Summer chalk game

I ended a quick game to amuse my daughter and nephews for a bit while we were outside. Plain old hopscotch wasn't doing the trick so I came up with this game, I call it:

Hop across the pond...

Driveways work better for this because you need width as well as length.

 

First draw some random lily pads on the driveway. (A lily pad is just a simple PAC man shape.)

Next draw a frog at one end and a house at the other. I added a cute aid that said "Mr. Frogs home"

Outline the whole thing with a wavy blue line. This makes the outline of the "pond"

The goal of the game is to start on the frog and hop to Mr frogs home. 

For added fun add a few flowers on a few lily pas for "extra points" and I drew an alligator in there too, just for added danger/fun. 

The game was a hit. They spent 15 minutes straight hopping all the various paths to Mr. Frogs house. 

Gym memberships for moms....

As my month long gym membership trial comes to an end I find myself wondering if I should invest the money in a membership to try and 'motivate' myself to go more often. However, each time I have the conversation in my head it ends the same way.  I find it hard to find extra time to go to the gym and I don't want to sacrifice time with family and the few precious bits of free time I have to go.

It is very difficult for mom to find time to go to the gym and do a full "workout". I know there are those "supermoms" who somehow make time to work out every day and do all that kind of stuff and that's all  well and good but for me just working a job (at time multiple jobs) and taking care of the child (yes I only have one but it's still a lot of work) walking the dogs, finding a precious few minutes to spend with my husband, keeping up with general housework, shopping for groceries and other needs, preparing meals, and add in any other social and life requirements…. that leaves me with little time to go to the gym.

About a year ago there was a mom who made a statement about how everyone should work out and there was a lot of feedback both positive and negative towards her the link here. http://www.cnn.com/2013/10/17/opinion/navarrette-maria-kang/index.html

Everyone has their choices…  For some, going to the gym and doing a cardio resistance training work out is a top priority.  I am not here to judge, each person makes their own decision based on what they have in their life. Some woman may work part time or stay at home, some may have childcare, a housecleaner, and other help. I do not have those things.

Yes, staying healthy is a priority for me but sacrificing time away from the other things in my life to go to a gym isn't something I am willing to do right now. 

I would rather take the dogs and my daughter on a walk to the park and see may daughter play and enjoy yourself. I might do a few lunges and pull ups on the equipment while she's playing, in doing this I'm still getting exercise and I have happy pets and a happy daughter.

My two pups and I taking a stroll.

There are some great tips out there for moms of young kids on how to incorporate fitness into your schedule while keeping family first. This is one of my favorites:

http://www.alexharalson.com/2013/09/9-workout-tips-for-super-busy-moms.html

In the end i'm going to make the choices that match with my current lifestyle and fit with my priorities. If that means spending a summer day playing in the backyard to be with my husband and daughter may not burn a lot of fat and won't give me a deep muscle work out but I move, I get some exercise, and I feel a lot stronger mentally because of the choices I make. So join me in joining the motherhood gym where health is important but family comes first. 

Its that time of year for Teacher Thank Yous!

Its that time of year for Teacher Thank You Gifts!

I will be the first to admit that if another mom hadn't shown up a today (a day early) with teacher gifts I would have totally forgotten to bring something on Friday.

Click on the picture to hop to a blog with more cute teacher ideas.

I want to do something to show my gratitude (because my daughters teachers were phenomenal) but i'm on a budget and now only have 36 hours.

Run to Pintrest…. find a spark of an idea….. run with it…..

I want something practical that the teachers can use in some way. I've worked in the education system long enough and have received several gifts that I look at with appreciation but wonder what in the world I will do with yet another mug, etc….


It came down to two choices:

Thanks for making me sparkle and attach sparkly nail polish.
                or
Thanks for making me one smart cookie and attach cookies.

I love the play on words for both but don't know if either teacher paints their nails. I do know both teachers have families with kids who would (i'm pretty sure) love to eat sweets.

One smart cookie has won!

I hopped online and typed in "one smart cookie" and found some free clip art, downloaded it...

Added the text in Microsoft word, then I printed it on card stock.

Next a quick trip to the grocery store for a gourmet cookie for each teacher. Add some cute ribbon….

And it is done.

Spring Cleaning

I am feeling the need to do some spring cleaning. Yes my house needs spring cleaning the house always needs cleaning but I'm talking about a little bit of spring cleaning in my life.

 Lately I find myself overwhelmed by the amount of activities that I'm helping with or lending a hand for participating in the number of emails and getting the sort through each day time to clean out. 

 

Do I really need all those emails from websites that show how to make cute cards and cute scrapbook pages? I can always search the web if I really need an idea and it will provide me with plenty of ideas...

Time to unsubscribe or block all those emails so that I'm not tempted to clutter up my life and eat up time going through them.

Ahhhhhhh! Feeling better already...
 

Now it's time to look at the committees I'm on and nicely resign from a few and bring it down to just one committee meeting once a month.....

I am feeling so much better! This is the way its supposed to be. I want to come home from work and be able to take of what needs to be done at home and then spend the rest of the time with my family. I don't want to be constantly burdened by the thought of what I need to do and where I need to go next.

 

There are all sorts of other spring cleaning tips out there, tips for home cleaning, fitness programs, healthy eating cleanse programs, and more. However, I need to be on my way. It is time to spring clean my life by listing out my priorities and cleaning out the rest of the "clutter"!


While in the midst of this "spring cleaning life" revelation I did a bit of web searching and found a few good links I thought I would share:

This website gives a few good tips on how to do a mental/spiritual spring cleaning:
http://www.beliefnet.com/Wellness/Personal-Growth/5-Ways-to-Spring-Clean-Your-Life.aspx

If you are looking for some tips on how to do a spring cleaning of your digital world take a glance at this story:
http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/technology/2014/04/5-quick-tips-to-spring-clean-your-digital-life/


 

Make a mommy friend and keep her…… and other advice from a great source.

A few of my friends shared the link to this post. I read over it and thought it was good, but after tonight I really realized how true #4 is.

I became friends with a woman with while we were both enrolled in the same birthing class (both of us 1st time parents) and our daughters happened to be born two just weeks apart. In the last 2 years we've reconnect and become even better friends because our daughter now attend the same school.
She called me needing a friendship moment, I meet up with her tonight and she ended up giving me just as much support as I gave her tonight.

Good mommy friends are a blessing somedays and lifesavers other days!

Worth the read for the humor but know that there is truth to all 10 of these too.

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 The following was blogged on scarymommy.com. I strongly encourage you to check out her blog. She has some humorous and great truths about parenting and mommy hood. 

The direct link to this article is http://www.scarymommy.com/ten-things-they-wont-tell-you-but-i-will/

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About the Author...

Christine Burke is a coauthor in the recently released anthology, “I Just Want To Be Alone” and blogs about her Hubby and two Fruit Loops on the blog, The Keeper of The Fruit Loops.  Find her on Twitter, Google+ and Facebook!

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http://www.scarymommy.com/

New Reading App

I'm a big fan of the Endless Alphabet App. See the write up I did about it here.

Now they have a new app!!

Endless reader is just as cute and creative as their first app. A must have for young kids. It is fun and educational.

Great animations....

Teaches through fun interactive processes…..

This app has a starter set of words and the rest of the words are available through an in app purchase ($1.99). In my opinion it is with every penny!

Thankful For The Teacher

I wanted to give my daughter preschool teachers something little and cute for thanksgiving to show them how thankful we are for all that they do. 

Start with cellophane wrapping, individual cups of carmel dip, a large apple, ribbon, and some paper. 

Cut some of the clear wrap and place the carmel cup and the apple on top. 

Pull up the wrapping all nice and pretty and tie it with a decorative ribbon.

Ahead of time I cut some coordinating pieces of card stock and then traced the letters out lightly in pencil so that my daughter could write the message for her teacher.

Punch a hole in the "card"

Tie the card to the package. 

I for one think this is such a cute take on the 'apple for a teacher' idea!

Do you have any fun teacher gifts you have made?

Sneak peek + confession

A sneak peek at the latest project I've been working on. 

It's a gift so I can't post the finished product till later (plus its not finished yet). I spent four hours working on it this morning. I'm not the kind of parent to pop my kid in front of the tv, as a general  rule I strive to not do that. But thank goodness for a good Disney movie to keep my daughter distracted. Sometimes  rules are made to be broken. :-)

Do you have an example of a parenting rule that you have broken?

Night out

Sorry, no pictures on this one. I was having so much fun last night I forgot to take pictures.

My husband and I had his parents babysit out daughter and dogs and we went to the city for the night to visit my sister and her husband.

So much fun to get out and not be a parent for the night.

Its physically and mentally refreshing!




What do you do to "get away" from your parenting responsibilities and mentally refresh yourself?