I wanted to share an idea with you all that I found on Pinterest! What would we do without Pinterest, right? I get so many wonderful ideas there that I had never thought of before. Today's post is all about how I was able to get closer to my kids using one of the ideas I had pinned!
First of all, I should explain what lead up to my actually using this idea. I am a nurse and I began working in a new facility. I truly love my job and know that I am doing what the LORD called me to do. This new job came with a new schedule and parts of it are good, but parts of it are not. I wanted a way to communicate with my children when I am not able to be home with them after school. We always talk about how our days went. I help with homework. They talk about issues they are facing. We go over spelling words. I remind them of chores to be done. They tell me if they need something special for school. A lot of communication was being lost with my working the hours I am and more important than that, we were not connecting like I wanted to.
I saw a post where a lady wrote in a composition notebook to her child and they became "pen pals" and took turns writing in the notebooks. Walmart had their notebooks on sale during Back2School specials and so I grabbed a glittery green notebook and a pretty composition notebook with a sparkly heart on the front cover. Javan and I share the green glittery notebook and Kadesia and I share the sparkly heart composition notebook.
I am so excited when the notebooks are waiting for me in my bathroom. When I get home from work and getting ready for bed, I just grab the notebooks and read the precious notes my children have left me. I will then write them each a letter back, sometimes to remind them of something, other times just answering questions they have asked, or just a new message about how much I love them.
My children find their notebooks on their bed and they enjoy seeing what I have sent them, too. I have a little better schedule now but we still like to use the notebooks for times I am gone and they just want to send their mommy a special note. I like that it encourages my teenage daughter to share moments in her life that she is going through. We have been able to swap messages back and forth and then when we get time to spend together, we have already laid the foundation to discuss those big topics that we might have not been able to share at all. My son is nine years old and I love that it is encouraging him to write. He needs practice and he is getting much better. It also increases his reading time because he is reading what I wrote to him, and is comprehending it.
The messages are not the same in the books because both of my children are very different. They are at different seasons in their lives. They are going through different things. They are not in the same grade. But the one thing that is the same in both notebooks is the message of love we send to one another. This was such a great idea and I know in years to come, those notebooks will be cherished memories of how we kept the lines of communication open, even when it was a challenge to share like we used to do.
I hope this inspires you to reach out to your loved ones. Find special ways to stay connected to those you love. Be sure to check out my Pinterest board for more ideas and inspiration! Definitely stop by Jennifer's blog and show her some love for this project. Thanks for hanging out with me today!
Hugs,
In the corner was where I kept my Xyron sticker makers and various other scrapbook supplies. I don't have room for that shelf either so I gave it to my sister, too.
Here's a picture of Paul and Javan during one of our last moving days. It was really sad to see all of our stuff in boxes hauled off to the storage unit. It's not easy living out of a box, digging to find your clothes and personal items but hopefully soon we will be moved into our new home and it will be so exciting!
I just love this picture of Javan. He sat in the chair in the back of his daddy's truck! We bought this recliner for Kadesia when she was really small so this little chair has seen a lot of love!
I will update again with photos of more things we have done while I have been away from my blog! Thanks for checking out my blog!
I packaged it up for Kadesia to give her teacher on her first day of school. I hope you like these fun little projects! Have a great day!
Here I am with my little leprochaun Javan! He insisted we call him Coach today! He's got basketball on the brain since he's been watching his sister play Upward Basketball. It's over now but he will continue to think about it and talk about it for a while!
Here's my two favorite guys! Aren't they cute in their St. Patrick's Day shirts? Javan let me know, "You t'ant pinch me tuz I am wearing gween!" That happens to be his favorite color, too!
This little pouch is one I shared before. I just love that cute Tilda sitting on the cloud! I stuffed it full of Jumbo Paper Clip Bookmarks for Kadesia to pass out to her classmates and teachers. I love using The Angel Company's Willoughby designer paper for St. Patrick's Day. It is perfect!
Here's a close-up of the binder notepad holder I made her. The chipboard measures 4" x 4" and is covered on both sides with Willoughby paper. The binder clip and ink pen also have the same paper to match. The sheets are loose so she can refill it with scrap papers, a sticky note pad or whatever she'd like!
This card was made using the Trendy Greetings stamp set from The Angel Company. This is a MUST HAVE stamp set for all - occasion cards and projects. There's a stamp for various holidays and themes in this set! The clover is from the Purchase With Purchase stamp set called Fancy Suits and it's only $2.95 with any $30 purchase! I used Jardin Moss to ink it up. The edges were sponged with Cognac and Burnt Umber. We are making a Suspension Card similar to this in our card class on Monday!
June wanted everyone to make a scrapbook page at her FunShop so that is what we did. She chose a birthday theme and it was a lot of fun to create this for them! I used a sketch I found in one of my scrapbooking magazines. It is a very simple design but I like to keep the focus on the photos and journaling. The balloons were punched out of the designer paper with my Super Jumbo Scalloped Punch and popped up with dimensionals. The strings were created with Scrapper's Floss. There's enough room for a 4"x6" photo and a 3¾" x 5¾" photo.
Here's a close-up of the journaling box. We used Tag Tidbits and Squiggle Ladybugs for the journal box "border" using "giggle," "joy," "laugh," and "happy birthday." All the inks are Palette Hybrid: French Lilac, Bordeaux, Starr Night, and Jardin Moss.
These self-adhesive pearls are so fun to accent the scalloped circle. I used my Cricut to make the "B" for the monogram. My husband covered 4 pieces of chipboard for me...he misunderstood what I meant so I just glued two pieces together and voila!... thicker covers! LOL There are no mistakes in paper crafting...only room for creativity! Right?
God blessed us from the beginning. Right after He created Mankind He blessed them.
Here's a look at the inside. May God BLESS you today and always!
