Y’all know that our family loves to play games together. We can turn everything, from board games to ping pong, into a fierce but loving competition. And when we just have a short time together we like to do quick, fast paced challenges. Like they play on Minute to Win It on GSN! Have you seen that show?

The contestants have 60 seconds to complete a challenge using every day household items. We did it one year for our Christmas party and it was a huge hit. Our family likes to play them just anytime we are just hanging out. We enjoy the thrill when every.second.counts.

I decided to play a few the other night with my kids. Some of the younger ones and I pulled some materials together to see what we could come up with. We played three games….Yank Me, What a Racquet and Speed Eraser.

In Yank Me you have 60 seconds to stack four cups upside down with an index card between each cup, then yank the cards out causing the cups to stack as they fall. Once you get them all you win. Most of us could do this pretty easily.

In What a Racquet you have to get a gum ball to land in the very middle square of a tennis racquet. It was hard! If you try this I’d love to hear how it went! I was so tense when I did it I almost went all John MacEnroe. My daughter Hope got the closest of all of us….you can hear how excited we all were!

Our last game was Speed Eraser. You have to bounce pencils by their eraser on the table and get them to land in the cups. It was fun….even little Levi tried his hand at it.

Noah got the best score with 4 pencils in the cups.

It was a great way to spend an hour together! And we’re all looking forward to the new season of Minute to Win It coming out on Tuesday June 25 at 8/7c on GSN. There’s a new host, cutie pie speed skating champion Apolo Anton Ohno. We will get some new ideas for games to play together and, who knows, maybe a few of them will pop up in this year’s Christmas party.  For more information, connect with Minute to Win It on Facebook and Twitter and visit the GSN website. 

I’m giving away a $100 VISA gift card to one of you for answering this question: Which Minute to Win It game do you like the most, or if you haven’t played…which if the three we played would you like to try? Just leave a comment and you will be entered to win!

Sweepstakes Rules:
No duplicate comments.

You may receive (2) total entries by selecting from the following entry methods:

Leave a comment in response to the sweepstakes prompt on this post

Tweet (public message) about this promotion; including exactly the following unique term in your tweet message: “#SweepstakesEntry”; and leave the URL to that tweet in a comment on this post

Blog about this promotion, including a disclosure that you are receiving a sweepstakes entry in exchange for writing the blog post, and leave the URL to that post in a comment on this post

For those with no Twitter or blog, read the official rules to learn about an alternate form of entry.

This giveaway is open to US Residents age 18 or older. Winner  will be selected via random draw, and will be notified by e-mail. You have 72 hours to get back to me, otherwise a new winner will be selected.

 The Official Rules are available here.

This sweepstakes runs from 6/18/13 – 7/17/13.

The post Minute to Win It Family Games! appeared first on The Pennington Point.

Trying to think of a way to make Father’s Day great for Dad is not easy.  But this year we came up with a few goodies that I know he’s gonna love.  I can’t tell you the big stuff because he may peek and see it here.  But I can show you a quick, simple idea I did with Elijah, my 10 year old.

A couple of weeks ago we made our Kids’ Summer Reading project with my beloved Cricut & the gorgeous vinyl that we love.  That project gave Elijah and I another idea that would be perfecto for Father’s Day!  Why not make Dad his very own book cover?!

We snuck one of Dad’s law school books from his office and Elijah chose a couple of the cartridges he wanted to use.  He planned it all out and I helped him cut.  He chose some “lawyer-ish” images for his book cover.

In about half an hour he had made a personal gift for Dad.

In addition to gifts, I’ve shared some other ideas for ways the kids can prepare their hearts for a special day for Dad over at Faith Gateway.  We’ve been praying for Dad and planning some big surprises.

Happy Father’s Day to all of the amazing Dads out there who work so hard to serve their families.  We are so grateful for you!

Follow me on Facebook for more fun ideas!

The post Make a Quick, Easy Father’s Day Gift appeared first on The Pennington Point.

This week I’m sharing a few of the simple outfits I have worn lately.  Nothing fancy or over the top.  Most days I just toss on a comfy skirt and cool top with my Birkenstocks and never look back.

These photos aren’t the best, but they’re real.  Just me on the porch taking a picture of myself with an iphone.  That seems odd, to be taking pictures of yourself every day, but I’ve done it all my life.  Not with an iphone, of course.  In high school I used my collapsible Polaroid to take pictures of myself in outfits I liked and tape them to the back of my closet door.  I didn’t want to forget them.  {freak}

I wore this one day to run errands in town then go out with my friends later.  It’s a very lightweight skirt, tank and little jacket.  Then I added red shoes and a red necklace.  I did that because….well….because I love those shoes and look for any opportunity to wear them.

This next little number is just from a stay-at-home kind of day.  Hot pink is a good color on me so when I am feeling down I like to wear it to lift my spirits.  The brown skirt is thin and cool and the little accessory is a piece of lace I just tied together in the back.

My last look is from a day of going to the city.  The jacket is the same on I was wearing in the top picture.  This pink top has little spaghetti straps so it is super cool.  Even though it is layers of ruffles, the fabric is so lightweight that it is great for summer.  I mix it with several other skirts and coverups too.

Really not much to my outfits this week.  Keeping simple skirts and lightweight tops around makes it easy to put together something cute in a flash.

Thanks for stopping by and be sure to check out our Embracing Modesty Gallery to keep up with our whole year of modest outfits!

The post Embracing Modesty, No. 23 appeared first on The Pennington Point.

This week we’re going to look at some of the quirkiness that goes on around here.  My teen girls like to experiment with their clothing and as long as they stay within the boundaries we have set for being modest I say go for it!  My motto: If you’re quirky and you know it clap your hands! {CLAP!} {CLAP!}

Patience likes to occasionally mix unexpected pieces together.  Like this skirt and top…they aren’t really the same style, but she tied it all together with a belt that she wears above her waist and a pair of plaid tennis shoes.  That green t-shirt is such a precious touch of color.

Most of their jewelry comes from their etsy shop, Little Women Sisters.  This adorable vintage key necklace is one of my favorites.  I love that they have their own shop.  It gives them a place to create and express themselves and make a little money.

Faith, my fashionista, likes to shake it up too. This grunge style top paired with a floral scarf is so her!  Not-so-perfect-yet-perfect.

She is also wearing one of the necklaces from Little Women Sisters!  They love these key necklaces (and so do I!).  But they have lots of other darling things in their shop.  I may just buy some of it for myself!

Now hang onto your hat for this next one.  I am not lying when I tell you that this is how the girls look about 1/3 of the time.  They come out in the morning in some crazy concoction of cuteness and whimsy and it just melts my quirky mamma’s heart.

They popped the lenses out of a pair of thrift store glasses and they wear them all of the time.  Her hair…well don’t ask me but I love the crazy librarian look so I like it!  That pink flower finishes it all off with a pow.

There you go.  It is possible to be a crazy, fun, modest teenager.  My girls play with their outfits every day.  Not all of their creations are a success, but as they get older they get better and better at it.  I will tell them sometimes why a combination works or doesn’t, to help them learn how to create these darling outfits.

Thanks for stopping by and be sure to check out our Embracing Modesty Gallery to keep up with our whole year of modest outfits!

If you like this I would love for you to follow me on Facebook !

The post Embracing Modesty, No. 22 appeared first on The Pennington Point.

Welcome to my home!  A special hello to y’all visiting from Marianne at Songbird!

I am so, so, so glad you stopped by for my tour da casa.  Life here in the Texas Hill Country is sweet and simple.  Nothing fancy, but we love every bit of it!

We built this room ourselves on a wing and a prayer since we had no idea what we were doing.  Even though the room is small, I worked and worked until I found an arrangement that would give all 11 of us a place to sit comfortably.

I used to wish for an entryway, but then I decided that the porch could be my entryway.  Making the most of what I have is my favorite pastime. Below you can see a chair I painted and recovered, a clock I made from an abandoned bird cage stand and some lockers I painted to use for the kids’ school books.

All of our furniture is from flea markets and hand-me-downs.  I take what I find and remake it into what fits our home.  I’ll paint anything….like our piano!

Many of the small details in my home are from my etsy shop, Shop 24.

Just through the living room is the dining room/school room.

The black table is for eating and the white table is where we homeschool with the added benefit of having plenty of extra table space when we have guests for dinner…which is pretty often.

The long buffet behind the black table serves two purposes.  The kids can use it as a desk during the day and we can serve food from it at mealtime.  I try to get as many uses out of one thing as I can.

My big chalkboard wall is constantly changing.  I can draw anything on it depending on what mood I’m in….and I can be moody.  So it changes often.

Even though we don’t do sports (you wouldn’t want to see me do sports, I run like a chicken) I used a sports theme for the summer.  It makes us want to get outside and play!

The other side of the room is the school space.

I use the giant white board for school and to write a new Bible verse every day that we try to memorize.  I also sometimes write lists or chores on the board.  You can read more about how I keep my homeschool area organized!

Around the corner from the school area is our little study room.

I enclosed part of the porch to create this teeny room.  But don’t measure its usefulness by its size….we couldn’t do without it!  The kids can go in there to read or work on their computer or do some quiet school work.  They can close the door and concentrate.  Perfect!

And the letters on the wall are not supposed to be a word.  I’m just slowly gathering all of the kids’ first initials as I see them at flea markets.  It takes time to find nine vintage letters.

On the other side of the dining room is our kitchen.  We built the kitchen all by ourselves on a shoestring budget.  Two ranges, two microwaves, two fridges….it’s perfect for a large family!

In the picture below you can see my kids’ lunch area, my stained glass that came from an old church and my beige chalkboard wall (next to the electric range) where we keep a running grocery list.  Gotta stay organized!

If you go out the kitchen door you step onto a deck that leads to our pool.

It’s a simple, above ground pool.  My son and I built the deck and we built our own outdoor furniture so I can sit right there and work on the blog while the kids swim.

I love sitting out there.  What we lack in expensive luxury, we make up for in peace and tranquility.

Before we go back inside let’s walk around to the front of the house where we have an outdoor eating area, the “Pavilion.”  I found the old sign at a church bazaar and hung it there and the name stuck.  I put the eating area in the front because that’s where the evening shade is, and I am a shade kind of girl.  We eat out there as much as possible.

We had our 25th anniversary party out there a couple of years ago and it was a beautiful evening!

The rest of the house is bedrooms and bathrooms.  With 9 kids in a small house I have to get creative about bedroom spaces.  My 19 year old daughter sleeps in an enclosed porch area.  We made it to also serve as a guest room.

This girl is a bit of a minimalist.  All she wants is a cozy place to sit and some beach things around her and she’s happy.

Two of my boys share a little western themed room complete with horse in the barn that I painted myself. 

And two of my teen girls live in a finished out attic.

Even though they can only stand up in the middle, they are so happy to have their own space that they don’t care one bit.  And every single thing in this room was free except the wood we bought to build the shelves.  We found the headboards in someone’s trash and just painted them!

Below the girls’ attic bedroom is the master bedroom.  It’s my oasis on a hard day of homeschooling, laundry and painting furniture (which I am usually doing all at the same time).

I do most of my work in this room.  I sit in my recliner and work online after all of the kids are in bed.

My bathroom is another place I like to hide occasionally.

For some reason the kids don’t think to look for me there, so when I need a few minutes to myself I sneak in the bathroom with a book and a Diet Dr Pepper.

That’s it for my summer home tour.  It’s been great having you visit and I hope you’ll come back again soon!

Be sure to check out the other amazing home tours!  Next is Angie at The Country Chic Cottage for another look at a house in the country!

DAY 1 (June 3rd)

- – - – -

DAY 2 (June 4th)

- – - – -

DAY 3 (June 5th)

- – - – -

DAY 4 (June 6th)

1- Rhoda @ Southern Hospitality
2- Traci @ Beneath My Heart
3-Stacy @ Not Just a Housewife
4-Jen @ Jennifer Rizzo
5-Lindsay @ Makely Home
6-Sandra @ Sawdust Girl

DAY 5 (June 7th) – Link Party at The Shabby Creek Cottage

And don’t forget to follow me on Facebook!

The post My Summer Home Tour! appeared first on The Pennington Point.

There is so much happening here this week that I can’t stand still.  I’ve got crafts and some great products and specials….seriously fabulous!

And I am super-dee-duper excited to be participating in a Summer Tour of Homes with some of my favorite bloggers.  You do not want to miss a single house on the tour.  These people are all so talented and creative and I am inspired by them all!  Then on Friday you can link up your space over at Gina’s place, The Shabby Creek Cottage.

Be prepared to spend the rest of the week enjoying a peek inside of these gorgeous homes.

My house is coming up on Wednesday, but today you can go see Gina at The Shabby Creek Cottage, The Nester at Nesting Place, Mandi at Vintage Revivals, Beth at Home Stories of A to Z, Ashley at The Handmade Home and Kristin at The Hunted Interior.

Don’t you love a home tour?  I could eat them up.

Oh!  And speaking of summer….I shared some of my ideas for using seasonal decor in your home over at DIY Your Way.  I’ve got some simple, inexpensive tips for freshening up your space.

See you all week for the tour of homes and more fun happening here!

Follow me on Facebook!

The post Don’t You Love to Look in Other People’s Houses?! appeared first on The Pennington Point.

Well friends, it’s almost June and that means trying to find ways to be modest while not dying of a heat stroke.  I am telling you I do not like to be hot.  If I start to sweat I want to find the nearest freezer and stick my head in.  I can’t even think of how much ice I go through during these Texas summers.

As it gets deeper into the summer you will see us dress more and more cool.  But you won’t see us uncovering ourselves.  It’s a matter of priorities.  For us it’s modesty first, comfort second.  But we do just fine.  You just have to keep your eye out for the right kinds of clothing.

This past week we’re still not too hot, so it’s been easy to be comfortable.  It’s been rainy and overcast so we haven’t had to be too careful about staying cool.

Patience wore this adorable skirt that I got at Sam’s Club last week.  It was only $9.90 and it’s really lightweight and cool.  The yellow top she is wearing is very thin but still pretty.  Perfect for summer.  She can put it over a tank when the weather gets hotter.

Here I have on a very light jacket over a tank top.  The tank keeps me cool and the light jacket covers that side view that is a little too exposing for us.  The green tank is too low cut for me so I wear a very lightweight tank under that. As it gets hotter I will ditch the green tank and just wear the white.  It’s too many layers for the middle of summer, but fine for now.

A lot of you have asked what we wear for sports or working outside or times when we have to be active.  This past week Hope did a bunch of work outside so she put on this cute outfit so she didn’t have to worry about bending over.  It’s a pair of jeans under a short dress.  I think she looks super cute!  But we wouldn’t wear this out in public.  That’s just our preference.  We like to have our legs more covered than that when we’re out.

We got the jeans and the short dress at Target.  You have to sort through the overly tight things there, but it’s worth the search.

Lastly here’s Grace.  She must have been in a vintage mood this day because she’s got a whole 50′s vine going on.  It’s such a delight to see this cuteness around the house all day!

I’m looking forward to the lazy days of summer.  But I am not looking forward to the scorching temperatures.  Trust me when I tell you no one wants to be cooler than me.  I will be showing you ways we try to keep cool and what we wear to avoid death.

Thanks for joining us here and be sure to check out our Embracing Modesty Gallery !

And follow me on  Facebook for some great conversation!

The post Embracing Modesty, No. 21 appeared first on The Pennington Point.

Our weekend was spent visiting with family and trying to stay dry.  Basically we got more rain over the past 3 days than we have in the last 2 years.  Our farm looked like a flood zone.

One thing I love about life in the country is the constant change.  One day you’re a happy farmer with a cow grazing in the field.  The next day you’re a crazy woman wading through mud in your good shoes chasing a cow down the street.

We discovered he (yes he, but we still call it a cow) was jumping over the fence.  We noticed him out on the street wandering around mooing like he owned the world.  Not a care, not a worry.  Then we saw him jump back in.  Not good.

We have a large pen on the back of our property where we used to keep our billy goat, so we decided to put the cow in there until we figured out what else to do.  Have you ever tried to coax a cow into a small opening?  Right.  It wasn’t going to happen.

Jacob and Noah tried various tricks, in the pouring rain, to get him go in.  But every time they would get close to the pen the cow would bolt, leaving my poor, wet boys to figure out another plan.

Since James was gone for the day, I decided to go out and help.  At one point we were trying to discreetly tie the cow (Jacob had managed to get a rope on him) to a post he was standing near.  Noah and I were hanging onto the rope when he decided to run.  It was a split second after Jacob got it tied to the post, so the cow couldn’t go far, but Noah and I found ourselves in a muddy heap.  Fortunately we were not hurt, but we both made a firm decision after that not to join the rodeo.

Then I got an idea.  We could chain the cow to the tractor.  I would lead him with the rope and every time he moved Jacob would move the tractor a little more toward the pen.  We kept the chain shorter than my rope so he couldn’t get to me.  (To be clear, we weren’t pulling him with the tractor, he was just anchored to that so he couldn’t run off as I pulled him with a rope) It took an hour and a half to move him about 50 yards, but we did it.  And he was so hungry by the time we got there that he went fairly willingly into the pen where there was a delicious pile of dry hay waiting for him.

But here was the problem.  In order to get him in the pen and get the chain off of him I had to lead him in with the rope.  That left me inside the pen with the cow, who was now between me and the gate.  Not a good position to be in.  He was happily eating while Jacob and I weighed our options.  I could try to scale the 5.5′ high fence.  Not.  We decided to tie him with the rope (which was still around his neck) to a post so he couldn’t get to me as I slipped past him.

Now, picture me in my long skirt trying to go slowly past a hay eating cow.  No sudden movements.  I almost made it.  I was right near him when he gave me a quick BUTT in my behind.  He couldn’t do much being tied to the post, but he managed to get my skirt hooked on his small horns and there I stood, with a bull up under my dress.

I moved as quickly as I could, feeling sorry for Jacob’s full view of my panties as I made my quick escape.  I was willing to let the skirt rip, but thankfully it slipped off of the horns.  I leapt out the gate and I was free.

Lisa – 1

Cow – 0

Jacob – scarred for life

I can now check “getting butted by a bull” off my bucket list.

And being a rodeo clown.

And playing in the mud with my boys.

My hands were the cleanest place on my body.

Life on a farm isn’t easy.  But the truth is, while it wasn’t easy, we had a great time and made some funny memories.

The post Never Trust a Cow that Jumps a Fence appeared first on The Pennington Point.

Recently we went out as a family and got a little more dressed up than usual.  It’s always nice to see what the girls come out wearing.  They are all so creative with their clothing.

Grace has a beautiful anthropologie top that we got on a Black Friday sale.  It has beautiful lace at the shoulders.  I love how she paired it with this hat.  What’s more classy than a hat and pearls?

Hope like to wear orange.  She’s had this sweet top for several years.  It’s nice to wear something besides stretch knit occasionally.

Faith’s long, brown, flowy skirt is another anthropologie Black Friday piece.  She put it with a black skirt, which is sp pretty but unexpected.  Her key necklace is one of her favorite accessories.

Patience is wearing a skirt we got at Forever 21.  That store has some good choices for trendy, affordable clothing.  But you have to dig through racks and racks to find it.  Most of it is not appropriate if you’re trying to be modest.  Again, the key necklace.  We all like wearing them.

I can’t leave the family outing post without show you my cool guys.  I don’t talk about the boys in the modesty series, but we have guidelines for them too.  Belts are not an option.  And as much as they love their hat, they take them off when they are inside.

We have a couple more family outings coming up over the next few weeks, so I will have plenty of photos to share.

Thanks for joining me through this modesty series.  Be sure to check out our Embracing Modesty Gallery to see the other posts.

And don’t miss last week’s Swimsuit Edition!

If you like these posts I’d love for you to follow me on Facebook!

The post Embracing Modesty, No. 20 appeared first on The Pennington Point.

This is it!  The 2013 Swimsuit edition of Embracing Modesty.  I’m so excited!

I want to start by telling you how we choose what we will wear for swimming.  While we need to be comfortable and have free movement in the water, we are never willing to compromise the convictions that we have about how we should dress.  It may feel weird at first, but if you have a conviction to cover yourself more than a typical swimsuit will cover, then you may have to give up that fear of feeling out of place and stop wearing them.

For our swimwear we have the same basic boundaries that we have for our regular clothes.  We don’t show our shoulders, cleavage, thighs, etc. It isn’t easy to find things to wear that are affordable and within our boundaries.  The trick is to be flexible and think outside the box.

As a basic beginning, we all have one-piece bathing suits that we wear underneath some of our swimwear.  In most of these photos we are wearing those under what you can see.  We do this because the tops we wear will occasionally float up when we’re swimming or playing in the water.  Uh-oh!

I’ll start with our oldest daughter, Grace.  She has a swimsuit we purchased years ago from a company called Wholesome Wear.  She wears it constantly every summer and it has held up beautifully.  She loves it.

The whole thing, including leggings underneath and the cute little sleeved top, is one piece that just zips up the front.  It is very lightweight and comfortable.  I’d be happy to buy these for all of the girls, but they are a bit costly.  Plus we need more than one suit since we swim almost every day, sometimes twice a day.

My friend Sara bought a darling modest swimsuit for her 10 year old daughter.  This suit from Meant to Be Modest is triple cuteness!

But don’t worry….there are plenty of options if you can’t afford or don’t want to wear these types of suits.  I look for short, stretchy summer dresses that would be easy to swim in.  Then we put bike shorts and a one-piece bathing suit underneath. And we feel great about what we are wearing!

For this season I found short dresses at Sam’s Club made from lycra, so they are perfect to swim in.  Hope is wearing a one-piece and bike shorts under the dress.  She will swim in this….it won’t come off when she gets in the water.  These are available right now at Sam’s.  $16.98.  YES!

Another idea is a dress made from t-shirt knit.  Again, bathing suit and bike shorts under it complete the look.  She swam in this all summer last year and it worked great!

I would suggest Old Navy, Target, Walmart and Cato for these little dresses.  They aren’t that hard to find once you get your radar going.

Sometimes we wear lightweight shorts with a long top.  These shorts are made with fabric that dries quickly.  We just look for loose fitting shorts that we think would do well in the water.  This is our backup-because-everything-else-is-dirty option.

And me, well I don’t care much for swimwear.  But since we have a pool I do like to swim in the summer, and I LOVE the beach.  So I found a stretchy skirt and top that works well for me. I have a blue shirt on in this photo, but I don’t wear a that underneath if I’m getting in the water.  I just have the one-piece bathing suit under the black top.  Oh!  And I have this is other colors also.  When I saw these in the store I got 3 of them.

Please excuse my pasty white legs.  They rarely see the light of day.

I can’t tell you how wonderful it has been for us to be able to let go of the expectations to wear bikinis/bathing suits that expose parts of our body that we are not comfortable with showing.  Not only has it given us a complete confidence, but I have been blessed with some wonderful conversations with strangers that see us on the beach.  They walk over to tell me how grateful they are that we are modestly dressed and I get to reply with love and acceptance of Christ.

Here are a few final tips:

*When buying a knit dress, be sure to check the neckline for stretching.  If it stretches easily it could become a problem with the weight of the water.
*If you’re not buying actual swimwear, look for the lightest weight fabrics you can find.  Otherwise it will be too heavy when it gets wet.
*Makes sure the shoulders are high or if you can pin a strap across the back of them so they don’t slip down when you swim. It kills all of the fun when your top keeps slipping around!
*Avoid reds.  They tend to bleed and fade easily.
*If you’re going for shorts, we also like looking in the men’s swim shorts section.  Often they have long floral shorts that could be feminine if put with a cute top..
*Sometimes it’s easier to find knit dresses that are tank top style.  We just put a cute rash guard under those!
*Don’t be afraid to cut off the bottom of a longer knit skirt if you think it would be good for swimming.  Knits don’t ravel, so you can just cut them off wherever you want!
*If you have trouble finding one-piece suits that cover enough, look for polo suits or lifeguard suits.  They go up high on the neck and have much more coverage.

I hope you found some ideas here for ways to look modest even when swimming.  Thanks so much for all of your encouragement through this series.  The response has been amazing!

Check out the rest of this series in our Embracing Modesty Gallery!

If you like these posts I’d love for you to follow me on Facebook!

The post Embracing Modesty, No. 19 — Swimsuit Edition! appeared first on The Pennington Point.