. My friend is one of those whom I feel comfortable being whiny with, going in and saying “will you make some hot tea"?” She’s one of those amazing people who love serving. Who offer you a piece of bread which, for others would seem super plain and boring but because it is her it is fun and exciting and fancy.

I’m convinced that everyone should have one of these friends.

I leave her house feeling recharged and rested. Feeling at peace and ready to get back into life.

Except this time.

It was nothing that my friend had done, she had done everything right. She’s the sweetest, kindest person ever.

It was me.

I had let this feeling of discontentment creep in. It always seems to be after me. Sometimes it hunts me down like prey, slow and creeping softly closer. Other times, like this time, it pounced on me and overtook me, overwhelming me quickly with its weight and force.

I saw her life and started comparing mine to hers. Things like “she has an indoor sauna room and I don’t” , “she gets to stay home with her kids and I have to work part time”, “she buys muffins from Costco and I feel morally obligated to make my own.”

You guys, I think I might be legit nuts. And if you are now thinking that then I think we are in the same think tank.

I came home and complained to my husband which made him feel inadequate in his ability to provide and then I wanted to crawl into a hole for saying anything in the first place.

Anyone else ever do this?

As I dealt with this, y’all I gotta tell ya, I was struggling with the matter of my heart. I had recently taken a new position that is such a blessing for our family and yet I felt myself feel pity for poor old me who had to go back to work.

And yet I think it is going to be the best thing in the end.

And then enter Dr. Edie. I am a part of Dr. Edie’s Young Living team. You can check her out here. She has a May challenge going on and she was talking about how nothing is ever going to be perfect until you learn to be happy with wherever you are. How you can’t think you will one day be happy when x, y, or z happens because when those things do happen, unless you’ve learned contentment you’ll never find happiness when you do have those things happen.

Wow.

Such powerful words.

And so I have tried to stop being unhappy with the place in my life and instead find happiness in where I am. I am working on looking at every place I am as an opportunity to do God’s work.

Life is never going to be perfect but we can love life where we are just as we are and just as life is.

It’s never going to be perfect but we can make the choice to love it.

Happy Birthday to Our Emma Kazoo!

Last night I held a sobbing Emma in her bed. She was so upset. When I asked her what was wrong she said, exasperated “I wasted it. I wanted so much to be older and now my childhood’s gone.”

Poor baby.

I know what the feeling of discouragement and dismay feels like.

After 3 verses of “You are My Sunshine” I think we both felt a little better.

And now our sweet Emma Kazoo is 13.

A teenager.

Holy wow.

I have tried to explain to her so much.

Like how great of a big sis she is to her autistic brother.

How she doesn’t have to grow up just because she is 13.

Like how God made her to make such a big difference in this world.

How her smile and her kindness are what set her apart.

She has a grace and poise that cannot be taught.

She loves the Lord and it breaks her heart when she breaks His.

She is the most strong-willed child in this whole world. When she wants to do something or doesn’t want to do it, by golly that’s all there is to it.

How absolutely stunning she is.

And smart.

And hilarious.

And helpful and generous.

And talented.

Happy Birthday, Emma Kazoo! You are our favorite and our best, forever and ever.

Love Y’all!

I'm Drowning Over Here...

There seems to be a time each year when I fall off the map.

I’ve just been here existing trying to make it through, sometimes just day to day.

Nothing tragic or major is wrong. Everyone’s strong and healthy.

Autism with the nice mix of puberty has landed here and so we are all trying to muddle our way through new attitudes and uncontrollable mood swings. It’s been a lot of fun.

The nice thing is that we have been approved for new insurance for Cal’s autism. This is such a gift. However with the gift comes countless intake appointments, things to sign, documents to get back from the doctors, and on and on. It is such a blessing but for now it is also a lot of extra work.

I got a job! Well, another job. In the wild world of being a stay at home mom this now makes 3 jobs I have. It’s a bit crazy. I am starting next month and am looking forward to it. I am excited to be able to put another hat on besides mom and reclaim a bit of my old self that I was before I started staying home. On the opposite side of that however is the fear that my children will feel neglected, that I won’t measure up, that I will stink at everything I do, like I always do. And that right there is a foothold for doubt to come creeping back in. If you read this post of mine before you know that I can develop quite a flair for loathing Lindsay. But hey, I am working on it. This is a work in progress! “‘Cause he’s still workin’ on me! “

All of that to say, that everything is going well for us. We’ve opened up the cottage for the season and praise the Lord, nothing was leaking or burst, or broken! Now it’s just dragging all of the new stuff I’ve purchased down there to begin settling in for the season. I’m trying to find a time to get everything moved in and cleaned so I can take pictures for you guys! It’s come so far, trust me.

We recently got back from our latest trip out east to Pennsylvania, New York, and Maryland. It was so much fun and we were able to see so many things!

Yesterday was a lovely Easter. We celebrated with my family and had a lot of fun at my Grandma’s house. I’m trying to cherish all of these memories! He is Risen, He is Risen Indeed!

When I look at Easter pictures it reminds me how so often we all look all cleaned up and polished on the outside, either the outside of ourselves or maybe our family looks together on the outside of our home but on the inside, well, the inside is where we are hoarders: keepers of overwhelming emotions and big situations. Floods of problems that we try to keep at bay while all the while we don’t know if we are going to make it. And yet, in Easter pictures we look great. This is just a reminder that things are not always as they seem. Be kind to everyone, you never know what battle they are ensuing.

I hope you all are doing well and enjoying the gorgeous weather this spring is bringing. It is promising to be a show stopper with all of the flowers and plants!

I've Got the Rainbow Loom of Colds

i’m sick today. Which should totally not surprise me. After taking care of your sick family for a week and a half it’s inevitable that mom gets sick right? And this cold is like the rainbow loom of illnesses. Everyone’s already over hearing about it and no one wants to take care of mom. The little bands are already on clearance. This cold was a fad and everyone’s moved on.

Except me.

So it’s a fun party over here.

And when I am sick is when the to-do lists happen in my mind. Not just to-do lists but massive, you could change the world if you would just get off the couch to-do lists.

Can you feel me with this?

It could be partly because while I’ve been sick I’ve been watching Donna Reed re-runs. If you have never watched this show, trust me, you should! it is hilarious even though it is an old show. We love it. Anyway, being laid up on the couch watching what is portrayed as the world’s best housewife can certainly make you feel like perhaps you could be a bit…ahem, better at cleaning your house. And perhaps not have a massive pile of tissues on the floor next to the couch.

So I’m still over here taking it easy, feeling like if only I could get off this God-forsaken couch I could do something with my life…I would mop floors, be productive, have all of these creative and enterprising ideas. I would finally put up that piece of crown molding that goes behind the TV that drives me crazy everytime I see the spot. I’ve got goals, man, real goals.

So I share them with you here, ha.

Meanwhile my real goals should be getting my boo-tay in gear because we leave for California in 4 days. 4 days!!!! I need to pack and make lists and plan and make lists to plan and pack to dream and I don’t know what.

I am crazy, this is rambling, and eventually I will not be sick, rainbow looms will come back in style and perhaps once, once somebody will take care of the mom who gets sick at the end of all of the sickness.

Here’s to hoping.

Last Minute Ways to Celebrate Valentine's Day with Your Kids

Let me guess…you’re like me and suddenly you’ve blinked and it’s Valentine’s Day.

Gulp.

Your wreath might still be up on the front door.

Or is that just me?

This is a no-judgement zone people!

I’m here to share with you some quick easy ways you can celebrate Valentine’s day with your kids.

Here goes…

Red Food Coloring

I promise. this makes you look super fancy. Milk becomes pink milk as seen above… Mashed potatoes look super festive. Just play around with it and use your imagination.

Cookie Cutter

Last year I forgot to do anything for Valentine’s (which is the picture from last year) so I cut a heart out of two pieces of bread. Jelly went on the cut bread, peanut butter on the heart, done.

Heart Plate

Putting anything on a heart plate makes it look more festive. Ours are melamine from Target. Super cheap but the kids love them. If you are short on time look around for anything. Pink plates or bowls are fun, anything red leftover from Christmas would work.

Sprinkles

You’ve heard me talk about these before but my kids LOVE muffin tin lunches. I purchased the 6-cup muffin tins from The Dollar Tree and use them for different foods. For this lunch I put things together that had red or pink. For things that didn’t have color, I added color, like to the milk. To the yogurt I added sprinkles. Strawberries, tomatoes, done. Oh and don’t think I am super fancy schmancy…that whole thing is sitting on a dish cloth.

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My point here is you don’t need to spend a lot of money and you don’t have to freak out if you don’t have a lot of stuff to celebrate Valentine’s with your kids. We just like to show we remembered and we look for ways to show love to one another. Be creative, have fun, and enjoy!

Welcome to Our New Project...Our Wonder Collective!

It has been so hard to not let the cat out of the bag about our new name…Our Wonder Collective!

Welcome to this new place. This new landing place for us to inspire and encourage you along your journey through our journey. We are so happy to be in this new space and to take the world by storm with wonder. I thought I would start this blog off with a brief description of our new site’s name because, you guys, I am in love! I’ll then answer some questions I’ve gotten about the blog.

“noun: a feeling of surprise mingled with admiration, caused by something beautiful, unexpected, unfamiliar, or inexplicable.
verb: desire or be curious to know something.”

— Wonder

We were talking as a family way back when about what binds our homeschooling and our adventures through travel together and the word wonder came sputtering out suddenly. It is so dead on it was surprising because wonder is what we are always after. We’re always looking for beautiful and unexpected things that will surprise us, cause admiration, and basically knock our socks off. And in it’s verb sense we always have a desire to be curious to know something. We’re always learning, always searching.

So Our Wonder Collective is our big bag of wonders we have collected. We can’t wait to share them with you along the way!

But why wonder?

I had a session with my friends where I asked them things about my blog (plying your friends with food and drinks is an excellent way for a panel discussion, btw!). Two of my best friends pointed out that the main thing that sets us apart from other people is that we are living life, homeschooling and traveling, and making it look normal while having to make adjustments and modifications for our autism family. See, our son has autism. Our son and daughter do things drastically different. To me that is just life but as I am realizing, sometimes things I see as easy or normal are talents God has given me that set me apart.

What happened to Super Busy at Home?

Eep! I have to geek out fangirl style because I had a chance for Crystal Paine from Money Saving Mom to critique my blog. Eep! It was beyond an incredible experience and an incredible learning experience. The biggest thing she said was an issue was our website’s name. And she was right. It was just the push we needed to take the jump and start a new site. The truth is that I am not the busiest person in the world and it is hard having a site about being at home when you are traveling. It was a bit weird.

What will this site be about?

The wonder that we find along the way! If you love exploring, traveling, and a lifetime love of learning than you are going to feel right at home here. We love sharing new finds with our friends and can’t wait to share them with all of you. We exist to inspire and encourage others to find wonder in whatever is around, wherever they find themselves.

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We hope our search for wonder will inspire you to look into your everyday to see God’s wonder that is all around. Welcome to Our Wonder Collective!

It's all in how you Think About it

We hosted Thanksgiving.

We bought a car.

Said car got hit by something and the bumper was shattered.

We’d had the thing a week.

One week!

Our toilet broke.

Which led to too much water going out leading to a bursting pipe.

On a Saturday.

Before Nick left for Canada.

Does anyone else love the holidays or is it just me?

I wish the holidays were just one big Hallmark movie…unfortunately this is how our holidays usually end up…spousal arguements in whispered shouting while purusing home depot aisles for a wax toilet ring.

Not to mention that the AT&T promotional period ended.

Again.

And you thought adulting was going to be fun.

There are so many times when I lay awake in bed, honked off at how the week, month, day has gone.

If such and such hadn’t happened we would be ahead this month. How are we again this far behind? Goals aren’t hit, max contributions aren’t met, and again we want to slam our heads against the wall in frustration…

And yet, there are so many things to be thankful for.

There are four hearts beating through the night every night. We all wake up warm, happy, well fed, and dressed. There is no fear of where our meals will come from. No terror about our coming day. We are together and happy and free.

And for me that is what I need to remember.

Y’all when I have toilet problems it lies within the simple fact that we have running water into the house and INDOOR plumbing!

When I whine about my new Lincoln’s bumper being a sight, it really doesn’t matter because, one, thank you Lord for insurance despite the pricey deductible, and two, the car still runs! We have transportation and heat and heated seats and self defrosting mirrors.

I could go on and on.

The point I am trying to make is that in society I feel we have become so near-sighted to our problems that we miss the big picture of being humble and grateful and decidedly choosing joy amidst minor set backs in life.

So I’m leaving you all with these thoughts so I can go bail more water out of the toilet (it’s my turn y’all)…think upon what is good and lovely in life. Dwell on those thoughts. Let them seep into your soul. Let God fill you with his peace and joy and goodness. Pure goodness. Life will be okay. God’s got this. God’s got you, girl.

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“Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things.”

— Philippians 4:8

What If...

A couple of weeks ago I bore my soul to y’all about my decision to be happy. It was really hard and took me WAY out of my comfort zone to share that.

But I’m so glad I did.

Sharing a part of myself with everyone has been brutal on my emotions, but it has also been so redeeming. It has taught me so many things about everyone. First of all, I had so many people reach out to me with a combined voice to say that I was saying exactly what was on their heart as well.

It is so nice to know I am not alone and heartbreaking at the same time to know that we women have been listening to the voices within for far too long.

It makes me wonder when did this all start and what if we hadn’t listened to the voice at all?

What if…

What if we all stopped looking at exercise as something we have to do? What if we started looking at it as something we get to go? How radical would that change your world? I found a class I LOVE that is combination of Pilates and yoga. It stretches me mentally and physically. It works me until I’m sore and I adore going to this class. It is my me time.

What if we stopped looking at clothes in a way that we have to cram ourselves into a certain number or we are doomed? I spent too much time trying to cram my body into a size that wasn’t reasonable. Once I gave up and started dressing to cover my body in enough fabric that I didn’t look like I was trying to win a sausage race, I discovered I looked better and was actually comfortable!

via GIPHY

What if we stopped degrading ourselves as mothers if we put our feet up and read the magazine? What if we started looking at that as needed time of self-preservation.

What if we stopped and looked at the sky, or the way the leaves move in the breeze? What if we stayed there for 10 minutes? What if worship comes in acknowledging the creator of all these things?

What if we start acknowledging things for what they are when they are sucking our soul dry to the very marrow we cling to for life? What if we sought out things of beauty that our souls were made to crave, made to love, made to need? What if we filled our homes with soft music, fresh flowers, and flickering candles, just for ourselves and our love of the beauty it invokes into our true selves through each sense?

What if we taught our children that cleaning the house or studying math or memorizing sonnets was not some gloom and doom situation but was rather a chance to take care of the kingdom, to take a glimpse at the handiwork of God in creating this universe? What if we cracked open a book of difficult literature or studied works of art as part of a journey to catch a glimpse of the face of our creator carved through the works of His created beings?

What if we strove to understand the bible and his ideas, not so we can check off our “devotion” checkbox but so we can sit at the feet of God and bask in his life giving light? What if we fed off of his truths? What if we hung to the very word of God, the red inked letters in the manuscript of love as much as we cling to the Pinerest worthy quotes that mere mortals say about God?

What if we all actually believed the bible? What if we all didn’t internally kind of roll our eyes at the verses we’ve come to know from the beginning of our churched lives but actually took them to heart and coveted their meaning? What if we hid their words in our heart, words like HE CREATED US IN HIS IMAGE? Would listening to those words have helped me to block out the voice in my head? If I had not only hidden his word in my heart, not simply etched it into my being but gouged it into my very existence, could I have fought off the true enemy who brings words of scorn and deceit and disdain?

Certainly.

There are so many what ifs in life.

What if we all joined together today to spread love and not hate, to build other women up instead of clawing them down?

What if?