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My Mom Can Read to My Class

12/01/2011 By 2MannaSisters Leave a Comment

Yep! I love my job. My boys love having a mom with a flexible work schedule. Check out this cuteness.

This was recorded for the Home For the Holidays Special event on Dec 20 at 7:30 pm CT to be shown live at MannatechLive. Tune in and you just may see us and the movies that you submit too!

Let us know if you’d like the details on how to submit a video and become eligible for a drawing for 2 MannaFest 2012 tickets and a product goodie bag. Deadline is Dec 12!

And check out this cute video about the kids’ nutrition products.

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Allergy Free Mom

02/17/2011 By 2MannaSisters 2 Comments

One of our clients has been eating allergy free for a few months and is feeling great.  She is constantly on the lookout for great ideas and came across this site for tips and recipes on cooking allergy free.  We just wanted to share it with you since food allergies have become so common.

Allergy Free Mom

Do you cook allergy-free?  If so, please leave a resource or food product that you’ve found helpful.

Filed Under: Family, Wellness Tagged With: ,

Simple New Year’s Resolution

12/30/2010 By 2MannaSisters Leave a Comment

By Marla Finley

After reading this great article about The Family Dinner, I’m inclined to add to my New Year’s Resolutions: Stomp on Guilt.

Being challenge-driven and full of dreams, I tend to beat myself up when I’m not THERE yet.  It can be such a lie that eats at me.  So, instead of telling you all the things I need to change about myself for 2011, I’ll say, “Way to go, Trey and Marla, on having regular family dinners!”

And way to go to all of you who are doing your best to sit at the table together.  It really does matter.

For as full as our lives are, we’ve kept family dinners as a top priority thus far.  At least 4 nights a week and for several other meals on the weekends, we make a point to turn off the TV, ignore our phones and sit and the table together.  It’s not always as idyllic as this picture since the boys are often fussing about the menu, but at least we’re together.

So, if you’d like to give your family kudos as well, please leave a comment here.  Let us know how you manage to pull it off.

Happy New Year’s, Friend!

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Skipping Thanksgiving

11/18/2010 By 2MannaSisters 3 Comments

By Demra Robbins

How do you feel when you see Christmas lights up all over town and it’s not even December?!

Don’t get me wrong, I LOVE Christmas too, my daughter has already made her list and I cannot wait to get started on my list this year shopping or making things for others!  But, I cannot help but wonder why our culture seems to skip over Thanksgiving completely. It is a time to stop and break bread with your family. Where you sit and visit with relatives you haven’t seen in a while without your blackberry or email being the medium.

It seems these days we are encouraged to skip Thanksgiving just so we can get a head start on the “consumerism” part of our Christmas holiday. Well that’s what it feels like with all the Christmas toy commercials in November, the Christmas trees up at the stores and the main streets are decorated with wreaths already.

My intent is not to offend anyone if you love that they are already playing Christmas music on the radio but I need more time to just be thankful!  So, in the spirit of Thanksgiving and Christmas combined here is a simple tip you can do to help your family be grateful this Thanksgiving and Christmas season.

Samaritan Purse's Operation Christmas Child

One way we keep our family focused on giving each year through our church, MOPS and this year we also make them in our Girl Scouts troop is to make an Operation Christmas Child box through the non-profit Samaritan’s Purse. It’s a perfect way to get your kids involved and giving to someone else. Your family will have a ball stuffing the boxes to the brim!  In a previous year my husband Ryan drove 350 boxes from our church in Grapevine, TX to Arkansas for this effort. My SUV was packed thanks to so many generous people like you!

Here’s how it works:

  • Visit Samaritan’s Purse to print your label and see donation item suggestions.
  • We suggest choosing a child your kids’ ages
  • Go to a dollar store and fill up on socks, toothbrushes, coloring books, vitamins and small toys.
  • Then pack them into a box for a child in need. We also go through our birthday favor bags our kids have received to find small toys to include
  • Include a photo or hand drawn picture from our children with a note from them so the kids know who sent them their box.

This is an activity that you can do this week, but if you’d rather have more time, just keep your ears open in your community for similar ways to give.  Samaritan’s Purse is only collecting the boxes this week through November 22. See the website for drop off locations.

There is a $7 fee for postage but for  about $15 you can give a child a Christmas they will never forget and show them the love of other people.

Happy giving this Thanksgiving and Christmas season!

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Reducing the Parenting Stress

10/05/2010 By 2MannaSisters Leave a Comment

By Demra Robbins

As a mom I want to be the best I can be. But, I admit I’m not the most consistent especially when it’s a hectic week. I just finished a great book that has cut my efforts in half and gave me a tool for reducing the parenting stress.

It’s called GROOMING THE NEXT GENERATION FOR SUCCESS by Dani Johnson.  This mother of 5 kids owns a multi-million dollar company, is a great cook, and speaks all across the globe.  She knows a thing or two about different personalities and how to motivate each as an individual to get them to be the best they can be.

This book provides such a refreshing way of parenting to actually find their strengths and use those to get them to listen and do what you actually want them to do. My kids react differently to discipline and now I don’t have to rack my head against the wall to figure out what works with each one.

I’m no expert but here is one of my favorite tips from the book.

  • When children interrupt a conversation and you answer them, that communicates that it’s okay to disrespect and dishonor the person you were speaking to. So, to prevent that, the child is instructed to put their hand on your arm when they want to talk. Make sure you acknowledge them with a pat or by placing your hand on top of theirs to let them know you see them.  Then when you get a break in the conversation you say, ”Excuse me” to the person you are speaking with.  Then tell your child, “Thank you so much for waiting, being respectful and for not interrupting” (positive reinforcement does wonders!).  This way they get to say what they want to and you don’t hear, “MOMMY, MOM, MOM, MOM, MOM!” over and over until you finally get so frustrated  you shout back and look like a fool in front of the person you are speaking with.

My 9-year-old has mastered this tactic and I am so impressed with her level of respect for people when they are talking to me now. It’s an automatic that even if she isn’t within arm’s reach of me she just waits or stops talking when she realizes someone else is speaking to me. This will groom her to not interrupt her teachers or future boss.

You’ve just got to get the book to read all the practical tips. It was so worth my time & money. I have heard of other moms  who want to get the workbook that goes along with it and hold a group in your home to support each other in the this crazy thing called parenting.  If you have kids and are tired of hearing, “MOM, MOM, MOM!!” I highly recommend you get one today.

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A Time for Everything

08/23/2010 By 2MannaSisters Leave a Comment

 

Caden and Peyton

 

The MannaSisters’ boys Caden and Peyton are only 5 months apart and these cousins are great friends. Today they went to Kindergarten 45 minutes apart.  Maybe someday they’ll go to college together, but let’s not rush that.  Today was hard enough for the “letting go” part.

There is a time for everything,
and a season for every activity under heaven…

a time to weep and a time to laugh,
a time to mourn and a time to dance…

a time to stay home…and a time to go to Kindergarten.

 

 

Robbins kids' first day 2010 in Grapevine

 

 

Caden's first day 2010 in Rowlett

 

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Like a Child

08/10/2010 By 2MannaSisters Leave a Comment

By Marla Finley

When the burdens of the world weigh on me, I like to reflect on my blessings.  One way I love to do that is watching my boys play.  I’ve got a lot to learn from them.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FIVJH_FpBkQ]

Here in this video my boys are playing with their favorite toy of all time–Kid K’Nex.  May you find joy today in the little things.

What are you learning from your kids today?

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Routines = Peace

08/04/2010 By 2MannaSisters Leave a Comment

By Marla Finley

 

Caden's tummy time (7 weeks)

 

My boys crave routine.  They like to know what’s next.  When we’re sticking to a consistent schedule they are more relaxed and don’t even mind going to sleep.  We started this early pretty much because my husband and I love routines too.  Then we found a book series called ON BECOMING BABY WISE by Gary Ezzo.  It helped us carry out a workable routine into our babies’ lives from week two as a newborn.  It was a beautiful thing how they learned how to get on a schedule and the home didn’t revolve around them (most of the time).

They fit into our schedules instead of the other way around.

A new study shows how routine as a baby can actually ward off anxiety  as the child grows older.  I believe it’s good to be flexible, but let this give you extra confidence as a parent that eating and sleeping on a schedule is even healthy.

 

Grant's crazy hair after bath time (2 mo)

 

Most parents I know already have a good routine for their kids or are striving to improve it.  Way to be a great parent setting a healthy example and setting your kids up to be at peace!

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D.C. Schools Ban Flavored Milk

06/29/2010 By 2MannaSisters Leave a Comment

Way to go, D.C. schools! You’re one step closer to providing nutritious meals for the school children.  You’re setting an example for other districts too.

Here’s the article on why they are no longer serving flavored milks and sugary cereals.

We look forward to the day when we can feel confident having our children purchase the school lunches instead of feeling guilty if they don’t bring something from home.

We hope that your example impacts the Dallas area schools. We also hope that our dairy sensitive kids will be provided a milk alternative like almond or goat milk.

Keep up the good work!  May we all be willing to take baby steps out of convenience and cheap foods to begin eating real foods that bring full circle health.

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"Family Calendar" means herding cats

05/24/2010 By 2MannaSisters Leave a Comment

By Marla Finley

My husband and I used to sit down once a week or so and “talk calendars” while sitting at our computers.  It seemed necessary if nothing else to make sure our kids were picked up from school on time.  It’s a pretty boring activity that’s not so “sexy”.  And getting me to do something tedious is like herding cats.

But, it helped us stay on the same page for the most part. The problem was that things would arise during the week that would require changing things around.  That would mean lots of phone calls, messages and texts to see if the other could help out.

For the last year we’ve found a better solution for the family calendar.  Since we both use Outlook, we “invite” each other to things digitally.

For example, he decided to get season tickets to minor league baseball games for our Thursday family nights with his birthday money.  Instead of emailing me all the dates and hoping I would insert them into the calendar, he simply entered them all into Outlook and then invited me to them.  I can then choose to accept or decline or suggest a new time for leaving.  I like that since I don’t have to also enter them into my computer.  We also can place more details about it or info on what to take in the notes section.

Here’s another example:  Tomorrow evening I will be traveling across town to do some business and won’t be available to pick up the kids at my normal time.  Instead of calling Trey while he’s driving down the road to see if he can step in and hope that he remembers to place it on his calendar at a stop light, I put it on the calendar and invite him.  Bam!  It’s there and he can accept it.

In our house, I’m in charge of the kids’ school calendar.  If there’s something they need to take to school, I place it on the calendar.  If it’s on a day when Trey takes them I simply “invite” him to remember that.

I know there are a ton of other ways to go about doing this.  This is simply something that has been working for us. We still sit down and “talk calendar” about once a month or so about big events and ideas, but it’s a lot less tedious and happens a lot less often.

What do you do to share a family calendar?

Here are some other tips on managing your time.

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