Tot's Landing

When momma ain't happy...

2009-09-14T08:25:00.000-07:00

I shudder at the first sign of my child getting a runny nose because I know that in less than two days I'm gonna be layin' in bed with the chills fighting off a fever. But along with said fever, I'll still do laundry, make dinner, wipe kids' butts, continue to clean runny noses and still master the art of making macaroni and cheese. I will say, that I do have a great hubby who definitely helps out and actually shuts the bedroom door for me when I need to get some rest. But my guilt kicks in...that little voice inside my head that says..."get up lazy butthole and do something". So, on we go...and yes, I still have a fever. Damn thing won't go away.

My baby turned six. What the..

2009-09-07T17:30:00.000-07:00

The first baby boy that sprung from my loins broke my heart and turned six this week. This whole growing up fast thing is a crock...I should be in charge here. I should be the one to say how long he stays and when he can go. He starts kindergarten two weeks ago, then he turned six and I bet he'll graduate high school next week. At least I really enjoyed his birthday party. I thought I'd post some pictures for you.

He LOVES gymnastics, so we had his party at a gymnastics place which was very cool. The only problem I had was when I went to get plates and napkins and order the cupcakes there wasn't one single thing that was gymnastics for boys. The only stuff I found was of a girl doing gymnastics in purple...not cool for a six year old boy. So, I had to come up with my own nonsense. I really do have to give props to www.designdazzle.blogspot.com. That website is such an inspiration for parties and decorating your kids' room. Please be sure to check it out. I have absolutely no affiliation with the owner of the site, I just check it every day...seriously.

The favors were red, white and blue cups with patriotic tattoos, a ring pop and a gold medal.

The food. I made these with scrapbook paper and my computer.

I made the cupcake toppers from an idea I saw on the design dazzle blog (see above) out of printed cardstock and a scalloped 1 inch hole punch. I glued a plain white one on the back and put a toothpick in the middle...voila!
Hope you liked it!

Get by with a little help...

2009-08-24T18:17:00.000-07:00

I found this website in this month's issue of Family Fun. It's a great way to design your own chore chart and you enter in online the points that the kids receive so they can build their own virtual cat and play games. I'm sure you can make one for your significant other too.

http://www.handipoints.com/

I did it! I mean...he did it!

2009-08-24T18:12:00.001-07:00

My first born baby was off on his first day of kindergarten today. He did great...me? Not so much. He even said "Are you gonna embarrass me and cry your eyes out?"...you bet! The day couldn't go fast enough. It was like waiting for happy hour on a Friday night after work. As I was winding my way around the carpool lane, I could see him sitting there waiting with his friends chit chatting away. I loved it. He looked so happy. I'm okay with him going back tomorrow...I think.

My baby can read...WTH?

2009-08-02T09:56:00.000-07:00

Okay, so I've seen the infomercial about "My baby can read" about 973 times during my insomnia nights, but seriously...wth? I'd really like to hear from some of you out there to see if this really works because I'm a skeptic. Actually, I'm sure it works, but do I really want my baby to read? I like being on the computer and him not know what I'm typing. He'll start looking over my shoulder and start saying, "what does lmfao mean?". Ugh. And I'm afraid he'll be smarter than me. I like hollering out to the hubs saying "do you think we should go to s-e-a-w-o-r-l-d?" They'd be like, "hell to the yeah, I want to go to sea world!" Soooooo, I'm not so sure about all this...what do you think?

Much love to ya'...

Um...Hi...It's been a while...

2009-08-02T09:46:00.000-07:00

My friend Molly started this amazing blog and she's inspired me to update mine...thanks Molly, love you! Hers is www.whymomruns.blogspot.com

Let me tell you why I fell off the face of the earth. I met my sister for the very first time...yep, you heard that right. Long long long story, but here's the half story...my dad was married before my mom; he had three kids; he divorced and was in a bad part of his life and let their stepdad adopt them. He married my mom, had me and I found out about the three of them when I was eighteen. I'm 31, and I met my sister, Patti and her family on June 18th, 2009. A date I will NEVER forget. I'm madly in love with her and her family and this is an extremely high point in my life right now. We're talkin' cloud 9 baby!

Hide and Go Pee

2009-04-03T08:40:00.000-07:00

Yep...more potty talk.

Before entering the world of motherhood, I never in a million years would've imagined that giving up the opportunity to go to the bathroom by myself would be so missed. I totally miss it...seriously. You could take away my left nostril in exchange for me going to the bathroom by myself and I'd be skipping at every opportunity to read the 101 magazine subscriptions that I need to catch up on. I still haven't read Redbook's November 2008 issue. And no, I won't throw it out...there's something in there I NEED, I just know it!

But back to the lecture at hand (name that song), in my attempt to do the "duty" (yes, you can put a pun there if you'd like), I decided to get creative. I pulled out a few small toys from the boys' toy box and hid them all over the house, some hard to find, some easy. Then I said "on your mark, get set, go" and when they ran to find them, I ran to the bathroom. Needless to say, I was done before they were and it was so much better hearing laughing and giggling in their attempt to find the toys than to hear fighting and yelling or have them opening the door on me. Ah....bliss.

Pantry Raid

2009-03-11T12:05:00.000-07:00

This is my pantry. It's small, unorganized and I don't like it one single bit that my right brain thinking is allowing you to see this. I feel like I'm showing you my underwear drawer. But here's what happened...actually, I don't know how it happened. All I know is that I was doing something, probably unproductive, and the kids pulled out all the stuff from my pantry. And I'm cool with that...nobody screamed, nobody got smacked in the face with a fake sword and nobody whined. It was a win win situation.

So, my left brain kicked in to gear and said "hmmm, let's organize this" and my right brain said "no, it's beautiful and artistic to see all the shapes and colors mixed together" and my left brain said...ah hell, it doesn't matter. BUT the cool part is that my kids decided to help me and as we were looking at all the colors and letters (trying to make it a learning situation), it dawned on me that we could come up with some really cool dinner combos if we just use our noggins. My five year old came up with a can of pineapple, a can of black beans and a can of diced tomatoes...voila, it's pineapple, black bean salsa! Now, here's your homework...go let your kids clean out your pantry...it's like a box of chocolates (you know the rest)

You know I love ya'

Big D

It's a Numbers Game

2009-01-23T13:00:00.000-08:00

Counting and number recognition has begun! This little game is a quick one, but I have to be honest, I thought of it while playing Bunco with my friends (quick little shout out to my bunco babes...love ya, mean it). So, what you'll need is dice and numbers that have either been printed or hand written on separate small sheets of paper. You may only need one dice, die, dices, whatever the plural is for that, it just depends on each child. The older they are, the more dice and numbers you'll need. You'll see, so let's move on...

So, have your little one toss up the dice, or roll it or throw it on the roof and let it fall to the ground, whatever floats your boat. Once it lands, they need to count the number of dots on the top and then hold up what number they think it is and then pray real hard that you've not only taught them the way of the world, to put on their shoes and to say please and thank you, but that they recognize their numbers and can count. Exhale with a sigh of relief when they get it because you've done your job. They can now go solve the world's problems all because you taught them a dice number recognition game. Hopefully you can see now that if you have an older child, the more dice and numbers you use, the harder it gets.

(I had a lot more pictures to put on this, but blogger was giving me a hard time)

Enjoy! Cheers!

I'm Baaaaaack

2009-01-23T07:33:00.001-08:00

Back by popular demand and the fact that I've sort of recovered from the holidays, I'll be posting today or tomorrow...

Tidbit

2008-11-05T12:21:00.000-08:00

No, I haven't been doing activities lately because well, I've been up to my ears in sewing (that's a story for another day), but I do have another funny tidbit that happened with my five year old today...

Scene: Five year old has been in the bathroom with the door closed for about 8 min.

(insert the sound of a toilet flushing here)

Brandon (yelling from the bathroom): MOM...I just wanted you to know that I'm not done. I just had to flush the toilet so that I could start over!

(insert confused mom here)

What makes me cool

2008-10-29T06:58:00.000-07:00

It's chilly this morning here in Orlando, but my friends in Alaska and Colorado, will remind me that in fact they are much colder than I. But with that, I've got my boots on, my jeans that I think are slimming, a kick butt sweater on and I actually brushed my hair...basically, I'm feeling like I look pretty cool. BUT, and that's a big BUT, I'm a mom and no matter how hard I try to look cool and put together, my kids will somehow manage to knock my cool factor down about 8 1/2 notches. I'll have smeared peanut butter on my shoulder by 2pm, I'll have dried crusty yogurt on the ankles of my jeans because the container mysteriously walked to the edge of the table, had a death wish and jumped off and splattered everywhere. I'll also end up with the smell of cheese crackers in my hair and my knees will be wet because I'll have cleaned up the 3rd glass of water that's spilled today.

But before all that happens and I'm still sort of put together, I still can't feel cool...why? Do you really wanna know? Well, because I have a banana and a pink pig sippy cup in my knockoff designer purse. There's nothing cool about that.

Cheers,
D

Halloween Advent

2008-10-21T10:19:00.000-07:00

So, there's only 11 days until Halloween. I should've made this a long time ago, but let's not live in the past, k? I made this advent calendar today for Brandon because he's so super excited about Halloween, that this was a great way for him to "see" how many days are left until the sugar overload begins. Please email me at delainamc@gmail.com if you'd like me to email you a copy of it. Enjoy!

Nose News is Bad News

2008-10-21T09:32:00.000-07:00

Just wanted to let you all know that my almost 2 year old has discovered today that his index finger fits perfectly into his nostril. It's all downhill from here...

I have a story...

2008-10-17T07:13:00.001-07:00

I'm only going to tell you this story, because it's either happened to you or I know it'll make you crack up. But watch how hard you laugh, because karma is a funny thing...just remember that. Okay, so my youngest son is almost 2. We're not potty training yet for a few reasons. I think he's too young and he's my last baby and because I'm so busy, I feel like diaper changes are sort of my one on one time with him. crazy...i know. But sometimes, because he has an older brother, J.P. will go peepee in the potty. It's just for fun and there's no real motivation there - I think he just likes how excited we all gets when he does it. So, this morning, I decided to not interupt his 437th showing of Barney and get him out of his pajamas and diaper with him still standing up. He does this thing where as soon as his pants are off, he takes both hands and rips off his diaper like it's his holster and he's all of a sudden Clint Eastwood. I admit it, it's funny. Well, he does this and as soon as I pick up the diaper, he looks at me and aims...I mean seriously uses his hands and aims at me and starts to pee. It's all over me and I shriek like a little girl - and as he continues to pee on me HE FOLLOWS ME with it. He's cracking up, his brother is in stitches and I'm covered in pee. Nothing' like a Friday morning, eh?

Hope that made you smile.

D

Pumpkin Stencils

2008-09-30T13:01:00.000-07:00

I actually found this link in the coupon section of the paper as I was desperately cutting coupons trying my best to save money. Huggies has a section on their website that has free pumpkin stencils and a few of them are Disney characters...very cool. Click on the link and and then you can print which ones you want...or all of them!

http://www.huggieshappybaby.com/tools/games/pumpkinstencils.aspx

D

Hold Tight...

2008-09-22T17:35:00.000-07:00

Hi all...bear with me; I'm sewing my big tushy off for the Fall in Love with Handmade show for this Saturday at Infusion Tea. I'll post some more stuff for the kiddos next week! I'll send an email to those of you on my list when I'm back to the groove of things. In the meantime, if you have an idea for an activity, drop me a quick line and I'll be able to post it...thank you all for your patience!

Love always,
D

Children of the 80's...hold tight!

2008-09-14T18:12:00.000-07:00

A friend of mine commented that she had found Space Invader pajamas for her son and it made remember that I had bought something for Brandon that I just couldn't get over...Underoos. They're making a comeback! I don't know about you but I had Wonderwoman and R2D2 ones. The ones I bought recently were at Wal-Mart (surprise, surprise, I was at Walmart) and although I didn't look in the girls section (which I'm sure they have some), they had Batman, Spiderman and Superman ones for boys. I hope you run out to buy these, they're so super cute and...may the force be with you.

Picture book...pictures of your mama taken by your papa...

2008-09-08T08:06:00.000-07:00

...a long time ago. Anyone else of fan of the Kinks? If not, you haven't hurt my feelings, but I'll get on with the post.

This suggestion comes from my friend Jessica who found this idea on perpetualpreschool.com. I checked out the site and I love it! So, here was her email...take digital pictures of anything in your kids lives (including, of course, them!) and then print out two copies of each shot and laminate them with clear contact paper. You have a personalized game of memory! (This was an idea that a teacher did with each kid's face in her class. Cute!)

I love this idea...thanks Jess!

Letter of the Week

2008-09-03T14:38:00.000-07:00

I stole this idea from my son's Pre-K class. They use tape on the tables to put the letter of the week that they're working on. This week just happens to be "M". As you can see, I got out my 'ol trusty painters tape and put this on Brandon's placemat so that he can see it during breakfast, lunch and dinner. Of course, you can take this way further by putting it on the bathroom mirror, the mirror or wall in your child's room, or even on the back of the seat that your child sits behind in your car (yes, I really did that). So, here's to painter's tape yet again!

Cheers!

Handwriting 101

2008-08-30T12:18:00.001-07:00

Hi All! I've missed you! I apologize on the lack of posts but my computer was in the "shop". So let's get down to business. My friend Diana sent me a link to a website that you can use to have your child practice their handwriting (or your own handwriting if you really think you need it) My handwriting was so bad growing up that I had a teacher suggest that I write in all capital letters for legibility so, I've been doing that ever since. I don't recommend this to anyone. I look back and I'm a little shocked at the suggestion but we didn't have computers to use for school work back then, so she was doing this so the poor woman could read my homework. Bless that woman.

Anyhoo, here's the deal...you click on the link, get out a dry erase marker and then have your child draw on the computer screen and you wipe it right off! I KID, I KID - don't have your child do that, I repeat, don't have your child do that!!!!! But seriously, you'll click on the link, then type in what you want your child to practice, for example their name, and then you click on "make worksheet" and you can print out the worksheet for them to use! How awesome! Thanks Diana!

Update: 9.3.08 My friend Amy wrote me today and had an idea regarding reusing the worksheets you print. You can put them in those clear plastic page protectors that load from the top so you can just use a dry erase marker on them and they wipe away. Brilliant Amy - thank you!

http://www.handwritingworksheets.com/print-k/make-pk-all.htm

New Product

2008-08-24T17:59:00.000-07:00

I saw these in a magazine ad and then immediately called my friend Molly to look for them at her Publix. And she found them - and guess what, I found them too! I bought a couple of bags, without a coupon (which is very unlike me) and ran home to show my husband. So he wasn't as super excited as I was...he just said "oh cool" but me, I wanted to start baking them and spelling words out for my kids right away. All in all, yes, I got a little excited for Alphabet tater tots, but I live in a small world so run with me on this one, k?

Sock Hop

2008-08-20T18:46:00.000-07:00

My kids LOVE to help me around the house. Whether it's to squirt the windex on the window or use a cleaning cloth with me; they love getting involved. I like to make games of it and here's one that we did. They can use this little project when they're done to help dusting or even giving it a little spritz of cleaner to help clean the table after dinner or help with the countertops. Seriously, they get a HUGE kick out of it. Even if you don't have time to paint or draw one of these sock helpers, just get out old socks and go for it!

Supplies you'll need:

An old sock (no holes would be great) (note to my husband: yes, honey, this is one of your socks, sorry, but you can pick up more when you get me more painters tape, thanks)

Fabric Paint or permanent markers

paint brushes if you're using paint

a napkin

Put a napkin inside the sock so that the paint or marker doesn't go through the other side. Then have your little one have at it. Although I do recommend having your little tike put on an old shirt because fabric paint and permanent marker don't come out. Oh, and lay down some newspaper too. Once the paint or marker dries, your little one can put it on and have their own little cloth to help with. These "cloths" can also go in the washer and dryer. What a great way to save on paper towels!

Btw, if you're extremely bored or have a serious amount of time on your hands, you can even sew little felt ears or a tail on these to make little "dust bunnies", get it...

Lunch Bingo

2008-08-17T11:43:00.001-07:00

Lunch bingo, well sort of. My son starts Pre-K tomorrow and he'll be going to school 4 days a week. He used to go 2 times a week and he was cool with me packing the same thing since they weren't consecutive days. But times they are a changin', so I came up with lunch bingo. Everyday he'll get to pick one item from each column and cross it off for that day. This way, he's getting a variety of foods and hopefully he'll feel empowered that he'll have made his own lunch decision that day. These kind of decisions are important you know...it could be a Harvard or Yale kind of decision one day! Kinda like when I used to do the corporate gig, I could decide whether I wanted to eat at the Globe or Tijuana Flats; sweet potato fries or chimichangas - it's those important decisions I made everyday that have made this world a better place. Anyone else getting hungry?

Btw, I made this handy chart in Microsoft Word (surprise surprise) - email me at delainamc@gmail.com if you'd like a copy of it.

Cheers,

ABC...easy as 123

2008-08-15T10:55:00.000-07:00

Now that I have that song in your head...let's get started. This was a fun little game that didn't take much to do. I printed two sets of the alphabet. With one of them, I got out my 'ol trusty painters tape and taped it on the wall as you see below.

Then, I cut up the individual letters on the second set and put them in a pile with the roll of tape. Then I had my son pick any letter and he had to match it underneath the one already on the wall. While he did that we went over certain things that start with the particular letter.

My son doesn't have much of an attention span so we did about five letters at a time and then went back for more later. Easy, simple and they learn a little something along the way.

Whole Foods

2008-08-13T17:41:00.000-07:00

I found a great kids section on the Whole Foods website today and they have some great alternative lunch and snack ideas to keep things fresh and new for the kiddos. With school starting back I thought this would be a great link for you all to check out. Enjoy!

Oh and they also have some awesome recipes for meals under $15 that I'm gonna try asap. The whole website is very informative and I've gotten a lot out of it. Mark it as a favorite 'cause I know you'll go back to it!

http://www.wholefoodsmarket.com/kids/

Days of the Week

2008-08-08T06:05:00.000-07:00

I've figured out that my 4 year old is a visual learner. Why it took me 4 years to figure that out? Well, I'm also a visual learner and I guess it wasn't put down on paper for me to see. My sister in law and I are both like that. When we get together to sew, it's a visual learning field day! We barely read the pattern - we say "meh, who needs to know what the seam allowance is - not me!" And honestly, for some reason - it all works out. So, in honor of sis and me, I have a visual way to teach my kids the days of the week. Some of you reading this probably have 2 year olds who can do this, but I'm a little slow, bear with me.

So, I opened up my trusty 'ol Microsoft Word (Bless you Bill Gates, you've made my life easy) and created this table. I added a few things that I know are consistent, like church, going to Beef O'Brady's on Tuesday (kids eat free, btw) and basketball on Saturday. The blank boxes to the right are for my little man to check off each day. (If you want this template, {I'll delete the pictures if you want} please email me at delainamc@gmail.com)

You can laminate this and use a dry erase marker or if you're like me, you can just print one out every 4 weeks. You can also make this into a chore chart, a behavior chart or anything else you can think of. Please post any variations, we all want to know!

Cheers!

People puppets

2008-08-06T19:52:00.000-07:00

My friend Nicole is an art teacher and I've been begging her to give me some ideas for this site and she came through! MUAH to Nicole! So, now that I've kissed her feet, let's have her tell her side of the story.

Supplies you'll need:
Glue stick
Magazines (kids ones work best she says)
construction paper
scissors

I have a nifty little project I just did the last week when babysitting an 8 year old and two 4 year olds. The kids spent 30 minutes working on creating their people puppets. Basically, use construction paper and magazines. Kiddie mags work great. I cut a circle and triangle out of construction paper for the 4 year olds. They of course choose the colors. The circle was the head and the triangle is the body. (We all know that preschool kids will place the arms and legs out of the head if given the chance, this is normal) This activity helps with body recognition and placement. The kids will flip through the magazine to find eyes or noses or hair and place accordingly. Or they can create their own from other construction paper. As you can see the variety is hysterical.....The eight year old really liked combining different images from different people. ***Note if you really want the 4 year olds to stay engaged...give them googly eyes. Kids love googly eyes!

Nicole

Enjoy!

I'm an Aunt!

2008-08-02T18:56:00.000-07:00

No, I haven't posted in awhile. I'm sorry for that. I'll get back on it asap. But here's my excuse...here me out. I was crazy busy sewing a bunch of baby stuff for my friend Lisa's shower that was today and also, my Sister-in-law, Tasha had her baby on Thursday and she's absolutely perfect. Here she is...admire and adore because I'm in love...she's beautiful!

To my precious niece. I love you - I always will. You're extremely blessed to have wonderful parents who have been waiting patiently for your arrival.

"You're a little piece of heaven

You're a golden ray of light.

And I wish I could protect you

from the worries of this life.

But if there's one thing I could tell you

It's no matter what you do

Hold to Jesus, He's holding onto you"

(Erin O'Donnell)

Love,

Aunt D

Face Painting

2008-07-28T11:48:00.000-07:00

When I used to go to Circus World as a kid, I LOVED LOVED LOVED having my face painted. Does anyone remember Circus World? Or am I the only weirdo that loves hanging on to nostalgia? I guess that's a topic for another day. But my 4 year old LOVES to have his face painted too, so while we were doing the Rollback at Wal-Mart last week, he asked for face paint that he saw. I got goose bumps when I saw it and I SO wanted to start jumping up and down and say "okay okay - let's open it RIGHT now and start painting away". But no, I had to play "mom" and say "hmmm, let's see, you did help mommy quite a bit yesterday, so let me think about it and we'll see." OH the torture for a 4 year old to hear the words "we'll see". But I'm proud of him - he maintained his composure and said "okay". Lordy Be I wasn't expecting that - but about 3 minutes later, I gave in and said "okay honey, you can have the face paint if you'd like". I thought the sound barrier would break with his shouts of joy. So with that, another day of being, as my 4 year old put it, the bestest mommy in the whole wide world was complete. If $3.47 of face paint makes me the bestest mommy, I'll buy some everyday!

Here's our adventure on the face painting. It came with 6 little jars about the size of film canisters - does anyone remember what film canisters are? LOL. But I got out some old brushes and a bowl of water and went for it and here's how it came out.

Btw, you can look at all kinds of examples of face painting art on the web. I just used Google images and typed in "face painting". I also downloaded a bunch of clip art that looked simple enough to copy.

Good luck and let me know how it turns out for you!!

"I am Batman"

2008-07-24T11:59:00.001-07:00

Have you seen the movie yet? No? Me neither. And I probably won't. If it doesn't have Kate Hudson or Debra Messing in it, I probably won't see it. I'm a weirdo about movies. BUT, my friend Molly DID see it and in honor of her and her kids coming over for a playdate, I made these...batman brownies.

The box that I bought had cut outs that you place on the brownies and then sprinkle powdered sugar all over and when you lift the cut out - tada! you have batman brownies. You'll see below that I got a little crazy and used homemade letter templates. Think of all the possiblities! You could use stencils from your $4,000 worth of scrapbooking supplies that you never use or you could make your own. You could even use those magnetic letters off of your fridge. But have fun and enjoy putting powdered sugar on your brownies - I know I did!!

Before

After

I hear bells...

2008-07-21T09:14:00.000-07:00

What's that noise? Is it my kids? Is it the oven timer? Nope. It's wedding bells! This has absolutely nothing to do with kids stuff but I'm so excited that I wanted to announce the engagement of my dear friend Danielle. This is such a blessing for her and her daughter to have found such a caring and generous man to fill there lives with more of the amazing love that they already have.

Cheers darling and many blessings on your new journey! I love you Danielle!

Shrinky Dinks!

2008-07-18T11:37:00.000-07:00

Remember Shrinky Dinks! I do I do!! I remember making some that were the Smurfs - man I miss the 80's. Well, I found these sheets at Joann Fabrics that you create and bake yourself - how cool! So, we got out the markers and made key chains for our family members.

Here's what you'll need: Shrink Sheets, permanent markers, scissors, a hole punch, medium weight cardboard and parchment paper.

First, preheat your oven to 325 and then have your little one or yourself draw on the sheet. I laid a piece of construction paper underneath with some designs on it so that my little one could trace over it.

After he finished his Jackson Pollock, I drew two lines separating them into 4 equal squares that would make 4 key chains.

After cutting, I then rounded the corners so that when they were completed there weren't any sharp edges. I used scissors, but you could get out your fancy corner rounder that I know you have for scrapbooking. I know I have one, along with $4,000 worth of scrapbooking supplies that I haven't used since I was pregnant with my first one. My husband reminds me of this frivolous expense every time he sees the closet in the extra bedroom and what do I say, "oh, I'll get to it, I promise". Anyways, if you're making key chains, punch your hole in it now. This is a very important step because once it's been baked, it's thick and hardened and you can't punch a hole in it.

Now, lay your cardboard on a cookie sheet and then lay your shrinky dinks down and cover them with a sheet of parchment paper so that they don't stick to themselves when they curl up. Then put them in the oven, set the timer for 3 minutes, turn on the oven light so that you and your kids can watch the magic happen. With the paper over the shrinky dinks it's hard to see what's happening until they start curling up and then everyone can oooh and aaahh.

After you pull them out of the oven, flatten them with a spatula. and then it'll take about 5 minutes to cool completely and that's it! The picture below is our completed ones. After my 4 year old got bored of coloring, I just had to make some myself. I had just as much fun as he did!

Tenn-aloon

2008-07-17T12:09:00.000-07:00

My husband came up with this game quite some time ago but it's still as popular today in our house as the day it was first invented. Now, we're not taking the credit on this invention but it's the first we've heard of it - especially of playing it in the house. Man, it's hot in Florida - we stay indoors in July! Anyways, it's Tenn-aloon. It's a game of tennis with a balloon. Here's what you'll need. A balloon of any shape or size blown up. Not with helium, just a few good puffs from your lungs is all you need. And then, depending on how many players you have, each should have a spoon of some sort from your kitchen. I give the kids wooden spoons.

Once you have all your goods, start by having your kids or you or grandma or the kids next door toss the balloon in the air and start using the kitchen utensil to hit it back. The trick is to not let the balloon hit the ground. You could certainly put up some sort of barrier like a tennis court - you could even get out your painter's tape!!!! You know I love a good roll of painters tape! But have fun with this one as it gets a lot of laughs when I try desperately to reach for the balloon without removing my lazy bum off the floor. Yep, you heard that right. I park it right on the floor and have the balloon come to me - I love this mothering gig.

Safety first!

2008-07-16T10:40:00.000-07:00

It happened...my friend Danielle's daughter got lost on a school field trip for about 10 minutes. And to us parents, 10 minutes is an ETERNITY! Luckily, her little girl went to someone who worked at the museum they were at and all was good. But ironically, Danielle found this brilliant invention that very same day. They're Child Saftey Tattoos and they're temporary tattoos that are personalized with your cell phone number so that you can be reached immediately. So, if you're traveling this summer or going to theme parks, I suggest you invest in these little puppies. What an awesome idea!

http://www.safetytat.com/

Let us know if you purchase these,

Pour some more sugar on me...

2008-07-10T17:56:00.000-07:00

I'm back to using my little Domino cinnamon/sugar shaker. My mom came over last night for her birthday dinner and we made these for her. They're cinnamon/sugar chips made from tortillas. It's a great snack and you can even make them from whole wheat tortillas or any other flavor for that matter. I'll have some other variations for you at the end of this post.

Here's what you'll need:

Cinnamon/Sugar combo (make yourself or buy the little shaker pictured below for $0.99 - go ahead, buy it - help the economy, you can use it over again to hold glitter for your kids art projects)

Tortillas (I used 6, but use as many as you'd like)

Water

Pizza Cutter

Pastry Brush

1. Preheat your oven to 400 degrees.

2. Line a baking sheet with aluminum foil and spray with non stick spray.

3. Use the pizza cutter to cut the tortillas into 1/8ths. Wow, Mrs. Burrell (my 5th grade teacher), did you see that? I ACTUALLY used fractions. You were right, I would need them when I grew up - who would've thought.

4. Lay out your wedges on your baking sheet - it's kinda like doing those tanagram thingies.

5. Use your pastry brush to brush a little water on each wedge. You don't need much, just enough so that the cinnamon/sugar sticks.

6. Sprinkle on your cinnamon/sugar.

7. Bake for about 8-10 minutes. Just enough to see the edges brown and get crisp.

Variations: I dipped mine in a chilled chocolate fondue (if you want the recipe, email me), but on any flavor tortillas you could sprinkle taco seasoning and use cheese for dipping. You could sprinkle oregano and parmesan cheese and use marinara for dipping. You could sprinkle some garlic and parmesan cheese and use hummus as a dip. Or you could just brush with melted butter with a little salt and pepper and use any dip you want.

These are great homemade chips without a lot of fuss and the kids LOVE the fact that they helped make them.

Pick a card...any card

2008-07-08T11:03:00.000-07:00

Hi folks! I was cleaning out one of the 127 drawers that I need to clean out in my house and I found my old business cards from when I used to do the working mom thing. Yes, I've been on both sides of the fence; working mom and stay at home mom. Anyways, after I got done having a little laugh to myself when seeing those cards, I decided to do a little recycling project with the kids.

Here's what you'll need: old business cards or even index cards or an old deck of playing cards, or even a new deck, I'll be alright with whatever you choose. And you'll also need a pair of scissors.

Cut four even slits on each card, two on one side, two on the other. (Sorry the picture is blurry, I'm still learning about my camera).

After that you can stack as shown below. It's easier than making the card towers that I used to make because this way they won't fall down as easy. Enjoy!

Bean Bags

2008-07-07T10:07:00.000-07:00

That picture above my friends are bean bags that I made last night. I was at a school supply store the other day and I saw some for $15 and almost croaked! $15!!! That's just nuts. So, I pulled out some scrap fabric, went to the store with Dawn and while she looked at me crazy while I bought 8 lbs. of pinto beans I explained to her my plans. As the light bulb went off in her head as well, we thought up today's post.

After making the bean bags (by the way, if you want some, email me, or check out my etsy site), Dawn suggested that I pull the 'ol painters tape out and make shapes on the ground to aim into. Thus learning large motor skills as well as shapes. My 4 year old knows them, but the 18 month old was intrigued. You could also draw out a hopscotch grid, but I was running low on tape - btw, Jason, are you reading this honey? Would you mind picking me up a small truck load of painters tape on your way home today? Thanks. Love, your wife. Now, back to the plan. As you can see in my picture below I also laid out paper plates that we had leftover from 4th of July (yes, they're unused, but have been decorated with markers by my son). The plates made it a little more tricky which we liked because they slid once you tried to aim your bean bag at them. Very cool in the eyes of a 4 year old. So, make or buy some bean bags and have at hit!

Oh, other variations are that you could use different color buckets to aim into for a points system or you could also draw numbers or letters on them as well to make it a triple learning experience.

Cheers!

Scrabble Jr.

2008-07-05T09:50:00.000-07:00

Hi All! I hope that everyone had a fantastic 4th of July - I know we did - we're still recovering! In leu of my creative brain taking a holiday I decided to post a game that my friend Molly loves to play with her kids and she swears it helped her kids with learning to read. I'll be picking up one today at WalMart (they seem to have lower prices on toys, and you know how much I love to "rollback"). It's Scrabble Jr. and I'm so thankful that they decided to make a children's version. I'm not so good at the adult version, so maybe I can kick my husband's rear in the kids version LOL! Anyways, I hope you find this product/toy helpful. Let us know if you have this game and if you like it. Have a great day!

Pour some sugar on me...cinnamon sugar to be exact

2008-07-02T18:48:00.000-07:00

Ahhhh, the smell of cinnamon & sugar toast. It's one of those smells that'll take you back a few years. My mom wasn't into buying anything processed in our house, so when it came to sweets and treats - you made it yourself...and trust me, it was worth it. So, today for a snack, we made this heavenly toast and both kids ate it up! I wonder why they don't get that excited for meatloaf? But this is a really easy and quick treat that the kids can help with and they look forward to.

Here's what you'll need: Bread; I use whole wheat, but any sandwich sized sliced bread will work. A baking sheet; I covered mine in aluminum foil just because it's easier to clean up. Butter or margarine; as you can see I've purchased the Omega enriched margarine spread. I only bought this because I have a coupon for it, and those of you who know me know that coupons are my second best friend. You'll also need a knife to spread your butter with. Yes, you can use your fingers if you want to make clean up easier, but do you really want to...I didn't think so. Also in the picture is a pink kids knife from IKEA. I know I've bragged about their plates before, but the cutlery is the shizzle to my nizzle for the kids. And here's the best part...you see that little plastic jar next to the bread? That's the magic that'll make your life that much easier. It's by the Domino Sugar company and it's a perfect mixed blend of cinnamon and sugar in a little shaker bottle (I bought it for $0.99). Of course, you can mix the cinnamon and sugar yourself from scratch, but I NEVER get the right consistency. I either get too much cinnamon or too much sugar. My mother always got it right, she still does - and since I'm not able to - this little clever invention is right up my alley. It's perfectly sized for little hands as you'll see in the following picture.
So, first preheat the broiler in your oven or your toaster oven. Then spread a light coat of butter on your bread. I stress the words "light coat"; you really don't want a lot of butter here - it's just to help the cinnamon and sugar stick nicely. Then have your little guys sprinkle on as much or as little of the mixture that you'll let them have. I wouldn't lay it on thick or anything, but if that's what you want, I won't be a dog in that fight - I say enjoy! Anyways, after you've got your mixture on, pop it in the oven and turn on your oven light to watch the magic happen. The kids LOVE this part. It doesn't take long, about 30 seconds to a minute, depending on how charred you like your cinnamon and sugar. I do want to stress the fact that you really need to watch it closely because burnt sugar smells like...well, really nasty and all the Glade candles in the world can't cover it up. Not that I know that for a fact, I'm just assuming that that's what would happen...I mean, I've never burnt anything, I always make my toast perfect and those of you who do burn things, well shame on you (insert sarcasm here).

Here it is! The most perfect, quick, sugary snack for the day. Oh, btw, my 4 year old wanted me to tell you that the best way to wash this down is with a big glass of milk. Yeah...I taught him that (insert proud mom patting herself on the back here). Enjoy and let me know of any variations that you have!

FIRST CONTEST-WE HAVE A WINNER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

2008-06-30T16:29:00.001-07:00

Guess what...we have a winner for the first ever Tot's Landing Contest. Thank you to the four of you who entered by leaving a comment and guess what (did I say that already?) YOU ALL WON! Yes...I said that clearly - YOU ALL WON! That's Jen, Shannon, Mrs. Bargain Hunting Wife and Culleymom! Now, those of you who didn't leave a comment to enter, don't worry, they'll be more contests...I promise. So, the four of you who won, and don't live in Orlando who don't see me every Tuesday at Beef O' Brady's or see me at MOPS meetings (I'm talking to you Jen and Molly), then email me at delainamc@gmail.com to send me your address so I can send you your diaper wipes case. Congrats!

Hello all! It's time for the first ever Tot's Landing Contest! What do you win? This awesome diaper/wiper holder pictured above and below hand sewn by ME! It conveniently holds two diapers and a plastic wipe case, it's fully lined and has a pearl snap closure. I went all out for you! And what's that you say...your kids are out of diapers? Huh, well, use it for a baby shower gift or use it to throw your wallet and keys in the car or even as a CD holder, heck, sell it on Ebay. The options are endless. The reason I like this diaper/wiper holder is because for some reason, when I just throw the diapers in my bag they get all crushed and eventually end up with crushed ritz crackers all in them. yuck. Also, when I'm out in public, I can just take this case to the bathroom to do the 'ol diaper switcheroo. Btw, mine has two diapers, the wipes case and a changing table liner in it (not included - it's just what I like to carry in mine).

How do you win this one of a kind case? All you have to do is leave a comment on this post telling me which Tot's Landing activity you like best so far. You have until this Thursday at 11:59pm to enter. I'll use a random number generator to pick for me. So, please leave a comment (one per person please) and GOOD LUCK!

Bathtub Paint

2008-06-30T12:43:00.000-07:00

I admit it...I had quite a bit of fun making this project today. My 18th month old was asleep so my 4 year old and I had some mommy time together, so we decided to make bathtub paint. Sure, you can go down to your local superstore and buy some (my big deep dark secret is that I love to "rollback" - I have a little WalMart addiction), but you probably have everything you need already at home to make your own.

Here's what you'll need:

1/4 cup of Kid's Bath Soap

1 tablespoon of Cornstarch

2-4 drops of food coloring

Small cups or a plastic ice cube tray

See that big tupperware container? Yeah, that last name on it isn't mine - it's my best friends'. It's from the chicken noodle soup that she made for me whenever I had a baby...my first baby to be exact...almost 5 years ago. I just loved that soup so much I wanted to keep her favorite tupperware container forever so that I would never forget her. Honestly, I just don't want to give it back. I love it's size and I can't find that size anywhere, so if you're my best friend and you're reading this...you're never getting your tupperware back.

Okay, now back to the soap. I used the measurements above for each color. Meaning that I made 3 seperate batches. One for red, one for yellow and one for blue. Sure, I could've used green and purple food coloring to make 2 more, but instead I decided to be a teacher today and talk about how mixing certain colors make other colors. And when we did our first color mix of red and yellow to make orange - he lit up like a Christmas tree. He'd seen it on Barney but had never done it himself. For the red, it took 4 drops of food coloring, the yellow was 2 and the blue was 3. Of all the things in life you need to learn - I think mixing colors and making new ones are at the top of the list of "The Most Important Things You Should Know". No, that's not a real book that I know of. I'm sure some of you will go to Amazon.com and tell me - but if not, let's write one...all of us. I'll invite you over for coffee and we'll write our own book!

Oh, soap, that's right. As you can see in the picture below is our completed soaps. I put them in the tupperware so that I could put a few paintbrushes in and store it in the bathroom. Btw, if you're using little dixie cups like me, double up so they don't get flimsy on you.

Let me know what you think - enjoy!

Kids Love Newspaper

2008-06-27T20:03:00.001-07:00

Here's something you can do before recycling your newspaper ('cuz we all do that, right?) :) Tape a few pieces together to match your child's length, have them lay on it and take a marker and draw their body line. It's hilarious to see them squirm and wiggle because they say it tickles - so note that this might take a little longer than you planned. But I think it's adorable.

Anyways, after you've drawn their outline, you'll proably have to draw in their shoes. These shoes I drew are a little clownish, but my 4 year old got a kick out of it. He said they looked like shoes that would make him play basketball like Dwight Howard (Lordy be don't I wish!).

Anyhoo, after you draw their shoes, have them take markers or crayons or whatever you wish and have them draw their face and hair and clothes and shorts and shirt and...you get the picture. Mind you, my 18 month old had absolutely no interest in this until he saw me pull out markers - so he and I drew on our own seperate sheet of newspaper that you see in the background. Yes, it's taped together because I fully intended on him laying down for me to draw him - but what was I thinking? How could I ever believe that MY 18 month old would lay still for more than 3 1/2 seconds. Crazy me, eh?

After we were done, we hung this in his room and he was amazed at how big he actually was. It was a 4 year old ephiphany...he was in heaven.

Here are some other variations that we thought of...

You could go outside and do this with chalk. (we intended on doing the chalk but it was raining, which is no surprise here on Florida afternoons in the summer)

You could also tape up a piece of newspaper on the wall and drawn their shadow or profile or even shadows of other ojects that you're shining with a flashlight on. (oh the myriad of possibilities with the flashlight - that'll be a post for another day).

Just a note...I'll be at my MOPS Leadership Retreat this weekend, so you may not see any posts for a couple of days. Have a great weekend everyone! MUAH!

Win a unique baby shower!

2008-06-26T11:34:00.000-07:00

Are you pregnant, know someone who's pregnant or are you needing to throw a baby shower? If you live in the Orlando area, hop on over to Cottage Industry and enter for their baby shower giveaway! Check out the above picture to see what you win...

Oh, and anyone who comments on this post automatically gets entered in this drawing!

D

The fluff to my soul

2008-06-26T08:38:00.001-07:00

Okay, so I don't know what that title means, but I do know that the snack above is by far the most buttery, fluffy, crunchy snack that I've EVER put in my mouth. I got this snack from http://www.thepioneerwoman.com/ ; it's the best blog site that I've seen. I check it at least 3 times a day. She'll make you laugh, cry and cook up somethin' special for your family. The love story between her and her husband and how they met is one that will hook line and sink you! But okay, I'll get down from my Pioneer Woman soap box now; bottom line - you should check her site out.

So, me and the kiddies made these today and the below picture proves that you should NOT, I repeat should NOT give your 18 month old melted marshmallows. As you can see...it's not pretty. And it's not like you can just wipe off sticky melted marshmallows - it remains sticky even AFTER it's been wiped off. I'm just glad I was smart enough to take his shirt off first. My 4 year old devoured these and claimed that I was a genius and the best mommy in the world for making them. I only wish he said that while he ate meatloaf - or anything else I make for that matter. But, along with being an amazing snack - your little ones can help you make them. Check out the recipe and you'll see why. ENJOY! Because I know you will! If you eat less than 5, you're amazing in my book!

Leave comments to let me know what you think!

Number hunt

2008-06-24T13:24:00.000-07:00

This is a little twist on the cookie game previously posted. What I did was I typed numbers 1-10 in microsoft word, nothin' fancy, I just made them big enough to fit on one page. This one is for my 4 year old, but feel free to use higher numbers for your little ones. Like this...

Then I did the same thing with pictures that my 18 month old would recognize. Like this...

Then I cut them up, told the kids to go hide in their rooms and then I taped them all around the house with my painter's tape (but what actually happened when I told them to go hide was that my 18 month old chased the 4 year old into his room screaming and they slammed the door shut with excitment). I think I'm gonna right a book about 101 things to do with painter's tape. I never knew it was such a versitle tool, er uh, object - or whatever.

After my 4 year old asked about 412 times if it was time to come out yet (mind you it was a time span of 2 minutes) they both came charging down the hallway with the anticipation that Santa had just come.

The picture below shows that I taped all the babies' pictures in one place and just said "Bring Mommy Elmo" and he would. I taped the 4 year olds numbers out of order all through out the living room and he had to bring them to me in order. After he did, I would tape them all up again and tell him to bring numbers out of sequence. It was a little more tough for him, but he loved it.

As always, post any variations that you have. Enjoy!

"We built this city..."

2008-06-22T14:22:00.000-07:00

Yes, I now have that song in my head. But here's the deal...we have one of those roll out mats for matchbox cars. Don't get me wrong, it's great. But my 18 month old will walk over to my 4 year old and pull the mat out like a tablecloth with dishes on it. Picture it...my 4 year old is playing quietly with his matchbox cars on his mat with a city printed on it and WHAM - little man comes over and rips it off the floor and runs his little diaper booty away cracking up. My 4 year old looks at me with his mouth wide open and says "MOMMA!". And then the next 10 minutes is a vicious cycle of tickling and giggling trying to get the mat away from the baby. Sounds easy right? Um, no. So, we invented this...the painters tape city. I printed out pictures of trees, houses, stores, apartment buildings and a gas station all by the request of my 4 year old. Yes, he indeed requested an apartment building and I have no idea why. I guess he's just keepin' it real and keepin' it fair. I taught him that :) But anyways, as you can see below we made a road way and taped down our pictures with painters tape. You can use masking tape or any tape that won't ruin your floors. You don't even need to print out pictures. Your little one(s) can draw their own or even design them out of the tape. If you don't have hard wood or tile, I imagine that a low pile carpet would work well too. Enjoy! Let us know of any variations! Enjoy!
D

Sand Art

2008-06-21T13:06:00.001-07:00

My friend Amy sent this to me that came in her son's Highlights magazine. I completely forgot about this magazine but totally remember this as a kid. Oh the memories (the ones I can remember in my ripe ol' age of blah blah). The pictures posted below are the directions along with the supplies needed, but I'll list them below as well.

Supplies:

Sand, food coloring, glue, cardboard and small jars with lids. Amy said that she used those small starbucks frapuccino bottles and used sand from her son's sandbox.

Instructions:

1.Pour sand into jars. Add a few drops of food coloring.

2. Put lid on and shake until sand is colored.

3. Put glue onto carboard, using the glue as your drawing utensil.

4. Sprinkle sand on the glue.

5. Wait 15 minutes, gently shake the cardboard and you've made sand art!

Good Luck!

Did you ever have one of these?

2008-06-20T09:50:00.000-07:00

I totally had this joystick and I definately played my fair share of Centipede, Pacman and Q-Bert! Educational? Probably not. Fun? You betcha. But now we know that these days our kids have access to many more educational opportunities that are challenging AND fun. They look forward to learning. The only technological excitement (it's a new term I made up) that I remember was Oregon Trail. So, today, let's chat about some of the opportunities that are available to our kids. And here's the good news...if you have a home computer or even access to one at your local library - these are FREE!

The first one that we go to is http://www.kidzui.com/. It's a kids only site where they can create their own character and visit kid friendly sites that you many not necessarily know that are geared for kids. You also get a weekly email to let you know what sites your child has visited (I assume that would be great for older kids where you're not sitting next to them at the computer).

The other discovery that my friend Diana and I made was from the library today. The link I'm posting is for the local library here where we live and it has online books that your kids can flip through. It's totally interactive. Go to Tumblebooks and Tumblereadables. http://www.ocls.info/Children/default.asp?bhcp=1

Besides playhouse disney, nick jr. and pbs. org - let us know by leaving a comment about other technological advancements (that's a 25 cent word baby!) that you use with your kids - I know we all want to know!

Cheers!
D

Kitchen Helper

2008-06-19T08:22:00.000-07:00

Does this sound familiar...

"Mom, I'm hungry"

"Mom, when's dinner ready"
"Mom, but I'm STARVING"
"Mom, can I have a cookie"
"Mom, mom, mom, mom"

I hear those words quite often when cooking dinner, and so does my friend Karen Ann. So, here's what she does. She plays "What's in the oven mitt". She hides something inside an oven mitt, like a spoon or anything from a junk drawer (I know you all have those, don't deny it) and they have to ask yes or no questions to find out what's inside. Brilliant Karen Ann...I love it!

Happy Cooking!

Holy Macaroni

2008-06-18T12:03:00.000-07:00

Happy Wednesday...uh, Tuesday, wait...what day is it? I hate when that happens. I always hate when I wake up thinking it's Friday. Anyways, the activity we worked on today is a blast from the past. I remember doing it in school when I was a kid about blah blah years ago. Use "blah blah" whenever you want to cover up your age.

Here's what you'll need today. Paper, glue (preferable the squeeze bottle kind) and different pasta shapes (or just one shape if that's all you have).
I used microsoft word to print this out on my printer because I'm terrible at drawing. But please feel free to draw whatever name, design or even numbers on a piece of paper for this. You could even use colored construction paper or anything else you don't mind your little ones gluing pasta to.

You can see in the picture above that I used two different pasta shapes. Btw, I LOVE LOVE LOVE these little bowls from IKEA. They're about $1.99 for 6 bowls and they have cups and kids flatware that match. They're the perfect size and they can go in the dishwasher - how perfect!

Here's my son gluing on the pasta. While we did this we would go over each letter and name things that started with that letter. I also picked the basketball design because he's obsessed with basketball. He plays all the time, watches it when it's on, goes to the Magic games with his dad and attempts to play NBA live on the Wii. I'm sure this is developing into a healthy obsession (insert sarcasm here).

Here it is...all complete! Yes, we probably should've done the basketball too, but a four year old's attention span isn't very long.

As always, please comment with any variations that you'd like!

A bunch of Hullabaloo

2008-06-17T13:59:00.000-07:00

We'd played this game today about three times. Both boys LOVED it. Even my 18 month old has a blast doing the "funky dance" and moving to the different pads (with my help, of course). I saw it at Target for about $24.99 but you might be able to find it somewhere online or even at Walmart a little cheaper. Leave a post if you have this game - I'd love to hear if your family enjoys it. I know we do!

Beary Good Pancakes

2008-06-16T18:10:00.000-07:00

I came across this pan on http://www.fredflare.com/customer/product.php?productid=3897&cat=103# and I'm definately going to buy it. Not only for my kids, but for me. I would totally dig eating a bear pancake with my coffee every morning - what a way to start the day. "Um, honey, would you please make me a chocolate chip bear cake with a side of Starbucks caffe' verona; one cream one sugar, thanks" Btw, has anyone seen those plastic things that you press into toast to make smiley faces or different pictures? I apologize that I'm probaby not explaining myself right, but my mom used to have this yellow plastic thing that she would press into a piece of bread and then when she toasted it, it had a smiley face or a rainbow on it. Does anyone know where to get something like that? Holy Macaroni I miss the 80's.

Cheers,

What's Missing

2008-06-16T16:29:00.000-07:00

Hi All! Happy Monday! Hope you find that today is treating you well. We had fun today; a little rain, a little sunshine and a whole lot of humidty...that's Florida for you. Anyway, down to business. Today we played What's Missing. I basically dug through the toy box and found different shaped items that were different colors, sizes and textures. I placed them on a plate and then had my son take a long look at them. I didn't tell him what I would do next (suspense is an awesome thing to watch on a kid), I just told him to take a long look at the plate and what was on it. I told him to count how many objects there were and to name them all. Then...I took the plate away and removed an object.

The picture below shows a missing object when I brought the plate back. I told my son to figure out what was missing and I told him how many items were missing and although it took him a few minutes, he eventually figured it out. With a big grin he said "Do it again Momma!" And so the game lasted about 10 minutes, which is more than I expected.

I also did this game with my 10 year old cousin who was hangin' out with us today. I put a lot more objects on her plate and she had just as much fun with her game as my son did.

Enjoy! And please post any variations that you come up with; we'd all love to read them!

Freeze Frame

2008-06-15T11:29:00.000-07:00

This game could take 5 minutes up to an hour - depending on how much energy your little ones have. What we do is I turn on one of those digital music channels with upbeat music and let the kids dance and when I put it on mute they have to freeze. It's hilarious to see what positions they find themselves in and if they can hold it. You can turn this into musical chairs or even a clean up your toys game. If you don't have 4 or 5 kids (God bless you if you do), have your kids use their stuffed animals for the other "guests".

If you don't have those channels on your tv, just use a favorite kids CD or even the radio (I've even played this in the car, don't worry, they're just dancing in their car seats). Btw, we've borrowed a lot of cool kids CD's from the library. It's fun to try different ones every week.

Who stole the cookie from the cookie jar?

2008-06-13T08:53:00.000-07:00

Today we made "cookies" to color, cut out and hide!

You'll first need to get your cookies on paper. I made a template as you can see in the picture above, and although I'm not able to post a pdf of this, please email me at delainamc@gmail.com if you'd like the template. It's in color, but feel free to print it in black and white and have them color it in. We did one sheet but you can of course print as many as you want. If you don't have a printer feel free to have your budding young artist draw his own cookies and color them in.

After printing, with a little assistance, cut out your cookies. My 4 year old still needs quite a bit of help cutting, but the scissors that I found easiest for him are the kid scissors from IKEA. They're about $2.99 and they come with two pairs; one that cuts straight lines and another that cuts in a zigzag.

This is my 18 month old dumping out the crayons everywhere so that he could color his black and white cookies.

And here they are! All cut out and ready to hide. The cuts are not perfect and trust me, me and my self diagnosed OCD has some issues with not going behind my 4 year old to make them perfect. Let it go Delaina, let it go...LOL!

After they're all cut out have your little ones hide in their room and lay those cookies out!

This is the "after" shot. He found all his cookies and needed to count them to make sure he found them all!

Here are some variations and additions if you'd like...

You could laminate your print out and then cut them out so they last longer.

You could write numbers or letters that spell their name on the back.

You could do different foods, such as different food groups and then have them sort them into the right group, i.e. dairy, grains, fruits and so on.

You could also make these gold coins and make a treasure hunt.

I guess I could go on forever! But if you have some more ideas for this activity, please post a comment for us all to see.

Have a great day!

"Candy" Bracelet

2008-06-12T10:35:00.001-07:00

My friend Jen bought my son some cool candy necklaces just like the ones I used to eat in the 80's. (by the way Jen, I had one of those myself, yummy!). My son was so in love with those that I decided to make these at home from Cheerios and Fruit Loops (no, not the low sugar ones, I didn't have a coupon for those). They're very easy, my son had fun and they take little supplies.

Here's what you'll need...round shaped cereal or snacks that have a small hole in them, we used a combo of Cheerios and Fruit Loops (my son eneded up picking more fruit loops than cheerios, and I don't blame him). You'll also need a pair of scissors, yarn or string or whatever you have that would work, a small piece of scotch tape (not pictured here) and you'll need your child's wrist.

Measure your child's wrist and add about 3 inches so that you'll have room to tie it off and then add a piece of tape to the end so it's easier to thread through the snacks.

Then make a few knots at the other end of the yarn so the snacks don't come off . (I realized that this was necessary after my son put a few snacks on them as you can see :)

Have your child thread the snacks on until it there's enough to go around their wrist. This is great for practicing those fine motor skills.

After you have enough on there, tie it off and TADA - "candy" bracelet. Let me just add this...by the time I uploaded these pictures to post this, that bracelet was eaten up - so my advice is to make a few so that if you're out and about you can whip these out, tie them on and they have something to satisfy a hunger and their attention. Good Luck!

EDIT (6/18/08): My friend Amy wrote me saying that her and her son used Dental Floss instead of yarn...Brilliant! What a way to get a little flossing in! Thanks Amy!

The Library

2008-06-10T14:46:00.000-07:00

Today I took the kids to our downtown library for a puppet show. They loved it and it was free! While we were there we of course checked out kids books and dvds and I also had about 4 1/2 seconds to browse a book section that I wanted to see, so I was able to get something as well. I also picked up the calendar that they have for the summer and I was shocked at all the activites that they had to offer for kids of all ages. Yes, this is going to sound like a cliche, but check out your local library - they'll have lots to offer!

Welcome

2008-06-10T14:39:00.000-07:00

I guess I'm welcoming myself. But if you're reading this, welcome to Tots Landing; a place that I hope to post things to do with your kids, easy recipes for families and cool products for your little ones. Please feel free to contact me with any ideas or websites that you know of that you think would fit for this blog. I'd also like to have guest parent bloggers. So, if you'd like to post a blog here, let me know - let's do it!