Turn up your volume for this post because what you don't hear is the key... Growing up, Friday night was family movie night in my house. Still today, my parents watch a movie together every Friday night. Heaven forbid my sister and I (or anyone) call during movie time and interrupt it. "You know it's movie night don't you? I'll call you back when the movie is over." Now that I have my own kids, we do family movie nights. We don't do them every week, but we do have them regularly. Again, Heaven forbid something/someone interrupt our movie. One thing that used to interfere with our family nights was our dishwasher. Hubby would start it after dinner (not thinking) and eventually we'd either have to turn up the volume on our TV way loud or simply pause the movie and wait for the dish washing cycle to end. Even when we watched our movies on the downstairs TV you could hear our dishwasher! Not any more...my new GE® Dishwasher is SUPER quiet!! Just listen... Yes, the GE® … [Read more...]
Archives for May 2013
Fingerprint Art
I had a ton of fun making spring photos with my fingers the other day...and in all honesty the kids didn't participate. I know this is something they'd love to do, however, we were "blessed" by 12 inches of snow this past week so they were more inclined to go sledding than finger art! LOL Bumblebee- simply use the thumb for the body and the pointer finger for the head. When the ink is dry add the details using a black marker Frog- my personal favorite! He's cuuuuuute! The thumb is what you use to make the body. Add the black details when it's dry and then use a green marker to add little triangles for the webbed feet. Butterfly- use your pointer finger and print two next to each other to create the wings of the butterfly. When the ink is dry use a black marker to fill in the details. Flower- your thumb will get a work out when making this flower. Dip your thumb in yellow ink and make the flower shape. Clean your thumb off then add two green prints for the leaves and … [Read more...]
Sensory Mud- Pinned it, Did it
If your kids like things that feel neat then this is the thing for them! It's REALLY easy and REALLY cheap to make too! All you need is water and a box of baking soda (which usually runs you less than a dollar). My kids love to feel squishy things with their hands and feet so when I saw this pinned on Pinterest I thought I better give it a try. The original pin just used baking soda and water, but I added a little food coloring to the water prior to mixing and we ended up with some blue "sensory mud." Dump your box of baking soda in a bowl and SLOWLY add a few drops of water....seriously all you need is about a teaspoon total. If you add the water to quickly or add to much you end up with soup rather than mud. My kids loved to just squeeze it but there are several other things you can do with it too. You can use different cookie cutters to make shapes in the mud, which was one of my favorite things to do with it. My two-year old used the sensory mud to drive his trucks in and he … [Read more...]
Snugg iPad4 Case
We were recently contacted by the company The Snugg to review their Snugg iPad4 Case. Since Jamie doesn't own an iPad and we do I had the pleasure of receiving one. I immediately jumped at the opportunity to review this because we were actually in the market for a new case for our iPad. The main person that uses the iPad in our house is our eldest son, lil' King. He uses the iPad to work on Spanish Immersion classes, reading, and math homework for school. The case that came with our iPad worked fine (and when I say fine, I mean, it was very basic and served a very basic purpose). Our … [Read more...]
Mom Tips to Help Make Every Day Extraordinary
Samantha Harris, celebrity mom of two and television personality, shares her favorite mom tips to help make your everyday extraordinary. Tip #1: Schedule your mom activities like an appointment! I like to pencil in workouts, carpool duty and grocery shopping right into my calendar so I can keep my to-do list organized. Seeing it all written down is a surefire way to get it all done and allow you to rearrange as needed. Tip #2: Make "date night" a priority! As moms, we are constantly juggling many hats and it can be easy to forget to focus some time for our relationships. Ask your relatives or a friend to babysit for a night (and offer to return the favor), then hit the town. Or have a "date in", by setting up a sleepover for the kids (or putting them to bed early), and rent a movie, make some popcorn and curl up on the couch! Tip #3: Enlist the kids to help! Chores don't need to solely fall on mom—I like to get my kids involved by making a chore wheel and set up a completion … [Read more...]
Birthdays with “The Twin Factor”
More often than not I am asked about my twins and how alike they really are. In a factual sense of the term they are twins: they were born on the same day, from the same mother and they shared the womb. But beyond that they really are quite different (besides the obvious that they are different genders). They enjoy each others company and they are pretty protective of each other, which I think is adorable, and they are generally a terrific two-some. For the first 4 years of their lives I was able to squeak in my own personal preference for "twin-ness" by hosting their birthday parties with themes (prince and princess, monkeys, spring theme and last year was all about the number four). This year, however, it slapped me in the face when it came to their differences. I will admit my heart was a little broken when I realized what was occurring, they were asserting themselves in their own right. They are in different pre-school classrooms this year and therefore they each got to pick … [Read more...]
