Emery and I do most of the gardening. Everyone pitches in when it comes to weeding and harvesting, but the rest of it is done by the two of us. I’m working on training Jade to love the garden, but I haven’t had a lot of time to spend with her working with our hands in […]
Sunday was a beautiful day in terms of the weather. It was sunny and warm (but not too warm), with a hint of Fall in the air. When Jim suggested we go for a walk down to our creek, I thought it was a great idea. The boys have been doing a lot of work […]
Ever wonder how we manage to feed a family of ten? While we have a “never ending” supply of milk and eggs, it all starts with grocery shopping. During this video, you can see what food shopping for our family looks like! Impressive, huh?!?
There are ALWAYS chores to be done at the Jonas house. Find out which chores the children handle and how they try to manipulate the chore system! How do you work chores at your house?
Life is messy. Not just a little messy. Life is a lot messy. But I have found that it’s not the messes in my life that ruin my day. It is how I respond to the messes in my life that matters. This mess happened when one of the children dropped a bowl of barbecue sauce. I […]
My life is crazy busy and I need to make some hard choices on how to spend my time. One of the items that is important to me is exercise. It is important not only for my own health and sanity, but it is important that the children learn from an early age to build […]
Yes, you really should read Lemonade Stand Economics by Geof White. I did, but that’s not such a great reason, so I won’t count that one. My daughter, Brett, read it as well. Of course, she (@BookSquirt on twitter) reads everything under the sun, so that’s not very compelling either. I wrote a bunch of twitter […]
I love my sleep and admit that I get rather grumpy if I am routinely deprived of it! Fortunately, other than during kidding season, it doesn’t happen often because I make it a priority to get the sleep that I need so that I can take care of my family without being grumpy. I believe, […]
Have you ever found yourself saying to your children, “Because I told you so!”? That sentence might work with toddlers, but it doesn’t work nearly as effectively with older children. Jim and I instead use the phrase, “Because God told you so.” And we have Bible verses to back it up. During the podcast […]
If you are at all like me, you want to serve your family (and yourself) healthy foods. The problem of course comes about when you try to answer the question, “What is healthy?” There is so much conflicting information out there about individual foods. It is enough to make my head spin. Soy is one example. […]
The answer, of course, is – “NO!” And yet, I find that so many of us still try! We expect to be able to do everything and get upset with ourselves when we fail. Or worse yet, we allow ourselves to feel guilty. We need to adjust our expectations and allow for the messes in […]
Let’s all pray right now, that you never need to know how to use a fire extinguisher, shall we? Ok, now I believe that all prayers are answered, but sometimes the answer isn’t what we would prefer, so it’s best to be prepared. What are you preparing for? That moment when you realize you are […]
Maybe it’s because I’ve been too busy to watch more than one NFL game this year. Maybe it’s because I’m not part of a fantasy football league anymore. Maybe it’s because my favorite team since I was a child, the New England Patriots, is done for the season. Maybe it’s because I’m consciously not calling […]
Getting our children to stop sucking their thumbs has always been a chore for me. Brett was easy and decided to stop on her own. Colter and Emery used pacifiers, which I took away from them when they were about a year old. After 2 nights of crying for each of them, they were over […]
We have always tried to teach the children the importance of giving to others in need. Although we donate our time and money in a lot of different ways, one of our favorite projects is Operation Christmas Child. I love it because it is so practical for my children, even at a young age. This […]