I miss it. I miss my boys’ younger ages. I miss reading to them for hours after they begged me to sit on the floor with them. I miss the hours of LEGO building, creating. I miss sitting at my computer and typing up the details about the fun ways we learned and practiced our …
Can you believe the stores are decorated for Christmas already? I don’t really want to think about it yet, but the grandparents have been asking what types of things to get the boys. It got me thinking about this coming holiday from another perspective. What are they going to GIVE? Have you thought about asking …
*The link provided below is for reference only and is not an affiliate link. As stated in two previous posts (here and here), the boys want to share their reviews of the books that stayed on their bedside table over this past year. This first review is by Cutie Pie, a nine year old reading enthusiast, …
*Two books on this list were provided by the publisher in exchange for being mentioned on this blog, but links provided are not affiliate links Sweet Pea, 7 years old and completing first grade, loves for us to read to him, but is starting to read chapter books on his own as well as longer childrens’ …
Both boys love to read. Cutie Pie, the 9 year old third-grader, is an avid reader. When it gets quiet we usually find him reading. He still loves to have us read to him, so family reading time still happens every night, but even then we sometimes have to tell him to put his book down to …
Our family is enjoying the Harry Potter series of books (you know, the ones by J.K. Rowling), fascinated by all the wizards and witches (and miscommunication), the passageways of the castle, and the young characters’ adventures. They’ve led to several discussions about when to come to an adult… Hubby and I are enjoying reading the books …
Every once in a while I get homesick for my childhood home. Do you? Last week I posted about being bullied as a child and ever since then I’ve been thinking about the freedom I was given as a child (and secretly hoping my kids will have some of the same experiences I was given …
Walk, Talk, Tell didn’t work for me, but when I was a child the world was different. There were no such things as the internet, cell phones (well, there was but they were huge!) or Skype. The world was safer. Parents weren’t afraid to let their kids walk to the store alone. There was a …
My boys have been doing a lot of building and experimental building. Read: coming up with ideas to build and then using only specific materials to build with! Their building materials of choice? Both LEGO and K’Nex! The materials were selected after they chose what they were going to try to build. Their creations? Mainly spinning …
Around here children must be five years old before December 1st to start Kindergarten in September of the same year. One of mine turned five in early January and the other turned five just days before the deadline. In most people’s opinions my kids started school ‘late’ because they were home with me watching the …
Cutie Pie absolutely loves the How to Train Your Dragon book series by Cressida Cowell. Last night we were reading Book 12, How to Fight a Dragon’s Fury, and this line jumped out at me… Maybe we are lucky that we are not Kings and Heroes, because we do not have to make the choices …
Last winter I posted here about a fun fill-in-the-blank activity I did with Cutie Pie. What I didn’t post was that in first grade, he came up with a fill-in-the-blank Valentine for his teacher! I wish I had kept a copy of what he made her, but it was a simple, cute and creative little …
Listening to the music and hearing the roar of a lion, meow of a cat, or the almost irritatingly slow melody of the can-can, as if a tortoise were dancing it. The beautiful melody as the cello makes us think of the swan…. This month we had the privilege of hearing Carnival of the Animals …
We are enjoying a lot of snow this week and it’s reminding me of all the days when I had my boys home with me. There were so many days where it was too cold to stay out for long, so we did lots of fun things inside. Of course I had to get some …
Cutie Pie had a wonderful teacher for second grade and developed his imagination from the get-go. Mrs. P. had a very structured day in school, so for homework four days a week she assigned journal writing. They weren’t given writing prompts, but rather could write about whatever they wanted, fact, fiction, copied text from cereal boxes…as …
It caught my eye that Monday, January 18th is Winnie the Pooh day (and the birthday of A. A. Milne, the author of the Pooh books), a character much-loved by my oldest since he was one!
On Monday I shared about an easier way to achieve the goal and hinted at a couple of methods I’m using to get organized planning-wise this year. On Wednesday I referred you to Intentional by Grace and her planning 101 series to help get your calendar organized for 2016. Starting big! It’s one thing to plan to …
This week we’re talking about how to plan for this coming year. I mean after all, moms need to be organized so we don’t miss an appointment, right? Start Big Its either really hard to know where to start planning or so easy to start, then get quickly discouraged, though, isn’t it? To get over …
How many out there have made resolutions or goals for 2016 or have chosen a word for the year? I used to make resolutions, but wasn’t good at keeping them. I think maybe because the outcome didn’t matter as much as I wanted it to. Nothing would happen if I didn’t achieve my resolutions, except for …
Since writing my last post I have finished up Christmas shopping for my loved ones, finished my course final project (yeah! I accomplished a major goal this year!) and finished up my year of freelancing (did you know I am helping others transition to new WordPress themes that are mobile-responsive?). I’m delighting in hot chocolate …
(UPDATE: These links are not commission-based or affiliate-based, but are provided solely for reference. Please see the note at the bottom of the post.) Have you got a train loving child and your short a Christmas gift or two? Or maybe you’re looking for ideas for a birthday present? Here are a few train toy ideas …
When my boys were smaller we used to play a sense of hearing game called ‘What’s in the cup’ or some other derivative I would come up with when we were ready to play it. (I’ve written about this here and here.) This year I’m calling it ‘What’s in the box?’ Sense of hearing Anytime version: …
It was like Christmas…. A mystery box was found in our garage. When Hubby opened this mystery box, he discovered his favorite books from childhood! We’ve had fun reading Hubby’s favorites from when he was a kids… Ferdinand by Munro Leaf, Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day, by Judith Viorst, and Splish Splash! by Ethel and Leonard …
Yesterday I shared the love my family has for the book Stranger in the Woods: a Photographic Fantasy, by Carl R. Sams and Jean Stoick, and a picture of the red cardinal bird we made based on the red cardinal in the book. Today, I’m sharing how we made the cardinal! Please check this book out as a possible …
*This post contains affiliate links. Just a few years ago the boys received the book, Stranger in the Woods (a Photographic Fantasy), by Carl R. Sams and Jean Stoick for Christmas. We have adored this book ever since and I think you will, too! The forest is waking up, but something is amiss! Following the forest animals, we …
Just a quick idea to share with you as you contemplate Thanksgiving. A few years ago we made what we call Thankful Garland. Every day in the month of November we wrote one thing we were thankful for on a strip of paper and made a paper garland with them as they were written. (Make …
My kids love examining things, and spiders fascinate them! In the spirit of a fun halloween, I’m sharing another spider cookie idea (You can see the first here.) This idea is from my mother-in-law. I’m not sure where she got it, but these spider cookies are adorable!
Last year we actually decorated for Halloween. It’s my least favorite ‘holiday’ of the year, but my kids absolutely love pretending to be something else for a day, so I try to have fun with it. So when I say decorated I don’t mean the spooky stuff. I mean large white google eyes on the …
I’m sure you’ve heard it or seen the memes floating around on Facebook, although I haven’t seen as many this year… Its Breast Cancer Awareness Month.
What do you get from a pumpkin? If you ask my boys, they’ll say ‘pumpkin seeds!’ If you ask the boy next door he says, ‘a Jack-o-lantern!’ What if we ask you? Last year we creatively stumbled upon a recipe for toasted pumpkin seeds! What’s that you say? You’ve never thought about eating pumpkin seeds? Neither …
Have you ever dreamed of getting away from it all? Of having the time to pamper yourself a little and be a better mom as a result? Well, guess what? You can! And it’s free. And you don’t even have to leave your house to participate. It’s called the Mom Conference! I attended last year …
As the weather gets cooler and its just too cold to play in the puddles outdoors (like we talked about last week!), we stay indoors to play a puddle jumping game! Its really simple and can be modified for any age-range. (Yep, we sort of made it up and it changes every time we play!) My boys …
Its no secret that I have two boys who love to be outside. So when it rains, like it’s doing here all day today, what do we do? At least our five favorite rainy day fun things of course!
Its no secret my boys absolutely love The Strong National Museum of Play! If we ask the boys what they want to do on any given Saturday we hear either “Go to the museum of play” or “have a friend over”. In that order.
In early September I posted this picture on Facebook. I’m sure some of you were wondering how to respond, and indeed I didn’t expect anyone to! (Don’t worry, Dad’s fine, now!) The Separation-Anxiety Inducing Situation In the midst of the first days of school, my dad was in the hospital for minor surgery. Since …
