Monica and I are thrilled to host each of you! Thank you to those of you who join us each week and welcome if you are new to Family Fun Friday! And, of course, welcome to each of you who have come by to gather ideas and inspiration to use with your own families! I know I am so blessed as I read these posts and learn from so many wonderful ladies.

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I LOVE hosting Family Fun Friday! If you’re a mom keep reading because we have some wonderful fun ideas to inspire you with your little ones and family. My blogging friends are linking up craft ideas, fun in the kitchen, preschool & homeschool ideas, and ways to spend time as a family.

My blog is growing but I need your help, please like my facebook page and help spread the word about HappyandBlessedHome.com. Thanks so much!

I also have a special offer good for 24 hours for 50% off Thank You Cards from Wedding Paper Divas and Tiny Prints. The offer is good only through 9 PM Pacific Time tomorrow, July 12. Enter DEAL0711. If you need some fabulous looking stationary check out Tiny Prints or Wedding Paper Divas. This is an affiliate link but a discount that was too good not to mention to my fabulous readers!

AND announcing… SHE’s Here! My precious and beautiful baby niece.

Summer has been filled with lots of fun activities for our family and I would love to share with ya’ll a few family photos. My blogging time has been minimal these past few weeks but it’s partly due to all the fun family memory making that is going on. I love time with family. The highlight has been the birth of my baby niece! She is beautiful – you’ll see a few more pics of her in the collage I’ve created below.

And as always, on Fridays I host Family Fun Friday so you can meet all my blogging friends and get great ideas.

If you haven’t met her already, please meet my co-Host Diane Haller from MyLifeAsRobin’s Wife. Diane is a volunteer co-host and she is awesome. Please make sure to stop by Diane’s Facebook page and give her a “Like” when you have a chance {not required but it’s nice to do} :-).

Thanks to all my blogging friends for linking up last week at Family Fun Friday. I have a special YouTube Video for you at Thank You All My Blogging Friends! So many great ideas, crafts and things to do! If you link up, you permit me to use your pictures/ideas as part of future posts and/or social media. Once we have 200 links I will select a winner of some FREE jewelry. This will likely mean I’ll award a prize every other week. We had over 100 bloggers link up last week. You all are amazing – you bless my socks off with your awesome posts!

Our latest jewelry winner is… The is Just One Mommy – she shared a post about Blogging on Vacation that you may want to have a look at 😉 Congrats on being our latest winner! Please contact me to claim your prize.

Some examples of the jewelry I am giving away. Your link-up and/or comment is your entry to WIN. BTW, I can make wedding party custom jewelry – contact me if you’re interested. 🙂

As always we had a wonderful turnout last week with SO MANY wonderful ideas. If you’d like to “bookmark” these ideas for later on PINTEREST I’ve created some handy buttons to help you keep track of these lists of ideas. To PIN a specific blogger’s post please click through and PIN their post directly from their site. Thanks!

This past week there were not only great ideas for family fun but also some delicious recipes and great ideas for teaching little ones. I’m going to highlight wonderful posts from each category. Now on to some fabulous posts for moms.

Featured Bloggers:

Family Fun

1. Tales of a Pee Dee Mama shared a fabulous way to spend time together as a family – she and her kiddos took an Alphabet Walk. They walked around their neighborhood and took pictures of things that represented each letter of the alphabet.

2. Faith Filled Food for Moms shared 10 Printable Car Travel Games and Ideas for Kids – an awesome round-up of FREE printables and game ideas for families taking road trips this summer.

3. Paula at Beauty through Imperfection has a wonderful list of 10 ideas for an At Home Date Night – and all the ideas are for fun together without the television. Paula is someone I would want to hang out with if we lived closer to each other – she has great ideas!

4. If you’re looking for encouragement as a mom, check out Katie’s post “Just a Mom ?!” over at Character Corner where she writes, “Moms, don’t EVER think what you are doing is unimportant…Your ministry and influence doesn’t just end when you are no longer able to do what you once did. It continues on in the lives of your grown children, and their children, and on through the generations to come. What an awesome opportunity we have!” Her writes about her family reunion for a family of 14 siblings.

5. I LOVE these Oven Bake Clay Magnets from The Craft Train. This post includes some great ideas for ways to redecorate an ugly fridge and have fun with kiddos while doing it. Kate provides a brilliant and photographic tutorial.

6. Kate at Coffee with Us 3 shared a wonderful list of Frugal and Fun Water Activities with Kids. The list includes great ideas that will enhance both fine and gross motor skills. You can get even more ideas on my post about Small and Large Motor Skills.

Featured FOODIE Blog Posts

I love getting great ideas for new things to create in the kitchen. Cooking with kids is not only an enjoyable way to spend time together as a family – it can be a learning experience for kids too.

1. Trusting in God baked and created sugar cookies into butterfly shapes and colored them with sprinkles and cookie icing with her daughter in her post Sugar Cookies. What a wonderful recipe and way to spend time together – cooking in the kitchen.

2. Laura at Thrifty Homemaking shared some yummy Homemade Chicken Fingers. Dishes like this are very popular in my home so I always appreciate a new take on a family favorite.

3. Cathy from A Peek Into My Paradise shared Brad’s White Chicken Lasagna. She provides an excellent step by step tutorial and some tips for saving time and money in the kitchen. I love how casseroles can fill and feed a whole family!

4. Beth at The First Year Blog shared her Spinach, Edamame, Pesto Pasta with Lemon and Toasted Almonds recipe that looks both healthy and delicious! Thanks Beth.

5. Gina from KlienWorthCo.com posted delicious White Chocolate with Red and Blue M&Ms Popcorn – perfect for family movie night!

6. Mostly Homemade Mom shared a green and healthy Summer Zucchini Saute Recipe – a perfect side dish to almost any meal!

Teaching Little Ones

If you’re looking for some great resources for FREE printables and methods and techniques for teaching your little ones you’ve come to the right place. This week I’m featuring some of the best ideas shared from our link up last week. Keep following Family Fun Friday and you’ll never run out of ideas for teaching your little ones at home.

1. Bible Fun for Kids shared a wonderful post on games, crafts and activities to teach little ones about the Tower of Babel. Check out some fantastic ideas for learning about this story from the book of Genesis.

2. Brainstorming the Castle shared a fabulous sneak peek into the world of spies with a Spy Closet – take a look at this inexpensive and creative way to keep your spies at home entertained for hours!

3. Gift of Curiosity shared a post that inspires me to tackle a tough topic – physics! Her post Physics for Kids is a great way to introduce some concepts to your little ones.

4. The Measured Mom shared tips on How to Make Spelling Interesting – a fantastic series on the study of words.

5. The Measured Mom also shared Word Family Houses – a fun way to teach children about words with the letter “i” in them

6. Want to get really creative with paper? Check out Origami Art over at GrandparentsPlus. Some really beautiful designs and ideas for a fun paper craft you can create with your kids.

Thanks again for all your wonderful ideas! I hope these Family Friendly and Fun ideas inspire you.

LINKING GUIDELINES

1. Link your blog post. Posts need only be family friendly and/or fun. To increase your chances of being featured at next week’s link party, link a post that is fun for two or more members of your family to do together.

2. Please follow Happy and Blessed Home on Facebook – I post updates for FREE books and other giveaways there that you’ll miss otherwise. Please leave a comment if you’re a new follower so I can follow you back.

3. ROLLING FACEBOOK LIST: If you did not link up last week, please add your link to the “Like My Facebook Page” party. This is a rolling list – you will not need to add to it every week.

4. Help other bloggers find this link party by either adding a link to your post or placing a button on your site. This is not required but very helpful.

5. Visit as many blogs in the HOP as you can! Try to leave a comment on at least two other posts.

6. Win Jewelry! Posts qualify for five entries and comments with an idea for family fun counts as one entry. After we have 200 ideas for family fun, I’ll use a random number generator to pick a winner of FREE jewelry.

7. Tweet, pin, Facebook, and help spread the word if you can.

If you would like to have Happy and Blessed Home delivered to your inbox, simply click here: Subscribe to Happy and Blessed Home by Email

I pray you are blessed by this effort to share ideas on having Family Fun.

In His Grip,

To leave a comment on any post, click “read more”. If you like my blog please like my Facebook page at: HappyAndBlessedHome – thanks so much!

I link up to over 100 parties every week. Click on Link Parties and you can add your party or find one to visit every day of the week.

P.S. Bloggers – If you’ve been featured and would like to add a button to show off how awesome you are, just grab the code in the text box below. You’ll want to retype the quotes too if you’re having trouble getting it to show on your page. 😉

LINK your Family Friendly & Fun Ideas:

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