Surprise!
You get a three month vacation at home with your kids with no option for indoor playgrounds, public pools or big parties! Now what? What a great opportunity to pull your kids in close and help them learn how to manage their time well.
Just like eating too much junk food makes a person feel gross, laying around doing nothing also provides that bottom of the barrel, awful feeling! So what can we do about it without spending money or leaving the house?
First determine that your home is going to be a happy place! Think of the different ways you can create beauty! Beauty comes in many forms but laughter trumps all! “See how good and how pleasant it is for brothers to live together in unity!,” Ps 133:1
Following are a few ways to create beauty: tidy a room and add fresh picked flowers from the yard, create a savory or sweet dish to show your family you care, play uplifting music that energizes the mind and soul, have a rich conversation that involves eye to eye contact! Keep adding to the list and share with me your ideas!
As the mom you get to set the tone and the schedule, so here’s a flow you and your kids will enjoy. I prefer to have a flow schedule versus one that starts at a certain time. That way no matter what time we start we are not behind. Make sense? This is just a suggest. Change it to fit your family!
Flow Chart for Kids
GOOD MORNING!
- Eat Breakfast/take vitamins
- Read the Proverb of the day in the Bible with your mom and siblings (You will find the book of Proverbs in the center of the Bible. There are 31 chapters in the book. Each chapter has about 31 versus. Look at the date on the calendar and read the corresponding Proverb. Talk about your favorite verse with someone!)
- Pray
- Quick pick up or chores to praise/worship music
- Draw/sketch (use an instructional book or YouTube video)
- Make a snack/clean up your mess
- handwriting/typing practice (alternate from day to day)
- Run laps in the backyard/ jump on trampoline/dance
- Practice math facts: print drill free drill sheets off internet, sing with Classical Conversations app/flashcards
- Tidy something/fold laundry/straighten books/clean up toys/unload dishwasher/clean closet
- Write a letter in your neatest handwriting
- Story time! Have mom read aloud or listen to audible.com
- Quiet reading time
- Run laps/jump/dance
- Practice piano/recorder/guitar/your instrument
- Screen time/games
- Strength training/sit-ups/pushups/lunges
- Help mom make dinner/set the table/clear the table/
- Free time
- Bedtime routine
This is just a suggestion based on the way we flow in our home. You design your flow to fit your family ways! I hope this helps someone! Let me know if you use it. I’m praying for you mommas!
“Sometimes you just need cake!”
- Cakes by Hannah Joy Bonin
We were never a cake family. Enter Hannah Joy. She changed everything for this family (in the cake department.) How on earth did we live without her for so many years? I have no idea!
Look at this delectable piece of art! Pair a piece with a piping cup of black coffee and be transported to the realm where sugar plum fairies and unicorns live.
Seriously. Hannah Joy has been a Bonin almost five years now and she’s just now whipping out this secret talent of hers. I’m not sure if I’m elated or mad. JK.. #notmad#sohappy
Here’s another amazing fact about this girl. She’s smart! One would assume a cake like this would be made from scratch. Not so. Hannah Joy’s favorite icing comes in a jar but has no yuck and is vegan friendly. She found a cake mix at Whole Foods that meets her standard, too.
Hannah Joy’s cake’s are not only beautiful but they also have a few health benefits. The beautiful pink tint in this icing comes from dried beets! So that means this is a vegetable, right? I’m going with, yes. She used another high quality cake mix for this one, too.
This one was so rich and delicious I ate way too much! To this cake mix she added organic activated charcoal, expresso and coffee beans. Slay me with deliciousness! Look up the benefits of activated charcoal and consider this cake part of your health regimen. #jokingnotjoking
This birthday cake is also a vegan, gluten free, dark chocolate, charcoal filled cake and it happened to be the best thing I’ve ever eaten!
Not only does Hannah Joy can bake and decorate like a pro but she loves to spend time with her little sister in loves. On my little’s birthdays she came over with a giant bag of goodies so the girls could experience cake decorating and fall in love just like her.
Notice the homemade kitties!
Peek inside Hannah Joy’s life on Instagram @mrsjoybonin (We love you, Hannah Joy!)
Slowing down and taking a girls night in. I don’t know about you, but taking some time to intentionally stop and rest can sometimes be hard for me. That’s one of the reasons why I took off work for the entire month of August. Sure, sometimes doing something extreme like saying “no” to work for a month is totally needed for a normally busy mommy. But I’ve found that it’s even more so important to intentionally set aside time to rest among the crazy. I think that, in doing so, it not only instills a sense of peace but also a spirit of trust in my heart.
In a house of girls, we love to get together every now and then and just take a break to breathe. We usually have something fun, like chocolate of course. But tonight we did a little self care and clay masks.
Obviously, we had to follow a couple of steps before getting to the final mask, and those steps were as follows.
- Cleanse face using Orange Blossom Face Wash
- Scrub with Satin Mint face scrub!
- Treat with a drop of lavender, frankincense, and tea tree (for problem acne spots)
- Massage using your choice of lymphatic massage roller
- Mask using some good ole’ organic clay! For the clay mask, mix with water until it’s a good consistency then apply evenly all over your face. Let set until dry.
- Moisturize using your choice of YL moisturizer! Some favorites of mine include the Sandalwood Moisturizer—good for before bed since it is a bit heavier—or the Orange Blossom Moisturizer for a bit of a lighter feel.
We always have so much fun when we girls can just be together, chat, and find our breath. It’s so important to slow down, not just by yourself, but with your people around you as well. Doing so gives you the chance to actually absorb all that God is doing not only in your own life, but in the lives of those.
I love drinks. Sounds silly, but it’s true. Hot drinks, cold drinks, sparkling drinks, thick drinks, thin drinks and so on..
Well, this morning I wanted a new “pick me up” so I combined some of my favorite supplements into one cup with BAM.. A new love was formed! this hot energy drink tastes like cider and is loaded with benefits! Benefits like increasing mental fitness, cognitive alertness, physical acuity, supports adrenals and aids in digestion!!
WHAAAT!?? All in a drink?? Yep!!
Ingredients:
- 6-8 oz hot water
- 2 oz Ningxia Red
- 1 shot Nitro
- 5 drops lemon vitality
- 1 squirt of Kale stevia
Mix and Enjoy!! YUM!!
Ok, moms! Who’s sending their kids on a mission trip or to summer camp? 🙋♀️ These types of activities are great opportunities for our kids to take ownership over their health practices! If you reach for oils at home on a daily basis, it will be first nature to them when they are away form you.
Prepare by making the necessary roller bottles and inhalers:
I pack roller bottles and inhalers to address physical and emotional needs they might have as they travel!
I buy the amber colored rollerballs with metal rollers and gold lids:
Roller Bottles from Amazon: https://amzn.to/2LrOnkV
✅Tummy: Digize, aroma-ease, lemon
✅Bravery: valor, inner child
✅ Insect and Bobo Eraser: purification, lavender, (citronella: optional)
We have used essential oil inhalers for years with great results! When you get the essential oil combo right it feels like mouthwash for the nasal passage! :P The results are AMAZING!
✅Calm: cedar-wood, peace and calming, copaiaba
✅Energy: peppermint, bergamot, lemon
✅Thieves Mouthwash in a squirt bottle for the airplane to clean breathe!
✅Thieves cough drops for all the singing
Of course I can only recommend YL oils because I know their standard and processes. Check out the Seed to Seal promise with YL here: https://www.youngliving.com/us/en/company/seed-to-seal
I’m an advocate for purity in all our products and foods. If you want to hear how toxins can affect us, I did a workshop on this last month and will send you the audio with the power point. Just ask me for it.
I would love to hear from you if you use any of these recipes!
This stuff is AWESOME for greasy hair. Especially if you are just now switching from toxic shampoo and conditioner to clean products. When you first do that, your scalp may not be used to what you’re giving it, so it could over produce oil. NO WORRIES. Finish your natural and clean shampoo and condition bottles, and use this dry shampoo to help keep the grease at bay while your body is adjusting to the new products.
DIY Dry Shampoo Recipe
Ingredients
4 TBLSP ARROWROOT, tapioca, or non GMO cornstarch
4 drops YL Peppermint Essential Oil
4 drops YL lavender Essential Oil
For Brunettes:
4 TBLS cocoa
For Blondes:
3/4 tsp turmeric
For Red Heads:
2 1/4 tsp paprika
Instructions:
Mix the dry ingredients in a small, very dry bowl and mix well with a dry spoon. If the coloring seems too light add more of the appropriate ingredient for your hair color. Add the essential oils and mix well. Add to an airtight container for storing. It would be ideal to use a foundation brush to apply the powder to your hair starting at the front and moving to the back. Run a comb through to distribute evenly. Enjoy your clean hair! (If I knew who to give credit to, I would! Thank you, Dana Crenshaw for sharing this with me! It's changed my life!):P
Let’s get SASSY! Ok, so it’s no joke that we have A LOT of girls in our home. And not just any girls, super fun, extra girly girls. I’ve loved learning and coming up with clean and safe alternatives for our home. A big one is hair care! The girls in our home want to participate in the daily “glam up”, while not harming our bodies with toxic chemicals. A couple of our favorites are the Sweet and Sassy Hair Spray and Dry Shampoo!
SASSY HAIRSPRAY
Ingredients
- 15 drops lavender essential oil
- 10 drops lemon essential oil
- 8 drops of Cedarwood essential oil
- 4 drops geranium essential oil (for dry hair types)
- half an ounce of vodka or Witch Hazel
- 5 ounces distilled water
Instructions:
Combine above ingredients in a spray bottle and spray onto dry, damp or wet hair. Best if sprayed before bed. Style as usual but beware… Your hair will be full of body, excess product residue and build up will be gone and you will need less styling products! Warning! Some women have reported a little more sassy in their step… Now isn’t that sweet?
