So, in my new Pinterest fascination, I came across this Toddler "Busy Bag" swap. Ten or 20 (or however many people are interested) come up with a "busy bag" idea (my favorites are highlighted below) and make 10-20 (or however many) of them up in a giant ziploc bag. Then all the women get together one day and swap them. So you immediately get a bunch of fun bags of things to keep your toddler busy for awhile. How awesome is that? I know there aren't enough people in Knoxville who have toddlers, so if anyone else out there is interested, let me know. Perhaps we could do some kind of mailing swap? Or maybe it's just a good Enrichment activity idea. If enough people are interested, I can try and get something going.

Any takers?

Here's the website and more/re-posted info that explains it better than I just did:

http://therigneys.wordpress.com/2011/08/26/toddler-busy-bag-swap/

Toddler “busy bag” swap!

By the Rigneys

This post could also be properly entitled: My Winter Survival Kit!

This past week, I hosted a Toddler “Busy Bag” Swap in my home for a group of my friends after deciding that I needed a little help keeping my toddler busy when we are snowed-in this winter (not to mention for the times when I will be busy caring for his new little brother!).

I assigned each woman a different toddler activity (or they could come up with their own idea) to replicate 20 times (storing each activity in a gallon-sized Ziploc bag).  We all met over dessert and then swapped our activities with one another.  I thoroughly enjoyed watching each mom carry a huge bag filled with 20 different activities to their car!  I plan to keep Sam’s “Busy Bag” stashed away until the wintertime and then slowly introduce one activity at a time.

Each activity needed to meet the following criteria:

• Self-contained.  This way, you can just grab a bag and GO! (without having to add a number of supplies to the bag in order to make it useful.)

• Transportable.  Yes, they will definitely be used at home, but I want to be able to grab a few bags to take to a restaurant, a waiting room, plane trips, car rides, etc.

• Convenient.  None of the bags will have supplies that require major set-up or clean-up: (no paint, watercolors, liquids, sand, dirt, etc.)

• Inexpensive. I didn’t want anyone spending too much money on this project!

• Easy to Make: I didn’t want anyone spending hours and hours and hours making their activity.

• Re-usable. I want these activities to last a while so that our other children can use them in the future.  Therefore, I avoided activities where you would have to buy new supplies to re-stock the bag.  This is why lamination is important for some of the activities.

I’ve posted pictures of the activities we swapped along with the corresponding links to give you a more detailed explanation of each activity.  I am sharing this here in case you are interested in coordinating a swap for you and your friends.  I already know of another group at our church planning a swap very soon, so hopefully these links could be of some help!

Mini Reversible Felt Board

“I Spy” Fish

Pasta Sorting and Stringing

Pony Beads and Pipe Cleaners

Matching Color Shades

Foam Shape Puzzles

Build-Your-Own Felt Pizza

Button Snake

Matching/Memory Game

Homemade Organic Playdough

Button Matching Game

Color Matching Wheel

Lacing Cards

Popsicle Stick Puzzles

Homemade Number Boards

Animal Counting Cards

Number Wheel

Pushing Puff Balls

Next Year

For everyone who figured out the last post, here's more info:

March 19, 2012 

We find out next month if it's a boy or girl.

9/11

I posted this two years ago and my sentiments are the same as they were then. Except now I can't believe it's really been 10 years. I almost can't remember what life was like pre-9/11. I've lived in a post-9/11 world most of my adult life and it's sad my children will never know what life was like before all that evil changed our country (although all the new security measures don't bother me at all--in fact, I'm glad they are there). Five years ago I was working on President Bush's speeches leading up to the 5th anniversary of 9/11. They were some of the hardest working weeks of my life (I remember leaving work at midnight and having to be back at 6 the next morning). Back then, I couldn't believe it had really been five years. Time goes by so fast. I hope even 20 years from now that America won't forget to keep their faith in God, in times of crises or otherwise. I can't say it any better than President Monson . . .

"If there is a spiritual lesson to be learned from our experience of that fateful day, it may be that we owe to God the same faithfulness that He gives to us. We should strive for steadiness, and for a commitment to God that does not ebb and flow with the years or the crises of our lives. It should not require tragedy for us to remember Him, and we should not be compelled to humility before giving Him our faith and trust. We too should be with Him in every season." -Thomas S. Monson

................................

It's hard to believe it has been 8 years. I have a lot of love in my heart for this great country of mine. I have so much admiration for the men and women who work to protect it. As cheesy as it sounds, the song "Proud to be an American" still gives me goosebumps every time I hear it. I pray that the leaders of our nation keep the policies in place that have kept us safe since that dreadful day 8 years ago.

Last year President Bush invited former White House staffers back to the White House for the remembrance ceremony. I knew it would be my last time at the White House before a new president took over, so I met up with my good friend Millie and we waited on the South Lawn together and reminisced about old times (we've been through a lot of craziness together). Obviously, I was not invited back this year. I'm okay with that.

(Can you see me in this picture? Hint: I'm to the back right of Mrs. Cheney in the black suit holding a white paper.)

A Few of My Favorite Things

Things I'm digging these days . . .

Chocolate covered banana chips from Fresh Market. YUM!

Cherry Lifesavers. Okay, so I've liked these forever but lifesavers are nearly impossible to find anymore (you can find them at Michaels craft store, oddly enough).

Zucchini: My garden is abounding in them these days. Needless to say, I've been looking up a lot of zucchini recipes lately. I've tried a few good ones already from my friend's food blog, but if anyone has any other tried and true zucchini recipes, please pass them along!

Cheese Curds: I'm not typically a big cheese person, but cheese curds I love. I'm upset that more stores don't sell them. The only place I've even found them in Tennessee is a Dairy/Cheese Farm 30 minutes away. But, man, they are good.

Suave Professionals Dry Shampoo. I know, I know. Suave? I got a free sample of it a few months ago and have been hooked ever since. It's incredible. Very few products work on my fine hair and it is a fraction of the price of other dry shampoos and actually smells good. Not having to wash my hair every single day has been awesome.

Books. Let me explain. I've been a book worm most of my life but since James came along, the habit went out the window. Now, I'm spending less time on the computer and more time reading. While on vacation, I read six books and since being home I've read six more. I feel like my old self again.

The Help. The movie. It's rare when a movie lives up to the book. This one was just what I pictured when I read the book and I loved every minute of it.

Pinterest. Thanks to my little sister, I am now totally addicted.

Facebook Scrabble. Thanks to my other sister, I am now totally addicted to this, too. 

FoodGawker.com. Holy smokes. So much good looking food. I used to be really good at trying new recipes and have totally slacked off lately. This site has re-inspired me.

Mustela Double Action Stretch-Mark Lotion. It did the trick last time. Not a single stretch mark (that's probably tmi). Praying it works again this time around.

"An Artist Cannot Fail"

I can say with certainty that this little guy is probably not a budding artist. But we did have fun for the five minutes that this activity lasted. And at the very least, my artistic mother should be proud. Here James is right before he started painting all over himself:


If anyone who reads this (does anyone read this!?) has any ideas for other fun activities for young toddlers, please let me know. I feel like the most boring mother ever these days.

On a happier note, Jamers has been a champion sleeper ever since getting back from our vacation. He's been sleeping from 8-8 all night and taking at least 2 hour naps. This morning he slept until 9:15. If only I could be so lucky every day!

My Almost Two-Year-Old

(FYI, for anyone who asked/cares, I updated the last post with the name of the books. I don't think google reader shows updates.)

So James still has a few more months before he turns the big 2 (not until the end of November), but he's such a funny little rugrat that I wanted to share some of the crazy things he says/does.

James is hilarious and he knows it. Anyone who says little kids don't understand sarcasm never met a kid like James. He continues to be a little parrot, repeating absolutely everything we say. He now talks only in full sentences--no more one word commands like "milk"--now it's "I want some milk," which is awesome. He also continues to be Mr. Sassy Pants.

The other day I asked if he was ready for bed and he glared at me and said "What do you think?"

Today he started having a full-on conversation by himself (side note: he loves to play in the car, pretending to drive, which I know is not the ideal place to play). His conversation went something like this:

James: "Mom, I want to go play in car. Let's go drive." Looks up at me and says in a somewhat different tone of voice, "Okay, James, you can drive car." Smiles really big, claps his hands, grabs my hand and says "Okay, let's go!" I laughed for about five minutes over this one.

He's way into sniffing things right now. He must have learned it from watching a dog sniff. It's the only conclusion I can come up with. Instead of giving kisses now, he'll come up to your face and sniff at your nose. He does this with everything: his toy cars, his stuffed animals, pictures in books, etc. It is both weird and endearing.

When he gets confused or isn't sure about how something works he says "What the what?"

Dental families will love this one (that he obviously learned from Brian): Whenever he is brushing his teeth and accidentally flicks some water off the bristles he'll run around yelling "Exposure!!!"

It boggles my mind that for more than half of this kid's life he has been walking, talking and saying "No." Now, in addition to "No" it's "Nope," "I don't think so!" or "Stop it!" He still continues to tell everyone around him (including little old ladies at the grocery store) "NO!" when he is super tired/cranky. I think the "stop it!" bothers me more than the "No" does though.

When we were in Utah, on our way up to Park City, James was extra cranky and didn't want anyone even looking at him. We kept doing it anyway and it was totally frustrating him. Since he didn't quite know how to articulate his message and he knew a simple "No!" wasn't cutting it anymore, he started yelling at us "No eyes! No eyes!" That got the message across, I suppose.

Here he is in my parent's backyard playing in the hippo pool his grandma bought him. He probably could have lived in their backyard while we were there. No humidity and temperatures in the 80s was glorious.


I sure do love this kid. I'm not sure what we ever did without him.

Nerd Alert

Maybe if anyone ever sends me pictures of our vacation earlier this month, I'll get around to posting about that. But since I'm currently pictureless, I'll write about what a major nerd I am instead (as if most people don't already know).

The last few weeks, I've had a weird urge to re-read some books I used to love from my childhood. This included The Secret Garden, Anne of Green Gables, etc., and also The Little House books. While thinking about the Little House books (which, I am aware, is total nerd-city in and of itself), my memory went back to my early tween days and how after reading all of those books (which stop being entertaining to me when Laura enters adulthood--same with the Anne books--why is that?) I happened upon another series of books that takes place during the same time frame about a group of crazy kids being raised by their single preacher father.

I could only remember bits and pieces of these books but knew that way back when I first read them, I had thought they were hilarious and the grandest things ever written. I willed myself to remember what they were called and my memory failed me terribly. I tried googling my vague references but came up empty handed there, too.

I knew I would go crazy if I couldn't figure out what they were called.

So, I made the only logical decision: that when I went back home to Utah I would go to my old library and find these books because, oddly enough, I could remember exactly where they were located (I lose my car keys constantly but can somehow remember the exact location of a library book I checked out 18 years ago. Obviously my short-term memory needs some work).

Well, after arriving in Utah and telling my mother my plan (hoping she'd remember the names of the books), she convinced me that going back to the library would be a waste of time. During a nearly 20 year time span, libraries do rearrange their shelves, afterall. I conceded that she was right, but still secretly hoped for a trip to that library anyway.

But, before I knew it, my time at home was dwindling to an end and there would be no time to visit the library. Uhg. If I didn't figure it out while I was at home, I knew I never would. And maybe it was just as well.

Lo and behold, a miracle occurred on my last morning there.

I was cleaning out a closet in my old bedroom and popped open a tupperware box with some old school work in it and the very first thing I pulled out was a handwritten book report. But not just any book report. It was a report detailing every book in that very series that I had been wondering about. I now had the name of not only the series, but of every single book in the series. What were the chances?

The really nerdy part? This "book report" was not written for school. Nope. I was so obsessed with these books that I did a write-up on them just for fun. It included character sketches, book summaries, and even a four-star rating system for each of the books.

All I could do was laugh and thank my 12-year-old self for being such a geek. Who knew that 18-years-later this would be just what I was looking for?

After a quick search on Amazon.com, I am now the proud owner of all eight of those books. Were they as interesting/entertaining as they were when I was 12? Well, no, not really. I've read too many books in those 18-years to reconstitute what good literature entails.

But, for a quick read, they do the trick. I've had the books less than six days and I'm currently on book five of the series. So although they aren't quite as riveting as I remembered, they are entertaining enough that I have to keep reading.

I think re-reading old favorites is a must every now and then. I cannot stomach watching a movie more than once, but re-reading an old book is like getting reacquainted with an old friend and I highly recommend it.

If that's not nerdy advice, I don't know what is.

Update: Oops. Totally forgot the most important part! The series is called "The Days of Laura Ingalls Wilder" and is by T.L. Tedrow. If anyone else out there ever read these, I'd love to know! Also, if anyone wants to borrow the books, let me know! :)