My Escape to Moss Mountain Farm

Last week I did something very unusual:  I took a day off work to do something just for myself. I joined a group of bloggers from all over the state at Moss Mountain Farm, which happens to be the home of Arkansas's own P. Allen Smith, of gardening and kitchen fame. I was part of an invitation-only group to have a private tour of the beautiful home and sprawling acreage of flower, rose and vegetable gardens on the property. Even a little rain didn't dampen our fun!

 

 

The main house at Moss Mountain Farm was, in a word, charming. While there were tons of collections, art works and vintage furniture pieces in the house, everything felt like it belonged--even the giant print of Black Dog, the fierce Osage Indian warrior. Allen personally gave us the tour, and told us a lot of history of the artworks on display.

 

 

As I toured the home with Karen from Ting's Mom, we both had the same thoughts about it. First was that we could never let our children loose in that home. And second, wondering who has to dust the place (thankful it's not us!).

 

My favorite room in the home was the screened in "sleeping porch," as I'm sure it's where I'd spend most of my time if given the chance. The porch overlooks the backyard and down into the Arkansas River valley. It was just so peaceful and beautiful.

 

 

After our tour of the home and the grounds, we were treated to a delicious lunch and program presented by the staff from the Arkansas Gift Program, or the AR 529 plan as it's sometimes called.  Silly me, here I was thinking I was being selfish and taking a "me day" when I was really learning something that would actually benefit my children after all.

 

The 529 program is a college savings plan that is supported by the state. Anyone can enroll for the purpose of saving for college (not just for kids). You can start an account online anytime, and it only takes $25 to start and a minimum deposit of $10 per month after that. There are a few really neat things about the program. First, specifically for lower income families, the state will match your monthly contribution! So it works a little like a 401k in that way, but not everyone will qualify for the matching funds. Another cool feature of the program is that the funds can be transferred to other people. For example, if Child 1 gets a scholarship and doesn't use all the money in the account for college, then the parent can transfer the money to Child 2 for use with education costs. Brilliant! There are some tax deduction benefits for residents of Arkansas and a penalty if you withdraw the money for using for any purpose besides education costs. It seems to be a very easy, low-risk way to start saving for college.  And with three kiddos in my family, I'm going to look very seriously at setting up an account soon.

 

 

You can find all the info you need about the Arkansas 529 plan at thegiftplan.com, where you can also set up an account.

 

 

Say Hello to My Friend Paige

I started the year off by deciding to share a little piece of my bloggy friends on my blog each month.  Last month Fawn shared a great idea about Technology Tickets to help monitor your children's screen time.  For February, I'm proud to introduce Paige from Approaching Joy.   I met Paige the year I attended my first Arkansas Women Bloggers conference and have enjoyed getting to know her since.  What first attracted me to her blog was her eye for everything artistic:  photography, design and fashion--everything that I am a miserable failure at.  She has such a warm light about her, for real, that's what she reminds me of...like a little Tinkerbell.  I've asked her to guest post today, so here's Paige!

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Hi my name’s Paige and I have memory problems. While not diagnosable (thank goodness) it’s always been something I have had to work with. For example, the time I forgot / misplaced my lovely (i.e. expensive) DSLR camera which I blogged about here .  

 

When Rhonda asked me to guest post for her I said, “Sure!”…and then promptly forgot. After she reminded me I sat astonished. She has three kids, a full time job, can simultaneously make biscuits –That, dear friends, is talent and skill and memory that I simply do not have.  However, it was her reminder that made me wonder, “What would I do if I WERE in her situation?” My answer: Rely even more heavily on technology. Calendar reminders are currently my life saver but what if I had even more things to juggle? Enter the web-based app “If This, Then That”.

 

If This, Then That (IFTTT) is a useful tool that I discovered when handling Social Media for a brand new nonprofit back in the summer.  It is set up to run an action for things that you want automated.

 

Example: Rhonda has cute kids. See exhibit A- Her Instagram feed.  Let’s say Rhonda wanted to make a picture book will all the cute things her cute kids do during Spring Break. To help this process along she would go to ifttt.com and set up the following equation, or recipes, as they’re called on the site-

 

IF THIS happens: @mamabramell posts an Instagram picture with the hashtag #BramellFamilyVacation

 

THEN do THAT: Save those pictures to a dropbox folder

 

By doing this she saves herself the extra hour it would take combing through her photos after vacation. The fact that she doesn’t have to waste the mental energy on this extra step? Priceless. Cool feature: If people choose to make their recipes public then you can search through them to see what automations may make your life a bit easier. So go check it out and then come back and let Rhonda know what recipe you’re most likely to use to save time. Check out my favorite recipe here: Paige’s Favorite IFTTT recipe.

 

 

 

 

Paige is a relatively recent addition to the Northwest Arkansas community where she currently works for a nonprofit. She loves taking photos that Rhonda declares "artsy" but she has no idea of how to best use the photography skills other than to overwhelm her friends instagram feed. If your Instagram feed needs to be overwhelmed follow her here .

 

Guest Post: Monitoring Your Kids' Tech Time

I'm starting something new on my blog today.  My plan is to introduce you to one of my favorite blogs (and blogger friends) once a month. I'm going to ask my buddies to contribute a post here and provide a link to direct you to their blogs.  First up is my friend Fawn, who shares a very practical and easy way that she monitors her children's tech time.  I hope you'll also check out her blog and add her to your blog list, if she's not there already. --Rhonda 

DIY Technology Tickets
 

Tablets, hand held games, TV, smart phones, xbox, and so on.  Kids love technology. Sometimes a little too much.  Inspired by this Pinterest pin, I decided to start using technology tickets at our house to make sure that we weren’t overdoing it with our screen time. 

 

 

Our system works like this:

•  Each technology ticket is worth 30 minutes of any kind of technology use.
•  Each child gets a total of 8 tickets to use each week (4 hours worth).
•  It is their choice of when to use them, but if they run out they’re done for the week.
•  If two children are playing a video game together or watching the same TV show, they both pay.
•  Parental discretion gives us the right to deny access to the technology when  needed.
• We generally don’t make them pay for things like family movie night or if they are up and moving around with an active Kinect video game. 

You can set your own rules and guidelines – this is just what works for us.

 

Now, our technology tickets are not as pretty as the example I saw on Pinterest, but getting my kids involved in creating the tickets helped them understand how the system would work, and also (surprisingly) got them excited about it.

Here’s how we made our technology tickets:
 

Materials:

·         Index cards (or other cardstock paper)

·         Paint pens (markers or crayons would work fine too)

·         Scrapbooking Scissors – the kind that cut different patterns

·         A hole punch – we used a large circle punch so the tickets would fit on our coat hooks, but you can use whatever size you like.

Steps:

 

1.       Trim the short sides of each index card with the scrapbooking scissors to make it look like a ticket.

 

 

2.  Punch a hole in the top of each ticket.

3.       Have your child write their name on the bottom of each ticket.

4.       Label each ticket with “Technology Ticket”

 

5.       Find a “home” for them where the kids can easily see how many tickets they have available to them.  Our technology tickets hang in our backpack command center .

6.       You may want to have the kids make a few extra tickets in case their tickets get lost or torn.

7.       I also made REWARD tickets. The kids know they can earn these for doing something extra nice or for outstanding behavior.

The Finished Product:

 

This system not only keeps the kids in check, it keeps me in check too. It also taught some interesting lessons in budgeting and kindness.  I was amazed when my preschooler started keeping track of how many tickets he had left, would ask me how many days were left in the week, and often opted for a non-screen activity based on his tickets to days remaining ratio. One day when he was out of tickets, his sister used her tickets to pay his way to a TV show so that they could both watch together.  I hope this little tool will pave the way to more peaceful technology use at your house too.

 

Fawn Rechkemmer writes about motherhood, being green, health and fitness, travel, and other things that make her go, “hmm…” on her blog, Instead of the Dishes.

 

 

 

Mommy Confession Time

I'm just gonna go ahead and get this out there.  I've committed Parenting Sin #1.  Yes, The Daddy of Them All.  I let my children get in a vehicle with strangers.  There, it's out.  I am not the Mother of the Year.

 

Thank goodness the story has a good ending, but I still keep thinking about that day.  It was the day that Keisha and I were driving to Little Rock for the Arkansas Women Bloggers conference.  We were taking my girls to hand off to my mom in Conway.  Along about Morrilton, out of nowhere, the ole minivan started acting up and smoking from under the hood.  Since it was between exits, I just pulled off the side of the interstate as far as I could go.  I turned off the engine and Keisha and I, being experts in car repair, sat and discussed what might be wrong with the van.  Before KP had that AAA card out of her wallet, the smoke and stink got worse. The girls were crying, so we took them out of the van and into the ditch (safer than a van on fire, right?)  Very quickly, we noticed a blue truck had pulled over and was backing down the side of the interstate to us.  This is when you have about three seconds to decide whether to be thankful someone is stopping to help or scared that someone is about to chop you up into a million pieces.

To our relief, a very normal looking man hopped out of the truck and came toward us.  As the afternoon traffic zoomed past us at 70mph, I decided it would be safer to put my kids into the man's truck with his wife.  My shy little girls who won't talk to anyone!  I just knew I'd caused some permanent scars there.  But, heck no.  THERE WAS A PUPPY!  Now, it's all "Mom who?" while the nice man is looking at my van.  He said it would be OK for me to drive the van on to the next exit where there was a gas station and safer for him to work on it.  So, I let my kids ride in his truck--with strangers---while they followed me.  I'm not completely crazy, though.  I made Keisha ride with them, too! I wasn't letting my babies go alone.

Long story short, the couple lives in a small town about 15 miles from where I grew up.  They were traveling home from a funeral and he was wearing dress clothes; he even ruined his shirt checking the fluids in my van.  Mom was able to drive on to Morrilton and  tear the girls away from the puppy get the girls.  He found the problem with my van and Keisha and I soon hit the road again.  It was a crazy fluke involving a loose dipstick that made me lose all the transmission fluid.  No repairs needed, whew.

 

Ms. Fix-It Keisha doing her thing.

 

 

This incident got me thinking about another time I needed a stranger's help, when the twins were babies.  We were at Silver Dollar City; the babies needed a diaper change and the double stroller wouldn't fit in the bathroom door!  So, I took Girl Twin back for Lee to hold and trekked back to the bathroom with Boy Twin.  After I got him changed, I realized that I needed to use it as well.  There was a normal-enough looking woman washing at the sink. I totally asked her if she would hold Boy Twin so I could pee.  I never even thought twice about it! She was thrilled to hold a baby and I was thrilled to empty my bladder. 

 

Am I just too trusting of people?  Do you think I'm crazy? I think having more kids than hands has just forced me to ask for help when I have to. If you are reading this, I have probably asked YOU for help at some point.

Water Park Fun

As part of my affiliation with the Arkansas Women Bloggers, my family got invited to attend a free preview of the new Rogers Aquatics Center last Saturday.  It's not even open to the public yet; talk about exciting!

Since I don't live in Benton County, I'd not really paid much attention to the buzz about Rogers getting a "water park."  I thought, "Meh. A city pool. Big whoop."  After getting to actually see it and use it, let me say this:  Y'all. This ain't no city pool.  The Rogers Aquatics Center will officially open to the public tomorrow.  We are so happy that we got to see it first.  Let me give you a little pictorial tour.

This is what we called the "Big Daddy" Slides, although those aren't their true names, of course.  I'm sad to say that we didn't get to try them out because we spent our whole day in the kiddie area, which is to be expected.

Being outnumbered by our three small children made for an interesting dynamic at the water park.  There are so many attractions for the adults (48" and up), but it's impossible for us to split up and leave a 1:3 parent to kid ratio.  So, we hung out at the kids' area and in the lazy river the whole time.  No complaining here. In fact, my kids were thrilled!  Except Girl Twin, who never went into the water over her knees.  I think maybe  because it was the first truly warm day we'd had, and the water was freezing!  Or maybe, it was because she was afraid of the giant bucket of water that would periodically dump in the kids' area at Otter Holler.

A few days after this, I was talking to Big Sis and Girl Twin about the water park. I asked Girl Twin why she didn't want to get in the water and she answered, "the bucket."  Big Sis calmly replied, "It's just water. Not like it's hot sauce or something."  What??

You can find out more info about the Aquatics Center on the link above. Here are some of the highlights and a few of my observations/opinions:

--Don't let the admission price scare you; it's worth every penny.  This place is new, clean and has so much to offer the whole family.  They have a discounted admission from 4-8pm, which is what we'll probably do.  Four hours is plenty for little ones, and will get us out of the hottest part of the day.

--There is a full service concession stand with very fair pricing.  We had hot dogs and pizza while we were there.   You can also find burgers, popcorn, ice cream and other snacks.

--The dressing rooms are very nice with showers and changing areas.

--There are pavilions available to rent for birthday parties and company outings.

--Children must be age 12 or older to be left alone without parents.  But, the cool thing is, they have fantastic security systems to protect all the kids.  Many, many cameras to watch anything that is suspicious and even the parking lot area.

So, if you live around here, please go check this place out. You won't be sorry.  What a great attraction we have right here so close to home!  I have a feeling my kiddos will be asking to go many times this summer.

Day 1 Challenge: Thankful Me

This week I'm participating in another Blog Challenge with the ladies from Arkansas Women Bloggers. We are celebrating the things and people we are thankful for in the ThanksBlogging Challenge.  Today's topic: Outside the Walls.  Take a photo of something you are thankful for and use a new online photo editor to dress up the photo.

I'm thankful for this dude. He is my hubby and he's totally going to shoot me when he sees this, by the way.  I am so thankful for a great husband and loving dad for our kiddos. I knew when he changed the twins' diapers before I did that he could handle this. I knew when he could feed and rock two babies at once that he could handle this. I know it when Big Sis says, "I want daddy to tuck me in" that he can handle this. He's not perfect, but he's mine.

** I used Pic Monkey for the first time on this photo.  Awesome tools! Will be using it again for sure.**