Woodsy Magnets Tutorial

My youngest is five, heading to kindergarten in the fall.  So we're kind of getting past the whole alphabet-magnets-on-the-fridge stage of life.   But before I up and get rid of the alphabet magnets, I needed to replace them with something else.  I"ve seen wooden magnets here and there on the internet.  I love the simple, natural look of them, so I decided to make some for myself.  If you want to make some too, here's an incredibly easy tutorial, that literally involves like two steps...

Step one:  Saw a branch of wood (branch or log should be approx. 1-2 inches in diameter ...mine are 1.5 inches), at a thickness of about 1/4 of an inch.  Repeat this step in order to make as many of these magnets as you'd like.  

(P.S. ...I had my husband do the sawing for me.  I used cherry wood and because it's a hard wood, you have to hold it really tight and saw slowly to get it to cut right.)

Step Two:  Attach magnet buttons like THESE to the back of the wooden circles.  They are self adhesive magnets, so there is no gluing or anything involved.

And that's it!  

Super easy and inexpensive, right?

***If you wanted to take these magnets a step further, you could use a thicker branch (maybe 2 - 3 inches in diameter, and paint some chalkboard paint on them.  Then with chalk, you could write things like, "To Do", or "To Buy", or "Good Job!" on them as you hang up to do lists, grocery lists, or a child's latest art project on the fridge.

A House of Learning

My home is my favorite place on earth. 

It's my comfort zone, my safety net, and it's filled with the people I love.

I love to fluff and decorate my home (which is obvious if you're a regular reader on this blog).
But I've been thinking and pondering on the true purpose of a home lately.

...most of these things I've always known.
But for some reason, I think I've needed to be reminded of them again.

Here's some of my recent thoughts:

The true purpose of a home is so much more than curb appeal, pretty decor, or square footage.
The true purpose of a home is to learn and mold ourselves and our families in to who God wants us to be.

A home is a house of learning.

In our house of learning...

The toilets may not be perfectly clean, because we are still teaching our eight year old how to clean them and it takes practice to get it right.

In our house you may occasionally hear someone yelling because we are still learning to be more patient with each other.

In our house, we lose our keys, our wallets, and sometimes our most favorite toys.  So we learn to pray for help from a loving Heavenly Father who always listens.  And then when we find our lost keys or wallet or our favorite toy, we re-learn again and again how much God loves us and desires to bless us in even the smallest of ways ...through the simplest of prayers. 

In our house we learn to forgive each other every day because we often make mistakes or say or do things that we shouldn't.

In our house the stairs aren't always swept to perfection because sweeping is a skill that some of our kiddos are still trying to get the hang of.

In our house we are learning to criticize less and praise more.

In our house we are teaching our children to try to exemplify the Savior.  At all times.  In all places.  And in all things.  ...Even though we, as the parents of this household, still fall short of this very thing many times ourselves.  But we're trying.

In our house we weed and mow and plant stuff in the backyard to learn how to work together as a team.

In our house, we play catch and croquet on the back lawn.  We practice good sportsmanship - how to be a good loser and a good winner.

In our house we laugh and play and spend time together too and we learn to enjoy each others' company.

At first glance, our home may look older and imperfect.

We don't exemplify the "perfect" family in all that we do.

But that's okay.

Because we're learning.

And that's why family's and homes were created.