Archive | June, 2010

Simple & Frugal Road Trip Fun

By on June 9, 2010 in building the family, frugal & simple, learning at home

This is part 2 in response to Amy’s request for suggestions as she embarks upon a 16-day traveling adventure with her family brought to you by Passionate Homemaking’s monthly contributor, Michele Augur.

A road trip is a great opportunity for new experiences and family bonding. But it can also be a potential for sibling bickering and boredom. Here are some suggestions for a more pleasant trip, with a frugal price tag.

  • For small children, a “surprise bag” of items you pull out gradually throughout the trip is especially effective for preventing boredom. I stock up through the year for travel activities at thrift stores and bookstore sales, typically purchasing books and craft items for around 10 or 25 cents apiece.
  • Schedule plenty of times to “get the wiggles out” and picnic stops for everyone’s sanity. Run races and play games at rest stops or find a park/playground to explore!
  • Encourage creativity and teamwork by passing around a project of “drawing prompts” such as from Ed Emberley or Taro Gomi. Take along some “non-messy” art supplies (don’t forget the pencil sharpener!) and clipboards for holding your papers.
  • Keep everyone looking out the windows, with games like The Alphabet Game, the Cow Game, or Travel Scavenger Hunt (you can glue magazine pictures on index cards ahead of time for non-readers, instead of writing a list of things to find). “Interactive” games such as Sweet or Sour can be especially hilarious, as passengers attempt to get other passersby to smile!
  • Memory games, such as “My Father Owns a Grocery Store” or “Grandma Went to Market” are great group activities. Travel versions of board games, such as Scrabble are also fun. (Check thrift stores and garage sales for these. Or you can often find them during Christmas board game sales. Stock up and stash them away until travel season!)
  • Pack some special homeschooling subjects, such as focusing on a foreign language (which can be used in your destination), such as French or Spanish. Nature studies in new environments can also be fun; pack your nature journals to sketch new flora & fauna.
  • Stop by a thrift store or used bookstore to pick up a bag of 10 cent paperbacks. You can often find some entertaining classic literature to enjoy on the trip. Mysteries (such as the classic Sherlock Holmes books by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle) are fun to read aloud and try to solve together.
  • If you are taking electronics along, books on tape/CD are perfect for road trips. (Take turns who gets to choose the story.) Focus on the Family Radio Theatre’s productions, such as the Narnia series are entertaining for both parents and children.
  • If you have a video camera, assign the “task” of documenting the trip. (Many cell phones now contain this feature.) You will enjoy your teens’ creativity as they conduct interviews, narrate, and ham it up for the camera! You can also give them a hilarious “scavenger hunt” project list to find and record along the way (such as two siblings standing on their head in a hotel elevator!).
  • Worship together. Pack along some favorite worship CDs (check your teens’ collection, or pack “Wee Sing” for the little ones) to enjoy in the car. Don’t forget “campfire sing-a-longs” if you’ll be camping!
  • Pray together. Keep a routine of family prayer and devotions to stay connected, just as you would at home. This can easily be done after you grab some breakfast and pile into the car, before you drive off. Dinner time can be an opportunity to share about the day’s experiences and address any negative attitudes that might be cropping up in weary travelers. A road trip is a great time to work on Bible memory verses, too!
  • For larger families, institute a “buddy system” or “helper of the day,” to help address sibling issues and keep the trip going a bit more smoothly. (This is a good way to incorporate helping each other, prevent losing someone, and designate who gets the “popular seat by the window” for the day.)

I hope you have a joyful trip! Let us know how it goes, Amy!

What are your favorite travel activities? Please share!

Photo Credits: superhua, jimmiehomeschoolmom

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What We Really Eat: Our Food Journal

By on June 8, 2010 in recipes & kitchen tips

Shannon at Nourishing Days has been running a series sharing the real food diet of families across the blogosphere. Curious to get some more specifics as to what our daily menu looks like? You can find my food journal here.

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Healthy & Frugal Travel Meals

By on June 7, 2010 in frugal & simple, recipes & kitchen tips

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This post is brought to you by Passionate Homemaking’s monthly contributor, Michele Augur.

Amy asked: “My children are older (11,13,14,15), but many tips will apply to all ages. We are heading out on a 16 day summer road trip in August. I have filled our trip full of parks, factory tours and many many other free or low cost activities. I am planning on preparing home cooked food throughout the entire trip. Normally, I can manage this, but our trips are usually a week or less at a time and we aren’t continuously moving. On this trip, we won’t be in any one place longer than two nights. I would love any tips from you and your readers on food ideas, entertainment in the vehicle, etc. I am spending 5 months planning!

P.S….we are taking a small travel grill, a cooler and in most rooms we will have a fridge and microwave only. I also plan on taking my large electric griddle for pancakes, etc. That is a about all I have to work with!”

I am so excited for you, Amy! Our family loves adventures like these.

Preparing home-cooked food while traveling is usually the most frugal and healthy option for meals on the road. Some advance planning certainly helps, though! Here are some tips to make the trip go a bit smoother for you (and feel free to jump in with your own suggestions!).

Before a long road trip, I usually write out a flexible meal plan to work from as I make my preparations. You can adjust this as you travel, but it helps to make sure you don’t forget anything. Plan for plenty of finger food picnics!


Right before our departure, I schedule a baking day. I prepare items such as cookies, granola, granola bars, breads, and muffins for snacks & meals. (These likely won’t last two weeks, but it gives you a head start.)


When packing your cooler, use “leak-proof” containers; otherwise your food will get soggy when the ice melts! Here are some staple items we like to pack:

  • Dried & Fresh Fruit
  • Containers of Veggies (already cut into finger food pieces)
  • Homemade Trail Mix (When traveling in hot weather, be wary of carrying chocolate, which can melt!)
  • Shelf-staple treats, such as Peanut Brittle
  • Jars of Peanut Butter
  • Eggs (Hard-boil some ahead of time, and pack raw ones in an egg holder; cardboard egg cartons dissolve in a cooler full of ice!)
  • Nitrate-free Hot Dogs, Pepperoni Sticks, Smoked Salmon, Jerky, etc. from a local meat market
  • Cheese (already sliced, and stored in a container in the cooler, or containers of Feta)
  • Quick-Cooking Grains (such as oats, quinoa, or millet) for hearty “one pot” meals boiled on a camp stove (or you can microwave quick-cooking oats).
  • Beans (You can cook some ahead of time, or pack dry or canned beans. Lentils and Split Peas are especially quick-cooking.)
  • Tortillas (These are your space-saving foods for the end of your trip, when the baked goods run out, and are a lightweight option for packing on a day hike.)
  • Canned Fish (Choose a healthy & sustainable option, such as wild Alaskan salmon.)
  • Lots of Pancake Mix (Prepare your own homemade “mix” ahead of time! When your bread runs out, make a big batch of pancakes at breakfast, and make sandwiches out of them for lunch.)
  • Jars of Homemade Yogurt (You can use this in salads, dips, or for breakfasts with fruit & granola.)
  • Popcorn (Pop a big batch to take with you, or pop some over a campfire/camp stove.)
  • Water (Make sure everyone has their own water bottle for the car, and fills them up before heading out for the day.)

Photo credit

Meal Ideas:
  • Grilled Meats & Veggies (You can take along Shish Kebab sticks for a great “finger food” meal! Try eggplant, zucchini, mushrooms, bell peppers, or onions)
  • Campfire Roasted Potatoes or Sweet Potatoes (Wrap in foil, and tuck into the coals. Stuff with beans, cheese, & veggies after roasting)
  • Wraps (Our favorites are a combination of Salad Greens, Pear Slices, Feta, and Dried Cranberries in Whole-Grain Tortillas, or Black Bean Wraps.)
  • Veggie & Cheese Omelets (You can even do “breakfast for dinner.”)
  • Fish Cakes (on the griddle)
  • Grilled Fish or Chicken at dinner can be transformed into salad sandwiches for lunch the next day.
When packing your kitchen supplies, take the bare minimum you need to prepare and wash up quickly, so that you can get back out on the road!
Kitchen Staples/Utensils:
  • Knives (Find ones with their own cover, so they can travel safely.)
  • Can Opener
  • Cutting Board
  • Biodegradable “All-Purpose” Soap (such as castile soap) & a scrubber for washing your utensils
  • A set of dishes for each person (Wash immediately after use, so you’re not carrying dirty dishes!)
  • A few favorite spices: Cinnamon, an Herb Blend, and Salt & Pepper are usually sufficient
  • I like to take a heat-resistant silicone spatula/scraper/spreader, which works for almost everything!
  • While you’re at hotels, remember to restock your cooler with ice (so you aren’t buying ice as often).
  • A cooking pot and/or frying pan
  • A small jar of oil, container of butter, and a container of sugar/honey
  • Leak-proof containers for restaurant leftovers (to put in your cooler)
Shopping:
Before you head out, check Local Harvest (or area tourism information) to see if there are any Farmer’s Markets or produce markets near your destination. It is a delicious treat to pick up local produce for your meals, instead of eating something that has been sitting in your car for a week! Doesn’t a fresh cucumber, vine-ripened tomato, basket of berries, bag of salad greens, or a juicy peach sound nice?


So, what are your favorite travel tips? Did I forget anything?

Stay tuned for part 2 as Michele shares frugal and fun travel activities!

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Giveaway: God’s Word from A-Z CD

By on June 6, 2010 in building the family, news & updates

Abe and Liza Philip are an internationally recognized husband & wife songwriting team.  They have a strong desire for their children to hide God’s Word in their hearts and recorded a CD called God’s Words from A to Z. They recently sent us a copy of the CD for our enjoyment and review and we cannot say enough how much we have enjoyed this CD. Karis has been dancing and singing the verses repeatedly over the last few weeks. She has mastered several of the verses in just a few short days!

This excellent CD with an assortment of diverse music (jazz, classical, bluegrass, pop, country, rock, celtic) highlights 26 Bible verses that correspond to the alphabet. Their 2 year old daughter, Zoe, and 4 year old son, Zach, memorized all 26 verses in a week and share each verse in turn at the beginning of each song. It is so adorable.

This is one simple tool for your library to help reinforce the planting of the truth in the hearts of our little ones. When we memorize Scripture to song we retain it so much more effectively too! These 26 songs will take you on a journey that begins with our sinfulness, runs to the cross of our Savior and ends with the joy of heaven.

Abe & Liza have offered our readers 5 copies of this delightful CD!

To Enter:

1. Simply leave a comment below sharing your favorite tip or tool for helping memorize Scripture or tell us why you would love to receive this CD.

2. For a second entry, feel free to post about this giveaway on your blog, facebook page, or twitter and let us know about it in a separate comment.

Giveaway Closed.

To hear song clips, please visit here. To purchase, please visit their website at Phillip Music.

For other CD recommendation of Scripture put to music for families and children alike, check out this post: Christ-Centered CD’s for Kids
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10 Keys To Patient Motherhood

By on June 4, 2010 in building the family, faith & womanhood


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I am not a patient person by nature. And Motherhood has magnified this particular weakness of mine ten fold.

Ok. Maybe a gabazillion fold.

Times infinity. Plus one.

But even though I have a long way to go, I have also come a long way. If you struggle with patience, I hope you’ll glean something from the tricks I’ve employed to keep my sanity.

1. F-O-C-U-S

Just wanting to be more patient isn’t enough. Most of us want our house to be cleaner or we want to get in shape, but wanting doesn’t make things happen. We need to focus. So take a week and focus on practicing patience.

For example, I’ve been doing a Bible study on patience and journaling each day about how well I keep my frustrations at bay. Search google for what the Bible says about patience and anger, along with your Bible concordance, and you surely will be challenged. I also have a chart on my refrigerator where my kids can mark how well I did for the day. Kids are great at accountability.

2. Recognize Your Frustration

Too often we have fully given in to our impatience before we recognize it. By then, we’re no longer thinking rationally and we’re much less likely to act and speak in love. The earlier we can recognize when we’re becoming impatient the easier it will be for us to calm ourselves down and control our emotions. Be honest and open about your weakness, seek accountability from your husband or close friend. The quicker you are to confess your weaknesses, the easier it will be to conquer them.

3. Recognize That Acting Out Frustration Is Pointless

When I notice that I’m becoming impatient, I remind myself of James 1:19-20

“My dear brothers, take note of this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry, for man’s anger does not bring about the righteous life that God desires.”

It’s such an excellent reminder that the fruit of my frustration is bound to be rotten.

4. Identify Frustrating Situations

What situations tend to frustrate you the most? Running late for events? Kids waking up too early? The need to repeat instructions to a child? Write them down. Keep a running list. Identify trends. If we can anticipate a frustrating situation, we can work to counteract our emotions.

5. Prevent Frustrating Situations

Now that I’ve identified my most frustrating circumstances, I can think about ways to avoid becoming impatient.

I find I get impatient a lot when we are running late. The obvious remedy here is to get started MUCH earlier. Even after 7 years of motherhood, I forget how long it takes small children to get ready to go somewhere. I need to begin getting them going well in advance…even if it means taking the chance that their hair or clothes get messed up before we actually leave and I need to fix it again. The extra work is worth avoiding the likely frustration.

6. Take Time Out

Two year old’s aren’t the only ones who need time out. If I feel like my emotions are getting the best of me, I’ll tell my kids that mommy needs time out and I’ll either send them to their room to play or I’ll put a video on and I’ll go in the other room to calm down.

7. Ignore It

Sometimes the best thing to do is just ignore whatever frustrating activity your kids are doing and redirect to something else. If we’re not going to respond in love, perhaps we should just move on.

8. Fake it Til You Make It

Here’s another silly tactic that totally works. If you’re losing it, pretend you’re being featured in a tv show and every word is being aired across the nation or will be viewed at your church on Sunday. Odds are, you’ll get your emotions under control rather quickly.

This might sound crazy, but sometimes, if I have no other options, I just pretend I’m patient. I basically pretend I’m up for an Oscar and do my best impression of a sweet, grandma preschool teacher. Sometimes all my frustration being channeled into acting, allows me to calm down and then truly feel relaxed again.

9. Pray. A lot.

This is a method of first resort. When I wake up in the morning I pray for a patient spirit. When I begin to feel frustrated, I pray for patience. If I’m having a hard time, I often stop and have my children pray for me.

It is also important to pray for wisdom. None of these tactics is perfect all the time. Pray not only for patience, but for the best response to your children and your own emotions.

An added thought by Lindsay…

10. Review your Mission Statement

When you feel a frustrating situation coming on, take the opportunity to step back and review your mission (if you have a mission statement in written form, post this in an obvious place that you could review quickly). What is your goal in mothering? What kind of example do you want to lay before your children? Take a moment to reflect on the fact that your desire is to nurture and disciple, love and train them to love the Lord. How does my actions reflect on the love of Christ?

Time To Take Action

Let’s all work together today to identify situations that make us impatient and ideas for counteracting our emotions.

If we each share an idea or two, we can all learn from our experiences and wisdom and we’ll be one step closer to being the patient mothers we long to be.

1. What situations tend to frustrate you?
2. What is one way you can prevent that frustration?

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May at Our Home

By on June 2, 2010 in news & updates

Aaron & Lindsay, Victoria, BC

It has been full and profitable month at our house. We celebrated Karis’ 3rd birthday in which we reflected back on her special arrival in this world via a natural breech homebirth and what a miracle that was. She has become such a sweet girl who loves to go on dates with Daddy, help mommy around the house, carefully organize her things, and explore the world of imagination with her dress up box (which we compiled for her for her birthday). Daily she will dress up in a lovely outfit and dance around the room while listening to her CD player with various Scripture songs playing aloud.

I completed my CAPPA training which brings me one step closer to becoming a certified labor doula and childbirth instructor. It was three intense days of training in everything related to birth. My brain was a bit overloaded. I am excited to see how God might use this training to minister and bless other women. My desire is to use it as a ministry to help empower families to have glorious birthing experiences.

Karis, celebrating her 3rd birthday, with her new chef costume!

Finally, Aaron and I visited Victoria, British Columbia this month in celebration of our 4th anniversary. We were able to get away for 5 days and invest in our marriage, tour the beautiful Beauchart Gardens, enjoy scrumptious food (including High Tea), hike and walk all over the city, and simply rest and relax together. We were so blessed to have Aaron’s parents willing to watch our kiddos for an extended getaway. It was amazing!

On top of all this, we put our house up for sale! We have been praying and deliberating for some time now, and felt it was finally time to start pursuing a move. We would like to move into Portland to be closer to Aaron’s work, church, and the potential of reaching out to his co-workers more effectively. Please pray with us that God would bring the right buyer, and if you know of anyone looking for a two bedroom condo in Vancouver, WA, pass on our info! ;)

Book Reviews

With all the events taking place this month, I wasn’t able to complete as much reading as I would have liked, but have a few recommendations for you:

Food Rules: An Eater’s Manual by Michael Pollan – a quick, simple, and easy guide to real food based upon his book, In Defense of Food. Enjoyable reminder of the priorities to make in your food choices.

Gospel-Powered Parenting: How the Gospel Shapes and Transforms Parenting by William Farley – this is a powerfully eye opening read for every Christian parent. The gospel is the foundation, the training manual for our instruction when training and disciplining our children. The gospel is the key to effective parenting otherwise we can easily stray to the self-centered, child-centered, or power struggle oriented parenting philosophies of our day. We cannot overly protect them from the world, or assume that new birth has taken place because they are in a safe Christian environment, but rather actively pursue planting seeds of the gospel in their hearts and allow it to transform their lives, giving them vision and purpose for their future.

Blog News

I hope you will take a moment to check out our new sponsors for the month of June (see sidebar or RSS links below)! I wish to thank them all for their continual support for this website and ministry! Dr Mom’s Essentials is a site dedicated to equipping wives and mothers for do-it-yourself schooling, cooking, and doctoring at home. She offers a wealth of information on essential oils (stay tuned for a giveaway later this month!). Old Fashioned Homemaking offers a useful blog filled with pursuing traditional values in modern homes. FBS Books joins us again with a huge reason of Christian books and homeschooling resources.

I am also excited to welcome Michele at Frugal Granola as a new monthly contributor! Check out her biography on our contributors page.

I also want to give an update on our home sponsorship. As many of you know, we donate the majority of our profits earned through advertising and affiliates to support an orphan home in Cambodia. Over the last several months, we have been able to donate roughly $750 each month to support this orphan home thanks to your support! Please continue to join us in our efforts to get this home fully sponsored. Your purchases through our links make a huge difference! Learn more about our home, Phnom Thom, and the wonderful work that is taking place there. How did this vision come about? Read my story! Take part with us in spreading God’s love to the nations!

Coming up this month, we will be talking all about traveling – how to eat nutritionally on the road, traveling activities, exploring the world without even leaving home, and other fun topics! What would you like to hear about? Please share!

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