Themed Toddler Time

       I am all about themed events for kids. Seriously, I don’t much care if it’s a minor holiday, major holiday, birthday, Sunday, or sunny day, I want to make a themed event for it. I enjoyed sensory bins and games, always, but, since I now have a 15 month old and a 4 month old—I’m even more obsessed! (After all, I have to find some way to channel the older one’s energy so I can tend to the younger one!)

        

    My preference falls into the “invitation to play”/”imaginative play” and sensory activities category. Whereas I think step-by-step instructions and games that require them are fun, since my kids are so young, I find it far more enjoyable to set something up and then allow them to explore it for themselves. Because of this, I’m not huge into scheduling, per se. Instead, I tend to select several themed ideas for large activities and a few smaller ones and watch how the event unfolds. That way, I can adapt to suit whatever the kids are enjoying the most—because, let’s be honest, it usually isn’t what you think it’s going to be. For example, I facilitate a monthly event for young kids called “Traveling Tuesday.” Each Tuesday, we (pretend to!) go someplace different. One week, we were going on safari. I planned and crafted different animals for the kids to feed balls to. There was a lion, a monkey, a kangaroo—in my mind’s eye, this would be the hit of the party! I also used a large cardboard box to make a safari jeep—oh, yes, I could see it in my head! Those two things were going to be the favorites.  At the last minute, I decided to make some toilet-paper roll binoculars. I tossed them into the jeep so as not to forget them, and away I went. Of all the activities, of all the crafts and games, above even the jeep—the binoculars were by far the kids’ favorite thing to play with. Instead of feeding the animals, as I’d imagined, we played hide and seek, allowing two kids(or me!) to be on the safari and find the animals. Each time the children posing as animals were seen, the safari goer would yell, “SPOTTED!” and we’d switch. Seriously. We played that for over an hour, and the kids were all about taking those binoculars home. This day taught me the true value of just seeing how things pan out and the need to adjust as the day unfolds.

         

 

  Obviously, doing a little themed mini-party every week(I started out weekly—recently, we’ve changed to monthly!) could get expensive. At first, I really was sinking my own ship, trying to build different things to suit wherever we happened to be travelling to. That’s when I discovered the GLORY of reuse. At this point, I really think anyone can make anything out cardboard. A cardboard box is a beautiful thing—it can be a jeep, a castle, a car, a ship. Really, whatever you want it to be. And, the wonder of it is this: it doesn’t have to be perfect! When we “traveled” to the Caribbean…geez, my ship looked rough! I painted it and, for my youngest, slapped a Bumbo chair inside. For two weeks, I could set my youngest in the Bumbo, and my eldest daughter would crawl in alongside her and chatter away, clutching little felt fishes tightly. (That’s another great way to theme on the cheap! Felt is like 3 dollars for 12 pieces, and a little can go a long way!)

            Finally, thanks to my aunt, the most significant way we save money is making your actual creation re-usable. In order to do this, it has to be something that is easy to store. This week, we travelled to Ireland. Our castle was huge. I mean, massive. With the moat, easily seven feet across. And, thanks to the wonder of Velcro, that thing, moat and all, became condensed enough to fit in the trunk of my car. The moat, made of dyed cloth and pool noodles, folded up. The fish, made of foam and magnets(the fishing poles had washers on the end, so the fish could be caught) went neatly into a plastic bag, and voila! The whole thing is ready to be played with again on some other rainy day! A whole other story waiting to be told(though, today, we mostly played the characters from the movie Brave and had fishing competitions!), this time, cost-free!

        

   This post was inspired by Eventbrite, who specialize in supporting self-created events with event management software. In my opinion, the key to hosting themed, cost-effective parties boils down to three things: flexibility(don’t plan super stringent plans. Toddlers will systematically dismantle them. Besides, it’s fun to see what their little minds come up with!), reusable play ideas, and cardboard. J Happy playing!

New Year's Resolutions!

     I know New Year’s Resolutions are so common as to be almost cliché. I’m sure blog posts relaying said resolutions are even more so. And, yet—here I go!

     I spent quite a bit of time thinking about resolutions over the past couple of weeks. Of course, when I first started considering them, about a million jumped to mind: lose weight, keep a better house, a thousand ways I could be a better mother to my children, a better wife to my husband. It felt a little like when I sit down in the morning to make my day’s To-Do list. If I give myself more than ten minutes to make it, I’ll wind up with a far longer list than I have hours in the day to accomplish. The more I thought about what all I wanted to improve on this year, the more things came to mind.

  Fortunately, at that point, I stumbled on a post by MoneySavingMom sharing her resolutions. I don’t know if you read her stuff or not, but that girl must stay hopping! I swear, she seems a little like Superwoman to me. Her post, though, shared how this year, for her, was going to be the year of “Rest”. That was the word she was going to live by this year. Still, she wanted to have some resolutions. So, she picked four “big” areas of her life, and then picked ONE resolution that would help her to improve on that area. These were attainable, measureable goals that allowed her to both see progress in that area, and to still not be overwhelmed by a whole list of things to work on. After reading that post, I decided to do something similar—after all, how depressing is it to get to the end of the To-Do list and still have a ton of things not marked off? How much worse to get to the end of the year and realize you’ve not stuck to a single resolution, and you’re about to have to start the process all over?

  The areas I chose to focus on were my personal growth, my marriage, being a better mother to my children, my health, organization, and my house.

  First, because, in the end, if I’m totally tapped, I won’t be able to really work on the others is my personal growth. I know I get so overwhelmed that I often neglect my quiet times. Without Christ as my rest, I PROMISE I’ll wind up too overwhelmed/tapped out/exhausted to improve on much of anything. So, my first resolution is to carve out time, preferably before my kids are even awake, to have a quiet time—with at least a portion of that being dedicated to memorizing Scripture. I think it’s so important to do that; the first psalm talks about meditating on the Lord’s law day and night. Hard to do that if I don’t know it. 

  Secondly, my marriage. My goal here is to spend more quality time with my husband—just my husband, no kids. I intend to dedicate at least one night a month to just him. Whether that is a game night (I STILL need to beat him at Battleship!) or a movie or just general hanging out, I want some dedicated “us” time. We were a couple before we were a family.

  Third is being a better mom to my beautiful girls. They’re charming and delightful and, especially Madelyn right now, so interactive. I know when I get tired or want some kind of outlet, I tend towards picking up my phone and scanning Facebook or blogs or what have you instead of taking the time to be really, really present with the girls. Not that Facebook, blogs, etc. are bad! (Obviously, since I’m writing one, I don’t feel that way!) But, I do need to be thinking about how much time I spend on them. My daughter goes to bed at seven. She takes two naps. When she’s awake, I don’t need to be scrolling Facebook. So, to be concise—my goal is to put my phone down when the kids are up.

  Fourth, my health. This is a two-parter. (I know, I know, getting frisky here.) The first is to drink 8 glasses of water a day. I know I need to. I know it’s healthy. I also know Dr. Pepper is my preference. So, there’s that. The second part is to walk at least four days a week. This one shouldn’t be too bad—I’ve been doing it for the last several months anyway, and I enjoy it. So does Madelyn. But, this resolution is being written down so that I remember to KEEP doing it, even on the weeks I really don’t feel like it.

  Fifth is organization. If you know my mother, you know she’s the most organized person on the planet. I, however, would lose my head if it wasn’t attached. (Not a handy trait for someone with a 1 year old and a three week old.) This year’s stride in organizational maturity (hopefully!) will be to start meal planning. I’ve seen a ton—and I do mean a TON—of blog posts by busy people who swear by this. I imagine that once I get started, it will make life SO much easier.

 And, finally ( I thought six resolutions was appropriate, since it’s twenty-SIX-teen…), my house. And, for that goal, I have one word: Laundry. I’m terrible at it. I detest doing it. And, funnily enough, Matt still wants clean jeans. So, I am committing to at least one load of laundry—all the way through the washing, drying, folding, and putting away process—per day. Wish me luck on this one. :P

So, those are my 2016 resolutions!! I encourage you to write yours down, too (and then show me, lol, so I know I’m not alone!!).