Easter Toys

I have a new co-worker who is absolutely in love with the fact that I have a toddler. She has taken it upon herself to purchase gifts for Zabba and delights in the videos and pictures I show her of Zabba enjoying the new toy.

However, sometimes this co-worker forgets that Zabba is only 2 and still has a hard time with what is appropriate to put in her mouth. Not only that, she still sometimes forgets she should throughly chew her food before she swallows.

That being said, I couldn't in all honesty keep this toy away from her even though I knew it to be inappropriate.

Meet "Clucky". Clucky walks and lays eggs...bubble gum eggs to be exact. I know your thinking "How on Earth does Clucky lay eggs?"

I shall show you.

First, take Clucky out of the package

***WARNING*** Some of the following pictures may be a little graphic for those with weak stomachs.

Next, violently twist off Clucky's head and place on table

Third, shove bubble gum egg down Clucky's throat

Fourth, find chicken head, try to shove it on and then figure out that you twisted it off so it needs to be twisted back on.

Fifth-forget to take picture of you twisting the little wind up thingy located conveniently on the side of Clucky.

Sixth-laugh at your husband's joy at seeing a blue egg fall out of Clucky's aa...um...er...hind end.

Here is a little video of Clucky in action. Enjoy!

Great books, great message

I know everytime I go to the pediatrician with Zabba, I'm asked if I read to her and what her vocabulary is like, what kinds of food she eats, yadda yadda yadda.

Well, even though I'm able to answer "Yes, I do read to her, but she also reads to herself" I really struggle finding books that I think have a good message without being to overly "teach-y". I really prefer that she read books with messages like 'be nice to others', 'brush your teeth', and say "please" and "thank you", etc.

For Zabba's first Christmas I got these books (we have Sundae Sleepover, Peek-a-boo, and The Long Shortcut) from my mother-in-law and I thought they looked cute, but never really opened them to read them until we moved in to our house and I came across them as I was unpacking.

I have to say I LOVE THEM!!! They are great. They teach things like be nice to others, listen to your elders and also that it's OK to miss Mommy and Daddy when they leave, but they will come back.

They do have references to God in the books, so if this makes you uncomfortable then these may not be the books that you would like to read to your child or have your child read.

All I know is I love the colors, the message and the enjoyment Zabba get's from reading them.

Preschool already?!?!

Where in the world has the past 2 1/2 years gone? I feel like it was yesterday that I brought home this sweet little girl. I can't even believe that I am sitting here thinking about preschool. I always told myself that my kids would go to preschool, but now I'm not so sure. I'm not ready for her to enter this whole new phase and become ***gasp*** a preschooler!

As a former kindergarten teacher I have witnessed the difference between kids who go to preschool (even if it's just one year) and those who didn't. So I know the importance, but still...I just don't know if I am ready for this.

A couple of weeks ago the kids and I went to a preschool fair at the community center. I was shocked that there was about 25 or so different schools there. It was overwhelming to say the least. Thankfully they provided me with a booklet that had information about the schools that were there. Since I live one town over there are still a couple others that I need to call and find out more about. So, now comes the task of figuring out which school is going to be the best for us.

Here's the table that I am using to decide which school will give the best bang for my buck. Well, my table didn't come out quite right, but you get the idea.

Name of Preschool

Days and Times

Tuition

Student/Teacher Ratio

Registration Date and Fee
Extras



Other things to think about:
Do they go on field trips?
Outdoor play area?
Security? When are doors locked and unlocked?
Are background checks done on teachers? How often? Are they First Aid and CPR certified?

Who would have thought?

Who would have thought that a faucet, a sink and some dawn would have created a half an hour of entertainment for my 2.5 year old?

Last night, as I was preparing dinner, my son wanted to help unload the dishwasher. On the bottom shelf, he found himself a tumbler to play with so I let him. He ran and got his stool and then proceeded to fill the glass up with water to drink. Normally I freak out because I don't want water everywhere, but then I realized "Hey, its water, he needs to drink that!". Feeling ballsy, I then asked if he wanted to play with bubbles too. He of course said "YEAH!" So I bubbled up the sink on one side and then just ran the water on the other. He had a blast filling up his cup with water, with soap, washing bubbles off, etc.


Its amazing what a few empty cups and some water can do for a one of those days when you can't play outside!

Valentine's Day

So Valentine's Day is coming up. I have never been one to get hung up on all of the hipe of the holiday, but now that I have kids, any holiday is fun because I get to make them little gifts and goody bags. But, better than giving them something, we like to give the grandparents something. All of our parents (the kids grandparents) do so much for us, that I like to show them the unexpected thanks in little homemade gifts from the kids - well, who are we joking, from me. PooPie likes to help until anything loud is turned on and then she runs and hides until I am done. I never do the same things and I never do them on the same holidays. I don't want it to be an expected thing for them. I want them to always be surprised with a "Wow, look what I got" expression. We are going to see some of Babe's family this weekend so I am going to prepare the Valentine's early. I am in search of the perfect little something, I just wish I knew what it was. I will be Googling up a storm and searching my brain to find something more fun then the heart-shaped rice crispy treats. Even though I will be making those for the girls for their goody bags, I want something with a little more of the "WOW" factor. Once I find the perfect something and have PooPie make them, I will post pictures.



I meant to get on here earlier than this to post pictures of our wonderful crafts, but I have been busy, what can I say. I was so excited that I found the cutest ideas for Valentine's this year and couldn't wait to see every one's reactions when PooPie handed them out, and it ended up being a flop. The in-laws weren't as excited as I thought they would be when their oh-so-cute grand-daughter/grand-niece handed them their presents, but what do you expect from in-laws, right? PooPie had a blast making the gifts and that's all that matters.


So first we started off with painting wooden hearts and when they dried I stuck a magnet on the back and we had a great gift. Simple and easy and lots of fun. PooPie liked this the best because she loves to paint and she didn't want to stop. I actually had to take some of the hearts away because she had painted them too much! While we had the paints out, we decided to decorate some plain paper lunch bags and make them gift bags. I had PooPie make hearts from her thumb prints which was so cute, but it didn't last long because she does not like to have the paints all over her hands (takes after her mom). Then I tried to get Mohawk to had her touch by painting her feet and making hearts out of those, but she wasn't having one bit of it - I don't blame her because it had to tickle:).

After we were done painting, we made Rice Crispy treats and shaped them into Hershey Kisses. This was so easy, but of course PooPie didn't really do much of this except watch and eat:) I loved this idea and will do it again some day. We made small ones since we were giving them to a lot of people. This will be a good treat for when the kids are in school and need to give gifts to all the kids. BUT, it is even cuter if you are making it for 1 person. My cousin stole the idea from me and made her boyfriend one big one and it was the cutest thing I have ever seen. I wish I had a picture to show. Anyway, to make these, you just make the Rice Crispys (I died the marshmallow mixture pink for fun or you can add chocolate to make it more realistic) and when they start to cool, take a greased funnel (any size according to preference) and pack the Rice Crispy in. Pop them back out and let them cool completely on some wax paper. Then cover the Rice Crispy in aluminum foil and had a thin white piece of paper with a love note in the top. Cute as can be:)

Voila! Little Kisses!!! Cute!

Then the best craft/baking we did we the heart cookie cake. PooPie's first Valentine's Day, I made the cake with her for Babe. This was the first time that I included her in baking and decided that I/we would do it every year. Then last year, the second year of it, I didn't do it. To be fair, we weren't hear so it's not like I was just being lazy. But this year we started up our tradition. It was fun having both kids right there while baking. I love to bake and hope that both of my kids enjoy it as much as I do - I just hope they don't enjoy it in their belly's as much as I do:)!

Momcessities: The little things mom shouldn't go without. Mommy Cards!

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My friend Anelys runs her own graphic arts/printing business and she does amazing work. I plan on ordering both of my kids birthday cards from her this year. You should really check out her website and all her products they are much better than you would find at Snapfish or Kodak.

But one of her products stands out to me, and I really can't wait to place my order when the kids get into preschool. They are the "mommy cards". These little ingenious cards, are perfect for any mom. They have your kids picture and info on them, your phone number, allergies, birthdates and anything else you feel is important to have available in an instant.

Think about it:

You are setting up a play date for your kids and you need to swap numbers, just pull this card out and hand it over.

You are dropping your kids off at daycare, and you need to leave some pertinent info with the staff, drop off your mommy card, so they can match up the allergy or disability with the proper kid by seeing the photo. Its easy to pull this card from out of a file than search through it for the information.

Your kids have wandered off and you can't find them in a park/store/museum, you have your card out so you can have the security guard know exactly what they look like to help you find them.

Its the first day of school, leave one with the teacher so she/he knows exactly how to get in contact with you.

There are just so many uses these little cards have. I think every mom should have some! Plus I just love showing off pics of my little ones, and what better way to brag than by handing over your mommy card to new friends as you set up play dates. You know you will get compliments on 1. having a mommy card and 2. having such cute kids.

When bad things happen to good toys

This Christmas Zabba got a really great gift from Gramm. It's an art desk that has a white board, a clip to hold papers for painting-this flips down to make a desk, compartments galore, bins that fit into the compartments and the best thing about it (well, according to Zabba). It has a stool!!


The other day while I was searching the house high and low for a missing Mr. Potato Head part (which fits nicely into the compartments of the art desk thankyouverymuch) Zabba got ahold of this:




Yep, that's right a permanent marker. So, when I was on my hands and knees under the dining room table I realized that Zabba was very quite-much quieter than any 2 year old should be unless they are sleeping. So I slowly backed out from under the table to see what she was doing and was greeted by this:

Nice-eh? Incase you were wondering it's a baloon.

So, if you ever run into this situation, here's what you do:

1. Use a dry erase marker (the one I used was Expo, but any dry erase will work)

2. Color over the permanent marker with the dry erase marker

3. Wipe off with either an eraser designed for white boards or a wet cloth

4. Hide permanent markers from 2 year old.

In my opinion, the last step is the most important.