Parenting

January 18, 2015 by: Amy

Twelve (and three months)

Natalie is already a quarter-year past her 12th birthday, but I didn’t want to miss bragging on her a bit, and jotting down some things about her at this age.

So far, age twelve is pretty darn awesome. It seems like Natalie becomes more confident and sure of herself every day. I can only hope she carries some of that with her into the teenage years. She continues to be a voracious reader, and is blossoming into quite the writer, too. She is independent and responsible, but still loves to play and be silly. She is a caring and devotedbig sister, which makes this mama so thankful.

I am so proud of the young woman she is becoming. (She is so proud that she can wear my shoes and is gaining on mein height, too!)

Her family celebration included Butterbeer and Cauldron Cakes, Harry Potter-style. The Butterbeer was cream soda with butterscotch and vanilla Torani syrup. We topped it with butterscotch flavored whipped cream, too. The Cauldron Cakes were inspired by this post, and were actually pretty easy to make.

She also had a day-long birthday outing, just like her sister did. We had a fun-filled day of miniature golfing, shopping at the bookstore, eating gelato, buying fun accessories at Charming Charlie, and dinner out. The car was decked out with birthday decorations, with candy leis and mini-crown headbands to wear. Such a fun day!

I thought it would be fun to have Nataliemake a list of what she’s into right now – a top 12 at age 12. Here’s what she came up with, in no particular order:

Natalie’s Top 12 at 12

1. Clothes – shopping and putting together outfits

2. Alice in Wonderland – Sherecently read both Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking-Glass. Now, she’s writing her own Wonderland-inspired story.

3. Fantasy adventure books – Favorites right now are Harry Potter, The School forGood and Evil, The Land of Stories, and The Heroes of Olympus.

4. Taylor Swift

5. Lemonade and lemon gelato, and basically anything lemon flavored

6. Creative writing home school class and books – Rip the Page!, Leap Write In!, and Seize the Story(at least one of these books is always on her night stand – highly, highly recommended!)

7. 20 Ways to Draw… books – These books really deserve a post of their own. Both of my girls love them for drawing inspiration! We have the fashion, food, and animal ones so far, but they are coveting the whole collection.

8. Pocket Magic Tricks (made by Toysmith, found at our local toy store)

9. Video Games – Kinect Disneyland Adventures and Disney Infinity

10. Board Games – Forbidden Island, Trivial Pursuit (Family Edition from Target), and Small World

11. Make-up – especially the Lip & Cheek Tint from 100% pure

12. Her family!

Natalie reminds me {frequently} that her teenage years are just around the corner. And I keep reminding her to savor her time as a 12-year-old! Natalie, you are a beautiful girl inside and out. We love you like crazy!

August 11, 2014 by: Amy

Double-Digits!

{This post contains affiliate links. Thank you for supporting this site!}

Delaney recently celebrated a big milestone – she’s officially in the double-digits now! 10 seems so old to me – really, where does the time go? But, for my girls at least, this age is a lovely bridge between young child and teen.

Delaney was so excited about her upcoming birthday, that I wanted to build on that wonderful anticipation she was feeling. Ten days before her birthday, I wrote a special countdown message on the bathroom mirror. She loved it! When she found another message inside the refrigerator the following day, she realized there would be a special countdown note to find every day.

The countdown notes were so simple, cost nothing, and made her so happy each day. Simple fun for the win!

The morning of her birthday, we enjoyed a pancake, strawberry, and whipped cream breakfast. I surprised her with pancakes shaped like the number 10. (Never mind that it took me a few attempts to make a 1 that didn’t look crazy.)

She also chose a special dinner (steak and twice-baked potatoes), followed by an ice cream cake with the extended family.

Instead of a party this year, Delaney planned a full day of fun out and about for our whole family, plus my niece. The itinerary included the zoo, a picnic at the park, a bit of shopping, and dinner out. I decorated the inside of the car with streamers and garlands, and put together party favor bags for the girls. I even printed out our itinerary and clipped it to the bags. The decorations inside the car were a huge, huge hit. We’ll definitely be doing that again!

I bought a pack of silly cardboard glasses with mustaches (party favor section at Target) and made the girls wear them for photos throughout the day. Delaney was pretty much beaming all day, so I think it was the perfect way to celebrate her big 1-0. She chose a Playmobil set, a new book (Bad Unicorn), and some treats from the candy store during our shopping time.

It is such a treat watching Delaney’s personality shine through. She jumped into acting classes this past year, which is a far cry from the leg-clinging preschooler I once had. I’ve got much more to say about giving our kids the time and trust they need, so I’ll save that for another post. :-) I’m looking forward to watching her continue to grow as a performer this year!

She is a voracious reader with a generous spirit. She loves playing games, swimming, pigs and horses, and all things Harry Potter. My sweet Delaney – enjoy being 10!

November 8, 2013 by: Amy

Displaying Snapshots

One of my goals for this year was to get some of our zillions of photos up on the walls where we can enjoy them. My girls, of course, love seeing photos of themselves at different ages.Scrolling through photos on the computer is just not the same! I wanted to be able to display lots of candid snapshots, and be able to rotate or change photos fairly easily.

My most recent project is a pair of floating frames with black and white photos. We have these hanging in our dining room. The floating frame is perfect for an informal arrangement of snapshots that I can update throughout the year if I want. Baby Henry needs his photo added!

I love our simple pocket frame for switching out 4×6 photos easily. This is also where we put cousins’ and friends’ school photos, baby announcements, etc. It’s plastic and nothing fancy, but I love how it looks all filled with our photos. {Ours is the Kikkerland XL Photostrip – view on Kikkerland’s website or Amazon.}

In the girls’ bedroom, they wanted to have all their Disneyland teacup ride photos displayed. I made a collage in Photoshop and printed it on letter-size photo paper. I love how this turned out! Next, we want to make a collage of the girls’ in their Halloween costumes each year.

I’m off to a good start and love seeing our memories displayed where we can all enjoy them.

How do you display photos in your home? I would love to hear your ideas!

October 9, 2013 by: Amy

Eleven!

Natalie celebrated her 11th birthday last week. It feels like both just yesterday and so long ago that she made us parents for the first time. She is eager to become more independent and learn new things, while at the same time is in no rush to leave “kid-stuff” behind. She is one smart, creative, loving girl and we are so amazed at the young woman she is becoming.

She had a party with friends and cousins a few weeks ago. It was a Fairytale Mystery Dinner, with a menu in code and three courses of giggling kids. So, so fun! I’m planning (hoping) to share all the details with you sometime this month.

In the meantime, here are 11 things Natalie is loving at age 11:

1. Reading – Natalie is rarely without a book in hand, and keeping her stocked with reading material feels like a full-time job! Fantasy and mythology are her favorite genres currently, although she reads a wide range of books. Right now, she’s three books into Angie Sage’s Septimus Heap series. She’s also very eagerly awaiting her preordered copy of House of Hades, which should be on our doorstep today. Yay!

2. Writing – Natalie is always coming up with story ideas and writing, writing, writing. She also loves to write poetry, and comes up with some amazingly creative ideas. She usually writes in notebooks, but lately she’s been trying some word processing on the computer, too.

3. Drawing – Her favorite things to draw are tiny foods, characters for her stories, and maps of imaginary places. (A how-to-draw people book, like this, is on her wish list.)

4. Making movies – Along with her sister and cousin, she loves making movies in iMovie on the iPad. She often chooses to be the director and filmer, but lately she’s been getting in front of the camera, too. Oh my goodness, they make some seriously funny movies and music videos!

5. Cooking – Natalie has always enjoyed cooking side-by-side with me in the kitchen, but now she wants to up her skills and cook independently. Being the sweetie that she is, she wants to help me out when baby brother comes home! Her latest dinner success is lentil sloppy joes in the slow cooker – she uses this recipe, omits the bell pepper, and adds 3 Tablespoons of maple syrup. So yummy!

6. Having her ears pierced – Our family rule is that you have to be 10 years old to get your ears pierced. Natalie wasn’t quite ready at 10, but a few weeks ago she decided to go for it. She loves jewelry and can’t wait until she can start wearing different earrings every day. :)

7. Sweets – This girl has a serious sweet tooth and loves to bake. I would say pie and doughnuts are at the top of her sweet list. She even had a doughnut cake for her birthday! I’m looking forward to many homemade pies in my future.

8. Sewing – Natalie enjoys hand sewing and working on the sewing machine. I love seeing her confidence grow each time she uses the sewing machine. She recently made herself a small tote bag and clothes for her stuffed animals. She often gets ideas from the first Sewing School book, which are hand-sewing projects. We need to add Sewing School 2 to our collection, so she can find more sewing machine projects to try, too.

9. Greek mythology – Natalie absolutely devours anything Greek mythology right now. She is constantly teaching me new things!

10. Smoothies – A favorite snack for Natalie is a homemade smoothie. Her favorites are a tropical one (orange juice, mango, pineapple, and yogurt) and a chocolate, peanut butter, banana one. Of course, she won’t turn down a Jamba Juice either.

11. Being a big sister – Natalie takes her role as big sister very seriously, and I love how close she and Delaney are. She is bursting at the seams waiting for her new brother to come home – just a few more days!

Happy Birthday to my amazing Natalie! I think 11 is going to be a fantastic year for you!

August 30, 2013 by: Amy

Friday Chit-Chat: Your Kids’ Favorite “Non-Toys”

{This post contains affiliate links. Thank you for supporting this site!}

Happy Friday! Where has the summer gone? We started back to (home)school this week. I think we were all ready for a little change in routine. If you have school-age kiddos, I hope the transition has been smooth for you, too!

With just 6 weeks or so until baby brother arrives (eek!), we’ve been busy this summer cleaning and organizing our spaces around the house. And, a few new baby item purchases have meant lots of extra boxes lying around to play with. Kids + boxes = total happiness, right?

Favorite non-toy playthings for kids

This got me thinking about all the “non-toys” that my girls have loved playing with over the years. Who needs battery-operated gizmos when there are cardboard tubes and piles of sticks and buckets of water?

Which leads me to this weeks question:

What are your kids’ favorite non-toys to play with?

Huge boxes are probably at the top of my girls’ list. At ages 9 and 10, they still enjoy turning boxes into restaurant tables, doll cars, and secret hideouts. A close second is probably rocks – they have a whole rock family mansion built in the backyard, complete with leaf beds, bark tables, and tiny pebble food. So cute!

Recommended Reading:If you haven’t shared the picture booksNot a BoxandNot a Stickby Antoinette Portiswith your littles, add them to your reading list. They are both wonderful celebrations of pretend play!

Your turn to share! There are so many fun (and free!) things around the house for kids to use creatively for play. Let’s hear what non-toys your kids like to play with!

June 7, 2013 by: Amy

Friday Chit-Chat: Naps and Quiet Time

Happy Friday! A big thank you to those of you that joined in on the last Friday Chit-Chat. I loved hearing about your newborn essentials – very helpful for my current list-making!

We’re just beginning to settle into a more relaxed summer schedule – less structured home school time, more free time for playing, projects, and swimming, of course.

Even though my girls gave up naps long ago, I still find that we’re drawn to some quiet, downtime in the afternoons. During this time (maybe an hour or so), the girls usually read or draw. I often read, too, or sometimes even nap. Such a luxury!

This week’s question is a two-parter:

At what age did your child give-up his daily nap(s)? Do you continue to have a daily quiet time built into your routine?

My older daughter was never a good napper, and by age 2 I think naps were mostly a thing of the past. My younger daughter, however, would take long naps every day and continued napping into her early preschool years.

We’ve always had a daily quiet time, for my sake and theirs. Some of our favorite quiet time activities have been listening to audio books, puzzles, felt board, doodle drawing books, and stickers.

Your turn to share! Still napping? Favorite quiet time activities? Let’s hear all about it!

May 24, 2013 by: Amy

Friday Chit-Chat: Newborn Needs

So, hello there! It’s been pretty quiet here on the blog while I napped my way through the beginning of my pregnancy. But, I think I’m getting my writing mojo back!

I’ve been wanting to start a weekly Q & A for awhile now – a place where we can chat about all kinds of parenting experiences and challenges. I hope you’ll join in and help create these mini-resource pages we can all benefit from!

I definitely have a case of baby-brain right now, both in my lack of memory, and my constant thoughts of all things baby. So, let’s kick-off our chit-chat series with a question about that amazing and exhausting newborn time.

During the newborn stage, what’s the one thing you couldn’t have lived without?

I had a pouch-style sling with my girls, and enjoyed wearing them both as newborns and beyond. My girls wanted to be held constantly, and the sling allowed me to get a few chores done or follow a toddler around more easily. I’m definitely planning to baby-wear again with baby #3, so I’m looking into either a Moby wrap or a Baby K’tan for this time around. Baby can snuggle in and nap while I keep up with my busy girls!

Your turn to share! What made life easier for you during the newborn stage?

(This post contains affiliate links.)

March 21, 2013 by: Amy

How I embrace (and respond to) boredom

I am not the kind of mom that plans a bunch of things to keep my girls busy and occupied. While I do set-up play and art invitations from time to time, for the most part my girls are masters of their own playtime. They have ample time for unstructured play, which they may spend playing with toys, drawing, reading, or running around outside.

Of course, with all that free time, I do get my fair share of the “I’m bored….” complaints. I’m sure you are familiar with those words, too!

But, I’m am not opposed to boredom. The beauty and importance of boredom is that with opportunity and practice, your child learns to engage with unstructured time. She learns to be with her thoughts, to ask questions, to wonder, to try something new.

Sometimes, a dull moment of boredom is followed by a burst of creativity. My girls have invented card games, built cardboard robot dogs, and tried making constellations on our Lite-Brite, all as a result of having nothing to do.

I also think it’s important to remember that boredom is a real feeling.Even as an adult, I have times where I can’t seem to engage with any one activity. I flit from thing to thing, feeling restless and uninspired.

I’m pretty sure my girls aren’t going to tell me they are feeling unengaged, uninspired, or can’t find their flow. No, their phrase for all of these feelings is, of course, “I’m bored!” When I remember this, it helps me respond with kindness, rather than with a snarky remark like, “Only boring people get bored.”

So, boredom is real and boredom is good! The goal is not to eliminate boredom from our kids’ lives. But, it is nice to have a few ideas for helping them deal with those feelings of boredom.

Here’s what I do when one of my girls follows me around the house saying, “I’m bored…”,or any of its cousins, like “I can’t find anything to do…”:

First, check in – does your child need to connect? Try filling his tank with eye contact, snuggles, and a little conversation, then see if he is ready to go play.

Prepare in advance for moments of boredom. Brainstorm ideas of things to do and make a list. Or put all your ideas on cards in a bucket or jar. (You can check out our idea card bucket for inspiration.) When boredom strikes, remind your child about these resources.

Go outside. Fresh air, rocks to collect, puddles to jump in, space for running – nature is a perfect boredom-buster.

Join in. Again, maybe your child needs some connecting time. Sit down and play, read, or visit for a few minutes. Or, invite your child to join in with what you are doing. Helping with a chore might be just the purposeful activity she is looking for.

Or, try to join in, get things rolling, then step away.I did this all the time when my girls were little. We would pull out a floor puzzle, I’d help them get going, then walk away saying something like, “I can’t wait to see how far you are next time I walk by!” This works with setting up a pretend play scenario, starting an art project, or pulling out a bin of forgotten toys.

Make your home full of opportunities for unstructured playtime, where your child takes the lead in choosing materials and activities:

Limit screen time
Offer open-ended toys (not too many), and keep them organized
Keep some basic art & writing supplies and a junk box in your child’s reach
Have a few art project or science experiment books on hand for browsing and inspiration

Bottom line for dealing with your child’s boredom: respond with kindness, offer a few gentle suggestions, and provide lots of opportunities for unstructured, child-led play.

Do your kids get bored frequently or rarely? What’s your go-to boredom buster?

February 20, 2013 by: Amy

Playful Routines :: Bedtime

This is Part 3 of a series on adding playful elements to daily routines with our kiddos. We’re anchoring playtime to routines, so we can be present as parents and have some fun!

To read more of my thoughts on playful routines, check out my posts on getting ready and meal time.

We have followed a pretty predictable bedtime routine since the girls were small – bath, pajamas, brush teeth, stories, cuddles, lights out.

Some nights call for a little something extra. And, some nights, I need to remind myself not to hurry through this part of the day, but to slow down and enjoy the snuggles and chit-chat of two sleepy girls.

Here are a few of the ways we’ve added a spark to our normal bedtime routine – I hope you’ll share your ideas in the comments, too!

Ham-Up Story Time

Once in a while, go all out with your bedtime story. Make crazy voices for different characters, act out parts, or even wear a silly costume. If you choose a story your kids know well, they can chime in at their favorite parts.

Whispering Silly Songs

For a bit of fun and giggles, without getting your kids too riled-up, whisper-sing a few silly songs before tucking in to bed. Try Aikendrum, Down By the Bay, Willoughby Wallaby Woo, or any of your child’s favorite songs.

Tell Me a Story

My girls have always loved for me to tell them a story before bed. But, to be honest, my imagination is not always at its peak at the end of the day – how about you? Here are a few ways I make night time storytelling a little easier on myself:

~ I’ll tell a story about when they were babies, or any little memory I can think of.

~ I might ask them to each tell me a place, an animal, and something magical, and then turn those things into a story.

~ Tell just a little bit of a continuing story each night. They can remind me where we left off, and I don’t have to think of new characters!

Flashlight Games

My girls love flashlights, and I bet your kids do, too. Bedtime is the perfect time to play a few flashlight games. We like to make shadow animals with our hands, or draw letters and shapes on the ceiling with our light and see if we can guess what each person made.

Check out my post on flashlight games if you want more ideas (some are a bit rowdy for bedtime!).

What is the most important part of your bedtime routine? I’d love to hear the ways you connect with your kiddos at the end of the day!

February 6, 2013 by: Amy

{Review} The Playful Family Ebook

As I’m sure you already know, I’m all about finding little ways to sneak play into our day to day life. From random celebrations to homemade toys to silly photo shoots – playful family life does not have to be complicated or expensive. That’s why I love Shawn’s (of Awesomely Awake) ebook, The Playful Family.

Here’s a quick blurb about the book:

The Playful Family Ebook, written by Shawn Ledington Fink of Awesomely Awake, encourages and challenges busy parents to slow down and spend quality time together with their children, regardless of their age.

With nearly 100 ways to connect, engage and play together, this easy-to-read e-book is a must-have resource for any parent interested in becoming more playful and happy while raising children. Each chapter includes dozens of ideas as well as a challenge to motivate families to put their own ideas to work in real life.

I love the ideas for writing a family manifesto, simple ways to make any day better, and fun ways to connect and just “be” with your kids. If your family’s playfulness needs some kickstarting, or you’re looking for encouragement and fresh ideas, I highly recommend spending a few evenings reading through The Playful Family.

If you haven’t had the opportunity to read The Playful Family yet, here’s your chance! Shawn is offering her ebook for FREE Thursday and Friday (2/7-2/8) only.

Shawn is also generously giving away a space in her ecourse, The Abundant Mama Project. For more information on The Playful Family ebook, and to enter the giveaway, head over to Awesomely Awake.

You can also head straight to Amazon and get your free copy of The Playful Family ebook.

Don’t miss your chance to grab this ebook for free and start playing!