Update and Upcoming

I am setting up for the February challenge…!
I have been researching and writing draft blog entries like crazy.

If you remember last year February was the 'ABC's of love challenge'. I challenged myself, and you, to find one thing that you love every day.

I have a great new challenge in store for this February and I'm really looking forward to it!!

In the meantime I hope you all read the "New Year's Motto" entry.

I would love to hear if you put any thought into making a motto for yourself and if so, what mottos you have for this year?

Schools Closed! Snow Day Activities for Kids and Moms.

Schools closed in many of the midwest schools today due to the extreme cold.

Many working moms were scrambling last night to make day care plans for the day, I am very fortunate that I am home today. However, now the question is what do I do? We have plenty of Christmas toys but we might need to break up the day with a new activity or two.

With the weather so unpredictable here are a few ideas to keep in your arsenal for upcoming school closure days due to snow or cold.  I have tried to select easy things that won't require a trip to the store and that use everyday objects that you should have on hand.

Snow Day Activities for Kids (and Moms).

1. Indoor snowball toss game. Only requires cups, cotton balls, and a marker.

2. Snowman name Art Project. On a cold day an indoor snowman sounds much better than an outdoor snowman. This gives the added benefit of letter/writing practice for little ones as well.

3. If your child has several friends who live in the neighborhood from school who are also home (or if you hare that awesome mom helping out others by watching a few kids that day). Have some friends over and have a make your own hot coco party.

4. With a little shaving cream, glitter, and some glue you can make sparkly snow paint and paint your own snowman!

5. Want to stay away from the snow themed activities? How about a COLOR HUNT. Starting in the the living room and time your child (amount of time can vary depending on age and your child's skill level.) Give your child 5 minutes to find as many Red things as they can. Next start the timer again and do Orange. Repeat with Yellow, Green Blue, and Purple. Then at the end count up the number of things in each category. If you have multiple kids assign a different color to each child.

6. If you want to have some fun with food you can always create some snowman pancakes or snowman donuts for breakfast, you can get really creative and make a snowman pizza for lunch! Yum Yum!

Whatever you end up doing just have fun with your kiddos. Enjoy the day. They grow up fast and you'll look back and smile at the fun things you did on days like this.

Free Printable Valenitnes

I love Valentines day and especially love coming up with creative little cards and gifts for friends and coworkers. Now that my daughter is in school her and I can come up with creative cards and treats for her classmates too.

I am thinking about printing her valentines this year because she has such a small class. Also, I can avoid throwing away 1/2 a package of valentines that I purchased.

I have used printable valentines before for my friends but it is extra fun looking for kid themed cards.

Since Valentines day is on the 14th I have collected 14 of my favorite links here for you:

1. Valentine you're a star- attach a starburst.

2. Frozen is still a hit so how about some free Frozen Valentines.

3. Love this one: Give a individual cup of applesauce to each kid with cute little printable labels to go on top that say "You're Awesome Sauce Valentine"

4. This website gives you a choice of 4 adorable animal themes; Dinosaurs, Owls, Ocean Animals, or Fairies. (There is also a Minecraft link on this page too.)

5. Instead of cards what about something they can use, a bookmark!

6. This is for my Starwars loving friends out there:
Yoda card- using a glow bracelet for a light saber.

7. Fish bowl shaped valentine- shown with gold fish but you could use Swedish Fish too.

8. Mustache and Lips cards- attach a sucker.

9.  Everyone loves Minions! There are some cute Despicable Me Valentines day cards on this site.

10. Do you have a surplus of rubber band loom bracelets sitting around the house? This might be the perfect way to use them: "Its a stretch but will you be mine". Bow and arrow card.

11. Who could pass up a cute little fox?

12. Monsters and googly eyes make everyone giggle and smile!

13. These cards would be more suited for friends and coworkers, the puns would probably go over the heads of elementary school kids. Five Pun-tastic cards.

14. What valentines day would be complete without a gift for your husband. These five tags are too cute to pass up. Print them out and tie them to a few things and surprise him leading up to Valentines Day. It might even inspire him to get that extra special present for you!

If you have created your own I would LOVE to see them and if you have more links let me know.
Post a comment below or leave the link on the Tidbits of Everyday Facebook page. 

New Years Motto.

Any resolutions from you this year? 

Mine is, "I resolve not to make any resolutions". 

Kidding, kind of. 

For many years I did not make "resolutions". To me resolutions feel so strict:

"I will lose weight"

"I will exercise more often" 

"I will learn Spanish" Etc..

 So often people make one resolution and if they don't stick with it they've 'failed.'

I don't want to set myself up for failure. Life is full of unpredictability when you are dealing with kids, family, work, and life in general. 

That is why last year I created a general motto that I could  strive towards during the year. 

Last years motto was " New Year New Me" and I succeeded in making myself  into a much more healthy person by exercising more often, growing my hair out, taking time to learn new things, landing my dream job, and even stepping out if my comfort zone and running. Leading to me completing three 5Ks last year!

For this years motto I've chosen "Be an example". This came about as a realization that I so often see my 5 year old daughter's actions mirroring mine, both good and bad. I have decided to constantly strive to be a good example for her to follow in all I do. Through this, I think we will both become better people. 

It is not just her though, the world is so full of problems and negativity, I want to inspire others to be better through my actions. 

If I am nice and let a driver in instead of cutting them off, maybe they'll drive a little nicer or do the same to another driver. 

Maybe help someone reach something on a high shelf at the grocery store  will inspire them to smile or an observer do something nice for another person. 

Maybe just take a second to calm myself and not yell when my daughter misbehave instead chose my disciplinary words carefully. 

I want to think about how I act daily so that I can be a good example to everyone around me.

If I can strive to be a good example for my daughter and people around me each day we can all become better people. 

What's your motto for the year?

Thumbprint Christmas Tree Free Download

I was inspired yet again by another cute Pin but couldn't find the things I needed to make it. Although I am all about supporting independent crafters and I do love buying from Etsy, there was not enough time to order this print so I made my own version of a Thumbprint Christmas Tree. It was a simple process in Microsoft Word and I even added a few extras of my own.

I thought having the grandkids use their fingerprints to create the tree, thumbprints to create the ornaments, and then each sign their name in a gift box under the tree.

I have posted a copy of the file as a jpg image below. You can just click on the image and save it to your computer. If you would like, I can email you the original word document then you can personalize it with your family name or change the number of boxes under the tree. Just email me at mommyandmore@gmail.com, leave a comment below, or leave a note on my Facebook page.

Have a very Merry Christmas!