Are you looking for something simple and fun to do with your kids? I’ve got just the thing. Break all the rules tonight and be the coolest mom on the block when you let your kids play with their food! Why? New presentations break down barriers for little kids. Unknown foods become less intimidating when you can play with them. Read my post over at the Georgia Blueberry Commission to get some ideas for how you can have fun with your kids AND get them to try a new food tonight!
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Its definitely spring at our house! We’ve been busy getting the yard ready and Judah has started his first year of Tee-Ball. In our little town it is called “Tot-ball” for 3 and 4 year olds. We decided to wait until he turned 4 to sign him up. He technically could have played last year but he wasn’t really interested then and I’m glad we waited. He ASKED to play “baseball” like his cousins. He was SOOO excited when we told him we were going to sign him up.
Of course, we waited about a month from the time we signed him up until the actual first practice. That was a LONG wait for a four year old. He asked every couple days if it was time to go play a baseball game.
Last week was his actual first practice and he had a blast! The coaches were so good with them and we were surprised at how well Judah could take instruction {another reason why I’m glad we waited another year}.
But, with adding an extra curricular to our busy schedule we’ve had to get organized. A little extra planning on my part and we’ve still managed to have meals at home and get to practice on time. It takes team work though, I plan a meal that can work up quick. Sometimes I start parts of it the morning or night before. DJ helps me get Judah dressed and we all run around like crazy packing up last minute items and loading the dishes in the dishwasher. But it works!
After our first practice we realized we needed to get Judah a glove and a bat. We went straight to our local Walmart in town and were able to get what we needed for a very reasonable price. Judah picked out a baseball bat that has a shark on it – he thought that was really cool. {I thought it was really cool that it only cost me about $17}.
We also picked out a mitt that would fit his hand. Again, I was giddy with the $7 price tag that was on the shelf! so for around $25 he had all the gear he needed. Last spring we purchased an inexpensive tee and some balls to play around with at home from Walmart. Now all we have to purchase is his team’s uniform. We haven’t heard the final price but it sounds like we can expect about $40 for his shirt, baseball pants, and a visor. So, all in all we’ll be about $65 into this sport. Not too bad for a season of fun.
And fun it is. At the end of the first practice, Judah wrapped his arms around his daddy’s legs and said, “Thank you daddy for bringing me to baseball. I had a GREAT time.” I think DJ almost melted. 
Disclosure: This is a sponsored post. I’m a participant in the Walmart Moms Program. Walmart has provided me with a product sample and compensation for my time and efforts in creating this post. Participation in this program is voluntary and the opinions stated above are entirely my own.
The week before last my family visited Fernbank Museum in Atlanta, Georgia. I’ve been planning to take Judah for several months and we finally made the voyage. {It takes a lot to motivate this lady to drive in Atlanta traffic! Lol}. I knew he’d be in love as soon as he laid eyes on the place. Judah is our aspiring paleontologist {much like many a four year old}.
All of the exhibits were wonderful. So much to learn and see. But, of course Judah’s favorite parts were the dinosaur exhibits. Lucky for us, there was two giant skeletons in the middle of the museum as well as several replicas like this one in the dinosaur room and outside the cafeteria like the one in the first photo. There were also other great exhibits, like the Wold of Shells and the Walk through Time in Georgia.
We took our time and enjoyed the museum all afternoon. Our last stop was was Fernbank Naturequest, a spot just for curious kids. My kids didn’t want to leave! There were so many things to do and see…and TOUCH! They loved climbing the tree house, uncovering dinosaur fossils, putting together sea life puzzles, jumping in virtual streams, and finding hidden wildlife. I’m glad we saved this exhibit for last or else we wouldn’t have made it to any other part of the museum!
After a long day at the museum we decided to have a little snack {which I brought along in our cooler} before heading home. We had some Stonyfield YoKid Smoothies {Judah loves the Very Berry ones}. They have organic fruit and veggie purees in them and they are the perfect size for little hands. Stonyfield also has some larger smoothies that my friends rave about but I know when I’ve given them to my kids in the past they were unable to finish the whole bottle. They have no problem downing every last drop of these!
They were great to bring along to keep little bellies from growling and big voices yelling that they wanted to stop for {unhealthy} fast food. This had the ability to tide us over until we could get home and I could make us a quick dinner.
Fernbank has three really cool dinosaur statues right outside the front doors. The fountains were relaxing and we just kicked back for a few minutes before loading into our car for the long drive home. Of course, both littles were asleep before we hit the interstate.
As soon as we were home Judah said he wanted to visit ANOTHER dinosaur museum.
I received product for review and other compensation in exchange for this post. Of course, my family lives off of yogurt and Stonyfield happens to be one of the brands I love and trust…so this is an easy and honest review of a lovely product.
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We had a fabulous time at Ringling Bros. Barnum and Bailey Circus in Atlanta at the Philip’s Arena last Wednesday night. We saw the new “Dragons!” show and I have to say it is by far my favorite circus! We’ve been to the circus the past 4 years and I think this show was the best we’ve ever seen! The music was great and the acts were even better.
Judah said the lions and tigers were his favorite. My favorite was the little dogs and cats that did tricks. They were sooo cute {and talented!}. Judah also loved the dragons. The dragon floats that they paraded in and out were incredible.
Eliana enjoyed this circus too. She was a great age to really understand what was going on and she was mesmerized! I’ve never seen her so excited! She jumped up and down and pointed and hollered for the first 20 minutes of the circus non-stop! She was totally entranced by the parade at the beginning. But of course the snacks ran a close second! She ate her weight in popcorn and cotton candy. LOL.
Besides the show being absolutely mind blowing, we were thrilled with the visit we got from the clown during the intermission. I loved that I was able to get a shot of Judah with him, even though Judah was a little nervous!
Are you tired of the snow and cold? Are you day dreaming of spring and counting down the days until you can send your kids outside to play!? Long gone are the winter holidays when everyone is off from school and it seems that spring break is just too far away! How do you kick those winter blues and still have fun in the cold?
Here’s a fun idea that my family loves to do … at least once a month. We have a family slumber party! I know it sounds silly but there is just something about sleeping somewhere besides your own bed that is fascinating to the kiddos. Judah BEGS to sleep in the living room and would have a family sleepover once a week if I would let him!
Step 1: We have an air mattress that we blow up in the living room. You could also build a tent/fort to sleep in, drag out the sleeping bags, build a blanket palate, or drag a bedroom mattress into your living room for a fun night of sleeping any where but your own bed!
Step 2: We have a dinner that is different than the normal. It is usually something easy for mom like pizza or we have a “junk food” night and have frozen food. This is extremely off for us so Judah thinks it is a treat! lol. This week we decided to have a “fancy dinner” and have steak and cheese fondu. We got out the fondu pot and I made a cheese sauce with asparagus, rigatoni noodles, and homemade bread for dipping. Whatever you decide to do, make it different than the normal dinner routine to make it “special.”
Step 3: We pick out a movie to watch together. Sometimes we watch something on Netflix, other times we watch something we’ve recorded on the DVR. This week Judah was SO excited about the movie Peter Pan coming out on DVD that we bought it at Walmart as a special surprise after school this week. I was surprised that it was only $19. I really expected to have to pay more for a Disney movie. {What a pleasant surprise!}.
Step 4: Snuggle down in your new sleeping space and turn down the lights. Before you know it everyone has enjoyed themselves so much they are all conked out and tucked in for the night. 
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As I mentioned in an earlier post, we are celebrating The Feast of Tabernacles this week. On the first night of festivities we celebrated by cooking a giant pot of chili with all the fixings. Then, we set up a table for all the kiddos to decorate leaf shaped sugar cookies.
I baked the cookies earlier in the day so they would be cooled and ready to go in the evening. I made up a batch of buttercream icing and then separated it into three dishes and colored them yellow, brown, and red (which actually turned out to be more hot pink – which the girls were fine with!). I also had lots of cute sugars and sprinkles ready to go. I had orange sugar, orange, & yellow nonpareils, candy spiders with orange & green jimmies, and fall shaped sprinkles with little pumpkins. Wilton has a great assortment out right now for fall.
The kids had a great time (shhh… I think I had almost as much fun watching them!). They each iced 5 cookies and then added the decorations to them. They worked with such concentration! The cookies were works of art – some of them piled high with sprinkles, LOL.
I covered the table outside with a disposable table cloth so clean up was a snap!
After they finished decorating their cookies I got out the glow in the dark necklaces, bracelets, and glowsticks. We set up a ring toss game with glow sticks inside water bottles. We threw the necklaces and tried to ring the bottles. Even the adults got in on the fun!
The kids ran around the yard with their glowing gear having a blast just running around and chasing one another in the dark. My two kiddos went straight to bed and slept like logs!
If you are interested in hosting a fun cookie decorating party or even just decorating cookies for a party or other get together, Walmart carries a variety of Wilton products that would work great and are reasonably priced. And, you can also pick up idea sheets like this one:
Disclosure: I am a Walmart Mom. This post is sponsored by Walmart. Walmart has provided me with product and/or compensation in exchange for my time and efforts in creating this post. My participation is voluntary. As always, my opinion is my own.
I have been thinking about making this project for a very long time and I finally found the inspiration (and time *ahem*) to get started! The original thought behind this calendar was I wanted to make every month, every week, every day…FUN and I wanted to give Judah (and soon Eliana) something to look forward to. It is kind of like an advent calendar I guess, although my family never has had one. The difference is we will use it year round.
My calendar is made of wedding favor tins (I bought them at Walmart) and magnets from the craft supply section. I used a paper punch to cut circles out of scraps of scrapbook paper and then numbered them 1-31 with a Sharpie marker.
I used Mod Podge to glue the circles down into the insides of the clear windows inside the lids of the tins. {It was as if these tins were made just for this project!
While the Mod Podge dried I hot glued the magnets to the inside of the bottom of each of the tins. {I tested them to make sure the magnets would work this way and be strong enough to stick to the fridge and it worked!}
Once all the components were dry I put them back together and hung them on my fridge. I added a title to the fridge for the current month “July” and put the tins in order for this month (July 1st started on a Sunday so they are all lined up in five neat rows).
I added a slip of paper inside each one with something that we had planned to do with Judah. Some of them are big deals like family outings on Saturdays and some of them are little things like painting projects at home with mom. But, all of them are things he likes to do and he knows the tins mean he is guaranteed something exciting to do each day. He looks forward to opening a tin each morning – kids like having things to look forward to!
Some of the things we have in this months tins are:
I actually haven’t filled all the tins. I fill them each week when I have a better idea of what is happening and what I actually have time for. Alternatively, you could go ahead and fill all the tins and keep a master list/calendar somewhere else so that way if you needed to change one you would know which tin it is in!
Of course, each month will look a little different. Right now I am at home full time with the kids so we can do more outing type activities but once school starts our days will look a lot different so we’ll do other special things. I will keep you posted on future months and activities if you are interested.
What do you think? Do you do special things with your kids to give them days/things to look forward to?
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Judah and I had a blast on this project! I’ve been wanting to make something cool out of a cardboard box for some time now… I’m weird like that. I finally settled on a fire truck and had been promising Judah for some time now.
When we finally started the project, I had Judah paint the whole box red. My mom had saved some cardboard from under frozen pizzas and/or the bottoms for baking and transporting round cakes. We painted 5 of them black. I cut one of them to make it look more like a steering wheel and to make it easier to hold on to and turn.
I hot glued the wheels to the sides of the box when it was all dry. Then, my husband came up with the idea to attach the steering wheel with a couple of nuts and bolts so the steering wheel would actually turn!
Judah had a blast playing with it just like that but I decided to give it a real fire truck attitude with some sticker vinyl that I had left over from a project. I punched circles out of white for the inside of the wheels and yellow circles for headlights. Last I cut some strips out of the white to make a ladder down the side
To make it “wearable” I took two pieces of leftover ribbon and stapled it to the front and the back of the box so that they kind of look like suspenders. This way Judah can slip the box over his head and wear it as he drives around hands free!
Judah was all set for a giggling lap around the house complete with a fireman’s hat from the Dollar Tree.
What do you think? We love it! Aren’t all the best toys homemade?
I have had an eventful St. Patrick’s Day! It included a trip to the urgent care with the baby. She is fine but having allergy problems that have caused her to vomit three times (from all the drainage). It is pitiful. Amidst the sickness I have also managed to have a little fun, including green pancakes and green milk for breakfast for Judah bug and an afternoon leprechaun hunt.
I made tiny foot prints with my fist and fingers in flour and placed gold chocolate coins at the end of the footprint trails. Judah was excited looking for the footprints!
We also made a special drink to go with dinner! Green Koolaid ice cubes with Sprite. To make your own, just mix up a packet of green Koolaid and pour it into an ice cube tray. Allow them to freeze until hard. Place a handful of cubes into a clear glass and pour Sprite over them. A simple, festive drink that everyone in the family can enjoy! (:
Happy Saint Patrick’s Day!
Since Eliana has made her entry into this world I’ve been trying to find a little time each day to do something fun with Judah. This is usually during Eliana’s napping in the morning. I think it is important to give him a little private time with mommy and I enjoy it also.
Last week we had fun doing a few fall projects. I’ve been finding lots of great ideas on Pinterest and you can see whatI’ve been finding by checking out my boards here.
One idea I found that Judah and I did together were these delicious little chocolate covered pretzels. Chocolate covered pretzels are always a hit – who doesn’t love this salty and sweet snack?! – and we made them especially for fall to share with some friends by using Wilton chocolates in orange, yellow, and white.
I melted each color one at a time and dipped the pretzels using a skewer allowing the extra chocolate to drip back in the bowl. I put them on parchment paper to dry. My sous chef, Judah, helped by putting the sprinkles on while the chocolate was still wet. I had some sprinkles in these exact same colors that I had picked up in the fall baking stuff.
It took a little reminding to get him to ease up on the sprinkle coverage. (: I kept reminding him to “save some for the other pretzels,” and to “only use a little.” He had so much fun though.
And my sprinkle-covered kitchen floors were proof. (:
Once all the colored pretzels were done and dry I packaged them up into small little bags and added a cute sticker that read, From the Kitchen of Denise Sawyer. I purchased this digital file a while back on Etsy and now I can print and punch these cut tags/stickers any time I want.
Judah, Eliana, and I delivered these to my coworkers at Berry College the following day. Judah had fun helping me hand out our creations. And, we kept a few for ourselves too… and they were yummy!
