Chelle’s Aunt Sari here with a  Journaling Tip on using a Thesaurus. Is your journaling peppered with “very”, “good”, “nice”, “great”….etc? One simple way to fix that is to use a thesaurus. I have a favorite one…it’s nearly 6 inches thick. It has 32 synonyms for the word YELLOW. But to be honest, when I’m working on journaling it’s must faster to Google “_________ synonyms” Be careful about replacing too many words or replacing with complex words that don’t sound like you. But I believe you will find some replacements to make your journaling more interesting.

Here are some great examples from the Creative Team, first up, here’s Ronnie:

Ronnie

Journaling Before:

  • For the last few road trips Philip and Eleanor have always chosen to go off on a horse ride. This year was a little different. Eleanor was up for it until she saw where the trail went. So we volunteered Dad to saddle up with Philip for this adventure while the girls stayed up top. I’m not sure any of us realized how crazy this ride was. The horse walk down into the hoodoos along a very narrow path with a shear drop off on one side and one missed step by your horse could be a disaster. Given neither of our riders had any skills we should have maybe followed Eleanor’s suggestion and not sent the boys. There was at least one hairy moment when the leader’s horse was scarred by a deer and caused both Philip and Anthony’s horse to react and give them an exciting moment or too!

Journaling After:

  • For the last few road trips Philip and Eleanor have always elected to go off on a horse ride. This year was a little different. Eleanor was up for it until she saw where the trail went. So we volunteered Dad to saddle up with Philip for this escapade while the girls waited up top.I’m not sure any of us realized how crazy this ride was. The horse walk down into the hoodoos along a very narrow path with a shear drop off on one side and one missed step by your horse could be a disaster. Given neither of our riders had any expertise we should have maybe followed Eleanor’s advice and not sent the boys. There was at least one hairy moment when the leader’s horse was scarred by a deer and set off both Philip and Anthony’s horse to charge and give them an exhilarating moment or too!

Here’s Jami’s before and after:

Jami

Journaling Before:

  • Your mom loves to see you wear red! It really suits you.

Journaling After:

  • Your mama loves to see you dressed in red! It definitely compliments you!

Next Up is Erica, with a great Pinewood Derby LO: Erica

Erica

Journaling before:

  • Spencer worked really hard on his first pinewood derby car. He was excited to get to race his car. Unfortunately it didn’t do very well down the track. He seemed a bit disappointed in his cars performance. We had to push him up with his pack to collect his certificate. When his car was named the Best Looking Racecar- his face and attitude changed. Now that he has one race under his belt, we are hoping that future years will be better.

Journaling after:

  • Spencer spent a great amount of time and effort on his first pinewood derby car. After weighting his car and turning it in, he became more excited for Saturday and the chance to race his car. Unfortunately it didn’t fair very well down the track. He acted a bit disappointed in his cars performance. We had to coerce him to get up with his pack to collect his certificate. When he received the award for Best Looking Racecar- his face and attitude changed. Now that he has one race under his belt, we are hoping that he and dad learned some things to help them better his car in years to come.

Last up, is Cara with her son’s football team:

Cara

Journaling Before:

  • Your very first flag football game was so funny. Daddy, your head coach, said before your first practice that wrangling 4- and 5-year-olds was going to be like “herding cats.” There are no truer words! Coach would get one kid set then two would run off. Or the running back would run in circles instead of straight into the end zone. You didn’t care though – it was all in fun and you had a great time!

Journaling After:

  • Your first flag football game was comic. Daddy, your head coach, said before your first practice that wrangling 4- and 5-year-olds was going to be akin to “herding cats.” There are no truer words! Coach would get one kid set then two would scamper off. Or a running back would run in circles instead of straight into the end zone. Still, you didn’t care – it was all in fun and you had a fantastic time!

I learned a bunch, sure hope you did too.