My Three Good Things

Preschool and Toddler Activities!

2016-01-28T14:38:00.000-06:00

One of the challenges of being a stay-at-home-mom is finding activities for your little one to keep them engaged, entertained, and learning throughout the day - especially when you have children of varying ages! These are a few of our current favorite activities:

Bouncing Egg Experiment: You may have seen this one on Pinterest, as I did. We just couldn't wait to give it a try! There are a number of sites with directions for this activity, but we found ours here. For this activity, you only need two jars, enough vinegar to fill those jars, and one raw and one hard boiled egg. Place one egg in each jar, and fill to the top with vinegar. Mason jars work great because you can put a lid on them and then avoid the vinegar smell in your house for three days! Let your jars set for three full days - pouring out and refilling with fresh vinegar after the first day. It was fun to watch the changes in the eggshells as the days passed. And of course, the kids were amazed at the bouncing eggs! BONUS: You can make a colored bouncy egg by adding food coloring to the vinegar!!

Tape Art: I'd love to take credit for this idea, but we actually did this project at a friend's house. The kids had a great time making pictures from the tape. Emma was extremely proud of her finished products! All you need is paper and different colored masking tape or washi tape. This is a great activity to practice those fine motor skills, like cutting or tearing the tape, and placing it just where you want it to be. There's also a very little prep and clean up needed! I think next time we'll also practice making shapes and letters/numbers out of tape.

And, of course...

Read: Reading is one of the best activities you can do with your child at any age!

A few of Emma, Bryson, and Sophia's current favorites are:

Freckleface Strawberry by Julianne Moore (yes, that Julianne Moore)
Olivia by Ian Falconer
Extra Yarn by Mac Barnett

My 3 good things for today are:

I am the mother of Emma.
I am the mother of Bryson.
I am the mother of Sophia.

Sophia: A Birth Story

2016-01-07T16:34:00.001-06:00

Like Bryson's birth story, this is a few months late. But when you're a mother of a rambunctious four-year-old, a stubborn two-year-old, and a newborn, time passes a little differently. So, without further ado, this is my birth story (starring Sophia).

For my entire pregnancy with Sophia, I had measured perfectly in accordance to my due date. In fact, when we had our 20-week ultrasound, after all the images and measurements, the technician calculated the due date based on the baby's size and it was exactly on my due date. (She said that had never happened to her before - it was always one or two days this way or that.) As I got further along and my midwife would measure my abdomen and uterus with her hands and a tape measure at my weekly or biweekly appointments, and I was always spot on. If I was 36 weeks and 4 days by the calendar, she would announce that I was measuring right at 36 1/2 weeks.

So when my water broke during the night (just as it had with Bryson and Emma) two days before my due date, my husband and I laughed that after being spot on through the whole pregnancy, her due date wasn't going to be her birthday after all. Little did we know...

Much like my previous two labors, I woke up wet in the middle of the night and my labor progressed slowly. In fact, I let Derek sleep for a couple more hours and waited until a reasonable hour of the morning to call my mom to come watch the older two kids and called the hospital to inform them that my water had broken. (I only felt comfortable waiting because this was my third time around, I had not lost a lot of fluid at this point, and the fluid was clear and didn't have a bad odor - there were no warning signs. I would generally recommend calling your doctor or midwife right away if your water breaks.)

Because my contractions were not strong or close together, my midwife suggested staying at home for the time being, with a plan to come in around 3 or 4 o'clock in the afternoon if nothing had changed. By then it would be 12 hours past the time when my water broke, and they wanted to examine and monitor me at that point. I paced around the house, bounced and swiveled on my exercise ball, and tried to stay in motion as much as I could. But labor progressed slowly. When 4 o'clock had come, we grabbed the hospital bag and headed out the door. We were admitted into Triage and Derek walked the halls with me as I sipped ice water.

This next part of the story is short, although the hours were long. Nothing happened.

That's it.

Nothing happened. We stayed in Triage overnight and walked the halls and moved around and tried every natural, homeopathic, approved method (considering that my water had already broken) that we could do to kick-start my labor, but nothing worked.

When 24 hours had passed since my water broke, any possibility of a water birth was gone. I don't know if it was because I had had next to no sleep for the past two nights (one because my water broke, and the second because we were in a tiny hospital Triage room), or because I'd been wearing enormous, soggy diapers for the last day, or if - with my type-A personality - any change in a set plan (at least in my mind) is difficult to work through, but I really had a moment of grief when we were given this news. It was not what I wanted.

I was allowed to labor in my own way until that afternoon - when the ever-present clock hit 36 hours. At that point, my midwife checked my cervix (for the first time, as there is a risk of introducing infection) and I was at two centimeters. I had been at 1 centimeter at my regular prenatal appointment a few days earlier.

Heartbreaking.

Although my contractions hadn't been particularly painful, and had been spread out, it knocked the wind out of me to find out that I had just labored for the last 36 hours to gain 1 centimeter! We were told that Pitocin - which is a synthetic form of the hormone oxytocin used to induce or progress labor - would be my next option, followed by a c-section if my labor didn't quickly pick up.

For anyone who has ever had Pitocin without an epidural, you will believe that my labor did "pick up" quite quickly and intensely. I will spare you most of the details of the bone-crushing contractions that followed, but they were more painful anything I experienced during my other two labors. My body - which shook uncontrollably - seemed to be trying to make up for the time it had previously lost and I went from being at 2 centimeters to having a baby rip through my body and be placed on my chest a mere hour and 45 minutes later.

She came about an hour shy of her due date.

It was not an easy experience. It was not a fun experience. But it was a good experience.

It was painful, but eye-opening.

I feel like labor and delivery is one of the big battlegrounds of the Mommy Wars. It is so easy to judge someone for making different 'choices' than you've made - whether it is a natural birth vs. c-section, or breastfeeding vs. bottle, or cloth diapers vs. disposable. But very few times do we actually know the story behind someone's choice. And sometimes, it wasn't their choice at all. My experience was a strong and lasting reminder of that.

If nothing changed in my labor after the Pitocin, I was probably a few hours away from an unscheduled c-section. And if my contractions hadn't been coming so fast and so strong that I couldn't speak, I probably would have asked for an epidural if they'd gone on much longer.

We use cloth diapers at home because it works for our budget. But if we lived somewhere without our own washer and dryer and I had to go to the laundromat, I absolutely would use disposables.

We've been able to budget and manage our finances so that I can stay home with our kids. Not everyone has that option.

Staying home has made it much easier to breastfeed my babies. I went back to work after Emma was born until she was six months old, and had to pump at work. Even though I had a very understanding employer and supervisor, I don't know if I could have done it long-term.

In the end, Sophia is healthy and had no complications through the labor and delivery. I actually had a faster recovery than either of my other labors and was out and about sooner. (I can't say whether that is due to my body actually healing quickly, or because when you have two other little ones, you kind of have to suck it up and keep going even if you would much rather just camp out under your covers for the next month.)

Even though it turned out the same as my other two deliveries, I think this experience is going to stick with my longer. And maybe that's a good thing.

Emma's Frozen 4th Birthday!

2016-01-07T13:44:00.001-06:00

Does anyone else feel like Frozen fever is never going to end? It's still a pretty big deal at our house. So when I asked Emma what kind of birthday party she would like to have, I could've guessed the answer.

However, I was about 8+ months pregnant at the time of her birthday, so her party was a pretty casual, low-key event.

We did a photo booth with a big blue sheet and a couple signs made out of cardboard. I printed off some fun quotes-on-a-stick from the movie. As always, everyone loves a photo booth!

I made a few large 3D paper snowflakes to hang from the picnic shelter (you can find the instructions here) and I also found a couple of Disney's Arendelle promotional posters online, and printed them off for decorations.

We did a simple ice cream bar, with a few of Emma's favorite toppings, as well as melted snowman (water with a carrot and some big chunks of ice) and blue frozen punch.

For activities, we had a snowflake toss. (You can find the instructions for making a snowflake or water bomb here.)

We also had a little craft area where you could decorate a crown, or make a beaded bubble wand out of pipe cleaners.

All of the supplies were from the dollar store, so it was very inexpensive, and easy to put together.

The birthday girl had a great day!

Bryson's 2nd Dinosaur Birthday!

2016-01-07T12:06:00.000-06:00

At the moment, Bryson is all about animals and dinosaurs. So we decided to host his second birthday at our local zoo, and the dinosaur theme was a given.

I made about a half-dozen dinosaur signs to decorate the picnic area by searching 'dinosaur silhouettes' on Google, and created the signs in Microsoft Word.

Our menu included such delicacies as stegosaurus sandwiches, herbivore veggies and dino dip, ferocious fruit, Jurassic gelatin, and - of course - fossil cookies.

The kids had a lot of fun helping me with the cookies. We just did a basic sugar cookie recipe, but made dinosaur footprints in the dough with a little plastic dinosaur, and then sprinkled some cinnamon sugar on top to help the footprints stand out.

To drink, we have bottled Hot Springs water, and green swamp juice. For dessert, dinosaur cupcakes.

We had a pretty small crew, so I packed individual picnic lunches in white paper bags, and I printed the menu on each bag.

After opening presents, each of the kids got to crack open their own dinosaur egg. We got a package of little plastic dinosaurs at the dollar store, and the eggs were made using the recipe below:

1-cup all purpose flour
1-cup coffee grounds
1-cup sand
3/4-cup salt
1/2-cup water
four to five small plastic animals or dinosaurs
a large bowl and a tray or plate to set the eggs out to dry

Mix the flour, coffee grounds, sand and salt together thoroughly. Add water. The less water used, the faster the dino eggs will dry. Form your sand mix into an egg shape around your dinosaur. Let dry. Ours took about 3 days on the counter to dry completely on the outside.

Afterwards, we all had a blast exploring the zoo!

New Year's Resolution!

2016-01-07T11:33:00.002-06:00

So one of my New Year's Resolutions is to get back to blogging again since I didn't do so great in 2015...

I'm going to post a few updates on some of the major events I've missed, and then I'll hopefully get back to posting our regular activities each month!

Happy 2016!

Emma's 3rd Rapunzel Birthday

2014-08-29T09:06:00.001-05:00

We celebrated Emma's 3rd birthday this month with a Tangled-inspired Rapunzel celebration.

Decorations included floating paper lanterns, 'Wanted' posters, a magic golden flower.

The got to 'pin a flower in Rapunzel's hair' or 'break Flynn's smolder' with a frying pan!

We had coloring pages and chalk for decorating the sidewalk!

The kids searched for apples hidden around the park, and all got prizes!

The food was all Tangled themed. We had princess punch, Pascal's fruit and veggies, Mother Gothel's hazelnut soup (nutella) fruit dip, ruffians and thugs' meat and cheese, and Rapunzel's tower cupcakes! Everything was served in frying pans, of course!

We had a great time with the photo booth where guests could take their own Wanted poster photos!

Toddler Activities: 35 Months Old

2014-07-30T12:08:00.001-05:00

One of the challenges of being a stay at home mom is finding activities for your little one to keep them engaged, entertained, and learning throughout the day. These are a few of our current favorite activities:

Painting with Water: This is a great activity either indoors on paper or outside on the sidewalk. It is simple and inexpensive and I bet you have all of the supplies on hand! We did painting with water indoors because it was a rainy day, ironically enough. So I just had Emma use a wooden craft stick and construction paper. She had a great time and there was little to no cleanup.

Fireworks Paintings: With Music in Plymouth, Fourth of July, and the Aquatennial, there are a lot of fireworks in our area in July. This is another very simple and inexpensive craft that we did with things we already had on hand. I saved toilet paper tubes and paper towel tubes for a week or so then cut the bottoms and used finger paint and our tubes to stamp firework images all over a few sheets of paper. Emma had a great time and didn't want to stop!

And, of course...

Read: Reading is one of the best activities you can do with your child at any age!

A few of Emma and Bryson's current favorites are:

The Deep, Deep Puddle by Mary Jessie Parker
Road Work Ahead by Anastasia Suen
Hogwash! by Karma Wilson

My 3 good things for today are:

I just celebrated my sixth anniversary with the best husband ever!
My baby girl is turning three!! Somehow both a very happy and very sad thing...
Watermelon. Enough said.

Toddler Activities: 34 Months Old

2014-06-30T11:30:00.000-05:00

Silky and Stretchy Play Dough: This was so easy to make, and only needs 2 ingredients! I've seen this all over Pinterest, but we followed this recipe. Start by pouring 1 cup of conditioner into a large bowl, then add 2 cups corn starch, and mix, mix, MIX!

Emma helped me stir, and towards the end, we mixed with our hands. You can also add glitter or coloring for more pizazz! This play dough is so easy to stretch and has a very unique texture.

Painting with Feet: My kids had so much fun finger painting our Mother's Day gifts, that I've been looking forward to more painting activities now that the weather is nice outside. Painting with feet is a unique art project! Roll out a long piece of white butcher paper. Ours was about 10 feet long. Be sure to secure it with some sort of weighted objects. We just used rocks. Drizzle a small amount of red, yellow and blue paint across your paper. Then let your little one walk and run and skip! Be careful! It can be slippery. Emma thought it was very silly and enjoyed mixing the colors. We even had fun washing up in the sprinkler! When your painting dries, it makes fantastic homemade wrapping paper!

And, of course...

Read: Reading is one of the best activities you can do with your child at any age!

A few of Emma and Bryson's current favorites are:

Stuck in the Mud by Jane Clarke
Boot & Shoe by Marla Frazee
Tap Tap Bang Bang by Emma Garcia (Emma really liked that the author was also Emma!)
Hide-and-Squeak by Heather Vogel Frederick

My 3 good things for today are:

Bryson has started to sign "drink" in addition to "milk."
Emma has started walking to the park instead of riding in a wagon or stroller - a great way to burn off some energy!
We were able to catch and keep a turtle at home for a week. The kids loved having him for a short while and also letting him go back into the wild!

Toddler Activities: 33 Months Old

2014-05-29T21:18:00.001-05:00

Homemade Crayon Rubbing Cards: Bryson's birthday left us with an abundance of cardboard packaging, so I finally got to finish a craft I've been wanting to do for a while. I found the idea here, and I loved it because it is very simple and cheap to make, and would make a wonderful quiet busy bag activity. Plus, you can customize it to make any design you want. I am planning to make a set of alphabet and number cards for Emma to use.

Simply cut some thick cardboard into whatever size card you want, then draw the shapes that you desire on the cards with hot glue. Once the hot glue is dry, go ahead and do some crayon rubbings!

Paintsicles: My kids love to paint, and now that it's getting hotter outside, I wanted to try frozen paintsicles! We used washable finger paint, and froze it in an ice cube tray with craft sticks for handles. I popped ours into the freezer overnight, and it was perfect for the activity the next day.

We did some painting on paper and some outside on the sidewalk. The kids loved both!

And, of course...

Read: Reading is one of the best activities you can do with your child at any age!

A few of Emma and Bryson's current favorites are:

The Kiss Box by Bonnie Verburg
The Farmer's Away! Baa! Neigh! by Anne Vittur Kennedy
The Cow Loves Cookies by Karma Wilson

We did an activity with one of our books, The Kiss Box. In the book, Mama Bear has to go away for a little while, so Little Bear and Mama Bear make "kiss boxes" for each other filled with 100 kisses so they will have plenty to share while they are apart. Derek has had four business trips in the month of May, so when we read The Kiss Box, I thought it would be a great activity for us to do.

I made two origami paper boxes out of red cardstock and Emma decorated both of them with markers. Now we have a kiss box for Emma to keep at home full of kisses from Daddy when he is away and Derek has one that he can take on trips with him.

My 3 good things for today are:

I have a hot glue gun.
We have bright, cheery sunshine outside.
My wonderful hubby will be home soon!!

Bryson's First Birthday Airplane Party

2014-05-21T19:19:00.000-05:00

My, oh my, how time does fly! I can't believe we just celebrated Bryson's first birthday!

The party theme was Up, Up and Away for Bryson's 1st Birthday! All of the food, decorations, and games were airplane themed.

Since it was such a nice day, we held the party at the local park. We decorated the picnic shelter with garlands of flying paper airplanes.

In addition to a variety of "in flight snacks" we served peanuts and pretzels, "jet fuel" juice and "cumulous cupcakes" with propellers and toy airplanes.

We had a Planes book that guests could sign and write a little birthday message for Bryson, a Baggage Check where guests could drop off presents, an in-flight movie of Bryson's first year, and Baggage Claim where guests could pick up little toy planes, bubbles or a chocolate treat - because our little boy is just plane sweet!

All of the guests played Pin the Propeller on the Airplane, and also a very competitive Paper Airplane Throwing Contest.

We had a little photo booth between two trees and Bryson's amazing Auntie B found a fantastic airplane costume that made for some really adorable pictures!

It was a great day with friends and family, and I know Bryson had fun!

DIY Mother's Day Gift

2014-05-21T16:05:00.001-05:00

We made a simple and cute gift for the Grandmas for Mother's Day.

I had planned on letting the kids finger paint outside, but we had so much rainy weather leading up to Mother's Day and we ended up doing the project on the kitchen floor instead. I just rolled out a large section of butcher paper and let the kids go crazy. We did use washable paint, because I knew that there would be paint on the floor and probably on the cabinets as well.

They had a lot of fun painting and I snapped a few pictures while they were doing it... a few being around 70, just to make sure that we got a good photo. We picked up a pair of two-photo picture frames at Michael's and put in a picture of them fingerpainting as well as a piece of the painted paper.

The project turned out great and the grandmas both loved them!

We spend Mother's Day at the Minnesota Zoo, and had a great time!

Thanks to Macy's, mothers get into the zoo for free during Mother's Day weekend, which made it a fun and affordable outing for our family.

The kids enjoyed seeing the fish, farm animals, and the prairie dogs were an unexpected favorite!

Happy Mother's Day from my family to yours!

Toddler Activities: 32 Months Old

2014-04-29T20:50:00.002-05:00

Potato Stamping: Potato stamping has been around forever! Simply carve the design into the potato, dip in paint and stamp.

It's especially easy to do an Easter egg stamp because the potatoes' natural shape lends itself perfectly to an egg shape.

Coloring Eggs with Crayons: Use crayons to color on hard-boiled eggs while they’re still hot (but not too hot) from the pan; the wax will melt and adhere artfully and easily onto the shells. This was very simple for Emma to do and the eggs turned out really fun!

And, of course...

Read: Reading is one of the best activities you can do with your child at any age!

A few of Emma and Bryson's current favorites are:

Happy Easter, Little Critter by Mercer Mayer
The Berenstain Bears and the Easter Story by Jan and Mike Berenstain
Ollie's Easter Eggs by Olivier Dunrea

Most of our books this month were about Easter. We had a blessed Easter and did a number of fun activities with the kids.

On the Saturday before Easter, we went to a community egg hunt, and then afterwards visited a pet store where we got to see some baby Easter bunnies and baby chicks!

Emma and Bryson both opened their Easter baskets on Sunday morning before church service. Their baskets included treats like apple sauce packets, chalk, bubbles, and pails and shovels for playing in the sand!

They even got bunny shaped pancakes for breakfast!

My 3 good things for today are:

We serve a risen Savior!
Bryson is walking!
We have no more snow in our yard, and even some green grass!

Toddler Activities: 31 Months Old

2014-03-29T19:35:00.003-05:00

One of the challenges of being a stay at home mom is finding activities for your little one to keep them entertained throughout the day. These are a few of our current favorite activities:

Indoor Snow Painting: It feels as if winter has been going on forever around here. As the days wear on, I've been trying to come up with ways to enjoy our cold, snowy weather while it lasts, instead of just wishing for spring! On one particularly chilly day, instead of bundling up to go outside, I brought some snow inside to paint and play! I filled a large, deep cake pan with clean snow, and made paint from water and a little food coloring. Emma used a large paintbrush to apply the color. You can also use an eye dropper for a different effect. Emma spent a big portion of the morning decorating the snow while we stayed warm and cozy inside!

Ice Marbles: I've seen these all over Pinterest, and really wanted to give it a try. Ours turned out very well! To start, put a few drops of food coloring or Kool-Aid powder into a balloon and then fill with water. Food coloring makes more of a marble look. Kool-Aid makes a solid color all the way through.

If it is cold enough, place your balloons outside. You can also use the freezer. Depending on how big the balloons are and how cold it is, this will take about 24 hours. Hold them up to the light to see if they are frozen all the way through. Use a knife or scissors to cut the balloon off the frozen ice marble. We let our kids play with the frozen marbles in the tub.

They enjoyed sliding the marbles around, eventually breaking them, and finally watching the marbles melt in warm water. We’ll definitely be doing this project again – I think it would be fun to make some red and green marbles before Christmas to line the driveway or porch!

And, of course...

Read: Reading is one of the best activities you can do with your child at any age!

A few of Emma and Bryson's current favorites are:

Sylvie by Jennifer Sattler
Mouse's First Spring by Lauren Thompson
Panda Bear, Panda Bear, What Do You See? by Bill Martin, Jr.

My 3 good things for today are:

We got a new rug for our entry, just in time for a wet spring - hopefully coming soon!
Emma is enjoying the weather, whether there are snowflakes or puddles to jump in - it is always an adventure outside!
Bryson is starting to stand on his own - growing up too fast!

Toddler Activities: 30 Months Old

2014-02-26T09:12:00.000-06:00

One of the challenges of being a stay at home mom is finding activities for your little one to keep them entertained throughout the day. These are a few of our current favorite activities:

Coloring in a Box: This idea has been all over Pinterest, and it's BRILLIANT! I've been waiting to try this for a while, so when Bryson's new car seat arrived in a large cardboard box, you can bet I saved the box! Emma had a great time playing in the box and coloring to her heart's content. The mess was all contained and she was occupied for a long time!

Candy Heart Sorting: We got a box of conversation hearts for Valentine's Day this year, and instead of just eating all the candies, we did a sorting and counting activity. I made a sheet with colored circles out of paper and markers we had on hand, but PreKinders also has a great printable here. Sort each of the colors into the colored circles or colored heart spaces. Then we counted each color. We did eventually eat the candies, and read each of the messages!

And, of course...

Read: Reading is one of the best activities you can do with your child at any age!

A few of Emma and Bryson's current favorites are:

I Ain't Gonna Paint No More! by Karen Beaumont
I'm The Biggest Thing in the Ocean! by Kevin Sherry
The Day It Rained Hearts by Felicia Bond

We did an activity with one of our books, I Ain't Gonna Paint No More! We were a bit more careful with our paints than the little one in the book however! In honor of Valentine's Day, we stamped red hearts using a toilet paper tube. It's an easy, cheap craft that was lots of fun! Simply fold and tape a toilet paper roll into a heart shape, and stamp away. After the stamps have dried, you could even use the paper to make Valentine's Day cards for friends and family!

My 3 good things for today are:

Roses!
Chocolates!
My three sweet Valentines!

Toddler Activities: 29 Months Old

2014-01-28T11:58:00.000-06:00

One of the challenges of being a stay at home mom is finding activities for your little one to keep them entertained throughout the day. These are a few of our current favorite activities:

DIY Cloud Dough: Aside from being a wonderful sensory activity for young kids, cloud dough is inexpensive and easy to make! Just mix baby oil and flour in a 1:8 ratio - we used 1/2 cup baby oil and 4 cups flour - and you have cloud dough! It looks like flour, but it holds its shape when pressed. We started mixing it with a spoon, but ended up using our hands to mix it thoroughly.

You’re going to get your hands in it eventually anyway! It kept Emma occupied for quite a while, and she’s asked to play it again multiple times. We used measuring cups and spoons the first time, and have also played using cookie cutter and cars to drive around in the cloud dough.

This worked alright as an indoor activity, but we did get pretty dusty and ended up needing to change clothes. It swept up and washed out of clothes pretty easily. It would be great to make this stuff in the summer and just go wild outside in the yard.

Snow in the Bathtub: We love playing in the snow! But lately, it's been freezing outside. I'm talking high of -5 degrees freezing with a windchill down to -45 degrees. Not only that but even on days without subzero temps, sometimes it takes longer to get the little ones bundled up to go outdoors than we actually spend playing outside!

One great way to get the outside experience without the headache is to bring the snow to you! On one of our arctic days, I decided to shovel some snow into two of my big stockpots and put the kids in their mittens to let them play with snow in the bathtub.

I gave them each a measuring cup and a big spoon for digging in the snow and let them enjoy our indoor winter wonderland. When the kids were finished playing, I pulled them out of the tub, dumped out the snow, and turned on a warm shower. They were enthralled watching the melting snow and flow down the drain.

The idea of playing with snow inside is certainly not new. I even have a picture of my sister and me as kids, frequently sick and stuck inside in the winter, playing with snow in our bathtub.

And, of course...

Read: Reading is one of the best activities you can do with your child at any age!

A few of Emma and Bryson's current favorites are:

Snowball Fight! by Jimmy Fallon (yes, that Jimmy Fallon.)
Mouse's First Snow by Lauren Thompson
Snow Day! by Patricia Lakin

We did an activity with one of our books, Snowball Fight! It's been too cold lately to play outside, so we had an indoor snowball fight! We filled three buckets (one for Mommy, one for Daddy, and one for Emma) with cotton balls. We left Daddy's bucket at the bottom of the stairs and ambushed him with a snowball fight when he got home from work. I think this would also be fantastic to do with marshmallows! Unfortunately, we didn't have any on hand. Make sure you follow it up by drinking some hot chocolate!

My 3 good things for today are:

Warm socks!
Hot cocoa!
A blazing fire in the fireplace!

Toddler Activities: 28 Months Old

2013-12-31T11:20:00.004-06:00

One of the challenges of being a stay at home mom is finding activities for your little one to keep them entertained throughout the day. These are a few of our current favorite activities:

Decorating a Paper Tree: Emma loved decorating our tree, so I wanted to do some sort of Christmas tree activity this month. I cut out a pine tree shape from green card stock, and taped it onto some white printer paper and added a star. Throughout the month, she decorated it with various objects like Fruit Loops, pompoms, and paper circles. It turned out to be a great quiet time activity and kept her occupied much longer than I anticipated. This activity could easily be done as an "apple tree" at other times of the year.

Bird Feeder Craft: Okay, I know what you're thinking. We made a bird feeder last month! In my defense, it has been REALLY cold here the last couple weeks - honestly too cold to take the kids outside. But both Emma and Bryson love to watch the birds and squirrels in the trees outside. So making a feeder to attract the birds is our way to connect with nature when it's too cold to actually go outside to enjoy nature. This craft could not be more simple. I took a pipe cleaner and made a loop at one end, then Emma threaded on a handful of Cheerios. I made a small loop on the other end to hold the Cheerios in place. Simply hook the loop onto a tree branch and you're done. Full disclosure: I hung the feeders we made on our Christmas tree and was waiting until nap time to take them outside. Later that morning, I discovered that Emma had gotten all three down and devoured the Cheerios while I was in the other room nursing Bryson. So ours ended up being a toddler feeder instead of a bird feeder.

And, of course...

Read: Reading is one of the best activities you can do with your child at any age!

A few of Emma and Bryson's current favorites are:

Baby's First Christmas by Christina Goodings
Snow by Uri Shulevitz
Bear Stays Up For Christmas by Karma Wilson
Merry Christmas, Ollie! by Olivier Dunrea

My 3 good things for today are:

We have great weather outside for playing in the snow!
Bryson is fully crawling, and...
Bryson is pulling himself up on furniture to a standing position. I am choosing to keep a positive attitude and regard this as a "good thing" and NOT utterly terrifying!

Merry Christmas & Happy New Year!

2013-12-31T11:01:00.002-06:00

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year from my family to yours!

We have so many good things - more than I can count - to be thankful for from this past year, and I hope you do as well!

Christmas Traditions

2013-12-09T14:19:00.003-06:00

Traditions bring families closer together, create legacy, and can be symbolic. As our family grows and as the kids get older, it's important to Derek and me to establish some family traditions.

Though we each had our own unique family customs growing up (he is from an angel-atop-the-tree family, and I have a star-atop-the-tree background), we've worked to blend the parts of Christmas that we treasure and added a few new ideas to create family memories and traditions for our own little crew.

We want our children to find a sense of awe in Christmas, having it be not only a time of family bonding, but a reminder of the importance of Christ - a celebration of His majesty.

In my experience so far, it has been helpful to start this early - Emma is just over 2 years old, and Bryson is just coming up on 7 months - so we have a few years to add to and change our ideas, as well as work out any kinks before the kids are really old enough to understand.

Coming from a family that sets up an artificial tree each year, (my mom and sister have allergies) it's been a fun experience to drive out to a tree farm and cut our Christmas tree. We make a day of it, and spend way too much time picking out the perfect tree. Many of the tree farms we've been to also have horse-drawn sleigh or hay rides, as well as petting zoos, visits from Santa, and even complimentary candy canes and hot cocoa! Then we haul the tree home and cover it with lights and homemade ornaments. Last year and this year, Emma got to put the star on top of the tree. We decorate it together and reminisce about each ornament and its origin.

If you take time to think about and talk to your children about your family customs and the rituals of Christmas, traditions can be a wonderful way to pass down stories of faith for generations. As you decorate your Christmas tree, remind your kids that an evergreen tree is a symbol of the cross and the everlasting life of Christ.

If you listen to Christmas songs on the radio, talk about the words in the carols and remember the proclamations of rejoicing! When Emma plays with her nativity "window stickies," I have the opportunity to talk to her about how God came down to earth as a baby and lived and died as a man to take away the sins of the world, and as we wrap and give gifts we repeat the story of the three wise men who came to adore the baby Jesus.

I know some other other Christian families will disagree with this, but this year, we started doing Elf on the Shelf. If you're not familiar, the story is that your scout elf comes to see you at the beginning of the Christmas season and returns to the North Pole with Santa on Christmas Eve. Every night, your elf flies back to the North Pole to report the day's activities to Santa.

You find your elf in a new location every morning when your elf returns. There are two rules: you can't touch the elf, and the elf can't move while you're watching. Since we have a busy, active toddler, and a baby who recently became mobile, we've kept our elf out of reach so far to avoid the issue of touching.

Day 1: Elf arrives with snowman pancakes!

Day 2: Resting on the mantle

Day 3: Sitting up on the chandelier

Day 4: Hiding in the Christmas tree

Day 5: Peeking out from the coffee bar

I know that Elf is not for everyone, and if that is you, I completely respect your opinion. We emphasize Jesus in our home at Christmas, but we are not anti-Santa. Personally, I really don't think the concept is worth all the arguments I've seen back and forth from both sides. The reason we do Elf is a chance to teach our children about one of the many gifts given to us by our wonderful God: joy.

Day 6: Hanging from the kitchen cabinets

Day 7: Looking down from the curtain rod

Day 8: Hiding in the plant

Day 9: Elf with the apples


Day 10: Sitting on the lamp shelf

When I see the bright smile on Emma's face as she wakes each morning to find our elf, who she named Flynn, I'm reminded of our Savior, Jesus, who took a break from his very important teaching to spend some time laughing with a group of children. Everything I know about God says that he likes to see his children laugh. So we read Bible stories of the birth of Christ and also get our nightly visit from "Flynn the Elf" who reminds us of the multitude of gifts given to us by God out of love, joy and laughter included.

As I mentioned briefly in the previous paragraph, the other tradition we began December 1st was a Scripture reading each evening together, and a chocolate treat from our little advent calendars, as we count down to Christmas Day. Emma does a pretty good job of sitting still and listening as she waits for her treat. We try to distill each section for her when we finish, whether it is a prophecy about Jesus, the story of the conception and birth of John the Baptist, or the angel appearing to Mary. A short Google search will bring up dozens of Bible advent plans, so it's easy to find one that's right for your family.

As fun and memorable as decorating the tree or searching for the elf may be, I cherish our Scripture reading each day above all the others as it helps us all remember the point of the holiday season and redirect our eyes on Him before we go to bed each night.

Toddler Activities: 27 Months Old

2013-11-22T09:42:00.000-06:00

One of the challenges of being a stay at home mom is finding activities for your little one to keep them entertained throughout the day. These are a few of our current favorite activities:

Homemade Object Matching: This really could not be easier! Just grab a few uniquely shaped objects (I found that cookie cutters work very well!) and trace them onto a piece of paper with a marker. To make it a "permanent" activity, you can cover the sheet of paper with laminate paper. If you had a few everyday objects or toys that you don't mind being out of commission for a while, this would also make a great quiet bag activity!

Bird Feeder Craft: All you need to make these simple bird feeders is a toilet paper roll, some string, 2 small sticks, peanut butter, and nuts, seeds, or Cheerios. (We made ours with Cheerios because Bryson was having a fussy day and I didn’t want to turn my back for a moment and then find Emma eating bird seed. Besides, who doesn’t like Cheerios?!) To begin, cut a piece of string, poke a couple of holes near one end of the toilet paper roll, and tie the ends of the strings through them. Poke 4 holes at the bottom of the toilet paper roll and insert your sticks through them to make a couple spots for birds to perch. Smear peanut butter on the empty toilet paper tube. Roll it in bird seed. Then hang your toilet paper roll bird feeder in a tree and watch how much the birds enjoy it!

And, of course...

Read: Reading is one of the best activities you can do with your child at any age!

A few of Emma and Bryson's current favorites are:

Fletcher and the Falling Leaves by Julia Rawlinson
Silly Sally by Audrey Wood
How Do Dinosaurs Eat Cookies? by Jane Yolen

We did an activity with one of our books, How Do Dinosaurs Eat Cookies? It is a scratch-and-sniff book with two great cookie recipes at the end. We baked Cinnama-Saurus Rex cookies and they were delicious!

My 3 good things for today are:

We have a beautiful dusting of snow on the ground.
Bryson has two new teeth and is almost crawling!
I discovered a great teething biscuit recipe. Bryson loves it!

Banana Oat Teething Biscuits:
1 very ripe banana
1 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp water
2 cups oat or mixed grain baby cereal

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a medium bowl, mash the banana well with the oil and water. Add in baby cereal and mix or use your hands to combine until you have a soft, smooth dough. You may need to add more water depending on the moisture of your banana. Roll the dough out to about a 1/4-inch thickness and cut into smooth shapes. Transfer to an ungreased baking sheet (I baked mine on parchment paper) and bake for 15-20 minutes until pale golden.

Toddler Activities: 26 Months Old

2013-10-24T11:33:00.000-05:00

One of the challenges of being a stay at home mom is finding activities for your little one to keep them entertained throughout the day. These are a few of our current favorite activities:

Homemade Connect the Dots: You can make a great connect the dots activity very simply from supplies at home - all you need is a sheet of paper, a few stickers, and a marker. I actually let Emma place the stickers on the paper herself, which she loved! Then I had her scribble from dot to dot with the marker. Depending on the stickers you have, and your child's level of interest, you can also change this activity a bit to make it more challenging. We used animal stickers, and the sticker sheet had multiples of each animal, so after mastering the general idea of "connect the dots," Emma got to connect the sheep to the other sheep, and connect the pig to the other pig, etc. You could use colored stickers and have your child connect like colors, or write numbers or letters on the stickers and have your child connect 1-2-3 or A-B-C.

Leaf Rubbing: Our yard is full of fallen leaves this time of year! We selected a few different types of leaves for a leaf rubbing activity. Just picking out the leaves was a good learning activity as we discussed how the leaves were similar or different colors, shapes, sizes, etc. We picked some leaves that were still soft and green, and others that were brown and crunchy.

We did the leaf rubbing together because it requires the usual fine motor practice but was a little more difficult because you have to hold the crayon sideways - something new for Emma!

And, of course...

Read: Reading is one of the best activities you can do with your child at any age!

A few of Emma and Bryson's current favorites are:

Room on the Broom by Julia Donaldson
Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak
There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Bat! by Lucille Colandro
Not a Box by Antoinette Portis

We did an activity with one of our books, Not a Box. This one was super simple and Emma loved it. Derek brought home a paper box from work, and Emma got to play in the box. She climbed in it, and tipped it over on top of her like a hat, pushed it around the room, and hid under it.

My 3 good things for today are:

Falling leaves!
Apple cider!
Decorating pumpkins!

Mesothelioma Awareness Day (September 26)

2013-09-24T17:47:00.001-05:00

This Thursday, September 26th, is Mesothelioma Awareness Day. I'm going to be honest, I didn't know much about this type of cancer until I received a message from a woman named Heather. Her story touched my heart.

Heather is a wife, mother, and a mesothelioma survivor. When her daughter was 3 ½ months old - a few weeks younger than my Bryson is now - Heather was diagnosed with this rare and deadly cancer, and given 15 months to live. Despite her grim prognosis, she knew that she needed to beat the odds for her newborn daughter, Lily. It’s been 7 years now and she is using her story to pay it forward by inspiring others.

In honor of upcoming Mesothelioma Awareness Day, she is using her personal story to help raise awareness of this little known cancer, and to provide a sense of hope for others facing life's difficult challenges. Her goal is to have 7,200 social media shares (a special number!), and I'm hoping you will help!

Please check out her story here, and consider sharing on your social network or blog!

Toddler Activities: 25 Months Old

2013-09-24T17:26:00.001-05:00

One of the challenges of being a stay at home mom is finding activities for your little one to keep them entertained throughout the day. These are a few of our current favorite activities:

Color a Puzzle: This is a project that even your smallest artist can enjoy! Tape six or seven jumbo craft sticks together on a piece of paper, and let your little one color on it with markers.

When they're done, remove the tape, mix up the sticks, and let them try putting the picture back together!

Sandpaper Art: This is another great no-mess creative activity! Cut some fuzzy yarn into a variety of lengths, and let your little one arrange the yarn on a sheet of 40-grit sandpaper to "draw" a picture. (I'm sure a number of sandpaper grits would work - we just had 40-grit on hand at our house.) You can remove the yarn, and replace it as many times as you want. For an older child, you can also draw shapes or letters on the sandpaper with crayon and let your child trace them with yarn.

And, of course...

Read: Reading is one of the best activities you can do with your child at any age!

A few of Emma's current favorites are:

The Duchess of Whimsy by Randall de Seve
Goodnight Moon by Margaret Wise Brown
Duck Sock Hop by Jane Kohuth

We did an activity with one of our books, Duck Sock Hop. After reading the book, we donned our craziest socks, found a sock hop radio station on Pandora, and had a sock hop of our own! Emma had a blast!

My 3 good things for today are:

We have beautiful fall weather outside!
Bryson got to go swinging for first time. He loved it!
Burritos and garden salsa for dinner! (it's the little things...)

A Family Date: Cooking Together

2013-09-13T19:58:00.001-05:00

Okay, so you may not consider this a date, but cooking together is a great activity to do as a family. Cooking time is bonding time and really does bring families together! It's also a great way to teach early math, reading, and chemistry to youngsters. Not only do kids who cook tend to eat more fruits and vegetables, but cooking gives kids a basic and important life skill. We let Emma crack eggs (with supervision) and she is great at mixing and helping measure ingredients!

We love apple picking each year, and this year was no exception! We ended up with bags of apples, and after making applesauce, apple pie, and apple crisp, I was looking for a few new recipes to try.

The two recipes below were delicious and fairly simple to make.

Applesauce Cake with Caramel Glaze

Ingredients

2 cups flour
1-1.2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
1/4 tsp black pepper, finely ground
2 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp ground ginger
1/4 tsp ground allspice
2 large eggs
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup light brown sugar
1-1/2 cups unsweetened applesauce (I used homemade)
2/3 cup vegetable oil
1 tsp vanilla

Caramel Glaze
4 Tbsp butter, cut into chunks
1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
1/3 cup heavy cream
1/4 tsp salt
3/4 cup icing sugar

Directions

Preheat oven to 350ºF. Butter and flour a 12-cup Bundt pan. Sift together flour, baking soda, salt, pepper and spices. Set aside.
In a large mixing bowl, beat eggs with both sugars until light. Mix in applesauce, oil and vanilla until smooth.
Fold in dry ingredients, do not over-mix. Pour batter into the prepared pan and bake about 45 minutes.
Cook cake for 10 minutes and turn out on to plate to let cool completely.
For glaze, put butter, brown sugar, cream and salt in a saucepan. Bring to full rolling boil over medium heat, stirring constantly. Boil for 1 minute and then remove from heat. Let cool for 2 minutes.
Gradually whisk in the icing sugar until you have a thick, pourable consistency. Pour over cake, and let set before serving cake – if you have the willpower!

Iced Oatmeal Banana Applesauce Cookies

Ingredients
2 ripe bananas, mashed
1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
2/3 cup unsweetened applesauce (I used homemade)
1 1/2 cups old-fashioned oats
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 tsp cinnamon

1/4 tsp ginger

1/4 tsp allspice

1/2 cup raisins

Glaze

1 3/4 cup powdered sugar
4-5 tablespoons pure maple syrup
3 tablespoons milk

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a large bowl, combine mashed bananas and sugars. Mix on low speed until combined. Add applesauce, and mix until well blended, 2-3 minutes. Mix in oats, flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, and spices. Mix in raisins.
Using a 1 1/2-inch ice cream scoop, drop dough onto prepared baking sheets, 2 inches apart. I lined my baking sheets with parchment paper. Place baking sheet in freezer for 5 minutes.
Bake cookies until golden and set, 13-15 minutes. Let cool on sheets 5 minutes. Transfer cookies to a wire rack, and let cool completely.
Whisk powdered sugar, syrup, and three tablespoons milk until smooth. Drizzle over cookies, let set.

My 3 good things for today are:

Apples!
Apple cookies!
Apple cake!

What is your favorite apple recipe?

Toddler Activities: 24 Months Old

2013-08-28T06:00:00.000-05:00

One of the challenges of being a stay at home mom is finding activities for your little one to keep them entertained throughout the day. These are a few of our current favorite activities:

Stacking Cheerios: I saw this great idea over at Toddler Boredom Busters. All you need is some playdough (check out my recipe for Homemade Playdough!), uncooked spaghetti noodles, and a handful of cheerios. Stick the playdough to the table, then stick in a few spaghetti noodles, and stack as many cheerios as you can! This is a great opportunity to practice counting as the cheerio tower grows higher and higher!

Yes, she did eat some Cheerios!

Threading Fruit Loops: Emma has a fantastic set of threading beads that she gets to play with at her Granna's house. She loves threading the beads to make necklaces and bracelets, then enjoys taking them all apart and starting again. As soon as I can find a set on sale or at a garage sale, I'll get some for our house. Until then, threading Fruit Loops onto a length of ribbon or yarn is a good, cheap alternative. Fruit Loops work well because their hole is larger than Cheerios. Another trick that seems to help is to make a nice long "needle" on the end of your string with some packing tape. Emma was struggling at first, but when I made the needle a little longer, she mastered it quickly.

Yes, she did eat some Fruit Loops!

Scooping Ice: This is such a simple, fun activity to do on a hot day! Toddlers always seem to relish getting dirty or wet and this is also a great sensory activity. We used two buckets with water and one with ice. Emma practiced scooping the ice up and dumping it into the water. It was also a great learning opportunity to watch the ice slowly melt in the water.

Yes, she did eat some ice! And, of course...

Read: Reading is one of the best activities you can do with your child at any age!

A few of Emma's current favorites are:

Chicky Chicky Chook Chook by Cathy MacLennan
This Little Piggy: And Other Favorite Action Rhymes by Hannah Wood
Peek-A Who? by Nina Laden

My 3 good things for today are:

We had good weather for Emma's birthday celebration.
Bryson rolled over (tummy to back) for the first time!
Derek says I'm the fairest of them all ;) Let's see if he reads this post!

A Sprinkle Birthday Party

2013-08-27T19:04:00.005-05:00

This month we celebrated Emma's 2nd birthday! We kept it simple this year, having a new baby, and had a great time with friends and family at a local park.

Last year when Emma had her smash cake, she spent most of the time picking sprinkles off and eating them each individually, and sprinkles still number as one of her favorite things. So we had a sprinkle theme for her 2nd birthday party.

We had a cute verse on her invitation, reading:

Meet us at the park,
We'll slide, swing and play.

You're invited to join us for
Emma's 2nd Birthday!

We invite you to sprinkle her with love!
It would be the icing on the cake if you came!

I got a lot of inspiration from this party and all of the food followed the sprinkle theme:

grilled hot dogs and brats with ketchup, mustard, relish, and onions so guests could sprinkle their hot dogs with toppings,
some of "nature's sprinkles" like cherry tomatoes, broccoli, carrots, and cucumbers,
water bottles with flavor mix-ins so guests could sprinkle their water with flavor,
and a cupcake decorating station with a variety of frosting and sprinkles.

Decorations and activities included these adorable pom-pom balloons (I couldn't believe they worked!), and stations with crayons and colored pencils where guests could sprinkle some paper with color. The kids played at the park of course, as well as with bubbles and chalk.

We had so much fun, and I thank God for the good weather!

My 3 good things for today are:

Emma's sweet smile!
Her infectious laugh!
All the wonderful memories she's given us over the past two years!