Fun Travel Activities

My reason for posting these here are two-fold. First, it's for me. Second, It's for you (my beloved reader. All 5 of you, LOL). Which my reasons for even blogging are the same. This is basically just my journal.

Anyhow...
We have several long trips coming up for Thanksgiving and Christmas where we get to go visit family and friends. And you're asking, "How do you do that with a 3-year-old and a 1-year-old?" And my answer is, "Ha. I don't know." That being said, here is what I'm going to do this time around.

Paper Doll Printables

Papercraft Trains

Dot Art

Dot Art

I also ran across some tips that someone did. Some of them I enjoyed and some of them, well, what do you think?

1. (And this one is questionable) Play-doh. And the tips said that even after the dough is gone the kids enjoy the container. (Um. Where does the dough go? And if you're going to say the carpet, is that even worth having a non-crying kid if you have to take it out? Maybe I should just cover everything in plastic!)

2. Blue Painters Tape. Just let the kids play with it. That is a much cleaner idea isn't it. Of course, Emily, I don't think is quite old enough to get the tape off all by herself, but maybe.

3. Pipe Cleaners - This one I honestly think is fabulous.

4&5. Books and Music - Now I ALWAYS have traveled with music and a book, but quite honestly I didn't even think of bringing a normal book for the girls until I had a friend wrap up a book for us (like a present that would entertain Emily with the unwrapping part too) for our move here. I did bring quiet books for the girls though.

6. Dress-up clothes

7. Crayons and a notebook

8. Catalogs

9. Deck of Cards (I would definitely take one that I'm willing to throw away, like the old beat up deck of Uno cards.)

10. Colorforms / reusable stickers.

11. Fingerplays - Click Here

My ideas, beyond what I've found on the internet.
1. Printing stuff from the friend. (The friend homepage is fabulous.)
2. (This idea from a friend.) Wrapping the toys separately. So when they get bored you toss them a wrapped toy, that'll get you another minute (and in our case 1 down 720 to go!)
3. The small boxes of fish crackers.
4. Go to the toy section in walmart and there are some $.88 toys. (Little cars, bracelets, animals) And who cares if they get lost.

If you've got a great travel idea, let me know. (12 hours of travel one way. That takes some REAL creativity.)

Haunted Houses

The girls and I invited a friend over to do haunted houses with us. Of course, I've been really bad lately about making sure the camera gets charged, so I don't have any pictures, but as soon as I get some from the friend that came over I'll post them.

Here is Meredith's Haunted House. I put a couple dabs of frosting on there and put one on for her and then gave her the other one. I pointed and tried to tell her where it was supposed to go, but it promptly went to her mouth along with the other one. I gave up. Graham crackers are much healthier than the candy :)

I actually finished the side on the right and Emily took some of the candy off from the left before I could take a picture.

Here is what Emily did. Her good side was on the left. I may have helped a little.

We had fun, and I definitely suggest it for a wonderful activity (after lunch).

Here is a link for the instructions on how to make your own Haunted House. Haunted House Instructions

Happy Halloween!

Feeds

Ok, so some of the people I talk to I think actually go from blog to blog just to see if MAYBE someone has updated their blog. Hmmm. That would take a lot of time to look at all of the blogs I'm interested in. I really thought I was the only one who didn't know about feeds when I found out what it was sometime in June or July. I use google reader. I'm really not good at explaining these kind of things, so I found a great explanation on LDS Media (which btw I am subscribed to their feed as well). If you want to subscribe to this blog you go to the very end of all the posts and click on the button that says "Subscribe to: Posts (atom)" That's to sign it up with the google reader. Try it. If you have a blog on blogger I'm pretty sure you sign up for a google account. Just use the same user name and password. I haven't tried anything else, but Nathan puts all of his feeds on outlook.

Here's the link: What is RSS? LDS Media Talk

And of course if you already do the feeds, good for you. (Confession: I actually checked everyone's blog individually for the first month when I was getting into blogging. What a waste of time! :)

Happy Blogging!

Colds

Two weeks ago we got really busy and I didn't have much time to blog so I didn't put up alot of the updates. Now, the task seems slightly overwhelming. So if the posts seem a little scrambled and out of order I'm just trying to remember it all. The girls have been sick for the last week which is the reason for the shortage of pictures. And we're still sick :(

Walking Backwards - Yesterday Nathan and I were just sitting on the couch talking and enjoying being with our girls. Meredith is so entertaining to just watch. She just jabbers away and runs around. At one point we were watching her walking backwards. Every once in a while she'd turn around to make sure she wasn't going to run into anything. It was so cute. The girls love it when I turn on the music because we dance and sing and run around and do all sorts of tricks - like walking backwards. I take both of their hands and we practice walking backwards, sideways, twirling and any sort of tumbling I can think of that I think they can do. It was fun to watch Meredith do it on her own.

She also says the funniest things. Like, "Here you go baby." LOL. I call her "baby" still. I really need to stop it. But, I'll hand her a snack or a drink and say "Here you go baby." Now, she'll bring me something and give it to me and say "Here ya go, baby." Both of the girls say funny things, but right now that's the only one I can think of. Meredith has a lot of animal names down and their sounds. I have their little halloween bags out, because they are cute and I let the girls play with them. They are little felt bags. One of them has a cat on it and Meredith grabs it and says "meow, meow". Bird is probably her best animal. I like to keep bird food out on the porch because the girls LOVE to see the birds and point them out to me. Meredith is always saying "see, see". Or "look, look." I'm always pointing out things to them and saying "Do you see that?" or "Look at that.". That's typically followed by what it is, either me asking and they tell me, or I tell them what it is, or what color it is, etc. Meredith is growing so fast, but she's still very much my baby, especially when I compare her to how big Emily is. Meredith gets treated more like a baby at her age then Emily did at her age. Probably just because I had nobody else to really compare her to.

Marie-Therese Gown GIVEAWAY !!!!!!!

This is the cutest dress! I would love to have something like this. (Better yet, I wish I knew enough about sewing to do it myself.)
Marie-Therese Gown GIVEAWAY !!!!!!!

Birthday Breakfast

Here is another tradition for our family, but this one goes a long way back in my family. I don't even know how far. I think my Mom's family did it. I really wonder how it got started. Anyhow, I couldn't make a decent 3 so I just cut it out.

Emily hasn't been wanting to smile for pictures lately. I tried a couple times and then she was shaking her head and saying and signing "all done".

"All Done" (Maybe Mom will understand better if I sign it for her). LOL

Party

We had a little party for Emily with another family. Emily had a lot of fun with the older girls. I was happy too, because they were talking to Emily (which she needs alot of conversation so she'll talk too) and Emily will play with some of the toys now that she didn't know what to do with before (it's not good enough if Mommy shows her). I'm sad to say that we didn't take pictures of the party, but we got a picture of Emily blowing out the candle, and you can see one little girl with the witches hat on (I leave that out for Halloween decorations so the girls can have some fun with it.)

This was before the party. Can you see her bow on top? I didn't get a good picture of it I'm afraid. Just as I was starting to take pictures our guests arrived. It's a bow with fish on it. The ribbon was blue with fish that I found at Wal-Mart.

Trying to sneak some before the party.

I have alot of fun dressing the girls up with the bows and flowers.

The Fishy Birthday Cake

So, here is my attempt at a cool birthday cake. This is the first time I have ever done something like this. There are definitely some things that I will do differently and that I should do some research on before the next time. But considering I just saw a picture of something like this and made a pattern myself (which Nathan threw away while he was cleaning up the kitchen while I was getting everything out to decorate the cake. Let's just say I panicked for about a minute until I found it. LOL) and put it together without any other information, it's pretty darn good. And it was tasty to boot.

Stroller Chasing

The girls chased each other around with the strollers. Meredith for some reason got to use the new stroller. When Meredith saw the new dolly she wanted it, so we went and got the old one for her. We have two old ones, and one of them looks like it has been very loved (not in the sense that it was well taken care of) and that was the one that we found. Emily wanted that one and Meredith got the other. But, it looks pretty dirty and I can't keep clothes on that baby, so I quietly took it away and I either have to sew clothes onto the doll to keep it on or just throw it away because without clothes on it looks pretty dirty. (I did clean it up, and it has been through a couple rounds in the wash so it is clean.) So for a 3-year-old, new isn't always better. Oh well, I didn't get the present for the doll. I got it for the cute furniture that she really likes.

Birthday (Morning - opening presents)

When she woke up we went and opened gifts. (She's too young to open gifts with friends. Young children don't understand that you should just look. For them every toy is up for grabs.)

I love that little smile on her face. She was so pleased. She liked her gift (This is the first one she opened.)

She had to play with it for a little bit before we gave her the next one.

I like that she was still holding her spoon from the last present when she was unwrapping the next one.

Emily's 3rd Birthday (Decorations)

Emily was so excited when she saw the decorations for her Birthday. Nathan and I decorated the night before and she walks into the Living Room (her and Meredith) and she says "wow". Then Meredith repeated her "wow". So cute. I thought I got it on the camera (on video), but when I downloaded the pictures it wasn't there. Oh well.

Here's Emily's present from us. I had fun with it. I found little fish foamies at Wal-Mart and I put to bows together (a green one and a blue one). There was the start of our fishy theme.















There's some of the decorations (found that cute little princess balloon at the dollar store and I thought she would like it. She did.)








I took these pictures the night before, right after we decorated. I wanted to start a new tradition for our family. Decorating the night before the birthday so that they could wake up to all of the decorations. That was definitely exciting for her (me too).

Happy Birthday! sweet little 3-year-old (wow, time flies. I can't believe she's 3).

Zoo with PICS!

We went to the zoo on Friday. We had to drop Nathan off at the school, so we just went to the zoo since it is so close. The girls and I had a lot of fun and then we picked up Nathan and went home again. I was worried that the girls would be tired (They fell asleep in the car on the way!), so I took the stroller. I don't know why I keep taking it, because every time I am sorry. It would be a whole lot less effort just to carry Meredith. The girls are constantly wanting in and out, it's harder chasing them with a stroller, and it's just a lot more effort.

One of these days I'll get my girls to pose again. But you can see that Emily HAD to take the camel with her. It was that or screaming for the next 5 minutes.

Staring down the lizard

Like I said, no posing anymore. Just straight luck if I get anything cute.

The favorite zoo activity, chasing after the birds. (Poor birds.)

The froggy that my girls LOVE to play with is now winterized. No more water will shoot out of that frog's mouth till spring. (I know they shut it off for the winter, but I was surprised that they did so already. Maybe it was just broken this time around.)

Zoo (you'll never guess)

We went to the zoo today with some friends. It was nice and cool and almost cool enough to have a sweater. Definitely too cold to want my girls to play in the water (they actually still had the water on.) I didn't forget my camera this time, I couldn't find it. I'm sure now that I'm home and I'm not in a rush, I'll find it with no troubles, but I was scrambling. Oh well. Just another fabulous excuse to go again. The animals were actually moving around (probably due to the cooler weather). We're loving the weather now. It's supposed to warm up a little again, but it was so beautiful today. It's probably cooler outside then in. This summer I've kept the thermostat at 78 and it's 74 inside and 69 outside. October has to be the best month :) We're actually going to need some long sleeves.

Emily got home and actually fell asleep next to me in the office. I moved her, but I don't know if she'll stay and take a nap now. Even if she was only asleep for 30 seconds before I took her to sleep somewhere else. Emily keeps Meredith up from her nap, so I can't have them in the same room, so she sleeps in the Living Room on the bean bag (there's actually a better chance of her sleeping on the bean bag then staying in her bed anyway). These girls had a lot of fun, and now they're proving it, because they have both crashed.

Growing (Still!)

My girls are getting so big, I told them to stop growing so they would be my baby girls forever, but they didn't listen. They're still growing! And much too fast. They are so tall too. Emily fits perfectly into her 3T pants (with the elastic as tight as it will go because she's so skinny) that I bought her a couple of weeks ago, and if she has one good growth spurt like she just barely did I'm going to have to get 4T pants! When I went to buy Emily her 3T pants I bought Meredith some pants to match, of course, I wasn't thinking and bought her 12 month pants. I was thinking I'd at least have a few months in them. Yesterday though, I put her pants on and put her on my hip so she had one foot in front of me and I saw it. The pants were short! So, I'm very busy putting away 2T and 12 month clothes (with some help from two little girls who think it would be better just to scatter them).

I bought orange juice containers, and graham crackers yesterday. I was in a hurry, so when I go grocery shopping today I'll have to buy candy and we'll make the haunted houses. I'm excited!

Playtime (With tired cranky girls)

We found some new friends. They are so close to our ages, and we're thrilled. They are 3 1/2 and 20 months and Emily is 3 in a week and a half and Meredith 16 months. The girls had so much fun at the park with them. Emily just followed the 3 1/2 year old everywhere and screamed when I was trying to drag her out the door. I was really nervous about how well they would do. They both woke up today yawning and I didn't sleep very well either (Nathan, you can no longer turn the thermostat down at night. Sorry. I'm not sure if that is the problem but there is a very suspicious pattern.) So, cross your fingers for a good night sleep (not that the girls kept me up, but we all woke up very tired.) YEA! for new friends.

Wonderful Quotations for Being Upset

Whenever I'm upset, or my day hasn't gone like I'd like it to I think Anne of Green Gables says it best. "I'm in the depths of despair" or a "Jonas Day" or "I thought nothing could be as bad as red hair. Green is ten times worse." or "Tears don't hurt like the ache does."

And to my new friends (and even the old) I should say: "I know I chatter on far too much... but if you only knew how many things I want to say and don't. Give me SOME credit."

"And I promise I'll never do it again. That's the one good thing about me. I never do the same wrong thing twice." (Except talk too much. Anne never seems to really get over that :)

And last, but not least, "Tomorrow is always fresh with no mistakes in it." (If only it were that easy.)

Halloween Haunted House

I was talking to someone just yesterday about a cute little project someone did for preschool with Gingerbread Houses. It sounded really cute. Then I came across this Halloween Haunted House and it sounded like the same idea, only for a haunted house. So, I don't know if we will do a Halloween Haunted House (Emily sure loved the gingerbread house kit that someone gave her last Christmas), but we'll definitely be doing as Christmas Gingerbread House the same way as this one (only with different candies and colored frosting). Maybe you'll like it too.

A Halloween Haunted House!
A fun Halloween project for the whole family!
You will need:
2 containers (16 ounce) chocolate fudge frosting (or homemade)
Decorations:
pretzel sticks graham crackers
black licorice & red twists candy corn
rice crackers M&Ms
Orange Sprinkles
Foil wrapped Halloween Candy
Colored icing for writing or decorating
2 empty 1 qt. milk cartons, rinsed and dried
1 large tray covered with foil.
Tape each milk carton closed at top. Tape milk cartons together to make a house. Wrap with foil. Attach firmly to the covered tray with tape. Frost cartons with chocolate frosting. Frost the tray also to use as the lawn.
Decorate with the assorted treats!
Some ideas-
*Sprinkle orange sugar on the roof of the house.
*Rice crackers make neat "attic" windows.
*graham crackers for windows and doors-highlight with icing.
*pretzel stick window panes
*M&M "pathway stones" leading to the door.
*Candy corn "icicles" under the roof
The Lawn can have Ghost, Mummy and pumpkin candies.

Cougars

One of my exercising shirts has a cougar on it. I put on my exercise clothes in the morning, take the girls for a walk, make them breakfast, and then read to them before I go exercise. The other day Meredith pointed to the cougar on my shirt and says "doggy". "Cougar, that's a cougar." I said. So she repeats me saying "Coogah". Yea! So this morning we sit down on our bean bag to read and she looks at my shirt and says "Coogah". So cute.

Beautiful Weather

I got out of the house this morning around 7 and it was 54 degrees this morning. It was beautiful. After being in the hot weather for so long though (all of almost 5 months) it was even chilly. It's supposed to warm up a little bit, but it should cool off again soon. I guess we are going to need some sweaters around here, not just to visit family.

Conference and "More" Music

The girls played on the floor while we watched conference. Emily and Meredith even grabbed their little chairs and put it RIGHT in front of the computer and watched it for all of 30 seconds before they were moving there chairs to a slightly different location. Then for the second session the primary children were singing and the girls enjoyed that. I ought to preface this next part with an explanation though. When I put the girls to bed Emily always says "sing, sing", so then I sing "I Am a Child of God" and when I get to the last phrase Emily says "again, again" until I comply. Meredith has learned that from her, so today after the primary was done singing "I Love to See the Temple" she said, "again, again". It was very cute. I've completely lost count of how many words Meredith can say. She says alot. But when I started blogging more often in May I started a list of her first words on the blog.

Zoo (forgot camera yet again!)

I took the girls to the zoo this morning after we dropped Nathan off at school. When we were well on our way I remembered, "The CAMERA!" Ooops. So, yet again, no pictures. But they were good little girls and Emily even held Meredith's hand while we walking to the next animal (But I'm definitely NOT taking a stroller next time. In and out and in and out. I would have saved energy just carrying Meredith (but I think I'll just put her in the sling.)

Decorating for Halloween

October 1st, it's time to decorate for Halloween. That's the tradition I have since being married, I'm not sure what my Mom does. I definitely know that she decorates for Christmas the day after Thanksgiving (we might have been able to talk her into decorating the day of Thanksgiving since nobody was coming to our house for Thanksgiving dinner). Of Course, Nathan wants to decorate a week before Thanksgiving. So we compromise. We decorate after my last piano lesson before Thanksgiving (I allowed that one, because usually we are visiting family during Thanksgiving Break.) Nobody else will see it but us, unless something odd happens because I won't invite friends over to play until after Thanksgiving at that point. But, with that all said, everyone knows, so if I invite you over, expect Christmas decorations up very early.

That all being said...I started decorating and Emily found her Trick-or-Treat bag and a Halloween ducky that my Mom gave her last Halloween (Emily still really loves duckies and fishies). Those items and her are currently inseparable. It's very cute. We've got Meredith's bag waiting for her for when she wakes up.

My Big Girl and the Haircut

Meredith loves being forward facing. (And you can see Emily's new haircut.)

"Look, look" she says. (Discovering the world FF.)

I gave in. Sunday I put Meredith in her car seat and she was so scrunched up. It was like she had a huge growth spurt all of the sudden. It's been getting just a little tight and then Sunday she almost had to sit Indian style to sit in her car seat. I really wanted to let her stay rear facing till 18 months since it is much safer, but I think there is a limit to how scrunched you can make them. So, I turned the car seat around. Meredith LOVES it! She and Emily were pointing at different things and saying "look, look". When we stopped at a red light I turned around and took a picture. And of course you can see Emily's famous haircut. Emily has been a hard nut to crack lately (getting her to smile) so I have to do some pretty outrageous things to get those girls to smile.