Light Refreshments Served

We all know babies in leg warmers are cute. But Snuggle Luv gave me the idea to have my 8-year-old wear her little sister’s leg warmers on her arms. It’s so Avril–I love! Another Snuggle Luv revealation: Boys can wear them too. These suckers sell themselves.

Legs are for legs and lids are for heads. You need each of these in every color. And so do I. Snuggle Luv is givng away three legs and three lids to three winners so leave a comment and you might win. How ’bout them odds? You have until Christmas Eve Eve (that’s Tuesday night, people).

See? Christmas is about presents.

This Give Away is now closed.

A few months ago I was visiting my sister in law and just, you know, nosing through her stuff when I came across her planner. Which I began to read. Because I do that.

I loved the layout of it and all the little dealios and reminders. Apparently, the woman across the street from her created The Success Choice Planner.  I wanted a year’s worth. I ordered them online but then I called Pamela (the inventor) to ask her if I could pick up my planners at her house because I was so excited and because she lives a couple blocks away. Her house was neat and orderly, as one would expect.

I’m totally into Give Aways now so I asked Pamela if she’d do one for us. It’s the new year–you need a new planner. Try to win one by leaving a comment. You have until Tuesday, so hurry.

And if you don’t have the patience or luck to enter a Give Away, just order one online. Pamela is offering Free Shipping on her planners right now plus she made a coupon for all of us Light Refreshments readers. Can you believe that? I’ve never had a special coupon made for me. Too bad I already bought (and paid full price for) a year’s worth of these planners. Use these coupon codes if you order:

Save $5.00 on purchases over $25.00  Coupon code: 5LRS8
Save $10.00 on purchases over $50.00  Coupon code: 10LRS8

Thanks, Pamela! Here’s to a neat and orderly 2009.

I hope you win.

WE HAVE A WINNER! THIS GIVE AWAY IS CLOSED.

Do you know Lindsey? You know, my step-sister’s roommate’s little sister who recently moved to Provo? Who works with my husband? Sound familiar? Anyway, she moonlights as a really talented and creative person on Etsy. We are blog friends but have also met in real life over mediocre Mexican food at an office Christmas party. I was happy to sit by Lindsey so I could talk about blogging–my all-time favorite topic. Sigh. I love blogging.  Would I cut to the chase already!

Check out Lindsey’s delightful shop, Zeelightful. Make a comment on this post and you could be the lucky winner of a tutu. Just in time for Christmas! I love tutus but, more importantly, your little girl loves tutus.

The winner of this random drawing will receive a handmade custom tutu. You get to choose your size, colors, and style. Thanks to Lindsey for meeting our tutu needs! This Give Away will close Tuesday night at midnight. Lindsey has to get her orders in so she can sew these things by Christmas. She’s like your own personal little elf.

This Give Away has now closed.

Taryn of Kennewick, Washington is the winner of a box of brownies from Blissful Brownies. She chose raspberry. Do you think she chose well?

Congrats, Taryn!

Remember Lisa’s Ode to Brownies? Well, here they are. LRS is giving away a twelve-brownie box of Blissful Brownies. You’ll even have a chance to choose your flavor: Classic Chocolate, Chocolate Coconut, Chocolate Raspberry, German Chocolate, Chocolate Peanut Butter, Chocolate Orange (pictured), Pumpkin Spice, Peppermint Candy, Chocolate Caramel, or Chocolate Walnut.

How can you get involved in such a mouth-watering, delicious giveaway? Just leave a comment below by midnight MST on October 29. Your brownies will probably arrive just in time to remind you what good chocolate tastes like (as opposed to the waxy stuff the kids get on Halloween).

We have a winner for the brownie giveaway! Stay tuned and check your e-mail…

I loved this giveaway because you all left wonderful ideas and comments for enhancing my scripture study. Thank you! For more ideas (and the BYU Mint Brownie recipe!), click over to Scripture Mom’s blog. If you’re not the winner, be sure to pick up your copy at Seagull Books or Amazon.com. And the winner is:

NancyH!

She wrote: “I have been thinking about how to include our toddlers in scripture study. We just started doing ‘5 minute quiet time’ to prepare for when the sacrament is being passed. We have 20 month g/b twins and the thought getting them to sit still for longer than 5 min is not even in my near future. But this might get me help me prepare for the future.”

NancyH, please e-mail me (rachel@lightrefreshmentsserved.com) with your shipping info so we can get the book to you!

We have another Guest Post/Free Stuff/Stuff We Like to give away (maybe we need to rethink these categories)! This one is from Rebecca Irvine, author of a great blog (Scripture Mom with a recent post of 10 Quiet Conference Activities to complement what Lisa started) and the published author of the book you see here. You guessed it: she’s going to give one away to one of our readers. Leave a comment by the end of conference weekend, Sunday night, October 5th at midnight MST to be eligible. We’ll choose one random winner.

The topic of scripture study is especially timely, I think, because of General Conference: a chance to take a deep drink at the well, gather my wits about me, and determine (again) to do better. And as I reread this list, I realize that all of these tips would be useful to improve my own personal scripture study, which can get pretty dull and routine. See what you think! And, by all means, if you have any tips that have worked for your solo scripture study, for your family, your spouse, your friends, your ward, please, PLEASE share in the comments below. All we have is a chance to do better tomorrow.

Thanks for the practical post and the fun giveaway, Rebecca!

Rachel

Holding family scripture study can be one of the most challenging commandments to keep, especially if you are the parent of young children.  The trick is to get organized and motivated enough to establish family scripture study as a regular part of your day.  Here are a few tips and tricks that have worked well for my family:

1. Time After Time Time plays an important factor in family scripture study in two separate ways.  First, when should family scripture study be held?  IM(humble)O anything that absolutely has to be done during the day should be done early in the morning.  I hold scripture time with my children the last five minutes before they leave for school in the morning.  On the weekends we do it while eating breakfast (the whole captive audience thing works well). Of course there are those extra hectic days when we run out of time or forget, but the point is to find a time that fits into your family routine and it becomes habit.

Second, the length of scripture study time should be appropriate to the ages and attention span of family members.  In the case of families with young children the term “study” may be somewhat of a misnomer—we all know how well a six year old would pay attention in a 45-minute Gospel Doctrine class.  She wouldn’t.  But she is likely to survive a five to 10-minute lesson. Be willing to let your family scripture study time evolve and grow with the capabilities of your children.

2. Be Prepared Boy Scouts do not have a monopoly on being prepared.  Take a little time to prepare and then your family will be set for holding family scripture study for a week or more.  Some preparations you might make ahead of time include:

• Decide ahead of time your strategy for study, whether it is by story, topic, or something else.  Put your plan on paper to help keep your family on track.
• Keep your scriptures in a convenient location to where you hold study time.
• Look up and bookmark scriptures ahead of time.
• Find visual aids beforehand.

3. Attitude Schmattitude One of the main reasons for holding family scripture study is so parents can help children to learn to love the scriptures.  If parents have a negative or frustrated attitude when doing scripture study time children will be less inclined to enjoy or learn to love the scriptures. And forget having the Spirit there to help.  So, although it can be difficult to get everyone together at the same time and in a cooperative mood, parents should be conscious of their own attitude and do everything possible to make those few minutes positive and happy.

4. Busy Hands Make Happy Hearts The third key to having a successful family scripture study time with children is to get them actively involved.  Some tricks I use include having a child read the scripture verse(s) out loud, using visual aids (the Gospel Art Kit is wonderful), and asking kids questions about what was read.  Additionally, having a hands-on component can be very helpful.  One summer we studied the 13 Articles of Faith by making a collage for each one; the kids loved gluing on the pictures we found for the collages.

5. Real Scriptures vs. Scripture Stories Retold There are a number of really good scripture storybooks out there that can be used to enhance family scripture study time for children.  And there is great value in helping children to understand the overall story lines of the scriptures.  However, be sure to also include real scriptures; the earlier children gain a feel for scripture verbiage the better.  Since my DH is not home for our morning scripture time, we also take time as a family to read from a scripture storybook before bedtime. Another good idea is to read a verse or two from the actual scripture stories to supplement the storybook—that way children have the benefits of both options.

I am happy to announce the winner of our free father-son tie set giveaway:

Lisa from Springville!

Congratulations! Thanks so much to My Favorite Pal for sharing this fun item with Light Refreshments. Stay tuned for our next free stuff giveaway: we have a cool book about teaching children the scriptures and… brownies. In two separate giveaways, because we want to share the love, you know?

Just in time for General Conference, our next giveaway is a matching tie set from My Favorite Pal. Get the men in your life looking extra spiffy for the big meeting. Or for the family Christmas picture (have you planned that yet?).

If you’re a Light Refreshments Served native, you might remember way back when featured these ties as Stuff We Like for the Father’s Day Edition. To our delight, the founder of My Favorite Pal agreed to do a giveaway of one matching pair of ties to one lucky LRS readers. Just leave a comment below to be entered in the giveaway. We’ll close this giveaway on Friday, September 26th at midnight MST.

As a mother of only boys, I really love this idea! There are so few chances to do something cute with boys: no cute shoes, no cute bows, no matching dresses. In fact, Brooke, the My Favorite Pal entrepreneur, started her business when she was looking for matching ties for her son’s baby blessing: she wanted her son and her husband to wear a matching tie (cute idea, right?). So here’s one chance to be cute with those boys. But not TOO cutesy. It’s Stuff We Like and it’s Free Stuff. Perfect.

This giveaway is now closed. Stay tuned for the winner!

Rejoice with them that do rejoice, and weep with them that weep.

Romans 12:15

There may be a little bit of both today, but let’s concentrate on rejoicing with Bryttin, from Bountiful, Utah, the lucky winner of the Confetti Bracelet from Savvy Girl.

If you didn’t win this time, be sure to check out Savvy Girl for more sparkly, colorful bling. Thanks so much to Cydney, the fun and talented designer behind this wonderful line of jewelry. Have a great week and stay tuned for the next LRS giveaway…

Our friend Cydney is offering this great Confetti Bracelet to one lucky LRS reader! It’s bright and fun, sure to make any day a little bit more delightful. As usual, just leave a comment below to be eligible. We’ll randomly select one of the comments and SavvyGirl will ship the bracelet off to you. This giveaway will close Friday, September 5th, at midnight MST, so tell your friends to leave a comment before then.

Cydney personally designs and creates the jewelry line at SavvyGirl, located in San Diego, CA. Who is savvy? Her daughter Savvanah’s nickname as a baby was Savvy Girl: charming, right? Check out her blog for more fun from Cydney AND great dessert recipes. Yum– brownie marshmallow topping, magic cookie bars, old fashioned lemon bars.  This is a girl after my own heart. I can just picture eating pretty desserts with some fancy bling on my wrists.  Love it.

This giveaway is now closed. I hope you won! Stay tuned for details…