The One With the Placemats Winner

And the winner is..... (and don't laugh at my babies without pants!)

Congratulations, and thanks to everyone who entered! Love you guys!

The One With the Giveaway!

GIVEAWAY TIME!!!
Even if you don't have kids yourself, these would make great Christmas gifts!



The other weekend I went to Christmas in Cowtown in Fort Worth, which is basically my wildest dream come true. It is a mega giant Christmas craft show. I love, love, love craft shows. As in, to a point that is kind of embarrassing. I rarely ever buy anything from them, but it's kind of like looking at a real-life Pinterest. Bam. I rest my case.

Anyways, I found a booth there called "Tabletop Truths". I was immediately drawn to the cutesy pictures. They sell adorable kid's placemats. (You know you're a nerd mom when you are immediately drawn to colorful, thematic placemats.)  They had a table set out with 6 placemats, each with a different Nativity scene on it. The gal said, "Each placemat has a different scene, and tells a different part of the Nativity story."

Sold. How fun would it be to have these placemats around your table year after year? Your children could place the mats in order as a sequencing game. (First, the angel came to Mary, then they travelled to Bethlehem, etc). I love them.

Then I glanced around and saw their other themed placemats. They had Easter ones, birthday ones, Thanksgiving ones, and all sorts of other themed placemats. I wanted 2 of everything. I bought 2 of those Nativity placemats above.

(Thanksgiving placemat)

As a kid, my sister and I had placemats with maps of the United States, the continents, and even the presidents. We learned so much from these! My sister could identify tons of presidents by age 3.  Kids might as well learn while they are sitting at the table, right? Children are like little sponges, soaking up all sorts of different concepts. We should seize each teachable moment.

Now most Christian children's items basically say, "Jesus Loves Me!" and that's it. This is nice and all, but doesn't have much depth.  Why not dig deeper? Kids are capable of understanding more than that. Then I saw these additional placemats and was totally impressed.

(Clearly presents the gospel for kids to see and learn.  I love the pure hearts on the right!)

and this one:

(This teaches the different names/qualities of Jesus. Amazing!)

If you think all of this is bologna, then you should watch this YouTube video. An adorable little girl is learning all about Jesus, and it makes me want to cry. So sweet. When I bought my placemats at the craft show, the gal there slipped a paper in my bag. She said, "These are some activities to do with your family along with the placemat." Again, totally impressed. The sheet had applicable verses and different games/points to talk about regarding the placemat.  They are not just trying to sell a product. They really want to help you be successful parents and teachers. I love that this company is selling practical, educational, Biblically-based things that can help plant seeds of truth in your child's heart. 

I couldn't stop thinking about how awesome this company was, so I finally emailed the gals and asked if they would do a giveaway on my blog. They said yes! Here are the details:

All you have to do is look at their site and pick out 2 placemats that you would want to win. There are many more choices on their website than what I showed here. Comment below and say which 2 ones you would like to win. These could be great gifts if you don't have young kids. If you win, they will mail you those 2 placemats! Ta-da! 

You have until Friday to comment below and pick your placemats! Yay! Make sure you leave your name as well so I know who entered the contest! :)

Start Shopping Here!

www.tabletoptruths.com

The One With the Felt Pumpkin

Craft Time!

I've been seeing this super cute felt play Christmas tree on Pinterest. It's great for kids to play with independently. They can decorate and redecorate the tree over and over without messing with the real tree!

The tutorial online for the tree is here!

So I decided to make a big felt Jack-O-Lantern for the girls to decorate! I'm not hugely into Halloween, but I do love cutesy pumpkins. 

All you need is:

-1 yard of orange felt ($2.99)

-a few sheets of black felt  (25 cents a sheet)

-additional sheet colors of felt for optional "accessories" (brown for a stem, green for leaves, etc)

Total? Less than $5. Awesome.

All I did was cut the fabric into a pumpkin shape. (I just free-handed it.) 

To stick it to the wall, I tried a few different things. I read online to use command strips, but they didn't work very well.  I found that staples keep the pumpkin up there very well. 

Then I used black felt to make different shaped eyes, noses, and mouths. Wee! It took about 10 minutes for the entire project. 

Char decorating

Em decorating

(different piece options)

I really don't think that the girls understand the theory of decorating pumpkins, but they still are having fun. It gives them a new tactile experience. They love the way the felt feels.  We are also able to discuss the attributes of the pieces (oval, square, triangle) and body parts (eyes, nose, mouth) in order to gain new vocabulary!  I know that we will be able to pull this out again next year and they will really be able to understand and have a blast! You can't beat $5, either!

Hope you make one!

The One With the Minor Emergency

Let me tell you about what happened to me last Tuesday.
You see, I was trying to be superwoman (which always fails) during morning naptime. The girls were stirring in their beds, about to wake up, and I was trying to ridiculously multi-task while I had my hands free.

These are the things I was doing:
-laundry
-cooking a sauce for that night's crockpot meal
-watching the news
-spray painting picture frames in the garage

We have an attached garage right outside our kitchen. I stirred the sauce, then went into the garage to add another coat of spray paint. Back and forth, back and forth, adding a coat, then running back inside to stir the sauce. "Hmm, this butter isn't melting fast enough" I thought, as I turned the stove up to medium. I went into the garage and did another coat of paint. I turned the knob to go back inside the house, but the door was locked.

Yes. I locked myself outside of my house, with my babies inside of the house, with something now on the stove. I still don't know how the little lock button got pushed, but it did. Begin panic mode.

I didn't cry, which in retrospect is very surprising. I paced in my garage for a few seconds, then went into action. My only comforting thought was that the babies were safe inside their cribs, not getting into anything. (Which was partially negated by visions of my sauce exploding into flames.) My next door neighbor is a locksmith! Hooray! Easy fix. I ran over there and his mother answered the door. She was an older lady, full of southern sweetness.

"Is Johnny home?" I asked.
"No, he's not, I'm sorry."
Aw crap.
"Um, well, can you help me? I locked myself out of my house and my two babies are inside. I also have something on the stove. Can I please use your phone?"
"Oh Lord Jesus, Yes!!! Come in child!!!" she proclaimed.
I was beginning to like her already.
"The phone's right here. Please excuse all this mess."
The house was immaculate.

I had never been inside this neighbor's house before, so as I dialed my husband's number, I couldn't help but look around and take everything in. This woman was perfectly neat too, with manicured nails, a neat bun, and wearing a cute jean dress. At that point, I realized what a mess I looked like. I was wearing what I had slept in (sweats and a t-shirt), hadn't showered, and wasn't even wearing shoes. Then it hit me.
 "Omigosh I'm so sorry that I'm not wearing a bra!!!" I blurted out.
"Oh honey, ain't nobody lookin' at that."
Phew.

I really can't believe that I said that to a perfect stranger, but she had this grandma-esque quality to her that made me feel at ease. Plus, I was clearly not thinking rationally. Oh well. My husband works only a few minutes away, so he could come back and open the door for me in a jiffy. I thanked her for letting me use the phone, keeping my distance as I had also realized that I had not yet brushed my teeth that morning.

I ran back to my house and pressed my ear against the door to hear if the babies were crying/smell if my house was on fire. Out of the corner of my eye I saw a miracle! My keys, in the seat of my car! I had somehow left them in the seat of the car from a previous trip! Relief rushed over me. I grabbed the keys, unlocked the door, and found my sauce mildly bubbling. The babies were happily chattering in their beds to each other.

I would say this whole ordeal lasted 5-10 minutes, but it felt like an hour at the time. I feel as though locking yourself out of your house without your children is some sort of "mom rite of passage".  And if so, I would like my merit badge now.

Life lesson learned; always hide a spare key somewhere!

The One with Godly Parenting

Hope the title didn't scare you off already. Hang in there. If you've read my blog before, it's me in a nutshell. I don't try to fancy things up. I share my reality with you, which usually involves poop in some form. So I'll say right off the bat, I'm trying to be a Godly parent, but I'm falling short. 

(I found this awesome quote/pic on this blog. Love. Although I'm not sure I 100% agree. I believe it's very much my responsibility to teach my children the way of God, yet it's not my responsibility to change their heart.  Only God can truly change them inwardly.)

I want my children to have a tiny baby concept of God, even at this age. I believe it's important to plant seeds of truth in our kids early on. If you're not a Christian reading this, you may see this as some sort of early "brainwashing". It's not. It's just teaching my children early on about what's important to me. You might teach your kids at a young age about sports, manners, or whatever else is a priority to you. 

In the beginning of our lives, our parents are the only thing we know. The only concepts and beliefs we form are initially shaped by our parents. (Of course, once we are exposed to other people/truths/things, these concepts can change.) Ideally though, our children will learn the truth of the Gospel early on. 

So ironically, as I set goals and concepts for my children to understand and live out, I am actually working on myself. Trying to be a Godly parent. And what do I mean by Godly parent? Well, I guess I mean displaying the practical characteristics of God to my children. Here goes...

God is patient. 

If I'm impatient and harsh with my child, I'm teaching them the concept that God is impatient and harsh. 

This is something that I really internally struggle with. I try to put on a good face on the outside.  I might even be acting patient with my kids. Inside I may be flipping out. But in 1 Timothy the Bible says that God displays his unlimited patience to those who believe in Him. Wow. My patience is definitely limited. 

God is love.

If I don't love my child, they will have difficulty relating to God's love. 

This is a bit easier of a task to display. We all love our children. But I need to remember to show love to my children with my actions, not solely by saying, "I love you." We need to be generous with our children, connect with our children, bless them, comfort them, nurture them, provide them security, and so much more. 

God is Just, Merciful, and Full of Grace.

If I don't teach my children these things, they will have a hard time understanding that God is just, fair, and full of grace.  

Here are some practical definitions and examples in real life scenarios:

Justice-getting what we deserve (a punishment for drawing on the wall)

Mercy-not getting what we deserve (just a warning for drawing on the wall)

Grace-getting what we don't deserve (I deserve a punishment for drawing on the wall, but not only do I get a just warning, I get hugs and snuggles and ice cream)

There is a time and place for justice, mercy, and grace. I'm not always going to give them grace when they disobey, because in turn, they will never learn the concept of justice. It is a hard balance. This may involve me constantly disciplining my little ones in some form or another.  It's hard and tiring and always a judgement call.  

God is a Forgiver.

If I don't show ample and genuine forgiveness to my child, how will they grasp God's immense forgiveness of our sins through Jesus? 

This means moving on after punishments.  No holding things above their heads, no silent treatment, no bringing up old wounds, no anger or secret bitterness towards them. My kids aren't really at an age where this is an issue, but we also need to show this action towards our spouse in front of our kids as well. Watching your marriage is one of the biggest ways your children learn. 

One concept that I'm very intentionally working on with the girls right now is God is the Creator. I am not creating things in order to emulate God, but I try in every day conversation to bring Him up as they develop a concept of their world. "Oh look at that pretty butterfly God made!" or "I'm so glad God made strawberries! Don't they taste good, girls?" or "Wow! God made it rain a lot last night! Look at all those puddles!" This is a fun concept for me, and a good reminder to enjoy the little things. 

The ugly? It's hard to do all these things. I'm constantly failing. I repeat, I suck at this. 

But that's ok because God has grace upon me. As of now, I will work with all of my heart to plant seeds of truth in these tiny hearts early on. Want your kid to be kind? Then you be kind because God is kind to us. Want your kid to be slow to anger? Then you be slow to anger because God is slow to anger with us. It's the "remove the plank from your own eye in order to remove the speck from your brother's" concept. A simple concept, but hard to put into action.

What do you think? Any parenting ideas out there? Do you think I'm a crazy person now? I'm no theologian, just a mom who is trying to follow Jesus. 

The One With Older Baby Toys

Ok guys, in 6 days my babies will turn one. This is not acceptable. I'm really in denial. I thought I would do a post on some new toys that we have gotten for the girls as they get older. (9 months plus)

I'll have you know that I have stuck to my "toy guidelines" from a previous post, and that my girls still love their old toys as well! Hooray! I'm trying to get universal, gender-neutral classics that will last a long time. If you missed that post, it's here.  Here's hoping that these will get many more years of use!


Fisher Price Animal Sounds Farm

(pic courtesy of amazon.com)

My girls LOVE this farm. They can play with it together for like, 30 minutes at a time. At first, they just gnawed on the animals, but now they try to place the animals in the farm. They also love to drop the animals down the chute of the silo, then open the door and discover them at the bottom. The rooster slides horizontally and sings Old MacDonald (without lyrics, just music, so it's less annoying) and the girls bounce on their butts and dance along to the music.
Perks:
-It comes with 6 figurines (5 animals, one farmer, there is also a goat that isn't pictured above) that are wonderfully sized for a baby grip, yet are safe for munching.
-It makes animal sounds when you open the doors on the front. (It oinks when you open the pig pen, etc).
-It has a silo attached that holds all the pieces!! (Self-contained pieces? I'm sold.)
-It has batteries, but you can turn the sound off if you'd like.
-My friend has a 3 year old that still loves this toy! (We will get a few years out of this one!)

 (Emily putting the sheep in the barn loft, Charlotte examining the farmer.)

Leapfrog Fridge Farm
I guess I'm obsessed with farms? I didn't realize this until now. I really like this one. First of all, my kids are obsessed with the fridge and kitchen, so anything that keeps them occupied without mischief is a winner in my book. Leapfrog also makes a fridge phonics toy that tells you the letter sounds. I'm all about this as a teacher, but a) The girls aren't quite ready to grasp phonics yet, and b) I didn't want 26 little magnet pieces all over my kitchen floor. The girls love this toy.

 (All the animal options)

(See! Already pieces on the floor! So glad there aren't 26 letters.)

Perks:

-You can turn the sound on/off.
-Because the pieces are magnetic, the base kind of "sucks" them in more easily. The girls can actually put the pieces in the base with success!
-Sometimes my girls fight over the cool base, so I just let them play with the magnets on cookie sheets without the base. They still have fun attempting to match the animal head and butt.
-When you make a match, the toy sings, "You made a match! Look what you found! You made a match, hear a cow sound! Moo!" (or sheep or pig, etc) It also has fun facts about each animal, like "Did you know that pigs roll in the mud to stay cool?"
-If you don't make a match, the base sings, "You put a pig in the front, you put a horse behind, put them together, and what do you find? A pig-horse! That's silly!" I like that it still rewards them for placing the pieces in, yet gives feedback that they didn't make a real animal, just a silly one. I'm sure this will crack the girls up when they're 2-3 years old.



Little Tikes Activity Garden
Stop what you're doing and get this toy. It's amazing. Life-altering. Ok, maybe I'm being dramatic. This has been one of my favorite toys of all time. The kids I nannied had this toy. They had it in the baby room at Pine Cove. (Shout out to all my Creek Kids girls!)
It is everyone's favorite toy, and very highly coveted. The worst part? They don't make it anymore. The best part? I got it on Craigslist. If you get it on Craigslist, just make sure that it comes with all the pieces (3 pieces of mail, 3 vegetables). Or you can get replacement pieces on Ebay. When we bought ours, it was covered in crayon. Mr. Clean Magic eraser took it all off!

 Emily walks around the perimeter of the house.

Charlotte planting a carrot.

 They LOVE to play peek-a-boo through the mailbox! 

Super fun!

Perks:
-This can be an indoor/outdoor toy. It's made by Little Tikes, so it is durable enough for outside, yet cute enough for inside.
-Both babies can fit inside well.
-Cool features: It has a swinging door, a tunnel to crawl out of, a squeaky doorbell, a squeaky bird, spinning birds, floppy flowers to play with, a carrot, radish and onion that they can "plant" in the garden portion, and a mailbox with mail inside! The mailbox is BY FAR the highlight of the toy. It even has a little flag you can put up like a real mailbox.
-Even big kids that are 3-4 still love playing with this.

Melissa and Doug Jumbo Knob Puzzles
First of all, you cannot go wrong with anything Melissa and Doug. Ever. They just have the best stuff. I want to start working on the girls' fine motor skills, so puzzles are the way to go! I love their jumbo knob puzzles because they are easy for the babies to grasp the pieces.

-My sister got them this puzzle with the shapes and it is their favorite! I like the fact that you can put the shape in successfully, even if it is technically upside down. (The shapes are symmetrical.) The girls have already put pieces in correctly! Yay!

Instruments (any that are age appropriate)
Weee! We love instruments! (Me and my hubby were diehard band nerds! Drum major and drum captain? Nerdy musical destiny.) The girls love to make music. We have a musical tub that I get out once a day. It's full of loud and annoying (I mean fun?) toys that can help teach rhythm and give them a variety of auditory input. We shake our toys and sing our ABC's, jingle bells, or whatever cutesy song I can think of.  We usually play with this in the morning time and it magically gets cleaned up by the time daddy gets home from work. It helps the sanity over here.  I really want to get them a xylophone, but the thought of my 2 babies and mallets scares me. They are always somehow injuring each other. Plus, we have a bathtub xylophone and they would just gag themselves of on the mallets. Maybe when they are older?

(Sensory water bottles, jingle bells, maracas*, tambourine, rain stick, baby piano)

*Don't get cheap plastic maracas. If the plastic is thin, and your child hits it against something, it will shatter and you will have lots of tiny bead things everywhere. Mine are plastic, but it is very thick. (Lakeshore, $2.99)


FREE household things my girls love to play with:
-Blankets and pillows
-Tupperware
-Board Books (sometimes I sneak board books into their cribs once they are asleep. That way, when they wake up, there are fun books to look at in the morning!)
-Plastic Mixing Bowls
-An air mattress
-Diaper/Wipes Boxes (they love to climb on/push these around)
-Laundry in a laundry basket (emptying and filling over and over)

Ok, so there's my list of new fun toys. If you're not a mom, you probably just died of boredom. :)
Bye guys! Next post...birthday party post!!!

The One With the Matchy Matchy

Ok, so a few people have asked me about my girls consistently wearing matching clothes.  You see, when I was pregnant with the girls, I SWORE they would never match. EVER. People asked me if they should get me matching clothes, and I was basically offended. How could anyone be that cheesy? How could people strip the identity away from their children by dressing them as one unit? The horror.

That lasted about 5 seconds.

You see, after I had the babies I turned...how you say...neurotic about certain things.  Suddenly, after they were born, they HAD to match. I have no idea why. It literally stressed me out when they didn't match. I think it was because I was trying so hard to get them on the same schedule as each other that I was just dying for them to do something the same. They always had to be in the same room, too. (Which even typing that sounds weird now.)  I just needed this peace of mind seeing my unit of babies together, alive, doing the same thing. I needed some consistency.

Here are my thoughts about twin matching:

-My original plan was for my children to wear perfectly coordinating, yet not exactly matching outfits. As in, the same adorable dress: one pink, one purple. Ha. (I still think this is an adorable, yet unattainable goal.) They don't really make clothes like this very often. You really have to hunt them down. Then you have to hope and pray that these coordinating clothes come in the right sizes. Hunting for cute, coordinating outfits involves extra time and extra money. I lack both.

-When the girls wore non-matching outfits in the beginning, EVERY SINGLE PERSON in public would say, "Oh, a boy and a girl?" Clearly one of those babies in those non-matching dresses is a boy.  It was so awkward. I eventually decided to just agree with whatever conclusion people came up with. It was easier that way.  "Yup! Totally a boy right there! Well....see ya!"

-When putting on 2 non-matching outfits, I always felt secretly guilty that one girl got to wear the cuter outfit. (Let's be real, some clothes are just cuter than others.) I didn't want to have "favorite baby in cute outfit" and "deprived baby in a potato sack."
P.S. I know how dumb and shallow this sounds, but come on! Everybody has that shirt in their closet that you're like, "Sigh, I guess this is the only thing clean."  Now imagine deciding which of your 2 adorable babies has to wear the blah outfit. I felt so guilty. I rest my case.

-IT IS JUST SO MUCH EASIER.
Instead of thinking about 20 different, yet coordinating individual outfits, I just think about 10 identical sets of outfits. Amazing. The end.

-If my girls were identical, then I might not have them match. It would be super hard to distinguish them from one another. With mine, I can easily say, "Emily has hair." If they were identical though, it might be easier on friends/family if they didn't match.

-My girls won't always match. (Unless they want to.) When they are a little older, I will give them the choice in what they want to wear. I'm assuming some days they will want to match, and some days they won't. At that point, I won't care.
Side story: I hope they don't match forever. I was an R.A. in college, and some of my residents were twins and STILL MATCHED AT AGE 19. Same shoes, same purse, everything. Gross. It was a little much at that point.

-Neurotic confession:
I group the babies' matching outfits together in big, gallon-sized zipper bags. Then I clip the bags to a pants hanger in the closet. I do this because:
a) I'm psycho.
b) We don't have a dresser.
c) I loathe hanging things on actual hangers.
d) It's easy for my hubby to just grab a bag of clothes with all the coordinating pants/jackets/onesies inside.

   (Neurotic hanging bags. Hanging clothes on the right are unworn yet. I don't do hangers.)

-My girls look so different from each other that now people in the store say, "Oh, they are so cute! Wait... are they twins? Wow! They don't look anything alike!"  It makes me kind of glad that they are matching.  Maybe otherwise, people would just think they are just buds or something.

So for now, I'm just treasuring the times that my children can match.
It's a phase in life where matching is publicly accepted, endearing, and non-creepy.
Plus, it's freakin' cute.