From the category archives:

Tips

Self-Serve Painting

When the girls ask to paint, I try to always say yes. I don’t always have the easel set-up, but they are usually just as happy to paint at the kitchen table.
Sometimes they want watercolors, but often they want “real paint,” as Delaney calls it. We use Colorations brand washable tempera paints or BioColor Paint [...]

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Goal-Setting Charts for Young Kids

Setting goals is not just for grown-ups. Even our littles can benefit from the confidence-boost that comes from setting a goal, working towards it, and achieving it.
Goal-setting with young children should be simple and straightforward:

Involve your child as much as possible in choosing an appropriate goal.
Listen for times when your little one says, “I wish [...]

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Giving Your Full Attention

I always enjoy hearing tips and tricks from other parents and thinking about which ones would be a good fit for me and my girls. So, I thought I’d share some of my parenting tips with you from time to time.
My tips may be things you’ve read before, heard before, tried before – but I [...]

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Party Tip: Creating Large Cardboard Characters

I’ve had a few questions about the large painted characters we made for Delaney’s Alice in Wonderland party {see Part 1 and Part 2 for more pictures}.
My husband did the drawing. I printed out a picture of the character and he drew a grid across it. Then, he drew another larger grid on a big [...]

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Pack, Clean, Repeat…

Hello! It’s moving weekend for us, which means I’m up to my eyeballs in boxes and mess. I’ll be busy painting and cleaning and trying to entertain the girls with whatever random things haven’t been tucked away in boxes yet.
Before we started packing, I encouraged the girls to take pictures of their rooms (and other [...]

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Grocery Store Games

My girls are actually at an age where they can be really helpful at the grocery store, but I have not forgotten the days of needing ample entertainment to make it through the store! When I Spy is getting old, maybe one of these games will be a welcome addition on your next shopping trip.
Grocery [...]

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The Marble Jar

Did you make any family resolutions for 2010? The marble jar is a great way to visually track progress toward a family goal!
{Originally published May 2008}

We are very lucky to have pretty easy-going, cooperative kids. However, there are always little things we are working on, like potty training, sharing toys, cleaning up, or getting [...]

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Kid-Made Centerpieces

Meet our new centerpiece basket:

The girls enjoy creating little table centerpieces for dinner each night. They are so proud of their lovely creations! After a few days of trying to meet their requests for vases, fabric, bowls, etc. during dinner prep, I decided to put a bunch of goodies in basket. I went around the [...]

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Thankful

Today, I am thankful for these two precious girls – for reminding me that we should play as hard as we work.
Have a playful weekend – see you back here on Monday!

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Gift Ideas for Kids

I am always looking for simple birthday gift ideas for the girls’ friends. I love our gifts to have a handmade touch, and I like the gift to be useful and open-ended. We often do theme gifts, and the girls love gathering a few special things to tuck inside a bag or bucket for their [...]

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