Dingbat Mommy Strikes Again

I keep telling myself that I really am a smart person.  I got great grades in college and I even taught statistics at one point in my life.  But, for the life of me I cannot figure myself out sometimes.  Let me back up.

I've been looking for fun things to do outside with my kids.  So, my friend and co-author (we are almost finished with our book by the way.  I promise.), Susan Case, suggested that I put peanut butter on a pine cone and have the kids help me watch for birds.  I thought that sounded like a super idea so one day I got the kids all excited and they helped me find a pine cone from the backyard and then I smeared peanut butter all over it and we put it in the tree.  We waited.  And waited.  And waited.  No birds ever came.  The kids finally wandered away to find something else to do. 

Later that day, my Mom came to play with the kids.  I told her about our little problem.  She went over to inspect our work and started immediately laughing.

"Katie," she said.  "You didn't put any birdseed on here.  Did you really think the birds would just lick up this peanut butter?"

"Oh," I replied.  "Well I know how much the dogs like peanut butter.  Susan didn't say anything about birdseed, just peanut butter."

My Mom patted my back.  "I think she assumed you would know about the birdseed."

So, yes.  I am a dingbat Mommy.  If you look closely, you will notice not a drop of a birdseed on the picture above.  We went to the hardware store the next day and bought birdseed.  Now in this next picture you see just a subtle difference.  This time, birdseed is sprinkled on top.  And yes, this time the birds liked this much better and the kids really enjoyed watching the birds come peck at our home-made bird feeder.

In fact, they loved it so much that Munchkin Girl is now an avid bird-watcher!  We even made a trip to the book store to buy a "Bird Book" as she calls it, so we could know what we were looking at. This ended up being a really fun activity and every day we find new birds to look at in the book.  I used to think that all birds looked alike, but when you look closely, you will see that each bird has different colors on its neck its back and different size beaks.  Now now she watches our bird-feeder and yells out, "It's a sparrow!"

Here is a book you can buy so that your kids can become bird-watchers too!  We have upgraded to a cool bird-feeder to maximize our fun too!

One quick note: Will you do me a favor?  I am learning more about Google and apparently it helps them if you tell them what you like.  That way, when people search for things like crafts for kids, etc., they are more likely to find my posts.  Soooo...if you liked this post and think others might like it, click the button below that looks like this.  You are basically "recommending" this for Google.  It really helps me too!



Did you enjoy my post?  Don't forget to vote for me by clicking the banner below.  You can also enter your email address below to receive all my updates!  I really appreciate your support!!

Want to see all my posts?  Put your email address here to become a subscriber!

Enter your email address:

5 Cool Apps for Moms (not kids)

Everyone always talks about their favorite App for kids, but what about Moms?  I have spent the past several weeks quizzing everyone I know about their favorite Apps and I have compiled a list.  (Before you ask, yes, I realize I am a giant nerd.  I like Apps, sue me).

If you are ever in an awkward situation and need something safe and fun to chat with people about it, ask them about their favorite App.  I do it at work all the time and it works like a charm!  On that note, here is my list.  I am hoping that everyone will share their favorite Apps too!

Urban Spoon
Price: Free

This is how our conversations often go for dinner on the weekends:

Me:  What should we have for dinner tonight?  Should we pick up something?
Hubby:  Sure
Me:  What should we get?  What's around here?
Hubby:  The same restaurants that have been here since we moved in.  Chipolte, On the Border, Panera. (Then Hubby trails off....)
I respond by shrugging, followed by ..silence....staring into space...why can't I think of anything else??

This app fixes all that.  You can simply put what part of town you're in and it will give you all the restaurants.  You can even drill down into which type of food: Chinese, Mexican,etc.  It's like having a food expert telling you all the available restaurants in your area.  Great for traveling too.

i Garage Sale
Lite Version: Free
Premium Version: $1.99
Looking for a cheap stroller or maybe an easel for the kids?  If you want to look at garage sales, this app will tell you the location of all garage sales in your area for that specific time frame, all collected from Craigslist.  Then you can drive around with your map.  See?  Isn't that so cool?

Key Ring  
Free
I cannot believe this app is free.  You know how you end up with dozens of "Loyalty cards" for places like Babies R Us, Toys R Us, Panera, CVS, the grocery store, etc.?  Like you don't have enough to do at the register while your toddler is trying to pull gum off the shelf and you are trying to focus on paying and getting out of there and then they start asking you for your card and you have to dig around in your purse for your CVS card.  Plus, you end up with a super fat wallet because you have so many of them.  With this, you can enter them all in and when you go to the store, just have them scan your App.  You can get rid of all your cards from your wallet!  Plus, they even come up with coupons for you.  Genius!!

icon Project
Price: $0.99
I love my iPhone but one thing I hate about it is calling people.  You know how you have to go into the phone icon, then contacts, then favorite, then click on your person, then click one more time?  Really?  5 clicks just to call Hubby?  This App puts an icon right on your main page called, "Mom" or "Hubby" or whatever and it just calls them directly.  You don't even have to go go into the phone menu first.  Just literally click on the icon on the main screen. 

Flixster
Free
We haven't seen a movie since...oh, probably Bridesmaids.  What is that, a year ago?  More?  So I was a bit baffled when we had a date night recently.  Lots has changed in the world of movies in a year, but this App is great because you can see what movies are playing where and even see ratings and reviews.

Note:  I was not approached by and of these companies.  I truly just love Apps and wanted to share my favorites with you.  I was not paid or incentivised in any way to write this post.

If you enjoyed this post, you will love my book!  It was released in July, 2012 and was co-written by Katie Norris and Susan Case.  In this unique book, which was written by both a Mom and a former Kindergarten Teacher, you will find ways to keep your little kids busy, out of trouble, and motivated to learn.  If you have ever tried to cook dinner while your kid clings to your leg and cries, this is the book for you!  Kids behave better when they are given challenging projects to work on, which will in turn give you more free time to do the things you really need to do, like washing dishes, paying bills, and relaxing so that you can be a better Mom!

Did you enjoy my post?  Don't forget to vote for me by clicking the banner below.  I really appreciate your support!!  You can also sign up to receive my posts via email.  Just put your email address below and you'll start getting emails every time I post.

Sign up here to receive my updates via email

Enter your email address:

Mother's Day Craft for Preschoolers

As a rule, I only do crafts if they are:

1.  Easy

    AND

2.  Cheap

However, Mother's Day is different and the craft I chose was frankly neither easy or cheap but it really wasn't that bad, so if you are looking for something and aren't naturally creative, this craft is totally do-able!  I thought I would go ahead and post to give everyone time before Mother's Day.  Plus, it turned out so nice that I was glad I branched out for my wonderful Mommy and Mother-in-Law.  Here was my criteria: I knew that I wanted the kids to help and I wanted to make a canvas.  Lastly, I wanted to incorporate letters into the final design, so here is what I came up with. 

For this project, we had to buy the canvas, but we had everything else at home.  First we dyed pasta.  I put some rubbing alcohol in a baggie with some food coloring, then added pasta to it and let it sit for awhile before putting it on paper towels to dry.  Take note that food coloring stains.  It especially stains skin.  Not that I know that from personal experience or anything.  Let's just say that before I got smart with the baggie on this, I tried using a small bowl and let my 2 year old "help" me with it.  We both had red hands for several days.  It was a little disturbing for strangers to see our blood-red hands.

Here is the finished pasta.  We did orange, green, and purple (mixed red and blue of course)

Then we went outside and gathered some sticks.  The kids really loved this part and it was a great way to keep kids busy, so while they did this, I used a glue gun to affix the sticks to the canvas.  This tree pasta art was inspired by a post from Maria over at Mama Mia's Heart 2 Heart.   She is very crafty, you should check her out!

After that, I had Munchkin Girl help me pick out stickers that said, "I Love Nanny". 

Then, she painted green grass all over the letters.  I drew a rough line for her so she knew to keep the paint under the trees.  She enjoyed the challenge of this.

Finally, the pasta was dry so she used glue to get it on the canvas for the "leaves". 

After everything dried, we took off the stickers and voila!  Suddenly the letters re-appeared!  It was a great way to reinforce learning letters.  I have to say that I was a little sad to give this masterpiece away!  And I have to admit that Father's Day will likely not be so extravagant.  I vastly prefer cheap, easy crafts, but this was a fun challenge for all of us!

Happy Early Mother's Day to all you wonderful Moms out there!  You inspire me daily!




One quick note: Will you do me a favor?  I am learning more about Google and apparently it helps them if you tell them what you like.  That way, when people search for things like crafts for kids, etc., they are more likely to find my posts.  Soooo...if you liked this post and think others might like it, click the button below that looks like this.  You are basically "recommending" this for Google.  It really helps me too!



Did you enjoy my post?  I'm currently ranked #2!  I can't believe it!  Don't forget to vote for me by clicking the banner below.  You can also enter your email address below to receive all my updates!  I really appreciate your support!!

Want to see all my posts?  Put your email address here to become a subscriber!

Enter your email address:

Strawberry Shortcake Craft

First of all, I want to say THANK YOU!!  I have been working my way up through Top Mommy Blogs, and I am currently ranked #4!  I keep thinking this must be a mistake.  I remember when I first started blogging and I wasn't even qualified to be on the list, let alone in the top 5!  So, thank you very, very much for all your support.  It means the world to me!   (If you've never voted for me before, you simply have to click on the banner at the bottom or to the left and this registers a vote for me.)
So, back to crafts.  My daughter LOVES Strawberry Shortcake, but lately she is only interested in this one particular book:

                     

Why this one?  Because in this one Strawberry has long hair.  Seriously, she won't even consider reading the versions with short hair so this gave me an idea.  My favorite crafts are always based on books and I always prefer cheap crafts.  All I needed for this was paper, yarn and contact paper.  For this, I traced out a flat paper doll and asked her to cut it out.  Honestly, this was the hardest part since I'm not super artsy.  For anyone else challenged in this department, I included a printable below so you can just use it instead of wasting your time on it like I did.

Once she was ready, we put Strawberry onto some contact paper on the table.  Then I have her a bunch of red yarn for "Strawberry's hair".  Notice how long it is!  Then I also cut out some little hearts and polka dots and let her choose how to decorate Strawberry. 

She ended up putting the hearts above Strawberry's head, which wasn't exactly what I intended, but hey, it's her craft, not mine!  I initially intended to cover the top with more contact paper so she could keep it as a sort of "flat doll".  With the way it turned out, we hung it on the wall instead, but she sure does love it!  I think it would work either way, but the contact paper underneath works really well for holding all that hair in place.

Meanwhile, Little Buddy colored his version of Strawberry and glued stuff to her.  I didn't give him contact paper or yarn because he kept getting hands stuck in it and getting confused, so coloring was much more his style.

Later that night, she told this was, "My most favorite activity we've ever done!"  We even did it again later when her BFF from next door came over.  They had a blast doing it together and this time we used blue yarn for "Blueberry" and yellow yarn for "Lemon" and they used stickers and markers to decorate Lemon and Blueberry.

Here is the printable that you can use for your "Strawberry".  This should be all set up to be 8.5x11 so you should be able to just click on it and print it out.  This was a very easy craft so have fun and let me know how you did!

Add caption

If you enjoyed this post, you will love my book!  It was released in July, 2012 and I wrote it with Susan Case, a Kindergarten Teacher.  If you have ever tried to cook dinner while your kid clings to your leg and cries, this is the book for you!  We worked together to give a Mom's point of view and a teacher's point of view, so that we could give you activities that not only keep the kids busy, but also keep them motivated to learn and develop their natural curiosity.  Kids behave better when they are given challenging projects to work on, which will in turn give you more free time to do the things you really need to do, like washing dishes, paying bills, and relaxing so that you can be a better Mom!

Did you enjoy my post?  Don't forget to vote for me by clicking the banner below.  You can also enter your email address below to receive all my updates!  I really appreciate your support!!

Want to see all my posts?  Put your email address here to become a subscriber!

Enter your email address:

"Mommy, It's Not Fair!!" Is it Bad Behavior or Just Human Nature?

This morning I almost lost my cool in a very bad way.  See this toy?  Munchkin Girl has played with this approximately once in four years.  I really should have gotten rid of it by now, but I keep thinking they might get some educational value from it so I can't bring myself to pitch it.

For whatever reason, she chose to play with it today.  Little Buddy immediately started demanding that she turn it over to him, even though he's never touched it either.  Of course that wasn't fair.  Munchkin Girl had it first so I told him to find something else to play with, which began a cycle of screaming, kicking, crying, and all around mayhem.  Sometimes they work it out themselves, so I left the room briefly to see what would happen.  I came back to find them hitting each other and crying, while playing tug of war with the stupid toy.  My maternal instinct was to scream at the top of my lungs, 

"WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU???  I AM SO SICK OF THIS!!  STOP FIGHTING SO MOMMY CAN DRINK HER TEA!!!!!"

But I didn't.  Why?  Because I had an earth-shattering realization a few days ago.  Earlier in the week, I came across a study from the journal Current Biology, which found that even toddlers are susceptible to peer pressure.  When I saw this report, my first reaction was, "DUH."

At first I thought it was absurd that they were even reporting this.  Anyone with kids knows that if one toddler climbs on top of the toy car, they are all going to want to do it and will soon be yelling, MY TURN!!!! in a high-pitched squeal.

Then it came to me.  This is just human nature.  Even adults do this.  How many times have we complained that someone got a raise and we didn't and it's just not fair because we work harder?  I remember thinking it wasn't fair that my friends kept having babies who slept all night while mine were up every hour wanting to eat. I never thought in a million years that I would want a Coach bag.  Franky, I usually don't even like the designs all that much.  Yet, I found myself wanting one a few years ago when I saw all my friends with them because the truth is, it is human nature to want what your friends have and do what your friends are doing.  That's why brand names are so popular. I've even heard adult women lamenting that their Grandma or whoever didn't spend enough on wedding gifts compared to how much she spent on a different Grandchild and it wasn't fair.

The difference is, adults have grown to recognize this behavior and hopefully curb the desire to stomp our feet and scream and demand the purple Coach bag that our friend just got.  Frankly, this might be the entire reason that kids go through the "Terrible Twos".  They are smart enough to realize they want something, but haven't learned yet to control the behavior.  Even Munchkin Girl is three and a half, and it's clear how far she's come since she was two.

So, as parents, how can we curb this type of behavior and teach our children the right way to behave?  The way I see it, we can:

1.  Put away toys that we know are triggers.  There is always something that is really popular and guaranteed to cause issues.  Why not just put them away for a few months?
2.  If possible, try distraction.  I don't mean giving them another toy and trying to convince them it's better.  I mean changing the scenery.  Take them outside, in the basement, or even in the car.
3.  Feel free to tell them that if a specific toy is too frustrating, you will have to put it away.  Then make sure to follow through.  Just calmly take the toy, put it in the closet, and tell them it's because they couldn't share.  Make them wait for awhile before giving it back.  Next time they might think twice about fighting.

So, this morning after I found them hitting each other and crying hysterically, I realized that no matter how many timeouts and rational discussions we had, the situation was too far gone.  I really did want to scream at the top of my lungs.  Instead, I took a deep breath and said, "Who wants to go to Mimi and Papa's house?"

They both scampered down and ran to the car, at which point I threw the absurd toy in the basement, where it will remain. Yes, they should have behaved better, but it truly is just human nature, so I need to do a better job next time of preventing and molding the behavior before it gets to the point of no return. Of course, I'm only human too, so I can only do so much, but it's sort of a relief to know that my children aren't monsters.  It's just human nature.

Did you enjoy my post?  Don't forget to click below to vote for me...Thanks to you I'm up to #5 so I really appreciate your support!  Also, you can subscribe below to see all my posts via email!




Want to see all my posts?  Put your email address here to become a subscriber!

Enter your email address:

$50 Giveaway for Empire Patio covers

One time we had squirrels or something eat our patio furniture.  Hubby was less than pleased but instead of getting patio covers, we just threw out our pretty cushions.  Big mistake.  Big.  Huge.  (Can anyone guess what movie that's from?)

Sorry, got a little sidetracked there.  Back to the point, which is that cash is always fun.  So, today I am announcing a great giveaway where Empire Patio covers will give you $50 toward any of their patio covers.  They have all kinds of choices and you can see all of them at Empire Patio Furniture Covers. The covers really surprisingly affordable and they have several nice color options to go with almost any type of patio furniture that you want to protect.

If you are interested in winning this $50 prize, please enter below.  The contest is open to all US Residents and the winner will be notified via email only.  I did not receive any compensation for this post.  Good luck!

PS...The movie was Pretty Woman.  Remember when she's shopping and the store clerk wouldn't wait on her?  I love movie quotes.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Easy Crafts for Old MacDonald Had a Farm

We have a great farm near our house that is open to the public.  They have all kinds of pigs, cows, goats, and even overpriced fish food and people food!  Just kidding, it really is a great place.  It's been getting nice outside so I've started singing lots of "Old MacDonald Had a Farm" to get everyone excited to visit the animals. We've also been reading our favorite farm book every day:

On top of the singing and reading, I decided to do some animal crafts too.  Here are a few things to keep in mind as you read this post:

1.  I'm not crafty by nature, so I keep things simple and use cheap materials I find around the house
2.  The kids do the entire project, so the finished product sometimes aren't all that pretty...just bear that in mind as you see the pictures :-)

The Sheep

For this, we used cotton balls, googley eyes, and a paper plate

We even got to work on cutting when we did the ears for the sheep.  Great for strength and fine motor.

Little Buddy quickly got bored of the sheep and began working on his favorite project: gluing eyes to a page in no particular pattern.  I love it when he does this.  I am amazed at how well those little fingers can get the glue on that tiny eye and patiently wait for it to dry.  It ain't pretty but it sure is fun!

The Cow

Next, we started working on the cow.  First, Munchkin Girl cut out a circle all by herself.  She even drew the circle while I held the the lid of a sauce pan onto a page for her.  

Then I had gave her a bunch of little black circles and she patiently glued a bunch of these to her circle to make the spots on the cow.

This time Little Buddy kept himself busy by dumping out all the eyes and then loading them back in the back.  Over and over again.  Toddlers sure love to sort things!

The Cat

For this, we used a paper towel holder.  We glued white paper to it and then Munchkin Girl cut out a tiny nose and glued on the eyes.  Then, she used the scissors again to make the whiskers and glue those on.

The Completed Project!!

An older neighbor girl came over shortly after we finished this project and said, "What is all that?"  Okay, I admit you have to use your imagination a little to see a cat on the left, a cow in the middle (see the spots?) and a sheep on the right (see his wooly cotton balls?), but Munchkin Girl was SOOO proud of it.  This was one of those projects that she bragged about for weeks.  

"Daddy?  Did you see our farm?  Look!  It's right here!  I did it all by myself!!!"

After all this, the day came for us to visit the farmstead.  We sang the whole way there and when we got there, the kids were clapping and clapping....and then, here is what we saw:

WELCOME!  WE WILL BE GLAD TO SEE WHEN WE OPEN ON APRIL 15!!!

The date was approximately March 29th.  Oops.  Dingbat Mommy strikes again.  I guess I should have checked online before I got us all pumped up.

"Mommy, where are the cows?  Are they sleeping?  Why aren't we going in?"

Fortunately, the disappointment was nothing a little ice cream couldn't cure.  Now we only have a few days to wait until we can try again!
  


If you enjoyed this post, you will love my book!  It was released in July, 2012 and was co-written by me and Susan Case, a Kindergarten Teacher.  In this unique book, we will help you save your sanity!  If you have ever tried to cook dinner while your kid clings to your leg and cries, this is the book for you!  We worked together to give a Mom's point of view and a teacher's point of view, so that we could give you activities that not only keep the kids busy, but also keep them motivated to learn and develop their natural curiosity.  Kids behave better when they are given challenging projects to work on, which will in turn give you more free time to do the things you really need to do, like washing dishes, paying bills, and relaxing so that you can be a better Mom!

Did you enjoy my post?  Don't forget to vote for me by clicking the banner below.  You can also enter your email address below to receive all my updates!  I really appreciate your support!!

Want to see all my posts?  Put your email address here to become a subscriber!

Enter your email address: