30 Second Bean Bags

What CAN'T you do with a bean bag?  A supply of bean bags can keep kids occupied for hours.  Games like trying to toss them in a laundry basket across the room, through hoola hoops, who can throw the bean bag farthest, find the hidden bean bags....you get the idea.

Yesterday I needed a bunch of bean bags...like 20....for a preschool activity.  I thought I would have time to quick sew some up.  That did not happen.  So as I'm frantically grasping at straws (at about 11 pm the night before I need them mind you)....I came up with this.

Ladies and gentlemen, I give you....the 30 Second Bean Bag.

1. Find baby socks your kids can't fit into anymore (you know they're in the bottom of the drawer somewhere)

2. Stuff with beans

3. Tie top with yarn

Done and done!  Remember how we talked about kids not caring how fancy things look?  They don't.  They'll toss these puppies the same as they would a "real bean bag".  

Happy Weekend!

Confessions of a Working Mom: Keep it Simple, Sweetheart.

 The lesson here was simple: "Keep it Simple, Sweetheart!"  My kids couldn't care less if the hearts were tattered, ugly pieces of fabric or beautiful stuffed pillow hearts...the game was the same!  They didn't care.  I had put this silly, unrealistic (for me) standard on myself.  And wasted the precious hour of naptime being frustrated...

So there I was, feeling guilty about all the cutesy "mom" things my kids miss out on because they have a working mom.  Birthdays, for example.  I do not make the cake.  I have a zillion and one friends who can make these incredible, cartoon character themed cakes.  I buy mine.  Yep, I pack up my toddler and let her pick one out.  She loves it!  But I sometimes feel like a slacker mom.

So I caught the "I need to be more crafty" bug, and had this idea to sew all these little colorful heart pillows.  Then I would hide the pillows and the kids could go find them.  Sounds great, right?  Well...I didn't have the time (or extra money) to buy bright, cute fabric, so I cut the hearts out of old clothes that were way to ugly to ever be worn in public.  Then after I stitched about 3 hearts, I realized it's a very hard shape to sew...and then I got frustrated and gave up.  Nap time ended much too soon, and the kids came bouncing down the hall.  I was shocked to hear my daughter ask, "Mom, what are these cool hearts?"  as she pointed to the pile of unsewn, flat, hideous hearts I had cut out.  These fabric cut outs were a far cry from the cute, colorful pillows I had imagined.  But as two pairs of anxious eyes fixed on me and asked, "Are we going to play a game?"  I just didn't have the heart to tell them that Mommy had failed at this project so completely that the game was forever ruined.  So instead I said, "Yep!  I'm going to hide these in the living room and when I call you in, you guys see how many you can find!"  This was followed by cheering, and I ended up hiding all 21 hearts no less than 5 times before they began to tire of the game.

The lesson here was simple: "Keep it Simple, Sweetheart!"  My kids couldn't care less if the hearts were tattered, ugly pieces of fabric or beautiful stuffed pillow hearts...the game was the same!  They didn't care.  I had put this silly, unrealistic (for me) standard on myself.  And wasted the precious hour of naptime being frustrated.

Another example of simple games: color sorting.  Kids LOVE to sort!  I gave them a deck of CandyLand cards and some containers and they went to town.  KEEP IT SIMPLE!

Berry Pickin'!

Berry Pickin'!

For three years I've had this giant tree by my house.  For three years I've cussed the purple stains on the sidewalk and the berry goo that gets on my car and tracked all over.  Then a thought occurred to me...what are those berries anyway?  So I did some asking.

Turns out, they were mulberries. And turns out...they are nummy!!  I knocked on my neighbors door (a neighbor I am ashamed to tell you I'd never spoken to) and asked if she would mind if my family and I picked some mulberries.  She was thrilled to let us, and even invited us to pick walnuts from another tree she had in her yard in the fall.  Free walnuts and berries?  Yes, please!

Why am I telling you this?  Well, here's where the family thing comes in. 

#1. My kids LOVED picking berries
#2. My kids LOVED eating berries
#3. Mom LOVED the free price...and the free berries I froze which will later turn into nearly-free jam
#4. We got out of our shell and met our neighbors...a rare thing.

In Salt Lake we are fortunate enough to have fruit trees all around us.  Chances are, someone in your neighborhood has a fruit tree.  Chances are also good that this tree yields more fruit than that person can handle, and he/she would be more than happy to have you come pick some.  It keeps their yard and sidewalk free of fallen, rotting fruit and makes everyone feel good about sharing.

Berry pickin' is a fun, free activity that gets neighbors out of their isolated lives and interacting.  So go on...knock on your neighbors door!

As a BONUS family activity...make jam, pie or some sort of dessert out of the berries and bring some to your generous neighbor who shared their fruit tree with you!