Sibling Rivalry~ Ideas to help your kids stop fighting...

I know that this is the thing that drives us as moms crazy! Not only do I get mad when my kids fight, but it just drains the energy away from me and I feel helpless as a mom. I have recently broke down in tears after a particularly hard morning, so I decided to write down some of the thinks I have done in the past to not only help my children fight less, but help them understand that their actions are hurting others.

1. Stop the fight right away and ask your children to express how they are feeling calmly with their hands in their pockets.

2. Send them to the forgiving bench. On this bench there are strict rules:
- Only one person can talk at a time while the other one listens until they are DONE!
- The person talking has to start their turn by saying "I don't like it when..." or "You hurt my feelings when..."
- They have to find a solution that both of them are happy with and hug BEFORE they can get up from the bench.
- They BOTH have to say sorry to each other (hence the name, forgiving bench)

3. Make them hold hands and sing a song to you swaying back and forth! I know that sounds so stupid, but it really works, they feel silly so they can't help but smile. This works for my 10 year old son, he never wants to do it, so it's the best punishment for him!

4. Make them hug for 3 straight minutes! They will come away giggling. (although it doesn't solve any major problems, so I just use #3 and #4 for small fights)

Hope these can help you a little in your home. Let me know in a comment if you have some great ideas too!

Great Summer Ideas and Fathers Day :)

So I've really been out of it lately, with morning sickness, an out of place neck, sinus infection and exhaustion all mixed together!! I haven't been what you would call a "happy camper". But I have been doing a lot of research for ideas for my kids during the summer (cause they are already at each others necks). Here are some great sites that have some great ideas!

At the Prepared Not Scared Blog, she had such a great idea for keeping the neighborhood kids at bay while your kids are finishing up their morning chores. She made these adorable signs for their door:

What a great idea huh!?  Now we just hope it's the kids that can read that are coming around, right!?  At least they can understand the universal red means stop and green means go.


Another of my favorite sites: Secrets of a Super Mommy!

She has this great idea of posting 10 day's of summer fun with the supermoms.  Check out here cute ideas here. 
She has ideas for no sew library bags, rainbow pudding pops, upcycled sand toys, the Perfect Fireless Campfire, a "Welcome Summer" weekly activities organizational banner, and how to liven up that lemonade stand:

Another of my favorites is Our Best Bites!  Don't these cinnamon rolls look perfect for Fathers Day!?

And finally, Family Fun always has great handmade and thrifty Fathers Day Gift ideas...  check it out!

Christmas Neighbor and Friend Gift Ideas

I don't know about you, but if I'm gonna give out neighbor gifts, I better do it early or it will never get done!!  Here are some ideas I have done in the past along with the printables that go with them.  Just click on the image to bring it up bigger and copy and paste.  If you would rather I email you a copy, just email me a quick note asking...lgphoto@live.com

Here is a personalized poem that goes along with some Cookie Dough Mix...  just copy and paste the text into your word processor then you can personalize it with a border or print it on some cute scrapbooking paper.

“Twas the Night Before Christmas”

Twas the night before Christmas at the “(recipient family’s last name) Homestead”,

The Parents were stumbling and fell into bed.

The presents were wrapped, the last bow had been tied,

And very honestly, (wife’s name) was fried.

When all of a sudden, (husbands name) sat up in a fright!

“I’m not sure Santa’s coming at all tonight!

We forgot to make cookies-Santa must be fed!

Will we get any presents?” they wondered with dread!

Then (wife’s name) replied, “It’s no problem my dear,

Don’t you remember the (your families last name) this year?

They gave us a handy, and most thoughtful gift,

It’s a bag of cookie mix, on the shelf it does sit.”

Then (husbands name) said in awe, “Those (your families last name) sure are swell,

They’ve saved the day for us, and for Santa as well.”

He hopped out of bed and put on his cap

Ran right to the kitchen- the cookies were a snap!

(Husbands name) set them out carefully on the new Christmas plate

Then whipped up some eggnog since it wasn’t that late.

He brought some to (wife’s name) and they had a small feast.

Eggnog and cookies-she didn’t mind in the least!

Then (husbands name) rubbed her back while she soaked her aching feet

For he understood “Christmas Prep” is no treat!

(Wife’s name) said “Those cookies, they sure hit the spot,

I’m sure ole Santa will like them a lot.”

With peace in their hearts, they got ready for sleep,

For the last Christmas duty was now complete.

As they pulled up the covers, their eyes all misty

(Husbands name) wondered, “Will Santa bring me my XBOX 360?”

Here is a really cute poem called "Not So Homemade Fudge" and all you have to do is buy some Symphony Bars to go along with it and it will make everyone smile!  Just click on the image to view it larger and right click, then choose copy image.  Then you can paste it into Photoshop and add your family name to the bottom :)  The size you will need to paste it onto is a regular paper size, 11x8.5 and 300 Resolution.

 I also gave out this cute note with some homemade gift tags, or you can buy some really cheap at Seagull Book, or you can buy the Avery Labels and make some cute ones using Photoshop or the Avery FREE software download.  Just give each neighbor a sheet.  These do need to be passed out at the beginning of December or you run the risk of those people who are really on the ball already having their gifts wrapped and ready to go! Just copy and paste these on to an 8.5x11 sheet in photoshop so you can print multiple ones at a time and just cut them apart.

We also thought in our neighborhood to just have a fun cookie exchange party and have everyone bring the money they would have spent on Neighbor Gifts and donate it to the food pantry.  This way we can have fun visiting with each other and the money would go to a worthy cause, because let's face it, who needs a Symphony Bar laying around the house calling out your name?