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“Mom! Check out this cool Star Wars base I made. See all the Storm Trooper guys?”
“That’s very cool, Babe.”
“Fire at will! Fire at will! Fire at will… Mom who’s Will?”
Archive for July, 2012
Battlefield
Tuesday, July 31st, 2012 by by Smacksyadvertisement
We’re Going on a Water Balloon Hunt
Tuesday, July 31st, 2012 by by Vicky
Most of the country has been experiencing a heat wave and few things help us beat the heat more than water. My kids love swimming and running through a sprinkler, but water balloons are an extra special treat for them. They sell them at the dollar store but I don’t use them a lot because they just take forever to fill up and are tossed and broken before you know it.
The other day I was reading the June/July issue of Family Fun Magazine and saw a great idea a reader Billie Tylec had for a water balloon hunt. Looking for a way to extend our water balloon play, I thought this sounded perfect. But I know my kids. One of them would end up finding a lot more and the others would be upset. So I had to come up with a way to make things fair yet still fun. I decided to assign each child a shape and then draw that shape on some of the balloons. The kids could only pick up balloons that had their shape on it. (more…)
Rainbow Cupcakes Tutorial
Tuesday, July 31st, 2012 by by Vicky
Faithful Mess For Less readers will remember that I threw my twins a rainbow party for their fourth birthday this past weekend. The party was a big hit and everyone had a great time.
For those of you looking for ideas and inspiration, I will be sharing all the different facets of the party and how easy or difficult things were to create. At the end, I will do a compilation post with a bunch of rainbow party resources to help you plan your party.
So, what’s a rainbow party without some rainbow cupcakes? Some of you out there might be great bakers and like to make everything from scratch. I admire you! I am not that person. If someone has a mix in a box and can save me some time I am all over that! So you can make your favorite recipe for cupcakes or pick a box mix. I won’t tell. (more…)
The Candy Man Can
Monday, July 30th, 2012 by by Smacksy
“Mom, I want to live in a whole house made out of candy, that way I can have candy whenever I want.”
“But if you ate your whole house, you wouldn’t have anywhere to live.”
“It would be fine. It’s magic, Mom. You know? Magic?”
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Differences in Equality
Monday, July 30th, 2012 by by KelBack in high school, I had an English teacher who once spoke about the dangers of equality. Dangers is perhaps too strong a word – but the point was that pure equality, much like pure socialism, is only wonderful in theory. In reality, if we treated everyone completely equal, it would ignore everyone’s individual abilities, preferences, and needs.
It struck me, then, and it strikes me even more now that I have a child with special needs.
A few blogs I’ve read demand their children with needs to treated “just like any other child.” Now, there is something to that – I never want people to treat Danny as less of a kid because of his stuff. But at the same time, we have had to change a lot of the things we do, places we go, and ways we do things for him. At first, that bothered me, until I remembered that statement about equality from so long ago.
See, as summer goes by, I try to make (more…)
TV Time Chart {FREE Download}
Monday, July 30th, 2012 by by JM Guest BloggerBefore I had kids, I always planned that when I did have them, I would limit their TV time. I never said I wasn’t going to let them have any, I just wanted to be sure they didn’t get a ton.
I am not one that thinks TV is the devil…well not exactly anyway. I am one that believes strongly in moderation. For the most part, I want my kids to be playing, drawing, painting, creating, or reading and not just sitting on the couch staring at a screen hanging on the wall. But sometimes I also think a little TV is ok.
Note I said a little.
Lately, we have been having a little issue with my daughter understanding just how much TV is ok. Let’s just say sometimes she is not thrilled when I say no to TV (and by not thrilled I mean whining, crying, and generally throwing a fit). So I decided to use some of my professional background in visual schedules and reinforcement charts to create a TV Time Chart to help my daughter see visually how much TV she is allowed to watch in a day.
How I Did It
- I found a cool retro TV clip art at Graphics Factory (where I have a membership). I altered the colors and then printed it out on card stock, cut it out, and laminated it. I then punched holes in the top, strung some ribbon through (more…)
Gender Revel Party
Monday, July 30th, 2012 by by BrookeLeibermanBaby Bear Hugs Gender Reveal Party-Its a —!
We found out the gender of #2 and wanted a fun way to share the gender with our family. I was thinking about a cake or cupcakes and even checked pinterest to see what was out there. We decided to make stuffed cupcakes for our family to open.
(more…)
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Not At Church
Sunday, July 29th, 2012 by by Inspired by FamilyFeatured Writer: Stephanie Taylor
While at church one Sunday, I found myself in a peculiar situation. Every ounce of instinct in my body was telling me to scream, or at the very least jump from my seat. While those would normally have been appropriate responses to being startled, I didn’t think the pastor would have appreciated such an interruption to his homily.
The reason my heart had skipped a beat is actually pretty humorous. A little boy from about 4 rows back had escaped the peripheral glances of his mother and had army crawled under the pews to carry out a sneak attack and grab my ankle. All in all, it was an amazing feat, and once over the shock, I was impressed.
In the next moment, I winked at the boy and (more…)
Wall Decals Using Contact Paper
Sunday, July 29th, 2012 by by Inspired by Family
I have had this idea for years now, why not use contact paper for wall decals? I bought the contact paper months ago and have used it for everything but Wall Stickers. I was re-doing my room and my plan was to paint some art to put on the wall above the bed. We have a platform bed (that my amazing hubs made) so I was looking for something to take up a lot of space since we don’t have a headboard. Immediately the thought came to me, finally I get to put this contact paper to use.
I usually name all of my art work, I named this Wall Decal art STAND BY ME. It’s two love birds (more…)
Privacies
Saturday, July 28th, 2012 by by Smacksy
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“Hop in the shower and you can get some of the sand off, Bob.”
“Mom, can you lock the door, please?’
“Don’t worry Bob, I won’t let anyone in.”
“Okay, but can you lock it too?”
“I’ll stand right here in front of it.”
“Mom, does it have a locking mechanism?”
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