Traveling With Kids

We have taken several trips with our oldest and a few with both of our boys. Once our youngest came along he made it very apparent that he HATES to be in the car. Up until the last few months(he is 21/2) he refused to sleep in the car. He might accidently fall asleep but these moments are very rare.

We took a trip with my grandparents a year ago to VA just me and the 2 boys and my grandparents. Hubby had to work. I planned it to where we would leave right after school, eat dinner, get out and move a bit and by normal bedtime they would be in jammies and ready to sleep. Yeah right! He slept maybe and hour and a half the entire 12 hour trip. Yes 12 hours! We had brought movies, books, snacks for each child in snack baggies and water. I packed Mio in our bags as well so when the kids did want something different it wasn’t packed with sugar and we didn’t have to stop. All of these things worked except the sleeping.

So anyway back a few months ago our family drove to Myrtle Beach to stay the weekend with our friends and the dvd player wasn’t working. I was slightly concerned about how this trip would go. I was on Pinterest for a while looking for travel ideas. We made sure to have drinks within reach and of course stopped to eat and to our surprise the little one napped. Thank goodness! To keep the kids occupied though we decided to try some of my Pinterest ideas. Before our trip my husband and I went and grabbed goodies. Some were party favor type toys and some were snacks. I wrapped them and every hour we gave them one of their surprises. Huge hit! They loved unwrapping and just getting something to peak their interest for a bit. It was great! Since it went so well we decided to do it on the way back. Again it was a hit but I learned a few things. If the toddler can’t reach the window don’t get something that sticks to the window. It was a meltdown. I also got markers and paper. Only problem with that was the markers came apart to reveal the next color. Again, bad idea for a toddler.

We now are going to take a trip to visit our friends in NC and it will just be me and the boys. Again Pinterest has been wonderful. No dvd player again and 2 very busy little boys. What to do? So I went to Target took advantage of the Easter items being 70% off and grabbed several items so that they could get one each hour. This time it was mostly snacks but I think it will be ok. My friend also suggested packing lunches to save on cash. Target even had those things on clearance so I grabbed frozen pb&j sandwiches and lunchables. Also threw in Capri Suns because both kids can use them really well. Today though my project has been creating them travel books. They are turning out great. So I thought I would share the ideas. It is a compilation of the many different ones on Pinterest.

All it required was printer paper, printer, 2 folders(they were free at Office Max), baseball card holders. Since I  coupon I already had these.

You can make it a little easier on yourself if you just have clear page protectors or an empty photo album.

I printed out bingo games for each child, age appropriate, the alphabet, left one card holder blank for tic tac toe or whatever, and added notebook paper for stories or drawing. I also wanted to have some educational items in there. I gave the youngest shapes and the oldest multiplication problems. They each also got blank postcards to make for their dad and send to him while we are gone. Below are pictures. I plan on putting a map of our route and putting it in as well but I’m having problems getting it to print correctly.

If you have any other ideas feel free to share and if not maybe this will spark your imagination. Enjoy your spring break and if you have already had yours, I hope it was great!

The front of their books                                    The alphabet for the alphabet game

The bingo games                                                 Multiplication & Shapes

The older one has multiple tiles in his that he can change out for bingo

This is the Tic Tac Toe page but you can’t see it really well.

I think the key to these books is going to be not to give them out immediately but after  we have been driving a while.

Great Gift for Your Loved Ones.

I decided I wanted to try my hand at these really cute birds nest necklaces to give to my mom and mil for Mother’s Day. They turned out really adorable! So I have a personal goal to sell 20 of these by next Friday April 12th.They are $10 a piece. Once you order these can be in your hands within a day or two if you are local and just long enough to ship it to you if you aren’t. You can customize by adding certain colors or certain number of eggs. The chain is about 20″ long. If you are interested please feel free to CONTACT ME to place your order.

Cute Gift Ideas

Any time I go looking for our children police stuff I can’t find very much. If I find a bed set it is usually either ridiculously expensive or has fire trucks and ambulances as well. The toys I usually happen across are the little police sets with handcuffs and badges. You only need so many of those things. So today I decided to look around a little more and see if I could find anything reasonable. I have actually found some so I decided to share.

The first one is from Overstock and is this cute little Police Trike for $60.00

                                       

This next one was done using a cricut and vinyl but I think it could also be painted. I found it on TDY Designs

                             

Apparently this Melissa & Doug puzzle runs about $10 and can be found in stores and on Amazon

                              

These crayons on etsy would make cute party favors or stocking stuffers especially at $5

                               

So I am curious. Are there any police themed items that you are looking for but can’t find or can’t seem to find a good price on?

What Standard of Measurement Do We Use?

Today i was doing my devotional reading called Parenting by Design on You Version and read the following:
SHAMING THE WISE?

In today’s culture, these words are tough teaching for parents! We long for our kids to be wise by human standards, just look at the emphasis we put on grades, test scores, and college acceptance as measures of success and worth. We revel in achievements that put them in positions of influence such as cheerleader, student government, or captain of a team. We may envy the opportunities available to other children due to their family’s wealth or social position.

While God calls us to use our minds to make wise choices, no amount of human knowledge can replace Christ’s work on the cross. Ironically, real strength and wisdom are found by surrendering our pride and coming to God in humility and weakness.

Teach your children that real strength comes by submitting to God and humbling yourself before others.

It really struck a chord and I felt like I needed to share it. We all want our children to become successful and that is by no means a bad thing. I do think however that it is easy to lose sight of the end goal sometimes. We think of the here and now, not later. The instant gratification. We measure only by earthly standards. That leaves a lot to be unaccounted for.

Applaud your childrens efforts and successes but also times where they tried and failed. Pray for them and ourselves to keep our eyes focused on God as we achieve our earthly goals and that we learn and teach our children what a true measure of a person is.

Thred Up Deal on Totsy

So on top of Totsy having their deal today they also have a deal for Thred Up. They are offering a $20 Thred Up certificate for only $10. Also on Thred Up if this is your first order enter promo code SHIPDEC12 and get free shipping! That is a dang good deal too!

If you haven’t checked out Thred Up yet, go do it!