Think Outside the Box: Car Wash

Thank you Cost Co for your boxes.  Sometimes they are a pain, but other times, they are magical.

Carter was using the plain box as a carwash and over the course of a week...it evolved.

Inside shot.  She the mini-koosh balls?

They are the scrubbers.

"Mom, big twucks go in dis side.  And wittle twucks go in dat side."

See the plastic hanging?  It's a door.

I love seeing all fun that can come from a box.  The time creating is so imaginative, inventive and inspiring. The time playing with the new creation is just a bonus!

Thanks & Giving

With Thanksgiving coming in a few days and Christmas just around the corner, nostalgia has set in.  I think about all the holidays our family has celebrated in the past.  The all included the 4 F’s, Family, Food, Fun and Fellowship.  We have truly been blessed through the years. 

With this being said, there are many people out there who have not been as fortunate as you and I have been.  Simple basics such as food, shelter and clothing do not belong to everyone.  There are a lot of needy individuals on the street and in shelters.  All of these people are not non-working “takers”.  Many of them have had one misfortune after another only to find themselves in trouble and needing assistance.

As a mother, grandmother and early childhood educator, I feel it is our duty to help others and to be examples to our children.  Children are basically ego-centric and need encouragement to think about others.  Through our example, we can make a difference in our world today which will be carried out in our world of the future. 

Here are few ideas to get you started on making a difference in our lives, our children’s lives and the lives of people we may not know.

• Pack a peanut butter sandwich each morning and hand it to a person on the corner who may be hungry.
• Empty your change in the jar of a needy person.
• Give to Salvation Army at Christmas time.
• Go to the Dollar Store and stock up on gloves, scarves and hats and drop them at your church, shelter, Interfaith, etc. 
• Purchase a newspaper on the street corner even if you already have one.
• Pack a bag of canned goods and donate them to a food pantry or give them to a person who may be on a street corner.
• Pay it forward by leaving your change to be applied to the person behind you at the drive through.
• Adopt a family or a child at Christmas and let your children go shopping and wrap the presents with you.
• Donate Girl Scout cookies to the soldiers.
• Donate books or toys to a homeless shelter.
• Pass a smile to someone in the grocery store.
• Let someone else in line in front of you at the mall or grocery store check out.

These are just a few things we can do to make a difference.  It is not about money, it is about hope.   I’m sure that many of you have other suggestions and we welcome your ideas.  Please leave a comment with your own ideas.

Just think, if we each did something small every day to help someone else while our children witnessed it.  This could spark thier interest to serve others as well.  And what a different world it would be.  WE CAN MAKE A DIFFERENCE!  

 Remember, Thanksgiving is about Thanks and Giving.   

Let your light shine and enjoy the season!

Gobble Gobble

Family Fun night at our house tonight!

I used cardstock to paint the hands. 

I let the boys tell me what color to paint each finger.

And Luke painted Daddy's hand!

Then add legs, eyes and cut out!

I added names under each hand and the year.

I found a frame 50% off at Hobby Lobby that was made to hold 3 pictures with a matte.

 I took out the matte. Covered the back in burlap, and attached my turkeys.

Viola.  Instant Thanksgiving Decoration!

However, how great would this be to do with the Grandparents at Thanksgiving too!
That way you can always have their 'Turkey' for years to come!

-Suzie

Dry Erase Crayons... a new must have!

Okay, can you dust off the cobwebs?!!!
It seriously has been forever since I have posted on here! 


Let me fill you in on my life in a super quick way: 

Found out my husband was going to be transferred in February. Two weeks later our house went on the market. Four weeks later we were under contract. 4 weeks after that, we were under contract on the new house...and bam, we relocated 245 miles north.

So basically, I felt like I had nothing to blog about. All I would do was organize my house, clean my house, clean it again, and then pack.

However, last week I went to my favorite/least favorite place to shop: 
Wal-Mart for a nap mat. 
And the teacher in me could not pass up all the school supplies. I snagged some random stuff which I think I will start blogging more about later.


(Here is the nap mat tutorial I am going to follow. I mean, $100 bucks on etsy is just way too much for me. I spent $12 each on fabric, and $13 for the mat. So, two washable nap mats for less than $50.)


But today, we played around with these:

Here is an easy easy activity:

Grab a plastic sheet proctor.

A sheet of paper.

And a marker.

Draw anything you want them to try to trace and slide it inside the sheet protector!

 Instant dry erase board!

For example:

2-3 year olds: straight lines, zig zag lines, shapes, single letters (like A a )

4-6: Full name (remember, we don't write or read in all caps, so you don't either.)

Site words, alphabet, numbers, a non stick person

6-and up: spelling words (tracing over spelling words 3x is a proven technique to use with children with dyslexia.), art

Hudson: don't mind his grip, we are working on that too!

 He is working so hard trying to stay on the straight black line!

 See that black rag? The box comes with this neat mitt type eraser. Hudson loved that too.

My guys aren't even three yet, but they focused on this task for about 10 minutes. 

I was over zealous putting their whole name on a sentence strip. But hey, they need to be able to 'read' it and recognize and pick out letters. So still a teachable moment.

Speaking of sentence strips, they were also at Walmart on an end-cap. (When using them, make sure the red line is at the bottom. And please for me, Uppercase letters followed by lowercase. Can you tell it is my pet peeve!!!?)

I hope to be around more often! So check back!

Suzie

Father's Day Craft

A throwback from last year!

Most Valuable Daddy

Supplies Needed:
Brown Paint
Orange Paint
White Paint
Card Stock
Black Paint pen or Sharpie

Really Easy:

Paint a foot brown.

Add 3 white stripes

Outline with Sharpie

 Paint a hand orange.

Add basketball lines with sharpie or paint pen!

Print words on Cardstock, here Most Valuable Daddy

Beans and Pasta Shapes

A meaningful activity never has to be a big, fancy, deal.

In fact, at this age, lessons are so short and simple, that they are constantly happening.  Even when you aren't meaning too!  Which is why we should be thoughtful about our time and interactions with our little ones.  They are ALWAYS learning from you!  Scary!

I've been so bad about snapping pictures, blogging really.  But today I managed to snap a few of our post-breakfast fun!  

We read:

as a little introduction to our activity.

Then I grabbed:

• index cards
• pasta and beans (stolen from our sensory table)
• glue
• marker

I drew a circle, triangle and square then labeled it at the bottom.  As I drew, I talked about the shape and letters I was writing.

He chose to start with the circle.

I glued on the drawing and let him get busy with the pasta and beans!

We talked about the shapes, how many sides they had, and real life objects that are those shapes.

Did he finish all 3?  No.

Did he finish 1?  No.

That is how he rolls.

All of 5 minutes later, we hung them on our magnet board.  Glue dripping and all.

The most important part of crafty looking, glue, paint-ishy projects is the PROCESS, 

not the end product.

We had a good 5 minutes talking about these shapes, all while doing a little fine motor work!  That is what the process was about!

Travel Stroller Review

Disclaimer:  I do not usually feel qualified to write a product review because:

A.  I'm too laid back that I often just go the cheapest route.

B. Or I wing it...live without it.

But I'm too excited about this smart purchase that I have to share!

..........

Can I just tell you how naive I was originally choosing strollers well over 2 years ago.

I was swooned by the look, style, and millions of accessories available (for additional purchase, of course). 

I also thought that with our big, fancy, stroller I would NEVER need another stroller.  Especially one of those little rickety ones.  When experienced moms would rave about their "cheap little umbrella stroller"  I'd think..."I'm going to make my ONE stroller work for everything.  I'll never need one of those."

Well a few months into motherhood we began to travel again.  And the big stroller was impractical.  Impractical for going in and out of security in airports, in and out of taxi cabs, fitting in between the aisles of funky, exotic or ghetto (you choose) markets in Asia or boutiques in The Woodlands Market Street (again, you choose).

So we bought an umbrella stroller in China.  

It was "AMAZING."

Until it fell apart after a year.

But it did it's job.  Everything I asked of it.  And was well worth every 200 Yuan I spent.  ($30)

But after time, there were things it couldn't do like:

• Be cleaned.  The fabric was cheap, I respect that.  200 Yuan!  Come on!
• Cover my white, white, Vitamin D deficient child from the sun we'd see in these exotic places.  (Asia or Texas...you choose)
• Be strolled with outdoors.  This would send me raging and threatening to rip it apart.

So against my normal shopping behavior, I researched decent products...by asking for suggestions of Lightweight Strollers on Facebook from my closest 910 friends..  I got some amazing responses!

1. Maclaren

2. City Mini

3. Combi

4. Cybex Onyx

5. Maxi Cosi Perle

5. Uppa Baby G-Luxe

Well, I did it!  I made a decision!

Here is what we're driving on vacation:
The Uppa Baby G-Luxe.

Uppa!!

I hate shopping, so I set my limits to one store and decided to choose within their inventory.

They did not have most of the suggestions above.  I think only 2. So I'm not comparing by any means!  Ha!

BUT I'm super happy with my decision!

1. Super cozy seat.

2. Great wipe able fabric.

3. Lightweight.

4. Easy to fold!

6. STURDY!

7. Cup holder.

8. Shoulder strap...carries like a golf bag!

9. UV protective.

10. Great size basket!!  I can fit tons! Purse, camera bag, and Lunch Tote.

11. The handles can also be piled on with bags if need be.  And I need be quite often!

I'm so happy!  I'd give this 5 Stars!