Halfway done!

Finally I have an update on our school dump zone! We have painted the walls, hung up the book bag hooks, and hung up the bulletin board and white board calendar.  We still have a lot to do , but it is looking great and functioning well!  The boys are excited to come home and hang up their book bags and even more excited to read the calendar and find out what tomorrow brings.

Painting the stripes on the walls proved to be a difficult task! Lots of calculations and making sure everything was level, but it turned out amazing! I ♥ it!!

I DID IT!

I did it! I finally got out the door to run with my toddler around the neighborhood. I've run before on my treadmill, but only occasionally and never for more than 15 or so minutes.  I really want to become a runner like all the rest of the young mommies out there bustin their butts to keep in shape.  I just have never enjoyed running or had any desire to run.  Now its different though.  I have a reason to run! I need to get in shape and I have a daughter that LOVES her stroller! My boys never really liked to stay in a stroller so it was the perfect excuse to not run.

So I went out and bought some new running shoes and shorts to get me started.  Now I had no excuse not to run. Sadly though two days went by before I finally got the motivation to go for a run. How did I get that motivation? I told my 1 year old we were going for a stroller ride, and then she quickly sat herself in the stroller staring at me and waiting for me to go.  Now I had to go. I couldn't be mean and go back on my word. So I grabbed my new shoes and a water bottle and headed out the door with the happiest little girl in the world.

Not only did it make me feel better to feel some fresh air and know I'm getting in shape, but it made my daughters day to go for a long, fun ride!

So get out there and go for a run or walk to feel the crisp, fresh fall air!  Don't forget to live 2 love and love 2 live!

4 kids makes it hard to blog!

Wow! I don't know how these super blogger moms do it.  Either their kids are perfect angels or they just never sleep.. or maybe they have some special set of super hero skills that I don't have. Anyway, I just haven't had time to blog in a while, sorry.  Hope you'll forgive my lazy blogging. I have made headway on our "school dump zone" however! We got the wall painted and the bookbag hooks put up. I'll try to post some pics later.  It looks awesome! Its amazing how much just adding some paint to a wall can change your outlook on things.  Now I just have to get the kids in the habit of using the hooks and the shoe bin!

Hope everyone has a fun Thursday!

Pinterest Project: Paint in Plastic Bag

So I've been meaning to try this ever since I saw in on Pinterest a few months ago.  I'm sure you've seen the pin.. Paint in a plastic bag taped to a piece of paper on a table. It's supposed to entertain your toddler without the added mess.  So here was our attempt:

I even put it on a coloring page so it would be more fun. (Or maybe that was my mistake?)

Well, after about 30 seconds of finding the paint in the bag fascinating. Baby L did exactly what I thought she would. She started screaming because she couldn't get the paint out! Turns out getting messy and actually finger painting is WAY more fun than playing with no mess.

My advice? - Let your kids have fun, let your kids explore and get messy because the learning experience is so much bigger than the mess they'll make!

Teacher's Gift

                                            Source: Unknown


This one of the cutest teacher gifts I've seen! I'm going to make this for the kids' teachers when we have teacher appreciation week! And here's how I"ll make it:

1. Get a tall, straight vase from the Dollar Store
2. Wrap pencils around it
3. Tie with ribbons
4. Add flowers and water!

Activity of the Day- Playdough and toothpicks

Hi everyone!

Well my camera lens is still messed up, but luckily I have another one to keep documenting my family! Yay! Today BabyL and I did the best activity! Creating sculptures with playdough and toothpicks! She absolutely loved this! And so did I because I was able to clean the kitchen without her pulling on my legs.  Of course it was also great because it helped her work on her fine motor skills in a fun, exciting way.  

I used the cheap toothpicks which are less sharp so she wouldn't hurt her fingers.  We made towers, silly faces, creatures and much more.  When my older kids come home I'm going to see what fun stuff they can come up with too! This was such a simple activity, but it really helped her practice picking small things up as well as having gentle hands. She found out that if she pushed too hard, the toothpicks would break!

What fun things with playdough do you do?