POISON CONTROL!

Poison Control gives me the answer before the 'Emergency Room' visit.  I have called them so many times it's ridiculous.  They ask for my zip and say, 'Oh hi Krystal how are you today?!'  I call them 'BEFORE' I need to call them.  Very few times have I actually called them during an acutal emergency.  I called them when I was pregnant and asked if it was ok to mix certain drugs together.  And, I called them today to ask if I could give my 7 year-old an antacid for her upset stomach. 

Temper Tantrum Advice

Simplicity Parenting

Now, I know that I am not a 'specialist' when it comes to children.  However, I do know that when you have a bunch of choices, or a bunch of ideas.  You have a tendency to not stress out as much.  And, the reason is if one choice/idea does not work you can move on to the next.  From my experience when you have a child that is getting quite upset over something and you can see things flying in the near future.  Having a few choices/ideas up your sleeve helps you to 'cool down' the situation pretty quickly.

Counting, Pssh 'Yeah Right!'

For the last SEVERAL months I have been working on my 2-year-old 'T's counting.  Well, let's just say we get to 3...  And, then it all falls apart, 7, 9, 5, 2, 3...  I have tried so hard, I count everything.  I bet I have counted to 10 more than anyone in the entire world has ever counted to 10 (LOL maybe a little over dramatic).  However, you get the point.  'T' is just not interested in counting AT ALL.  Now, you give him a picture to color and he does great.  His hand-eye coordination is really great.  I am actually very impressed on his hand-eye coordination.  And, he loves to color.  We have counted crayons, markers, jumps, skips you name it we count it!

Yarn Bracelets

The other day my mom was here and she usually does something special with my daughter 'E' while she is here.  This time she made yarn bracelets with her.  Actually, she had 'E' crochet them and she tied them off.  Now 'E' is making them like crazy to give to everyone.  Her goal is to make hundreds of them and sell them to people for a QUARTER a piece.  I love her resourceful thinking.

Walnut Remover!

Cheap Fun

So, my son and daughter have been playing with one of my water pipe insulators for a while now.  I did not think anything of it until I threw it down the stairs, and it zoomed!  It made me think of the Nerf guns that are out there with the Styrofoam bullets.  It also, made me think of the swords that they have now that are Styrofoam.  I got a little creative on this one and thought about how much fun my kids would have.

Driving Fun...

Wooden ABC and Numbers

This might sound a little strange, but we drive around.  Actually, we drive around a lot. When I say a lot I mean probably a half hour once a week.  It is something that our family does to unwind or just go and do something.  We like to discover parts of our town we did not know existed.

Good-Bye TOYS!

I did this over a week ago, however, I waited to post this to see how it turned out.  Well, my son 'T' did not want to pick his toys up 'AT ALL'.  And, I had had enough of picking up his toys.  It was really getting to me, because I felt like I was not following through on my 'threats'.  So, I followed through on my threat that I would throw his toys away.  I need to add that both of my kids were present during our garage sale and said good-bye to a lot of toys and old things they did not use anymore.  However, 'T' might have said good-bye to the toys but it was not without a cry and break-down.  Honestly, I thought we were going to put him in therapy after the garage-sale, but he was fine.

Phone Call Questions...

So, I was standing in the kitchen the other day and the phone rang.  Can you take a wild guess what happened when the phone rang?!  Yup, that's right the kids came into the room and wanted to talk to me.  When I got off of the phone I asked both of the kids what to do when I am on the phone unless it is an emergency.  And, they both said, "Wait Patiently!"  Now, I am going to have to give 'E' some credit on this one, she helped come up with the idea.  Of course it does involve my trusty laminator.

Quallities For You and Friends...

Ok, so the school year is about to start up again and I am kind of on a 'Self Esteem', life changing mission for my daughter 'E'.  We were sitting on the couch talking about God and what type of person we should be for God.  And, then I realized that 'E' does not really 'know' the qualities that she should have or qualities that her friends should have.  So, I got out my trusty laminator, this is something that I do quite often actually.

Building Self Esteem and Emotional Intelligence

I love my kids and one thing that I want them to grow up with is self esteem and emotional intelligence.  Now it has taken me a while to think of something that would be fun.  The other day I was playing with my awesome laminator.  And, it hit me, I tried to find as many 'emotional' and complimenting words that I could possibly find.  I wanted enough to fill at least an entire page to make it worth it.  While I am making this my daughter 'E' was asking me the whole time.  It was fun when I was all done and used 'ticky tac' to stick the papers to the wall in my kitchen. 

Ironing... Money?!

I know, I know sounds crazy right?!  Well, years ago when I was actually ironing clothes I was thinking about the next day at work.  There was a vending machine at my work and it was extremely picky.  If your dollar was not the newest dollar it would spit it back out.  This drove me crazy.  So, as I was ironing my clothes I took my money out of my pocket and ironed my money.

Hair De-Tangler

My daughter 'E' has really pretty hair.  It's blond, straight and thick.  However, it does get quite tangled.  'E's hair is especially tangled during the summer.  We just recently ran out of Hair De-Tangler.  So, I used our old family recipe to make some more.