Car Activities for Toddlers

So, we planned an epic road trip to Southern California for our Spring Break (pictures to come).  While 30-plus hours in a car over the span of five days with three small children is not ideal, I found that if you plan well enough, you all just might survive.

Here are some of the ideas I came up with:  (The first two I have pictured here are actually completely original. The third was from Family Fun, I think, and some of the others were from friends and neighbors as well as just what we had around.)

So when I think of travel games, I think of magnets. So I bought some tins at the second hand store, some magnetic tape, some dollar store stickers and fun little erasers, and printed out pictures I had drawn on the computer or found on the internet onto cardstock.

I taped a clear page protector onto the tin, and so the cards were interchangeable.  My favorite was the I spy page, which I made two copies of and with one page made magnets out of some of the objects by cutting them out and sticking the magnet strip to the back.   The other tin simply had alphabet and number magnets, although I planned to do shapes -tangram style but didn't get around to it in time. The kids really seemed to enjoy it -until most of the magnets got lost in the car -but it kept them busy for at least an hour, which is all anyone could hope for.

The second idea was quite ingenious I thought, although more complicated than it had to be, and flopped in the end, but not because it wasn't a good idea.  I made a paper dispenser scroll out of a pencil box, two Crystal light containers, some pencils, some tractor wheels from an already broken toy, and some rolls of old-school fax machine paper that I found at the DI.

I melted slits and holes in the Crystal Light containers with my wood burner, and stuck the pencils through for spindles, drilling holes in the pencils and attaching the wheels by the axles with glue to use as knobs.  (Did that make any sense?)  Then I put the paper roll in the first, pulled the paper through and taped it to the pencil/spindle inside the container opposite side, and put the lids on.  Then I glued the canisters to the bottom of the pencil box, and voila!  I also attached a snap-button closure to the lid on the underside to keep things inside while drawing.  I filled the box with pencils, crayons, markers, stickers, and stamps. I also found out that you could draw on the paper with any hard stylus type thing, including your fingernail, because it was pressure sensitive paper, so if the kids lost all the pencils and stuff, it would still work!  Well, the thing lasted for about an hour before the canisters on the sides fell off --note to self, don't use hot melt glue for things that are going to be handled by toddlers!  I also left home without all the things I originally filled it with (pictured above), although luckily I had pencils and crayons in the car. So, it didn't go over as well as hoped, but my four year old got a little use out of it, and I plan to resurrect it before our next car trip.

The third thing I made was some little mazes I saw somewhere, made out of waxen string (Bendaroos work best, but I couldn't actually find those so this off brand had to do -which actually glowed in the dark), and some old CD cases, and some small round balls or beads I had around.

I only got this one bad picture of one of the two mazes after the kids had been playing with them with their grubby little hands, and to be honest, they may have been a bit young for it.  Another note to self, glue them shut next time, because the contents are just too interesting looking to not be touched and dismantled.  Needless to say, they didn't last past this trip, but again, they gave us a good hour or so of peace.

The other tricks I had up my sleeve included:
-Surprise bags, filled with dollar store party favors and treats, given at intervals throughout the trip.
-Pipe cleaners
-Travel size Etch-a-sketch and Magnadoodle
-Books -especially Eye Spy books, and board books with flaps for younger kids.
-Kid computer/Toy that has buttons, lights and sounds --not too annoying though.  (I honestly think my 2 year old knows his alphabet better ever since this trip, and I have a toy that I am going to take the batteries out of for a while.)
-Pom pom puffballs --for throwing at each other.  Good for laughs and relieving stress. Only lasts until they're all lost and out of reach in the car though.
-Bubbles --didn't actually have to pull this one out.  I forgot about it.  But it has worked wonders for keeping really young kids happy and entertained.  (I blow, they pop, otherwise it would be a mess.  AC/heater fans make it more exciting, and I can actually get bubbles all the way to the back of my minivan that way).
-Glow sticks --great for driving in the dark.
-Wooden beads for stringing (-until they all got lost on the floor that is). Fruit loops or cheerios could also be fun if you're not afraid of the mess.
-A Laptop with DVD's or movies on the hard drive (we can't afford a portable DVD player).  We plugged it into our tape deck adapter for surround sound, and turned the music to play in the back of the van.  We were actually able to read our book out loud in the front, while the kids watched a movie in the back without bothering one another!  I am also proud to say that we only watched three full length movies the entire trip --that's better than most weeks at home!
-Snacks snacks and more snacks!  We got the kids some Lunchables, and used the trays over and over to pass other small finger foods back.  We tried to keep the sugar at a minimum, but crackers, cheese sticks, teddy grahams, grapes, apples, raisins, beef sticks, and the occasional gummy worm seemed to do the trick. For the baby, who is just learning to self feed, we got some Baby MumMums (organic rice rusks) that kept him busy, a mesh feeder to put bananas, grapes, pineapple or whatever else we thought he'd like to chew on, and when all else failed we popped those freeze dried yogurt melts into his mouth, which prolonged his time until feedings/naps sometimes half an hour --long enough to get to a good park or play place.

That was another trick.  Stopping every two-three hours for some good kinesthetic-oriented fun (while I fed the baby in the car).

We also bought some new toys for the baby, including those little links to go on his carrier handle to keep him from losing toys, sippies, and the mesh feeder.

He was a messy baby, but a happy one. We just rotated through things at intervals to keep it new and interesting.  Luckily he took naps very well as we drove, and was pretty happy even when awake.  The kids took good naps too.  That was a blessing!

Overall, it wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to be.  All my planning and preparing worked out to be just enough, despite some of the seeming flops, but I don't think we'll do it again for a long long time.  (Unless we have to for a move next Fall, but then I'll be prepared!)

Hope some of this is helpful to any of you!  If you have any other good ideas, feel free to share!

St. Patty's

I love the story of St. Patrick.  When I learned it last year, it brought a whole new meaning to the holiday that before only held memories of green. Green milk in the fridge, green eggs and ham for breakfast, and of course, getting pinched whether I wore green or not.  My husband's family was a bit more festive.  They at least made leprechaun traps and got a chocolatey surprise for almost catching those little gold lovers. In fact, we even made an ingenious contraption ourselves this year, thanks to hanging out with extended family the night before.  Here's our design.

You can't see it, but there's a shiny bauble inside attached to the string as "bait" since we know leprechauns love shiny things, and once they have ahold of it would never let it go-- thus pulling the door closed as he tries to steal it.  The other "opening" is not really an opening, but is meant to fool the leprechaun into a false sense of security as he enters the container, thinking he can always escape, when really it is a Seran Wrap barrier.  Hee hee, aren't we so tricky?  I would have made the container much prettier if I had, say, taken more than 5 minutes to make it.

As it was, the flimsy construction was no match for a feisty little leprechaun, and he got away, with enough time to write us a note and leave a "golden" chocolatey consolation prize.

As for the real story about Saint Patrick, I will summarize it for you:

First of all, Saint Patrick was British born, who at 16 was kidnapped by Irish
raiders and taken back to Ireland as a slave. He was rescued (in fact, he said
that he was told by God to flee captivity and go to the coast where he would
board a ship and be brought back to Britain), and when he returned to England he
joined the church (catholic I assume) and studied to become a priest. Once he
was a Bishop, he felt called to go on a mission to teach and convert the people
of Ireland, or to "save the Irish." He was very successful, and after thirty
years of preaching and spreading Christianity, he died on March 17th 461 A.D.

Just as a FYI, he was known to use the shamrock to explain the holy trinity.
"Wearing green" really meant wearing the shamrock in the beginning, and has
evolved to just wearing the color green.

Anyway, what a story of forgiveness and true conversion! I mean, he went back
to where he had been held captive to preach the Gospel. I think that is
amazing! 


So, maybe St. Patrick's day does have something to offer. I also like
the thought of the shamrock representing what we would call the Godhead.   

Brothers

The shirts are a little obvious I know, but just in case you were confused...

My Dream Date: Trespassing.

Okay, so actually there wasn't any sign, so we weren't technically trespassing.  

No sign, is a good sign right? 

It was a great opportunity to try out our new camera.

Don't worry, we didn't go in.  

I may be a trespasser, but I'm not stupid.

So eerie and creepy.  It really makes me wonder what happened here.  It was probably something mundane and stupid, like bankruptcy and vandals, but I could easily imagine something tragic and perhaps a little mysterious and supernatural.  

 I knew you were all just dying to see inside.

 It was a bit anticlimactic and disappointing, and yet, proved mysterious after all.

And definitely creepy.

Mystery of the foul smell: solved.

Luckily I had my husband there to protect me.  Isn't he such a hottie?

Church Mice

Once upon a time, there was an old lady whose job it was to clean the whole church. One day, as she was working, she  came to one room that was particularly messy.

"Oh my!" she said. "This room is so messy, and I'm already so tired, I just don't think I can face this one right now. Perhaps I'll come back later," and she closed the door to go work on other things.
Meanwhile, some little mice who had been hiding in the closet said to each other, "That nice old lady is always cleaning and working so hard to make this place look nice. We should do something special for her.  Hey, I know! Let's surprise her by cleaning this room for her.  That will make her so happy! She'll be so surprised!" With that, the mice began cleaning as fast as they could.


Soon after that, the little old lady came back.  She opened the door slowly with a few jiggles of the handle (because the church was getting so old and the handle didn't always work properly) and when the mice heard her, they ran back into the closet and hid.
"Hmm, maybe this room isn't as messy as I remember," she said, "but it's still too messy to face right now."  She looked around listing all the things that needed to be done, but it was still too overwhelming. "Oh dear, I still don't think I can face it yet. Maybe I'll save it for last," and with that she left the room and closed the door behind her.


Once the coast was clear, the mice came out, and began cleaning again, paying special attention to all the things they had heard the lady mention.  They worked quickly and quietly.
A little while later, the old lady came back --once again struggling with the door, and the mice had just enough time to hide again before she came in.  This time the lady definitely noticed a difference in the room.

"My goodness!" she exclaimed. "Something strange is going on.  I'm sure it was dirtier than this when I was in here before. Maybe I'm going crazy, but I wonder what will happen if I leave it just a little bit longer..."  She noted out loud the few things that still needed to be done, and tried to remember them just to make sure she wasn't imagining things, and then she slowly backed out of the room and closed the door.


The mice warily came out of hiding.  They giggled to themselves to think that the lady didn't know it was them. They finished tidying up, until the room was spotless with nothing on the floor and everything in its place.  There were a few things that didn't belong in the room, but belonged elsewhere in the church, and the mice quietly opened the door and set those things in the hallway. However, when they went to close that stubborn old door, "BAM!" it slammed shut and made a terribly loud noise.  The mice squeaked in fright and hid in the closet again.


The old lady who had heard the noise came to investigate.
"What on earth was that noise?" She said to herself as she opened the door.  "Oh!" she exclaimed, dropping her dust rag in surprise.  "What's going on? Who has been cleaning in here?" She looked around in disbelief.  "Perhaps it's magic?  No... there's something here, in the dust... mice footprints!  It was mice who cleaned this room for me.  How kind!  I will do something to let them know how grateful I am."  And she quickly left the room.

The mice crept out of hiding, and found the dust rag lying there.  They decided to use it, for good measure, and just as they finished up they noticed that the old lady hadn't closed the door behind her, but in fact she was peeking in at them with a kind smile on her face.  They squeaked and quickly ran and hid, but she didn't chase them.  She quietly walked into the room and gently set something down saying softly, "Thank you little church mice!"  Then she turned and left, closing the door behind her.
When the mice finally dared to come out, they found a plate full of wonderful treats, perfectly fit for some helpful little mice.

THE END

This is a game we played as children with my mother or older sister playing the part of the old lady, and we got to be the mice. Why a church, and why mice? I have no idea. I'm not sure where the story came from, it may or may not be original, but I've definitely taken liberties with it as I've written it down here.  After all, it was a little different every time we played (i.e. sometimes the lady left a vacuum instead of a dust rag, or both).  Anyway, I have fond memories of this game. I recently introduced it to my own children and it's been a hit!  I told them the story, and then the first time I had their dad do it with them as a mouse to show them how it's done (they are 4 and 2 after all), but since then they've shown themselves capable of cleaning their own room all by themselves!

Of course, as with all cleaning tricks and games, the novelty will soon wear off; but if it works for even a little while it's worth it right?  I'll take whatever I can get.

I'll post other ideas to make chores fun as we try them.

Do you have any other fun cleaning ideas?

Progress

Not bad for a phone camera eh? Still, a new one is on its way. Yay!

Do you ever have those times when your life feels like you're walking up a 'down' escalator?  Or that for every two steps you take, you slide backwards one?

We went to the sand dunes for a small family outing.  It was fun, but man those last three yards to the top were about the end of me.  It was super steep, and with every step there was a mini avalanche that would bury my feet and shoes and I'd find myself standing just about where I started.  If I hadn't had the baby strapped to my front, I probably would have tried crawling on all fours.

Luckily, my wonderful husband (after already pretty much carrying the two boys to the top) was there to hold my hand and support me as we struggled together to the top. He didn't just cheer from above, or even just reach down and pull me up to join him.  He was right there next to me helping me, as he struggled to keep his footing as well, and together we made it.

Since our third child has joined us and I've been dealing with health issues, as well as possible post-baby emotional issues, life has felt like an uphill struggle.  Whether it's housework, or callings, or lifestyle changes, or keeping up with three kids ages four and under... my life often appears as an impossibly steep mountain that threatens to bury me with each step.
Luckily, I don't have to do it all by myself.
I've been so blessed to have a wonderful husband who isn't above helping me with what some may see as "my job."

He could come home from work and say, "Well, I've done my job, time to relax!" and scorn me for not doing my job very well because the house is messy or dinner's not ready right when he comes home.  Or he could see me floundering and piously think, "If we could only trade jobs for a day, I'd show her how it's done..." and maybe blitz the house for good measure to make it look clean (getting angry when it doesn't stay that way for very long) all the while acting like a martyr.

No, I am proud to say my husband is truly amazing. He is right there in the trenches with me.  He cleans, does laundry, gets up with the children and feeds them breakfast so I can sleep in, watches them so I can go grocery shopping alone, and he even reads them scriptures and puts them down at night.  (Sheesh, this is making me feel a little inadequate.  Just to be fair, I am usually feeding the baby at those times, and I'm the one getting up in the night with the kids).  He has even come to grips with his original misconceptions that once something is cleaned it will stay that way forever, and learned that 'my job' is an unending one.

I would feel really inadequate if I thought he did all those things better than I do, but he's so thoughtful and considerate of my feelings that he occasionally makes mistakes, like breaking dishes and setting stains and putting the kids in mismatched (if not each other's) clothes, just to make me feel better.  :)

Someday, I'll get back on top of things, and be able to help him be the amazing English professor that he dreams of being.  However, I'm so glad that he chooses to put his family first.  --and to all those students waiting for their unit one papers...  just be patient, he's a lot more lenient when he feels like he's neglected you, so no more whining.

Hey you.  Happy 6th anniversary.

What I would do if I had 5 hours to myself, ...and the house was already clean:

... oh yeah, and I had gotten a full night's sleep. (Is that too much to ask?)

(stipulations include things like, no use of technological devices except maybe  for "how to"s and recipes (--aka no social stuff or blog browsing), this is all stuff I could do without having to leave the house (except for the DI run) --we're just assuming that I already have all the ingredients/materials on hand, and finally that I am not allowed to feel any guilt about neglecting my family.

What I should do:

-Cook freezer meals for the next two weeks.
-File the important documents into a easy to carry folder to be put near our 72 hour kits.
-Assemble 72 hour kits.
-Sort the kid's 'too-small' clothes into boxes for storage (and actually put them in storage, not a heaping pile of boxes in my room).
-Make homemade laundry detergent and homemade baby wipes.
-Organize the closets/garage/drawers and make a DI run.
-Make a quiet-activity bag to keep my kids happy at church/on Sundays/during quiet time.
-Make more lists and plans.

What I would like to do:

-Play the piano, perhaps make another CD for my parents.
-Write in my journal.
-Read a book from beginning to end.
-Soak in a hot bath, give myself a facial, cucumbers and all, and top it off with a pedicure and perhaps a manicure as well.
-Try something new, like painting with watercolors, or making jewelry or something.
-Get crafty, and try a bunch of things I've seen on pinterest.

What I would do if I ever followed through with my good intentions:

-Write thank you notes to people.
-Email each of my siblings separately -not a form letter.
-Print out pictures of my family and frame them to hang on the wall (and to give copies to the grandparents).
-Make birthday cards for all my extended family for the rest of the year (and actually mail them)


Okay, so if I thought about it long enough, I could probably come up with more amazing things, but I can't, so there you have it.

Gosh I'm boring.

By the way, we lost our camera, so no picture today (we won't mention the fact that I could use an old photo from my computer... I'm feeling lazy).    Luckily our tax return will furnish us with a new one, and I am super excited. More about that later.

Music

My taste in music is hard to explain.  It usually depends on what mood I'm in actually.  I've got pretty eclectic tastes, but not when you compare it to my husband's.  I can speak in generalities, such as, I don't like rap (if you can even consider that music), heavy metal makes me feel sick, hard rock isn't really my thing, and I'm not really into the twangy kind of country music that uses that one instrument that's like a  slidey horizontal guitar (I know, so technical).  I guess I'm not as eclectic as I thought.  I like classical music (actually I'm more of a Romantic period type), and I'm afraid to admit that I like a lot of oldies, including 80's music, and even new age (like Enya) --but only when I'm really in the mood for it, and while we're confessing things ...I have a disney heroin / broadway favorites sing-along mix I made for when I feel like belting it out in the car ...on my own ...with the windows up.

I'm sure you wanted to know that, but don't you agree that different music is good for different things?  Like U2 is good for car trips through the desert in the Summer, and Enya is good for ...soaking in the tub on a rainy day (okay, so I just made that up), and Jack Johnson is great for home video montages.  But I digress.

Still, most of my listening habits consist of acoustic stuff, folk, indie rock, blue grass, etc... and I'm pretty non-committal when it comes to naming groups because it's not very often that I like all their music.  I'm also bad at paying attention to and remembering what is what.  There are so many great songs and groups I couldn't possibly mention them all here (the more I think about it, the more I realize this would be a very long post if I did), and still there's plenty that I haven't even discovered yet!

Okay, so basically, if you want to know what kind of music I like, you'd have to let me listen to something and ask me if I like it.  Of course, it might all depend on what mood I'm in.  Picky?  Yes.  However, if you don't ask me, I probably won't notice or care anyway, and that's a good thing.  Very rarely do I ask my husband to turn off something, so if I don't say something, generally speaking, I like it.  Confused yet?  Never mind.

So why am I rambling on about this?  Well it's really all because I wanted to share a new group I just discovered with you. I am always mesmerized by their videos, in fact, I think that's their thing --a new medium called VideoSongs, and I highly recommend them. They make me smile. The only problem with this group is that their songs get stuck in your head really easily.

Favorites are:

Little Things,
Makin' Out,
Another Day,
Mr. Sandman,
Bust Your Kneecaps,
If You Think You Need Some Lovin',





I also realize that I'm not usually a big fan of female vocals, but this girl is an exception.

The Poor Man's Bumbo

Feelin' Crafty: 'Tale of Two Toys' cloth book

So, this is one of those posts to make me feel better about myself, even if it was a long time ago that I did this, I thought I'd share it here.

One (kind of) finished product, and two un-bound pages.

My husband and I like to give handmade gifts for Christmas, and two years ago we were giving gifts to his brother's family who has two boys close to the same age as our own, and so I thought I'd double up on the project.

I had the idea of making cloth books when I came across this printable (and washable) fabric.  So many awesome ideas ran through my head.  The one that stuck with me was to take pictures of the toys that I was giving as gifts to the boys and put them together in an adventure story. Then the kids could read it together with their toys and perhaps it would excite their imaginations.  I also wanted to personalize it, so I gave the end a twist to include the boys.

Here's the story: (I had the text on the pictures, but I guess I didn't save that version, so you just get the raw stuff.)

Once upon a time there were two toys who ran away from the store to explore the world outside.

They went to the park to play on the swings,

and the slides.

Sometimes they went to the zoo,

to see the animals.

They often climbed trees,

and watched the beautiful sunsets.

They also made friends

with different animals.

Soon, all the leaves fell off the trees, so the toys made a big pile to play in.

One day it snowed.  The toys decided they needed a home.

Then they had a great idea! They got in special boxes and send themselves to two little boys they had heard of who would take care of them and love them. That way, they could always be together.

THE END

I had a lot of fun taking the pictures for these, and I'm sure we got a lot of weird looks, and you have no idea how much lunch meat I fed to the neighbors cat to get him to sit still close to the toys!   We actually lost one of the toys to a dog in the park who decided it was a play thing, and had to go back to the store to replace it.  We were lucky to get an early snowfall so I could finish the book in time, however, when I did the layout I found that I was short one picture.  I'm sure you can figure out which one was photoshopped -horribly I might add- but the kids don't seem to mind.

I wanted to take pictures of things the boys could relate to --things that they did often, and could even bring their toys along to do as well.  The last picture I did differently for each family, and I'm afraid I didn't have the pictures of my own kids to personalize it for them, but it turned out really cute for their cousins, and apparently they really liked seeing themselves in a book.

All I had to do was print the pictures out on my regular ink jet color printer (the instructions are on the fabric), iron them to set the ink, and sew it all together.

The hardest thing for me was actually the sewing it together--since I really don't sew, and luckily two of my wonderfully talented sister-in-laws helped me with that part.  Still, my design for the cover could have been better.  Maybe next time I'll figure it out.

Over all, it was an easy yet somewhat time consuming project --since it spanned over at least a few months, but it didn't really have to.
And did the kids really appreciate it?  Kind of, but it hasn't been until recently (two years later) that they've really taken much interest.  Maybe they were just too young before, but now they've been asking me to read it to them more often. If nothing else, it's fun for me to read because it serves as a reminder of good times and I have fond memories associated with it.

Favorite pictures: The awesome sunset we were lucky to catch, and the giraffes at the zoo.