Finished Friday #56

Welcome to another edition of Finished Friday and our first edition with thumbnail links! Yay!

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Remember, sharing is nice :)

This week's featured posts...

Check out this adorable (and healthy) Grover Snack from Creative Kid Snacks.

 

click HERE to repin

 Lauren shared her awesome graphic designer skills with her Free Fall Decor Printable. 

 

click HERE to repin

Libby also shared a delicious sounding recipe for Caramel Chocolate Crunchers. 

 

click HERE to repin

Would you like to participate?
We will be featuring the most popular and our favorite links at the next link-up and on the Finished Friday Pinterest Board.

Please, remember...

Posts must be family friendly.

Link directly to your post (not your homepage).

Visit and comment on at least one other link.

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 <center> <br><a href=" http://allourdays.com/category/finished-friday" target="_blank"><img border="0" src=" http://allourdays.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/AOD-Finished-Friday-button.png" /></a></center> *By linking up, you are granting me permission to use and/or re-post photographs from your blog or website.

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Save $25 on What's in the Bible? DVDs Old Testament Bundle

This week is your last chance to save $25 on your purchase of the What's in the Bible? Old Testament DVD Bundle. That means you can get the entire Old Testament (9 DVDs) for only $84.99 after using the coupon code OTSAVE25 and getting FREE shipping within the US. This coupon expires on Monday, October 1.

Our family loves the What's in the Bible? series. So much, in fact that we're using it in a Children's Bible Study and as part of our (practically free) homeschool curriculum.

We also make and use these free printable What's in the Bible? Review Flashcards to see just how much our kids are learning.

If you'd like to learn more about the series from its creator, Phil Vischer, you can listen to his interview from last month on Family Life Today.

Today's question: Have you watched any of the What's in the Bible? DVDs? We'd love to hear your thoughts.

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31 Days of Busy Bags & Quiet Time Activities

Who will benefit from this series?

Are you a stay at home mom looking for a few minutes of down time? Are you trying to figure out how to homeschool your children with a baby, toddler, or preschooler at home? Do you work outside the home and wonder how to keep your young child occupied while you fix dinner or just relax for a few minutes in the evening? Do you regularly care for young children? If you answered yes to any of those questions then busy bags or quiet time activities might be just right for you. Coming up in October, we'll be posting 31 days of busy bag and quiet time activities, printables, and links.

What are Busy Bags & Quiet Time Activities?

Busy Bag: a simple, age appropriate activity that can be pulled out, easily assembled and completed by your child. These are perfect for when you need a few uninterrupted minutes but don't want to let your little one veg in front of the television. Quiet Time Activity: generally geared towards older toddlers, preschoolers, or early elementary aged kids who have given up napping. Establishing a quiet time of independent play gives the child a little down time and the parent a little uninterrupted time as well. Even if you work away from home throughout the week, setting up an afternoon quiet time on the weekends can be a sanity saver.

Do these activities really help?

Busy bags and quiet time activities have been such a blessing in our home and we hope they will help you as well! Throughout October, we'll show you how we use these great tools with our own kids and give you lots of resources to begin implementing busy bags or quiet time activities in your own home.

What can I expect to see during this month long series?

During our 31 days series, we'll show you how to make at least 20 different inexpensive and fun busy bags. We'll also show you how we use a daily quiet time for our 4 and 5 year old. As a bonus, we even have a couple baby approved activities ready to share. We'll also highlight great busy bag and quiet time ideas from other moms around the web. Finally, on October 31st, we'll host a busy bag and quiet time activities link up so you can show off the activities you've made!

Didn't you say something about printables?

We're so excited to share with you our busy bag printables. These files will make putting together your own busy bags very easy. The busy bag printables will be offered for free with each of our busy bag posts. Yes, FREE! However, we're also planning on offering the complete set in our Teacher's Notebook store at the beginning of the month for those of you who prefer one download or who want to get started making your own busy bags. Look for the link in our post on October 1st!

Today's Question: Have you ever heard of or used busy bags or quiet time activities? We'd love to hear your thoughts on our upcoming series.

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Our Blog is Moving!

You may notice some design changes today. We're getting geared up for our move to WordPress and our new domain www.AllOurDays.com. The transfer should be live by Thursday evening. This shouldn't affect you, it will switch behind the scenes and old links will automatically be redirected.

We've hired Blogelina to do the switch for us and we also picked up a blog makeover to get us set up in the best way on our new site.

   

In preparation of the switch, we wanted to make sure that we don't lose our Google Friend Connect Followers, as this won't transfer to our new self-hosted WordPress blog.

Do you know what Google Friend Connect is? It looks like this...are you one of those little pictures?

We'd rather not lose anyone in the transition process, so if you currently follow through GFC, please take a few seconds to choose a new method of following.

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Thanks for reading A Heart for Home. We're looking forward to sharing more with you at All Our Days!

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Start School Right, Free Online Workshop, Sept. 18th

Tomorrow, Tuesday, September 18th from 9-10 PM (Eastern), Kerry Beck from Raising Leaders, Not Followers will be hosting a free homeschooling online workshop.

This interactive Start School Right webinar is designed to help you mold your children into the leaders God created them to be. 

Kerry will be sharing Biblical examples of leaders and leaders-in-training that you can follow, tips to instill the character of a leader in your children at a young age, how to develop a love of learning in your kids, how to transition from a teacher-directed homeschool to more of a independent, student-directed homeschool, and much, much more.

I'm definitely going to be tuning in to learn all I can from this homeschool veteran.

To attend this free online workshop you need to register here. It's as simple as entering your email address. (The webinar sign-in details will be emailed to you so you can join in tomorrow night.)

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First Day of School Pictures {Finished Friday #55} Come & link up your projects, too!

Link up your finished projects at the bottom of this post.

This was our first official week of homeschool for the year. I think we have a great looking group of kiddos this year :)

Emahry - Kindergarten
so excited about school that it's the first thing she's asked about every morning

Jonathan - PreK
cried when I told him we were finished with school for the day
(Yes he's sporting a shiner. It was a case of eye socket meets sister's head while playing tag.)

Eliya - pre-pre-PreK
loves doing school like the big kids

Amelia - pre-pre-pre-PreK
somehow finds a way to get in the middle of every single activity

We share our posts at these parties.

This Post is Sponsored by:

Learn Your Letters, Learn To Serve Complete Curriculum Kit

This 240+ page downloadable or hard copy kit includes thorough lesson plans, games, crafts, recipes, memory verses, Bible story suggestions, vocabulary stimulation and discussion, play, books to read and so much more…all while encouraging service to God!

Today's Question: Is your family back into the school-time routine? What's been the biggest challenge with the start of school this year?

Okay, now on to the link-up...

I'm trying to hold myself accountable to finish some of the projects on my to do list by posting each Friday about a project I've completed.

Would you like to join in? Link up to your own projects below.

1. Link to your project post, not your blog's home page, so we can find it easily.
2. Let us know what project you are sharing in your title, for example: Spring Wreath
3. We'd love it if your post links back here so that your readers can come join the fun. Feel free to copy & paste our Finished Friday Button into your post. (Just copy the text in the box below the button, click on the "Edit HTML" tab for your post and paste it there.)
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Where the linky says "Your Name" please enter the name of your project or the title of your post!

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Alphabet Art Book {Free Printables}

A few months ago, I came across the idea of an Alphabet Art Book on KidsCount1234. I thought this idea would be perfect for my preschooler (and pre-preschooler) this year.

The idea behind this Alphabet Art Book is to practice the alphabet in a fun and creative way. I decided that making a collection of letter inspired art projects would be a great addition to our relaxed preschool approach.

Since, we've just officially started school today (first day pictures coming soon), our Alphabet Art Books are still blank, but I thought it would be best to share them now since most people have already started school.

We have all the individual files ready as free downloads through Google Docs. Just click on the letter you want to print at the end of this post. Be sure to download the activity description page here.

We also have the full set available for purchase through Teachers Pay Teachers for only $1.25. This one file download also comes with all 26 letter pages, the activity descriptions page, and as a bonus, a full supply list for all 26 Alphabet Art Book pages.

Several of the activities have various ways they can be competed, some being messier (aka glitter and paint) than others.

Jonathan and Eliya will be making apple prints this week.

Next week, I'll be breaking into my stash of Band-aids for letter B (they'll LOVE that one).

Download the files by clicking on the letters below. Don't forget to to download the activity description page. Or purchase and download all of the files in one handy bundle for $1.25.

A Apple prints	B Band-Aids	C Car Tracks
D Dots	E Elbow Painting	F Fingerprint Flowers
G Glitter	H Handprints	I Ink Stamping
J Jellyfish	K Key Rubbings	L Leaves
M Marble Painting	N Newspaper Numbers	O O Prints
P Purple Potato Prints	Q Q-tip Painting	R Red
S Stickers	T Toothpick Triangles	U Up Arrows
V Vegetables	W Waves	X X Marks the Spot
Y Yellow Yarn	Z Zigzags

We're sharing at these parties & at this Freebie Linky Party.

Today's Question: Do your children like to make crafts? What are their favorite mediums? (Our kids love paint!)

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Quick, Easy, and Healthy Homemade Mayonnaise with a Hand Blender {Finished Friday #54} come and link up your projects, too!

Link up your finished projects at the bottom of this post.

Mayonnaise is one of the items that has been difficult for me to buy for quite some time. Either I wasn't pleased with the ingredients or the price was way out of our budget. Thankfully, now I don't have to worry about whether I can afford mayo I feel good serving my family!

Several months ago I stumbled upon making mayo in the blender. While it tasted great, it was also a little time consuming. So I was very excited when I discovered that you can use a hand blender to make mayo quickly and easily.

It just so happens that my parents bought us an immersion hand blender for Christmas and we have been using it a lot. In fact, there haven't been many weeks when we haven't pulled it out for one reason or another.

One of my favorite uses for our hand blender is making healthy and extremely easy homemade mayo. Did you know that was even possibly?

Now I've been making fresh, healthy mayo every week, mostly to use in some of our favorite creamy salad dressing which we'll be sharing soon.

Quick, Easy, & Healthy Homemade Mayonnaise

1 whole egg, room temperature*
1 egg yolk, room temperature*
1 Tablespoon white vinegar
1/4 - 1/2 teaspoon sea salt
2 teaspoons sugar (we use powdered sucanat)
1/4 teaspoon lemon juice (lime juice works as well)
1/4 teaspoon dry mustard
2/3 cup olive oil** (light tasting olive oil makes a milder mayo, EVOO will make the may taste like olive oil)
1/3 cup coconut oil**, melted (extra virgin coconut oil adds a sweetness and coconut flavor, expeller pressed or refined coconut oil is flavorless)

*You can bring eggs to room temperature more quickly by submerging them (still in the shell) in warm water for 5-10 minutes until they no longer feel chilled to the touch. Room temperature eggs emulsify better than cold eggs. You can also use 2 egg yolks for a richer mayo.

**You can adjust the olive oil to coconut oil ratio, just remember that coconut oil solidifies at lower temperatures so your mayo might get hard in the fridge.

1. Place whole egg and egg yolk at the bottom of the container that came with the hand blender, or another container of similar size. We typically use a wide mouth canning jar.

2. Add the remaining ingredients except for the oils.

3. Place the immersion blender (still off) into the container and press it against the bottom so that it covers the egg yolks.

4. Pour the oils into the container.

5. Pulse the hand blender slowly until you see the mixture turn lighter. Then move the blender up and down (staying under the surface) a few times until you have a rich, creamy mayonnaise.

Check our video here. Sorry it's sideways :)

Yield: approximately 1 1/4 cups

If your mayonnaise is more like mayo soup, doesn't thicken, and begins to separate that means it did not emulsify. Never fear, you can still fix it! Pour your mayo soup into another container and place a room temperature egg yolk into the blending container. Now cover the egg yolk with the (still off) immersion blender and pour the "mayo soup" into the container. Pulse slowly until you see the mayo turn lighter, move the hand blender up slowly and you should feel the mayo getting thicker. Move the blender up and down until all of the ingredients have been incorporated.

This mayonnaise will keep in the fridge in an airtight container for about 2 weeks.

This recipe can also be used to make lacto-fermented mayo which is even more nutritious and will last at least twice as long in the fridge. Simply stir 1 Tbsp of whey into the finished mayo. Cover the container with a cloth and leave it on the counter for 6-7 hours. Then place it in an airtight container in the fridge.

Making homemade mayonnaise is a great recipe in which to involve your kids. All of our kids love adding ingredients to the jar and our five year old can even do a little of the blending herself. 

We'll be sharing some of our favorite homemade salad dressings made with this mayo soon. Subscribe to our free updates so you don't miss them.

We share our posts at these parties.

This Post is Sponsored by:

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Today's Question: How do you use mayonnaise in your home? What recipe would you like for us to try with this homemade mayo?

Okay, now on to the link-up...

I'm trying to hold myself accountable to finish some of the projects on my to do list by posting each Friday about a project I've completed.

Would you like to join in? Link up to your own projects below.

1. Link to your project post, not your blog's home page, so we can find it easily.
2. Let us know what project you are sharing in your title, for example: Spring Wreath
3. We'd love it if your post links back here so that your readers can come join the fun. Feel free to copy & paste our Finished Friday Button into your post. (Just copy the text in the box below the button, click on the "Edit HTML" tab for your post and paste it there.)
<center> <a href="http://a-heart4home.blogspot.com/search/label/Finished%20Friday"target="_blank" ><img border="0" src=" http://i443.photobucket.com/albums/qq160/aHeart4home/FinishedFridaybutton125px.jpg"/></a></center>

Where the linky says "Your Name" please enter the name of your project or the title of your post!

Be sure to click the link in the first email to activate your subscription.

What's in the Bible? Review Flashcards for DVD 5

We've finished a set of review flashcards for What's in the Bible? DVD 5. Click on the link below to download for free. Also, check out all of our other free What's in the Bible? resources.

Simple Ways to Teach with the What's in the Bible? DVDs

Review Flashcards for DVD 1 can be found here.

Review Flashcards for DVD 2
Review Flashcards for DVD 3
Review Flashcards for DVD 4

and the newest set...Review Flashcards for DVD 5:
Vol. 5, Part 1: The People Want a King
Vol. 5, Part 2: Kings Make Mistakes, Too

So, if you’re wanting a little extra review to go along with the What’s in the Bible? DVDs, I hope you’ll find these flashcards helpful.

We’ll share the other sets of flashcards as I finish them. Sign up for free blog updates so you won’t miss out.

Today's Questions: How do you help your children learn about (and from) the Bible?

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