values

  • 2017,  Family,  Family,  values

    The Game of Life

    One of our family’s favourite board games is ‘The Game of Life’.  I personally prefer the original version of the game, but after many years of play, we needed to update and buy the new version.  Unfortunately, the new version’s board is a lot smaller, and they have changed the format of the game.   I suppose that happens when we try to modernise something that doesn’t need modernising.   The only reason we decided to upgrade to the newer version was that our game was literally falling apart.   Pieces were missing and the board was broken.  Our trusty original ‘Game of Life’ had been thoroughly enjoyed and used…

  • 2017,  Family,  motherhood in the naughties,  motivation,  Parenting,  values

    Living Life Passionately

    It’s funny how the topic of death makes you think a lot about life.  Well, I find it at least ‘interesting’.  When a family member or friend dies, I find I go through a time of deep self-analysis.  I think most people do!   I find myself thinking about what I believe. I also think about what my life looks like right now, what’s important to me, and what changes I would like to make?  Often, what do I want to be remembered for?  None of us know when we are going to die, or how we are going to die!   God knows, of course,  but we aren’t privileged…

  • getting organised,  home,  values

    Goodbye 2016, Hello 2017

    I can’t believe Christmas 2016 is over for another year! We had a great Christmas!  We celebrated on Christmas day with my side of the family this year.  We alternate celebrating Christmas day with our two families.  My brothers and their wives and families drove to the Coast and we all congregated at mums.   We did presents first and boy that was fun!  Paper filled the lounge room, and the squeals of delight from all the kids was wonderful to hear.  It was noisy, chaotic, and fun.   Everyone then pulled together and got food to the table for lunch. I think my favourite part of Christmas is watching…

  • Blogging,  home,  motherhood in the naughties,  Things I like,  Things to do,  values

    Happiness, Habits and Hobbies

    Recently, I listened to one of my many favourite podcasts ‘Straight and Curly’ with kelly Exeter and Carly Jacobs, who were talking about how important it is to have hobbies.   At the time I was quick to react with some quick ‘I don’t have time for any hobbies!’ type of remark. And then I had a moment of feeling blue, until it suddenly occurred to me that I do in fact have hobbies! I enjoy writing on my blog and taking photos.  I also love to read, listen to podcasts and watch movies.   I like to go walking on the beach, making sandcastles with the kids, garage sales and…

  • motherhood in the naughties,  Parenting,  values

    The Intentional Mother

    If you’re a mother, you will have times when you feel intense overwhelm. Sometimes you will experience this overwhelm on a daily basis. We desire to be ‘Warrior women’, but instead some of us feel like ‘worriers’.  We quickly learn that there is so much more to being a mum than just surviving pregnancy and giving birth.  It fact, we are required to raise our children to be leaders in a world where we aren’t allowed to discipline. None of us want our children to turn out this way – do we? It is for this reason,  we choose to discipline our kids. It is also for this reason we lie…

  • Family,  homeschooling,  motivation,  school,  values

    Heading Back to High School

    High school can be really hard at times. I should know, this is my second and third time around! Our eldest girls are in year eight and year seven, and I’ll be the first to admit that I really did not enjoy high school the first time around. I am hoping that the fourth (Chanel) and fifth (Jaden) time around will be a little easier! Fingers crossed. This term Amy had to read ‘The Hiding Place” by Corrie Ten Boom, for English. One of her assessment pieces required her to pull it apart, and put it back together in the form of an analytical essay. ‘We’ finished her analytical essay…

  • Family,  homeschooling,  values

    Bringing Balance back to Homeschooling

    The holidays are now a distant memory. Sadly! We’re heading towards the end of week 2 of term 3, and I can hardly believe that we are now in term 3, this year is flying by far too quickly. We had created a list of things we wanted to do over the holidays but sickness took us down. Instead, we spent the majority of the holidays at home. We did fit in a couple of movies at the Maroochy Cinema’s for the kids right at the beginning of the holidays before we became unwell. I endured the Minions movie and enjoyed ‘Inside Out’…The kids thoroughly enjoyed both the movies, and…

  • values,  who am I

    Love, Grace and Gratitude – Finding True Happiness

    Over the last couple of weeks we were introduced to the ‘New’ Renee Zellweger.  The articles and media conversations surrounding Renee’s ‘new’ look were quite thought provoking, and somewhat attacking.  Some reporters commented that ‘we’, the general public, put a lot of pressure on celebrities to keep their youthful appearance, and because of our expectations – they feel obligated to do everything in their power to remain youthful – including surgery.  Other reports lay the blame squarely on the shoulders of producers and directors in the entertainment industry.   Since Renee launched her new look  – Actress Julia Roberts commented that she has no plans to freshen up her look with cosmetic surgery,  she realises that…