Thumbprint Mice

Items Needed:
Stamp pad
Paper
Crayons or markers

Press your thumb into a stamp pad and then onto the paper. Draw a mouse tail and ears on the print to make it look like a mouse. You can make several mice to look like a mouse family. Do your child's thumb and you can compare sizes.

Source: The Preschooler's Busy Book

Banana Bread!

This was my first attempt at making Banana Bread. I always loved Banana Bread growing up so I wanted to see if I could make some!

My little helper! He was so excited just to do a simple thing like mixing...

Our finished product! Thanks D!

Fall Bucket List 2012

Here is a Fall list of activities. I plan to use this list over the years. Of course not ALL things will be achievable since we live in the desert in CA. But if and when we are in UT most of these will be attainable. It's more about the traditions that I'd love to have in our family. I LOVE traditions! <3

Visit a pumpkin patch
Pumpkin craft
Watch Beetlejuice
Carve or decorate pumpkins
Go hiking and look at the leaves
Make a leaf craft
Watch the Witches
Bake Pumpkin Roll
Find and pick Halloween costumes
Play in the leaves
Cork leaf painting
Leaf sugar cookies
Play our Halloween games
Watch Casper
Story time with Fall Favorites
Make PB Cup S'mores
Trick or Treat
Decorate porch
Take annual family photos
Halloween party
Go to the Fair
Watch Macy's Thanksgiving Parade
Pumpkin Pie Play dough
Bake a pie
D's birthday- Bake a cake
Go to a Ute Game
Make Pumpkin Chocolate Chip cookies/muffins
Watch Hocus Pocus
Send out Christmas cards in November

Goal: Books

I'd love to read these in my lifetime. I've read Harry Potter's first three books a few times but I never got through the series so I want to start all over. I don't want to miss any detail.

Harry Potter Series:
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone (Harry Potter, #1)
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (Harry Potter, #2)
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (Harry Potter, #3)
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (Harry Potter, #4)
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (Harry Potter, #5)
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (Harry Potter, #6)
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (Harry Potter, #7)

Nicholas Sparks Novels:
The Notebook
Message in a Bottle
A Walk to Remember
The Rescue  Sept 2, 2012
A Bend in the Road
Nights In Rodanthe
The Guardian
The Wedding
At First Sight
Three Weeks With My Brother
True Believer
Dear John
The Choice*  Aug 21, 2012
Talisman
The Lucky One*  July 22, 2012
The Last Song
Safe Haven  Oct 14, 2012
The Best of Me

The Host Series:
The Host  Jan 13, 2013
The Soul
The Seeker

Maze Runner Series:
The Kill Order  April 12, 2013
The Maze Runner  May 2013
The Scorch Trials   May 17, 2013
The Death Cure   May 25, 2013

Heaven is for Real
The Shack
Diary of a Young Girl
Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close  Oct 18, 2012
Memoirs of a Geisha
1984
Room
The President's Club
The Giver  June 11, 2013
Sarah's Key
The Thirteenth Tale
The Book Thief
The Secret Life of Bees
The Five Love Languages of Children
Gone Girl
The Glass Castle

A Song of Ice and Fire Series:
A Game of Thrones*  June 24, 2013
A Clash of Kings*  July 13, 2013
A Storm of Swords
A Feast for Crows
A Dance with Dragons
The Winds of Winter
A Dream of Spring

Chaos Walking Series:
The New World
The Knife of Never Letting Go
The Ask and Answer
Monsters of Men

Tudor's Series:
The Constant Princess
The Other Boleyn Girl
The Boleyn Inheritance
The Queen's Fool
The Virgin's Lover
The Other Queen

Graceling Realm Series:
Graceling
Fire
Bitterblue

Millenium Series:
The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo
The Girl Who Played With Fire
The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest

The Hunger Games Series:
The Hunger Games*  March 13, 2012
Catching Fire  March 21, 2012
Mocking Jay  March 24, 2012

Delirium Series:
Delirium
Hana
Pandemonium
Annabel
Requiem

Book of Ember Series:
The City of Ember
The People of Sparks
The Prophet of Yonwood
The Diamond of Darkhold

The Chemical Garden Series:
Wither
Seeds of Wither
Fever
Sever

Divergent Series
Divergent  Aug 2012
Insurgent  Sept 5, 2012
Allegiant

Fahrenheit 451

Other books that I've been recommended by others are:
Vampire Academy Series
Bloodlines Series
Fever Series

*My favorite books

Inside/Outside Voice

It's never too soon to start teaching about consideration for others. I like to stress the importance of saying please, thank you, bless you, your welcome, and saying hi and bye to those that say it to the boys. Mostly D's preschool teachers. I don't encourage speaking to "tricky people." I read a very good article about safety with children. It states to replace the word "stranger" with "tricky person". If a child gets lost they will have to approach a stranger. I've tried to teach my son about approaching a mom with other kids. She's mostly likely the safest person to approach. Anyway, that's another post.

I've also stressed the importance of inside and outside voices. I ask D how many eyes do I have? How many hands do I have? How many ears do I have? How many voices do I have? We have two voices also. An inside and outside voice. One is loud and one is soft. I then ask him which one he thinks is best for inside and which one is best for inside. He's caught onto this pretty well. I just remind him when his outside voice comes inside. T isn't aware of voices yet but I plan to help him when he's a little bit bigger. D's preschool has helped him learn between his walking feet and his running feet. So when we're in buildings and he starts to run out of excitement I remind him of his walking feet.

Source: The Toddler's Busy Book

Happy Face Sandwich

Items Needed:
Bread
PB
Raisins or chocolate chips
Butter knife

I made the first face for D just to show him what it was that I was doing. Then he wanted another piece so I gave him a slice of bread already spread with PB and a pile of chocolate chips for him to decorate with to do himself.

To entertain T while I made D's, I just gave him a little pile of chocolate chips as well. He was really wanting some chocolate. Didn't want to wait! 

Then when I gave him his slice, he just picked off the chocolate anyway. :] He's a sneaky as D says! 

Source: The Preschooler's Busy Book

Take Along Busy Bag

You know those times when you have to go somewhere but there's an infinite  a waiting period? For example, at the hairdresser's, the doctor's office, a restaurant, or a stinkin' auto mechanic shop... Well why not take a Busy Bag for the kiddos to enjoy while it's not only tough for you to wait but for them as well. Kids don't understand time yet, especially my little ones. You can use a drawstring bag or a backpack but I just picked up a tote back from Michaels dollar section. The boys are obsessed with Super heroes right now. Especially D. He LOVES The Hulk.

Some suggestions for a Busy Bag are:
coloring books and paper
crayons and markers
dolls and assorted clothing
treats or snacks
matchbox cars
puzzles

For my lil one I sometimes bring his favorite blanket, toy, or stuffed animal.

I have our bag always packed and ready to go. I don't let the boys play with it either. Just when we're out and about... waiting somewhere. I also change it up with items from our Busy Box so they don't get bored with the items.

In our Bag right now I have our magnet tray, some transformers, a pen and paper, (D LOVES to write/draw on paper) and a wooden train. I also pack a diaper and some wipes. The boys always have a water or a milk with them also. 

Here it is all packed!

Source: The Toddler's Busy Book

The Preschooler's Busy Book

What I love about you T

1. I love when you walk around and around. Just to walk. You will walk from one room to the next for no other reason other than to walk. :]
2. I love when I try to pick you up while you're walking you will speed up and giggle. It turns into a game of me chasing you. 
3. I love when I ask for a kiss, you'll stop what you're doing and move your face towards mine with a smile on your face. Sometime just your forehead. You kiss with your mouth open.
4. I love seeing you play with wheels. Anything that you can spin, you will.
5. I love playing Itsy Bitsy Spider with you and Patty Cake. You love them too. 
6. I love how you love to cuddle with me. If I'm sitting on the couch you like to sit on my lap and lean against me. If you're sick you'll lie on me and fall asleep. If I'm lying on the floor you'll come sit on my belly or my back and bounce.
7. I love that you love your blankey.
8. I love that you RAWR.
9. I love when you put your bottom lip out like a pout. But over exaggerated.
10. I love seeing you play at the water park, the beach, or in the bath. You love water.
11. I love that you love books. You flip the pages over and over. And sometimes you babble. 
12. I love how you say Hi, Bye, and wave with your hand.
13. I love that you'll pick up my phone, put it up to your ear, and say Hello? Sometimes you do it with random objects
14.  I love how you love to take things in and out of something. Clothespins in and out of a jug, lids in and out of a wipey box, snacks in and out of your container.
15. I love how you look in your K Swiss.

Couch to 5k

For all those new runners out there or one's that want to start running again. I'd recommend trying out the Couch to 5K program. It's a 9 week program that's helped thousands of new runners get started, including me. About 5 years ago I started running however, I didn't ease into it. I thought kids just run, and run without trouble, maybe that's fine. Uhhh... WRONG. I started running 20 min straight. No warmup, no cool down, no stretch, NADA. I was completely unaware of the proper ways of running. I paid for it too. After about 4 months of doing this I developed terrible pain on the outer part of my knees. It felt like they were burning. I went to my doctor and she didn't diagnose it but said that I needed to cross train (something else I'd never heard of) and to ease up on the distance of my running along with running for less time. I was devastated. I didn't want to quite running! Unfortunately, I had to give up running all together shortly after that because I found out I was expecting. I experienced morning sickness times 10! I was miserable at times and couldn't seem to only experience morning sickness in the morning. It was all day, and throughout my whole entire pregnancy. Anyway after trying here and there after the birth of my son up until now I had knee pain when I'd run. It took a very long time to heal from that terrible decision to just run. Since then I've educated myself and researched loads of information. I read articles, purchased books, and even asked personal trainers. I was determined to be a runner again and do it right. I figured out that prior to a run you must warmup. I walk briskly for 5 min although jogging is ok. I also figured out that cool down is equally as important. I just casually walk for 5 min to slow down my heart rate. Last but not least I've figured out how important it is to STRETCH. I stretch my quads and calves. Helps avoid shin splints and ITBS. Which is what I figured out was the burning with my knees. I then stumbled upon the Couch to 5K program. It was a life changer. I'm so excited to say that I can run today. And for minutes at a time. Prior to this I couldn't even run 2 minutes without pain. I even accomplished a whole 20 min run without walks just a few weeks ago. It was tough, but I did it! It felt great! Since then I've taken some time off from running to focus on a program called Insanity. I took some time off from running because of my knee injuries before and I'm trying my best to avoid any further damage. Insanity is really tough on the knees and I was experiencing pain in my calves when I was running AND doing Insanity. Now that I've been doing Insanity for a month I've decided to incorporate running back into my regimen again. Glad to say that there's no pain what so ever. So if you'd like to be a runner, seriously don't be discouraged. Check out the program. I downloaded the podcasts and listen to them as I'm running.

Motivational Monday

Some things to always get me moving...