Indoors but Active!

Colorado winters are COLD.  Some days (like today) the high is 2. Yes thats in Fahrenheit, and yes that's the real projected high for the day.  BRRRRR. So what do you do with little ones that need to burn energy?  How do you help them when they're bouncing off the walls?  Here are 5 things we do when we need to occupy our full bodies, and all we need is a bit of space.  This is also a great thing to help our kids stay healthy during the winter months.

1) Cosmic Kids Yoga:

These are simply AMAZING.  My 5 year old and our 3 year old babysitting kiddo love to do yoga with Jaime.  She spins an exciting story with actions for the kids to do with her.  We have traveled to the moon, under the sea, and visited unicorns. 

2)  Fireman Letter / Word Stomp: 

This one we did during our Career Week, but it was fun enough the kids have asked for it again. I started by creating little red "fires" and writing lower-case letters on them.  Then I created water drops and put upper case letters on them.  It was a matching game and it was fun for them, and easily adaptable to burn (pardon the pun hehe) energy.  Write several words or letters on "fires" and have them stomp them out as you call them.  

3) Simon says: 

This is an excellent game for helping kids listen.  When the energy is high and the activity is low its hard for little ones to focus, but this takes both listening skills and energy building. 

4) Dance Party:

As simple as it sounds, clear a space and turn on some pumping-and uplifting-music.  Kids can't help but dance when there's music.  If you have a flash light or colored lights you can turn on as well they'll eat it up!

5)  Toilet Paper Roll Bowl:

This isn't as calorie burning as some of the others, but it still requires motion.  Simply using old TP rolls and a lightweight ball set up a bowling alley for the kids - have them keep score to practice math skills!

All Things Are Possible

"It always seems impossible until it's done." ~Nelson Mandela.  This quote has just become my favorite of all time.

In September I gave birth to my second dear daughter, Ky-Ky.  While I was pregnant woman, I was nervous.  Would I be able to juggle life with a new baby and a 5 year old?  Would my homemaker duties suffer?  Would my oldest think I don't love her enough with a new baby stealing so much attention?  Would I be overwhelmed and curl into a fetal position and hide in the closet watching eagles?  (Name the movie! Video at the bottom if you give up!) 

I must admit, I think having two children has helped.  I feel more focused.  My days are spent with my dollies, my house is cleaner, we eat more dinners at home, heck we do preschool on a regular basis!  When I posted this on my mom's group on Facebook (Are you part of one of these? OMG They are my GIRLS man!  I love seeing their posts and there are days where everyone just needs to vent and these ladies get me!) some of the ladies asked for tips - so here you go.  

What's changed:

1) Humility.  I was on bedrest for almost 4 months.  During that time I had to humble myself and ask for help.  I'm not supermom, never have been, but asking for help allowed me to...

2) Balance.  My cousin-in-law whom I love dearly came over on a daily basis and whipped my house into shape.  Now I don't know if its because she's worked hospitality at some major hotels, or if she has a certain level of OCD (Love you sweetie!) or what, but I have never had my house be and stay as clean as that.  She was at our house for only a few hours a day, and most of that was spent with me and my first daughter, not cleaning-cuz it was done!  She'd done it!  I watched her balance and learned quite a bit.  And I realized that I have never been able to find that balance myself.  Now I love my mom and my MIL who have both helped me out, and I learned how to clean from my mom, but for some reason seeing Ari do it I learned it.  

3) Accountability.  I gave myself too much slack.  I used to always whine about how awful I was for not doing stuff...instead of doing it (makes sense right?)  Now if I catch myself thinking "wow I'm such a slacker." I make sure to stop slacking and set myself a mini goal.  I hold myself to an end goal and its made me happier.  

4) Happiness.  I didn't realize that I could be happy without a lot of down time.  This too came from my 4 months of bedrest.  There is a LOT of time for self-reflection when you can't do anything!  I always thought I was happiest when I was playing video games or watching TV or out shopping and going to festivals.  But I have realized that I can be just as happy by taking pride in what I own, by organizing the house and keeping it clean, by playing with my dollies and watching a Disney movie. 

5) Acceptance.  Allowing myself to say enough is enough.  I have always berated myself, I've never been "enough".  For some reason this aforementioned movie struck home and made it 100% clear to me, maybe it was because I felt so like Ally so much of the time.  This scene is incredible, whether you believe in God or not, and sums up much of what I have been trying to live by recently. 

6) Inspiration.  Dozens of things have inspired me, my two dollies do, absolutely.  My husband, my cousin, my parent's, my in-laws.  Media too: Mom's Night Out, a book called "The Gabriel Method" which oddly enough is about weight loss but has inspired me in hundreds of other ways, The 5 Love Languages...

In the end...well there is no end.  That's something I continually am trying to accept.  Every day is a journey.  Some days I'm awesome at following these changes in my life, and some days I find myself regressing.  But I'm changing.  I'm learning and accepting myself.  So if you're planning on making a long, or at least grueling, New Year's resolution, remember that "It always seems impossible until it's done."

~~~~~

The movie:  Mom's Night Out

Shelfari!!!

So you may notice a new little book shelf up in the upper-left-hand corner of this blog.  In fact if your eyes will take a wander that way now....yep you noticed it!  It's my Shelfari!

This all started because I was having a hard time figuring out how to keep track of the books She-she and I read.  We are avid readers in our house - we read a chapter every night, and several picture books during the week for preschool.

If you haven't ever heard of Shelfari its a cool little website by Amazon.

Some awesome features I've used so far:
~(obviously) The Widget - which connects smoothly to my blog here - easy peasy for you guys to see! Also there are a few different layouts / designs to fit smoothly with my aesthetic.
~ My "Shelf" - which lets me put books I've read, and the date we finished it, what I'm currently reading, and books I plan on reading.  This is especially helpful because I have written MANY lists of books / recommendations people have given me for my daughter and I to read and frankly they get lost far too easily.
~ Personal Reviews - This is great as it lets me and She-she see what we have liked.  Though its rare for me to put books down, if we do (like we did with Werewolves Don't Go to Summer Camp) we can pick it up later!
~Best Of Lists - Again these are personal and customize-able so we can share our favorites.
~Groups of Like-Minded Readers
~Following and Followers (Any site without this feature is outdated in my opinion!)
~Next in Series - Ok this is awesome, it auto tracks which books I have read that are in series and indicates which one is next.  So sweet!

There are however a few features I'm wishing I had, though I can't seem to find them any where.  In a perfect world I could design it myself!

Things I'd add (If you know how or if you know a different app with these features, comment and let me know!)
~A phone app (Do they still have websites without this?!)
~An ISBN Scanner (I can look it up manually by typing it in...but I can type in the title too, so really not easier.)
~A "Batch" Uploader (Would be so hot if we could just scan our library books like we do at check out!)
~Multiple Shelves - I want one for picture books and one for chapter books at least!
~Family Trackers - I want to be able to keep track of what my daughter is are reading, what I'm reading, and what my husband is reading (Since I pick up new books for him I don't want to bring home duplicates).  I'd also love to have age appropriate categories.
~Better Facebook Links - I want to be able to share a specific set of books.  For example my preschool kid's parents should be able to see what we're reading in preschool!  But the only way they can do that is sign up on Shelfari and follow me, and even then they see ALL the books I put in.  Which includes the chapter books each night.  Since I'm only tracking my daughter's books on this account I don't need to worry about the appropriate factor, but surely I'm on the only one that doesn't necessarily feel that everyone needs to know what books I'm reading?  For example: My preschooler's parents may be concerned if I throw on some Adult Murder Mysteries as books my children are reading!

Ah well, its a fun feature I wanted to share - watch for books my 5 year old and I enjoy, and please comment with books you and your kids love!