Category: Toddler

Favorite Toddler Nighttime Stories

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Favorite Toddler Nighttime Stories

The snuggles.  The cuddles under the blanket.  The bedtime stories.  The nighttime prayers.  These are some of my favorite things about bed time with our little boy.  I cherish these moments because I know they will not last forever.  There will come a time when he doesn’t want Mom to lay down and read a story.  There will come a time when he just wants to say his prayers on his own and fall asleep without me playing with his hair.

But until that day, I soak up every second of it.

You should, too.  The dishes can wait.  The wet laundry can set for just a few more minutes.  It can all wait.

Be present with your little ones because the days go by way too fast.  One day you’ll realize that you no longer have to change their diapers or one day you won’t have to help them go potty and then they won’t need your help to wash their hands afterwards.

What feels like a slow transition – really isn’t. We potty trained back in July and here we are in November with a big boy that can go all by himself (for the most part), flush, grab his stool and climb up to wash his hands.  Mom or dad is not needed.

So when it comes to our bedtime routine, I’m holding on to that one a little longer.  Even on those nights I’m physically and emotionally exhausted.  Because there will come a time when I sit back and think, “huh bedtime doesn’t last as long these days.”

One of our favorite traditions is to climb into bed and read bedtime stories.  He’s 2 so his attention span isn’t the longest, but he does love a good book with bright pictures.  I’ve put together a list of some of our favorite bedtime stories to share with you.

Sometimes the stories get a bit repetitive so it’s nice to have a little variety, right?  We also love going to the public library to check out a new book or two to read for a bit, too.

Here are some of our favorite toddler bedtime stories:

children's stories, bedtime stories for kids

Have You Seen My Dinosaur – a Dr. Seuss beginner book by Jon Surgal

children's stories, bedtime stories for kids

Prayers For Little Boys by Carolyn Larsen

children's stories, bedtime stories for kids

Daniel Tiger 5-Minute Stories by Simon Spotlight

children's stories, bedtime stories for kids

All The Ways I Love You – a recordable book from Hallmark (Grandma and Grandpa recorded it)

children's stories, bedtime stories for kids

I’ll Never Let You Go by Smriti Prasadam-Halls and Alison Brown

children's stories, bedtime stories for kids

The Poky Little Puppy by Janette Sebring Lowrey and Gustaf Tenggren

children's stories, bedtime stories for kids

Puppy’s First Christmas by Steve Smallman and Allison Edyson

Are you expecting?

Congrats! It’s such an amazing time. I remember feeling overwhelmed and confused with all the things that needed to get done before our little one was born.  I wanted to make sure we were prepared for just about every obstacle that was going to come up – and I’m so glad we did! I put together my best tips in a checklist to help you financially prepare for your baby.  Grab the Baby Checklist here!

Potty Training Tips (Potty Train in Three Days)

potty training tips

Potty training… It’s not for the faint of heart.  But it is so worth it.

A few months ago we took the plunge and started working with our son on potty training.  It went surprisingly well…not all rainbows and butterflies, but it worked.  He’s potty trained and we still have our sanity (well most of it). So I wanted to share with you how we potty trained our son in just about 3 days.

Here are are full-proof potty training tips to help you:

Set Aside Time

We set aside about three days to fully dedicate to potty training.  I took a Friday off work and then made sure to not schedule anything on Saturday or Sunday.  That meant no errands, no leaving the house and no visitors.  I wanted my full attention on our son.

No Distractions

Make sure when it comes to potty training that you turn off all distractions.  Try to keep your phone off and down.  Keep the TV off or down low.  Also, keep your little one in a blocked off area so they are in eyesight at all times.  We ended up blocking the kitchen and the hallway off so I could easily keep an eye on him.

Go Naked

This was probably the hardest part for our little man.  He doesn’t like to be naked.  So we comprised – no pants, but he did wear shoes and socks (HA!).  He looked silly, but it worked.  He was more comfortable and that made it a lot easier.

Set A Timer

Make sure you encourage your child to sit on the potty chair on a regular basis.  Set a timer on your phone to remind you to take your little one to the potty every 15 minutes.  Even if they don’t go, that’s okay.  Just start making it a habit to sit on the potty.

Put Out Towels

We ended up leaving our potty chair in the middle of the family room so that it was always close by.  Then I took large bath towels and laid on the floor around the potty chair.  That way if we had an accident it was no big deal.  Clean up was a breeze and I made sure to leave the washing machine empty so I could easily toss in any dirty towels or clothes.

Make It Fun

So for us, to encourage him to sit on the potty chair we played games.  I created a flour sensory bin that he played with while sitting on his chair.  That way he was right there when he needed to go and he knew that sitting on his chair meant getting to play with flour.  And because of the towels that we already put on the floor… cleanup is a breeze.

Find A Reward That Works

A reward system is a great tactic to use when learning to potty train.  However, you need to find a system that works for you and your child.  We started out with M&M’s and once I discovered that someone was sharing his rewards with the dogs… that stopped.  Next we turned to freeze pops, but when he earned 5 before 10am that stopped.  We ended up playing his favorite song on the big TV from Youtube.

Find something that works for you and that will encourage your child to learn how to potty train.

Be Patient

Above all else be patient.  It’s not easy to learn something new or to learn how to listen to your body for the first time.  Don’t get upset or yell or be impatient with your little one.  If you become upset when they make a mistake then they will more than likely not understand.  It will slow their process and make the whole thing more difficult for everyone involved.

How To Afford More For Your Kids On A Budget

How To Afford More For Your Kids On A Budget

Alright, last night I asked my Instagram followers what they wanted to see today.

You spoke. I listened.

In today’s post I’m going to be sharing just how we afford all the fun we do with our little man while on a budget.

Honestly, we weren’t able to do as much as we can now just a year ago. We also know that in a year we plan on being able to do even more. It’s all about making progress around here.

This time last year J was in school full time and we were living off just one income.  We were surviving, but not necessarily thriving.  We had to carefully watch what we spent to make sure we had enough to cover all of our bills from month-to-month.  Luckily we had done some pretty heavy planning before he back to school, so we never went without.

But now life is a little different – we’re back to being a two income household, which means a couple of things:

  • we get to do more
  • we get to save more
  • we’re still acting like we’re living off one income for the majority of our bills

But if you’re ready to afford more for you kids while on a budget then you’ve come to the right place.  We’re going to go over the steps we’ve taken to make sure we can do more for and with our little man while still making progress towards our bigger financial goals.

Make A List

The first step in trying to afford more is to make a list. We have a dream list of all the things we would love to do with our little man. You need to do the same. Here’s a snippet of our list:

  • gymnastics
  • private preschool
  • Baseball/ T-ball
  • Day trips
  • Vacations
  • Summer camps
  • And more

Once you have your list that’s when you need to start planning. How much is each activity going to cost? What age do they need to be to start it? Where is it going to be?

We prioritized our list into one he was able to do right now at 2 years old. We know he’s still a little young for baseball and summer camps, so we don’t have to worry about those right now. But we do have him in gymnastics and we love taking day trips to new places.

Take A Good Look At Your Budget

Next, you need to take a good look at your budget to see where you can squeeze out some extra money.  For instance, we realized that not eating out about three times a month was all we needed to cover the cost of gymnastics.

Once you determine where you can get some extra cash then you need to decide if it’s actually feasible to make the cuts.  For us, we had to weigh the thought of eating out three more times in a month with the idea of our son being more active with other children.

It really was a no brainer, but it may not be that easy for you.  So make a pro/con list.  Talk it over and then make a decision.  The best part about making decisions?  You can always change your mind.  So don’t worry about making a mistake.

affording more for your kids

Plan Ahead

If you’re wanting to make more day trips, road trips and be more spontaneous then you need to plan ahead.

I know, I know.  How do you plan ahead to be spontaneous, Meredith?

Well I’m going to tell you… You need to juts understand and accept that you’re going to do things on a whim so you need to be saving for those.  Now you don’t have to plan for each specific trip to the zoo, pumpkin patch, or road trip but just know that you will take them.

What has worked for us is having a category in our sinking funds earmarked for miscellaneous activities.  This category is for all the last minute trips and fun activities we come up with.  We don’t put a lot towards this category every month and it’s the first to get cut on tighter months, but we have been able to build a little stockpile without much effort.

Decide how much you can easily put back each month for those just-for-fun trips.  It may only be $20, but doing that for a few months could make for a really nice trip to the zoo or to the pumpkin patch.

Be Smart After Spending

This is one of the most important parts of being able to afford more – you have to be smart after a purchase.  On the weeks following a road trip you should be cooking at home more, not eating out, and using what you have on hand instead of going grocery shopping.

Try meal planning every two weeks so that way you know with certainty that you have enough food to prepare dinners and even lunches on those weeks following.  Make sure you aware of your spending so you don’t go over budget.

Spend Gifts With Care

If you ever receive cash or gift cards for birthdays and holidays then make them stretch.  We take on a hoarder type mentality.  We want the money to last as long as possible so we tend not to spend on eating out and other expenses that we already have budgeted for.  We like to save this extra amounts for more fun occasions.

Reward Points

Sign up for reward points or see about earning cash back with your credit card.

Now, I’ve talked about using your credit card before so if you haven’t seen that post I highly recommend checking it out to make sure you don’t throw your entire budget out of whack.

For example we use our credit card for gas and groceries then pay it off each month. At the end of the year we take our reward points and cash them in. That’s usually the majority, if not all, the money we spend on Christmas gifts.

So try to save your reward points and give them a purpose. If you want to take a family trip every summer then save your reward points for that occasion. Make your reward points your spending cash while on vacation.

Try to earn free nights at hotels to save money.  Most hotels have reward programs that are free and you earn points for staying.  In the next few weeks J and I will be traveling to Kansas City for free (except the cost of gas and food).  He earned free tickets through his work and I had enter a drawing at a local hotel and won enough points to cover a night at a hotel in Kansas City.  So this trip that we thought and planned to cost us quite a bit, suddenly just got a whole lot cheaper!  Which means the money we were setting aside can be used for other fun activities with our little man.

Don’t Over Do It

Be mindful of how much you can actually afford and how much your little one can do.  For instance, when the time comes for your little princess to start dance lessons then drop them from gymnastics or go back through these steps to see about finding the money to afford both in your budget.   We know that when the day comes that Dent is ready for a new activity and we’re still in this financial position then we would cancel gymnastics.

However, I know and you know that the goal is to continue to earn more and save more. So that we can have the hopes of being able to do all. the. things. our little ones want to do.

 

Teaching Your Kids Halloween Safety

teaching your kids Halloween safety tips

Are you gearing up some trick-or-treating adventures in the next week or so?  We are! It’s our third official Halloween and the older our son gets, the more fun it becomes.  As a child I really didn’t like Halloween.  I spent most of the time sitting on my grandparents’ porch handing out candy with her.  I didn’t like scary costumes, which meant I preferred to just sit out the whole trick-or-treating thing.  Honestly, sitting on my grandparents’ porch handing out candy is some of my favorite memories as a little girl.  But things are different now.  Nowadays I couldn’t imagine a better Halloween then with our little man.

His excitement makes it all worth it.  But as mom I am fully aware how dangerous Halloween can be.  There are so many kids running around – in costume, they’re literally taking candy from strangers (which is what we tell them to never do), and in Southeast Missouri the weather is usually cold and wet.

Before heading out for Halloween make sure you prepare yourself and your little one to have a safe night.  Here are some tips for teaching your kids Halloween safety this year and for making sure you’re prepared.

Inspect Candy

Before letting your little ones dig into their stockpile, make sure to take a quick look through it.  Let them know they aren’t allowed to eat any until you all get home and can get in a well-lit area to inspect it.  Check wrappers to make sure they haven’t been tampered with.  Remove any candy that isn’t in its original wrapper or if it’s homemade.  Check expiration dates to make sure everything is still good.

Also, you’re not just checking for tampered candy, but you’re also wanting to make sure you remove any candy that could be a choking hazard.

If you’re in doubt throw it away.  And if you do find anything that has been tampered with – call the police and let them know the candy and the area you trick-or-treated in.

Areas You Know

This one goes with the same tip as below, but make sure if you’re going trick-or-treating you know the neighborhood.  It’s recommended to travel to houses where you know the owners or feel comfortable.  That way you don’t have to worry about candy (but should still inspect it) and can keep a good eye for any cars that look out of place.

Well Lit Subdivisions

If you walk from house-to-house make sure you select a neighborhood that’s well lit and in a good area of town.  Try to hit the streets early and call it quits when it starts to get too dark.  You want to make sure you stay in well lit areas with street lamps and close knit homes.  We tend to stick to the main street we live off of and call it quits before dark hits, which means not a lot of time for trick-or-treating, but that’s okay.  We would rather be safe than sorry.

Damsel in Defense, Holla His Alarm, self defense, teaching children stranger danger

Personal Alarms or Whistles

Your little ones should carry a battery-operated personal alarm or an emergency whistle.  Teach them to use those alarms only when necessary – when they are afraid, when they are separated from you, or when they’re in danger.  It’s hard to teach younger children to use it only when needed, but it can be done.  So start practicing early and make sure you teach them who are strangers and who are not strangers.  If you use a battery-operated personal alarm (like this one in blue or this one in pink) make sure it has a flashlight attached, too.  That way they can see more easily to look for you if they get separated.

Summer Activities For Toddlers

summer activities for toddlers

It is blazing hot outside these days.  I know, I know I complained about winter when it was here. I promised myself I wouldn’t complain when it was finally warm, but these temps are so hot!  It’s hard to want to get out and do anything on the weekend.  But having a two year old kind of forces you to get up and get moving, otherwise you want to pull your hair out before nap time.

We have found some fun, creative summer activities for toddlers for our little man to do.

Some of these are inside, some of these are outside and all of them are cheap (or free).

Outside summer activities for toddlers:

Now, because I am a mom I’m going to have to give a disclosure before starting our list.  If you’re outside, no matter the time of day (unless it’s pitch black and then you’re little one might be sleeping anyways), you should always put sunscreen on your little ones.  We love using Babyganics sunscreen and have used it since he was a baby!

Kid’s pool – you can grab one of these bad boys for less than $15 at a local store.  Stick the hose in it and let them go.

Water table – we were gifted a water table from my sister, but you can find a similar one on Amazon.  This gem is gold during those hot days.  He loves to splash in the water, carry cups of water around to splash the dogs and just has a blast.  We usually keep the hose nearby for quick fill -ups since he tends to splash more water out than what stays in.

Sensory bins – as you can tell water is a big component for our summer fun outside.  But you can easily grab multiple totes and bowls to play with.  I love making colorful ice the night before to have something more exciting added to it.

Finger painting – technically this activity could be classified as an inside activity, but it’s messy.  So we prefer to play outside with this one.  Plus, I usually strip him down into just a diaper or old shorts and let him go to town with the paint.  What we love best is when we’re able to find old pieces of cardboard that are headed to the trash.  That way he can sit in the middle and have a blast and I don’t have to worry about paint winding up inside.

summer activities for toddlers

Fishing – this is a steal from our son’s first birthday party, but it is still a huge hit around here.  Actually, a lot of these pieces live in our bath time tub since he loves them so much.  But we have a few fishing poles left and lots of pieces of this kit we bought online.  We fill up the kid pool and then he does the rest.

Inside summer activities for toddlers:

Sticker Sorting – this one is a blast for our little guy and it’s some what educational too.  We try to keep him focused on matching colors with the stickers – blue ones on the blue sheet, green ones on the green sheet and so on.  Sometimes it works and sometimes we put stickers anywhere we darn well please – including on the dogs!

Mess Free Painting – if it’s too hot to go outside, but we want to play with some colors then we opt for a less messy way.  I started doing a mess free painting when he was just a baby.  It’s easy to put together and the clean up is a breeze!

summer activities for toddlers

Inside Swimming Pool – Our town has a great indoor pool that is perfect and cheap!

Sensory Bins – if you follow me on Instagram then you may catch a story from time-to-time with our sensory bin adventures.  We’ve tried just about anything – beans, rice, flour, cooked pasta and water.  You name it and I’m game for it.  Most days we try to keep the messiest ones outside, but I’m a pushover when he hauls the giant tub of flour out of our cabinet.  We tend to keep specific toys in the bin that are usually only played at that time.  That way they’re like a treat.

Muffin Tins and Pom Poms – I don’t know about you, but we have a ton of those cotton pom poms leftover in our craft bin.  Every once in awhile I pull some out and an old muffin tin.  Our son’s goal is to put one or two or three in each tin (we pick a number and count together).

Bath time – Hopefully your little loves baths because they are one of the easiest things to entertain with.  If we’re starting to get a little bored with our toys and games then I usually offer a bath.  He loves them and starts stripping down before I can even turn the water on.  So we will do bath time, which includes blowing bubbles, laying on his back and some splashing.

summer activities for toddlers

Visit an aquarium – This idea may not be the cheapest on the list, but for those really hot summer days it’s a must!  You can spend hours inside exploring all the different fish, sharks, play sets and movies to watch.  We went to Wonders of Wildlife inside the Bass Pro in Springfield, MO and it was amazing!

What are some of your favorite summer activities for toddlers?  These are just a few of the ones we try to do when the temps get a little too hot.

 

 

 

How I Save Money (5 Things I Won’t Do To Save Money)

5 things i won't do to save money

Alright Budgeters, let’s talk about the 5 things I won’t do to save money.

Don’t get me wrong, I enjoy being frugal as much as anyone else does – sometimes maybe a bit too much.  However, there are a few lines that I will not cross.  Sometimes you have to spend a little more to feel more comfortable and more safe, so for me it’s worth it.

You can watch today’s video online or down below:

Here’s a quick recap of the 5 things I won’t do.  Most of these I give a pretty valid reason for in the video, so make sure to check it out.

Eating expired food

I think it’s completely gross to eat anything that is expired – even it’s just by a day.  As I’ve gotten older and more tired, I think I have lightened up on this one some.  However, when I was younger and lived on my own the idea of eating expired food was too much for me.  I remember going through kitchen cabinets on a regular basis to get rid of any foods that were about to expire, not just what had already expired.

Buying a used car seat

This is a BIG NO NO for me.  I will not buy a used car seat from anyone.  Car seats are my weakness when it comes to my child. I am very relaxed about most things – he falls that’s okay, he wants a new chair for the living room just for him then alright or he needs a new toothbrush then no biggie, but I will not skimp on a car seat.  You just never know if they’ve been in a wreck before or how the person before you actually treated it.

So for me, I’m okay splurging on a good, safe car seat.

Not researching safety reviews on anything related to our son

This is a big one for me.  I have a subscription to consumer reports, which I got after borrowing my dad’s when I was pregnant with our son.  I research just about everything related to our child – car seat reviews, crib reviews, and so on.  I also research my SUV when we were looking at upgrading.  To me, spending a little bit of money each year to help me organize and go through countless reviews and opinions on products for our family is worth it.

Now, I don’t research every little thing – like I just bought an external hard drive for my business and spent about 5 minutes researching it on amazon.  However, I spent what felt like an eternity on researching for our son’s convertible car seat.  It was important to get one that made me feel at ease if something bad were to happen.

Not going to the doctor when sick

I know for a lot of us going to the doctor all the time is hard to do. It’s hard to ask off work, it’s hard to pay any bills that our insurance doesn’t cover (but I found a trick for that problem); however, I think it’s important especially when we have little ones at home.  There is nothing worse than seeing your child super sick, so if there is something we can do to prevent – like take care of ourselves, then I’m all for it.

Not investing in yourself

As a busy mom sometimes you need to some self-care.  So for me investing in myself means taking a vacation day here or there to just enjoy being by myself.  I’m an introvert at heart, so whenever life starts to get too crazy then I like retreat home.

As a business owner investing in myself means reading books to help me grown and develop, it also means taking courses that I find valuable and learning new techniques to streamline everything.

So what about you?  Are there anythings you won’t do to save money?  Leave a comment and let me know!

Our Toddler Survival Bag [What To Pack For Your Little One]

what to pack in your toddler diaper bag, having a toddler bag, packing your toddler survival bag, meredith rines, merelynne

What do you keep in your toddler survival bag? Let’s be honest, having a toddler is like having the need to be prepared for the unexpected – at all times.  You just never know what type of tiny human you’re going to have that day.  Are they going to be fun, joyous and full of laughter?  What about adventurous and curious of everything? Or are they going to have woken up on the wrong side of the bed and everything you touch, say, and do is wrong?

You just never know.

I like to consider myself lucky because Dent is usually the first two options when it comes to having a toddler – he’s fun and full of curiosity.  However, there are days, dark days that nothing I do is right.  And the only thing that makes him happy is one of his favorite blankets and a pop-tart.  Those are the days that I’m glad I know just what to pack in our survival bag (as I like to call it).

As your toddler gets older, you learn you don’t need all the same things as your diaper bag once carried.  Long gone are the days of needing bibs, multiple change of clothes, pacifiers, snacks, formula, blanket, toys, and many other unnecessary items.  To be honest, my once packed toddler bag has changed even now that we’re two and much more independent.  Don’t get me wrong, for long days away from the house then I usually do a mix of my old-style toddler bag and my new toddler survival bag.

Want to know the best part of my toddler survival bag?

It all fits nicely into my purse.  Yep! No more over-sized bag to haul around, no more having to forgo my purse because I can’t stand the thought of carrying two bags and no more stuff I don’t need weighing me down.

I believe our diaper bag, toddler bag, survival bag, or whatever you want to call it changes shapes, sizes and weights as your child grows.  Soon there will be a day that we can leave the house without any extra goodies added.

For now, though, I will stick with our toddler survival bag to get us through most of our adventure.  Here’s what I have in mine:

  • 1-2 diapers
  • wipes, usually in a plastic baggie since they are less bulky
  • pack of crackers or pouch of apple sauce
  • change of clothes (these are kept in the car and not my bag)
  • sippy cup of water

That’s it! Nothing crazy and you know what?  We survive just fine.  There is no need for multiple containers, baggies, snacks and clothes.  I keep a small basket of toys in the car to entertain him and that’s about it.  Usually we don’t even take toys with us into restaurants.  He sits and plays with the menu, cups, or silverware.  We find it’s important for him to learn how to entertain himself and to not make a huge mess when we’re out and about.

Denton’s Birthday Recap

 

how to make a tissue paper number, how to make a sign from tissue paper, easy birthday decorations

We survived!  We had our son’s second birthday party over the weekend at a park with friends and family.  It was a blast!  So. Much. Fun.  I just love watching our son play with his cousins, he always looks so much bigger when he plays with the big kids.

We decided to do something easy this year – we had the party at a park instead of our house.  We also opted to have it later in the day to save on our food costs (we didn’t have to serve lunch!).  Here’s a few snaps from the party.

diy dinosaur birthday party decorations diy dinosaur birthday party decorations diy dinosaur birthday party decorations, party city decorations diy tissue paper number, diy dinosaur birthday party decorations diy dinosaur birthday party decorations, boy's birthday party theme toddler birthday party, boy birthday party,

I ended up starting to plan for our son’s party back in February.  I knew with tax season, my exam, and a few other parties I had in the works I would need all the time in the world to make it happen.  I also wanted to keep ourselves under a pretty tight budget this year.  Last year for his first birthday party, I worked hard at making a lot of things myself (like his smash cake) so I could stay under budget.  This year, I wanted to do the same thing, but with less work (HA!).

The first thing I did back in February is I created our party budget (I used this template HERE).  I wanted to be realistic, but also not get too crazy.  I think kid’s birthday parties are so easy to overspend on.  You’re trying hard to make it fun and have lots of yummy food for everyone so it can be easy to get carried away with.

Once I had the budget, the next thing I did was transfer by saved Ibotta reward dollars to our paypal account.  I had close to $60 saved, which was the bulk of his budget.  Once the money hit that’s when I booked the pavilion at the park and started looking at decorations.  I browsed Party City and Amazon, and they had some great decorations, but they were a little on the high side.

So I opted to do a mix – I bought one tablecloth, a set of plates and napkins from the store (just like these HERE) and then I went to Dollar Tree to buy the rest.  I ended up spending around $8 for the rest of the plates, silverware, cups, napkins and tablecloths for the party.  I also decided to not go too crazy on the decorations.

At the park there were 8 tables, but I only bought tablecloths for three – thinking one or two for food and the other for the kids to eat at.  I also made the number two out of tissue paper (keep reading for directions on how to make it yourself!), which was really cheap since I used what I had on hand.

Finally, I used the leftover Halloween costume iron-on fabric to finish his outfit.  Using Canva, I printed out dinosaurs onto the transfer paper, ironed it on his shirt and that was it.

dinosaur birthday shirt, DIY shirt for little boy's birthday

easy birthday costume for a dinosaur party

We also made most of the food ourselves and by having it later in the day, we decided we only needed snacks.  We ended up making pinwheels, meatballs, chili cheese dip, rice krispie treats, fruit tray and a veggie tray.  I bought chips and dips to have with it.

We ordered a few items for the party to make it easy on ourselves – I bought a cupcake cake from our local bakery.  It turned out perfect.  J also found a great pretzel place, called Pretzel Boys not too far away so we ordered a dinosaur shaped pretzel from them.  On top of that, I found these perfect dinosaur toys at Dollar Tree.  So I picked up eight of these bad boys to hand out as favors.

dinosaur pretzel, diy dinosaur birthday party decorations dinosaur party cake, dinsoaur cake, cupcake cake, boys birthday party easy party favors, dinosaur party favors

I made a quick (less than 4-minute) video on how to make the tissue paper sign.  It was so easy to make and took us less than 20 minutes to finish.  You can watch the video online or down below:

diy tissue paper number

diy tissue paper number, diy dinosaur birthday party decorations

That’s it!  That was our son’s second birthday party.  I think it turned out perfect.  The weather was perfect for a park party, we were close to the playground for all the kids to have fun on and the food turned out great!

Quick and Easy Snack Ideas For Your Toddler

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One of my biggest fears is being somewhere away from home with our son and him getting hungry. Or even worse – being at the house with no simple snack ideas. Because we all know a hangry toddler is no fun!  I learned that lesson very early on. Our son goes from happy to grumpy to angry in a split second when he’s hungry.  I’ve been known to open a package of crackers at Aldi to appease him until we’re done.

I tried giving him blueberries once and I ended up with them all over me… so now we go for the less messy snack of crackers.

Here’s some of my favorite go-to snack ideas for our son:

Crackers

We love all crackers in our house. The package crackers that come individually wrapped our great when your traveling.  But I’ve also been known to keep a box crackers and cheese or crackers and peanut butter in the car for those “just-in-case moments.”

Fruit

Try to stick to easy fruits that travel well or don’t make too big of a mess when trying to eat.  For us that’s bananas, apples and oranges.  He’s not crazy about grapes, which is fine with me since they still have to be cut and tend to turn brown before he’s ready – then they become “yucky.”

Yogurt and Apple Sauce

I vow to buy squeezable pouches by all means necessary.  They are the easiest snacks to feed your child – plus the apple sauce ones don’t have to be refrigerated which makes them ideal for traveling or being away from home.  Our little guy is finally out of the “it’s fun to squeeze” stage, which is nice.

Breakfast Cookies

You can easily make a breakfast cookie recipe, like this recipe for your little one.  Make it on Sunday and it will probably last all week, just be sure to store them in the fridge to keep them fresh.  I actually made this recipe for our little guy when he was baby and he loved them.  The best part is they don’t have added sugar!

Smoothies

When our little guy sees us making our shakes in the morning then he thinks he needs his own.  So I’ve been making him a smoothie since he was a baby. All you need is some fruit or squeezable pouches of fruit, like apple sauce or mixed fruit.  Then add with some yogurt and milk or water before blending.  Now that he’s older I’ve been able to add more whole fruits, but in a bind I still opt for the squeeze packets.

Review of the Precious Moments Memory Book and Keepsake Box by Jenny and Jeff

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Does it make me a bad mom that I’ve had a baby book and memory box for over three months and haven’t opened it yet?  What if I add how our little guy is going to be two next month… does that add to your thoughts on me?

Well… I am going to have to face your judgement because it’s true.  I’ve had a baby book saved in my Amazon wish list for over a year, but never actually added it to my cart. …It wasn’t expensive, so that’s now why.   …I think the thought that if I had it then I would have to start it kept me from buying it.

It’s overwhelming!

I’ve been keeping all those tidbits, hospital bracelets, first hair cut clipping, and his milestones in an organized place in his room and on my phone.  But I haven’t had the pull to actually start writing and gluing… There’s just a lot.

I guess my Mom realized that I hadn’t started one so she bought me one for Christmas. It was the exact one I wanted, the one in my wish list.  I was excited and imagined me having a fun afternoon of going through all his keepsakes and filling in his book…

But that was over three months ago. Here I am with it still in it’s plastic wrap. I can tell myself it’s because of my exam that was this past week or perhaps it was because of tax season… I don’t know.  But I do know it’s getting ridiculous that I haven’t started it yet.

Here I am today forcing myself to open the box and just start.  The first step is figuring it all out… what to include, what pictures will need to be printed and so on.  In today’s video I’m sharing my first impressions and a quick look through of the Precious Moments Memory Book and Keepsake Box by Jenny and Jeff.  What I was most excited about this kit is that it’s for our son’s first five years.

I knew that since we were quickly approaching his second birthday I needed something that was compact, concise and could hold more than one year.  If I was going to do it then I needed to make it easy on myself.

You can watch today’s review of the Precious Moments Memory Book and Keepsake Box and first impressions online or down below:

Now that it’s open, it’s time to get going. I’ve made a list of the pictures I want to print out (luckily I have all my pictures backed up to my Google Drive so it made finding them by date a breeze!) and just need to get them ordered.

You can find the Memory Book on amazon for less than $22.00.  Again, it comes with the book that has enough space for the first 5 years and it comes withe a memory box for some precious keepsakes.