4th of July SALE SALE SALE!

4th of July is here, and you are going to be with lots of family and friends. What are you going to do? Do you need some great games and activities to play together?

You're in luck. The Family Fun Friday Activity Book, in PDF version is ON SALE right now. For the next 24 hours you can get the complete book for $7.99. Delivered straight to your inbox.

It will arrive in time for the 4th of July celebrations. You will have your download before the end of the today, and you will have all you need to have a great 4th.

This is also the perfect time to buy the book so you have it for your family reunions, lazy summer days, and family road trips and get togethers. The games are also great for girl's camp, scout camp, block parties. You name it.

To purchase, simply click the red "Buy the Book" button on the top right of the page.

Be sure you leave your email in the notes to seller so that I can get you your book quick.

Remember, Families that play together, do stay together. Let me help your family spend time together.

p.s. you can also purchase the Hard Copy of the Book ON SALE for the next 24 hours also. Simply click on the same red button and choose the book. It will be shipped quick, just not by Wednesday. :)

p.s.s. Book cannot be made into multiple copies or sold or reproduced in any maner.

Family Volley Photo Challenge-Week 13-"In Your Bag"

Maybe I should call the Photo Challenge "The Better Late Than Never Challenge", because for the last 4 weeks, I have been behind. I apologize. I am going to do better.

This Week's Challenge: "In Your Bag"

I have carried a diaper bag for the last 10 years. Sure, there have been times here and there were I go back to a normal bag or purse, but a diaper bag over my shoulder is when I am most comfortable. I think I want to carry a diaper bag forever.

I opened the diaper bag tonight, and this is what I found. I didn't move a single thing. In the back, a sleeve that carries diapers and wipes. A hard book for our little one, snacks, cheerios and the new mini graham crackers. Have you seen the new mini graham crackers? They are great. Easy to break into little pieces, and they taste really good. And then, there is our 10 month old's favorite toy. The eyes belong to an elephant. She loves to chew on him. And when you squeeze the elephant, his eyes "bug" out of his head. Our daughter thinks it is so funny and loves to suck on the eyes. It is the perfect church toy and gets us through at least 30 minutes.

Although I have been slow to get these posts up, they are making a difference in my life. Documenting, slowing me down, causing me to think about the small things like our daughter's favorite toy. Amongst the craziness that I feel trying to manage a family and home, and life, these small moments of reflection are wonderful. I hope they are doing the same for you?

Next Week's Challenge (April 4): "Easter" 

Family Life-What Keeps Us From Being INTENTIONAL

Our family back in 2008. Hard to believe we have added two girls to the family since then. Where does the time go?

SO... you have decided to be more INTENTIONAL with your family this year. Now what...where to start...what does this mean....what is next...?


Let me tell you.


Let's think about the drains that KEEP our families from being INTENTIONAL, so that we can know where to start...


Despite our best intentions as parents, The time family members spend outside their homes, and the technology inside our homes, keeps us from being INTENTIONAL.


How? It drains our families of time and opportunities to be together. 


First: Time spent outside the home. 
Now, don't get me wrong, we all have to leave the house, and we all have things to do. But...how is our family going to do things together, have dinner together, laugh together, work together, play together, if everyone is always away from home doing their own thing? It just can't happen. 


In general families are over scheduled. Society tells us that our kids have to do everything, and that as parents we have to do everything too. Not true. If we want our families to be strong and successful, we need to do things together as a family. 
It is time to evaluate the time we are spending away from home. A good rule of thumb is to have children in one maybe two, extra curricular activities. And the same goes for us as parents. 


Second: Technology inside the home.
Technology is tricky. We might find that our family members are all at home at the same time, quite a bit. But...when you are all home is someone watching tv, someone on the computer, someone texting or on the phone, someone listening to their ipod, someone on Facebook? Sure we might all be home together, but we are all doing individual things, technology things. We might be under the same roof, but we are not together. There is little to no interaction or communication. This is even the case for spouses. My husband and I are usually always home together at night. But there was a time about two years ago, when we were together, but I was always on the laptop. I realized it was interfering with our ability to communicate and connect at the end of the day. Even though I thought I could, I really couldn't listen/talk to him and be on the computer at the same time. Sure, we were sitting on the same couch together, but we were not "together". Now the laptop stays in the other room.


Technology inside our homes will naturally keep us apart if we let it. 


How do we overcome these drains?


First: Make better use of our time.
Think about the things that everyone in your family does. Do you all eat? Of course, everyone needs to eat. So why not eat together? If you can't do dinner, do breakfast. If you can't do breakfast, do brunch on Sundays. 


Do you eat together but meals are chaotic and unorganized. (Seems like every meal is that way :)). Do a little more planning, make a meal schedule, start earlier in the day preparing, enlist everyone's help. Do what ever it takes to make the time together, better.


What else? Think about those things that you do together right now. Do you all work together in the house, or in the yard on Saturday mornings? Great, can you make it more special, memorable and important? Sure....Before you head out to work together, why not start a tradition of having a special pancake breakfast, or after working together come in and play a family game together. Do this every single Saturday and make it a ritual. Your kids will remember it their whole lives.


Even if you only have 15 minutes a day as a whole family. Make it the best 15 minutes possible. Be intentional about that time. 


Second: Tame Technology and Carve time out from other activities.
Feel like you don't have any extra time for your family to be together. Tame technology and carve time out from other activities. This means turning off the TV, or the compter and putting that time towards family time. Think about it. If we just spent 15 minutes on Facebook instead of 30, that 15 minutes could go to family time. Same with our children and their video games or tv shows. 
Where else in our schedules can we steal a few minutes? Step away from the technology and put that time towards being together.
We had a major discussion about this as a family last week. We usually do really well with not watching too much tv, but over the last 3 weeks or so, it was on more than usual. I could feel it stealing family time away from us. Last week we got back on track and reset the rules about tv watching. The extra time will now be spent playing games together. Yesterday our daughter said " this is way more fun than watching tv." She is right, it is "way more fun". 


When we think about doing things together as a family, it is easy to get overwhelmed. Thinking we need to come up with more time and more money. That is not the case. Both of the above suggestions are very doable. Make better use of the time you already have together. Be more intentional about it. And second, turn off the technology and put that time to good use by doing things together as a family. The suggestions don't require any money, and they actually give you more time. They are small things that will transform our families.


Remember, being Intentional comes down to what we want the most, and then putting our energies and efforts towards that thing. 


What time can you make better use of?
Do you think you can do this in your house?
Do you eat any meals together?





This year, in our family, and here on Family Volley, we are all about being INTENTIONAL. Why? Because it is the best, and it creates strong families. Want to read where it all starts? Click here to learn about you and your family's canoe. And click here to learn about the photo challenge that is helping us slow down and be more INTENTIONAL. 

INTENTIONAL-Family Volley this New Year.

The New Year is here. It is a time when we all seem to look inward and resolve to do different and better. It is no different for blogs and I have spent some time trying to decide what this year's focus should be here on Family Volley.
My personal resolution, or realization, this year is to be more INTENTIONAL (and to SLOW DOWN). And I feel it is a good place for Family Volley to head also.

I hope you will join me as we become more INTENTIONAL this year together. More INTENTIONAL as families and as individuals.

What does this mean, to be INTENTIONAL?

Let me explain.

Imagine for a minute that you and your family are sitting in a canoe. (Just bear with me, I am going somewhere with this.:))

If your family sits in their canoe, and you never put your oars in the water to paddle and steer, what will happen to your canoe?

You could flip over, end up beached, in the reeds or the rocks, or headed in the wrong direction. 

Because you and your family have not been INTENTIONAL about where you want to go, the currents and winds have taken over and taken control of your family's course. They will push and pull and blow you where they choose.

These winds and currents could be anything. Media (too much tv, computer, video games). It could be over-scheduling our families, or trying to keep up with the Jones's. It could be that as parents we don't have patience, or we just don't know what to do, or how to handle situations with our kids and spouses. It could be the negative influences of society that tell us "families are not THAT important". It could be selfishness, tiredness, jealousy or disorganization. What ever the currents and winds are for your family, if we don't take control, they will, and our families will be sent off course. And, when we are sent off course, it will take much more energy and effort, to get back on course.

Before we know it, we are just existing as a family, INSTEAD OF LIVING.

This year let's become an INTENTIONAL FAMILY. We are going to create a working plan for where we want our families to go and we are going to get there. How? By putting our oars in the water, fighting against the currents and winds, and INTENTIONALLY paddling on the course we wish to go.

Being INTENTIONAL shouldn't overwhelm us, or worry us, or scare us. It will be manageable and do-able and reasonable. It will be fun and bring our families closer together. I hope that it will excite you, and that you will join me here as I post parenting and family advice, activities and experiences that help our families navigate the right course for each of us. This is going to be the best year yet. 

Where to Start?
The first thing to do is get your family on board. You want everyone to paddle. How? Print off one of the pictures of the canoe (rowboat) here in this post (or gather up any picture you have) and have a chat with your family. Wouldn't this make the perfect Family Night?

• Explain the canoe story.
• Talk about what the winds and currents are for your family. What gets you off course?
• Make a resolution as a family to put your oars in the water and be INTENTIONAL.
• Put a picture of a canoe or rowboat up in your house as a reminder. Or the word INTENTIONAL on the fridge or in a common area. It will be a good reminder to LIVE instead of just Exist. 

So here we go. A New Year, a New Perspective, and a more INTENTIONAL FAMILY.

Who wants to be more INTENTIONAL?
Share with us what gets your family off course.