Grand Prize Winner!

We have a winner!!! Our exchange student Sally drew the name this afternoon after school and then the girls got in on some "Vanna White" action to show you the loot once again. In case you can't read the name, my lucky sister got the luck of the draw. I will put your package in the mail tomorrow. Thanks for participating ladies!

100th Post and a Blog give-away

It's hard to believe it but this is my 100^th post so I’m celebrating by having a Give-away! Since Easter is rapidly approaching, I decided to make up some more Primitive Easter Eggs and gather up some other goodies for one lucky winner to enjoy!
The winner will receive some great smelling Primitive Easter Eggs, Bunny Recipe Cards & Place Cards that I made, a cute Mary Engelbreit Address Book and a Creamy Custard & Blushing Apple Candle! Sorry but the red shelf and antique egg carton are not included.

Here’s the simple rules and how to enter!

• Anybody within the U.S. may participate; bloggers, friends, neighbors, family members, etc.

• To enter into the drawing just leave a comment on this post. Easy enough! Please leave an e-mail address in your comment and as a example to avoid scammers from snagging your email you can do this: christylaverty(at)hotmail(dot)com.

• Now for an additional entry, if you have a blog and mention the giveaway you will get another entry! Leave me a comment with your blog address so I can check it out. But what if you don’t have a blog? You can still get another entry by emailing at least 5 of your friends about the giveaway (just cc me so I know you did it: christylaverty(at)hotmail(dot)com). Don’t forget to give them a link to the blog so they too can check out the give-away and enter to win as well.

• For an extra entry, become one of my followers! For those of you who already are a follower, leave me a comment that you are and I’ll enter your name again for the drawing!

• So, you’ve got a chance for 3 entries into the drawing. Good luck!

The cut-off date for the drawing is Tuesday at 3 p.m. so I can get you your package before Easter. We will draw a name and announce it on our blog and then your goodies will be sent. Good luck and don’t forget to check back to see if you won!!!

Primitive Easter Eggs & Practical Parenting

Look what I made the other day! These primitive Easter eggs were a fun and easy craft to make. I found them online a few months ago here and decided I just had to make them. It was an inexpensive craft made from the plastic eggs that everyone fills with Easter candy and some cinnamon. I also wrapped them in cheese cloth to give them a nice primitive texture but you can't really see it in the photo.

They smell soooo good! They are sitting in my foyer and each time I walk past them the sweet smell of cinnamon greets me. I would have liked to have left them out on a country plate or in a shallow country bowl but I knew that it would be too big of a temptation for our kittens. I didn’t want to wake up one morning and find cinnamon all over my white carpet! Now, I’ve got a BIG surprise coming up tomorrow but it will remain a secret until then. So come back and see what the suspense is all about!

Now on to the Practical Parenting… This week, it is discussing the “final leg” of school as summer is on the horizon and how we can help our kids motivated.

The “final leg” and the “last leg.” These are two very similar phrases, but with very different meanings. When we return from Spring Break we will be starting our 3rd quarter of school – you might say we are on the final leg of our school year. So, how do you keep your child motivated and help them finish this final leg of the year strong? How do you keep them from feeling that they are on the last leg?

One thing that is very important is your attitude about the last quarter of school. If you express to your child that you are tired and can’t wait until summer break – guess what they will begin to express? That right – your child will oftentimes mirror your feelings and emotions. What your child needs from you at this time of year is renewed excitement and encouragement to do their best.

The last quarter of the school year is one where many new and challenging concepts are introduced, and the final touches are made to be sure your child is ready for the academics of the next grade level. I have seen many children “fade” at this time of the year. As a school, we will keep your child as motivated as we can, but we need your help as well.

Keep giving your child that position motivation and reinforcement that you gave them at the beginning of this school year. Now would be a good time to be checking on their homework situation, and on projects that are in the works.

Determine now how you will help your child think this time of year is as important as the beginning of the year. Pray daily with your student for God’s strength and motivation to help them finish strong. Pray that very thing for yourself as well. Approach this time of the year with the determination to finish strong on this “final leg” of the school year.

So, remember to stop by tomorrow for my BIG surprise. Until then, have a great day!

Okay...you twisted my arm! I'll give you a little hint. 100th post tomorrow and a give-away!!!

St. Patrick's Day Card & Practical Parenting

I've been under the weather the last several days with an awful sinus cold so the Practical Parenting did not get posted last week. My head felt like it was gonna explode! I'm finally on the road to health again but still not 100%. Wasn't it nice of my loving husband to share his cold with me. "What's mine is yours" is what you marry for. Somehow my husband forgot that when he was at work the other day and neglected to bring home some of the yummy chocolate that he went into great detail about! What a turkey! What goes around, comes around........watch out Laverty!

On to last weeks Practical Parenting and then a treat for you and the one you love! Are you tuned in to what your children are saying? Read the following that our Principal had to say about listening carefully to your children and problems at school.

This is something I wrote about in September. I thought it would be good to include it once again as a reminder for the rest of the year. Has your child ever come home upset and told you about something that happened that day? Your natural instinct is to believe every word and want to fix the "problem" right away. That is not a bad thing - but remember, you only have one side of the story. So what do you do?

The best way to respond to your child is to be a good listener. Let them tell you what happened. Assure them you care about their well-being and will find out what you can do about it after you contact the teacher. The biggest mistake you can make is to make a promise to your child that you may or may not be able to keep.

Remember, they are watching you and learning from you how to handle those bumps in the road. Here are some simple steps to help you -

1. Listen to your child's story - ask questions, especially when they use "absolute" words in their story (i.e. always, everyone, etc.)

2. Give them hugs with your words as well as with your arms - let them know you love them no matter what. Pray with the - God does care ever about the "little things."

3. Tell them you will contact the teacher to find out more information. (You can do this several ways - e-mail, phone call, or write or note.) Let your child know it is best to get as much information as possible before you can take any action.

4. Approach your child's teacher as neutrally as possible - try not to "attack" or

"defend." Ask for their version of what happened. Ask clarifying questions of them as well. Your child's teacher is your partner - they want your child to be successful also. Working as a team helps your child more then working in opposition to one another.

5. Let your child know what you found out. More likely than not, you and your child's teacher will reach an understanding. Even if you disagree with the final outcome, do not "belittle" the teacher in front of your child. That is detrimental to all parties concerned and very unproductive.

6. If all else fails, make an appointment with the Principal - I'm sure they desire to help your child reach their full potential. They will happily partner with you and your child's teacher to accomplish this desire. (I changed this one a bit to make it applicable to you since it was written for our school.)

Now for something fun! I'm doing more digital crafting (when time allows). Now if I could just figure out how to make a little money at it. Got some homework to do to try and figure that out. Following is a digital card that I was able to create with some digital freebies I've been collecting. You should be able to click on the card and it will open another window with the card in it. Then right click and copy the card. Next, paste it into a program of your choice and then print it on card stock. I love the "Lucky" song by Jason Mraz and Colbie Caillat so I used part of the lyrics for the card. Hope it works for you! Have a Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Well...I'm sorry but you cannot click the picture to open it in another window. If you right click it to copy it, it is really small for some reason and then when you enlarge it, it is distorted. Sorry! I have been playing with it and trying to figure out how to fix the problem but have been unsuccessful. If you would like, I can email you the card. Leave me a comment and we'll try that!

Practical Parenting

As most of you know, our daughters attend a Christian school and each week our Principal includes a “Practical Parenting” section in our weekly newsletter that comes home every Thursday. I’m going to attempt to include it in my blog each week. It’s always nice to get some additional guidance on raising these precious children that God has placed in our lives. Have a great weekend!

Several years ago we had a speaker share with our parents some great ideas on talking children through a discipline situation. Here are his ideas.

Identify your child’s misbehavior. Describe exactly what they did. Describe how that misbehavior impacts other people. Suggest an alternative, acceptable behavior. Tell them what the consequence will be. Reiterate your expectation for next time.

Walk your child through the 4 A’s:

ADMIT – Be honest. Admit what you did that was wrong.

APOLOGIZE – Say, “I’m sorry for….” Apologize to everyone you have hurt or offended.

ACCEPT – Accept the consequences or discipline for your actions without anger.

AMENDS – Make amends. Fix, pay for, replace, or make up for what you’ve done. Next time change or correct the behavior.

Your child is in process (actually all of us are). Your job is to teach them the Godly way to walk through this life – making the right choices and correcting the wrong ones. It is a great honor to raise children as well as a great responsibility.