On the road

We are on the road for our 1st family camping and dirt bike riding trip. Hopefully we packed every thing we need. I have a box of goodies for the kids, snacks, art stuff, and toys. So far the kids are doing great on the road. And I am getting some crochet done!
Have a great weekend.

Time to get Organized

It is time for the Bucksto get Organized! I tend not to be the most organized when it comes to home paperwork, my closet, craft room. ( It is a weakness of mine.) I know where things are. But if anyone else needed to find them.... good luck. This is not some thing I want to pass on to my little ones. So I am on a mission, get the Bucks Organized. Not only will I be setting a good example for Owen and Emily but I know that it will make Dave very happy.
Please leave a comment below if you have a good tip or if you know of a good blog or website to help me on the journey.
Wish us luck.

Coloring Pages

Hello everyone. I hope that everyone had a great weekend. We worked on the yard and started to get the trailer ready for our camping trip this weekend. This trip will be Emily's first and Owen second. His first trip he was only 8 months. I have been trying to find fun and unique activities to do with the kids in the desert. I found a web site with some thing for me. It is called Color Pages for Mom. They have all kinds of things. My favorite are the geometric patterns. I can't wait to print them out. I may have to try one out before the trip. I will let you know how it turns out.

Do you know of any cool free coloring pages for mom or kids?

Glow Stick Tag

There is nothing like a game of glow stick tag to feel like a kid again. With the help of a pack if glow sticks ( only a $1 at the craft store) and a very hyper toddler we had a fun game of glow stick tag. Dave, Owen, and myself ran around the house tagging each other the the glow sticks. We also slid them down the hall. The house was filled with laughter. What a great memory for all of us. Emily slept through the whole game. What a good sleeper. Can't wait for her to be able join in on a game of glow stick tag.

Happy Late Valentines Day

We are healthy again!!
In the sprit of valentines day we have been playing with red, pink, and white paint. We love to finger paint. Owen loves to make a mess and I love to watch him play and we what kind of art work he does. Because of the cold weather we have been doing most of our art projects in the house. To make sure that we don't get paint on the floor I lay down a cheap plastic table cloth and then an old sheet over that. And to help with the "Owen clean up" I strip him down to just diapers. The only set up for this is some paint on a paper plate and a lot of paper and of course my little artist. There might more paint on Owen than on paper. The paint that did make it on the paper turned out cute. I posted a preview of his artwork earlier this week on I heart you. I have a growing collections of his artwork I am looking for a creative way to display his art work. If you have an idea please let me know.

A Sick house

Hello. Sorry there will be no new post today. Owen and I are sick. :-( let's hope Emily and don't get sick. I am hoping to have a new post up tomorrow. Hope everyone had a good weekend.

Rice play

One of my goals is to find activities that allow my kids to explore and
learn about the world around them. I love to sit back and watch them
discover new smells, textures, and sounds. Because of this I am always
on the hunt for something new to do with Owen and Emily. I remember from when I was younger playing with colored pasta and making pictures for my Mom and Dad. So I was on the hunt to find out how to make colored pasta.
I found a couple of blogs with recipes for colored pasta and rice. All you need it hand sanitizer, food coloring, plastic bag, a old cookie sheet, and some thing to color ( rice or pasta). Put the rice or pasta in plastic bag. Add a few drops of Hand sanitizer and food coloring, shake the bag. When the color is evenly distributed over the rice or pasta poor it on a cookie sheet to dry. That's it. You can even have your kids help with shaking the bag. Owen likes the sound the rice makes.
I use a concert mixing container for Owen to play in. You can also use a
old plastic bin. Grab any thing that you think will be fun for a toddler
to play with. The go to for us are: measuring cups, measuring spoon, a
wooden spoon, any kind of container, an empty egg carton. Don't forget the colored rice!
Owen loves this activity. He can plan for an hour with the color rice. Putting the rice in a container, pouring them out, stirring the rice, and making a mess. Now an hour a play for a toddler is great ( and good for mom too)! And the best thing is he does not know that he is learning.
Now this activity can be messy, but that what makes it fun. It also
leaves me the opportunity to have Owen help mommy clean up.

I heart you!

In the sprit of Valentines day our art products have been filled with the colors red and pink. . We do a lot of free play when it comes to art, like finger painting. I wanted to share with you some thing I found in Owen's art work. I saw hearts! The 1st one was with paint and the 2nd was ink pads. I like to think of it as Owens way of saying " love you mom"
Can you see it?

Bye Bye Fear

Owen's imagination is growing everyday. I can see this when he plays with his cars. But with his growing imagination he is also becoming scared of funny things. Well to me it is funny but to him it is very scary. From talking to other moms and reading articles I found that this is very normal.
I wanted to share with you one of his fears and how we were able to help Owen get over it. Owen has always loved the bath. I mean you could not get him out. All of a sudden he became scared of the drain. When he would hear the sound of the water going down the drain he would cry and freak out. I knew that we had to figure out a way for him to get over it. The easy thing for me to do would be to just take him out of the tub before I opened the drain. But I did not want to reinforce his fear. I tried a couple of things but was not able to find any thing that worked. Walking to our truck one day Owen was saying good bye to everyone he saw. That gave me an idea. That night when bath tine was over I told Owen I was going to open the drain and he had to say good bye to the dirty water. It worked! Owen yelled " bye bye water" we also say " see ya later dirty water".
Now when it is time to get out of the tub all I have to do is tell him that it is time to get out. Owen yells " bye bye water, see ya later" he even helps me open the drain.
Do you have any tips on how to help our little ones get over a fear?

A must have for laundry

I want to share a tip with you. I was told that a must have for Landry when you have kids or a messy husband :-). Love ya Dave. The must have is Biz. Having a new born and toddler I use this stuff all the time. If my little Emily has a "blow out" as some of you may know that it is very hard to get that out of their cute little outfits. After getting Emily all cleaned up and in a new cute outfit it is time for me to treat the stain (or soon to be one if left alone). I rinse the fabric out with cold water trying to get as much out as I can that way. Then I fill the sink with cold water and pour some biz in the sink mixing it around with my hand. When I add the outfit I swish it around a little in the water and then let it soak. Every now and then I will have to soak it overnight. I wash the outfit as normal. Now as many if you may know our little ones can have "blow out” anytime and anywhere. To be ready for this I keep a little baggie of biz in a large zip lock bag in our diaper bag. So when it happens I can add the biz to water in the big bag and soak the outfit until I get hone to wash it. I learned the hard way. When Owen was a baby we went to a family reunion and as we pulled in the parking lot he had a big "blow out". I was not ready for this. He still looked cute in his backup outfit. But I was never able to get the stain out. :-( Biz also works great with food stains. Owen is always giving me a challenge in that, his dad too. Do you have a laundry tip?