Toy Thursday: 100 Sleeps Till Christmas

You may be thinking "no way! It JUST started to cool down" but it's true. Only 100 sleeps until Christmas.

I'm a planner. Some may call me a gift hoarder. When I find a good deal, I buy it, enter it into my gift spreadsheet and put it in a closet. That being said, moving should be fun. It does make it easy for when a birthday comes up. I just pull up the spreadsheet, find something that's appropriate for the birthday boy or girl and wrap it.

I also did something "new" this year. When Target has the "buy X of Y, get a $5 giftcard" deals I snag them up...but I've been saving the giftcards for Black Friday spending. I've got them in an envelope (they don't expire) and this way, I can have a guilt free/bank account free shopping spree at Target the day after Thanksgiving. I'm almost to $200 in giftcards!!

Have you started shopping or saving for Christmas? Has the economy forced you to do anything different this year?

Tip Tuesday: Make Sure It Works

If your kids are anything like mine, they play with things that are not really toys. My boys seem to enjoy my kitchen timer. It was one of my favorite purchases from IKEA when we went to Minneapolis for the RightOnline Conference.

They play with the timer often, which leaves me to use the microwave timer when I'm cooking. And quite often I'll be startled with the timer going off under the couch, in their room, etc.

On Sunday I decided to color my hair. It was getting a little blah looking and I thought I'd shake it up a bit. I informed hubby what I was doing, got all of the necessary items and locked myself in the bathroom.

I was SUPER excited because the box of color I got a few weeks ago, I got PAID to take out of Target. No, really. I had a manufacturer coupon, I had a Target coupon AND it was on clearance. So after all of the discounts, Target paid ME .25 to take the box of color out.

This can't end up bad right? Clearance hair color? Totally good, right? Yeah, it wasn't the color that was the problem.

I mixed the silver tube into the white squeezy thing, squirted it on my hair, making sure to go from root to tip, saturating the hair like the directions said. And then it was time to wait.


I set the timer and grabbed my cell. I checked my twitter feed and started playing Angry Birds. After "I don't know how many games" of Angry Birds, I thought to myself, "It HAS to have been 10 minutes by now," and I looked at the timer. It still said 10 minutes. It wasn't working.

Panic.

Okay....so do I get in the shower now? Has it really been 10 minutes? Has it been MORE than 10 minutes? OMG-AM-I-GOING-TO-BE-BALD!?!?

I started the shower and hopped in. The moment of truth. I start rinsing my hair. A few strands come out. I keep rinsing until "the water runs clear". A few more strands.

I condition my hair, what was left. The tub was clogging up, which told me I did lose some hair. Thankfully I have a lot.

I let it air dry...and, after all of the panicking, it turned out okay. But if you learn anything from my experience...make sure you have a timer that WORKS before coloring your hair...or just don't let your kids play with it.

Tip Tuesday: Turning Chores into a Learning Moment!

There are many different things that you can do as a stay at home mom as you raise your children. The options can be overwhelming. And when you throw homeschooling into the mix, things get even more complicated. Because of this, I think it's important to have a clear picture of what goals your are shooting for with your children.

Having these goals in mind will impact, among other things, how you discipline your children, how you spend your time, and how you spend your money. Although we are not able to take all of the credit (or at times all of the blame) for how our children turn out, the Lord has given us a tremendous responsibility in shaping our children.

Some of the goals for my children are to grow to love the Lord, understand what it means to love and show respect to others, and to be responsible and productive citizens. As I mentioned earlier, those goals strongly influence the way I make decisions in our home and how I help guide the kids.

So for tip Tuesday, I thought I’d share something I started before our oldest learned to read: teaching your kids how to sort laundry. I think it’s never to early to learn to be a helper and have family responsibilities.

All I did was purchase an $10-$15 laundry hamper at Walmart and tie on cards to help the kids know which hamper their clothes go in. For my non-readers, I tried to help them by color coding the cards. Red for dark clothes, yellow for lights, and white for whites. (I have a separate hamper for jeans and rags – especially since we farm.)

After some repeated guidance and re-explaining, they were soon sorting their own laundry. As an added benefit, I found that it gave way to some good beginning reading lessons. And it also helped my husband know which hamper I would like things in!

Rebecca Book is a stay at home wife and mom. She has been married to her husband, Ethan, for 10 years. They have 4 children, which they home school: Caleb – age 7, Hannah – age 5, Isaac – age 2, and Jonathan – 6 months. Together they run a pasture based farm with grass-fed heritage beef, pasture/wood lot heritage pork, grass-fed lamb, and pastured poultry.

Becca and Ethan have kept blogs The Beginning Farmer's Wife, and The Beginning Farmer describing their experience of starting their farm and having a frugal lifestyle. They still update their blogs when opportunity allows, but now they primarily focus much of their Internet time on managing their farming business, Crooked Gap Farm.

Toy Thursday: The Breastfeeding Baby Doll

Have you heard about the breastfeeding baby doll? If not, here's a link.

According to the news reports I've read, the doll comes with a halter top for the mommy with two flower blossoms where nipples would be. When you hold the baby up to the flowers, it makes a suckling noise. The doll has been a best seller in Europe and is now just coming to America.

And some people are furious about this. They claim we're sexualising our young girls with this doll. Really? I've breastfed all three of my boys and there is nothing sexual about breastfeeding.

Secondly, what's more sexualising to young girls? This doll or those Hooker Bratz dolls that show girls how to dress like members of the show "Jersey Shore"? Come on, America. It's time to wake up.

When Liam (now 5) was 2, I bought him a Cabbage Patch Doll. Some family members weren't too pleased that I was buying my boy a doll. My thinking? A boy with a doll teaches him how to be a good father. I'm pretty sure my father in law wanted to melt into the floor when Liam noticed the bottle that came with the baby, tossed it aside and lifted his shirt to feed his baby. That was classic.

The doll says it teaches girls to “express their love and affection in the most natural way possible, just like mommy!” And I don't see anything wrong with that. If more little girls saw more women breastfeeding and had this doll, maybe our dependence on formula would disappear, along with a slew of allergies, medical problems and possibly even childhood obesity.

Now, I probably won't buy this doll for my boys, but if I had a little girl, I'd be the first one in line getting it for her. More girls need to learn to breastfeed so it comes naturally (as it should) when they become mothers.

Toy Thursday: I'm Pretty Sure They Mate

Yes. I'm pretty sure my son's toys mate at night. And I'm not comfortable with there being hanky panky in his bedroom. But you've seen the post about the love/hate relationship I have with McDonald's toys (and if not you should), but it seems like his toy pile is growing daily. And I know we're not buying more toys. And even Grandma has listened to the warning about buying toys. The threat "You buy it, it stays at your house" works.

But this is ridiculous. We NEED a toy box. Like a good, ol' fashioned, throw the toys in, close the lid and be done with the mess toy box. And when we move we WILL get a toy box. If that means I have to go to the woods, use a chain saw to cut down a tree and widdle it into box form, so be it.

You know when I bring power tools into the subject, I mean serious business.

Yes, they're spoiled. But I can't bring myself to throw them away (and yes, I've watched "Hoarders", smarty pants) but I know that Baby B is just about at the age when he can enjoy the baby toys, Sean is at the toddler toy age and Liam is getting into the elementary school toy age.

Mating Toys. Chainsaw. Box.

I think I found a chainsaw I could accessorize with.

Make Monday: Make it Yellow!

From time to time as a mom I have heard other people talk about doing a "color" day. This means you designate a day a specific color and do special activities and things to celebrate that color. Now that Judah knows his colors, I decided to do just that.

A while back, we had the perfect rainy day to celebrate yellow. This idea definitely brightened up our day (literally). And it reinforced the emphasis of yellow in everyday life. I kept it simple though for my toddler.

Since we had a bunch of old parenting magazines laying around, we started looking for yellow objects throughout the pages. I would ask Judah to find something yellow and when he pointed out items like a duck, a lion, a banana, the sun, corn, and a lemon, I would cut it out (or he tore it out). Together we would glue them onto a yellow piece of construction paper, making a yellow collage. We still have the picture hung upstairs as a reminder.

For lunch we talked about yellow foods as we ate. Our yellow lunch menu contained macaroni and cheese with corn and banana. We even wore yellow that day. And walked around the house pointing out anything that fit the spectrum of yellow.

Making a day, "yellow" helped pass the time more productively. We had fun discovering what objects were yellow and certainly learned about our colors in the process.

So for the next rainy day, we will schedule another color. Any ideas?

Toy Thursday: It's a Book

I don't give my kids handheld games. I don't let them play video games. They don't have a Nintendo DS, they don't have a NOOK. They don't even play on our computer.

I'm a mean mom.

But they do know about their books. Which is why when I ran across "It's a Book" at our local bookstore, I had to get it.While the book may not be best for small children, it is a fun read for older kids and adults. In the book, it says you don't need to plug it in, you don't need a password....it's a book.


As an English Literature Major, I cherish my books. I love the smell of old books, I love the smell of new books. I love the crackling of binding of new books and I love the soft covers of old books.

I even love the smell of the Scholastic book orders my preschooler brings home. It takes me back to my first love, books.

So yes, I may be a "mean mom" but my preschooler can read. And he LOVES his books. Our two year old got FOUR books for his birthday...and they came in a close second to his "froggy hat" as his favorite gift.

Books. They don't need charged, batteries or a password. Just imagination.

Toy Thursday: Felt Fun!

At the story time lately, Judah along with the other kids enjoys it when the librarian uses the felt board for stories. Whatever story she is reading comes to life with felt pieces that she sticks to the board. Almost every time, some child goes up to play with the pieces, taking them off and re sticking them back to the board.

Last fall I bought Judah a small travel felt board with basic learning pieces. I could not find an magnet alphabet set appropriate for his age group and so purchased this instead at a craft show. Even though I thought he was too young, I gave it to him for Christmas. Great Grandma was kind to even cut out all the alphabet letters, numbers, and counting pieces.

And if I had any doubt to him being too young, I needn't worry. He has played with his felt board when traveling, on rainy days, and for some puzzle practice. I am really pleased with how much learning and entertainment it has provided.

Some days we stick on the pieces for fun. Other days we count, practice our colors, and sing the alphabet. And we can do this with a little traveling felt board case.

So if you are looking for a new educational but fun technique to use to tell stories, visit the zoo or farm, and even make paper dolls, check out Felt Fantasies, a family company that specializes in this fabric learning tool and accessories. The felt pieces can provide opportunities for all ages, especially from two years to ten years. Explore play sets of many kinds, story sets to your favorite books, develop basic learning skills, and even bring to life Bible stories, all with a felt board of fun and learning at home, on the road, or in the classroom.

If you have not discovered felt, enjoy some felt fun!