Monday, May 26, 2014

Picnic at the Park

This past weekend, we took the younger three kids for a picnic at the park. We had food, drinks, a nice spot under a tree, and the perfect sunny day! Phoenix, Tyler, and Elijah are really into soccer lately, so afterwards, they kicked the soccer ball around for awhile. Poor Elijah ran around so much, his little legs were hurting and, I was truly enjoying the moment so much that I hardly took any photos.


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Although a trip to the beach would have been nice, we opted to stay in the area this Memorial Day weekend. As I mentioned before, our Summer goal is to collect memories, not stuff. We do have plans to get to the beach this Summer but, we want to see just how much fun we are capable of having for little to no money, other than the gas to get where we are going. We've discovered that if we really do some searching, there are parks, festivals, museums, and all kinds of events in our area that we can attend and that won't cost us anything.


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Here are just a few of the other activities we are planning this Summer: 

  • Swimming at Falls River Dam
  • Picnic at Pullen Park
  • The Natural Science Museum
  • The NC History Museum
  • Hiking at Umstead Park
  • Fishing at Creedmoor Dam
  • The Farmer's Market
  • The JC Raulston Arboretum


Be sure to check all of these places out if you live in the Raleigh, NC area! And if you do, what are some things that I can add to my list that you know about?


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Monday, May 19, 2014

Strawberry Picking at Vollmer Farm

Strawberry season is usually early May thru about mid June in central North Carolina. Drive anywhere outside of the city limits and you are sure to see signs every few miles that advertise strawberry picking at many of the local farms. I remember going strawberry picking with my grandmother as a child, but had yet to take my own children after all the years of living the country life. Last Saturday, the weather was perfect, so on a whim, we loaded up the three littlest kiddos and drove out to one of our local farms for our first strawberry picking experience as a family.


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Not only does Vollmer Farm offer strawberry picking, there is also blueberry and blackberry picking mid-late summer as well. My grandparent's had a big blackberry bush that I remember picking from as a child, but I have never picked blueberries. I would love to go back for blueberries in another month or two.


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Of course, we couldn't resist the homemade ice-cream, but overall, this was a relatively inexpensive day for us. Some of our best times are when we don't spend a ton of money, so we have made it one of our goals to go on many adventures this Summer, but to spend as little as possible. We already have a few other plans in mind!


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So, what are we planning to do with all of these strawberries? 

I will be putting them in smoothies for a quick and delicious breakfast, adding them to water for refreshing infused water creations, making a delicious sugar free syrup for my paleo pancakes, and even creating some tasty frozen greek yogurt popsicles with the kids.




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Tuesday, May 13, 2014

Weekly Wishes Wk. 22

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last weeks wishes

Give myself a pedicure.  Didn't get to it!

Health and fitness.  I'm doing really terrible with my fitness and I do great with my eating until the weekend hits! I think it's time to go back to the basics and get my head back in the right spot. 

Read a book.  I finally finished Gone Girl and I hate to say it but, I wasn't very impressed with the ending. So many people love this book, but I just felt very unsatisfied when I got to the end.

Work on the blanket I am crocheting.  I didn't work on this at all. 

Stay up to date with cleaning.  I'm so proud of myself for keeping up with this so well. It feels good to look around and see everything so clean, but I have to admit, I am a maniac when I see someone making a mess.

Bible Study with the kids.  I managed this ONE night. I guess one is better than none. I need to somehow fit this in better.

Work on our Fairy Garden. I haven't had a chance to get out and work on it like I want.

Mow the grass.  Got it done!


this weeks wishes

Give myself a pedicure.  3rd times the charm, am I right?

Health and fitness.  I like this little system I have going so I am going to keep at it. Let's get back to the basics here. One mile will be a lot considering I have managed ZERO for the last 3 weeks.
  • Eat clean
  • Drink 80 oz of water a day
  • Run 1 mile

Read a book.  A Love that Multiplies.

Make a crochet banner.  

Stay up to date with cleaning.  Maintain a clean house using Flylady for cleaning. I personally love it and have been very successful with using the Flylady methods in the past. I purchased her book last year, which I recommend for starting out because the website can be a bit overwhelming. I would like to get back on track and maintain a clean home so that we can spend more time outside playing with the kids, instead of inside cleaning.

Bible Study with the kids and Jason.

Update my blog binder. 

Mow the grass. Yes, again! It's a once a week thing around here!

Family meeting with Jason. The pastor at our church had a great family meeting idea that couples can do together that I really liked and want to start doing with Jason.


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Wednesday, May 7, 2014

Distraction-Free Learning with Bing in the Classroom

Many thanks to Bing for sponsoring today’s post, and inspiring me to share about their #adfreesearch classroom initiative.

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Education is something we strongly value in our home. That doesn't mean we know it all or always get things correct, but providing our children with opportunities to learn, as well as demonstrating our own desire for continued education, is something we strive to work hard at.

Computers have become commonplace in the classroom, therefor, it is my duty as a parent to teach my children the importance of using computers responsibly and in a way that benefits their education.  Computers, and the internet, open up a wonderful world of educational opportunities for children, whether it be to play a math game, search for information on a particular topic, watch a video, or even watch live feed of the animals at the National Zoo.

As much as I love for my children to be able to use the computer, I often feel guilty for saying no because of how easy it is to become distracted by all those ads. No matter how much I talk to my children about using a computer responsibly, I still have to closely monitor their usage because sometimes there are those distractions that can often be misleading to a child. Believe it or not, I've already learned the hard way about how easily a child can navigate to an inappropriate website. Even I've been known to click on something that turned out to be completely different than what I had been lead to believe.


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Sometimes it isn't as easy for teachers to monitor children on a computer when there are 20 kids in a classroom, and that's why I love what Bing is now doing for schools, with Bing in the Classroom. In schools, when students use search engines other than Bing, they are shown ads that can distract from their studies. With Bing in the Classroom, all advertising is removed, there are strict filters for adult content, and enhanced privacy protection.

We often forget that these are just children and that they don't always have the attention span like an adult. They are so easily distracted so it is nice that Bing in the Classroom has removed these ads and blocked searches from being used for personal advertising for all Bing searches done through the schools network.






Bing in the Classroom is now available to all schools in the U.S.  and can even earn your child's school free Microsoft Surface tablets. 

"We've made it even easier for people to support the schools they care about. Our popular Bing Rewards program enables people to earn credits towards Surface tablets for a school of their choice simply by signing up and searching with Bing. Now we are making it easier to see how many Rewards credits an individual school has earned. You can search for any school by ZIP code and see how many other people are contributing, how many Surface tablets the school has earned so far, and how many credits are needed to earn the next Surface. And we'll also tell you if the school is registered for the search enhancements, so you can know if your kids are receiving ad-free, safer, more private search in the classroom when they choose Bing.

Anyone can earn credits just by searching the web with Bing—similar to a frequent flyer program. Credits can be donated to help get free Microsoft Surface tablets for schools. It's easy! All you have to do is stay signed in as you search with Bing."


Are you ready to begin supporting your child's school and protect them while using computers in the classroom with Bing in the Classroom?

Click HERE to locate your child's school and try it now, free! 


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