children

Halloween Candies – Oh Boy!

In my part of the world, Halloween is all about dressing up and getting candy! I can hardly wait – oh boy!! Our school has started to collect hard candies. The idea is that the candy is sent to less fortunate countries where they only have rice to eat and their palates are not as well-rounded as ours. The theory is that the sugar in the candy will stimulate the taste buds. I’m not sure I agree or fully understand it but I’m happy to get rid of the hard candies and the children are in agreement so it’s win-win

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Club House

My husband works with printers and photocopiers and computers. The last few months there were two very large computers that were delivered to his work in really big, sturdy wooden box containers. He was able to bring them home with the plan to make the kids a fun fort for the backyard. Here is the sample layout of it in the garage. The actual look of it has changed a bit but it’s a pretty sturdy fort. Hubby painted it now and added a pretty roof. It’s getting there! Do you like the official tire door stop?

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I’m Going To Freeze This Winter!

Our 8 year old daughter enjoyed dancing from ages 2 until she was 5. Her last year she even joined the competitive team! She did amazing but it was near impossible to get her to sit still to put 100 teeny weeny sponge curlers in her hair. Don’t even get me started on slap-dabbing the stage make up – the false lashes are still new in the package somewhere too I believe! When she said she didn’t want to return her Grade 1 year Mommy was not pushing it (though to be fair I did ask her several times over

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Why Is The Ice Rink So Cold?

We put it off for as long as possible but it is now official – we are now a hockey family. Our 6 year old son is in his first hockey league! Travis has loved the idea of hockey for many years. In January 2011 we decided that, since he did not know how to skate well yet, we would sign him up for ball hockey. I took him to purchase his equipment at the Play It Again Sports store and he was so excited he walked around all day with his helmet on his head. He even cuddled the

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How to Make a Wild Kratts Costume

My 6 year old son loves the Wild Kratts. Haven’t heard of them? They are real-life brothers, Martin and Chris Kratt, who are zoologists. They teach kids all about different animals and how to respect them. They even identify each creature’s “super powers”. After they study an animal for a while and determine it’s creature power, they put on a creature power suit that gives them the super power. It’s a very educational program and I love supporting his watching it. When my son asked for his own creature power suit (and then my 8 year old daughter wanted one

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Bee Sting

While we were on vacation, my little guy got bitten by a bee – right on his ankle bone. He screamed really loud so I knew it hurt!  That sucker went right through his sock and around a running shoe to get him, too. Thankfully he doesn’t appear allergic and a little Tylenol, baking soda paste on the area and cuddles helped to calm him down and get the pain under control. The most heart breaking part was his “Why would it do that? I wasn’t bothering him!”. Now whenever a wasp or bee comes around we are all a

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Digitizing the Children’s Art and School Work

Next Tuesday (September 3rd) is the first day of school for my little people. I’m excited for them to start a new year but I’m still trying to recover from all the papers that came home with them in the spring and all the art that they created this summer. You can read more about how I coped with the art and created a homework center in yesterday’s post. In June I set an aggressive schedule and detailed plan to organize digital photos and the children’s art. I started out pretty strong and got one year of photos organized but then the laptop

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Play Stove Makeover

When I cleaned up the baseboards and door trim in the house I realized how amazing a wee coat of paint will do to make things feel and look (and smell) new again! Today I took a long hard look at the play oven we had in our playroom. My father-in-law had made it when my husband was a little boy. It went through six children at that point and was stored for many years until we got it. It goes perfect with our kitchen sink. I love it! Since it definitely was showing it’s age from years of play

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Allowance Update and The Bagelful Spectacle

The first week of allowance went well. On the second day my daughter brought me her hairbrush and the detangler and asked me to braid her hair. Wow! Definitely worth the 10 cents for that task! (It’s on her morning routine list). They are really getting the hang of it. Yesterday I promised them 20 cents if they did what I asked without complaining to put things in their proper places (the house was in a bit of chaos and I was feeling desperate). You have never seen children more polite or more willing. I definitely rememberd to pay them out today

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Allowance for Kids ~ Part 2 of 2

Perhaps I’ve over-thought it. I did a lot of research (Allowance for Kids ~ Part 1) on how to even start to establish allowance for our kids. How much, what lessons to teach, how can they earn extra money, what do they do when I pay them, when do I pay them, with cash or a ledger, etc. etc. Tracking the MoneyI signed up for a FREE online account using Allowance Manager. I liked these four helpful features that are on the site: Set an automatic weekly allowance Check how much allowance they have anytime, anywhere Simply edit debits / transactions when

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About Elizabeth

Hi! I'm Elizabeth

Welcome to More Than A Mom, a space for daydreamers and creative thinkers who are obsessed with improving yourself, your home, and loving your family.

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