Ramblings

New Year’s Resolutions

Brigitte BrulzLeave a comment

Happy New Year to you! I hope you had a wonderful New Year’s Eve. For the past few years, my daughters and I have rung in the New Year by popping balloons throughout the day on New Year’s Eve. I write activities on sheets of paper, which I stuff into individual balloons. Then, I write times on each of the inflated balloons. When the time written on the balloon arrives, my daughters pop the balloon and complete the written activity.

Some of the activities include doing a puzzle, playing games, doing specific crafts, completing chores (some things still need to get done around the house), assembling a gingerbread house, reading books, watching a movie, and writing goals we hope to accomplish in the upcoming year. This year, I have quite a few personal and family goals; however, I figured I would share some of my “writing adventure” goals with you.  None of them are very detailed, but here they are:

  • continue writing posts periodically for this website
  • continue adding items periodically to my Pinterest page
  • learn more about Goodreads
  • read at least 240 children’s books (and review those I like on Goodreads)
  • rewrite a story about a planetarium visit
  • write at least 2 books for a series I hope to publish some day
  • write and submit at least 20 articles, stories, or poems to magazines or websites
  • write a numbers and letters story
  • finish and submit an alphabet book I’m currently working on
  • submit a manuscript of at least one other book
  • continue going to the author group meetings
  • have fun!

I am ready (or at least as ready as I will be) for my 2018 journey. Do you have any goals for this year?

Ramblings

End of Year Writing Adventure Recap

Brigitte BrulzLeave a comment

(This post contains affiliate links, which means I may make a small commission at no extra charge to you if you make a purchase after clicking on a link. Thank you!)

This year has been busy, yet amazing! My family relocated in the midst of publishing my first book, Jobs of a Preschooler. In between homeschooling, settling in at a new location, exploring the new area, spending time with my family, and life in general, I was still able to have a lot of fun writing!

Below is a list of what I have done this year in what I have been calling “my writing adventure”. Unless stated otherwise, I have attached links to past posts incase you were interested in reading more about them.

I hope to continue writing in 2018, and I am eager to see where my writing adventure will take me next. Thank you for being a part of this writing journey. Happy New Year!

What are some things that you have accomplished this past year? Do you have any goals for the upcoming year?

 

 

Be a Sculptor With Clay Creations
Crafts and Projects · Jobs of a Preschooler

Be a Sculptor With Clay Creations

Brigitte BrulzLeave a comment

I hope you were able to have an enjoyable Christmas. I had a relaxing Christmas with my family at home. It was so nice to stay home, watch my daughters open their gifts, play games, read books, do a 300 piece puzzle, watch a couple of movies, and enjoy a ham dinner together.

My favorite Christmas gift this year is a homemade creation one of my daughters made for me. She used some clay, paint, and a palm tree that she found in our craft supplies to create this cute decoration for the master bathroom.

clay beach creation

Here is the back view:

clay beach creation

My other daughter also made a clay creation, which she gave to her sister as a Christmas gift. Here are a couple of pictures of her sweet gift.

clay heart creation

Below is a view from the top. She wrote “Jesus loves you!” in it.clay heart creation

These sweet clay creations reminded me of the little girl in Jobs of a Preschooler when she is a sculptor.

Jobs of a Preschooler- I am a sculptor...

Maybe the little ones in your life can have fun creating their own little clay creations for you to display in your home.

What clay creations will they come up with?

 

Christmas pickle ornament Thankful Tree with a Pickle
Crafts and Projects · Pickles, Pickles, I Like Pickles · Ramblings

Thankful Tree with a Pickle

Brigitte BrulzLeave a comment

Each Thanksgiving for the past few years, my daughters and I have decorated a very small artificial tree with homemade tags labeled with things we are thankful for. This year, we literally stood back and threw these little tags at the tree, which made us all laugh. This tree may not be the prettiest, but it’s definitely a fun tradition that I like to do with my daughters. Below is a picture of the little Thankful Tree:

In addition to the “Thankful Tree”, we did another simple project together on Thanksgiving that anyone can do at home. We cut strips of construction paper and wrote various things that we were thankful for on the papers. I was surprised when one of my daughters said she was thankful for “laundry”, but the fact that we have laundry means that we have clothes to wear. The fact we have dirty dishes means we have dishes to eat from and food to eat. (Just a side note: this reminds me of 1 Timothy 6:8) Once the strips were written on, I stapled them together into one long thankful chain. We definitely have a lot to be thankful for!

Thankful Chain

So why am I talking about Thanksgiving when today is actually Christmas? Well, today, I will hide a little pickle ornament somewhere in this little “Thankful” tree. This is another activity that we have been doing for the past few years, which I had mentioned in Pickles, Pickles, I Like Pickles. My daughters enjoy trying to see who can find it the fastest Christmas morning. Since the tree is so small, it really isn’t much of a challenge, but they insist I still do it.  It’s amazing how important some traditions seem to be.

Do you have any special holiday traditions? I would love to hear about them!

I think the little pickle ornament is cute, don’t you?

Christmas pickle ornament

I know this time of the year can be especially challenging for many people. I hope that no matter what you may be going through, you are still able to have a nice day today. Merry Christmas!

Crafts and Projects · Jobs of a Preschooler

More Crafts/Activities for Jobs of a Preschooler Available

Brigitte BrulzLeave a comment

In the book Jobs of a Preschooler, the young girl has many different “jobs” throughout her day that a typical preschooler may do. On Fun Extras, I have coloring pages and a list of activities that little ones can do along with the book. If you are looking for even more fun ideas to do with Jobs of a Preschooler, please check out my Pinterest board entitled Jobs of a Preschooler. I think you may have to sign in to see the board accurately; however, even if you are not signed in, you should be able to see some of the ideas. I currently have the Jobs of a Preschooler board divided into 12 sections. Each section is another “job” from the story. Even if you do not have the book Jobs of a Preschooler, these activities may be fun to do with the little ones in your life. I hope to continue to add more crafts and activities to do along with Jobs of a Preschooler throughout the upcoming year.

I have been trying to teach myself how to use Pinterest over the past couple of weeks, so if links are not working properly, please let me know so I can try to resolve the issue as soon as possible. Also, if the Jobs of a Preschooler board does not show up divided nicely into 12 sections for you while you are logged in, please let me  know – I’m still learning! Besides adding more crafts and activities to my Jobs of a Preschooler board, I hope to add more fun pins to the Pickles, Pickles, I Like Pickles board and some other ideas/quotes that I find of interest to share. It’s all a work in progress. You are welcome to follow me on Pinterest if you would like to join me on this adventure! If you aren’t interested in following all of my boards, you should be able to select the one(s) that you are interested in.

May you have a wonderful day!