February 21, 2012

~Brotherly Love~

All of the "big" boys are just the sweetest when it comes to their baby brother, Logan. From day one, heck even when I was pregnant, they have just loved him up. Nothing but kindness and love. All three boys are so great as big brothers, but Trevor especially has a very soft spot for Logan. I am sure that will change as soon as he is crawling and getting into their things, but for now I am soaking it all up.






February 20, 2012

~Loving the boxes~

The quiet boxes are still a huge hit! The boys are asking by 9am if they can have quiet time, I have been holding them off as long as I can. I didn't make any boxes for the weekend, and soon found out I should have. They all wanted quiet box time on the weekend, and that included Landon. Landon had a long weekend home, he was off from school on Friday and also today. He was very excited to be able to do the quiet boxes. I don't have any boxes made for Landon (yet), so he used Trevor's. I added something that didn't fit in the boxes that my boys love, 

Boys' World of Doodles

Over 100 Pictures to Complete and CreateIf you have boys that love to draw and create like mine do, and you don't have this book you should buy it. Your son will love it, promise! I spent some of my quiet time on Friday snapping a few pictures of the boys' quiet time.







February 15, 2012

~Quiet Boxes~

Nap time, you know that time of the day that moms look forward to. That time of day where you can get a lot done or not do anything and just relax. That cherished two hours every afternoon. That time of the day that I wish I got. That's right, naps have been boycotted in this house. For some reason my boys hit about two and a half and just stop napping consistently. Yeah, I will get them to nap occasionally but it is not something I depend on day to day. When Landon was small I would try to make him take a nap. I got so tired of fighting him, getting him to try to nap would take over an hour and I would be at my wits end. I decided it wasn't good for either of us and with the rest of the kids, I decided I would not make them nap. If I can tell they really need it I will try rocking them for a little bit but I was not going to force them. Like I said, it just created more problems than good here. Because of this lack of nap time, I have been wanting to put together some activities that the Trevor and Ethan could do on their own while I was able to devote some serious time to picking up, folding laundry, doing dishes, vacuuming, etc. I had an idea in my head and did a search on pinterest...jack pot. Most were called quiet boxes, and are basically a sensory and activity box that are for little ones to play in and have fun with for a certain amount of time.


We have a lot of really fun toys, games, and learning activities in this house. The problem is, you get all that out and you have a giant mess to clean up after they are done using it all. These boxes solve that problem! For example, I put a few of our lacing boards in the boxes, a few of our matching puzzles (words and math for Trevor, number recognition for Ethan). I started with the Trevor and Ethan on Monday, and the last two days have been a HUGE success! Monday, I set the timer for 30 minutes and Ethan went the entire time and then Trevor wanted to keep playing with his box and I think played almost an hour. Same thing yesterday, Trevor really gets into it and played for over an hour. I was trying to build up Ethan's time and set the timer to 40 minutes but he was done after 30. During this time, they have to pick a spot they want to be and can't play with anything besides what is in the box. This way I can really pick up, with out them counter acting what I am doing and getting other toys out!

I have a different box for Monday through Friday, and with two boys partaking that makes of total of 10 boxes. I was able to find plastic boxes (about the size of a shoe box) at Walmart for $0.96 each, and as far as everything in them, that didn't cost a thing. I found all of the items in the box around the house. I used modge podge to glue down the labels (I love the Dr. Suess font!) and dressed them up a bit with some scrapbook paper as well. A few things I will have to change every week, like coloring pages, paper, mazes, stickers, but most of the items in the boxes will stay put and not need to be replaced.




A few things that are in Trevor's boxes:
  • Color by number (he can read almost all of the colors by himself)
  • Math puzzles (one piece is a math problem, the other piece is the answer)
  • Lacing letters
  • Blank paper
  • measuring cups
  • beans
  • clothes pins
  • fabric
  • crayons, markers, and/or a pen
  • small puzzles
  • legos
A few things that are in Ethan's boxes:
  • Coloring book pages
  • clothes pins
  • beans
  • measuring cups
  • crayons
  • number puzzles (a picture of a ball puzzle piece connects to the number 1, four trucks connects to the number 4, etc.)
  • sunglasses
  • a wheel
  • buttons
  • magnets



I hope they continue to love this time, because I know I sure am loving it. I really can get a lot done in just 30 minutes of constant CLEANING mode. They ask if they could play in them right away yesterday morning, but I didn't let them until "quiet time", which for me is 2pm. Any time after 2 is when I have decided to make it "quiet time". I try to nurse Logan and get him down, and then I get the big boys going in their boxes and then I am free to do what needs to be done (or nothing at all if that is what I need!). 

February 7, 2012

~Valentine~


Hello, again. So, I know I promised pictures from the birth of Logan. Well, the pictures are on Ted's laptop (my CD drive is broken on mine...almost everything is broken on mine) and I haven't had a chance to get them off of it yet. BUT, yesterday I made some Valentines for the boys to take to school. I saw the idea for these on Pinterest and then followed the link to this cool blog, a small snippet. You can print off the ones she has made, I really liked them but wanted to try to make my own with photoshop elements. I love how mine turned out and have decided to share them with you! Please enjoy for your own personal use, and give credit where credit is due.

Here is Landon's Valentines (I will update with the finished product, with the actual pop rocks candy and the tag folded in half once I go and buy 50 pop rocks!). He needs to write the name of his classmates on his, which he will do in the green dot area.
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Trevor's I made different, because his teachers requested that the students not write the names of his classmates but instead he should practice writing his name. He will write his name in the green dot area, under the Love, . These are the Valentines that I am sharing with you! You can click on the picture to download a pdf file. Let me know if you have problems, this is the first time I have added a pdf file to share and I am not all that tech savy.
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Clicking on the picture will (should!) automatically download the pdf file for you, or you can click HERE to be promted to download the file.