Yogurt Popsicles

What you need:

 

·         3 different flavors of yogurt (any flavor)

paper cups

popsicle sticks

tin foil

spoons

Directions:

Use one flavor of yogurt and fill the bottom of the cup 1/3^rd full. Repeat this step with the second and third flavors of yogurt until the cup is full. Place aluminum foil over the top of the cup and cut a slit in the center. Slide a Popsicle stick through the slit and half way down the cup of yogurt. Place in the freezer for at least 4 hours (overnight is best). Peel away paper cup and enjoy.

Gone Fishin'

Here's a fun snack for small kids!
*Kids under 2 should be supervised with pretzels due to choking hazard*

What you need:

Pretzel Sticks

Cream Cheese

Goldfish Crackers

Blue Food Coloring

Directions:

In a small dish, mix a few drops of food coloring into some cream cheese. Then take a stick pretzel and dip the end into the blue cream cheese. Now using the cream cheese dipped pretzel, go fishin' for some goldfish. Once a fish is caught eat it!!! And eat the cream cheese and pretzel too. No double dipping!!!

Healthier Alternatives For Kids

Here are some healthy snack options for our growing kids.

Fig Newtons instead of Chocolate Chip Cookies

Fruit Leather instead of Fruit Roll-ups

Cheese and Fruit

Smoothies

Raisins

Dried Fruit instead of Fruit Snacks

Dried Veggies instead of Chips

Frozen Yogurt instead of Popsicles

Nutritious Cereals instead of Sugary ones

Graham crackers dipped in applesauce

Mini Rice Cakes

Ants on a log

What healthy snacks do you give your kids?

Picky Eaters

 

It's no secret that kids can be picky eaters, but sometimes it's the parents that make their kids picky. When kids don't want what's for dinner some parents cater to their kids and get them something else to eat. Kids figure out pretty quickly that if they don't want something, Mom will just get them something else and therefore become picky eaters.

I always include something with dinner that I know my daughter will eat. We always have some sort of fruit or bread because those are two things I know I can't go wrong with. However, I make sure not to put any on her plate because I know that's what she'll go for first and then won't touch anything else. I first let her try the rest of the meal and then introduce the things I know she'll eat.

My husband and I have some strong opinions about certain types of food. He'll eat things that I think are awful and I'll eat things that he'd never touch. It's important that we don't put ideas into our child's head about what's good and gross. Although my husband doesn't like ketchup, it's okay for our kids to and just because I'm not a fan of celery doesn't mean our kids shouldn't have the opportunity to try it and maybe even enjoy it. If he says "gross" before she's even tasted ketchup then she already thinks it's going to be gross before her taste buds have a chance to decide.

It's normal for toddlers to only eat a few bites at meals. They still grow healthy and develop the way they should. It's important NOT to tell them they have to eat so many bites before they can get down or before they can have dessert. This can cause eating disorders by the time they're 8 years old. Instead, offer them smaller dessert portions. Say, "since you ate this much of your dinner, you can have this much dessert", but still allow them to have dessert with the rest of the family. And don't serve dessert every night.

Pay attention to how much your child eats across the week rather than per meal. One day they may eat a lot of fruit and not touch anything else, but then another day they may eat a lot of protein. You'll notice that when looking at a whole week, your child gets all the nutrients they need.

Preschool age kids are more likely to eat something if they helped prepare it. When introducing new foods for the kids to eat, let them help make it. They feel a sense of accomplishment when they see the end result of something they helped make. And when they see the whole process from start to finish they're more likely to taste it because they know how it started and what the finished product looks like. Plus kids learn all kinds of things while helping in the kitchen including math skills, vocabulary, science skills, social skills, and so on.

Eat meals together as a family. When your child sees the rest of the family eating it becomes a social gathering and they'll eat because everyone else is.

Provide your kids with choices. Give them two options and let them decide which item they would rather have for dinner. Then when it comes time to eat, remind them that they chose that to be included with dinner so they should eat some!

What are things you do to help your kids not become picky eaters?

21 Easy Home Tidying Tips

These tips take very little effort, but can help make a home look cleaner than it actually is.

1. Put the toilet lid down. If the toilet bowl is dirty, at least with the lid down you can't see it!

2. Close all cupboards and doors. Even if you have the intention of putting something right back, things happen and you can walk away with the cupboard or door still open. Kitchen cupboards, bathroom cupboards, pantry door, closet doors, laundry door... when all remain closed, the house looks cleaner. (Especially closet doors in the bedrooms.)

3. Pull the shower curtain closed.

4. Make the bed. Even if it's just pulling the top comforter up and not straightening the sheets.

5. Fluff the pillows on the couches.

6. Tuck in all the chairs to the dining table.

7. Clear dishes from the kitchen table. If you don't plan on cleaning the kitchen right away, at least the kitchen table will be cleared, making the dishes seem less daunting when you get around to doing them.

8. Hide dirty laundry in the washing machine. It can make your room seem cleaner if you keep a load of dirty laundry in the washer. Maybe it sounds silly, why not just start the washer, but I'm talking about before it's a full load. Instead of putting the dirty clothes in a hamper, put them in the washer to collect until it's a full load to run.

9. Put dirty dishes in the sink instead of on the counter.

10. Make a dirty/clean sign for the dishwasher. Then load the dishwasher throughout the day/week and switch the sign to clean once you start it. That way you don't forget if you're still loading it with dirty dishes or if they're clean.

11. When all else fails, close the doors to all the rooms in the house.

12. Straighten the Family Room before going to bed. It may not stay clean throughout the day, but at least you can wake up to a clean house in the morning.

13. Get a shoe basket or shelf to have in the family room or near the front door.

14. Keep a small toy box in each room that toys get used. We have 2 family rooms so we keep a toy box in each one, plus one in the little one's bedroom.

15. If you have pets, have a toy box specifically for pet toys.

16. Put things away as soon as you're done using them. Toothpaste, hairbrush, bread, peanut butter, etc.

17. Plug in an air freshener.

18. Rinse dishes while making dinner. It's also a good time to unload the dishwasher and load dishes as you go.

19. Use a mail sorter so mail doesn't stack up on the counter.

20. Put your purse in a closet or cupboard instead of on the counter.

21. Open the blinds. It helps make your house seem bigger and your mess seem smaller. Also, open the windows for some fresh air.

5 Random Cleaning and Organizing Tips

Rinse Your Plate

Cleaning plates is a tough thing if it's kept for some time uncleaned. Rinse your plate after dinner and have all family members do the same and it makes washing plates so easy. It is a small and simple habit but makes a lot of trouble easier.


Cleaning the Microwave

Cleaning a microwave is easy. Fill up a cup of water and put it in there on high for a few minutes. The steam from the cup will loosen any stuck-on food, and then you can just wipe it away. It’s that simple.

Change a Dirty Job into a Clean One

Make trash collection less of a chore. Instead of making one trip to empty all the trash cans that have trash bags, and then making another trip to replace those bags with fresh ones, you can handle both tasks in one trip. Store a few new trash bags at the bottom of each can you use. When you remove a filled trash bag, you can replace it immediately with a bag from your stash of new ones.


Folded Sheets

Place fitted and flat sheet and extra pillow cases inside matching pillow case set and store on closet shelves. 
 

Organize Cards

Store card games inside dollar store soapboxes.

Compliments

My husband gave me a compliment the other day that has made a huge impact on how I view myself now.

First, a little back story...

My whole life I've felt like I'm surrounded by people who do things just a little bit better than I do. In elementary school my handwriting was good, but my friends were better. In Junior High I was in choir and felt like a pretty good singer, but my peers were better. In high school I played softball my freshman year and was pretty good, but my teammates were better. Then when I got married I felt like a pretty good housewife, but listening to comments in church, my ward friends were better. I've always felt like a good writer, but my husband is better. Now I feel like a pretty good mom, but my Facebook and Pinterest friends are better.

Then one day my husband told me he thinks I'm a good singer. I laughed it off and told him he was crazy and he continued to say he thought I was better than certain people (which I won't name, but people I view as good singers). It's hard for me to take a compliment so I just moved onto a new topic, but what he said has really impacted my day to day operations.

First of all, I've always loved to sing, but I've been surrounded by people who are good singers so I've developed some insecurities in my own talents. In church I started singing soft enough that nobody around me could really hear me, but by doing so it made it hard to hit any high notes so I would "mess up" and feel even less capable in my abilities. But, hearing my husband tell me I'm a good singer has given me confidence. Now I project when I sing and I don't care who hears me or who's better than me!

But it's more than that. His simple compliment has changed how I look at myself. I feel more confident about a lot of things because I've realized that it doesn't matter who's better. What matters is who tries. I may not be the best singer, but I try. I may not be the best wife, but I try. I may not be the best mom, but I try. I do what I'm capable of doing to the best of my abilities and at the end of the day that's all that matters. It's not about who packs their husband a lunch everyday for work or who puts together elaborate activities for their kids that they found on Pinterest. It's not about who sings better or who's more athletic...

...It's about how you approach your talents and how they make YOU feel. Nobody else matters when it comes to your own abilities and personal strengths.

So I'm proposing a challenge.

Give someone a compliment, but make it worth while.

I'm not talking, "cute shoes, great haircut, good lesson". Those are nice things to hear, but sometimes they seem meaningless. They're conversation starters or silence fillers.

Instead, compliment someone on their talents. If you liked their cooking, tell them why it was good. If they taught a good lesson in church, tell them what hit home for you. Tell your husband what he's good at and why. My husband could have said he thinks I'm a good singer and left it at that, but he kept going. He gave me a reason to believe what he was saying was true.

Give someone a self-esteem boost because at the end of the day we all have our own insecurities and compliments can go a long way in helping us feel more confident. Even the people who we think are so confident on the outside, have insecurities on the inside. So compliment away. You never know what impact you can have on somebody's life!

Memoirs of a Goldfish

If you're looking for a good book to read with your children, Memoirs of a Goldfish is AMAZING!

Picture from Amazon

It's the cutest book about a fish that starts off swimming in his very own bowl and soon it becomes over crowded with other fish, plants, and fish bowl decor. It's perfect for 4 and older. There's plenty of conversational cues in this book that offer children a chance to think about what is happening.

So hop on over to your public library and check it out! Also, you should swing by your library anyway just to see if they're doing any fun summer reading programs for kids. Our library is doing a "Dream Big" event and if I read to my daughter for 20 minutes everyday for 14 days we can turn in our tally card and get a prize. And we're allowed to turn in 4 cards throughout the summer. How fun is that!

Maybe some of us aren't comfortable with using the public library because it's not something we did growing up. Maybe some of us feel too embarrassed to ask these questions so let's help each other out!

Any tips you can share on how to get familiar and feel at home in the library? 

Policies? 

Tools and materials that are available that we may not know about? 

Things you do with your kids while you're there? 

Item limits for check-out?
Is it better to hand the books you're returning to the clerk at the time you're checking new books out or should you just put them in the drop box?
You're by no means limited to these questions. If you can think of anything outside of what I came up with, be sure to share them in the comments. Even if it's basic and natural to you, it may not be to someone else so share away and enlighten us with your library knowledge!

My Top 10 Baby Items

Before I had my baby I was often asked what I wanted or still needed for her. Being a first time mom made it hard for me to answer that question. Now that I've been able to actually use the things we have, here is my list of Must-Haves in no particular order:

Diaper Garbage. I always change the babe in her room which is upstairs. It makes it nice to have a designated place to throw away diapers rather than have to always go out to the garage to throw them away. I can guarantee without it, there would always be a pile of diapers to take out to the garbage! For some people it may not be necessary because they have "diaper stations" around the house and change their baby anywhere. When my baby was newborn I occasionally changed her in the family room, but most always, and now only always, I change her in her room so all the diapers get put in the diaper garbage.

Bumbo. When it comes to waste or want, this is definitely a want for me. It's perfect to sit her in to do her hair!!! Plus it's nice to have her sit at the dinner table with us (even though it says not to use on elevated surfaces). Now that we're doing solids it's nice to use in place of a booster seat. I like having her right on the dining table instead of in a high chair or booster seat strapped to a dining chair because any mess she makes lands on the table and I don't have to sweep or vacuum the rug under the table after every meal. It's also nice because it doesn't take up space like a highchair does and whenever we travel or go to restaurants we bring it along!

Boppi. I've heard a lot of people say this is a waste, but I love it! I used it for nursing when my baby was teeny tiny and I also used it to sit her in. It was perfect for when she was a newborn, and I think it worked great once she started sitting up to keep her from falling over, or at least give her a pillow to fall onto. My only qualm is that it doesn't work well to use for nursing when sitting in a chair with arms (like a glider rocker) and it wraps all the way around my waist making it uncomfortable to lean back in a chair. Other than that I love it and it's definitely gotten it's money's worth...Free! (But had I of spent the money it would have been worth it!)

Plus it's fun to hide under a blanket or sheet and use for a photo shoot when she's too small to sit up on her own!

Rocking Chair/Bouncer.  This was the only picture I could find and I'm too lazy to pull out the camera to get a better shot of it! This bouncer is kind of big, but it converts into a rocking chair and she can still use it as a toddler. It has a kick stand to keep it from rocking and puts it in a reclined position so we started using it from day one and she's now 8 months old and we still use it. It's nice because it's one we can use for a while before she outgrows it. If I didn't have this rocking chair I still would have used a bouncer. It's just nice to have her up off the floor from time to time.

Bottle Warmer. To most this isn't necessary to have, but I've used it a lot and it's been a life saver. Breast milk out of the fridge or freezer takes FOREVER to warm. We would turn the water on as hot as it would go and 20 minutes later we would have a warm bottle if we were lucky. The bottle warmer takes 90 seconds. Music to my ears!

Baby Monitor. I didn't use this very much for the first 3 months of her life, but I use it all the time now.

Baby Sling. I use this far more than her stroller. It's so much easier than having to drag out the stroller and it leaves me hands free to do other things. Plus with walking the dog the leash isn't constantly getting tangled up in the stroller.

Nursing Cover. I can't even tell you how many times and random places this thing has been used. It has definitely been a life saver. Learning how to use it was really frustrating. It seems like it would be pretty basic, but it took a lot of practice. I started using it at home to get better at it so I wouldn't feel so frustrated trying to figure it out in a public place. It's also a lot easier to use than trying to stay covered with a blanket.

Changing Pad. Before I got one of these for the diaper bag I set her on top of the nursing cover so she wasn't directly on the counter at the church. (I would have changed her directly on the counter, but I felt bad having her bare skin on the cold counter so I wanted something under her). She then peed all over the nursing cover and I hadn't even fed her yet! That's when I knew it was time to invest in a changing pad.

SwaddleMe Blanket. I love this one! She sleeps so much better when she's tightly swaddled and she wiggles enough that she can't escape this one like she can a regular blanket.

Honorable Mentions:

Elmer's Glue. When she was born she was 3lbs 10oz which meant she had a tiny head! Headband bows wouldn't stay on because they were too big so instead I glued little bows on her head. If you feel weird putting glue in your baby's hair, the NICU uses K*Y Jelly...! Both wash right out with water, but the glue dries fast and holds better because it's not oil based.

Floor Mat Thing. This one can easily be on the top ten, but I made the list before we started using it. I should have pulled it out sooner, but I forgot about it. It's a must-have now, because it's perfect for keeping my puppy from trampling over the babe when he's playing fetch. I lived without the play mat for 4 months and we got along just fine with using a blanket on the floor and toys around her, but now that it's out I don't think we'll go back! Plus she would kick her legs and swings her arms so much that she started noticing the toys so I think it helped with her development. We stopped using it after she became more mobile and would roll off of it all the time.

A 2nd Car Seat Base. (not pictured) It is SO much easier to have a base in both cars. The base is a pain to get in and out and I was/am the paranoid mom that wants my child to be as safe as possible.

Video Camera and Camera. Okay, these aren't baby items, but they were must-haves before the baby came. My dad ALWAYS video taped events in our lives when we were little. We have every Christmas and most birthdays and random moments when he felt the need to drag out the camera. Back then it was a bigger deal because it was a beast to get out and actually held a full sized VHS tape. Yikes! I didn't actually start taping Shasta until she was 2 months old because she didn't do anything and it makes me sad that I didn't start sooner because it's crazy to see how tiny she was even at 2 months. It's sad how quickly I can forget.

Items I never felt the need to buy:

Baby Swing. I tried my sister's while I was at her house and my baby loved it, but it's not something I felt the need to go out and buy. I'm sure it would be nice to have, but I have enough other places to lay her down that it's not a NEED to have it. I also feared I would constantly put her in it and not set her on the floor enough for her to learn to roll and practice tummy time.

Baby bath. I didn't want a collection of items that only get used for a short time and then have to be stored. We have a deep kitchen sink that fits her perfectly and it's nice to stand while I bathe her rather than be bent over a tub. Plus I only bathed her every two to three days when she was a newborn so it wasn't a necessity to me.

 What baby items are must-haves for you?
From the list above, what items do you agree or disagree with?
For soon-to-be moms, are there any items you have questions about?

Give Praise or Compliments

I'm studying Human Development in school and I thought this little reading was worth sharing. I especially found the bit about potty training interesting. I love what I'm studying because it's helping me become a better mom so I thought I'd pass along these helpful tips. Don't be surprised if you see more blurbs like this from time to time. Unless of course you don't like them. Let me know if you find them helpful or worth while!

Everyone responds to genuine praise. "When others reassure us that we are appreciated, worthwhile, liked, capable, and accomplished, our self-esteem increases. When we make mistakes however, we may feel guilty about not having lived up to our own or others' expectations. Dwelling on our mistakes can make us feel like failures; the resulting lowered self-image can foster tension and confusion and such behaviors are clumsiness, aggression, and withdrawal. Dwelling on children's accomplishments, no matter how small, and giving them recognition and approval affirms their worthiness and potential. It helps them develop serenity in their attitude toward living up to parents' expectations for them. Children who are constantly criticized begin feeling that they may as well give up trying, that they have no hope of achieving success and praise". Empty praise should be avoided, as it is not helpful. Cherry suggests the following considerations when giving praise:

• Praise should be sincere. Don't say how beautiful something is if you hate it. Rather pick our a part that you can comment on sincerely like, "those colors go well together."
• Don't be gushy with your praise. Keep it simple like, "I am proud of how well you performed your piano piece
• Keep praise meaningful by not overusing it. If praise is repeated too often it may lose its value. "Concentrate on new behavior that shows steps in growth, development, or learning".
• "Praise should not be confused with flattery. Praise should be something you give to someone; flattery is something you use to trick or coax something out of someone".
• Praising effort not necessarily innate abilities gives children encouragement for future attempts. For example, rather than saying how smarty your child is tell them how well they did sticking to a task and figuring it out.
• "Praise should be given for what children do. 'It was very helpful to me that you behaved so nicely in the market' is preferable to 'you've been my best boy today'". We often make these "best boy" comments without thinking about them. I had a friend who would tell her child, "good girl" whenever she used her potty when she was potty training. What message do you think this could send when she had accidents? Also, attributing her entire self-worth (whether she is "good" or not) to potty training cannot be helpful to her overall development of self.

Some children are hard to praise. Often parents and teachers interactions with these children are focused on the child's negative behavior and much of their time is spent in conflict. You should not resort to empty praise in these situations rather, praise and attend to positive bits of behavior. "Be sure you give praise when they do even the slightest things in a positive manner so that you can accustom them to the idea that your expectations are positive and within their reach".