cooking and arts and crafts

My goodness, it's been a while since I have written a post.  It's been a bit hectic with Easter long weekend and my sisters baby shower coming up this Sunday.  Hope everyone had an amazing Easter with their children just as I did.  It was full of fun, enjoyment, chocolate and good food.  On another note, we are throwing my youngest sister a baby shower on Sunday.  She is due at the end of May and we already know that she will be having a baby girl.. We cannot wait to meet her Nadia.  The past few days have been ugly outside, so I have been trying new recipes for myself and the kids.  Last week I made chicken soup for my boys for the first time.  I put 3 chicken legs inside with some onions, oats, carrots, potatoes, celery, garlic and of course some spices for better taste.  I was the first one to taste it of course because no one else would.  I was amazed at how good it actually was.  My 3 year old loved the broth, but did not eat any of the chicken because he did not like the color of it.  I was shocked how much my 10 month old loved it.  He ate half of a bowl.  I made another pot of it yesterday and froze some so we can have it for the rest of the week.  This morning my boy wanted pancakes, so I thought I would spice it up a little and try something new.  I had frozen blueberries in my freezer so i thawed them a bit and threw them in with the batter and mixed it up.  After they were cooked in the frying pan i put a scoop of thawed blueberries on top and poured syrup over them... mmmmmmmmmmmmmm.....They tasted soooo great.  My boy just loved pancakes with blueberries.  I will definitely be making these at least once a week.  Enough about food now.  These past few days my 3 year old has been so into arts and crafts.  I bought him some rolling stamps and regular kiddie stamps, a new pair of children scissors, glitter pens and he got a new finger painting set for Easter that he just loves.  He is starting to cut shapes out of paper and making cards for people.  He can keep busy for two hours at a time.  I figured that this would be another great thing away from the television.  We do this in a room where this is no tv, so he wont be distracted.  I find it working wonders for him and me cause I can do some cleaning while he's busy, and i put the little man in his high chair so he can watch me.

school

When my son woke up this morning he asked me if I could take him to school.  I said, sweetie, you dont go to school yet, and he asked why not?  I didn't really know what to tell him.  I thought to myself, why the heck am I not taking him.  He's almost 3 and a half and he's asking to go, which means he wants to learn and wants to play with other kids his age.  I told him for today we can play school in the playroom.  We have everything, a chalk board with the chalk and brush, a white board, a cork board books and tons of stuff for arts and crafts and ofcourse a table with chairs and play mats.  He was fine with that for today.  THe only thing we didnt have were students, except for a 10 month old ofcourse, he seems to follow us everywhere.  lol.  He decided that I could be the teacher and he would be the student.  He was distracted of course by the balls and other stuff in the room, but finally i got him to sit and pay attention by telling him that after this lesson we would go outside to eat lunch.  He was all for that.  Finally, today he read and spelt mom, dad, cat and the.  I was so happy that all this hard work has paid off and iam very fortunate that he is interested in learning because I know that a lot of kids his age and even older are not interested at all.  thank for reading guys

shopping

Today iam taking my boys shopping.  The older one loves it, but the little one just hates it.  I try to stroll him around and talk to him at the same time, but he only wants to be held.  Once i take him out of the stroller he seems to calm down a bit.  But, how much can i actually get done with a baby in my arms and pushing a 3 yr old in a stroller with one hand?  Its a nightmare, but I need to get some stuff done for Easter this weekend.  I guess I could rent one of those car strollers from customer service or something. This adventure should be fun.  Oh ya, and anyone watch dancing with the stars last night?  Come on now Kate, just give it up, you suck!!  She does not deserve to be on TV I hope she gets the boot.  And good for her partner threatening to quit, because shes such a B":?>!  No wonder Jon cheated on her, I don't think anyone could get along with that.

Elefun

my 3 year old saw an elefun game on a treehouse commercial.  We went to zellers to buy it, and ever since he got it he has been playing it.  It is great for his age. If i were you, I would definately invest in this game.  It can keep them going for hours and it is very good hand eye coordination.  It goes for 26.99 and it's from Hasbro.  Any more game ideas for boys that age?  please let me know.  thanks again all

Easter Egg Hunt

When we woke up this morning the birds were chirping and seemed like it may have been a great day to go outside and plant some flowers in the garden with the kids.  Now, not so much.  We will leave that activity for another sunny day.  Well, since Easter is just around the corner we are going to boil some eggs and paint them, then we are going to have a chocolate easter egg hunt and whoever finds the most eggs wins a prize and mommy gets to eat all of the chocolate.  Iam very happy that my three year old isn't a phene for chocolate, he prefers fruit snacks over a chocolate bar any day.  My nine month old on the other hand has a very strong taste for nutella.  Whenever he sees me eating it he starts to lick his lips, so i give him a little taste from the spoon and he puts this huuuuuuuuuuuuge smile on his face and starts crying for more.  Kids are funny, even though they can't speak at a young age they sure as heck can communicate strongly in other ways.  Gotta love them

up too early for a Sunday

Good morning all, me and the boys are up way toooooooooo early for a Sunday.  Whenever my 9 month old gets up the older one gets up right after.  I think i made a huge mistake with the both of them.  From birth, i have kept them both in my bed with me.  So now, my hubby sleeps on the floor beside us and in my bed are me and the two boys.  it's a king size bed, but it really feels like a pea sized bed for me.  I have owned cribs but never bothered to even put them together.  They have both had their fair share of falling off the bed too.  poor boys:(  This nonsense has got to stop, i need my bed (and sleep) back.  I have tried the toddler bed for my 3 year old, but he always makes his way back in my bed.  Haven't tried a crib yet for my baby, but i don't think it will work, the second i put him in his playpen he screams bloody murder until someone finally takes him out.  I put myself in this situation, but i need your guys' help to get me out.  thank you all

taking it one day at a time

Today is another icky day outside.  So much for sleeping in today.  What to do, what to do?  I asked my boy what he wanted to do today and ofcourse all he wants to do is play with his new toys.  He got a new remote control car last night and he is absolutely in love with it.  So, im going to let him play with it for a bit, but i need to come up with something to keep him busy, but still learning and being educated at the same time.  I never like to look on baby websites for ideas or anything like that because the people that actually make them up don't even have kids themselves.  The best thing i could have ever done was start this blog so i can get advice from real parents who have experienced it themselves.  Please comment and leave me some ideas on what to do to keep my 3 year old busy, so i can give some attention to my baby.  thanks for reading guys

Another Inside Day

Looks like today isn't going to be so nice outside.  I came up with an activity for my three year old to do today.  But, first I want to be honest with you guys.  Until a couple of months ago my 2 year old was so into television, especially the treehouse channel.  I wasn't stopping him from watching for hours a day because I was sooo busy with the baby that I kind of liked that he was so into television.  He would watch show after show after show.  It seemed like he was learning a lot from tv, especially learning new languages because of Dora and Ni Hao kai lan.  I thought wow, this stuff is really educational.  Who was I kidding?  Now, I let him watch only a couple shows a day, but I watch with him and ask him questions along the way to make sure that he understands and remembers the concepts.  TV is not the answer guys, they need hands on teaching to actually learn and absorb everything.  Anyways, he has this magnadoodle drawing board that hes had for a year now, we've kinda ignored it up until a few months ago.  He seems to be enjoying it these days just by drawing smiley faces and animals on it.  I asked him if he wanted to play school and he jumped up and down with joy.  I wrote a few words on it like, dad, mom and cat.  At first, he wasn't very interested in copying, he just wanted to do his own thing on it.  But, i told him for each word he could copy I would give him a sticker.  Then he actually tried doing it.  After quite a few tries and a lot of practice he managed to write and read Dad and Mom.  Cat seemed to be a bit harder for him, but I told him that we would try that one tomorrow.  He was very happy with himself and so was I.  Moms and dads, all you have to do is dedicate your free time to your children, i know it's very hard to do and until now i was not doing that myself.  Like i said, i was counting on the television to educate my child.  Im glad I figured this out now, so with my nine month old I will not be making the same mistake.  Please feel free to comment on my posts and share some of your own ideas with me please.  Iam open to suggestions on better parenting.  Thank you again for reading guys!

Keeping the 3 yr old busy while taking care of the baby

Today is a day of learning at my home.  My nine month old seems to need a lot of attention today for some reason, I think he's teething.  My three year old is becoming a little more independant as the days go by, which is very good for me.  At the same time I do not want him to be glued to the television all day long.  I came up with an activity for him to do.  While watching four squares last week they had this catchy poem that my son memorized, but we changed it up a bit.  It goes like this:  Sunday is fun day, monday we go shopping, Tuesday do the chores, Wednesday have a bubble bath and Thursday go outdoors, Friday night is movie and Saturday sleep in.  I brought out his 12 month calendar and went through the days of the week with him.  He's still trying to catch on to it all.  I asked him to draw each activity from the poem on each day of the week.  It took him quite a bit of time to do, but finally he did it.  Kids are smarter than you think they are.  Even though this was only the first time i taught him his days of the week, he memorized them very fast.  Try this activity with your little ones and share some more with me please.  I love doing new educational things with my kids.  thank you for your time.

Angelina Jolie

Well, she aint no Americas Sweetheart, that's for sure.  But, she did manage to break up a marriage and another one in the making.  This woman needs to stop filming movies and take care of her children.  Although, half of them were adopted, but that doesnt matter, kids are kids and they need their mom.  She has enough money already, she has the man she claims she wants and all her kids are healthy, what more could a mom ask for?  Angelina needs to STOP slutting around and raise her kids properly.  We do not want them to turn out like her.  Come on now, we are talking about a woman who frenched kissed her brother on national television.  Oh my goodness, Johnny Depp does not know what he is in for.  Or he does, and he likes it.  Whatever the case may be, his wife is smart to ask him to stop filmimg with Angelina because she is afraid it might break up their relationship.  And don't worry guys, soon enough we will hear it.  HOMEWRECKERS!!!!!

Kate Goselin

Oh my goodness, I thought Octomom was bad enough, but now we have Kate from Jon and Kate plus 8. She has 8 kids and now she has time to be on Dancing with the Stars. What a piece of work she is. She is going through a mid-low life crisis right now. I hope she doesn't win the show either. She, just like octomom does not deserve to be famous. Anybody with that many children should just stay home and take care of them. Like me, i only have 2 kids, but i dedicate all my time to them and i enjoy it too. help me stop this nonsense guys. moms should just be moms and stay out of the lime light. if you need money, get a real job, like work in an office or something.

Octomom

Octomom is totally crazy! how can she handle that many kids? oh wait, she doesn't have to. She has people doing it for her. Otherwise, how could she make time to appear on the view or other talk shows. The media made her famous for no reason at all. We can all be famous if we want to, really? Who needs that negative attention though. It will ruin lives for sure.