11 Free or Nearly Free Mother's Day Gifts

Melissa, Megan, Andrew, MacKenzie, Brent, and Robby

Melissa and Stephen (new son-in-law) Briggs

Along with the dozen tulips (preferably not from her garden) and a box of dark chocolate, what mom really wants for Mother's Day is:

1. Clean the light fixtures, inside and outside the house (and put back together and up.)
2. Wash the windows, inside and outside the house. And "weed and seed" the yard.
3. Detail the inside of the car. Outside, also!
4. Babysit, so mom can take dad to see the sunrise on Lake Michigan (or maybe the sunset).
5. Take mom to visit grandpa and grandma or one of her sisters.
6. Promise to read your Bible, cover to cover, before the end of the year.
7. Take down the fort in the backyard, that doesn't have a floor to it, any more. Cut up the wood from the fort, to be used for camp fires in the backyard.
8. Fix the small hole in the back screen door, before it becomes the big hole in the back screen door.
9. Drive mom to see Ronald Reagan's birthplace in Tampico, Illinois.

(Moms like a Sunday afternoon drive.)
10. A framed new picture of all six of her children (now seven with new son-in-law).
11. Homemade cards are the best!

"Low Maintenance" is a good thing this summer!

I have a friend who wants to be "Low Maintenance." I know
she does, because she has told me. And, she really already is.

Elyse is the kind of friend that I call, when something
upsetting happens, because she truly listens. She asks questions
to find out more about my situation or to get me to talk. She
wants details of the events and details of how I am feeling.

When she has a parenting question, sometimes she asks me.
I feel honored. Did you know that asking a friend for their
opinion is a way of honoring a friend?

Elyse smiles. Elyse laughs at my jokes. She's nice. She cares.
She's an awesome mom of four kids.

Elyse is the kind of person that I would want to take on a vacation
with me. I would take her, even on a cross country trip, because
..... well, she's "Low Maintenance."

"Hey Elyse, let's go to New York City tomorrow!"

She would probably say, "yes!"

Elyse doesn't need a certain brand. She's not allergic to life or to
herself. She probably would only take a backpack with her, even
if she was coming along for a week.

I want to be like Elyse.

"Low Maintenance" is my new goal. It's my goal for relationships.

It's also my goal for this summer with homeschooling.

We need to work on math and spelling this summer and I am
going to depend on time4learning's summer program. It's easy to use.
It's excellent. I also think it's "low maintenance."

And it leaves time for swimming, also. See you at the beach!

Things you are not going to hear from mother...

"Turn up that ipod, Barrett! How in the world can you hear with it turned so low?"

"Recycle, Reuse, Renew... I expect you to wear that same shirt for the entire month."

"Of course Preston, if everyone is doing it, you should be able to do it too."

Or a similar, but older, version, (“If everyone walks over a cliff, I would expect you, Preston, to be the one to dive over it too.”)

"And I want no complaining about this – we’re going to save on the grocery bill by cutting out all fruits and vegetables."

"Why use Kleenex?"

"There you go again wearing a coat when it’s raining outside -- just wasting your time taking it on and off."

"Please go ahead and drink out of your brother's cup – who ever heard of strep throat being catchy?”

“We could care less what neighbors will think.”

"Get three new puppies? Why not? I know in the end you’ll be the one stuck taking care of them.”

"If I’ve told you once, I’ve told you a thousand times, leave that door wide open behind you! We need fresh air in here."

"Why work so hard on your schoolwork, when you can watch television all day?”

"Pour out that skim milk right now and open a Coke. Do you hear me?”

"Stick and stones won’t break my bones, but words...................say whatever you want."

"Please, please don’t visit me today of all days – it’s only Mother’s Day.”

Happy Mother's Day, Mom!

Great Wolf Lodge - Traverse City, Michigan

"Our own personal "tent" booth in the tropical theme restaurant! There are several restaurants to choose from."

"Jump aboard, for a fun family adventure at the Great Wolf Lodge Water Park (indoor/outdoor) Fort MacKenzie and Conference Center."

"Leaping Lizards on the Frog Bog Log Walk!"

"1,000 gallons of water drop from a bucket above. Lots of pulleys, locks, and ropes to watch."

"All that water you love it and you don't."

"But you keep going back..."

"Waiting for it to happen again..."

"Better go find something else to do!"

"How about the Alberta Falls four- story high water slides?"

"Ol man river, that ol man river...He dont say nothin...He just keeps rollin, he keeps on rollin along." - Going Slow Down the Great Wolf Crooked Creek with Megan, MacKenzie, (with our friends) Grandpa Ron Campbell, Ahna Campbell

"The Lazy River has to be good for you." - Our friend Ron Campbell reloading granddaughter Ahna

"Lots of choices for fun for the little ones!"

"I can't believe how much there is to do, in so many play areas!"

"Let's go explore!"

"I double dog dare you on the Kiddie Slides!"

"See, I can do it all by myself!"

"Don't get in the water, if you don't want to get wet!"

"It will take your breath away!"

Let's go on the water snake!"

"Tell the fun and friendly snake, we are coming back to Great Wolf Lodge in Traverse City, Michigan next year or maybe next month!"

Time4learning: Math That Works in the Real Homeschool World

"I love math, when I use Time4learning!" says MacKenzie Moeller

Time4Learning's student-paced fun approach to math can help children overcome any anxiety by building solid math skills. Time4Learning's integrated system blends conceptual explanations, learning activities and games, loads of practice for reinforcement, and ongoing assessment. Our learn math program offers children the opportunity to explore the world of math through hands-on, real world simulations. As kids build proficiency in a safe, supportive environment, they become "good at math". Gifted math students appreciate Time4Learning letting them move forward at their own pace.

While there are many different reasons to homeschool, homeschool parents share some common problems including organizing their children's curriculum and their families: time is always short. Time4Learning's self-running curriculum can provide the basis of a homeschool program or can supplement other programs with an enriching easy-to-use program.

Easy way to check it out with sample lessons.

You Know Gardening is NOT your gift, if...

Your roadside stand customers offer to pay you, if you'll keep your vegetables.

Your pesticide company sprays you instead.

You hire a lawyer, to defend yourself, from the class-action lawsuit the locust file against you.

You're able to grow more mold in the desert, than veggies in your garden.

You hire the United States Secretary of Agriculture, as a consultant, to get a row of radishes to sprout.

Your heart tells you "yes!"; your knees tell you "no!"

Your weeds are your best friends, not your enemies. (You figure, at least with the weeds, something is growing.)

You don't have fourteen trillion zucchinis to pass out in late August

Your sweat is how you water your garden, causing flooding to kill your plants.

You buy veggies at the store and then lay them around in your garden, to impress others

Your woodchucks know your first name and you attend Junior Woodchuck's high school graduation.

You attempt to rototill your driveway.

Your neighbor's compost heap wins first place in the county fair, instead of your garden.

You drive your spade deep into the ground for the first time and lights flicker in the neighborhood.

You planted on New Year's Day, because the seeds were on sale.

Your rabbits actually prefer the plastic vegetable display on your kitchen table.

Your slice of cheese, in the bottom of the frig, is the only thing green growing on your property.

Your zucchinis are bought by the United Starts Defense Department, for artillery training.

The only Burpee in your garden is from indigestion.

Time4learning

Megan and MacKenzie find the self-directed learning on Time4learning Homeschool Software easy to navigate around on.


Time4learning has online homeschooling with reinforcements, grading, and constant feedback.


There's nothing like "dog power." Katie, the dog, ponders what she has learned on Time4learning


Megan and MacKenzie love learning about Illinois Homeschooling with their big sister, Melissa.