Parents Magazine

I was so surprised last week to see this email in my inbox...

 Parenting.com is the website for Parents magazine.  I have no idea how they found my post but I am so glad that they did!  They picked my post about planning a trip to the zoo as one of the Mommy Blogger Favorites.  

 Sydney was so excited to see a picture of herself on a website.  She thinks that she is famous now! 

Click on the picture to go the site and check it out!

 

Happy Birthday to the Girl Who Made Me a Mother

3rd grade class picture

Happy 9th Birthday to my beautiful daughter Sydney!  You made me a mother.

You are such a kind, sweet and helpful big sister.

You are an amazingly talented athlete.

It is a privilege to be your mom.  

I love you very much!

Sydney's first birthday- 2006

Kids get taller, who knew?

 

I keep forgetting that my kids will grow.  I see them everyday and somehow don't notice that they are growing. Then sometimes I look at them and suddenly it hits me like a ton of bricks: that kid has grown!  I had one of those moments on Wednesday night.

Sydney decided that she wanted to make playdoh.  We had done that before and she wanted to try it again.  I had to search through my old blog posts to find the recipe that we used last time.  When I found the post, I saw that it was April of last year when we had first tried this recipe. I had also taken pictures of Sydney helping me since it was the first time that she done most of the work herself.

That is when the ton of bricks dropped on my head.  9 months ago she needed a chair to stand on to see into the pan on the stove.  Now she can stand all on her own and see just fine.  She grew!  Look how tall she has gotten in just 9 months!

Ugh!!  Does this mean the other two are growing too?

Snow Schedule With Three Kids

 

Here in the Northeast USA, we had a blizzard this weekend.  One of those winter days where schools are closed and a state of emergency is declared by the Governor.   Yesterday was a perfect day for heading outside to play in the snow in the backyard.  That is easier said than done when you have three small children!  

So what does it look like getting three kids outside to play in the snow?

9:00- Kids wake up and my husband makes the mistake of telling them they will be going outside to play in the snow today

9:00-12:00- Kids repeatedly ask if it is time to go outside

12:00- lunch, kids occasionally take a breath in between bites of food to ask if it is time to go outside.

12:30- start putting on snowsuits

12:45- get snowsuits on and then Lucas says he has too go to the bathroom

1:00- get snowsuit back on

1:05- Kids have to pose for pictures for Mommy in their snowsuits

1:10- Kids finally head outside

1:15- Kids start complaining that it is cold

1:20- Everyone heads inside and snowsuits come off again

2013: Ch-ch-ch-ch-Changes

One of the benefits of blogging for me is that I can look back at old blog posts and see where my life was a week, month or year ago.   When I look at where I was at the end of 2012, I see that I am in a much different place now.   2012 was the year of the good, the bad and the ugly.  2013 was very different,  the year of many changes.  

 

1. Aaron lost his job at the end of 2012 and in January of 2013 he got a new job. 

2. I went from being a cancer patient to being cancer free!

3. I went back to teaching after spending three years home with the babies. 

4. My kids grew a lot!  I know- they do that.  It just seems like such a difference from last year. 

It was a really good year and our family has much to be grateful for.  I look forward to seeing what the Lord has planned for us in 2014!

 

 

Book Review: Mealtime Devotions The Second Helping

 

Title: Whit's End Mealtime Devotions The Second Helping

Subtitle: 90 More Ideas Your Kids Will Eat Up

Author: John Avery Whittaker

Genre: Children's Devotional

 Children benefit when families eat dinner together.  According to the National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Colombia University: 

10 Benefits of Family Dinners

• Everyone eats healthier meals.
• Kids are less likely to become overweight or obese.
• Kids more likely to stay away from cigarettes.
• They're less likely to drink alcohol.
• They won't likely try marijuana.
• They're less likely to use illicit drugs.
• Friends won't likely abuse prescription drugs.
• School grades will be better.
• You and your kids will talk more.
• You'll be more likely to hear about a serious problem.
• Kids will feel like you're proud of them.
• There will be less stress and tension at home.

 I know how hard it is to get everyone in the kitchen at the same time but it is worth the effort!  So what should you talk about once you have all the kids gathered around? Whit's End Mealtime Devotions are a great way to get the conversation started in the right direction!

This book contains 90 devotionals to read with your family.  Each devotional is broken down into  five-course meal. Each one includes:

• Mealtime Prayer—a fresh way to bless your food
• Appetizer—a fun question or activity
• Main Course—an object lesson or thought to chew on
• Table Talk—questions to spark interesting discussions
• Vitamins and Minerals—a closing scripture

 In my opinion, the book would be most interesting to an elementary aged child.  My daughter, Sydney, is 8 and she loved the book.  My son, Lucas, is 3 and he was not really able to understand the content yet.   Sydney, at 8 years old,  was the perfect age to understand the topics being discussed and she was able to answer the questions that were asked.  

My only recommendation for improvement  would be that the author include a scripture and topical index at the back of the book.  It would be helpful to be able to locate specific devotionals in the book when they are needed. 

You can read the first several pages of the book here:   http://goo.gl/XUVHBs

Disclaimer: I received this book for free from the Tyndale House Publishing Company in exchange for an honest review.

Blueberry Picking Activities

As a stay at home mom of three kids, I am always looking for fun and inexpensive activities to keep them busy.  My friend, Lindy also has three kids about the same age as mine so she suggested we take the kiddos blueberry picking.

Blueberry picking all by itself is not enough to fill a morning of fun for all six of the littles so we needed to add a few more things to the day.  First, we stopped to feed the animals on the farm.  The little kids had fun trying to name the animals.  The babies enjoyed "talking" to the animals.

My friend then read "Blueberries For Sal" by Robert McCloskey to all six kids.   She and I both loved this book as kids and she thought it would be the perfect book to introduce blueberry picking to the kids.  

As you can see from the picture below, the kids really got into the story.  The bigger kids especially liked the part about the bear and wondered if we would see a bear on our adventure that day.  

 

The littler guys liked the "keplunk" sound that the blueberries made when Sal dropped the blueberries into the pail.  We even brought our own tin pails for the kids so they could make their own "kerplunk" sounds. 

  

 After reading the book, I wanted some things to do with the kids based on the book.  I searched Pinterest and I found a website that offered FREE printables based on "Blueberries for Sal,"

Blueberries for Sal free printables from Homeschool Creations

 

I laminated the printable matching cards and gave one set to each of the two little boys.   I used them as "word hunt" cards instead of a matching game.  I would ask the boys to, "find the picture of bear, etc."  The cards all contained words from the story.  

 

 

The older kids needed more of a challenge so I printed out and laminated the free puzzle page.  They worked on their puzzle while the little boys did their word activity. 
  

After our story and activities we spent some time checking out the tractor.   Both the little and big kids enjoyed that! 

The actual blueberry picking was so much fun!  The two babies (both of them are 16 months old) did not blueberry pick.  The four older kids really enjoyed picking the blueberries.   The two oldest kids were very particular about which blueberries they picked.

The two little boys (both almost 3 years old) had so much fun!  They both made "kerplunk" noises when they dropped their berries in their tin pails.  It was so cute to see that they had paid attention to the story! 

 I wish that the entire day was a positive one!  It is a shame when an almost perfect day has to be ruined.  I wish I didn't have to write about this part of the day but it would be a disservice to others to ignore it.  

 

We chose to go blueberry picking at Emery's Farm in New Egypt, NJ.  It was about a 45 minute ride from our homes.    We will NEVER go back there again.  They are not happy when customers come in with children.   

 

They have a 2 children per adult policy.  I have 3 children and my friend has 3 children.  We realized they weren't going to let us into the blueberry fields!  We strapped the two babies into a double jogging stroller and informed the workers that we would only have the two oldest kids picking the blueberries.  They still would not let us in!   

I had to wait by the tractor with the babies and two of the kids while my friend entered the fields with two of the kids.   After they finished, we switched places and let the other two kids into the field.  It was really sad that the siblings could not blueberry pick together.    

So if you have a "larger" family, please check the reviews online before heading out to Emery's in New Egypt, NJ.  You can see from the reviews that they will send your business away if you have more than two children!

Nature Club for Kids with free Printables

 

My 8 year old daughter Sydney loves technology.  If I let her, she would sit on the couch and play her DS all summer long.  It is my goal to get her off the couch and to expand her mind this summer.

 I decided that starting a nature club would get her outside away from the electronics.  I searched my old standby "Pinterest" to get some free printables for our nature walk.   You can see all of my nature club finds on my Pinterest page.

We invited Sydney's best friend, Gavin, and his big sister, Eva,  to join us.  Nature hunts are not just for Earth Day. I grabbed some clipboards and pens and printed out one of these ABC Nature Walk free printables.

 

Free Printable ABC Nature Walk from Classroom Freebies

They searched throughout our neighborhood to find something in nature for each letter of the alphabet.  They did a great job of almost finding each letter.

I was even able to get my almost 3 year old involved in the fun.  We did a second (simpler) nature scavenger hunt.  This hunt did not require any writing.  Since Lucas can't read yet, he had some help from his "assistant"  Eva,

I printed these free printables and taped them onto brown paper lunch bags.  We headed down to the park to fill our bags.

Free Printable Nature Scavenger Hunt from Five Little Chefs

All three kids filled their bags.  We spent about an hour completing both searches. 

Since Lucas is only a toddler, he lost interest faster than the bigger kids.  He spent some time hanging out on the swings.   

Some of you may be asking, where was Ella (my 16 month old) during the nature walk?  She sat happily in her wagon and cheered on the nature hunters.  She also enjoyed a ride on the swings with my friend Eileen (Gavin and Eva's mom.)

I consider the day a success since that was one full hour with no electronics!  For our next meeting of the nature club, the kids decided they wanted to "take care of our earth."  That is their words!  They want to walk around our neighborhood and clean it up.   Check back to see if we end up doing that!

 

Summer Fun Photos

  It has been awhile since I posted some pictures of the littles.  Here are a few from this summer:

Ella and her curls in the ball pit (age 16 months)

Lucas and his adorable smile (age almost 3)

Sydney having fun imitating me (age 8)

 

Make Bed Time a Breeze!

 As a mom of three kids one of the most common questions that I get asked is, "How do you get the kids to go to bed so early and sleep through the night in their own cribs?  I can answer that in one word:

What does that mean?  It means that the kids know what to expect when it is bed time. 

 Here is our night time routine:

6:00pm- Daddy gets home from 
work and we have dinner as a family

7:00pm- We head upstairs to start the bed time routine:

1. Both babies take a bath together.

2. We brush their teeth.

3. We put on their pajamas.

4. They go into their cribs.

5. Dad, big sister Sydney or I sit in between their cribs and read them two stories.

6. We help them say their prayers.

7. Night lights get turned on.

7:45pm-  We walk out of their room

Of course the time frame can vary but we are usually out of their room by 8:00pm at the latest.

Questions You May Be Asking:

1. Don't they cry when you leave the room?

2. Do you ever go back in during the night?

3. Don't the two babies wake each other up?

4.  When do they wake up in the morning?

I will answer all of these questions in my next post:  Make Bed Time a Breeze Part 2.  Check back next week!