Candyland-A New Twist on a Classic

When I was little I loved playing Candyland! I really loved picking the Frosty Princess card! Now Samantha loves playing candyland~this makes me happy to be able to play it again! At first it was great because it helped her learn her colors but now she knows her colors so I wanted to make it more challenging. I wrote letters and sight words on the cards. I left some cards blank because my younger two are still learning their colors.
I had seen this on online awhile ago and I finally got around to doing it. When she draws a card that has a letter on it. She says the letter, letter sound and a word that starts with the letter. When she draws a sight word we tell her word and she repeats it. She keeps asking to play so she must like it! Aiden can still play with us. He knows his colors and letters so he is working on the letter sounds. Who knew Candyland could be such a great learning tool 😊

Paint With Water

I'm not sure where you live but out here it's already hot! I mean 100+ hot!
The kids have been wanting to go outside all day so finally around 4:30 it felt a little cooler (90 or so) and out we went.  They love playing with water so I tried having them paint with water instead of just spraying each other with the hose.  I gave them a bowl of water and some paint brushes and let them go!  They have fun making designs on the ground and Samantha even wrote letters.  It was a fun activity that kept us all cool~and yes we end up spraying each other with the hose.

Cleaning Schedule

It's so easy for my house to get out of hand. One day of not doing laundry and all of the hampers are overflowing with clothes! I am not that person that can spend all day cleaning their house...I have 3 little kids and they need lots of attention :). Plus I always feel like I am missing out when I spend the day cleaning. So I came up with this cleaning schedule. This way I can do a little every day and my house stays clean and my kids are happy and so am I because I love a clean house :)

I hope this helps you!

Letter Matching

My little guy has been sick since last week and he has had a hard time sitting still and resting because, well, he's a boy that doesn't stop moving...except for TV.  So we've been watching more TV than usual.   Today we (I) needed a break from TV....So we colored and matched some letters. They both did great matching. Aiden needed some help peeling the stickers but he seemed to enjoy finding the letters.  He even wanted me to make another paper so he could do it again!

I don't know why but I am obsessed with buying the alphabet stickers from the dollar section at target.  I've been trying to think of something different to do with them besides spelling their names or just sticking them.  Here it is...

Simple piece of paper...letters mixed up all over...alphabet stickers equals 15 minutes of fun for a 2 year old  :)

 Here's Aiden's paper

Glow Stick Bath

Here is a fun idea that I saw on Pinterest. (I didn't pin it so I can link it back to the original site).

The other night we just needed something different. Thankfully I remembered this idea and had glow sticks! I found that at Michaels for $1

The kids loved it! It reset the night and everyone was happier after

Who knew that you can't get a good picture of glow sticks under water in the dark? 😊

A Year Of Memories

This has been waiting to be posted since January.  I LOVE this idea so it's worth sharing and starting now if you want.  The year isn't even half way over yet!


Last year around Christmas I read in a magazine about ways to ring in the new year with your family. One fun idea was to get a jar and have each person in your family write down fun things throughout the year and then on New Years Eve or Day you can sit together as a family and read all of the fun memories of the last year. I thought that this was a great way to ring in the New Year! I set up a jar and we have been doing it! Halfway through the year and the jar is filling up :)
Of course it's only me and john writing the memories (ok I'm sure mostly me) but I'm still excited to read them.
Even if you don't have an extra jar you could use a paper bag, envelope or bowl.

Fast forward to New Years Eve...We opened the jar and read all of the memories we had written down. I loved this!  This is by far my new favorite family tradition!  

I'm Back!!

I took a little 8 month break but I'm back!

Let the blogging begin