Elf on the Shelf Mischief & Idea Calendar

My daughter (8 years old) was teasing her brother by pretending to touch our Elf on the Shelf, Carol, yesterday. I didn’t witness it but our 6 year old son was very upset about it – she loses her Christmas magic if you touch her, after all! It’s hard to come up with new locations for Carol to visit, so this was the perfect inspiration to inform the children that maybe Carol didn’t want to be touched and this was the best way to protect herself. The look on her face was priceless when she put it together that since

Adventures in Falling Asleep

Bedtime has been an adventure for us since I was pregnant with my first child. Many nights when I was trying to get comfortable in the later stages of my pregnancy, my daughter decided she did not like the position I was in and would bang about inside me so hard that the mattress shook until I changed sides. She is now well into being 8 years old and it is still an experience to calm her down for bedtime. We have tried to do the “bath, book and bed” routine but baths seem to wind her (and her 6

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

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?

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

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

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

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

Toothless Smiles

It took a long time to start losing teeth but once they started they keep wiggling out! Travis is 6 years old and has lost his third bottom tooth. I was looking through some baby photos and interestingly enough, he’s losing them in the order he got them. Travis is very different from his sister. Ava wiggles and plays and sticks her tongue to get that tooth out so that they literally fly out of her mouth across the table when she is talking. Travis has had me pull out two of the three teeth he’s had (the third one

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

I Agree *

children

Elf on the Shelf Mischief & Idea Calendar

Adventures in Falling Asleep

Halloween Candies – Oh Boy!

Club House

I’m Going To Freeze This Winter!

Why Is The Ice Rink So Cold?

How to Make a Wild Kratts Costume

Bee Sting

Toothless Smiles

Digitizing the Children’s Art and School Work

Hi! I'm Elizabeth

Transforming Your Child’s Art Into Its Own Masterpiece

How to Eat a Sugar-Free Diet

Goal Planning For Your Home

Organize Kid Snacks In Your Pantry

explore our brands

get started

ARE YOU ON THE LIST?