Thursday, November 17, 2011

Homemade Foaming Soap

This idea has been floating around the internet for a long time, and I just got around to trying it today.  Money Saving Mom posted on her foam soap about a month ago, and that reminded me to give this a try.  I thought I’d share this here in case anyone had not heard of this idea.  It’s a great money saver!

My sister Deb was kind enough to give me an empty foam soap container the last time we were at her house.  (Thanks, Deb!) It’s been sitting under my bathroom sink for a few weeks now.

We were down to the last few pumps in an old container of soap, so I figured it was time to try making foam soap!

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I opened up the almost-empty bottle, propped it on top of the foam soap container, and then let it drain in.  I also added three squirts from another bottle of soap, as there wasn’t quite enough left in the old one.

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I added very warm water, very slowly, to keep it from foaming while it filled.  I put on the lid, set it next to the sink, and gave it a try.  (I wish soap could always be nice & warm when it came out of the pump…that was nice!)

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Now we have a full container of soap at almost no cost.  I could get used to that!  My boys are going to LOVE that it foams, too!

Wednesday, November 16, 2011

In Her Own Time…

It would figure that I’d post about Jensyn still not sitting or rolling much, and then days later, she’d have both skills figured out! 

Our little sweetie is now rolling…and getting stuck in funny places. 

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She’s also sitting on her own, and she happily plays.  She’s still a bit wobbly once in a while, but she is enjoying this new way to play!  Oh, and I think the bouncy seat might be a thing of the past…since Jensyn is definitely not laying back and relaxing! ;)

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Good job, Jensyn!

Monday, November 14, 2011

Thanksgiving Bingo Game

http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Thanksgiving-Bingo-Set-4-game-cards-spinner

I recently received a helpful comment about the Thanksgiving Bingo game included in the Thanksgiving Preschool Pack.  A reader pointed out that it contained an error on the blue card.  She also mentioned that she and her son were frustrated by the spinner combinations that did not appear on his Bingo card.

The link above will take you to a FREE download for a “redo” of the Thanksgiving Bingo game.  It contains 4 Bingo cards, and the new spinner has less options…which will, I hope, leave your children less frustrated as they play this game.

Thanks for understanding, and THANK YOU to the reader who was kind enough to point out the mistake!  I really do appreciate it! :)

Little Adventures Preschool printables

When someone leaves a comment on Our Little Monkeys, I almost always take a few minutes to visit their blog. 

LittleAdventuresPreschool

This past week, Amanda left a comment on my Woodland Friends post.  I ended up spending more than a little time reading her blog after that!  She started a small preschool in her home, and it’s called Little Adventures Preschool.  They do some REALLY neat activities!  She’s one brave mama, as there are even pictures of toddlers and preschoolers body-painting her living room! ;)

She’s made a few free printables that are just ADORABLE.  They’re a little different from the typical tot pack/preschool pack pages that you see on many blogs…and they’re lots of FUN, too! 

She has a Thanksgiving math pack with grid games, geometric solids, and a few other match activities.  She also has an Animals In Winter pack (using the same graphics as my Woodland Friends pack, if it matters to you…) with a few math games, as well.

     

She’s slowly adding new printables to her blog.  When I asked permission to share her blog here, Amanda mentioned that she’s working on a winter themed pack too!

I’m so thankful to the mamas who have shared my blog and helped it grow.  It’s always fun to have a chance to return the favor.  I’d really encourage you to check out the Little Adventures Preschool blog.  Her activities are loads of fun, and her printables are adorable!

Friday, November 11, 2011

Woodland Friends preschool pack

woodlandad copy$2 at Teacher's Notebook (Be sure to sign up for the newsletter to receive a 25% discount!)
This pack contains over 25 creative, fun forest themed activities for your 3 to 5 year old to enjoy! You'll find 51 pages, including 3 instructional pages for parents and 46 printable pages for kids.
wildlife circle more rhyme sort spin graph questions whatsinthewoods
There are 2 mini-book choices: “I see” and “God made”,
so that you may choose the one that suits your needs.
mini book 2 mini book 1 
You'll cover skills such as:
~ prewriting
~ beginning handwriting
~ counting
~ beginning letter sounds
~ number order
~ sorting
~ size sequencing
~ graphing
~ shapes
~ memory game
~ introduction to rhyming
~ scissors skills
~ and more!
Graphics: Scrappin Doodles
**This pack is a complete makeover of the Wildlife Pack formerly available for $1. This pack contains the original 12 activities along with 15 *new* activities to enjoy with your child!  If you previously purchased this pack from my blog, you should have received an e-mail from me with a link to re-download the pack for free.

Wednesday, November 9, 2011

Big Bunch of Pictures

One of our favorite snacks…smoothies!  This was our favorite combination so far ~ blueberry banana.  YUM!

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Playing trains with the neighbor boys…you’d hardly know there were 4 boys in the house, as it was nice and peaceful.  (I wasn’t allowed to watch them play; apparently, they can’t pretend and imagine when they’re being supervised…)

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Grandma & Grandpa S came for dinner, and they brought souvenirs from their recent vacation.  I had two happy little boys!

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Family Movie Night – Toy Story & a “popcorn picnic” on the living room floor

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playing with their plastic Thomas track at Grandma & Papa’s house

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Alex is playing his favorite board game – Diggity Dog (or “Diggy The Dog”, as Alex calls it…) with Mommy.  Max is in the background playing with some of the extra dogs.  I guess we had an unofficial “hat day”, as even Jensyn is wearing her hood while she watches us play! ;)

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My little rock stars…

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For those who read my Tot School posts and see the mess of toys in the background, I’d like you to see that the room is often tidy.  The boys like to play upstairs in the morning, and we generally start school at 10 AM when the baby goes down for a nap. By then, the boys have strewn toys everywhere.  It really is a fairly organized room :)

(view from the stairs…tot school is off to the right)

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(view when standing by the window…tot school is in the left corner behind the slide)

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Max was SO cute.  While I was cooking dinner, he drove his 4-wheeler into the kitchen, sat down on the floor with a book, and proceeded to “read” it to himself from memory.  He actually got quite a bit right, which is really impressive since it’s a library book we’d only had for 2 days!

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I haven’t taught them any rules yet, but we recently opened the Connect 4 game that’s been sitting in the closet for forever.  Boy, did they ever have fun…hours of fun…with this game!

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Tuesday, November 8, 2011

Jensyn ~ 7 Months

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Jensyn getting so BIG! 

Okay, technically that’s not true.  She’s a peanut.  She’s in the around the 12th percentile for her weight.  Still, she’s growing up too fast!

Jensyn celebrated her 7th month by having her first bout of the stomach flu.  Ugh.  Poor baby.  Max started early in the morning and was sick until 1 PM.   Lots of hand-washing, hand-sanitizing, and encouraging the kids to keep their distance from one another…I tried everything in my power to keep Jensyn from the germs, but what can you do when you’re the lone adult in a house with 3 very small children?

No sooner had we gotten the boys settled in bed for the night than Jensyn started getting sick every 5 minutes.  This went on for a couple of hours.  She wouldn’t nurse, of course.  We tried Pedialyte in a syringe, but it wouldn’t stay down.  She was beyond miserable…just laying in our arms, eyes wide open, totally spent…no smiles, no cries, nothing.  Poor baby girl.

We called the pediatrician, and we were prepared to bring her to the ER for dehydration, but suddenly she settled down, perked up, and started smiling at us.  She slept in our bedroom that night so we could keep a close eye on her through the night, but she ended up being just fine after that.  

We’ve introduced the cup (with water), and she enjoys playing with it.  She certainly does not have the hang of really drinking more than a sip or two just yet.  She likes to fill her mouth, then let the water run down her chin.

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Jensyn still enjoys food.  I think she prefers carrots over other vegetables, as she rarely turns her head away from those.  She almost always finishes a whole container of carrots.  Generally, I give her fruit for lunch, veggies for dinner, and rice cereal (with water & a splash of apple juice) at bedtime.    Sometimes, she eats a whole container.  Other times, she’ll only take about 10 bites.

She’s tried bits of cracker and bread now, too, and I’m thinking we’ll probably try Puffs in a few weeks.  She loves to lick fruit, too.

She still nurses wonderfully, and (most of the time) she’s good about not trying out those new teeth.  It only took about week of “don’t bite” said in a loud voice to teach her to behave!  Jensyn is more easily distracted when nursing during the day now.  (There are so many things to see; why stop to nurse?)

Jensyn is fascinated with her tongue.  It’s ALWAYS hanging out of her mouth!  She’s also fascinated with her toes, and this picture does a great of showing both of her latest obsessions!  October2011 128

She loves to jump, jump, JUMP!  This is one of Jensyn’s happiest places when she’s not in Mommy’s arms.

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She loves her brothers, and they love her.  Alex is so good, so gentle, so sweet with his baby sister.  I love how he tries to take care of her, to talk gently to her when she’s upset, how he always want to see his baby sister in the car to know that she’s okay.

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Max isn’t quite so gentle, but he does love her!  He loves to give her toys, to make her giggle, to sit in a chair and hold his baby sister.  Sometimes he forgets what’s appropriate with a baby, but overall, he’s an excellent big brother!

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Jensyn LOVES the doggy!  The feeling isn’t exactly mutual, but as long as Maggie can give her kisses, the dog is okay with the baby…until the fur-pulling begins, that is! ;)

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She’s still a pretty routine sleeper – up between 7 – 8 AM, naps for about an hour (sometimes longer) around 10 AM, naps for 2- 3 hours around 2 PM, and goes to bed around 8:30 PM.  She generally wakes once to nurse during the night, and it’s usually around 3 AM.  Sundays and special days always throw us off a bit, and time change last weekend was…interesting.  She was all out of sorts the next night, but she seems to be getting back on track.

Daddy has his special time with Jensyn while Mommy bathes the boys before bed.  Usually Jensyn is super-sleepy by the time I’m finished with the boys, so she’s fussing.  On this night, she fell asleep in Daddy’s arms.

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Jensyn is most definitely a mama’s girl right now.  Nothing is better to her than being with her mommy.  Other people are fine UNLESS I’m around.  Then, only I will do!  Here, Grandma S is playing with Jensyn…who wanted to come back to Mommy!

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This little miss gave up her pacifier long ago, but a pile of pacifiers was sitting in the corner of her crib.  Not long ago, I got her up from her nap, and she was desperately trying to shove a pacifier into her mouth.  Now, she’ll take it for a few minutes once in a while.  October2011 136

Jensyn can sit up on her own and roll both ways, but NOT if Mommy is around.  If I try setting her on the floor, she has a FIT!  I still set her on the floor and sit right next to her, encouraging her to sit, roll, or play…but she’ll SCREAM.  When I’m not around, Daddy can get her to sit for a few minutes or roll around to reach toys on the living room floor.  I guess you’d call that stubborn.  I still make her try for a little while each day, but it always results in tears.  All in time, right?

Here she is trying out her cousin’s old swing at Grandma & Papa’s house.  Although she’s getting big for it, she really enjoyed it!

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I’m probably cloth diapering her more than 90% of the time now.  Thanks to the VERY HELPFUL SUGGESTION of a reader, we’re using coconut oil as a rash cream/barrier with every diaper change.   What a difference that has made!  It took about a week, but now there’s no more rash at all!  I *love* cloth diapering my babies, and I love that it saves us money! :)

Just a few cute pictures before ending this post…

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I really can’t believe how fast this year is FLYING by.  We love every moment of these sweet baby days.  I mean that, too…even 3 AM doesn’t seem so bad when I think that, so very soon, you’re going to be a big girl. 

We love you LOTS and LOTs, Jensyn Kate!  Happy 7 Months, sweet baby girl!