Easy Growth Chart to last Forever!

I will make a super long story short, and give short and simple directions so you can make your own. 



Story: Our sweet neighbor needed help rebuilding a small fence. My sweet husband offered to help and well, since he has a truck, he kinda got stuck with all of the scrap wood and it was obvious that he would have to take it to the dump. It was a gold mine for me! I picked out the pieces that I wanted and off to the dump he went. Wait!! before I let him go, I posted the free wood on craigslist.. most of it was gone within 2 days. I posted all of the ideas that I had that people can do with it (make a bench, a star, a growth chart and so on) this may have helped get rid of it. The End!
I was saving this piece for a bench, but decided to use it for my Growth Chart.

here are the simple steps.

1. Steal a ruler from your kids homschool room. You will need a 1 foot ruler.

2. measure 1 foot and mark it with a sharpie. Mark it lightly or it will bleed.

3. Aftner I measured and marked all the feet, I measuredand markd all of the 1/2's.

4. Then I measured 2 inches and marked.

5. I went back with my sharpie and measured from the edge of the board 3 inches to mae the line.

6. the 1/2 foot mark was measured 2 inches,

7 and the 2 inch marks were measured 1 inch.

(These are the lines drawn across). 1 foot 3inches. 1/2 foot 2 inches and 2 inches 1 inch.) I hope this makes sense!!

Then I painted with Eggshell white paint from Lowes. I used a fine tip brush.

After it dried, I stapled my stencils where I wanted them and painted my numbers.

 

Now the hubby will be sealing this to prevent splintering. This is a very old piece of wood and it will definitely splinter.

 After it is sealed, I will use a sharpie on Thanksgiving day and on the left side I will mark the date, kids name and height.

I will Keep this forever!

What do you think??

If you can't get an old piece of wook like I did, you can find a new piece of fence wood at Lowes or Home Depot.  They run between $2.00-$8.00.. Paint it, distress it and make it your very own for your unique family.
 

Painted Hanger

Today I decided to make something for me.. Yep, I said it!! I did something for my stinkin self. Well actually it was for my sunglasses. All I did was steal a wooden suit hanger from my dear husband Andrew ... Sshhh.. He is not supposed to know... Anyway, I painted it white and voila!! My sunglasses have a new home. No more laying around on my desk, no more dark moments inside my purse.. My sunglasses now have their very own place.

Kids and Tithes

“Will a mere mortal rob God? Yet you rob me.

“But you ask, ‘How are we robbing you?’


“In tithes and offerings. You are under a curse—your whole nation—because you are robbing me. Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. Test me in this,” says the LORD Almighty, “and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that there will not be room enough to store it. Malachi 3:8-10

 

   Sounds a little too much for a child to grasp doesnt it.  It is actually quite simple. but I tell ya, that according to  Psalms111:10, having The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom: a good understanding have all they that do his commandments: his praise endureth for ever... This is a very powerful verse.  It clearly states that having the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom and of a good understanding so that ALL will do his commandments... This includes children.                                                                            It is my responsibility to teach my children God's principles, this summer we have been working on simple yet life affecting principles: Money Management.  The first thing that God requires is 10% of our earnings.  This is not so we can be blessed, this is not so we can say we give, but this is our reasonable service to God.  My children now understand that God gave them arms, legs, a brain, eyes and every functioning part of their body. They have strength to work because God gave them that strength.  Their earnings were earned because God first provided the means to make those earnings.  God only requires us to give 10%.. thats it!! should I spell it out? that is TEN PERCENT!  So, here goes my elementary plan.  If Jacob Earns $12.00 for sweeping up the drive way, cleaning up leaves and taking out the trash, he will owe God $1.20... Thats it!!!  Does God require more?  Absolutely!!  But that is another sermon for a different day.              We came up with these clever little jars to my boys will visually see what they are giving.  I forgot to include an "Offering" jar in the pictures, but there is definitely and "offering" jar.  That offering jar will bring on the blessings.    So here is how this works:  My kids know that 1: Tithe is first because it is required by God.  Titheing is our reasonable service.  2: Offering:  We give our offering to help support our church building and to help promote means for soul winning.  3: Savings:  Always save some money.  It is important for future planning.  That big water super soaker is not a cheap one, so right now Jacob is saving for that Super Soaker. 4: Spending:  spending money is fun, and every kid should have some money to spend if they have rightfully earned it dontcha think?

This was so much fun for my kids to do, they are now very eager to earn money.  From Jacob, Adam to Drew.  They all want to make sure that they pay their tithes, offerings, and save some money.  They are able to visually see their jars increasing.  Every Sunday they can empty out their tithe and offering jars and give them into the offering plate at church.

 Andrew and I had some struggles when we were younger because this was not a principle that he was taught and he struggled with it and while I had always followed this principle to a "T", it was a very difficult process for him to grasp.  It finally clicked and now he is a fanatic of titheing.  In fact, Andrew likes to tithe on money he hasn't earned, and that is perfectly fine with me because myself and our children will reap the spiritual security from God for giving him our reasonable service. 

So if this is new to you, remember if you pay your Tithe, God will sustain you and you will not be cursed, if you give offerings on top of your tithe, God will bless you, if you save money, you will reap the reward of that savings, and if you spend money and spend it wisely, you will reap a good deal :)

Endless green Onions

Grow your own green onions! I have my own green onion production right in my kitchen.
All ya have to do is buy some green onions, trim them down to the white part, put em in water, watch the roots grow in a few days & your endless onions will keep growing. Trim them often & eat them often so the growth process will continue.. Mmm

Rainy Day S'more Pops.

Yep, I said it! It's a s'more pop. Pops are everywhere these days. I followed the trend & started with the cake pops, got tired of em and did the cinnamon roll pops, and now here we are with the s'more pops.
All you need is your handy dandy pop stick, big marshmallow, graham crackers & any chocolate you like. I did a simple dark Hershey bar. Ya melt the chocolate, dip the marshmallow in the chocolate and sprinkle on some crushed graham crackers... The smiles and happy kids makes the pop trend continue in my home.

Shamrock Cinnamon Roll

Made these too.. I wasn't too impressed with myself.. I wish they would have looked neater.. But the kids loved em and they loved creating.. Just put food coloring in the icing and the green effect takes place.

Green Mini Cupcakes

Yep, we also made green mini cupcakes for our St. Patricks celebrations.