Some of you may remember my post about my aunt being creative and thoughtful. She made my three older kiddos these great song flash cards! Since my youngest is only 18months she knew that those song cards wouldn't really "work for him. She made him a set of alphabet flash cards! Such a fun and creative idea! All you need is: a ring, paper and a little creativity. Here are some suggestions for letters so that you don't have to do much work: A- apple, aardvark, armadillo, astronaut B- banana, bell, blue, bear C- cat, caterpillar, crayon, coin D- dinosaur, dog, dart, dove E- elephant, ear, eye, earth F- frog, frown, fairy, feather G- green, grapes, grass, gopher H- horse, happy, Halloween, I- igloo, ice cream, iguana J- jelly bean, jellyfish, jigsaw, jacks, jacket K- kite, kitten, key, kangaroo, king L- lion, lemon, lizard, leaf M- monkey, medal, mirror, moon N- needle, nail, notebook, nest O- octopus, otter, orange, olive P- panda, penguin, pink, purple, pan Q- quilt, … [Read more...]
Back Yard Camping
Hubby and I are very much into tent camping. Part of the money we received from our wedding was spent on high quality camping gear, and before we had kids, we camped multiple times a summer. It became a lot harder, however, when the girls were little. It took too much effort to pack up a bunch of baby items. Hubby and I decided that we would instead, begin to teach our girls to camp using our back yard. It has been a once-a-summer family tradition every since. Back yard tent camping has most of the same opportunities as real camping without all the hassle and with some of the comforts of home (such as a nice bathroom for my picky girls). Though we still try to go real camping, we make sure to camp in our back yard at least once a summer. We use our fire pit to cook over the fire, roast marshmallows, and keep warm as the rule is you can only go inside to go to the bathroom once we've begun our camping adventure. If you're not really into the hassle of real camping or have … [Read more...]
Oh I wish I were a….
I wanted to share this fun song with you all. This is a song I remember my aunt singing to me when I was a kiddo and now she sings it to my kids via Skype. It is really easy and super funny. She made the kids these great "verse" flash cards so they would know what comes next. Here are the words: Oh I wish I were a little mosquito (mosquito) Oh I wish I were a little mosquito (mosquito) For I'd nippy and I'd bitty under everybody's night Oh I wish I were a little mosquito (mosquito)! Oh I wish I were a little bar of soap (bar of soap) Oh I wish I were a little bar of soap (bar of soap) For I'd slippy and I'd slidey under everybody's hidey Oh I wish I were a little bar of soap (bar of soap)! Oh I wish I were a little striped skunk (striped skunk) Oh I wish I were a little striped skunk (striped skunk) For I'd climb up in the trees and perfume up all the breeze Oh I wish I were a little striped skunk (striped skunk)! Oh I wish I were a little can of pop (can of … [Read more...]
Fun on the Farm
We live in the burbs....no real farms close to us for several hours (by car). When my kids see animals that live on a farm it usually entails a state or county fair of some sort. My father in law lives on a farm. His home is a 6 hour drive straight north from us....354 miles to be exact. Survival in the car is #1 priority...what I mean is traveling with 4 kids ages 5, 4, 4, and 18 months gets tricky. The ever popular question "are we there yet?" gets asked in numbers so high that I cannot fathom to guess. Is it worth it? Absolutely! When we get there it is a whole new world. My kids peel themselves out of their car seats and head right for the toys on the farm. With 200+ acres there are lots of things to do and lots of space to do them in. Our Papa he is a crafty guy. He turned an old John Deer lawnmower into a safe, slow riding toy for the kids. He removed the blades and it turns off immediately if they stand up. He has lots of ATV's and 4 wheelers, or are those the same??? The … [Read more...]
Horseback Riding–Memories for a Lifetime
For Nutty's 6th birthday, she wanted a horse party. After some research, I discovered it was just as expensive, if not cheaper, to take the party to Sunnyside Stables (and have each girl ride their own horse) as it would be to have one pony come to our house and have the girls take turns! So, we went all-out and took the party to the stables! (In the interest of privacy, and because this post is not about the party, I am only posting photos of my girls) For Nutty, and most of the girls at the party, this was her first time on a real horse (instead of a pony at a petting zoo). For Tottie (who is too small to ride a real horse), this was her first time riding a pony by herself. Their experience is something they will never forget! After first meeting their horses, and then leading them around for a little bit, it was time to get down to the business of actually riding them! Nutty was a little nervous, Tottie was THRILLED! In fact, Nutty was so nervous, she had a helper … [Read more...]
Recycling for toy storage
Disclaimer- this is NOT a product review post and we're not endorsing Tide Pods, this is simply an example. Also we'd like to take a second to remind you to keep all cleaning products out of reach of children. This very product has been mistaken for candy by some children, please be careful, we love your kids and so do you. I personally love my laundry soap choice, it's quick and easy. The one thing that I do not like is the massive bottle of plastic I toss afterwards. I feel guilty and bad that I just added to the landfill. I love the way I re-use these containers for toy storage! Check it out.... First things first, wash and thouroughly dry the container out. Print out a photo of the object you are going to store in the container and add the word to it as well. By doing both you are teaching your child a few things---first, they are learning that things have a place and it makes things easier if they know where they go. Second they learn to match the way the word looks with … [Read more...]
