Royalty Here in Pensacola

On the anniversary of the Royal Wedding, I flipped through the channels and came across a replaying of the ceremony. I had no clue (even though I should have) how much the girls would be into viewing the wedding. The interesting part was that for 45 minutes it was just people arriving and walking in, and they patiently waited for the guest of honor to arrive. The girls properly dressed for the joyous occasion... hint: the blankets are supposed to be a train on a gown.

Car Time with Preschoolers

I want to know about our nine day trip to NC and VA.

 

Number of hours spent in the car on highways…

 

Day one: 10 hours (Pensacola, FL to Guaffney, SC)

Day two: 5 hours (Guaffney, SC to Raleigh, NC and then to Crabtree for dinner)

Day three: 5 hours (around NC for NASCAR time and concert)

Day four: no highway time this day

Day five: 2 hours (Eno River Festival in Durham)

Day six: 2 hours (Durham Museum)

Day seven: 3.5 hours (Raleigh, NC to Williamsburg, VA)

Day eight: 10 hours (Williamsburg, VA to Winder, GA)

Day nine: 6 hours (Winder, GA to HOME!!!)

 

Add that all up to get almost 44 hours of car time.

 

Guess how many movies were watched during this time….ZERO! But guess how many times I sang “The Wheels on the Bus”….

 

Yep,  I am still balking on the DVD player in the car because I want family vacations to include the bonding during the car. I loved observing the creativity of the girls. At one point they removed their shoes and they become dolls for them, where one shoe was the mom and the other shoe was the kid. Brady would read books to Reese and then they would switch roles.

 

I will say about day six when we first got on the highway, Brady starting kicking and saying “no more highways”! But really they handled it VERY well. I am proud of my entire family for making this trip (and all of our trips) movie free!

 

So for those who want to know, we entertained the kids with:

-CDs

-singing together with no music, kids find this more entertaining than CDs

-Color Wonder markers

-sprial notebook to draw whatever they want

-color books that help the imagination out a little

-lots of children’s books (and a doll or stuffed toy to read to)

-snacks

-naps of course

-discussing what we see outside, like the giant peach water tower, or them helping us look for a hotel

-counting cars or sometimes we would count to 60 (to make minutes pass)

Who is your favorite?

I just wanted to know from all the American Idol viewers, who are you picking to go all the way this year?

 

I have always preferred male singers, so know when I tell you my choice, I am not even considering the girls. So my pick to win it all is Paul McDonald. I really think he is unique or should I say quirky but not over the top.

 

I want to hear what you think!

Tuesday Tidbits: Helpers and Mickey

I was loading up the fridge with my soda the other day and Brady ran over to help me. She wanted me to hand them to her and then she placed them in the spot. Reese quickly came in and took over my job. I love my helpers that are always there to volunteer!

For mom’s with Mickey Mouse Clubhouse watchers, all I need to say is Hot Dog dance! But for the rest of  you, MMCH show has a song that plays at the end of every show. All six of the characters dance and each one has a different set of moves. So Karl likes to try and imitate the characters. Well over time, we all have our specific character we try to dance like. The girls love having daddy dance with them!

Speaking of Mickey…you like Reese’s mickey pancake and Brady’s Minnie pancake complete with bow? The girls were pretty thrilled about it!

Rededication

I recently have decided to rededicate myself as a stay at home mom. What do I mean by this? I want to be proactive, create environments that will benefit my children in several different faucets, and give them the positive attention they hunger. I don’t think I had stopped being a good mother when I decided this but I had started letting day to day pass by doing what was comfortable and easy. Just getting through the day as it comes my way.

 

Here is how I am rededicating myself as a stay at home mom:

• weekly crafts
• planted a vegetable/flower garden with the girls
• heavily involve girls (individually) in one dinner preparation a week
• trying to decrease TV viewing

So I have been doing weekly crafts for two weeks now. The first week we created the garden. The girls shopped for materials with me, picked out the seeds, filled the garden with soil, water on a regular basis. All around it is a wonderful learning experience. 

This is the day we created it. WE now have corn, lettuce, cucumber, strawberry, zinnia, pumpkin all sprouting in there (I know that is too much but it was what the girls wanted).

The cinder blocks is a trick my sister taught me. In the holes you plant invasive herbs. Well that is not what made it in our holes, but the girls grasp which seeds are which with the divide. This week’s craft was a bird seed wreath (thanks for the idea Amy). It was a dud and we ended up with a pile of seed on the slide outside. I do have quite a few ideas for future weeks that I am eager to do.

 

The dinner planning has been the biggest hit thus far. The girls had been begging me every night that I cooked to help out, well with my Zumba schedule and Brady’s ballet on Friday there are a lot of nights that I am in a rush to cook so I ended up yelling at them to get out of the kitchen more then they deserved. They are trying to help, why am I yelling at them? So I read about a family that lets each kid in the fam have a night where they completely decide the dinner menu. Well I took it one step further. Both of the girls get a night so completely decide the menu and then they help with every step of the preparation, table setting, and clean up. Brady has Monday and Reese has Wednesday. This has been a HUGE hit. Brady has had tacos both weeks. Reese’s first week she requested “strawberries, lettuce and chicken” this past week she wanted “strawberries and pancakes.” Now they know they cook on their one special night a week and mommy does it every other night. I wish I would have thought of this earlier.

 

Lastly, the TV has been the hardest. I like it as a babysitter of sorts. It helps when I need a shower or have phone calls to make, etc. So they are in the habit of one hour a day. They know that means two Mickey Mouse Clubhouse. So when I say no TV lets go to the beach, I get the response, we can go to the beach AFTER two MMCH shows. UGH! I am trying to keep them busy, but honestly they need the wind down time too. So I am having an internal debate about TV and what is my stance about how much the girls should watch.

 

That is all for now, I am sure there will be future posts about a weekly craft or update on the garden!

Five dollar footlong

Brady is currently singing to me, as I type this, "five dollar five" ...

You know that commercial for SUBWAY they are airing right now with the mermaid and the jello word "any"? Yeah, that really annoying one that is always on... Well Brady loves it. The television has been on a lot lately when she is awake due to all the basketball tourneys. So the commercial has been on a lot for her to hear. She can be in another room and she will come running into the room and say "five dollar five."  One day I was cuddling with her and she heard it come on and she starting kicking and flailing to get out of my arms to go see it...

Not a clue what makes her like that commercial... I oughta contact SUBWAY marketing and tell them they did a great job drawing in 2 years olds!