Camera Love

One year ago today my beloved camera arrived in the mail! While I have dumped its name (it's simply "camera" now) we have bonded well over the past 365 days - I have used it almost every.single.day. I'm not exaggerating - I could probably count on one hand the amount of days that I haven't used it. Happy anniversary camera.

And happy anniversary mom and dad!!

Thoughts By the Fire

 Last night, just before it was time to get them ready for bed, Judah asked me if he could have a glass of milk. Typically we don't give them liquids so close to bedtime as they both have the ability of soaking through their diaper, pajamas and all their bedding if they are given anything too close to bedtime. As I was about to deny his request Paul spoke up and said "Why don't we give them some milk, turn out all the lights and then sit in front of the fireplace together and watch the fire?"

So we did that. I gave them their milk while Paul turned out the lights and turned on the fireplace. I grabbed a blanket and we cuddled in next to each other while watching the dancing flames. After a few moments (after his milk was gone!) Judah said "Daddy, wanna sing a Mommy song with me?"

A "Mommy song" is his newest thing - he sits at the piano and makes up love songs to me. While he does this on his own it is greatly encouraged by Paul and he likes to ask Paul to help him sing his "Mommy songs". I simply adore his songs.

With the fire glowing Paul and Judah sat down and played the piano together while Judah sang away and Wesley danced to his hearts content - and in the midst of the beauty and warmth I was overwhelmed with thankfulness and joy. I sat watching them and thanked God for the beautiful blessings He has given to me - the little lives He has entrusted to me and the kind husband that cherishes his sons.

And while I was sitting in thankful contemplation a chain of thoughts came to me.

First, was that I was thankful for how involved Paul is with the boys. He changes their diapers. He calms their fears. He wipes away their tears. He makes up silly songs with them. He dances with them. He shoots bad guys with them. Sometimes he IS the bad guy for them to shoot. He is fully immersed in their lives.

While on that thought I suddenly, and vividly, remember many moments through the boys infancy where Paul would step in to "help" when they were overtired, upset, hungry - he had very different ideas on how things should be done with the boys and by the grace of God I bit my tongue and let him be involved and carry out his own ideas. It's not that his ideas were bad ideas they were just entirely different than how I, as a mother, would do things. Even the way he played was completely different and not how I thought a baby should be played with.

I certainly had moments of messing up and telling him he was doing it wrong and that my way was right and I constantly struggled with letting him swing the boys as high as he wanted, him introducing spicier foods to them, his thoughts on discipline, etc. It sounds silly now that those were even issues to me, but they were. When we had a difference of opinion in what to do with our boys it was my natural inclination to think I was right because I was the mom.

But I am thankful that even though it was my natural inclination God was - and still is - working in my life and He helped me to keep (most!) of my thoughts to myself and lovingly and respectfully go along with Paul's thoughts on raising our boys.

My thoughts came full circle as I realized that the cherished moment we were sharing was because Paul had suggested an idea (drink milk in front of the fire) and I had happily gone along with the idea (even though it was so close to bedtime and we try to avoid drinks then). I realized, with great joy, that when Paul suggested the milk it hadn't even crossed my mind that it was a bad idea.

My purpose in sharing this is twofold - first to encourage mothers and wives to fully embrace their husbands opinions and thoughts on how things should be done in all areas of the home, but specifically with the children - even if it is totally not how you would do it. The children - and you! - will be enormously blessed with his involvement.

Secondly it is to encourage you to continually take your struggles to the Lord and ask Him for help. Your struggles may be entirely different than mine - in fact in reading this you may think me a horrible wife for sometimes thinking that Paul's ideas might not be as good as my own when it comes to the children. But regardless, God is faithful and mighty and gracious.

 

$15 Credit and Review - CSN

*Due to errors in their system CSN has had to pull the promotion and are working on getting it back up. I was told it could take as long as a couple weeks, but I will keep you posted when the deal is back up!*

When Tyler from CSN contacted me to do a post for them I was a bit leery - I had never been approached before about doing a post and I did a bit of research to check the company out.

I liked everything I saw and agreed to do the post - some tips from their writing team on Buying A New Mattress.

In exchange for posting that for them they very kindly sent me a Memory Foam Topper - we have been wanting one for ages and I have been price checking them at various stores and even though mine was a gift www.csnstores.com carries the best prices I have seen to date!

Before going any further I want to be very, very clear that just because this item was given to me CSN did not "buy" the rights to a good review from me - these opinions are true to myself and my own thoughts about the product and company.

Back to the Memory Foam Topper... I love it. Paul loves it. We are sleeping 100% better now that we have it. Now, we do have a fairly bad mattress, but the Memory Foam topper has given me the best sleep I have had in ages, from the first night I slept on it. If you aren't getting the best nights sleep I would highly recommend you get a Memory Foam Topper for your own bed - I really love getting in bed now as it is so comfortable!

Here is the Memory Foam Topper that we received: Jeffco Fibres Memory Foam Topper .

Now a bit about shopping at CSN.

One of my biggest concerns when shopping for deals online is what will the shipping and handling cost me - so many times a "great deal" isn't such a great deal because of the shipping prices. With CSN a lot of their items include free shipping - and my favorite feature is you can see which items offer free shipping when you are looking at the gallery of images as opposed to having to click each item you are interested in! Saves time and money.

While CSN does not cover shipping expenses should you need to return an item (and, in fact, if you had free shipping on the item sent to you they will deduct that from your return too) they do have a satisfaction guarantee and they give you 30 days to return the item in its original packaging in the same condition you received the item. Make sure you have researched the item you are planning on buying and know that it is exactly what you want before purchasing and then it won't be an issue that you have to pay return shipping costs!

Each item description includes a spot for people to leave a review of the specific item. From the items I looked at very few of them actually had a review, but it is a nice feature and one that, if people used, would be helpful. However it is very easy to search for product reviews by typing the full item name and "review" into your search bar so the lack of reviews available on the site isn't a very big deal.

CSN carries an enormous selection of items - from luggage to baby toys to pet supplies. They also work hard to make their prices the lowest on the web and encourage you to contact them if you find a place that carries an item cheaper.

Now for the exciting part!

CSN has extended a free $15 credit to their online store for any item of your choosing - you can get an item that is on your Christmas gift list, a serving dish that you need for your holiday meal, some new towels for your overnights guests or simply a special treat for yourself. There is no minimum purchase required and this is valid for Canadian residents too!

To get the credit CLICK HERE and fill out a simple form and start shopping! Remember to come back and share what item you picked out - I would love to know!

Happy shopping

What to do with Halloween Clearance Candy

Remember what was once the Cookie Jar? I was inspired by an  idea a friend had for it - how cute would this be as a teachers gift, filled with candies, pencils and other little gifts for the teacher to keep on her desk to give out as prizes to her students? It may be too late to find Halloween candy on sale now, but I got all of the candy in the jar for $1.50 - none of it is labeled as Halloween candy.

So for $13.00 you would have a fabulous teachers gift - and it would be much, much cheaper if you made the chalkboard jar yourself!

Inspired by Brittany's comment I tried using chalkboard paint on some smaller glass containers and it totally works! (Walmart sells identical glass jars to the ones from Pier1 - minus the chalkboard paint- for about half the price.)

This picture turned out with a horrible glare, but this is five gallon bags of mini chocolate bars - all bought from the Halloween clearance cart. It's about 10lbs of chocolate and I paid about $1/lb for it. We try to keep frozen cookie dough in our freezer at all times for when we have friends over and these chocolate bars will work amazingly in cookies once we cut them up small.

In Our Backyard

Ornament Swap

If you live in the US and are interested in participating in an ornament swap with your kids check out THE CRAFTY CROW for details on how to sign up and be a part of this!  I am so excited about this!

If you aren't interested in participating, or can't because you live in another country, check out her website anyway, she has an incredible assortment of craft ideas - it's one of the blogs I check daily!

Judah Funnies - another collection volume 2

Judah: "Mommy, can I pee on the wall?" 

Me: "Absolutely not." 

Judah: "Can I pee at the moon?"  

Me: "I would love to see how that goes for you."

 So far he hasn't attempted it, but I'm sure it's coming!! And when he does, I'll have to remember that I told him he could! :)

For weeks now Judah has been asking me various questions about what God has made.
“Did God make the sky? Did God make Wezzy? Did God make airplanes?”
Yesterday morning I served him banana muffins, which he had helped me make several weeks ago (they’d been stored in the freezer.)
He held up the muffin and said “Did I make this?”
I told him yes, he had.
He said matter of factly “Oh. I am God!”

It amazes me how kids connect things in their minds! He caught me so off guard with that comment that I missed the perfect teaching moment to share with him that we are made in God's image.

Makeover

I am finally redoing my blog - it'll slowly be transforming over the next few days - please be patient with anything weird looking! Thanks

King of the Castle

A few weeks ago I found this wooden castle set in an old box at a yard sale. I almost passed it by, but I decided to ask the old lady how much she wanted for it and when she said $3 I put the box aside to think about it while I finished browsing her stuff.

I, obviously, ended up buying it and when I got home I did was has become my customary after yard sales activity - I googled it. I was thrilled to find the KinderKram castle set selling for the sale price of $259!! Woohoo! What a deal! All of the pieces were included in the box, but two pieces do need to be fixed.

Equally as exciting were three wooden train cars I picked up for $1 total. When I googled them on a whim, not really expecting them to be worth much, I found they were worth $75!

How do parents justify spending $75 on a wooden train and then letting their toddler play with it?!

I have put those, along with other yard sale treasures, away for the boys for Christmas. In one morning I got $375 worth of toys for $4. Once I get my act together I will post pictures and prices of all their Christmas gifts - the greater majority of their gifts are from yard sale steals!

All About Soup

In the last few months we have become huge fans of soup - maybe it is because we were without an oven for so long, but even now, with an oven, we love soup and have it almost weekly.

Big Lots sells Cugino's soup mix for $3 - that makes about a half gallon of soup. They also sell the larger bags, enough to make a gallon of soup, for $5.
These soups are so easy to make and are delicious on their own, but with a little extras tossed in they turn into spectacular.

Our last batch of soup was Broccoli - Paul seasoned and sauteed corn and um. Maybe onion? I'm not sure what all he does. I just enjoy eating it. Anyways, he added the seasoned corn to the soup and it was incredible.

Another thing we love doing with our soup is serving it in bread bowls. We haven't attempted to make our own yet, but we will soon. By "we" I mean Paul.

Panera Bread sells their bread bowls for under $2 - I believe it is $1.79. When we have company over and are serving soup we generally buy these bread bowls. I think they are a super cute way to eat soup.
For those with children: we have never bought the boys their own bread bowls. There is more than enough bread for them to eat ours, and they generally eat soup from a mug with a straw.


Our favorite of Cugino's soups is the Creamy Cheddar Asparagus - it is just amazing and with chunks of cheese added to it it is one of my favorite meals!

I recently bought Cugino's French Onion Soup mix and it was such a delightful fall evening meal - with toasted bread and melted cheese on top it was delicious. I have never had French Onion soup up until two weeks ago when we made this, and it was so much better than I'd ever imagined!

I managed to devote an entire post to the different soups we love and how we garnish them. Can you tell I love soup?!

What Happens When a Boy Loses His Ball...

Chalkboard Cookie Jar

I found this jar at Pier1 this past week and just love it! It is on sale for $10.50 until the end of the month - they have other sizes and styles of the chalkboard glass containers too. I used it to hold some yummy chocolate chip cookies and played around with a couple different labels for it.




It is a great size to hold cookies, but would work for so many different things. It would be cute with chocolate covered pretzel rods. Or to hold an assortment of teas and hot chocolates.

Each container comes with two pieces of white chalk, which I loved as I don't have anything other than chunky pieces of chalk at the house!

I like this so much I would love to own more, but am wondering if I could make this myself? Does anyone know if chalkboard paint can go straight on glass?

I Can Trace Review

I was excited to receive the I Can Trace book and Prisma Color pencil crayons put out by Timberdoodle, who offers a large selection of homeschool curriculum.

The I Can Trace book is part of the Big Skills for Little Hands series and there are 6 other books in the series, each book focusing on building motor skills. The I Can Trace book has a large selection of tracing activities, with each page building on skills developed on previous pages.

I was so excited to open the book and spent a good bit of time looking through its colorful pages. Judah has also spent a lot of time simply looking at the pages and telling me "stories" about different pages.

The above image is the first tracing activity - the child is to trace from left to right, starting with an animal and ending with its food. This is about the extent of Judah's attention span and tracing skills right now :) We have spent about 10 minutes each day over the last several days working on this page and a similar one from the book.

Another fun tracing activity

In the days I have spent with him I have seen him improve greatly in his skills to be able to trace a straight line - both with his finger and with his pencil.

I had thought that Wesley would be able to sit and trace alongside with us, but Wesley (1.5 yrs) shows no interest in the activity other than to try to snatch his brothers pencil crayons away from him!

The I Can Trace book is labeled for 2-6 year olds. I think it is a bit too much for most 2 year olds - at least new 2 year olds. At almost 3 the book is one that Judah will be growing into, and yet has simple tracing (such as the first page, shown above) that he is able to work on it right now.

Overall I am thrilled with this book and would highly recommend it to moms for their preschool aged child.

Another bonus to this book: Each page in the book is one sided and perforated, which makes it easy to hang the completed work on the fridge.

The book is priced for $10.50 on their site and I think this is an excellent value for the book - we will definitely be using this book over the next few months and I will probably order a couple other books from the series too.

The PrismaColor pencil crayons that were included in our package for review make for beautiful, vibrant art. I love the quality of these pencil crayons, but at $8 for a package I wouldn't spend the money on them for my boys quite yet - they are still learning to respect their possessions and coloring tools - whether it be markers, crayons or pencil crayons- sometimes disappear or break. I would rather buy the cheaper packages of pencil crayons until they are a bit older, but once they are old enough to take care of the items they own I will be buying these pencil crayons for them as I love them!

While I received these items for free as part of the MamaBzz tour the review is entirely my own thoughts. I value my readers and have been completely upfront and honest with my thoughts.

Piano

We got our piano delivered yesterday evening and all three of my guys are loving it.
Quite surprisingly the two little guys do a pretty good job at playing it - I am hoping they'll take after their daddy and just have a knack for instruments, though we do intend on putting them both through piano lessons.
Here is one of Judah's piano and song duo - pardon the pjs and wet hair - he got sick in the middle of the day and this is him in "sick mode." Wish I was like this when I was sick!!

Banana Bread and Thoughts

Mmm. Homemade Banana Bread! We all love it and last night I made a triple batch of it - with most of it going in our freezer. I kept one loaf out as some of Paul's co-workers were suppose to help move a piano into our house this evening and I was going to feed it to them as a thank you. But with the Ft Hood incident they were kept later at work and it didn't work out to pick up the piano tonight. The blood that Paul and the others at his clinic draw was sent over to the Ft. Hood victims - it kind of hits close to home "knowing" who is getting the life saving blood as a result of the long hours and miles traveled that Paul and the others put into their work.

It breaks my heart thinking of the many families affected by this.

Not sure how I jumped from Banana Bread to Ft. Hood. The recipe is up on the recipe blog now.

Color on the Table

While on a family trip to Lowe's a month or so ago I found a huge roll of Contractors paper (about $9) and had the idea to buy it and use it for our Thanksgiving 'tablecloth' - complete with crayons incorporated into the centerpiece so everyone could color along with dinner.

I couldn't wait for Thanksgiving and last week I used some of it to test out my idea - it was a huge hit with the boys (Paul included!)
Monday evening we had four of our friends over and they loved it too - in fact they covered almost the entire surface of our table with their drawings.

The orange dude here is my favorite!


We had some riddles.

And one of the guests drew his plate of food - but got his fork and spoon on the wrong side :)

We played a few different games and kept score right on the table - it was lots of fun!
And cleanup was a breeze, we just rolled it up and threw it away.

I am definitely using this for our Thanksgiving meal, and probably several more meals between now and then! :)

Seeds Family Worship - coupon

I posted about the Seeds Family Worship cds a few months ago. We have two of the cds and we still love them - every single time we're in the car one of the cds is playing. Judah now knows all of the songs- each song is taken straight out of scripture so he is learning God's word and we LOVE that!

There are a total of 5 cds put out by Seeds Family Worship and I plan to buy them all eventually. I was sent a coupon code to get 20% off your purchase of any of their regular priced items from the Seeds Music Store and I am able to share it with everyone!!

The coupon code is PJMORRIS09 - just enter it when you checkout at Seeds Music Store.

These would make a great Christmas gift!

My Boys

The boys and I are a bit under the weather - and completely grateful for Paul being home with us for a couple days this week to help take care of us.

This past weekend I took these pictures of the boys - and if I was ever challenged to show someone a picture that best captures each boys personality, these would be the pictures I would choose. Judah. Bright eyed. Serious. Observing the world.


Wesley. Smiling Eyes. Goofy grin. Embracing the world.

Chalk

Thursday evening one of our friends gave the boys a few pieces of chalk - I'm not sure why I have never bought it for them before, but as far as I know they've never played with sidewalk chalk before.
It has been perfect weather for this activity and they have both been enjoying it!

I love how Wesley stands and bends over to do his coloring! :)

Our Morning

Paul finished his first half marathon this morning and we're so proud of him!! He finished with an average of just over a 9 minute mile.


The boys watching for Paul.


There were lots of people lined up down the sidewalk cheering all the runners on.

He was so focused he didn't even see us cheering for him.

Judah went up to him and said "Daddy, I am so proud of you. Yay daddy! Good job."

I am so proud of you Paul!

A Chicken and a Lion

We have chosen to not take our boys out Trick or Treating and in place of that we wanted to come up with a fun activity that we could do each year with them.
I thought about it for awhile and decided it would be fun to do something as a family for other people - what it is that we do will probably vary from year to year - this year we kept it quite simple.
I bagged up popcorn kernels, made a little label and instructions on how to make the popcorn and stapled it to the bag.


I only made 6 of these bags and it took us 3.5 hours to deliver them!! I'd originally thought of making more, but I am glad I had only done 6.

When the boys are older I think it would be fun to do something for more families and let the boys run out of the car, put the gift in front of the door, ring the doorbell and then run back to the car and we'd leave right away - I can see that appealing to young boys :)

But how we did it this evening was nice - we chatted with our friends, got to meet some of their extended family members, new pets and even see what some were eating for dinner :)
I feel like we got to know some of our friends better and we spent the time driving to the next home praying for each of the family members that live there.


I had bought these costumes for the boys ages ago when Old Navy had them marked down to 90% off - I a.d.o.r.e them!! Wesley is just so huggable and Judah looks hysterical as a chicken!!
Both of the boys enjoyed dressing up and I think I'll be watching for more costumes to go on clearance. I think after Christmas is when I got these costumes for such a steal.

Judah told me that he was "a monkey that says cock-a-doodle-doo!"

Have a good weekend everyone!

Judah Funnies - another collection

I can't keep up with the funny things that come out of this boys mouth. He keeps us laughing all.the.time! It's so much fun!

Recently at dinner time I was trying to get him to eat something that he didn't want to eat and he said to me in all seriousness; "Lick it mommy. Kiss it. Put it on your head." I don't know why it struck us as so hilarious, but Paul now quotes that line a lot.

Dinner time seems to be the time for funnies - he was in the middle of eating something and out of the blue he said quite seriously; "Daddy. I want to fart in a spoon."
Paul's response made me laugh even harder; "Well son. We can't always have what we want."

A few weeks ago Judah came to me and said: “Mommy, I don’t like it when Daddy talks to me like that. He said ‘No jumping on the bed.’”

I have gotten Judah all hyped up about Christmas, even though he doesn't totally get what "Christmas" is. He talks about it a lot - he knows things I buy are being put away until Christmas and I have told him the Christmas story and we've even pulled out the nativity set and played with it a few times. Two weeks ago Judah saw a nativity scene set up in a store and yelled out loudly “LOOK MOMMY! THERE’S GOD!”

While dressing him the other day he looked down at his bare chest and said "Oh! There are my nipples. Hi nipples! We are going to go to the gym nursery today - yay!"

Judah was playing with one of his little plastic army men and he brought one to me and said "Mommy, his arms are tired. Pull this off." (taking about the gun the army man was holding.)

Flipbook

I had SO much fun doing this activity!! I found the template and instructions Here at First Palette.
Judah is a bit young to play with this book on his own, but he enjoys playing with it with me.
I printed 7 or 8 sheets and colored characters that he likes - swimmer, cowboy, soldier, nurse, etc. He only colored one himself.

When he is a bit older I think I will do this one with him again, but let him color all the characters himself. He's just a bit young for that part right now.

Rainy Day Race Track

I saw this idea while blog hoping a while ago and I can't remember where I saw it but I love this idea!! It is the perfect rainy day activity to do with two little boys.

I started the tape in the middle of our stair case and it goes in front of the couch, loops in a circle, goes around the side table and then back down behind the couch.



Parts of the track have black lines down the center to resemble a road - making the lines was part of the fun for Judah!

We have been using this all morning for cars, balancing, chasing, coloring, rolling - there are so many activities to be done with a roll of painters tape!

The only bad thing about it is that I used Paul's painters tape (sorry babe!!) I think the Dollar Tree sells some and while it's cheap quality it would be perfect for this activity!

Buying a New Mattress

When we got married our first apartment came fully furnished so we didn't have to consider what type of mattress to buy as we didn't need to buy one.

A couple months later Paul's Sgt was moving and selling all of her furniture so we bought most of it from her for an excellent deal - included in that furniture was a Queen mattress and box spring. That was 4.5 years ago and while we don't regret the thrifty purchase it is time for us to invest in our own mattress that meets our needs.

We have been thinking about purchasing a new mattress set for a couple of months now and imagine my delight when Tyler from www.csnmattresses.com contacted me about us working together on getting their name out there. I asked if he could get his team to put together a post about what to look for when buying a mattress and they did just that!

If you are considering purchasing a mattress be sure to follow the link on the bottom as there are more details there about what to be looking for when shopping for a mattress.

Mattress Buying Tips

There are many important factors to keep in mind when trying to find the right mattress. Here are some important ideas to consider when you start shopping for your new mattress set!

Support- A good mattress and foundation should gently support your body at all points, keeping your spine in the straight and aligned with the rest of your body. Pay special attention to the heaviest parts of your body. If there's too little support, you may develop back pain. Another great indicator of support is the coil count of a particular mattress. Don't rely on product labels to tell you which mattress will give you the right support. One manufacturer's "firm" may feel harder than another manufacturer’s “extra firm." The only real way to find out if the support is right is to lie down and test it yourself!

Comfort- Gone are the days when a mattress was nothing more than a bag of feathers. While Mattress Designs have evolved over the years, comfort and support remain the most important factor to consider. No longer does a mattress have to be a stiff board to be healthy for your sleep. A hard mattress is good for little else than putting your shoulders and hips to sleep, leaving you tossing and turning all night. Your best sleep occurs when bed cradles you providing both comfort and security. Today's top quality mattress sets from companies like Simmons Beauty Rest are built for superior comfort. Innovative new cushioning materials and extra-soft surface treatments create a plusher, more comfortable feel. You no longer have to sacrifice comfort in order to have healthy night’s rest.

Space- The average sleeper moves anywhere from 40-60 times a night, including a good dozen or so full body turns, cramped quarters can turn sleeping into a nightly battle. You need freedom of motion while you sleep which helps you to relax while falling asleep. If you sleep with a partner, be sure to select a queen or king size mattress. Not only are these lager sizes wider, but they are each several inches longer than the standard full size, which is comparable to a baby in a crib.

Durability- To guarantee good mattress performance over many years, buy the highest quality sleep set you can afford. The quality of the materials used in the mattress and how they are put together determines how long a mattress and box spring will last. A warranty won’t tell you how long to keep your mattress; it is just there to protect you against any product defects. A warranty may say it is usable after 20 years after purchase, but it's likely not giving you the good night's sleep that you deserve.

This is a great guide to help you evaluate whether or not it’s time for a new mattress for you - the E.A.S.E. METHOD.

Dollar Tree Love

The last few weeks Judah has been super interested in making crafts - only his version of the crafts are very boy-i-fied. Like the above "Alien Caterpillar." I adore his imagination.
Sometimes I wish I could take a trip into his head just to see how that boy thinks.

Anyways. Back to the crafts.
Our town has tons of dollar stores and by far the best dollar store is Dollar Tree - everything in Dollar Tree is truly $1 (or less) and they have a marvelous selection of things!
I have gotten so many fun craft items for the boys from Dollar Tree.

I was in Micheal's craft store yesterday and they had a lot of the same items but for way, way more - at least twice the price for the same quantity or less as the Dollar Tree.

Some of our craft purchases from there have been:
-Googly eyes
-Pipe Cleaners
-Foam shapes
-Felt
-Popsicle sticks
-Paper Bags
-Paper Plates

I have also picked up a lot of really nice bins for organizing all of the craft items - similar to the ones I got for organizing my pantry.

If you have never checked out your local Dollar Tree I would highly recommend it!

And is anyone else totally excited that Christmas is exactly two months away?!?

Dealing with the "I don't want to" - Ideas Welcome!

I think we've just hit the hardest-to-deal-with (to date) stage of raising children. The "I don't want to" stage. For a few days I would venture to say that 90% of Judah's responses to us started with "I don't want to..."

We have by no means eliminated the "I don't want to" response, but we have seen a drastic decrease in the amount he says it and a huge change in his attitude over the last few days by changing a few things. We're not sure what specifically caused the change, so for now we're going to keep all of these things in play:


1. Paul (if he is home) or I sit down with him first thing in the morning and tell him that we don't want him saying "I not" or "I don't want to" today. We tell him what is punishment will be each time he says it (more on that in a minute) and we then pray with him and ask God to help him honor God by obeying without arguing. This is literally the first thing we do with him - it comes before changing his diaper even.

2. Even though Judah is only 2.5 and probably too young to grasp this concept we reinforce to him throughout the day that it doesn't matter if you want to do something or not - you still need to do it and you need to be joyful.
For example, Paul has casually brought up to Judah that he doesn't want to go to work and leave us at home because he misses us while he is gone but that he has to because it is his job to provide for us. Judah's response to that was "Oh ok. That's cool daddy."
I don't think he understands, but we want him to grow up with the understanding that we don't always get to do what we want to do but we need to always do what God has asked us to do - and for Judah that would be obeying his parents.

3. Because of the frequency of Judah's "I don't want to..." comments we had to get creative with a punishment - he would say it at home, in the store, at church - anywhere and everywhere. We tried many different things and the one we have found most efficient (we saw a HUGE difference within hours of doing this!) and have stuck with is making him do push ups. Each time he back talks and says "I don't want to..." I ask him to do 2-10 push ups depending on the situation. He has been doing push ups for several months now as a fun "lets be like daddy" type activity and so I wasn't sure at first how he would respond to it being used as a form of discipline.
I'm not kidding when I say that within a couple hours of using push ups the amount of arguing decreased noticeably.
What is really odd about it is that he doesn't mind doing the push ups - he would rather do push ups then be sent to his room, and yet push ups are a more efficient form of punishment than being sent to his room! I thought that was interesting.

4. On top of those things we have also completely eliminated all movies from his viewing - just prior to this "I don't want to" attitude he started to watch Bob the Builder or Curious George or a similar type shows once a day/every two days - we aren't convinced that his attitude is connected to the shows, but we decided to eliminate them completely just to see.


Like I said at the beginning, we haven't eliminated this attitude but it has decreased. We are finding ourselves ever more in need of God's wisdom and grace in knowing what to do and how to respond to our boys.

If you've been through this "I don't want to" stage I would love to hear your creative ideas for dealing with it! :) We're open to all ideas!

Contest Winner

Using random.org #8 was picked as the winner for the Sticker/Label Giveaway hosted by Uprinting.com. Congrats Amber!

Fish Food (Jello!)

Another fish related activity that I did with Judah this week was to make an edible fish aquarium. I found this fantastic see-through blue container at the Dollar Tree as well as the plastic water animals.

I washed those items really, really well before anything else :)

Then Judah and Wesley helped me make jello - this container held three packets of jello! We did it in layers and added fish on each level.

I added three straws at the very beginning and once all the jello had set I trimmed the straws so they only came as high as the jello and I stuck pipe cleaners in the straws to look like seaweed-y/grassy stuff. I know. It looks nothing like seaweed-y/grassy stuff. But use your imagination :)

Our final step was to add an alligator, seal, turtle and frog to the top of the jello.

Here it is from a side view:

I loved doing this activity with Judah - not only did it include "cooking" together, but he also got to learn the names of some water creatures he didn't previously know about (Seal!). We had a friend over for dinner the evening we served this and Judah was quite excited to show off his plate aquarium and his Jello aquarium.

Hooking up with Tasty Tuesday

Fish Aquarium Craft

We have been studying fish this week - as deeply as a 2.5 year old is able to study anything :)
I think he's had a lot of fun with it and he talks a lot about fish throughout the day.

One of the activities I did with him was to make a fish aquarium - it was so simple and I love how it turned out! We made two of them and put them back to back and currently have them hanging over our dining room table.

To make your own you will need:

- Two plates (I used blue to look like water)
- A baggie large enough to cover the hole you cut in the plate
- Scissors
- Double sided tape
- stapler
- fish stickers/shapes for them to color
- glitter glue (to make the waves and fish bubbles)
- ribbon for hanging

Cut a hole in the center of plate 1 and, using double sided tape, attach the baggie so you have a "window."

Attach fish and glitter to plate 2.

Staple the two plates together - making sure to staple the ribbon to the top and center.

Next up: Fishy Jello