I have always admired artists and dabbled in some pitiful attempts to paint, draw, and the like.
My husband actually found a painting that I did and thought his sister gave it to us and said “This is by far the ugliest painting that Kelsey has ever done.” Yeah, I’ll probably never let that one go.
But, that same sweet husband helped me paint words on the walls of our new business, and he isn’t an artist either.
After my years in the classroom, I was gifted an overhead projector from my superstar mother-in-law. This came in handy. I printed the words (in the font that I wanted) onto transparencies (at Office Depot), and then simply projected the image onto the wall.
We then just painted over the shadow of the letters and it nearly looked like someone with art skills had something to do with it. Murals can also be done this way. My friend painted the sportsman fleur de lis onto my son’s wall using our projector too.
You know those days when you walk back to your car after an all-day-event of check-ups or appointments and you feel completely drained?
I have had plenty of those days.
But, I *think* I cracked a little code the other days when I went to the doctor with all three of my three and under to get flu shots and I walked out of the office wishing I had passed out business cards haha.
There are plenty of factors that marked the success of that day:
1) God’s good grace 🙂
2) Going early enough in the morning that I wasn’t torturing tired children
3) Bringing plenty of snacks to keep my little ones tummies happy
4) Staying Calm and Positive
and
5) Being Prepared!!
I was wearing my baby in the moby wrap, and I packed clip boards and a small dollar tree container of crayons in the diaper bag.
While I was filling out paperwork I put the clip boards and crayons on the floor and said something like: “The doctors need to know who we are and why we are here so we are going to write it down for them.”
While I was writing my information down I would just ask my preschooler questions like:
“Okay, they want to know your name. What is your name? What are the letters in your name?” Simple questions.
He would answer me and then scribble his lines and circles. But lines and circles mean that he is learning that we can communicate through print so every little moment counts.
This little waiting room success moment inspired me to make this for our next visit:
I know the whole space to draw a picture for why they at the doctor leaves room for T.M.I. but I am so curious to see what your kids “think” they are at an appointment for.
I love scrolling through Instagram and seeing what other moms have shared for the day.
A friend of mine posted this video of her little fella and it immediately caught my attention for so many reasons:
Kids learn best and practice the skills they are learning most effectively when they are connecting with their world by seeing ANDdoing.
So if you have a child with lots of energy (can you relate?), jumping while learning or practicing skills that they already know is incredibly helpful for their brain development and you might reap the benefits of a quality nap time or bedtime rest later. 🙂
Here is what Hendrix’ mommy had to say about it when I asked for the details:
“The reality is he came up with this on his own! We were writing each other’s names (you can see his “mommy” on the bottom left of the screen) and he started hopscotching on his! He is into trains and roads now, and before this we were making roads with all the places that we usually go to…mall, coffee shop, grocery, honeys house…and driving to each place with his toy cars. We were learning to take rights and lefts and u-turns. This hopscotch just came out of nowhere. :)”
Thanks Alisha for sharing.
PS… I wish I had your chalking skills. haha
You gotta love when you – I mean, when Santa spends all that time and energy on the “right” presents (and not to mention the expenses) so your kids can play with the boxes they are packaged in, or the pillows on your freshly-made beds.
Santa is starting to think he should have given the kids a nook or an iPad as opposed to the extra plastic and clutter lying around the house, but their wish-list tricked him.
Still, many of our presents are still providing lots of entertainment. To name a few…
My sister bought this science kit for Sean Patrick:
And we love it. It comes with cards to tell you how to do science experiments that are kid-friendly. When my toddler goes down for a nap, Sean Patrick can’t wait to do his experiment.
Learning how to make pennies shiny!
Cleaning our science tools.
He even likes to clean the tools. How could I not be excited about that?
My mother-in-law got us the learning tower that he stands on to do the experiments and the dish-washing. I used to think only hippie-parents would want this and that I would never want it because it takes up space, but y’all…. I am in love, and I was wrong. Or maybe I am a hippie?
Anyway, my kids stood on it for a half hour after we took it out of the box saying “This is awesome! This is AWEsome! This is aweSOME!” repeatedly.
And I love that they no longer try to climb onto the counter tops or pull chairs to the counters.
Sean Patrick is also loving his Jake and the Neverland Pirate Ship. It’s been fun hearing him attempt to talk like a pirate “Ahoy matey” is stinking adorable. AHH, I have to drop stinking from my vocabulary… help! Sean Patrick calls me out on using a potty word when I’m not in the bathroom and it is humbling haha.
As far as Mckayla’s presents go, her pretend makeup is the absolutebest, pretend makeup that exists on the market:
It is completely pretend but it seems totally real. So perfect.
Finally, I made the kids some colorful ribbon streamers and it has also been a BIG hit as a dancing accessory.
Thanks to everyone who commented on my Facebook page about what gifts your kids are using most…. it gives me good ideas for my kiddos birthdays in 2014.
I know y’all are probably burnt out on all-things-present-related.
But, I did want to share a simple idea that was a hit in our house and it doesn’t have to be packaged as a present…my DIY ribbon streamers.
I made ribbon streamers for my nieces and my kiddos because my friend Eliza uses them in her music classes and they are just too perfect for little movers and shakers.
Case in point:
They are SO easy to make and the materials can be found anywhere, but I bought mine at Walmart {with the exception of my ribbon which I bought at Hobby Lobby when they had a half off sale}:
You just need ribbon, scissors (which didn’t make it in the picture because I do everything in a hurry), a lighter, bangles (bracelets), and a hot glue gun is optional.
I picked out 5 different color spools and this made 7 ribbon streamers.
I double-knotted each ribbon onto the bangles
Then I cut them about the same length – about 12-14 inches from the bracelet.
Finally, I burnt the edges with a lighter so they wouldn’t fray.
(I took a picture but I can’t find it)…once again I do everything in a hurry.
My kids love to dance to this CD at all times:
But, Johnette Downing’s Scarf Activity Songs CD is my favorite to use scarves or ribbons streamers to dance to because the lyrics give directions for moving with the scarves/streamers:
I also gave my niece the idea to make these with her school colors for spirit week so it is a great gift for older kids as well! It’s a modern lemonade-stand-idea for all those little entrepreneurs out there.
You can make these for your kids or “Pin” for a future gift idea, but either way this is our new favorite dancing accessory so it’s worth sharing! 🙂
