Painting the Clean Way!

I was given these Crafty Dab Kids Paint Markers before Christmas and wanted to recommend them to moms for stocking gifts but never got around to it. With all the activities surrounding Christmas and then the traveling and times we've been sick since then I am just now getting around to writing about them. But the good thing about that is that I have had plenty of time to use these (3+ months) and so when I tell you these paints are amazing, they truly are amazing! They smell good, dry quickly, encourage creativity and sparkle!

 

Judah (age 3) loves using these for his arts and crafts. They are simple enough for him to use with minimal supervision, but really, these are so fun to play with that I usually paint along side him. 

I have shared these with moms with older children, grandmas and teens and this product has been a hit with all those age groups. These paint markers really are a great indoor activity! 

I am going to give away 3 of the (non sparkle) Paint Markers to one winner - I will mail to anywhere in the world. Just tell me which 3 of the following 6 colors you would like to win:

Yellow, Purple, Orange, Green, Blue or Red.

Giveaway will end of Friday and winner will be announced by the end of the day.

You can order these for yourself at the Crafty Dab online store.

On a Dreary Day

 

Dirty pennies + White vinegar + Baking Soda =

Happy giggly, thoroughly entertained boys and clean pennies.

I let the boys play in the kitchen sink and they were in fits of giggles over the "explosive" baking soda and they enjoyed scrubbing down the pennies to make them shine. I had thought of letting them use old toothbrushes to scrub the pennies, but I know Wesley would have stuck the toothbrush in his mouth, so I just gave them dish cloths to scrub with. 

It would have been a fairly hands off activity for myself except for the fact that I enjoyed watching their response to the baking soda and vinegar so I spent the entire time watching them play instead of working on other things in the kitchen.

Finger Puppets

I  have a deep fondness for the Dollar Tree that - upon discoveries like this - borders on love.

Little Red Riding Hood finger puppets!!

I bought these before Christmas but as of a week ago they were still at our local store, along with a set for The Emperors New Clothes and Aladdin - neither of which thrilled me as much as this one.

I have fond memories of Little Red Riding Hood - I remember going over to an older ladies house that I called Grandma along with her real grandchildren and listening to Little Red Riding Hood on her record player. I am sure we listened to other stories on the record player too, but this is the only one I remember.

 

When I introduced the finger puppets to the boys for the first time they sat in awe of them.

They listened to the story, then each picked a character for their own finger and we retold the story together. And since then we've had many variations of the story.

 

They have enjoyed these finger puppets so much I have bought them three more sets. I haven't yet introduced them to them, but some day soon I will pull out the other ones and see where their imaginations take them.

Finger puppets are an excellent way to not only tell a story to children but to let them retell a story using their own imagination, create voices for each puppet and work on their story telling abilities. I highly recommend picking up a set for your own children!

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! :)

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!

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

An Evening at the Fair

Friday evening we took the boys to the South Carolina State Fair - we had so much fun together and Wesley and I even got to ride an elephant! Judah got scared at the last minute.
We didn't get there until after dark so I didn't take many pictures of the boys, but here they are enjoying some food:

I had packed some "fair like" food for them that I'd picked up at the grocery store the day before - it saved a TON of money and they were quite content eating their treats when surrounded by all the goodies sold at the fair.

The Midway was HUGE - there were three Ferris wheels and you couldn't see all three of them from the same spot. We didn't put the boys on any rides, but they loved walking through and looking at them all.
The lights against the black sky looked so cool:

30 Days of Littles Round up

I have been meaning to put this up for a while now - oops! Here is a quick reference to all the ideas of things to do with your littles throughout the day.



1. Keeping him busy with physical work.
2. Unloading the dishwasher.
3. Trying new spices.
4. Getting head massages.
5. Mail for the boys.
6. Playing with boxes.
7. Playing with toilet paper rolls.
8. You-tube
9. Where they eat messy food.
10. Singing songs.
11. Keeping myself sane.
12. Nap time.
13. Teaching them to do things themselves.
14. Keeping a simple schedule.
15. They eat what we eat.
16. Appreciating Paul's parenting style.
17. Appreciating Paul's parenting style pt 2 & exercise
18. Bedtime.
19. Intentionally playing with my kids.
20. Swimming diapers.
21. Guest Post - chore chart
22. Stay flexible - do what works.
23. Make learning fun.
24. Shooting guns.
25. Playing with gifts beforehand.
26. Seeing a child's love.
27. Burning energy outside.
28. Toys.
29. Cheer myself up.
30. Cherishing our children and showing them Christ.

30 Days with Littles Day30

When I was 20 weeks pregnant with Judah I almost lost him. It's almost overwhelming to think back on the circumstances. But in looking back I am comforted by seeing God's hand so clearly guiding us through the situation - from the timing of everything, to the doctors that were on call, to the hard decisions we had to make. Until I was 32 weeks pregnant the doctors were iffy on whether he would make it full term or not, and while he was born 5 weeks premature he was healthy and totally normal.

All that to say - not a day goes by that I don't remember how close I felt we were to loosing him and in turn thank God for saving him and giving us our precious son.

And while Wesley's pregnancy wasn't nearly as dramatic as Judah's, it easily could have been - and I praise God for giving me two healthy boys.

Kristin mentioned in her guest post that her main survival strategy is prayer. I couldn't agree with her more. And digging a bit deeper into it - if we are thanking God each and every day for our children we will be cultivating an attitude of thanksgiving and thereby living a joyful life - seeing the Glorious in the mundane. Loving our children in a selfless way. Showing them what a true relationship with Christ looks like. For a Christian mother, that should be our goal for each day that we spend with our children - to show them Christ.


This concludes the 30 Days with Littles series! Wow!! Thanks for tagging along and adding your ideas in the comments. There were some great ideas I was going to try out with my boys!

30 Days of Littles Day 29

Children are funny.
And absolutely hilarious.

While most of the time it is easy to see the humor (funny things they wear or say!) other times it is easy to let exhaustion and the mundane chores of daily life get in the way of how I see the boys.
The other day I was exhausted. I'd drank a bit too much coffee the day before (*ahem* 12 cups to be exact. I only know how to much coffee by the pot full.) and I didn't fall asleep til after 3 am.

I haven't been that tired in a long, long time. And it was totally my fault I was that tired.
Totally didn't make me feel ANY better knowing I'd brought it entirely upon myself.

Anyways, I was crabby and exhausted and wanted to lock myself far away from my children.
But seeing as that's not really an option I pulled out this clown hat I'd bought for the boys, grabbed my camera and took some pictures.
Oh. And I ate an entire cut-n-bake thing of cinnamon rolls.
Laughing with (ok, AT. I laughed AT them) my children and eating 5,000 calories worth of yumminess made my day so much better and put things in a better perspective.

Happy 4th of July everyone!

30 Days of Littles Day 28

I don't like to have a lot of toys in the house, and so I don't. It is really hard keeping their toys to a minimum, but they just don't need lots of toys.
The toys they do have are scattered throughout the house. There is a small box in their room of toys, a small one in the living room and a small basket on the back porch. Then there's a couple cars in the TV Room and a couple wooden toys near where they eat breakfast - and that's it.

I like having toys accessible in every room we are in - whether it's to grab one to distract Wesley during a diaper change, to entertain the one who finishes his meal first or so we aren't dragging toys all over the house - I like having designated toy areas in our main living areas.
And that's not to say that dragging toys around the house doesn't happen. Because it does with favorite toys. The Abacus is a current favorite of Wesley's right now and it is so funny to watch him drag it from room to room and up and down the stairs =)

30 Days of Littles Day 27

The boys are much more pleasant and calm inside the house if they have had time to romp and explore outside the house.
I think before they came to live with us they were honorary members on the island from Where the Wild Things Are.

The amount of their arguments with each other and their disobedience are closely connected to a few factors:
How much sleep they have had;
Their diet;
And how much time they have had just running around and being boys.

Sometimes it's hard getting them outside to play. It gets SO hot here - like nostril hair burning hot. And sometimes I am just plain lazy and don't want to chase a ball or run after them. (Yes, I said it. I can be lazy.)

But really, the boys NEED time to let their energy be exhausted. I see such a difference in their attitudes when they have had that time outside to just be crazy, playful, wild boys - shooting at cars, hiding in the grass, chasing balls, rolling down the hill.

30 Days of Littles Day 26

Judah takes great delight in doing things for me and giving me things - on a daily basis.

Picking me weeds.
Clearing his dishes and spilling food along the way.
Pulling all the diapers out of the box while trying to get me *one* diaper.
Coloring me pictures on documents I need.

Those are just a few examples.
There is a true joy that he has when he thinks he has done something to please me and I cherish his boy-ish love and enthusiasm.
It would be easy to get frustrated with the extra mess he makes, but he has such an eager spirit to serve and I think any frustration or negative response on my behalf would discourage him from trying to help.
It could be easy to overlook the weeds he picks me - but he doesn't look at the weeds as weeds. To him they are as beautiful as any expensive bouquet Paul might bring me home. (And honestly?! They do the same melt-my-heart-thing that Paul's flowers do too!)

Sometimes, while going through the same day-to-day activities, it is easy to overlook the little things Judah does in an attempt to help or be sweet- and not just overlook them, but see them as more work and frustrating.
It's been on my heart a lot more lately about being encouraging to my children.
Purposely, each day, encouraging them.

"Therefore encourage one another and build up one another..."
1 Thess 5:11

30 Days of Littles Day 25

I keep a stash of presents for the boys Christmas and birthday gifts that I collect from yard sales and sale items throughout the year - it saves money and time and they end up with nicer things of greater value than if I were to pay full price for a gift right before the occasion.

That being said, because of their age they really aren't that into gifts. What I did last year with Judah and am doing this year with both of them is occasionally pulling out their Christmas or birthday gifts one by one for an afternoon of fun. They play with the item, figure out what it does, entertain themselves for a few hours and then I put it back away - then come Christmas morning they'll KNOW what their present is and actually be excited about the gift =)

30 Days of Littles Day 24

Judah is all about guns and has been for a long time.
Paul and I don't have a problem with him "playing guns" - bananas, markers, spoons, toy trucks and empty toilet paper rolls have all served as play guns for him recently. Judah has this amazing ability to make a gun out of *anything*. I am choosing to believe it's a talent =)

To keep from going totally crazy with his play fighting and to teach him distinctions in male and female, Paul and I made a rule early on that he is NOT allowed to shoot women. He sometimes forgets in his excitement but he is daily reminded that women are to be protected and not shot. His daddy and brother and all the imaginary bad guys are allowed to be shot. But never mommy.

It melts my heart to hear him growl "Judah manly man. Protect Mommy. Die bad guy."

30 Days of Littles Day 23

While I certainly don't take advantage of every opportunity to teach Judah (whew! I'd be exhausted!) I do try to teach him in various scenarios and make it fun.
Like when we are in the car and stopped at a red light I ask him what the letters are on the signs around us. Or if we're playing in the front yard I ask him the colors of the cars that drive by.

Or the other day he was eating Cheerios and had 5 left. I asked him if he could count his Cheerios for me and tell me how many there were.
He looked at me, looked at the Cheerios, out them all in his mouth and said "None - all gone!" =)

30 Days of Littles Day 22

While a schedule and routine is important for structure in a young child's life flexibility is just as important. I am learning that in this time that Paul is away (we're one week down, two more to go!) Paul's never been away from us for quite this long before and the times he has been away he has been able to call us several times throughout the day.
This time he isn't able to call til after 11pm, and then only for a few minutes as he needs to get to bed so he's ready to start the next day.

I think the lack of talking to Paul combined with the fact that Judah's getting older is making him miss Paul a lot more than he has in the past.

A couple of times this week I have let Judah stay up late so he could talk to Paul when he called. While Judah just chattered on and on about motorcycles (his current favorite thing in the world!) it cheered him up to hear Paul's voice.
Judah's also been refusing to eat much of anything, and while it concerns me, I definitely understand. I have a hard time wanting to eat or do anything when Paul is away too! The other evening I took the boys to the grocery store just to pick up special things so Judah would eat - peaches (his current favorite fruit, I think because it's sticky and makes a mess!), cheese strings (he won't eat just cheese, but cheese strings he will - go figure!), drinkable yogurt, pepperoni, pumpernickle bread and animal crackers.

Those foods, in addition to eggs, are all he will currently eat.

So while I earlier said that the boys eat what we eat and they go to bed on schedule each night, being flexible and adapting to meet their emotional needs is very important.

And while it is fairly unique to military families to have the dad go away, every family goes through situations where you need to be flexible for the sake of your child's well being.

30 Days of Littles Day 21

I asked my bloggy friend Kristin if she would like to write a guest post for this series and I am so happy she agreed! Kristin blogs at This is the Life and I have really enjoyed her honesty and real-ness in her posts. And her children are adorable, as you can see in the picture below! Here is Kristin:

When Jessica asked if I wanted to do a guest post for her 30 Days of Littles series I was unsure. I mean, what do I know about parenting? I just muddle through from day to day. And I pray a lot. That’s my main survival strategy for parenting: prayer. Without that I’d be lost.

Alright, let me introduce myself. I’m Kristin. I’ve been happily married to Chris for almost 8 years. I am the mother of two adorable children: Helen, who will be 3 in September, and Patrick, who was born in March. I am very lucky to be able to stay home with my kids…it’s the greatest job ever.

One thing I think is important is that every member of the family contributes to the running of the house in some way. My husband goes to work every day to provide for our financial needs. He is also responsible for most of the outdoor work around our place. I keep the house as clean as possible with two young children (and to help with this I have a pretty strict schedule… every day has a job that needs to be done), I feed everyone and I take care of the grocery shopping and other errands, etc, etc, etc.


So, one day I was preparing dinner with a two year old underfoot (as usual) and I realized that she was old enough to have responsibilities as well. So, Helen has a job chart. She is responsible for making her bed in the morning, setting the table for dinner, putting her clothes in her hamper before her bath and picking up her toys before bed. Helen need incentives and reminders to do her jobs (don’t we all) so we have a chart on the refrigerator that lists her jobs and she gets a special princess sticker when she finishes one.

She gets lots of help doing all of her jobs and my expectations take her abilities into account. When she “makes the bed” she is mostly pulling the sheets up and putting her pillows in place. I help her every time and show her how to do it and how it should look. We do this every morning because I want it to be a habit she keeps as she grows up. When she sets the table I hand her each plate, cup, fork, knife, spoon and we put them on the table together. I show her how a place should be set. Someday she’ll set a perfect table on her own.

In some ways these jobs are more time consuming with her help than if I just did them myself. But Helen lives here and she needs to be a part of life here. Patrick has responsibilities too. He’s three months old and he is responsible for learning to control his head, rolling over and, eventually, walking. That first year is full of some pretty difficult responsibilities! Including everyone in all aspects of family life is an important part of life with littles. The great thing is, little love to help so teaching them to work now is helping develop good habits for later (I hope).