Friend Makin' Monday

Hi friends, Happy Monday!  I've been away for a while, unfortunately not resting blissfully -- just trying to keep up with work and life!  But it's Monday, and I'm so excited that Kasey over at All That is Good is hosting another week of Friend Makin' Monday.  Want to join in the fun?  Go here to get started.

Kasey is definitely superwoman, always giving us great ideas and tips for keeping healthy, keeping our homes in order, and taking care of our families.  And today she wants to hear what helpful hints we have to share.

I'm definitely excited to hear what helpful tips and hints you all have, because I pretty much fall flat in this department.  We are the kind of family that just "wings" it.  Seriously, no helpful hints about doing laundry -- we're just glad when it gets done and put away.  Our sweet friend Norma makes sure that our house stays clean, and we are doing good to get a home-cooked meal on the table during the week.

The one thing that I feel like I've actually done well is teaching ChellBell how to read at an early age.  My friends laugh at me because when ChellBell was little, I would always point to my mouth when I taught her new words.  That would draw her attention to my mouth, so she would watch the words, not just hear them.  Then she would copy how I said my words by making her mouth do what mine did.  I still do this with all my kids in Sunday School, and there is a whole generation of preschoolers who point to their mouths when saying words like "miracle" and "obey"!

Reading can be really difficult for kids, and phonetics can only get them so far.  So I made up silly songs like "i-g-h-t says ite" and "eeng, eeng is i-n-g" and stories about the silent E at the end of the word making the vowel long.  And remember all those little rhymes we learned in school about "when two vowels go a-walkin' the first one does the talkin', and the other one stays quiet" -- those things work!

The only other little thing I taught ChellBell when she was little that seemed to stick was "Patience is waiting with a smile."  That has helped us out in lots of different situations!

Hopefully you all will have lots of words of wisdom for making every-day life a little easier -- I'd love to hear them!  

Have a happy Monday!