As a child I loved a good, interactive busy book. Books that you could velcro, button or put things into pockets are some of my favorite activities from when I was younger. My girls loved books that you could open flaps on or that had different textures. Today I’m sharing an easy DIY magnet learning busy book for kids you can create in under an hour! This DIY busy book … [Read more...]
Best Books for Babies
Reading to our babies is so important. Babies have a unique attention span linked very much to their need for food and sleep frequently throughout the day. The best books for babies will lead you to great choices. Reading a book to your baby will be more about repetition, hearing language, and most importantly closeness to YOU. These are the best books for babies that I read … [Read more...]
5 Ways to Get Siblings Excited about a New Baby
{Post by Tracy} Our first fur baby and princess pup Zoe was not excited about our twins joining the family. She saw the twins for the first time and looked so surprised. She seemed to think they were 2 little birds sitting on top of the changing table. I was worried she would not adjust to having 2 new babies at her house. Now they love each other. A couple of years … [Read more...]
Stay at Home Mom, Find Balance and Be Joyful
Motherhood can make us feel that we are in a juggling act. We try to seek balance and be joyful, but kids, husband, house, our needs and wants all pull us in different directions. We worry that if we drop one ball they all will come crashing down! We are busy and yet not feeling productive many days as the line between needs and wants become blurred. Attempting to keep it … [Read more...]
What to do with Toddlers
{This post is sponsored by Autumn McKay. All opinions are my own.} We started our first homeschool year last year. Balancing 2 toddlers while magically creating time to focus on my older two children was a challenge to say the least. (Brings out super woman cape from the closet…) The juggling act of homeschooling multiple children in multiple learning levels is-to be blunt- … [Read more...]
Teaching Letters Lesson Plans
This post contains affiliate links and is sponsored by Autumn McKay. All thoughts and opinions are my own. Please view my disclosure for more info. The eyes of a young child when they learn something new is fantastic to see. Teaching letters to kids is so fun! With developmentally appropriate activities for their age group it’s an enriching way to add some focused activity … [Read more...]
Less Book Clutter, More Reading for Kids with Skybrary
This post is sponsored by Reading Rainbow Skybrary Family. All opinions are my own. Please view my disclosure. I look around my house and see multiple little bookshelves filled with great children’s books. The reality is my kids want to read the same 5 or 6 books over and over for months at a time. At bedtime when we read together as a family, all the kids pile up on … [Read more...]
Teaching Children to Care for Books
It can be nerve-wracking letting your child 'read' books since many pages get ripped, pulled out, and chewed. I tried my best to supervise my children when they were infants and toddlers to help eliminate the need for constant book repair. We keep the board books lower on the shelf so the younger ones can't reach the books with paper pages, but this does not always work out … [Read more...]
Preschool Activities for St Patrick’s Day
This post is sponsored by Big Treasure LLC. Please view my disclosure for more info. These 5 easy preschool activities for St Patrick’s Day cover signs of Spring, and explore history and folklore-so fun to dive into with young children and get their imaginations working overtime! You can enter to win a fun book and toy set too. There are so many fun ways to celebrate Spring … [Read more...]
Encouraging My Husband
It used to bother me. In fact, I probably held a bit of a grudge. When other women would share their proposal story there was romance, excitement, and elaborate details involved. For me, it was better to just gloss over the topic. “He said, 'Will you marry me?' and I said, 'Yes.'” Simple. Straightforward. But it annoyed me for years. Comparison was the real problem, but I took … [Read more...]
DIY Books for Babies and Toddlers
Creating DIY books for babies is a simple way to introduce babies and toddlers to reading and books while creating an infant activity they can play with for months and years. I made DIY books for my oldest daughter (baby #2) when she was less than a year old and we still have the book I made for her 4 years later! They are pretty sturdy , but you should always supervise. … [Read more...]
Advent Activities for Kids: Teaching about Jesus at Christmas
This post contains affiliate links. Please view my disclosure for more details. If you have toddlers, preschool age children or school age kids, this list of Advent activities to teach children about Jesus at Christmas (or any time) is one you can start using today! My children are at an age where they believe the most important part of Christmas is getting gifts. As we … [Read more...]
Parenting with Purpose
This post contains affiliate links. I received a copy a book in exchange for an honest review. Please view my disclosure. I parent alone a lot. It is just a fact of life as a military spouse. My husband and I have been apart for days, weeks and months at a time since having children. I know many of you have husbands who travel for work, or maybe you are military spouses too, … [Read more...]
The Indispensability of the Stay-at-Home Mom
Did you hear the President’s recent gaffe about stay-at-home moms? He wants to liberate you from having to deal with those pesky babies of yours so you can earn a paycheck and become “full and equal participants in our economy.” The problem is, this undervalues the indispensability of the stay-at-home mom. Isn’t that great? No matter how you read the … [Read more...]
Book-Based Activity and Craft Kits for Kids
This post contains affiliate links. This post was sponsored by Ivy Kids, LLC. Please view my disclosure. Finding the right gifts for kids, within a budget, can be hard. We want to give our children things that they want and at the same time we want that to be money well-spent. How we spend our money is important. My children have bins of toys, and we sort through them … [Read more...]