Please tell me I am not the only mama whose children go crazy wild from 4:00-6:00pm? I know many days they are hungry, tired, and ready for a new face (AKA DADDY!) And well, honestly let's face it most days so am I!!! Usually during this time of day Baby Brother needs to be fed and dinner needs to be prepared. It is just a hard time of the day. I found that I was becoming a really grumpy Mommy during this time of day so I began brainstorming how can I make this time of day better. Here is what I came up with: Rotating Activity/Stations/Centers-Whatever you would like to call it!
I set up 4 stations near me in the dining room area and set a timer for 10 minutes. When the timer goes off the boys rotate to a new activity. It has worked brilliantly this week!! Less fighting, more engaged boys! Who could ask for more?!
Some of the things we've tried are:
Playdoh
Squinkies in a salt tray
Legos
Big coloring books on the floor
Puzzles
Mr. Potato Head
I am sure more ideas will come to me as we continue this new fun activity time. My goal is to keep them engaged while I try to multi task during this hard time of day.
I am pretty sure I originally saw this idea at one of my favorite blogs ever, Meaningful Mama., where she shares a tip, craft and character development strategy daily. Be sure and hop over there for some awesomeness.
What do you do to keep your family happy during this challenging time of the day?
The 2012-2013 school year will begin a new adventure for us! After thinking and praying about the decision for almost five years we have decided for JP to "wait to start" kindergarten until next year. He has an August birthday, so he just turned 5 in late August. This is a decision that many parents of boys with summer birthdays discuss. In my teaching experience young boys often needed more time to mature. My husband and I have discussed this plan since JP was a baby. My husband has an August birthday also and his sweet mom always wished she had waited for my hubby to start school. JP is a smart, creative student, although he has never been to preschool. Thankfully he has been home with me for all five years of his life. We decided last Spring that he would need some kind of preschool environment for this school year to prepare him for school. So with much prayer and careful consideration I researched a few of the options in my area. I am thrilled to share that God lead me to an amazing Christ centered preschool just right for our family. The moment I walked into the school to tour the facility I knew it was the right fit for him (and honestly, for me too). He will attend Pre-K two days a week from 8:45am-2:00pm. His first day is tomorrow. We have had a lot of fun picking out a new backpack, a new water bottle and preparing. Tonight we read The Kissing Hand by Audrey Penn by listening to it on a video on Youtube.
Both of the boys listened to the story and then I kissed both of their palms and explained that they could feel my love by placing their hand to their cheek tomorrow. I used to read this story each year when teaching and I am sure a copy of this precious book is in a tub in the garage. Thank goodness for technology. I found exactly what I was looking for on youtube!
CA will be doing Preschool at home with me this year, but I am including him in all the fun 1st day of Preschool activities too.
I found an awesome printable here for his teachers to fill out some of their favorite things that they like so I can spoil them a little this year. I remember how special I felt when parents of students took time to learn the things I liked and would treat me every now and then! Awesomeness!
I also found a very cute printable at Its Overflowing where a dear friend of mine writes and hosts an amazing blog! She is super creative and amazing! I loved her idea to make teachers cookies with this adorable printable, so I tweaked it to fit my style and budget. I used pink card stock I had on hand. Then I picked up some clear treat bags and cute ribbon at Micheal's to match the pink card stock. So here is what I made for JP's sweet teachers! I hope they feel loved and appreciated on their first day with Pre-kindergarteners!
I also found an adorable "First Day of..." at I Can Teach My Child that is absolutely perfect! Can't wait to take their pics in the morning!
So now I am off to rest my tired eyes. Honestly, I am a little nervous as I haven't ever left JP for very long other than MOPS and Sunday school. I know he will do great and I know I will too once I leave him. He is ready and needs this year to build his independence. He needs time away from CA, Baby Brother and well Mama. It will be a new adventure for us all! Off we go!
Update:
So the first week has gone great!! He loves Preschool! He went into his class Tuesday morning with no trouble. He got right to work and told me all about his fun when I picked him up! He already seems bigger and more responsible to me!
These sweet munchkins are still home with me! CA and Baby Brother and I have had a fun week at home doing our "preschool things" too! Love them!
I can't believe I have a 5 year old!! Where did 5 years go!?! I am one proud mama of this precious boy! He is smart, loving, curious, and creative! He is a wonderful big brother and such a precious child. We celebrated his birthday together with family and friends at our local recreation center. He loves all things superhero, especially Batman so we had a Batman theme party. We rented the rock climbing wall and a classroom to use for the party. It was a blast and worked out really well! All the kids really seemed to enjoy rock climbing. I think it was a unique, fun activity.
I saw where another friend of mine interviews her son on his birthday each year and then blogs about it. I thought this was an excellent idea, so I am copying her. :)
So I asked JP a few questions and these are his responses:
-Who is your favorite superhero? I LOVE them all!
-What is your favorite food? Pepperoni pizza and pretzels
-What is your favorite TV show? Super Hero Squad, Batman from 1970s, and Doc McStuffins
What is your favorite song? On My Lips by Ross Parsley
What is your favorite resturant? Chick Fil A
What is your favorite color? orange first, then green
My favorite thing to do with mommy is go on a date.
My favorite thing to do with daddy is go on a date.
I loved all of his answers and loved that I knew the answers to all of these before he ever answered. I do love knowing my children so well. We do try to go on 1:1 dates as often as possible. Guess we need to schedule on really soon for him!
This post has been whirling around in my head and heart for a while now and I've debated on whether or not to write but here goes. I share from my heart and I hope that you can hear that.
I've been convicted lately with the question "What if we were real?" I think so many times we can hide behind our computer screens and make it appear that our lives are so wonderful by posting amazing posts on our blogs or posting only the positive Facebook statuses. Social media has become so popular these days and while it does have its benefits, I want to be real and genuine here. What if I shared with you that I only wear makeup 2 out of 7 days a week? What if I shared that I raise my voice at my boys too often? What if I shared that lately we haven't done too many preschool activities? Mainly because I am nursing a sweet 4 month old often and I'm a tired sleep deprived mama on top of that. Would you think less of me? Would you still read my blog or follow my blog? I hope so. My heart's desire when starting this blog a year ago was to share with other stay at home mommies the activities that they too could do with their little ones. In the process I have met an amazing group of blogging mamas and learned so much! My heart's desire is still to share what we are learning and doing, but I desire to share that in a real, genuine way. I too have hard days. I call my sis or dearest friends and say "HELP! I'm about to lose it again!" So if you are having one of those hard days today, please take heart and know that you are not alone. 1 Peter 5:7 says Cast your cares on the Lord, for he cares for you. So I encourage you to cast your cares upon our God who loves you so!
I love the lyrics to this awesome song my Mandisa! She says it so well!!
"What If We Were Real"
Well, I'm tired of saying everything
I feel like I'm supposed to say
I'm tired of smiling all the time
I wanna throw the mask away
Sometimes you just have a bad day
Sometimes you just wanna scream
Tell me I'm not the only one
Tell me that you feel just like me
We keep tryin to make it look so nice
And we keep hidin' what's goin on inside
But what if I share my brokenness
What if you share how you feel
And what if we weren't afraid of this crazy mess
What if we were real
What if we were real
I'm over hidin my tears
I think I'm gonna let em' go
I'm over actin so strong
When I ain't even in control
We make it so complicated
But why does it have to be
Why can't we open our hearts and let everybody see
We keep tryin to make it look so nice
And we keep hidin' what's goin on inside
But what if I share my brokenness
What if you share how you feel
And what if we weren't afraid of this crazy mess
What if we were real
We'd think a little less of ourselves
We'd care about someone else
'Cause we'd know just how they feel
Maybe we could let someone love us
Maybe we'd a little more like Jesus
Why can't we learn to real
We keep tryin to make it look so nice
And we keep hidin' what's goin on inside
But what if I share my brokenness
What if you share how you feel
And what if we weren't afraid of this crazy mess
What if we were real
You've got to be real
You've got to be real
You've got to be real
You've got to
You've got to
Na,na,na,na,na,na,na
Na,na,na,na,na..
So here is to more authentic, real, writing and sharing. Blessings to you and yours,
Trina
My boys LOVE muffin tin meals! I don't know what is so fun about eating a meal out of muffin tin meal, but it adds a lot of excitement to lunch at our house! Lunch is not my favorite meal of the day anyways, so whatever I can do to spruce it up is fine by me. I find lunch can become boring and mundane, even for me. I am not really a sandwich kind of gal, unless it is loaded with all the yummy veggies like at Subway or something. So I try to make a muffin tin meal at least once or twice a week. I don't always add anything too spectacular or even introduce new foods too often, I just enjoy presenting it this way. I do like offering six foods with a lot of them being fruits or veggies. Here are a few we have had recently that the boys devoured.
In this meal I served carrots, cottage cheese with sprinkles, turkey deli meat rolled up, grapes, pretzels, peanuts for CA and craisins for JP.
Then one afternoon I served this snack while I cooked dinner. They loved it! They ate delicious golden apple slices, round crackers, carrots, and grapes.
Feel free to check out other awesome Muffin Tin Meals here:
I found this today on another awesome blog and I thought I would share! I want to be intentional and meaningful with my words to my family. Lately I have been trying to praise the boys specifically when I see them doing something praise worthy. I printed this awesome list so I can post it somewhere in my home where I will see it and use it often. I thought I would share it with all of you just in case you like it too!
Hello Fellow Blogger Followers and Readers,
If any of you are still there, I am still here! We have had a wonderful, busy summer diligently working on our 2012 Summer Bucket List. We have enjoyed a lot of family time together and are now gearing up for the Daddy to return to work and for the Fall.
We enjoyed an amazing double rainbow one night.
Celebrated that TC is now 3 months old! I love this picture as CA is waving at me and barely holding sweet baby brother! Oh my sweet boys!
My three treasures and biggest blessings! Melt my heart!
We also enjoyed our first family vacation to Colorado! It was a ton of fun! Stay tuned for more pics soon!
I have a lot more on my heart and head to blog about but to be real honest, today was a hard parenting day and I am one tired mama and need to join my sleeping family. Toodles for now! Please visit me again as I do plan to blog more often asap!
Hugs,
Trina
