Freebies: Kool-Aid Play Dough Kit Printable- Christmas Goody Bags

 Yesterday I shared with you the Goody Bags I made for Big Sister's school Christmas Party.  Today I am sharing the printable I made to go with it.  I removed her name from the printable.  You can either leave it blank or add your child's name.  For the complete Kool-Aid Play Dough recipe, click here.

PlayDough Kit Printable

Life As a Mom: Finding Time to "Do It All"

Okay, so I still haven't found THAT much time, but this is the way I have found to help keep me focused, and feel like I have actually accomplished things during the day.  I don't get burned out cleaning all day, and I don't waste time when I sit down to work on the computer.

My day starts much earlier, but my "schedule" starts at 8 after I have dropped Big Sister off at school.  It looks like this:
8:00 - Household Chores
9:00 - Blog/Computer work for Sunla Designs
10:00 - Crafting work for Lila's Bowtique
11:00 - Household Chores
12:00 -  Lunch and Blog/Computer work for Sunla Designs
1:00 - Crafting work for Lila's Bowtique
2:00 - Catchup before I pick up Big Sister from school


The rest of my day is filled with homework, piano practice, Girl Scouts, and dinner.  The hour-long shifts keep me focused and working as quickly as I can to get a lot done in that little window of time.  If I tell myself "I have all day to get that done" it usually takes all day!

You may be asking why I haven't scheduled time for Baby Brother or errands and such.  It's because I take care of those things as they come up, and resume my schedule based on what time it is.  For instance, on Monday I go grocery shopping as soon as I drop off Big Sister.  It is usually after 9 by they time I get the groceries put away, so I skip the Household chores at 8:00 and start right onto my Blog/Computer work.  I adjust for this by scheduling less cleaning on Monday, and the grocery shopping is actually part of my Monday chores.

At 2:00 it is time to catchup on whatever I didn't get done that must be finished before Big Sister comes home.  usually that means packing orders to drop off at the post office, checking my email one last time, or prepping dinner.

Freebies: Kids' Fluids Chart

After a recent check-up at the doctor's office we decided we needed a way to make sure Big Sister is getting enough fluids.  She drinks milk in/with breakfast, but drinks water the rest of the day.   I've never figured out a way to get her to drink more milk until I had the doctor tell her she needs to be drinking 3 glasses a day.  We worked out a chart to be sure she's getting enough of all the right fluids- 3 glasses of milk, 2 glasses of water, and one glass of juice.

Here's what we do:
Milk- one in/with breakfast, one with her afternoon snack, and one with dinner.
Water- at school- she takes a small bottle with her to school and refills it once she has finished it.
Juice- I make her popsicles from juice using the Tupperware popsicle mold.  Now, I know this is only 2 oz, but she usually gets a little juice at some point in her day, so I am not so worried about it.  She enjoys the popsicle treat, and I am happy it's not completely loaded with sugar.

Here's a chart I made to help Big Sister remember what she has had already.  I gave her an off on Sunday since we are usually pretty busy that day.

Fluids Chart


Enjoy!

Tutorial: Giant Pinwheel

So this is a pretty simple concept, and just about everyone has made a pinwheel at one time or another, but I thought I would share how I like to make a pinwheel.

Materials: 

12" x 12" Scrapbook Paper

CD

Straight Edge

Long sewing pins- make sure it has a round head on the end

Pencil with eraser

Wire Cutters

Hot Glue

1.   Select a piece of  two-sided scrapbook paper.

 2.  Put a cd in the center of your sheet of paper (it doesn't have to be exact, just near it), and mark 4 small lines in line with your corners.  Read the next step and you will understand this better.

3.  Line up a straight edge from  one corner to the next and draw a line from the corner to the marks you made in the last step.

4.  Cut along the lines you have drawn.  Remember to stop at the marks you made in step #2.

 5.  Insert your pin about 1/2" from each corner working your way around the paper.

6.  Once you have all corners pinned, line up your pin in the center of the paper, and push it all the way through.

7.  Push your pin through the eraser of the pencil- be very careful not to push your thumb against the eraser, your you will have a pinwheel attached to your thumb!

8.  Cut off the excess pin on the back side.  and pull the pin back just enough that you can't see it sticking out.

9.  Put a dot of hot glue on the back of the eraser when the pin made a hole.  This will keep the pin from poking through and hurting your little ones!

10.  Sit back and admire your Giant Spinning Pinwheel!

Life As A Mom: Big Sister Blogs

So Big Sister's summer project is her own blog.  I set up a private blog for her that is only viewable by family and close friends.  She learned about story writing and titles in First Grade, and I wanted to encourage her to continue, AND it gives me some quiet time in my day.

How it works:
1.  Topics- She can pick a topic from my topic cards (I turn them over so she can't see) or she can choose to write a story- either fiction or non-fiction.
2.  Five Sentence Minimum- She must write complete sentences with correct capitalization and punctuation.
3.  Spelling- She writes her blog quietly in her room while Baby Brother is napping, so her spelling is how she believes things are spelled.  She must try to spell on her own, sounding things out.
4.  Pictures- She helps find/create a picture that illustrates her topic.  She has even started telling me- "Mommy, take a picture, I am going to blog about this today!"
5.  Posting the blog- She writes her blog on paper, and then I type it for her, adding pictures where she wants them, but I DO NOT correct any misspellings, or incorrect punctuation.  This will become a virtual record for us of her writing as she grows.

Why it works:
She loves to share her life/stories with friends and family and reading their comments on her blog keeps her energized and motivated.

Sample Topics:
- What I Learned in First Grade
- My Best Friend
- My Favorite Food
- My Favorite Color
- My Favorite Book
- My Loose Tooth
- Our Vacation
- My Baby Brother

I pick simple topics so she can easily write five sentences.  She will often write many more sentences, and I always encourage her to write as much as she can.


What do you do to encourage your children to write?

Life As A Mom: Teaching Big Sister to Swim

Prince Charming and I decided this is the summer for me to teach big sister to swim.  She goes to a "year 'round" school, so her summer started in July.  After a month of lessons she is doing very well.  However, I am NOT a swim instructor, I am NOT trained in CPR, but I am a pretty decent swimmer.  She improves a little more at each lesson, but I like to start from the beginning each time and remind her of the basics.  Our lessons usually last about an hour and a half.  I like to give her a little time to have fun at the end of her lesson, and since there is someone at the gym watching Baby Brother, it is a great time to have one-on-one with Big Sister. 

What We Do:
 1.  Kicks- I have her hold on to the side wall of the pool, and practice kicking- straight legs, no splashing- her feet should stay in the water as much as possible
2.  Arms- She can just barely stand in the shallow end, so she stands while we practice "scoops."  She makes scoops with her hands and reaches out as far as she can to scoop the water that is furthest away.
3.  Kickboard- We try to kick with a kickboard, but most of the time she falls off to one side or the other.  She wants to put it under her chest, but I want her to hold it out front because I don't want her to get used to having her arms close by, and eventually I want her to practice on the kick board with her face in the water.

 

4.  "Swimming"- We use a pool noodle to help her gain confidence while propelling herself forward with her arms and legs.  She can now swim across the shallow end of the pool easily without me.  She puts the pool noodle across her chest and under both arms.  It helps her keep afloat and we concentrate on her big scoops, and keeping her bottom up so she is kicking close to the top of the water.  I know she could swim without the pool noodle but she feels more secure with it, and I would rather her be more cautious in the water than not!

5.  Floating- We practice floating on her back, and she will float several seconds before she realizes I am not holding her anymore.  I keep one hand in the middle of her back, and once she is relaxed and secure I remove my hand while keeping her mind on what she is doing with each part of her body as she floats by herself. 

6.  Swimming on her back-  I like to call it "Chicken, T, Rocket."  Once she is floating I tell her to make a "T" with her arms and "Rocket" off as she pushes her hands down towards her legs.  To bring her arms back up with as little resistance to the water as possible she puts her hands towards her armpits like a "Chicken," and then back to the "T." So while she practices this, and remind her of where her hands are supposed to be with the visual clues of "Chicken, T, Rocket"

7.  Diving for rings-  She loves to go diving for her rings, and at first couldn't get enough energy to swim down for them, but can now swim several feet under water and grab the rings from the bottom of the pool.  We have six rings, so I usually drop one from my right hand as far as I can reach, one from my left hand as far as I can reach, and the rest somewhere in between.  She holds her breath and dives under and can usually pickup all of her rings at one time.  And yet she still doesn't want to swim without her pool noodle! 

Disclaimer:
Big Sister does NOT know how to swim proficiently.  I keep my eyes on her at all times and am never more than 2-3 feet away.  I am NOT a swimming teacher, and these may not be the "correct" techniques for teaching swimming- but it works for us. 

Life As A Mom: Our Houston Vacation and the City Pass

We recently took our first vacation as a family of four.  This usually isn't a big deal for most people, but it is only the second vacation Prince Charming and I have had in the NINE years we've been married- we didn't even go on a honeymoon!  But when you have your own small business it can be hard to get away.

We went to Houston for 3 days/2 nights and had a blast!  In researching the trip we decided to purchase the Houston City Pass (you can find out more by clicking the link).  It is good for 5 attractions over a 9 day period.  These attractions are amazing, so plan to visit only one a day- we were trying to see 2 each day, only saw 4, and needed a vacation when we got back from our vacation!





Saturday:
We left for Houston at 4 am so we could drive while Baby Brother slept.  Right on schedule we woke up as we were pulling into the Houston Zoo.  I nursed him while Prince Charming and Big Sister stretched their legs, prepared the stroller, and took a look around.  Even though we got there early it quickly became too hot to stick around.  It's a good thing everything else we planned was inside!  We checked into our hotel and hung out the rest of the day. 






Sunday:
Big Sister loved the gemstones and jewelry at the Houston Museum of Natural Science, and Baby Brother loved that it was air conditioned!  We slowly toured the entire museum, and had a very relaxed morning.  She also enjoyed seeing and learning about all the different animals they had there.








NASA was awesome and I wish we could have stayed there longer.  The tram tour was a bit disappointing thought.  Our tour visited the astronaut training facility.  This consisted of an hour and a half wait outside in the heat (somewhere around 100 degrees!), and then the tram ride to the main facility.  Next time we'll go on a weekday so we will see more than quiet buildings and empty parking lots.  Our tram CD tour guide got stuck so it only told us about Building 17- about 5 times!


Inside there was a lot for big sister to do.  We didn't get to do it all, but she had fun!  Next time we will plan to be there all day.

Monday:
Big Sister LOVED the Children's Museum.  We spent most of our time there in Kidtropolis.  Where Big Sister learned about working, earning a pay check, and spending the money she earned.  She had several different jobs there including, Vet Tech, Waitress, Bank Teller, Bicycle Repairman, and Ambulance Driver.  I think she enjoyed being a waitress the most.  We could have spent the whole day in there alone.  But, we had other things to see.

The three story indoor play thing (Power Tower) was incredible.  Here's how the museum describes it "The Power Tower is our 40 foot tall climbing structure, the equivalent of climbing almost 4 stories high! You need good upper and lower body strength, but you also need strategy; not all paths through the Tower are equal! How fast can you get through? It takes strength and endurance. Make sure to bring your climbing shoes."  I think Big Sister managed to go through every inch of it- up, down, and all around!  Again, we could have spent an entire day there.

Before we headed back home we made our way over to IKEA.  I LOVE IKEA!!!  Prince Charming had never been, and was skeptical, but now loves it as much as I do.  In fact, our tour of IKEA is what inspired "The Great Sale of 2011!"  Surprisingly, his favorite was the bathroom sinks!  He's planning another trip to the Dallas IKEA when he's ready to remodel Big Sister's Bathroom.  We didn't get to look at much because we were exhausted from the 3 packed days we spent in Houston, but we will be back!

Overall:
- The City Pass is a great bargain if you have the time/energy to go to all 5 attractions.
-  Even though we were short on time, I am glad we had the City Pass.  It was simple to buy online, and I didn't have to try to research to find the best attractions in the area.  I am sure there are excellent attractions that it doesn't include, but when you are short on time, it was easy to plan.
- The City Pass allowed us to skip the long lines at NASA, and got in the Members Only line at the Children's Museum.
- We are planning a trip to LA in Christmas 2012, we we will probably be buying the Hollywood City Pass then!

Life As A Mom: Behavior Beads

A friend of mine shared this concept with me, and with a bit of tweaking it has worked for Big Sister since she was 3 (she'll be 7 in September).

We call them Behavior Beads- I used heart-shaped Pony Beads because they were different, and she didn't already have them.  I found a silicone necklace/bracelet I could string them on at Hobby Lobby, but you can also buy them on Amazon. They are called Stretch Magic Silkies.  They are perfect because they are easy for kids to open, and the bead I used didn't slide off the other end.

How It Works:
1.  She gets a set number of beads to start the week- 5 works for us (we used more when she was younger- you may need more or less).
2.  She must have at least one bead at the end of the week to earn her reward.
3.  She loses a bead for each offensive behavior- whining, talking back, lying, etc.  Certain behaviors usually only need a simple reminder to change quickly- "Do you want to lose a bead?"  She must remove the necklace and give us a bead when we ask for one.  I explain to her why she has lost it, and what is better behavior next time.
4.  She loses a second bead if she whines, cries, or complains when we ask for a bead.
5.  She can earn a bead for exemplary behavior- in the grocery store, at our bakery, or with Baby Brother.  I don't do it every time, but I like to let her know that I have appreciated the good behavior, and only if she has really tried to be good but had one bad day and lost several beads.
6.  At the end of the week her reward is something that is important to her- a playdate with a friend, a date with Daddy, a trip to the park, etc.  These are things that are important to HER and in our budget!

Why It Works:
The beads stay on a necklace/bracelet so she can wear them no matter where she is.  Losing a bead is an immediate consequence.  And since she isn't crying (she will lose another bead if she is), we are able to explain to her why she has lost the bead.  We can do this at the grocery store, at work, at home, in the car, anywhere!  When we tried stickers, stars, happy faces, etc the method stayed at home, and it was tears and begging at night when she didn't get her star, sticker, or happy face.  I LOVE the "take two" rule- it avoids the meltdown.  And because she can see how many beads she has left, she can predict whether or not she will get her reward on Saturday.

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