Trick Or Treat Sack & Keepsake ideas (2014 & 2015)

In 2012 I came up with the idea to make each of my children a Halloween treat sack and to decorate it over the years with hand and footprint art! This is such a fun idea that can be used over the years and then saved as a special Keepsake!

I like to post what I have done with their hand and foot print each year to help people get ideas for their own! Here are my kids prints from last year, 2014. I will first say that every year we have at least two costumes because the kids love dressing up all through the year and there are tons of events we go to around this holiday. If you only have one costume for the year but want to do both hand and footprints on your child's sack just choose a fun halloween print. I post a few of those ideas in my first post.

Kiki was Elsa so to keep it simple I  painted her foot light blue and added white glitter to the paint before it dried! I even added a little glitter mod podge over that to help seal the glitter! Another idea is paint the main logo of the character on the print like I did for both of Garren's costumes last year. 

 For Brenden's hand print I literally tried to copy the look of the glove he was wearing as a swamp monster.

For this year, 2015, I had so much fun with these prints! Here is Garren in his Thor costume! If you can't tell, the costume is HUGE so I just rolled it up. I like to buy big so they can wear it for years! LOL

For his Thor print I just painted the hammer over his silver handprint. Now I don't really know what his second costume will be but he is a little obsessed with Hulk lately and always dresses up like him so I just did that for his footprint! I am not very happy with how his actual footprint turned out but I love the "Hulk Smash" idea!

Brenden is a little tricky for me this year. He is really into Beyblades so he wanted to go as Gingka the main Beyblader guy on the show. If you don't know what a Beyblade is, it's kind of like a top that spins really fast! He is holding one in his hand in the picture below.

For his beyblade handprint I used the same concept as the Thor handprint above and just tried to paint a simple Beyblade in his hand. It's not the best but hey I tried! Brenden's second costume is Jengo Fett so I found a simple drawing of the helmet and just tried to copy the design into his silver foot print. I have to say his Jengo Fett footprint turned out way better than I thought it would! Im so happy with it! 

I forgot to mention I used black puffy paint for all of the writing and the detail! 

My kiki girl chose to be Ariel. I had so much fun with her mermaid print adding on the tail and the head. Kiki is also going as a Vampire so I just kind of made a face out of her handprint!

   

My FAVORITE year on the Halloween sack is their first Halloween! I love how little the prints are! My sweet baby Rowen is 10 months now and he is going as Robin. This is a family tradition. I have picture of my other two boys in this same costume. This Batman Costume was also a hand me down from Kiki because she went as Batman when she was 3 years old. 

Here are my sweet baby's first prints. I held up the small paint container to give you a reference to the size. I love this witch print! I think all of my kids have this on their bag from a previous year. 

I hope these give you ideas to get you inspired to start a Halloween sack for your own kids even if they are older! Brenden was 5 years old when I started his sack! If you want to read my first post on this to see how I started it and to see more ideas click HERE! If you need help coming up with a hand or foot print of a specific costume, comment below! I would love to help!

First Day of School Teacher Gift Idea

Every year it seems that summer goes by so quickly!

I have been having so much fun having all four of my babies home with me all day!

My favorite part about summer is not having to wake anyone up and rush out the door!

Here is the most recent family picture we had taken on a HOT summer day in the end of June 2015.

 I guess time flies when you are VERY busy....so no wonder I don't know where the time is going. These guys always have me on my toes! 

Since school starts NEXT WEEK for us here in Kansas I figured I should get on this first day present thing!

This year we decided to do a different first day of school gift for the kids teachers.

Normally I buy Apple foam soap from Bath & Body Works. I trace my child's hand on a sheet of colored card stock and write, "Let me know if you need a HAND!" 

I still love this idea but since my son has a Male teacher this year I figured we needed to change it up a bit.

I looked up ideas of presents to teachers and one was treats so I took my kids to Trader Joe's and they picked out a good treat/snack for their new teacher.

This saying on the brownie bites could go for any package SWEET treat your child chooses. 

I still wanted to trace their hand and add the "let us know if you need a HAND" but we added "Let's make this a SWEET year!"

 My daughter chose Powerberry trek mix for her teacher, which is a healthier type of treat.

Because of the nuts in it we wrote, "I'm NUTS about having you as my teacher this year!"

The other idea I had that I really wanted to do was based off of something I saw on Haley's Daily Blog(click on the picture below to see her post). She blogged about an amazon printable for a gift card. This was more for the end of the year so I was just going to change it up and write, "Let's have an Amaz'on year!" or "Here's to an Amaz'on year!"

Hope these ideas help spark something fun for you to put together for your child's teacher.

They deserve it!

Here's to a great school year 2015/2016!

Behavior Coin Chart: Toddler In Action

Well, it's that time again! I am making my third Coin Chart! 

I decided to revisit the topic and do a post on why we are doing the Coin Chart system with our 2 year old son Garren and how it is helping. 

Having four children is so much fun. There is always something going on! On the other hand, since there is always so much to do, I feel a lot of times I can't focus on the positives and just get stuck on dealing with the negative. It's so tough remembering to acknowledge when your child says "please" when the next minute they are yelling "shut up". 

The other situation I have been dealing with this time around is having older siblings who also have to deal with the behaviors of their toddler brother. I have to constantly remind them that he is still little and learning how to behave while at the same time listening to their feelings on the matter and not letting Garren get away with negative behaviors toward them. They have been feeling like Garren never really gets punished for hitting them or throwing things at them. 

Also, my older two children earn an allowance and can save up to buy the toys they want. This makes it easy when going to the store. If they want something and have the money, they can buy it. I hardly ever have fights with them about buying things that they want. However, Garren has now hit the age where he wants to go look at the toy section and ALWAYS wants to take something home with him! He has no way of earning money himself so I'm at a loss with helping him understand that he can't just get a toy whenever he wants. 

How can I help my toddler understand that he can earn the toys or activities he really wants to do, put more focus on the positive behaviors he is showing, AND help all of my children have more positive interactions with each other on a day to day basis?!? 

One simple answer came to mind.......this behavior coin chart!!!

I found the old chart that both of my other kids have used and covered the lower half, under the coin pockets, with a blank white sheet of paper. Garren got to look at his older siblings coins and see if he wanted any of them before we made new ones. He chose three of Brenden's old coins: Spiderman, Hulk, and Buzz. We then made three new coins from some of his favorite characters: Avengers, Batman, and Big Hero 6. 

   

EVERY TIME I start this system out, I wonder if my child will understand it easily. They always seem to catch on after a day or two. I have to say it has only been a week and this has immensely helped everyones interactions with Garren! The main reason I did this post is to give you specific examples of how we are using the chart to help Garren, a toddler!

First area this really helped was with Garren's language. He had been saying "shut up" ALL THE TIME! We have even considered washing his mouth out!! The first time he lost a coin was because he said this word... I said "ah oh, we don't talk like that. You are going to need to go get me a coin from your chart." He stopped what he was doing and ran and got me a coin. When he gave it to me I was sure to say, "Even though you lost this coin you can always earn it back! I know you can do it!"
From the moment he lost the coin I was watching him and looking for ways for him to earn the coin back. This is one of the main reasons why I love this system, it helps to get you to focus on the positive behaviors and even reward them for it!

It's a time of transition and learning in a child's life when they become a BIG brother or sister! For the past 5 months Garren has been adjusting to having a baby brother around the house. For the first month or two we had to show him that we don't "touch" the baby with a closed fist! I posted something on Facebook that I heard myself say after implementing the Coin Chart to Garren. I said, "We don't Hulk Smash the baby or you'll lose a coin!" This actually got him to stop for the moment!!!  LOL
Although we have our ups and downs I am definitely blessed that he LOVES his baby brother!

   

The other area I have really been seeing a change in is just simply listening to me and doing what he is told. Its great to finally have ONE system that helps give a natural consequence to any of the negative behaviors I don't want Garren repeating.

Here is my sweet boy on the first day starting his coin chart.

Since we started the chart, all of the kids get so excited to check the chart to see if he kept  his coins on it from the day before! It's so fun to see his older siblings praising him for doing a good job. 

We have already started talking about what he wants for his goal. He has had his eye on a large Incredible Hulk figure but his big sister Kiki is trying to convince him that he wants to go out for doughnuts! The great thing about this is when he sees something he likes when we are out, I will tell him, "If you really want that you CAN get that when you reach your goal! Just keep doing a good job and you can earn it!" Then I just remind him of how many stickers he has left to earn before his goal. Here is a picture from a trip to Target where I let Garren JUST LOOK at the toys and we left WITHOUT a meltdown! 

If you want to know more about this system click HERE to see my original post!

The most important thing to know about any kind of behavioral system is that you make it your own and for it to work YOU must follow through with the guidelines.

From the time I posted this Coin Chart System, over three years ago, many other people have made the system their own. Click HERE to see some of those examples!

DIY Gymnastics Mushroom For Under $10

My son Brenden is in Gymnastics. He is really determined to work hard and grow in each event. He has struggled most with the Gymnastics mushroom. In Gymnastics the mushroom is an integral part of pommel horse training. For Brenden to get better we wanted to have a mushroom at home so he can practice as much as he likes. The only problem is they cost around 300 dollars! Here are pictures of two Gymnastics mushrooms that you would find in any Gym.

  

The great thing is you can make your own for under 10 dollars!

Two of the main items you need to make your own mushroom, you can get for free. First you need a Cable Reel which you can get from Home Depot. Just go in and ask for one, they normally throw them away. Then you need a scrap of carpet underlayment which you should be able to score at any carpet store.

You first trace the base of the cable reel on the carpet underlayment and cut it out.

Next you will need some liquid glue and staple gun.

We started out stapling a piece of carpet underlayment to the reel.

   

Then you keep cutting out circles progressively smaller than the base. We cut out about 7 different circles. Then we liquid glued them together.

   

Next you need to cut a piece of underlayment that would lay over all the other layers.

Put more liquid glue over the layers, then turn the reel with all of the underlayment circles upside-down on a piece of Vinyl.

   

Next pull the Vinyl tightly up over the edge of the underlayment and reel and staple it to the wood.

Repeat this step all the way around the reel, stapling the Vinyl to the wood.

There you have it, your very own Gymnastics Mushroom!

   

You can start practicing right away!

DIY Wreath~ Flowers Made Out Of Children's Old Clothing

I Still have a Christmas Wreath on my door and it's MARCH! I wanted to make a wreath that would be good for spring, summer, and fall so I wouldn't have to keep changing it! I also wanted it to be personal! I knew I wanted all of my kids first letters somewhere in it. 

Then I thought of a fun idea to use the fabric from clothing they grew out of!

Here is a picture of the clothing I picked out to use to make the flowers. The flower with their letter in it was made out of an article of clothing they actually wore! The most special flower is little Rowens. The onesie I used to make the light blue petals, all 3 of my boys wore!

 All you do is cut circles out of the fabric. You need 5 circles per flower. 

My circles were about 4 1/2 inches. 

The larger you make the circle, the larger your flower will be.

Iron your circles and then fold them in half two times and iron them again.

   

 All you do is stitch the cut edge and then pull the stitch tight to make a petal.

   

 With the same piece of thread keep stitching your folded circles together.

After you have stitched five folded circles, connect the first and last together to make your flower.

   

 Here are the four flowers I made all stitched together.

 You can really use anything in the middle of your flowers. Some examples could be buttons or jewels. I happened to find these cute chalkboard clips in the dollar section at Target. I just pulled the little wooden flower off of the clip.

Then I hot glued them to the center of my fabric flowers.

     

 As you can see below, I also made a flower out of cream ribbon to add to the wreath to put a W for our last name in it.

Once all of my flowers were done I printed each letter on paper just the right size to fit in the center of each flower. I sealed them on using Mod Podge.

   

 This last step can really be done however you want it depending on your style. 

I love stick wreaths and I also bought some cream flower embellishments to add.

Here is my finished wreath and I couldn't be more pleased!

It makes my door look so much more inviting and just in time for Spring!