Sideways Pics

Can anyone help Cassie???
"My pictures keep posting sideways on my blog. It just started happening, I have never had this problem before. Has this happened to anyone else and does anyone have a remedy?"

Awesome Give Away

Check out Just Another Day in Paradise today. She is giving away two little ties to one lucky winner.

Lunchtime Blues

My friend Michelle sent me this question and it is something I have been thinking about for a while now as well. I am SOOO bored of lunchtime. Oh and packing school lunches. One day Tyson said to me, "Mom you put the same thing in my lunch two days in a row. You weren't being very thoughtful, were you?" I suppose I wasn't :)
Here is Michelle's question.
"I would like to know what other moms are serving their kids for lunches. I'm looking for some alternatives to pb&j and quesadillas to shake things up a bit. What have they had success with? What do their kids seem to really love?" If every person reading this just writes at least one thing we will have quite the list!
(Oh and check out Michelle's super fun blog http://funonadime.blogspot.com/ for inexpensive, creative, and very fun activities to do with your children.)

Chinese Jump Rope

Hello out there! I know, I know. I've been a complete blog slacker recently. We have just been having nice weather and I have been working on lots of other projects. To be honest, my attention span for this blog is lacking a bit right now. I've been doing this blog for almost a whole year now and it just has never became as useful as I was hoping. In my mind I visualized it as somewhere we could post our questions and get tons of responses and ideas and solutions and it just hasn't quite panned out like that as of yet. Anyway, I am trying to decide right now what to do with the blog. Here are my options. 1-Keep going like I'm going. 2-Put in a lot of work to attract readers so we can (hopefully) get a lot more comments and ideas and increase the usefulness of the blog. or 3-Take a break for a while until I get my motivation back. 


In the meantime, my cousin sent me this question a few weeks ago and I am just now getting around to posting it. Told you I am a slacker! Lets reach back into the recesses of our brain, back to the time of recess and playing with the neighborhood kids and see if we can help her out. 


"I have all girls, they are, sometimes, fascinated at games I remember playing when I was young.  I loved playing Chinese Jump Rope, but my mother memory has failed me, I don't remember much.  The best instructions I have seen have been on these websites. 
http://searchwarp.com/swa11742.htm
http://www.gameskidsplay.net/games/other_games/chinese_jump_rope.htm
I also remember doing regular (feet side by side), wide (feet apart) and skinny (the elastic being in only one foot). Does anyone remember anything else?  Mores rules, order, etc.?"

House Hunting

My sister is looking for some advice for first time home buyers. What kind of things should they look for, what should they avoid? If you are or have been a homeowner, what did you learn through the experience? Did you have any good resources that helped you navigate the process?

Tattle Tales

From my good friend Cassie. If you have more than one, chances are you have this problem as well.

"I am about at my wits end! My sweet little girls have become little tattle boxes lately. You know the old, "She hit me", "She looked at me funny", "She won't help me clean up".... really I could go on all night. I tried ignoring the more minor ones, but then I feel like my kids might think that they can't come to me if there is a problem, but I feel if I do respond that they will think "Yes, victory is mine!" and jump at the chance to get revenge on their sibling. You know what I mean? Does anyone have any advice for curbing tattling? I am all ears!"

the BIG picture

Got a couple of questions from my friend Alisa. Help her out with this question and the one in the next post if you can!

"How can I make pictures BIG on the blog? Sometimes a big picture is necessary, after all."

Digital Picture Storage and Organization

From Alisa:

"We aren’t overly-excited picture-taking people. But we have collected some treasures of the years. What are your best ideas for organizing and storing digital pictures? I have a lap top with an external hard drive for back up. I don’t understand fancy techno lingo and I don’t have a lot of time to be fussy."

I know some of you out there have systems for this. Please share and help Alisa out!

Learning to Read

I realize this post is super long-you don't have to read it all. I have just had a lot of people ask me how Tyson learned (and Eliza is learning) to read so I thought I would write it all down. The thought of teaching a child to read is a bit overwhelming for some. It definitely was for me. I am so not an expert and hope I'm not giving you bad info but this is what we do and it has worked for our family so far. And please don't get overwhelmed as you look over this post. Learning to read is a process and what I outline in the post takes years-one tiny step at a time.
 So here goes:


How to find the time:

•  I read with my kids every night when possible. Even if its just for a few minutes. I try to have them participate by counting items pictured in the book, have them point out colors, letters, and shapes. My favorite is have them remember words on the books you read most often. 
• Basically any other random point in the day. Driving in the car, eating lunch, bath time, etc. Just whenever you are already with your child. You don't have to be sitting down looking at a book to talk about what letter goes with what sound or what letter begins certain words. Don't underestimate those few minutes here or there. Its during those times when the most learning goes on in our house. 
• Once Tyson could sound out words then I would sit down with him for a few minutes each day to read. With him it was after I put Eliza down for a nap, but it can be during your nighttime reading or just whenever its convenient. 

Tools: 

• A set of letters in the bathtub and a set on the fridge. This helps you squash learning into those random times where you have a few extra minutes. Its pretty safe to say that in the beginning Tyson learned most things in the bathtub and at lunch time.
• A library card. Take your child to the library and have them pick books. They like it and its something to do on a rainy day! Plus you can also choose books for them according to what stage they are in. For example, I would find shape books when Tyson was ready to learn about shapes. Or I would find alphabet books when he was learning his letters. 
• I See Sam books. These books were invaluable to me while Tyson learned to read. Mostly because I had no idea how to teach a child to read and these books just do it for you. The first book starts with five sounds that make up the three words-I See Sam. The books very slowly introduce new sounds and new words as you go through them. As your child progresses through the sets and learns to read better the books introduce more and more new sounds and words. Each set will set you back $30 but I thought they were worth every penny. Plus, I plan on using them for all my kids so I think it will turn out to be a great investment. A word of caution: The first three sets were awesome. Set 4-not so much. Tyson didn't like those books much because they stopped having cute little pictures and animal characters. After your child completes set three I would just start going to the library and find books on their level. 
• Keep your eyes peeled for fun games or websites or apps that can help your child learn about letters and sounds. We like the Super Why page on pbskids.org. It has letter games that my kids really enjoy playing. 

Here's How:

• First things first. Shapes. Once your child can easily recognize all the shapes, then I think they can start learning letters. After all, they are essentially just shapes. I started with capital letters and moved onto lower case once they mastered the capitals. There are no shortage of letters out there. You can get alphabet books or just have them tell you the letters from the words in any book, or the ketchup bottle, or the IKEA sign. It doesn't matter. Letters are everywhere.
• After they can recognize the letters then move onto their sounds. Even though some letters have multiple sounds I just teach one at first. Then, I let the I See Sam books take care of the rest by introducing the separate sounds at the right time. 
• Once they can name the sounds for most letters then comes sounding out basic words; at, in, on, up, etc. And then cat, bat, hat, sat, etc. I think this can be a hard step to learn how to mesh the sounds together. If you just sound them out slowly and show them over and over then eventually it will click. Maybe there is a better way to do this? 
• As soon as Tyson started sounding out basic words then we started the I See Sam books. After Tyson read all the books in a set he would get a small prize. Make sure you start out slow though because it is really hard on their little brains! 
• When he got through the first three sets (and shunned the forth) I would get on the library website and reserve all the books I could find in his level of the I CAN READ books. 
• After a time we just started getting chapter books that interest him. Usually what we do now is read for about 15 minutes each day of whatever book he is on. Usually he will read a page and then I will read a page and so on. He likes to have it broken up like that. Reading can be a little taxing, especially when he already has spent 6 1/2 hours at school that day!

Other Things to Remember:

• Keep it fun for both of you. If its too stressful or frustrating they can start to dislike reading from the beginning.  Don't push them to that point. Above all, they must enjoy reading even if it takes a little bit longer to learn!
• Don't buy into predetermined ages for certain milestones. Some kids are more than ready to read before the magic age of five and some kids are a little older. Every child is different and every child will do things on a different time table. Just always keep it fun and always keep them engaged and they will read when they are ready.
• Remember that learning to read is a process. Don't be overwhelmed. Just take it one tiny step at a time and it will be easy to know when to move on. 

Please share any tips you may have as well!

Printable Checklists

I was looking at MarthaStewart.com the other day and I saw all these great printable checklists. Thought you might be interested. She has cleaning checklists, moving checklists, party planning checklists...All sorts. And while not all of the items on the checklists are practical for real people with busy lives, I think the checklists could still be a very handy tool if you just cross off the items that aren't as important to you. (For me it would be dusting the shelves in the linen closet twice a month. Seriously? I have enough trouble dusting the visible shelves in my house!)
Anyway, check them out here! Thanks Martha!
Martha's Printable Checklist

Side note: While I was there, I saw this:

And really wished I had the capabilities to create it. I might pay you if you make me one :)

Making it Last

In honor of Valentines Day I wanted to post some articles that I ran across recently that explore the qualities and strategies for making a relationship last. (Of course, I wanted to post it BEFORE Valentine's Day, but you know how it goes, right?) You can find them here:

Wall Street Journal

Real Simple Magazine

I think we all know it takes work to maintain positive relationships and this is just about the most important work we do. As the first article says, it is really easy to understand why relationships fail, but harder to understand why they could ever work.
What do you think is a valuable quality or strategy for cultivating a long-lasting positive relationship? It doesn't have to be specific to marriage. Many of the same qualities and strategies are required for any kind of loving relationship.
Of course, the list is long, but one thing I think is important is to keep your cool when you are upset and to never deliberately say anything hurtful.
What do you think is important? Let's see if we can make a good list and then I'm going to pick one that I know I could improve upon and then work on it over the next little while. Will you join me?

Blog Design How-To's

I have been experimenting with blogs for a while and have learned a bunch of things I thought I would share. As I learned how to do something new, I kept track of it in a word document. Very handy. That was Derek's idea. He is the brains of the bunch.
So without further delay-Here are all the links to find all the directions for pretty much everything I know about blogs.

How to make your blog have 3 columns:

http://www.bloggerbuster.com/2007/07/create-three-column-blogger-template.html

How to add a button to your blog:

http://jenieshell.blogspot.com/2008/11/how-to-make-blog-button.html

How to design your own background:

http://jessicabills.blogspot.com/2008/09/how-to-make-cute-background.html

How to make it so a link opens in a new tab:

http://tips-for-new-bloggers.blogspot.com/2007/05/links-labels-open-in-new-window.html

How to add a "Recent Posts" widget:

http://www.madtomatoe.com/?s=recent+post+widget

How to remove the navbar:

http://www.geckoandfly.com/2008/07/27/how-to-hide-disable-or-remove-blogger-blogspot-navbar/

How to use a fun font for your post titles

http://www.kevinandamanda.com/whatsnew/tutorials/how-to-use-a-cute-font-for-your-blogger-post-titles.html

How to add a scroll box (So people can grab your button)
http://jenieshell.blogspot.com/2008/11/how-to-make-scroll-box.html

Ok, honestly a couple of these are a bit tricky (the font one especially) but you just have to follow the directions step by step. I know you can do it! If you know where we can find directions for other cool things you can do with blogs, let us know and I'll add it to the list.

Recipes Link List

I think a Recipes Link List is long overdue on this blog! I am going to be compiling one over the next few days. Leave a comment and tell me your favorite place to go for yummy recipes and your favorite cooking blogs so I can add it to the list. Thanks!

Baby's Behind

My good friend and neighbor needs some serious help! Her little boy has very sensitive skin and is always suffering from diaper rash. She has tried many things and can't seem to find something that works really well. She has tried the usuals plus Butt Paste to no avail. Anyone who has dealt with this found something that works? Her little boy will thank you!

...Love...It

Ok-So I have run across so many fun Valentines day projects recently that I thought I would put them all in one place for everyone to see...Until I ran across this blog...

http://www.thirtyhandmadedays.com/

...and decided to stop because she has done it all already! Tons of great Valentines day ideas.

 Here are the one's that I found and loved before I decided to stop.

From Just Another Day in Paradise

How cute are these? (And the tutorials are great too)

http://zitzmanfam.blogspot.com/2010/01/valentine-craft-1-how-to-polka-dot.html

http://zitzmanfam.blogspot.com/2010/01/valentine-how-to-2-love-banner.html

http://zitzmanfam.blogspot.com/2010/01/valentine-how-to-3-xoxo-pillow-and_28.html

http://zitzmanfam.blogspot.com/2010/01/valentine-how-to-easy-weekend-project.html

From Everyday Celebrations

http://everydaycelebrate.blogspot.com/2010/01/tutorial-valentine-countdown-calendar.html

From Twig and Thistle

http://www.twigandthistle.com/blog/2010/01/diy-valentine’s-day-goodie-bags/

From How About Orange

http://howaboutorange.blogspot.com/2010/01/paper-heart-garland.html

From Our Scoop

http://www.ourscoop.blogspot.com/

Please share your Valentines Day ideas!!! I'd like to know if anyone does anything cute for their kids Valentines day parties besides Transformer and Cinderella cards from a box.

Delivering Dinners

Does anyone out there have some ideas for great meals to take to people when they are sick or they just had a baby? Whenever I have to bring dinner to someone, I can't think of what I should bring. It should be something that is generally liked, transfers well, and not too difficult to make (Its already very likely I will mess up something easy to make, so its gotta be pretty simple for my kitchen skills.)

You will be superbly awesome in my book if you take the time to type out a recipe or give me a link to a recipe, but you will still be my hero if you just pass along some good ideas. Thanks (mostly from the recovering individuals that are subject to my cooking!)

Pulling their Weight

My great friend Amber (fabulous name, huh?) has a question I'm hoping we can all help her with. 

 

"Both of my girls help out around the house, but I need to implement a plan that has more structure. What works? Allowance? Chore charts? Letting them get 9-5 jobs so I can sit around blogging and eating Milk Duds? (I mean they are 3 and 5. High time they start pulling their weight around here!)"

Any ideas out there? What works for you?

Baby Bib with Waterproof Layer

Here is another great tutorial from my sister Abbie. Thanks Abbie!!!!!

"My son Ryan had reflux and spit up constantly until he was 10 months old. He wore a bib almost all of his waking hours. I wanted to make him some bibs, so I started looking around online. There are a lot of great online tutorials already, but I couldn't find one for a bib with a waterproof layer, so I decided to make my own.

Find your favorite baby bib and trace it onto a paper. Add a quarter of an inch around the entire perimeter and cut out for your pattern.

For each bib you would like to make, cut out one layer of fabric right side up for the top and one layer of fabric right side down for the bottom. If you are making more than one bib, you could cut out several at a time.

For the waterproof liner, I found an old nylon bag we didn't use anymore and cut out one for each bib I was making. Any waterproof nylon fabric would work for this as long as it is not too thick. If you use thick fabric on these bibs they will be really stiff. Other nylon things you might find to use is old jackets, tents, waterproof mattress covers, etc. If you don't have any old nylon laying around the house, you could try a second hand store. But please make sure the nylon you use is non-toxic.

Stack your layers. I also cut out a layer of flannel for each bib for extra spit-up absorption. Put the nylon layer on the bottom, then put a layer of flannel next (if you are using it), then add the top layer right side up, and the bottom layer right side down. Pin together.

Sew around the edge of the bib with a quarter-inch seam. Leave several inches not sewn in order to be able to flip the bib right side out.

Trim the perimeter of the bib and clip the corners..

Turn inside out. You may want to use a pencil to help. Fold the unsewn area under and press. Press the entire bib.

Sew around the entire perimeter of the bib.

To finish, I added a snap for closure. Velcro would work as well."

All you Cougars...

So my little sister is a freshman at BYU and is starting to look for housing for next year. I know its been a while for some of us :) but does anyone have a place that they would recommend? Something super close to campus (she doesn't have a car) and, of course, clean and affordable. Or do you have any tips for her on how to find good housing? What to look for? What to avoid? Even telling her where NOT to live would be useful!
We would appreciate any help!

Done with Diapers?

It was only a matter of time until we had a potty training post! Besides getting children to sleep, it can be one of the most frustrating parts of parenting small children.
I have a cousin that is having a hard time potty training one of her kids, and I'm sure there are more of you going through this right now. What's hard about potty training is there are a thousand different opinions on the matter and everyone usually thinks their way is the best. Honestly, I think the best approach is probably a little different for each child.
That being said, here's what I think about potty training: (Please don't be offended if it is different than what you think. Its just my opinion and its just what worked for us.)
I am totally in the "earlier-the-better" camp. I think waiting and waiting until your child "shows interest" will just result in you wiping poopy behinds for much longer than is needed. (And all the diapers you can save from the landfill, the better!) From The Baby Whisperer Solves All Your Problems, "In 1957, studies found that 92 percent of children were toilet trained by eighteen months." This tells me that it is possible to train early.
So let me now tell you how I potty trained both of my kids. (Tyson was fully trained by 2 1/2 and Eliza by 2. Both were pooping in the toilet by age 2). I got the basic idea from the Baby Whisperer. Just start talking to them about it at a very young age, 9 months to a year. When they poop say, "You are going poop. When you are older, you will go poop in the toilet just like mommy and daddy." Its as simple as letting them know what they are even doing. If you do this they will recognize it very early and learn to associate it with the toilet. When my kids got closer to age two, I would run and put them on the toilet whenever I thought they were going to poop. At first, we didn't make it in time very much and I would just change their diaper, but I would never just let them poop in their diaper without running to make it to the toilet first. Then whenever we did make it to the toilet in time, I praised them like I never had done before. I told them how proud I was and gave them a treat. It is a pain but they get it after a short while and then YOU DON"T HAVE TO CHANGE POOP ANYMORE! I think poop training should be done early because this is the age when they crave your praise. If you wait until they are older they don't care as much what you think and they can become very stubborn.
I gotta be honest though. Training them to pee in the toilet was not as easy and I don't feel like I am expert enough to offer much advice in that arena except just be patient and consistent and take them to the toilet pretty much all the time until they get it. Oh and get some training underwear (the kind that is super padded) and have them wear multiple pairs at first. That way, if there is an accident, most of it is absorbed by the unders.
Ok-that is my training regimen but what have you done???? I'd like to hear what has worked for you and see if we can help my cousin out. She has tried many things already so hopefully we have some new ideas for her.

Vinegar and No-Poo

Does anyone remember This Post I did about how awful my hair has been since we moved into this house? To update you, I ended up cutting about eight inches off because I just could not handle the tangles. Since then, a great friend of mine sent me this link. (Thanks Alicia)
http://thepioneerwoman.com/homeandgarden/2009/04/this-might-just-save-my-hair/
You should read it if you love your hair. It says to use vinegar in your hair if you have really hard water. I don't do this all the time because I forget and I haven't put some in my shower, but I have done it several times recently.  When I use vinegar in my hair it makes a HUGE difference. My hair is so soft and smooth on those days. If you have hard water you should just try it. A little experiment for you. Try it and then comment and let us know if it worked for you.
I also ran across some stuff about people who don't use shampoo. Its the no-poo movement. Check it out Here. Has anyone out there actually done this? I'd love to hear about it. I'm a little scared to go that extreme.
Also something else I was wondering. Lets suppose you do use shampoo. I know you aren't supposed to wash your hair every day, but how often do actual people wash their hair? I have a hard time not washing my hair because of two things. I often have curly hair and so I have a bunch of gel in it. It is not pretty the next morning. I promise. Also, when I work out I get sweaty head. Yup, its just who I am.
Ok, I think I need to summarize what I am asking here.
Number 1-If you try or have tried using vinegar, I want to know how it went for you.
Number 2-Does anyone have experience with the no-poo thing and how did it go? (or is it going?)
Number 3-How often do you wash your hair and do you think I am right to wash mine all the time because of the aforementioned reasons?

New Rooms on a Budget

After I posted yesterdays post about children's bedding I started thinking about redecorating bedrooms. I actually have never done most of these things but they are things that I'm thinking of doing when I get around to it! And everything on here is super affordable.
I have run across a few ideas for wall hangings. First, is this idea from the Homemade By Jill blog. Its just three blank canvases (use some 40% off coupons or, even better, wait until they are 50% off), decorative tissue paper, and mod podge. How cool is that?

Next are these wooden frames from Ikea. You just find your favorite fabric, stretch it tight around, and staple it in the back. I couldn't put a good picture on here but you can go to their website and browse the bedroom ideas to see how cool it can look. They had nine of them arranged in a three by thee square.

Don't forget letters. You can buy them in various fonts and sizes at JoAnns or Michaels. You can paint them or mod podge them with fabric, decorative paper, or tissue paper.

Here is something that I did do for Eliza's room. (Rachel-I think these are the colors you are going for too. Unfortunately, I got the quilt at Target and they don't carry it anymore.)

You can just sew coordinating ribbon or ric rac onto plain bed skirts, curtains, pillowcases, etc. Its super easy. I actually made the bed skirt myself but I bought the white curtains and coordinated them all with the same ribbons.

Here is another project from the Homemade by Jill blog. She just took an old, ugly dresser and mod podged scrapbook paper to the front and switched the nobs. I'm thinking I might try that on a book shelf I have, just on the inside of it. If I do, I'll take pictures and post them someday!

And don't forget the homemade headboard. The Pink Wallpaper blog has a good tutorial.

And, even though I'm too cheap to buy most things from Pottery Barn, they do have a place on their website with design tips. I liked this idea of a memory wall. (For a pattern to sew those little chairs, click here.)

Ok, so those are just some of the ideas I've had swimming around in my head. Its actually nice to get them all down in one spot, so when I get motivated to tackle some projects, I've got it all right here.

I'd love to hear your ideas, as well!

Affordable Children's Bedding

My good friend Rachel has a question that I hope we can help her with. She is wondering if anyone knows where she can buy affordable bedding for her little girls. When she looks online she can find very cute stuff, but out of her price range. Does anyone have any suggestions for her? Where should she look?
(She is specifically looking for something that is lime green, watermelon pink, soft pink, and white)

Altering a Waistband

Here is a tutorial from my sister. If you have waistband issues with your pants you might want to give this a try.
"My pants never fit right. Usually when pants fit my hips and legs, the waist is too large. I don't know if it is because I am oddly shaped or what, but I am thinking that maybe other people also have this problem. I absolutely hate wearing belts, so I have come up with a way to alter my waistbands so that I don't need a belt.
Start by making one inch slits with a seam ripper on the inside band of the pants about where both hips are.

Thread one inch belt elastic through the waistband. Pin one end so it is flush with the slit.

Using a satin stitch, sew over the slit so that it is completely closed and the elastic is secured.

Try on the pants and pull the belt elastic to the desired length. Pin in place and cut the elastic so that it is flush with the slit. Using the satin stitch again, sew over the second slit so that it is also completely closed and the elastic secured.

I also have super skinny kids and this can also be done on children's pants with smaller elastic. Often an extra step is involved with unpicking the stitching that is usually through the existing elastic. I usually leave that elastic in the pants and just add another piece of shorter elastic."

Thanks Abbie! Please share if you have any tips for altering your clothes to fit better.