A Day At Moss Mountain Farm

I was very excited to be invited to Moss Mountain to hear about the AR529 Plan, of which I will be sharing what I learned soon. (It is a very cool plan so stay tuned!) But today I want to share the beauty of Moss Mountain and the fun I had on my trip there.

I got to travel with two other Arkansas Women Bloggers:  Jessica and Alicia. (Check out their blogs: Life With the Bauer Bunch and Simple Words by A). 

We were a tiny bit excited and overwhelmed by the beauty we saw when we got there. Of course the texting, Facebooking, and Instagraming soon ensued. We wanted to share our whole day with all of  our social media friends!

One of the best parts of the day was meeting the fellow Arkansas Women Bloggers that I had never met before. They are a great group of ladies.

After shaking P. Allen's hand and shamelessly asking for a picture with him, we were able to tour his house. He is very personable. I felt that I could be myself and not worry about being "asked to leave" when he found out that my garden died before it even got started this year. 

 
One of our first stops was the sleeping porch. It is awesome! I think I could spend the entire Fall and Spring seasons on that porch. The view of the Arkansas River is very inspiring!


 

One of the fun things about the sleeping porch is that it includes a bathtub. This bathtub seems pretty popular with the blogger crowd, so of course I had to get a picture with me in it.
  

The film crew followed us around for most of the day. I think they thought we were funny. There is no telling where the footage of the Southwest Arkansas Women Bloggers will end up. Sorry Stephanie! :)

Oh and the cool thing about this cameraman--he went to Henderson State University!!  It's always cool to see a fellow Reddie!!!

 
One of my favorite places on the farm was the kitchen. I loved the simple, quietness of it. This is the view from the sink. I think I could just stand and wash dishes all day long! It is beautiful.

This is a pond with its majestic swans. Taking a walk or going for a run would not be such a chore if I lived here. I just don't think there is any way I would every get tired of the beauty that surrounds this farm. 

This is the Chicken Palace. Even the chickens are spoiled. I could live here even if I had to live with the chickens. 

  
After touring the home and the grounds, we were treated to a wonderful lunch that I still daydream about. The grilled chicken was so tender and juicy, and it was laid upon perfect sweet potatoes. But the best part was the Butter Milk Pecan Pie!!
Someone is going to have to make this for Thanksgiving!
 

After lunch we learned more about the AR529 Plan, which was the whole reason we were invited. One way that we learned about the plan was by playing Family Feud, hosted by P. Allen Smith himself!

It was a great day and I cannot wait to go back.

The "Smile and Show Gratitude" Game

  

 Since it is so close to Christmas, I thought I would share the “Smile and Show Gratitude” game.

Sometimes it is really hard for kids to be able to smile and show gratitude when they receive presents that they do not want or like.  When I taught preschool, we would play a fun game to teach kids to smile and say, “thank you.”  The game helped  children get in the habit of saying “thank you” when they received a gift, even if it was something like underwear. 

Here is an example.   I would ask, “What would you do if you got a tuna sandwich for Christmas?”  Of course they would laugh, but then they were to say, “I would say thank you.” I would always try to think of really crazy gift ideas.  But no matter how crazy the gift idea was, the children were always to say, “I would say thank you.” 

Being silly helped them want to play the game.  They learned to say thank you no matter what the gift was. It was also helpful teaching  them in a safe and comfortable environment. 

I now homeschool my two boys and I have changed how we play the game.

It now involves the boys going to find the strangest item that they can find and wrapping it or putting it in a gift bag.   Then they exchange the presents with each other.

The fun of the game is finding a funny and unusual “gift” and seeing if they can throw off the other brother.

The challenge of this new twist is to practice saying thank you without having a shocked look on your face.  It also helps kids learn to tell why they are grateful for that item. It is so fun that my kids play over and over again.

I love watching them play it because it is always interesting to see what ideas they can come up with for the usefulness of the item. My older son was once presented an old torn sock during the game. He said, “Wow, thank you! I really needed this so I can make a sock puppet.”

4 Reasons I Love My Roku

              * Payment is being received for the following post, but this payment does not sway my opinions. 

4 Reasons I Love My Roku 

 

I have been thinking about writing this post for a while now; so now that more people are asking about the benefits of a Roku over other ways to get television into their home, I thought this would be a great time to do so.

Here are 4 reasons that I love my Roku:

  1. It is much cheaper than cable or satellite TV.

      I cannot believe the expense of cable and satellite TV! We were able to buy our Roku for a small price. We also have a subscription to Netflix which is $21.88 per month. We are able to watch Netflix on our television screen through the Roku box. The rest of the channels we use are free. Roku has a great selection of free channels as well as subscription channels and they add new channels all the time.

     2. It is a great way to spend family time.  

    We use our Roku to watch old television shows such as The Andy Griffith Show and Leave it to Beaver. We also enjoy spending time together on Friday nights watching movies that we rent from some of the other channels that are available on Roku. It's great to be able to rent movies straight from our television without leaving the comfort of our cozy couch.

    

3. It has wonderful Christian content.

We love to watch GBN, The Gospel Broadcasting Network. It contains wonderful devotionals and fun children's programs. I am also glad to be able to watch Live Stream on my Roku.  Through Live Stream, I get to have an enjoyable Bible Study with a wonderful group of women.  Many churches also stream their worship services through Live Stream. 

    4. It has educational channels.

    Since we homeschool our children, the educational channels we get from our Roku are very beneficial in supplementing our curriculum. They even have pre-school learning channels.

      Bonus- Free exercise channels! 

     There is a large variety of  free exercise channels on the Roku. You can choose from pilates, yoga, belly dancing, maternity, weight lifting, martial arts, and more. Whatever your exercise needs are, there is a fun exercise program for you. 

   

     The Roku has been a great benefit to our entire family. I encourage you to get one for yourself.