Blueberries for Sal (and Brayden)

The other day, a friend asked Brayden where apples come from, and he answer "the store." Clearly I'm failing as a parent. Time for a real life lesson on where our food comes from! I really hope to teach my kids that food doesn't magically appear on their plate or in a grocery store. Someone had to plant a seed, water it, take care of it, pick the fruit, and then deliver it to a grocery store. There are many more steps than the ones we're seeing on a daily basis!

We headed up the foothills with some friends to a u-pick berry patch. Brayden was in blueberry heaven! Always a fan of blueberries, he couldn't get enough of the seemingly endless supply of delicious berries.  We didn't come home with many blueberries because as soon as we would pick them, they went straight into someone's mouth. 

Camden was obsessed with the blackberries, and worked like a machine to fill his bucket! Now, both boys have been intensly interested in knowing how our food is grown (underground, on trees, or bushes). The school of life!!! 

When we were almost ready to leave, we saw a quaint koi pond with the most beautiful lilies! 

Happy Adventuring! 

Traveling With Toddlers!

Forced family fun in Ephesus, Turkey

We're gearing up for our first international trip with both kids! We've traveled to Europe, and Asia with Camden, but Brayden has never been out of the country. Some may say not to travel with toddlers because they won't remember the trip or appreciate the experience as much as they should. True. They probably won't remember the trip. But, guess who will remember the trip? ME! And, I like having my kids with me. 

As I was getting ready to make my packing list, and gather packing essentials, I remembered some of the mistakes me made traveling overseas with Camden, and some of the things that worked really well!

Filling a water bottle with rocks and sand in Rhodes, Greece

Slow Down:

 This is probably the #1 thing to remember when traveling with kids: slow down! Go with the flow, chill out, and don't over book yourself! If your kids are really interested in something, follow suit! It will be a much more enjoyable vacation if you aren't spending the whole time trying to hurry the kids along. They might even notice and appreciate all the things you walked right passed. It can be frustrating, but sometimes you can't expect your kids to do everything on your itineraries. Keep them in mind while planning your vacation! 

Sleeping in his stroller in Athens, Greece

Don't Mess with Sleep:
Nothing is more miserable than an overly-tired, cranky toddler! It's wonderful if your child will nap in a baby carrier or stroller! Mine will nap on the go, but only if they're exhausted. The naps are never quite as long, or quite as peaceful, though. If that afternoon nap really interferes with your itinerary for the day and the nap on-the-go didn't work out as planned, make sure you get your little ones to bed earlier at night. You can't expect them to miss naps, get to bed late, wake up early to get going, and still be perfectly happy. It doesn't work at home, it definitely won't work traveling! Provide time for them to make up for lost sleep or take advantage of the early risers, and plan your activities in the morning!



Bring On the Screens:
We try very hard to limit screen time at home! My boys know when they have screen time built into their schedule, and we rarely veer from that. When we're traveling, we encourage the kids to still play and explore, but when we're on a long plane flight, we'll do anything just to get through it as smoothly as possible. Don't feel bad if your kids play on a tablet for hours, the other passengers will be very happy! We love our Amazon Fire Kids tablets because we can download tons and tons of books to read together! That way, they aren't solely watching shows on the tablets.  


Eating spaghetti in Rome, Italy

Full Tummy, Happy Toddler:  
Eating out, and buying snacks gets really expensive really quickly! I can't stress this enough: order food your kids will eat! If they won't eat spinach at home, they aren't going to eat it on a vacation. It's more important for them to have full, happy tummies than to engage in a power battle over food. 

 I like to pack snacks in plastic containers, because it isn't going to go over well if their goldfish crackers are smashed to smithereens.  The food containers may take up some precious packing space, but they'll stack up nicely for the return flight home. You can't typically carry fresh produce into another country, but you can bring a lot of other snacks! Some of my toddlers favorite travel snacks are: gold fish, pretzels, plain bread, mandarin orange cups, applesauce pouches, fruit snacks, fruit leather, beef jerky, granola bars, Teddy Grahams, olive cups, and dried fruit. 

Cuddle & Connect: 
Traveling can be really overwhelming for adults and kids! It can be difficult when everything feels so different: eating new food, sleeping in a new place, etc. If you can keep some of the routines that you have at home, that can be really comforting. If you always bathe the kids, and read them a special book before bed, make sure to do that while traveling too! Connecting with your kids through the crazy can help them feel much more settled!

Your Secret Weapons:
When my kids have lost it, and nothing I do seems to help, I like to pull out the big guns. The secret stash of special snacks or brand new toys that will eradicate any memory of why they're so upset. Lolly pops, M&M's, chocolate covered raisins, new Hot Wheels cars still in their packaging... all the good stuff!


Happy as can be in Rome, Italy

Don't Say Cheese:
I know you want the perfect family picture to remember the vacation, but you don't need 10,000 pictures. A few posed pictures is plenty! I am so guilty of pulling out my phone every time I'm enjoying something. I urge you to live in the moment, put your camera down, and enjoy what you're doing instead! Or, at least take pictures of your family enjoying the moment instead of forcing them to smile at the camera!

Good luck, & Happy Traveling!

Mom-Friendly Dresses

When I pick my outfit in the morning, I'm mainly concerned about whether or not I can "mom" in it. Can I get easily get down on the floor to play with legos? Is it comfy enough for our book reading cuddle sessions on the couch? Can I stay modest while trying to pick up my wiggly toddler? 

These Cleo Madison dresses are perfect for "momming!" They're modest with sleeves, high necks, and long enough to reach the bottom of my knee. The owners, Elizabeth and Adam, feel very passionately about keeping the prices as low as possible!  They're beautiful, comfortable, budget friendly and many of them are even nursing friendly! 

These dresses are perfect for church on Sunday, or around the house! I even fell asleep in one of these dresses the other day, and continued to wear it the next day. No shame. Besides being practical, these dresses are absolutely gorgeous! There are so many beautiful floral patterns that I can't get enough of! I love that these dresses make me feel cute and stylish! 

You can find them at www.cleomadison.com or @cleo.madison on Instagram! 

Happy Mommin'!

How I Taught My Preschooler To Read

There's obviously not just one method or age to teach a child to read, but this is the way WE decided to teach our preschooler to read.  

The very first step in learning to read is being read to a lot. A lot, a lot! Camden has always been obsessed with books, so getting him interested wasn't difficult. When I read to him, he would demand that I follow along with my finger as I read so that he could see the word as he heard it out loud.

Last summer, Camden was really interested in learning to read, and kept asking me to teach him. I was, honestly, terrified to teach him to read. It seemed like such a daunting task, and obviously a very important life skill to learn. It's very overwhelming to start from scratch!

After reading tons of positive reviews, we decided to try out Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons. The first 10 or so lessons were terribly painful. I felt like I was fumbling through, hesitating too much in between sections, and couldn't get Camden to take it seriously. 

To encourage Camden, I created this incredibly basic sticker chart book. A total of 100 lessons, and after each group of 10 lessons, we celebrated! Sometimes, we celebrated with ice cream, or a new small lego set, or with some special one-on-one time. He was very motivated to add new stickers to his chart each day, and it helped him learn to count. After our reading lesson each day, he would flip through the sticker book and count to 100. He effortlessly learned to count to 100 from this. 

Once he had learned enough sounds to put together a few words, the reading lessons changed from being torturous to enjoyable. I remember very clearly, the day he learned to read, "read it." He read the very short sentence, jumped on his chair, announced, "I'm a reader now!!" Then he ran over to the bookshelf to grab his very favorite science book. He was disappointed he couldn't magically read EVERY book, but it was still the confidence boost he needed. Knowing he could read just a few words helped him know that he could continue to learn more words. From this point on, Camden would beg us to do more reading lessons. 

When I first got this lesson book, I flipped to the end lessons and thought, "there is no way he will be able to read these passages in just 100 days." I stand corrected!!

We supplemented with these easy-to-read BOB Books. Each page has a very short sentence. It was great to have a section of books that Camden could read from if I wasn't able to sit down with him. It was very encouraging for him to be able to read a whole book! 

Once we finished our 100 lessons, we moved onto the level 1 Step Into Reading books. I looked at a lot of leveled readers, and most of them were still too difficult for Camden to read. The Step Into Reading books were easier and they interested him more because there are a lot of books with popular cartoon characters. 

The pre-reader National Geographic books are also great! My boys love non-fiction books, and it is great for Cam to have science books he can read on his own. 

Now, he's reading anything he can get his hands on. This shark book has been his favorite for a while.  We've stopped following any kind of lesson plan or workbook, and instead we make sure to read a lot through out the day. We have a designated reading time after lunch, but that's rarely the only time we read. Most of the books we read from are from the library, we only buy a book if it's one we absolutely love and read over and over again. 

Happy Reading! 

Easy Strawberry Smoothie

We can't get enough of the gorgeous, fresh strawberries this season! We love buying our strawberries from all the local farm stands in the area, they're far better than any sold in stores. My boys devour them as soon as we get home! They usually eat them all immediately, but I love to save a few for smoothies if I can. The deep red, juicy strawberries make the most delicious smoothies! This smoothie is perfect for breakfast, a snack, and even a (sugar-free) dessert! make sure your banana is frozen, it'll make the smoothie incredibly cold and creamy!

Servings: 2

Ingredients:

12 Fresh Strawberries

1 c. Vanilla Flavored Soy milk

1 Frozen Banana

Instructions:

1. Add strawberries and soy milk to a blender and blend until smooth.

2. Add frozen banana and blend well. 

Happy Day!

Favorite Books: May 2018

I love finding a book that I can't put down no matter what else is going on (or being destroyed)! Even more than that, I love when my kids find a book that they can't get enough of or want to read a million times over again. These are the ten books that we've wanted to read again, and again this month!

Screenshot from the Goodreads App

Chris Van Dusen is one of our family's favorite authors! His writing is almost musical because of the rhythm and rhymes. We recently discovered The Circus Ship, and we can't get enough of it! This is one of those books that my kids never get tired of listening to, and I never get tired of reading. Their very favorite page is finding all fifteen circus animals hiding on the little island. 

Screenshot from the Goodreads App 

All of the Dino-Sports books are great, but Dino-Baseball is our current favorite. It is written so cleverly, but the illustrations are my favorite part! It is too funny imagining dinosaurs playing sports. I love seeing a tiny compsognathus playing against a giant brachiosaurus! 

Screenshot from the Goodreads App 

My husband's third grade teacher read this aloud to his class everyday after lunch. Matt said he couldn't wait for lunch and recess to be over so he could get back in the classroom to hear what happened next. John Midas has been given the "Midas touch" and everything he puts in his mouth turns into chocolate. He quickly realizes this might not be as fantastic as it seems.  Matt loved being able to read this to our 5-year-old! We also enjoy pretending that our vegetables turn into chocolate at the dinner table! This is a great book for teaching kids the importance of eating healthy food. 

Screenshot from the Goodreads App

 These National Geographic Kids books are very quick reads for adults, but they pack in a lot of interesting information and beautiful pictures. After reading this a few times, Camden was able to read them on his own. He is obsessed with all creatures, but spiders are especially interesting to him. 

Screenshot from the Goodreads App

 The Wild Kratts books are really great for my emergent reader! There are new words like "predator" or "camouflage," but the language is very simple and easy to read based on the picture clues. Camden is obsessed with the Wild Kratts show, so naturally, he loves these books too. 

Screenshot from Goodreads App 

Everything written by Eric Carle is amazing, but this is a great book for my spider-obsessed little ones. The spider is working very very hard while everyone around him wants him to play. 

Screenshot from Goodreads App

The boys are trying their very best to convince me that we need a pet; I think that's why they identify with this book so much. Camden really wants a dog! I love the irony of a family of frogs going to a pet store to pick out a family pet. 

Screenshot from Goodreads App

This is my 2-year-olds very favorite book! He reads it to himself a dozen times as he falls asleep at night, and demands we read it several times a day. The main character is getting ready for bed while pretending he is Batman. The illustrations are so perfectly done because the little boy mimicks whatever Batman is doing. Like, Batman cleans up the city by locking the Joker in jail, while the little boy cleans up his toys and locks his toy box.  

 

Screenshot from Goodreads App

Camden and Brayden are the best of friends and the worst of enemies. We try to get two of everything, because I'm tired of the bickering and fighting over toys. Anytime the boys start arguing about a toy, I remind them of what happened to Llama Llama when he wasn't sharing. It's been great to apply to our daily lives! 

Screenshot from Goodreads App

This book was my personal fave this month. I love the Read Aloud Revival podcasts, but reading the book helped me gain a much greater understanding of the importance of reading with my children. I felt encouraged and empowered to place books as the center of our family and home. We have always made reading a priority, but after finishing this book, I've been more conscious about making sure we get time to read together. 

Happy Reading! 

Make Laundry Less Dreadful

I must be an anomaly because I don't hate laundry. I might lose a few friends over that statement, because laundry is the bane of most of my friends' existence. There are PLENTY of household chores that I dislike doing, and have a hard time getting done. The trash can might be over-flowing at my house because I detest taking the trash out, but I'm almost always caught up on laundry.

Everyone has always said "just wait until" you have a baby, or you have another baby, or your kids are in sports, etc. With each step, I haven't had a hard time keeping up with the laundry. When I had my first baby, we lived in Saint Louis city and had to take our laundry to the laundromat, and it still wasn't terrible. Sometimes I actually miss that because I could have so many loads of laundry being washed all at the same time! 

I think everyone would agree that washing the clothes is the easy part, although, remembering to move the laundry over can be tough too! The hardest part, in my opinion, is folding and putting the laundry away. 

I used to fold my laundry on the couch, but quickly learned it was impossible to keep little boys away from freshly folded piles of clothes. The folded laundry would quickly take up the entire couch, then I would get distracted with something urgent, and it would take a while to get back to the laundry folding. In the meantime, all the laundry would get unfolded and thrown around the room. For this reason, I started folding laundry on my bed.

Step 1: Turn on an audiobook, podcast, Netflix, or some music! Being distracted and entertained makes folding much more enjoyable! Some of our favorites podcasts are Brains On!, and The Read-Aloud Revival.

Step 2: Everything gets sorted into categories: Dad, Mom, Camden, Brayden, and socks/miscellaneous. This is a great way to involve the kids, my boys LOVE throwing the laundry in the correct pile. 

Step 3: I fold and put away one group at a time. This makes me feel like I'm making progress on the laundry quicker. It's also easier to leave the laundry to attend to another task if I don't have to protect tons of folded laundry piles. Sometimes that socks/miscellaneous pile takes a while to fold because the house seems to function alright if socks aren't put away immediately. 

It really helps me feel more accomplished if I can think, "I folded all of the laundry except for..." because I'm able to see how much I've done instead of just focus on how much laundry there still is to do. 

Happy folding!

Practice Makes Perfect

Camping last year was a disaster.  My two-year-old, Brady, kept everyone up all night long crying. I'm not sure if he was scared, or cold, or just anxious because it was a new experience. It was miserable. We suffered through the first night thinking he would be tired enough the next night to just sleep. Nope. The screaming started in again, so I started up the car engine at midnight and drove all the way home. Camden was pretty confused when he woke up the next morning to find mom and Brady gone. I headed back up the mountain to pick up Matt and Camden after a much better night's sleep at home.

Brady, the screamer.

I want to have an adventurous, outdoorsy family, but being in nature isn't very natural for me. We decided to go camping again, and I was quite nervous we'd have a repeat of last time.

Hike to a nearby waterfall. 

 I spent a lot of time planning and preparing our trip to prevent another nightmare. 

We spent many Friday nights "camping" in the living room. That way when the time came to really camp, Brady was already comfortable sleeping in a sleeping bag and tent. Our plan to "practice" worked really well, and we were able to have a relaxed weekend away from the world camping.

We headed up the mountain after my husband was done working on Friday. I was worried about losing daylight before we could get everything set up, so we picked up a pizza at one of the last stops before the campground. Once we got to camp, dinner was already ready, and we didn't have to worry about starting a fire, cooking over a fire, and keeping kids safe with a fire while also trying to get camp set up.

The cardboard pizza box also makes great kindling for when you do decide to start that fire. 

We packed these bug containers, and they got plenty of use! All electronics were left at home, except phones. But, the phones were mostly turned off and useless without service anyway. 

I brought a handful of toys to play with, but they honestly didn't get much use. Camden found this giant pinecone at the beginning of our hike to the waterfall, and carried it for the remainder of the hike.  

The very best thing I packed were our books! In a two night camping trip, we were able to read Frindle, Polar Bears Past Bedtime (Magic Treehouse Series), and The Circus Ship. I should have brought more picture books because The Circus Ship got read quite a few times. I was also able to read The Read-Aloud Family by myself.