farleyaj

A Family of Superheroes

Does your child like to play make believe? Ours is just getting into it at almost 2 years old. How do I know? We went to story time at the library last week and one of the songs, “The Ants Go Marching” includes pretending to pick up sticks. She was great at pretending to pick them up and continues to do it at home! She loves playing with tea and pretending to have picnics and play in the “sand” inside.

We’ve been stuck inside for a few days and the dreaded day I am to return to work from my child rearing leave keeps getting delayed due to snow days (hey, I’m okay with that). So what do we do? We pretend we are a family of superheroes!

My husband and I used blankets, but knew they were too long and wouldn’t stay on our little girl. I did a quick google search and found out how to make a t-shirt no sew cape for Madison. All you need to do is take an old adult t-shirt (that you don’t want anymore) and cut it a few inches under the collar in the front. Continue cutting around to the back a few inches from the collar and down the back (the sleeves get cut off). Do the same on both sides and you will have a cape that simply slips over your child’s head.

If you want to be fancy you can add a design on the back with fabric markers, iron on images and so on. We happened to have an image on the shirt already.

We pretended that the snow was piling up in her room and we had to save all of her stuffed animals by putting them on the couch in the living room. She loved racing down the hall while we shouted, “Fly to the room, save the stuffies! Super Maddy saves the day!” Singing also helps and humming superhero ballads. She loved this so much we did it multiple times today and putting that cape together took about one minute (as you an tell by my hasty cutting).

It’s definitely priceless to see your toddler stretch her arms out in front of her in the flying pose while yelling, “Save the stuffies!” Start a family of superheroes today!

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Felt Snowman Fun!

What’s that? A foot in the corner of the picture? Yes! Madison couldn’t wait to get her hands on the felt snowman and decorate him!

My pile of felt was stacking up after doing a few projects and Christmas was over…what to do with it? I took down the amazing felt tree my sister made after the holidays and felt a bit depressed. Noooo Christmas can’t be over! Winter isn’t over, so why not make a felt snowman similar to the felt tree Madison loved so much?

The project is very simple & super cheap!

You need:

Felt in various colors: white, orange, black and a few other colors for the hat, buttons, and mouth.
Velcro
scissors

First, I cut out the 3 circles for the snowman out of white felt purchased at a local craft store (you can also get cheap felt at Walmart). I didn’t use any patterns, but just cut everything free hand. You could also use a marker to draw the shapes first, then cut them out.

I went with simple features, a carrot nose, 2 arms, and a scarf. You can choose whatever colors suit you. I made 4 buttons, a mouth, rosy cheeks, eyes, and 4 hats.

Why 4 hats you ask? Madison likes to dress up different dolls and I thought she would like to make the snowman not only something she puts together, but gets to switch the different features. Plus, I had lots of extra fabric and time. After cutting everything out I hot glued the 3 white circles that make up the snowman together.

Another option would be to put velcro on the bottom of the top 2 white circles and your child could put the snowman together that way. I know my toddler, and she likes to pull on things, so gluing it together was the best option for us.

I bought velcro with sticky back so I wouldn’t have to glue it. I simply used the hook side of the velcro. Yes, I had to look that up, the hook side aka the rough side. I cut each piece depending on what I was using the velcro on. For example, the scarf is long so I used at least 5 inches of the hook side of the velcro.

For the buttons I used about an inch each. You don’t need the soft side, the loop. If you use felt then the rough side of the velcro will stick to the velcro. After you cut the hook velcro just peel off the sticky side and put it on your snowman accessory. Do this for each accessory. When you are all done putting velcro on, you can have your child decorate!

If you wish you can put dots on the buttons and lines on the carrot nose with a sharpie marker! You can lay this on the floor or hang it up for your little one to decorate. It also makes a great present!

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Tv tv everywhere…

This evening my husband, my two and four year old children, and myself went to a nice restaurant together. Actually, my favorite restaurant, and the one we had our Wedding rehearsal at 7 years ago. I was nervous that our children would become bored and loud so I brought a coloring book, crayons and a couple stickers. Unlike many restaurants, this one is quiet, in an old farmhouse, and has classical music on and no televisions. You are meant to enjoy one another’s company with local fantastic fresh food. There is no overstimulation with many TVs, too loud music, or too many distractions. The food may take longer to be made, but that’s because it’s fresh. The bread comes out in the clay pot it was cooked in, it’s amazing!

But back to my story, a couple comes in with their 3-4 year old son who they sit in a chair. Immediately, a large iPad is placed in front of him and we can hear blippi playing. If you don’t know the show Blippi, you should check it out, as it is a real person doing real things in the real world (it’s my sons favorite show when I do let him watch anything). Luckily, my kids weren’t too distracted, I thought my son might start yelling blippi, but he went back to eating his bread. Next, the sons father went on his phone for the entire dinner. I had missed this as I was paying attention to my family, however my husband pointed out that he was on his phone the entire time.

Through the entire dinner, the family next to us had the iPad or whatever device it was placed in front of him and could hardly see his parents. No wonder this kid was crawling under the table screaming periodically and trying to run around the restaurant! His parents weren’t paying any attention to him except to reference the show he was watching. The mother even said look at those children behaving over there that is how you should behave. I felt badly for this child because his parents were blocking him out by trying to turn him into the zoning zombie to “enjoy” their dinner. Which in this case, was the father on his phone the whole time anyways.

I see children everywhere I go on their parents phones or iPads zoning out instead of interacting, developing relationships, communicating and learning. Even at the food stores, kids are plopped into a cart and given a phone to play with instead of interacting and watching interactions taking place. The children are learning how to behave from the show instead of reality. I’m guilty of letting my children watch tv, I think I might lose my sanity sometimes if I tried to make a decent dinner with two toddlers trying to help and almost burning themselves or cutting themselves every couple seconds. Granted sometimes they play with their puzzles and legos and such and it’s great. Even better, they play together a lot more these days. I do have them bake with me frequently since they love helping (toddlers love helping, even if it makes more of a mess!).

Sometimes I’m guilty of trying to catch a couple more z’s by letting my daughter come into my bed in the morning to watch a pbs show or two. This may let me sleep a couple minutes longer; however I pay the price when it’s time to turn it off. No matter how many times I’ve told her only one show and then breakfast, she throws a mini tantrum or full tantrum and just wants to watch more. This sets a bad tone for the whole day and I immediately regret letting her watch a show.

Another thing that bothers me is when parents post online what type of device they should get their 4 or 5 year old to watch shows before bed or in bed or for restaurants car rides and so on. Children should be interacting with real people, especially their family to build the bonds for their lifetime instead of glued to a screen. If you need to catch your breath once and a whole, I totally get it! Just remember, when you let your daughter watch a show in your bed or take that iPhone out at the store, your child makes that connection that you let him or her do this so they will expect it again and will be persistent. One thing I’ve definitely learned with a toddler is that if you think I’ll pick my battles and let them do something once, they will expect it again and again. More on positive discipline in the future, but that’s all for now!

Of course this is all just my opinion, and everyone has their own opinions, this is America after all, but next time think about actually having a discussion with your kids over dinner instead of bringing out the constant “entertainment.”

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How to Make an Owl Costume, It’s a Hoot!

What a hoot! I made this owl costume for my toddler girl for Halloween. This costume can be adapted for any age! Not only is it soooo cute, but it’s also soft, comfortable, and easy to make!

Let’s start with the materials. If you are making this for a larger toddler, child, or adult, you will need more material. You will need:

Felt, 3 or 4 colors or more, I ordered half a yard of each and it was more than enough
Hot glue and hot glue gun (I got a cheaper version at Michaels and it worked great!)
Scissors
A piece of cardstock or thicker paper

Let’s start with the cape (aka wings).

I didn’t have cardstock so I used a flier in the mail for my pattern. I simply drew a teardrop design and cut it out. To make all of the feathers for the owl, you must trace the teardrop design over and over.

I ended up tracing over 80 feathers in each color. I did this because I wanted to do wings (the cape) and put feathers on the front of the sweatshirt (optional). Trace the feathers in each color and cut them out.

I used 3 colors, but I recommend 4. If you have 4 feathers it will be easier to vary the pattern the feathers are glued in, so that there is no repetitions. 3 colors definitely works though.

Next, measure the wingspan of your toddler (or adult). You can use a measuring tape or eyeball it with the fabric like I did. I held up the white felt with my daughter’s arms outstretched and make a mark from fingertip to fingertip. You can also adjust and cut the cape when you are finished, so if you are unsure make it a little larger.

Next, warm up your glue gun and choose a pattern for your feathers and glue them on. I put glue on the top half of the feather, so that when I did the next row I could snuggle a feather underneath the bottom of the feather. Check out the picture to see what I’m talking about.

The feathers overlap so don’t put glue on the bottom half of your feathers. You’ll notice the first row I did very straight, as I was working I realized I wanted to tilt feathers a bit to the side so they looked more natural. Continue gluing until you have filled up the wings!

Beautiful! Now it’s time to add a tie to the top sides. You want the wings to be able to tie around your toddler’s neck. I wanted something that wasn’t tight, would hang down, and very comfy, so I used felt. I cut some extra pieces of felt. I simply used my scissors and in the upper right and left hand corner of the large piece of white felt (that the feathers are glued to), I made a hole with the scissor. I tied the shoelace type felt piece on each and wallah! Then I could tie the cape together.

The cape is done. I happened to have an owl hat. If you don’t have a hat, you can make one. If you like to crochet, then simply google and find a video and pattern. If you want to make the hat from felt (which is easier), then simply google “diy toddler owl felt hat.”

Here is where options come into place. You can do the wings and hat and leave it at that. I bought a pink sweatshirt and pants at walmart for $10 for the costume, but you can use any clothes you like.

This is a picture without doing the feathers on the front of the sweatshirt. This is very cute and if it’s cold weather in your area, will work great with a winter coat.

I went ahead and did the front of the sweatshirt, but as you can see in the picture below, ended up covering it anyway because of the cold weather. The cape (wings) can easily go over a large winter coat.

If you want to cover the front of a shirt, then simply cut out more feathers. I wanted to reuse my sweatshirt, so I didn’t glue the feathers to the sweatshirt. I measured the front of the shirt, used a large piece of white felt and glued feathers to the felt (just like the cape). Next, I put it on top of the shirt and sewed it on in the corners. This way I can simply cut the thread and take the felt off and use the sweatshirt again. If you don’t want to use the shirt again, gluing is easier.

Happy Halloween! I hope you have a hoot of a time!!!

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You’ve Been Booed!

Have you ever been booed? If not, now’s the time to start the booing in your neighborhood!

Am I talking about hanging outside your neighbor’s house and jumping out in a ghost costume the minute they get out the door? No! I’m talking about the contagious spread of joy! Whether you are a little kid or an older adult, this is so much fun! I love sneaking up to neighbors’ houses and dropping off the treats. The key is to make sure no one sees you!

Here’s how it works. Find a free printable online, you can search “you’ve been booed” and countless links come up. Here is the one we used: https://www.happinessishomemade.net/free-youve-been-booed-printables/

You can use paper lunch bags, or any containers you like to hold treats for 2 houses. Madison and I had fun going to target and getting green pumpkins for $1!

Include the printables so people know they have been booed. Make sure you check the doors of your neighbors to confirm they haven’t been booed yet! You can include any kind of treats you want. We decided to include Halloween goodies we already had for trick or treaters: pretzel bags, reese’s, kit kats, and pencils.

Your little one, or you will enjoy filling a treat bag or pumpkin knowing it’s going to surprise a neighbor!

If they have already been booed, you will see the “We’ve Been Booed” signs on their door. Now here is the fun part, make sure they don’t see you! You can do this when it’s dark, or when you notice they aren’t home. I’m home during work hours, so it wasn’t hard to see who wasn’t home. We got to deliver in the daylight!

Sneak up to their door and place the treats outside their door. Then run away! Kids and adults will be wondering who placed the unexpected treats at their door! Then it’s their turn. They will read the paper in the treat bag and boo 2 more people!
It’s so much fun to watch the we’ve been booed signs go up in the neighborhood, knowing you started a fun game of giving!

If you don’t live in a neighborhood, but still have houses in sight, you can still do this! Give it a try, it’s even more fun to give than to receive!

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Preschool toddler Halloween crafts!

Looking for fun easy Halloween crafts? There’s so much you can do and spend little cash.

My 4 year old LOVES googley eyes, she can’t get enough! She uses glue and glue sticks and puts them on all Halloween crafts! You can have your preschool cut on lines to make spider legs, or a pumpkin stem or a ghost and you can help cut the rest!

Add in crayons, markers, paint, stickers, and pom Pom’s or ribbons and it’s great!

I love getting Halloween foam stickers and using them for everything!

Stencils stencils stencils! You can tape them down and color. Or you can cut out a shape and tape it down and let your younger one paint then remove it later for the cutout to show up.

Free Halloween cut outs! clickClick here

Free printable coloring pages! You can find numerous pages online searching. This one I really like…cClick here

Popsicle sticks!

More Halloween crafts

Hope you enjoy these ideas! You can go to your local craft store and find lots of ideas and craft supplies and get creative!

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Easy Peasy Paint Present

If you have a special occasion coming up and are looking for a gift from your baby, toddler, or child, I have an easy peasy present idea!

Paint…UGH PAINT! The word can invoke fear in any parent, except this is mess free! Okay, almost mess free.

My mom’s birthday was coming up and I wanted to give her something from her granddaughter. I searched online and found this simple craft. I will admit I improvised because I was missing some of the items and I will mention what worked & what didn’t as I go through the steps.

First, gather your materials. You will need:

-Paint in various colors (I used finger paint)

-cardstock (I used regular paper but it didn’t work so well)

-gallon ziplock bag

-picture frame (if you choose to use it as a gift)

-Heart stencil (or you could just draw it yourself)

-scissor

Next, put your choice of colors on your cardstock paper. Note: I didn’t use cardstock and it ripped easily and you could see through some of it. SO USE CARDSTOCK paper or thicker paper. If you are in a pinch you can use regular paper but you will have to be very gentle with it.

YES, I USED WAYYYYY TOO MUCH PAINT!!! My paint came jumping out of the bottle super fast, I’m really not sure how that happened (haha). It takes longer to dry with all that paint. It took days for it to dry when it should’ve taken overnight.

Take your cardstock paper and put it in a gallon sized ziplock. This insures your project will be mostly mess free! If you need to cut down the paper a little, go for it.

Now it’s time for fun!!! Let your child smear the paint!

Your child will love smearing the paint and you will love that it’s mess free!

When you like the smeared look your child has made, carefully take it out of the bag and leave it in a safe place to dry.

Look at all of that paint!!! TOOO MUCH! If you put way too much on like me, you can either dab it off with a paper towel or give it days to dry.

Here’s where you can vary the project. I drew a heart on a new piece of paper (use cardstock) and cut it out. You can pick any shape you like! If you are super crafty you could even cut out a name or shape of an animal. Cut down the paper to whatever size you would like it to fit. I cut it down to fit a frame. However, you could also make this into wall art, a card, or anything you can imagine!

Place the cut out on top of your painted paper. I moved mine around to find which colors I wanted to show. Cut the back painted piece to fit the frame. If you would like to write a message on the paper, go for it! Put in it a frame or glue and fold for a card!

Easy Peasy Paint Present! Note: I used regular paper and you can see that there are places you can see through the top paper. I highly recommend cardstock or thicker paper.

This project is perfect for any occasion!!! This could be done for birthdays, anniversaries, and holidays.

I’m thinking green colors with a Christmas tree or wreath cutout for Christmas! You could also use the paint bag trick for ornaments. Instead of using a top layer, just let the painted paper dry, cut out a tree shape, hole punch and use a ribbon and wallah!

box celebrate celebration christmas — Photo by Pixabay on Pexels.com

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Adventures with chalk

We recently had our driveway paved after years of dealing with rain washing the end of it out.

I was afraid my kids would miss the giant puddles carved out by the rainwater, but, to my chagrin, they love playing on the driveway!

With a paved driveway comes CHALK, and lots of it! Who doesn’t love chalk?

Here are some games we like to play with chalk for toddlers, and who knew there were so many?!?

1) You can simply use chalk and make a line for your little one to walk, follow on bike, or any other transport you have! I also sometimes make stop signs or spaces between the lines for her to jump to the next line. You can include roundabouts twirls and other excitement if it doesn’t overwhelm your toddler. You can get even more creative with hopscotches included or follow the alphabet or numbers.

2) Alphabet or number jump is a new game I really enjoy using for my 3 year old. I use numbers or the alphabet and write the letter or number in one color and then circle it (or square) in a different color. I put a couple letters next to each other so she has to stop and decide which one she needs to jump to next. It helps the toddler learn their numbers and alphabet visually and also they get physical activity.

3) bullseye! Make a circle or multiple circles and put numbers in them. Draw a line and have your toddler stand behind it and throw a ball (or small pebbles or what not), and try and get it in the circles. Or you can do this and make it shapes, and tell your toddler to get it in the square, rectangle or whatever shape you like.

4) hopscotch-extended. You can make a really long hopscotch perhaps circling a car or just a very long one. Kids love hopscotch!

5) Colors! For my son who is learning his colors and shapes and counting, I draw shapes in different main colors and he loves to come over and color all over whatever I am drawing. Then I repeat the color and he says it back to me. Then you can count how many circles so on and so forth.

6) Tracing, Stenciling! Chalk stencils are sold almost everywhere now, so you little one can color in the holes and be amazed at the picture she/he has created! My daughter also loves tracing people laying down, or mommy tracing her and then coloring in the face and hair!

7) drawing dots game! If your toddler is approaching preschool age, draw big dots and have him connect the dots by drawing a line (starting left to right-like how they will read).

Have fun and be creative! Your kids can play and learn at the same time!

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When I say I need a break…

When I say I need a break I mean I need a quiet moment to feel like a human again. I need time to think about myself for a moment instead of continually trying to save infants and toddlers from killing themselves or others. I need a moment to use the potty, or excuse me, the bathroom as adults say it, without children busting in or breaking something in the other room.

When I say I need a break, it does not mean I’m not thankful I’m able to be with my children all day. It doesn’t mean I’m not having a great time and laughing with them. It doesn’t mean I’m trying to make my husband do some work. He works hard and needs a break too. But he also has children he helped make and needs to spend time with them and show them how to be a good person before they grow up.

When I say I need a break I don’t mean that moms that aren’t stay at home moms don’t need a break. I know it’s hard to be away from your children at work and wondering how they are. I know you may be working in a hospital or another setting listening to others needs instead of your children, or lastly yourself. You are doing a great job working and being with your children when you are home and can be.

But when I say I need a break, it means I need to listen to my needs instead of constant needs from children, patients, and others all day. When I say I need a break it means I need time to try and feel like myself, to try and remember what it feels like to dress up sometimes or feel pretty. When I need a break it’s mostly just going to the food store alone, working in my garden, going to a doctor appointment or hair appointment, it doesn’t mean I’m going out to the movies or to the bar (hah who has time for that!).

When I say I need a break I just want to feel like me, like a human for just a little while until I miss my children and husband shortly after I leave or they do. It means I’m psychologically drained and need a recharge, and you could be the one to help me with that. We all need a recharge from time to time, especially when we focus on others needs and wants above our own and use up all of our energy and love on or little ones.

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DIY Placemat Place Setting

My daughter loves to assert her independence, even at meal time! So I thought, why not make a placemat that she can set her own place setting at? There are many ways to make placemats.

One way is simply laminating a printed out version of a placemat setting such as this…

However, my laminator is only big enough for a regular printer sized paper. You can take it to your local staples or office store to get laminated. You can even make your own placemat out of fabric and have it laminated.

I decided to go with the fabric version and just use the washer to clean it.

So you want to prewash the fabric to make sure it does not shrink.

As always there is a video youtube tutorial and a written one below.

What you need for this placemat place setting is…

1) fabric: it will end up being 12×16 inches.

1 batting or felt for the middle or back side 12×16
1 center front piece 12×12
2 outside front pieces 4×12
1 back side
felt or non fraying material to cut out fork, spoon, cup, and plate

2) Next, take your front center piece and your side front pieces and pin them fabric facing fabric on the sides and sew. Then iron the seems.

3) Following that, you want to use your felt or nonfraying material to outline a plate, cup, fork, spoon, and any other utensils that you want on your placemat. Then cut them out and sew them directly on the front piece. You can also use fabric glue if you like.

4) ***You want to put the piece of fabric you want as the backing down first facing the front fabric and then the basting or felt behind that (as you can see I did it opposite and ended up with my black fabric as the back outside as you will see). However, if you are using felt, it ends up rather nice as a backing since it prevents sliding.

5) Sew all the way around leaving a 3-4 inch opening so you can pull it out the right way. Don’t forget to backstitch. Once this is done, pull the inside out and make sure all the sides and corners are all the way out. Iron it all out and sew the remaining opening with either a hand stitch, or if you want to use your machine then sew around the whole placemat to give it that look.

You can add any other embellishments, I used my daughter’s name on the side. Enjoy and check out the other videos and tutorials! Let me know if you have any questions!

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