Besides raiding the fridge and climbing everything in sight, my daughter has started getting into imaginary play lately. Since she’s the oldest, I’ve tried to be creative about some things I can make for her. Last week it was a gas can for her cozy coupe car, and this week I took a stab at…
Is it weird to do a blog post about cereal bowls? Um, probably. But, we all use them, so it can be relevant, right?
Okay, so with six kids I am frequently replacing my glasses (broken), sippy cups (lost), silverware (in the sandbox), and cereal bowls (used to hold random food bits to lure wild animals into my yard.) I tell you what. It’s a little crazy. If I’m out of small spoons, I just need to take a trip to my back yard. I’m sure to find a few. I think I actually have an Instagram pic of my sippy cups find…
Having nine children in our family is crazy fun. But, as those little buggers grow up, they leave us! SO RUDE! 🙂 We have two in college and one who just recently left for a two year mission for our church in Salt Lake City. So, even though we have 6 kiddos left, it’s feeling very empty. (I know…it sounds crazy, but it’s true).
I decided that it was time to start sharing some fun ideas on care packages. Everyone has someone they know who would love to get a fun little treat in the mail. With technology being so advanced, it doesn’t seem to happen as often as it use to. So today, I thought I’d share a fun idea I first saw here. But, with having so many kids, I thought I’d make a few changes. We decided to send our son Israel a family hug from home.
Hey, it’s Brook from Blissful Roots again. I’m going to have to jump on the fall bandwagon and say, “I LOVE FALL!” It’s my favorite time of the year. My mom always loved fall, all three of my boys’ birthdays are in the fall, there’s Halloween, pumpkins, apples, leaves, fall baking- what’s not to love? So, today in honor of fall I have a fun autumn art project for you to do with your kids.
I’m not quite sure where I came across this idea, but I’ve been doing it for several years with my boys. Even though they’re getting a bit older, I think they still get a little excited about making this art project every September. Actually what they really love is the squishy, gooey feeling of the paint on their arm, hands, and fingers. We’re usually trying to avoid paint on body parts, but not for this activity. This is a perfect fall art project for kids!
Today is a BIG day in the Create & Babble family! My first and only grandchild (“only” until February!) starts Kindergarten today! Yes, today is Jordan’s first day of school. I’ve been wracking my crafty brain to come up with an original photo idea for his big day. There a a lot of great ideas…
San Diego is one of my all-time favorite vacation destinations with so much to offer year round. I normally visit at least once a year and have visited San Diego during each of the four seasons. I honestly don’t know that there’s a “best” time of year to visit if you’re looking at weather, crowds and seasonal events, BUT if you have kids, I have a secret that will probably affect when you decide to vacation in San Diego. OK, it’s not necessarily my secret. I would say it’s San Diego’s Best Kept Secret… Each October the best San Diego attractions join forces and offer free admission for kids – ALL MONTH LONG! When you consider your kids get in to most attractions free and your school aged kids have a Fall Break scheduled, October seems like the perfect time for a San Diego vacation.
Each of the top attractions have different rules and ages, so here’s what you need to know:
Hello my friends!! Many of you are getting ready to start school, but here in Tennessee, school has been in session for two weeks. I know – CRAZY! So for us, the fun has begun. I think starting school is a mixed bag for most kids. It never seems to be the easiest transition for everyone. Some of my kids have not had the best beginning and have struggled for different reasons. Not everything has been school related. Some of it is just normal icky things that life throws your way. But a struggle is still a struggle. Needless to say, it’s been a tough couple of weeks. Watching them struggle has reminded me of the challenge of being a mom.
One of the hardest things about being a mom is knowing that we can’t fix EVERYTHING. We have to watch our kids face challenges, we see them struggle to make sense of things, we see their heartaches, and there’s only so much we can do. But, the key is that there ARE some things we can do.
So, we spent this past weekend with Dan’s family in Bear Lake, Utah/Idaho. Have you been there?? It’s soooo beautiful. A huge, amazingly turquoise lake, right in the middle of the desert. Every year, we rent a cabin up there and spend the time boating, swimming, eating raspberry shakes (they’re famous!), wrestling (tons of cousins!), and relaxing. After we got all the kids to bed, the adults stayed up late playing games …AND, I thought I would tell you about it. It’s called The Name Game and so much fun!
But, first …a handful of pictures from our trip…
Well, ready or not, school is just around the corner (a week from Tuesday for my boys- way too soon!). We just got back from a quick camping trip over the weekend. Apparently we aren’t the only ones who frantically rush out and try to fit in all the last-minute summer activities we can. It took us searching through four campgrounds to finally find a spot. It wasn’t our first choice, but ended up being the perfect little spot for our family!
I’m not sure if you’ve been counting down the days until school starts since the second week of June, or if you’re ignoring all the school supplies that are lining the shelves right now, and hoping the first day of school won’t happen. I have to say I’m a tad bit excited. I’ve LOVED every minute of our summer vacation, but there’s something rejuvenating about this time of year for me.
We are nearing the end of summer here in Tennessee, so my kids have been especially antsy. On a big “I’m SO Bored I’m Going to DIE” day, I came up with a fun drawing activity for kids. I asked each of my kids to draw three different pictures.
1. A picture of me.
2. A picture of Dad and Mom.
3. A picture of our family.
And they quickly went to work. My house became very quiet. They all found their own spaces and disappeared. After a while they all started emerging to show off their creations. They took time to point out little details, like the braid I sometimes wear in my hair, the brown spot I have in my eye, and details about each family member.
Hopefully, you’re all rested and recovered from the busy 4th of July weekend. My birthday is the day after the 4th, so we’ve been extra busy. Good, but busy!
A few weeks ago my boys and I went to Seussical the Musical with my mom and sister. Have any of you seen it? If not, you really should. You can often find it at local theater companies, and I know our high school did it one year as well. My three boys (ages 3 and 6) were so entertained! The characters, the outfits, and the music are infectious!
Horton from Horton Hatches the Egg and Horton Hears a Who is the main character in the musical. There’s a line in one of the songs that comes from Horton Hears a Who. It says, “a person’s a person, no matter how small.” I used that quote all of the time when I was teaching first grade, and now that I’m a mom I use it even more.
Hi, I’m Caz from A Little Learning For Two and I’d like to share a game idea with you that I hope your kids will enjoy as much as mine do! This egg timer seeking game is simple, fun and all you need to play the game is an egg timer.
The idea of this game is very easy; one player leaves the room while the others set the egg timer for 5 minutes (or less) and then hide it somewhere for them to find. The seeker has to find the egg timer before the time counts down and it rings.
For our youngest daughter (4) we use one timer but for our 6 year old we hide several at once and she loves to race around trying to find them before the time runs out and the bell sounds.