Road Trip & Princess Power Training out West

I grew up in the airlines, and even though I enjoy a quick trip with a bird's eye view of God's stunning creation, nothing beats an old fashioned family road trip. We left on Sunday right after church let out. Two excited kiddos, I tell you.

 To help L & G track our progress, I velcroed photos of our destination (Vail, CO), the KS/CO border signs, and our home on the ceiling. I taped up a road of black electrical tape, added smiley face dots for every hour of the journey, and finally added our minivan to move along down the road.

 This was such a hit. The kids couldn't wait to move the car every hour, and it helped them comprehend so much about travel time and distance and approximate our arrival at certain landmarks along the way.

 I filched this fabulous idea from Pinterest and used little art bins from the dollar store to hold the kids' snacks. They knew that they couldn't ask for anything that wasn't in their personal snack bins, and they also learned how to make their food last for the journey (or not, which meant they'd be hungry later on).

 And when they weren't watching DVDs or listening to me read Junie B. Jones or The Magic Tree House, they were coloring on their own magnetic trays (cookie sheets) with magnetic crayons and markers (Pinterest again--what did I ever do without it?).

 What made this road trip so special was stopping midway in Sylvan Grove to see our dear friends, the Anderson family. These kids have grown up together since they all were wee babies.

 The kids were having crazy amounts of fun together.

 Sweet Julie even had a special dessert planned for Camp Connelly--s'mores!  Oh, she knows us so well.

 Their property is absolutely gorgeous--rolling hills, a crystal clear lake. So peaceful.

 And the timing of the trip was perfect, because Lorelei and I had the privilege of joining Julie and her girls for Princess Power Training.  I was thrilled to learn that they got to hold it at the local elementary school, and that moms and daughters had driven here from many different churches (including two pastors' wives) from over 30 minutes away.

 Jana (arms up) is leading music and dance to "I'm a God Girl."  She did an amazing job opening PPT.

 They made us feel like a part of their circle.

 Watching all these moms and daughters was almost too much for me.  My heart was just bursting with gratitude and love for all these ladies and their precious, precious girls.

 Julie led the lesson today on Honor and told the kids about the Pencil Maker, teaching them to be led and guided by the hand that made them and wants to leave a mark with their lives.

 Julie revised the cookie recipe we had used (since ours had flopped and melted all over our pans). Here everyone's filling their Scripture Cookie jars, learning to HONOR directions so that things turn out the very best and the way that the person writing the recipe had intended, just as God has the best for our lives when we obey and honor Him.

 I'm so grateful for Julie's leadership and initiative and for the way God does amazing things when we have a heart to obey Him.  And I'm so excited to hear that Princess Power Training is growing more and more as other moms share the materials and form their own groups.  Two more are in the works now and one mom (Jana) modified the materials for high school girls.  It's just so exciting and thrilling to see what God does with a willing heart.

 I'll post more about our trip to Colorado later, but I have to include two other dear friends I got to visit on this trip, Erica (we met in second grade) and Sam (my neighbor since she was two).  I grew up with these girls in Colorado and love them to pieces, and they're both expecting their first babies now! Erica's having a girl (Molly) and Sam's having a boy (Joey). I'm just so excited for them.  They were both bridesmaids in our wedding.

 We decided to embarrass Sam at Red Robin and request a birthday serenade. Oh, did she ever love it ;o)

 Okay, not really. But our waitress practically begged us to let her sing since birthday serenades were her favorite thing ever, and we couldn't let her down! Sam, having a June birthday, was our natural victim.

I'm so grateful for old friends who know everything about me and still love me and can pick up right where we leave off, even when we don't see each other often.  I love them so much right back.  More photos of our trip to come soon. 

Courage

How much can a kid grow up in a day?  Quite a bit.

Let's have a look at the kids' terrified faces their first time on a canoe this morning:

Blood curdling screams, I tell you.  We got some nasty looks from the paddle-boaters nearby.

But slowly, the kids began to trust us and decided to get their hands wet.

And paddle right along, just like good pirates.

 And halfway out, with nowhere to tether our boat, they discovered something of a treasure buried deep within themselves: Courage.    

 The day of the panicked screech turned into a sunny day at the beach.

 And those fear monsters tuck-tailed and ran away.

Then Lorelei decided suddenly she wasn't afraid of anything anymore.

Not even riding a bike.

So on the pedals went... and off rode our little biker for the very first time!

 She didn't even let us help her.  "No, let ME do it!" she insisted, jerking her bike away from our cautious grip.

And did she ever!

 The war wounds were minimal.  What's a little blood?

 It's a good thing I was behind the camera.  Tears just flooded my face when I saw the pride in Lulu's.

And I'm an ugly crier.

Courage has been something of a theme lately. 

We just read The Tale of Desperaux and Brave this month (the movie comes out this week), which were brimming with courage.

And the theme of VBS this week?  You guessed it.

 Lulu, you are so brave and strong.  How much you have grown in a single day!

And you're already asking for that frog catcher we promised you... :o)

Just no broken bones, okay?

Charlotte Mason Box

We have a morning routine this summer that begins when the kids hop in bed for a little devotional time and we open the lid of this box...

 I came across the directions for a Charlotte Mason memorization box system on the SimplyCharlotteMason.com website, then printed them out and pasted them inside the lid of our box. I picked out some scrapbook papers I liked, found an old looking army tin box from Hobby Lobby, broke out the mod podge and by the time it was finished, I realized it matched our bedroom--I was going to use it at dinner and keep it in the dining room, but because it matches, I keep it on my bedside table (even better!).
The kids have learned a ton of verses this past year in Awanas, and so it's important to me that they don't just earn a jewel or a badge and forget about them.  I want Scripture and quotes and good things to sink in deep, so I've adopted this Charlotte Mason system (if you're unfamiliar, she has many brilliant things to say about teaching kids, and her methods are rooted in routines).
I'll let the instructions here speak for themselves (copied from that website).

 Here are our Daily, Odd/Even, Day of the Week and Date of the Month divider tabs, which allow us to cover everything we've recently learned (most frequently), and still review EVERYTHING we've ever learned within a month's time. I'm just a little bit excited about that fact.

 I also thought I'd give myself a minor kick in the rear reminder every morning about my "Sq-week-y Clean Routine," which has really bit the dust lately. At least a read-through will make me feel productive, never mind the follow-through.

We don't just do our morning reviews for the memorization stuff, because I've figured out a strategy for remembering things that works wonders for L & G that we've used for over a year now. The Sparks Awanas verses from last year and Lorelei's Suzuki songs (plus a few pirate songs for our own Cap'n Sparrow) are on a CD the kids listen to during all bedtimes and quiet times.  It's just about an hour long, so the kids know that when the CD finishes, their individual quiet times are over and it's time to clean their toys off their bedroom floors.  It's been brilliant, and they love it.  The 2:00 quiet time has been routine all summer long, and often results in long summer naps.
Here's one of Lorelei's Awanas verses from last year.  She knows it well, so right now it's filed under a day of the week but soon will move behind a number to be reviewed once a month.

I'm also including the prayer cards our church sends home so that we say those prayers in the morning, as well as a prayer I love to say over my kids (Ephesians 3:16-21) and other verses I'd like to memorize.  Quotes will follow, too, once we get through all our review verses. I'm really rusty on this stuff so I'm learning right along with them.  (Friends, Romans, Countrymen, lend me your ear...)

 Here I cut up an article from Parents Magazine that lists 25 manners every kid should know by age nine.  Couldn't hurt to review those everyday, either, was my thought. :o)

 Each morning during our devotion time (around 7am), we light Lorelei's lantern from Princess Power Training, just to set this time apart as something sacred.  It's a great way to begin our day before teeth/clothes/hair/beds & breakfast, and I love that the process doesn't require any thought--just move an index card back, and replace it with a new one. Simple!