A little DI DIY

I’ve been really into shopping at the DI lately.  I know my mother will be shocked to hear this!  but it’s true.  I’ve found some really great stuff there recently.

Jameson’s crocks busted and the next day I found the exact pair at the DI for $3 – it was fate – I’m sure of it.

Anyway, I saw the CUTEST cake stand the other day and I HAD to have one, so I went to DI to pick up what I needed – I got all of my supplies for less than $8 – pretty great – and isn’t it cute?

So, I just picked out some plain white random dishes, then played around with how to stack them to make them work as a cake plate.  Then I used “duco cement” to glue them all together – it’s great for glass and china and it’s even dishwasher safe (not that it would fit in the dishwasher).  Now it’s nice and sturdy!  I’m all ready to have a “Valentine Tea” or something.

Okay – so here’s the next little one.

I had a bunch of these old clear candle sticks (actually they are left over from Brad’s bachelor days) – got me a clear plate that matched, used the same duco cement – and – what do you know?  A cute as can be pedestal plate.

Seriously – it just makes me want to bake to fill them up with yummy treats (probably not a good thing).

Dig it out!

I got this really cool thing from Oriental Trading (love that catalog) and it was pretty cheap.

It’s a big sand (gypsum) block that has bones buried in it.

It took a couple of days to dig all the bones out of it.  (Who doesn’t love a project that keeps kids entertained for a couple of days) It was a pretty fun project for us to work on – the whole family got involved in our “excavation”.  It was fun to see all of the different bones and pretty exciting to see which one we might uncover next.

Once they were all dug up, it was a complete skeleton that we put together with string.

Here’s most of the bones that have been uncovered.

Here’s the finished product.

Part III – General Tips

Okay – so by now I know your sick of my “soapbox”, but here goes one last post and then it’s on to fun and exciting posts – I’ve got some good ones coming up.  We’ve been doing some FUN stuff.

1.    Try to keep your schedule as “normal” as possible.  If your child still takes naps, schedule those into your vacation plans when possible (obviously on travel days that isn’t always possible).  I have found that vacations are much more relaxing when you and your child are not overly tired.  Isn’t that what vacations are about?  I have to admit, that having a napping child has given me great opportunity to read some awesome books.  Generally, we take turns with who gets to stay home with the sleeping one.  One day I will stay and read a book and relax, while Brad takes Josh to the pool or to the park or wherever.   Then, the next day we switch.

I’m a big believer in schedules and routines for children and I think that same thing applies to travel – in fact, that’s probably the time they need it the most – when they are in unfamiliar territory.

2.  Get a condo.   Condos are so easily accessible these days and can even be cheaper than some hotel rooms.  When traveling with kids, it’s nice to have some space for them (rather than a small hotel room).  Having a kitchen is key!  Who wants to eat out with kids every meal?  A fridge and microwave are key.  I know this isn’t always possible, but at least price it out and see how it compares – you won’t regret having a “home away from home”.

3.  Toys?  When we first started traveling with baby Josh, I would pack so many toys……only to pack them back up realizing they never got used.  It’s pointless.  The whole point of a trip is to get out of the house — try new things.   So don’t wast your packing space on toys – you’ll find something to do.  Same goes for sand toys at the beach, I used to pack a boat load of beach toys, but I’ve found that strainers, cups and spatulas from the condo work just as well and they don’t take up space in your suitcase.

4.  Pack light – and plan to do laundry = this is new found freedom of mine.  No matter how long we are packing for – 5 days or 3 weeks, I limit myself to 5 shirts, 5 pants each for all of us!  and I plan that I will do laundry while I am there.  It’s easy enough to do a load of laundry in the evening or during nap time and then you don’t have to come home to loads of laundry to tackle.  Packing and unpacking are much easier.

5.  Baby Rentals – when babies are small, we have used baby rental companies that will rent you baby equipment.  When babies are small, we rent a high chair for the condo, but when that isn’t available we have also used the stroller at the dinner table to keep em strapped in and still.   When we go to the beach with a baby that can’t walk – we ALWAYS rent a “exersaucer”.  Baby can play on the beach in the fresh air, hear the waves see the family playing, and depending on how adventerous your little one is you can even put it in the water and let their little toes get wet in the water. If you keep them off the sand, they will be much happier – no one likes sand in their eyes, ears and every other place that a crawling baby can get it.

See – doesn’t he look much happier than if he were down there crawling around?    This is Josh believe it or not!

6.  My sister-in-law introduced us to this awesome little guy called a “pea pod”. It’s a fold up tent thing with a mattress.  It folds up to fit in your suitcase so you don’t have to pack a whole pack and play.  Now that airlines have started charging for each checked bag (have I mentioned how cheap they have gotten?) and you don’t want to pay to check your pack n play – these are a great option.  Also, most hotels have pack n plays available if you check with them ahead of time.

7.  Coffee filters make great snow flakes.  EVERY hotel has a coffee maker and EVERY coffee maker has a filter.  We take them out and make snow flakes out of them.  When the kids get board, we pull them out and see all the different shapes and designs we can make.

Well that’s all for today.  I’m not hearing any ideas from you?!?!?   Please send them along!

Part II – Plane

Traveling on an airplane with little kids can be NUTS.  When we were first married, before we had any children – we went on a family reunion trip with Brad’s family to an Island in Puget Sound called Vashon Island.  The Utah family all traveled together on an airplane up to the Seattle area.  Brad’s sister had 4 small children at the time (all under the age of 6).  I remember commenting to Brad and his mom that traveling with them was really great birth control – because YIKES, it was A LOT to handle.  Now – I’m sure that people say the same thing about our family.

Traveling by plane is a delicate balance between “less is more” and actually having everything you need.

Getting through security with the kids is somewhat like “running the gauntlet”……..

So here’s some things we’ve learned:

1.  When kids are old enough – let them carry and be in charge of their own back pack.  (this did get us into trouble once when we actually left the backpack on the bus from the parking lot, but Brad was able to track it down and we made our flight by the skin of our teeth).  This is one less thing that parents have to worry about.  Whenever we go somewhere (through security, to the bathroom, to eat, after sitting down, etc) we take a bag count and make sure that we ALL have ALL of our carry on bags.

2.  Remember to wear easy on/off shoes.  Crocks are great.  When you have to remove and put on 4 different pairs of shoes – you are thankful they are easy to remove and put back on.

3.  Pack an extra set of cloths in the carry-on.  More than once we’ve had pee and poop “accidents”.   With all the excitement, it can be really hard to remember to go to the bathroom.  Also on a side note here, if you have barfing babies – I highly recommend packing a shirt for mom to change into as well.

The first time we took Josh to Hawaii when he was an infant, he was puking all the time – I packed several changes of clothes for him, but none for me. When we finally arrived in Hawaii 12 hours later, I stunk soooo bad from all the barf.  I didn’t think that I would be the one holding him and that most of the barf would land on ME!

4.  I also ALWAYS carry extra ziplock bags.  You can safely and sanitarily store the DIRTY clothes as well as any dirty diapers or garbage until you get to a place that you properly dispose of it.

5.  Don’t drink the water.  I didn’t know this for along time, but NEVER drink the water from an airplane faucet.  It’s been tested and it’s NOT safe to drink.  So if you our your kiddos need a drink – ask a flight attendant for bottled water, and if you need a bottle filled for formula they are happy to do that as well.

6.  When picking seats, try to get in the front of the plane.  Most of the time, if they know you are traveling with kids, they will automatically book you at the back, but if you book online – you can choose your own seats.  This is usually the first to board – DON’T be the first on the plane.  That’s just a longer time that your kids have to sit in the seat with the seat belts on.  Board when the call the last zone and if you are at the front you will be the first to get OFF the plane.  Again less time for the kids to have to sit with seat belts on.

7.  Entertainment?   You can use a lot of the same ideas that I listed in my “car ideas” post and here’s a couple more:

The I-Pod:  My kids both have their own playlists on our I-Pod and they love listening to “their” music.  This is all that Josh did the entire plane ride home from California – seriously – he didn’t do ANYTHING else.   He listened to the Indiana Jones theme song the entire way home.

Portable DVD player or laptop.  We used to carry an additional DVD player along for the kids to watch when they hit a wall, now we just use our laptops – see the “car ideas” section for movies that are good to watch.

Playdough –  I figured out you have to take the small jars – the regular size is too big and it won’t make it through security, it will get confiscated.  Make sure it’s less than 3 oz.  This can be hours of fun!

Magnets – I got these plane round button magnets at Wal Mart for really cheap and they have been a hit – you can build towers with them, make caterpillars – watch them “wiggle” away from each other.  They have been a lot of fun (you can see Jame playing with them in one of the pics I posted).

8.  Sleeping – we’ve done ALOT of red-eye flights from Hawaii and while this is SOOOOO miserable for mom and dad, it’s the most painless for the kids.  They usually fall asleep before we hit the runway and sleep until we wake them up when it’s time to get off the plane.  We make a bed on the floor in front of the seats for Jameson – he sleeps quite comfortably there and then lay Josh out on his and Jameson’s seat.  There are always lots of blankets to be had. Double them up to use for a pillow (they don’t have those any more – freakin cheap airlines….but don’t get me started).

9.  Books – again, my kids love to read and having mom’s undivided attention on an airplane means that we can get LOTS of books read.  On one trip, I took the collection of Beatrix Potter stories and we read her entire collection on the trip.

10.  Snacks – Did I mention that the airlines are cheap?   They DO still do a drink, but THAT IS IT.  So you will need to make sure you pack lots of snacks.  It’s easy to pack chips, cookies, crackers, fruit, etc.  But I try to make sure that there is protein too:  so we also make sure to bring jerky, cheese sticks, hard boiled eggs things that will give us REAL energy.

I’ll do one more post tomorrow on general travel tips and then you will be DONE with me.

Got any more ideas?  I’d love to hear what YOU do!!!  Please share YOUR ideas with me.

Travel Tips – Car

Here are a few travel tips that I promised – remember I’m pretty new to this whole CAR travel thing – but here are a few things that I learned and will definitely recommend and Do again.

1.  ”The Surprise Bag”  - I went to the $1 store a few days before the trip and picked out a bunch of crap.  Wrapped it – one kind of wrapping paper for each kid, so we would know whos was whos.  Then put it in a big bag.  I told the boys they could pick something from the bag every hour and unwrap it.  This worked like a charm.  The first day we only had to use 2 of them – they were either entertained by other things, or asleep.  The second day, we had to use a few more.

I’ve also heard the if you don’t want to buy new things, you can collect some of their “favorite” things a few months before the trip keep them hidden and then bring them out in the “surprise bag”.

2.  Snacks – yep, snacks keep you entertained and going.  Try mixing it up with their favorites (like grapes, apples, oranges, cheese) with things that are new and they might not have tried – it’s fun to try new things and they’re more willing to try it when they’re locked up in a car.

3.  Along with snacks – I put in about half a dozen plastic cups.  I kept the “snack bag” up with me and used the plastic cups to serve the snacks in.  It keeps it a little more clean and they are less likely to get it all over when you only give them as much as they will eat – you can always refill the cups.  This worked out great.

4.  White boards and markers – if your kids are old enough that you wouldn’t worry about marker all over the car (Joshua but not Jameson). These can keep kids entertained for quite awhile.

5.  Books on tape – this is not something we have done, but I’ve heard of many families who do this.  They get Harry Potter on tape or some other equally as exciting book and have it read while they drive in the car.  Again, this is probably for “older” kids.  You can check with you local library – they may have a better collection of books on tape.

6.  Kid music – as much as this might drive mom and dad insane.  It’s worth it to me.  If you can find some good music that your kids like (and perhaps that you might also like), you can crank it up and it helps to pass the time away when you are all singing together some good old songs.  (Isn’t this how WE used to travel when WE were kids?)

7.  Along with the snack cups – I also took a bag for each child to keep their “treasures” in….things out of the surprise bag, things they pick up, their toys and things for THEM to play with.  Each child had their own back pack to keep things in, I also put a couple of things of Tic Tacks in each back pack – for some reason this is a very special treat for them.  For younger children, they mostly just like to shake the box around and listen to the “shaker”, but older kids like to eat the treats.

8.  Books – we kept a pile of books in the back of each seat so they could reach in a grab a book to look at, now that Josh is learning to read – he loves being able to recognize words both while looking out the window and while reading books in the car.

9.  Vinyl clings – one of the things that the boys got as a “surprise” from the bag were vinyl clings – they peeled them off and stuck them to the windows, car seats, seat in front of them – anywhere they would stick, but they easily peel right off and don’t cause any damage.

10.  I DO have to add it to the list because without it – we wouldn’t have made it:  DVD player!!!!!  I found that for Jameson (younger kids) shorter films work better.  Tom and Jerry is Jameson’s favorite! and it is great because it keeps his attention, but Joshua also enjoys it.  Disney also has a bunch of new DVD’s out that are collections of their classic short films – Three Little Pigs, Mickey and the Beanstock,  Lambert, etc.  These are great because again – they appeal to a wide range of ages.  I have found with younger children that you can actually hold their attention longer with lots of shorter films, rather than one long feature film (depends on the movie of course – we could watch Toy Story all day!).   Again, if you don’t have any of these at home – check them out from your local library for the length of your trip.

Also, I think this goes with out saying, but it for sure works the best if you can plan your drive around sleeping time….leave later in the day so they will sleep at least some time at night or during naps etc.  This SAVED us on our trip.  We left late enough that they slept 2 hours on the way to Las Vegas and then we took the morning to play and left after lunch so they would nap on the way to LA – if it saves you an hour – that’s an hour you DON’T have to answer “How much longer?”

That’s it!  Happy Traveling.

I’ll post some Plane Travel tips tomorrow.

I thought you were sleeping

Yesterday afternoon Jameson was tucked up in his bed, peacefully taking a rest (or so I thought).  I was down at my computer catching up on some things.  I peeked around the corner and this is what I saw:

Someone hiding under a hat!

He slowly peeks out from under…..to see

Is it okay to PLAY?

I’m cute as can be!

I’m certainly NOT tired!

It’s BACK TO BED for you!

Three Ring Circus…..

Yesterday started out like any other day, did a little cleaning, played with the boys, took Josh to school – you know the NORMAL old stuff.  We had to pick up a prescription from Walgreens, which just so happens to be our Redbox location of choice, so while we were there – the boys talked me into renting G-Force – some Guinea pig spy show.

We sat down to eat dinner, and Brad mentions that he circus is in town – would you like to go tonight?  I think about it and I think they would really like it, so SURE why not? Let’s go to the circus.  We get looking into the price and decide it’s probably a little TOO much to spend, we couldn’t find any coupons on-line.  So we let Josh decide.  Do you want to stay home and watch your movie we rented or go to the circus, he MOST definitely decides he wants to stay and watch his MOVIE!  Fine – we stay and watch the movie, not big deal.  I do a little more research and find that there are FREE children’s tickets to be had at all the grocery stores.  So Brad sets off to find some free tickets.  In the mean time, I break the bad news:  So sorry Joshua, we have decided that we ARE going to the circus you can not stay and watch your movie:  he bursts into tears.   I try my best to explain to him that he WILL like it, he can watch a movie any old day of the week, and his dad really wants to take him, so please just be a good sport and I PROMISE you will have a good time.  He agrees (with tears still in his eyes).  Then goes to his backpack and pulls out three free children’s tickets that he got at school?  WHAT?  YOU’VE HAD THOSE ALL THE TIME?

We load em up and head to the SHOW!

We were not disappointed – The Circus, The Big Top, The Greatest Show on Earth, The Three Ring Circus – really is like no other thing you can see.

The boys LOVED it, and I do MEAN LOVED it!  At more than one point, Josh was giggling uncontrollably because he was so excited!  He finally decided that we did make the right choice – the circus IS the place to be (even over a guinea pig show).

Here’s a few highlights:

“The Lion Tamer” er, uh Tiger Tamer?

Jumping through a ring of FIRE.

A big black bear balancing and rolling on a wheel.

This guy was Josh’s favorite, he ran around on this wheel while it swung around in the air.  It was CRAZY.  It made my palms sweat to watch this guy.

The elephant’s doing their tricks!

Pretty Excited about the show.

Enjoying the show AND the candy.

It just feels so good….

Today has been one of those days where I’ve been in stitches almost all day.  The stuff that comes out of these kids mouths – kills me sometimes.

There were so many today, it was hard for me to remember them – these are the few that I remembered.

Fixing dinner tonight, Jameson sooo wanted to help me, so I let him carry everything over to the table and help me set it.  He was commenting on what a great helper he was and I said, “Thanks so much Jameson – your the best helper.”….he replied, “Stop mom, your the best!!!”  Ha WHAT?  How old are you?  Two? To which I reply?  ”No Jameson – your the best!”  He replies again, “No! Stop Mom – YOUR the best!”.  Too cute and too too funny to hear coming from a two year old body!

Joshua is in the process of learning to read – and he’s doing a great job at it.  Sometimes he surprises me with stuff he can read – he’s figured out that it really is FUN to be able to read stuff all around town on signs and EVERYWHERE!  Tonight we were sitting at the table doing one of his homework books and he was reading “this is a ship”…..to which he started to sound out and said SHIZ…..Brad and I busted up laughing sooo hard.  It was just too funny to hear him sounding out SHIZ!  Of course our laughing only encouraged him saying it – and then Jame starts in with the SHIZ talk too.  Nice!

Tonight while I was tucking Josh into bed, he said how he didn’t want to tell me this:  but he actually likes it when he gets into bed.   “Once I lay down, and I close my eyes…..it just feels so good!”   Ah, yes it does!  And on that note – I’m off to get that good feeling myself!

The Happiest Place on Earth…..

Sorry to be so slow in writing this – I’ve had a hard time getting motivated to it, but here goes!

So we spent last week at “the happiest place on earth”.  It was a great getaway – the weather was PERFECT – not too warm, and not too cold.  The crowds were down, so we could ride all the rides we wanted – as many times as we wanted – NICE.

The drive down was surprisingly painless – I had dreaded that long of a trip, but it turned out to be A-Okay.  You all were so great at sharing travel ideas with me (NOT REALLY) – so I’ll be posting some travel tips on a later post – you must need them as badly as I do!

We stayed the night in Vegas and that helped to break up the trip a bit and we timed our driving around naps and sleeping – which helped out as well.

It was great to spend the week together doing FUN things!  We are still talking about the rides we liked, what we did that was the most fun and who liked what the most.

Joshua checking out the pirate ships at “Treasure Island” in Las Vegas.

The boys and dad also went to the “Secret Garden Habitat” at the Mirage.  I didn’t go, I wasn’t feeling well.

They had Siegfried and Roy’s tigers and other animals that you could visit as well as dolphins.

The boys really liked it and it was a small enough exhibit that it wasn’t too overwhelming to see all the animals.

Here’s one of the dolphins doing a trick.

The boys with a white tiger.

Cotton candy from the buffet lunch!

Here’s what mad the long ride down bearable!  SLEEPING, happy children!

Waiting for the monorail to take us into Disneyland on DAY 1!

We ended up driving to the park everyday and parking on-site, but only paid $6 in parking for the entire week, we were happy we didn’t end up paying the regular $14 a DAY to park!

We went to dinner at a restaurant across the street from the park one night and they had this guy who made these incredible balloon animals.  Jameson requested a Mickey Mouse and Joshua a race car – pretty cool huh?

This is us eating at the “Blue Bayou” restaurant – it’s the restaurant that you see when you are on the Pirates of the Caribbean ride.  I’ve always wanted to eat there – and thanks to my sweet hubs, he made my dream come true!!

Ahhh – Jameson and Pooh!  Jameson loved meeting the characters!

I had some camera troubles – so this is the only one that I have a picture of!

The boys in the hollywood backlot at California adventure!

MY new FAVORITE ride – Tower of Terror!

Riding the tea cups.

Attempting to get the sword out of the stone!

After a long day at Disneyland sometimes you are JUST TIRED!

So there you have it – after a great 7 days in sunny California – we headed home to the COLD COLD winter of Utah, but we’re READY for it!

(until the next vacation anyway)

I was SOOOOO SOOOO worried about the DRIVE that we scheduled the boys and I to fly home!  (Spoiled – I know)  So Brad dropped us off at the airport and then began his LONG drive home alone – he made it in RECORD time.  The boys and I got back home around 2 n the afternoon and Brad got home at 7!

The Lazy Days of…….Winter?

Ahhhh…..the lazy days of WINTER!  Too cold to play outside.  No school between Christmas and New Years.

This was the day after Christmas – the had a wrestling match in our bed – fighting over how got “the spot” by dad.