Beans and a box

My idea was let the kids play with beans. But keep the house clean by putting them and the beans in a big box with some trucks to drive through the beans.

It was a great idea until the 3rd or 4th time playing when they decided to make it rain beans. And no box could contain that!

Top 6 Free Toddler Apps- tested by my toddlers

my husband works for apple and so we have more apple products than we have people in the house, and our kids can navigate the iPhones, iPads, and iPods better than Grandma!

So from our iPad to yours, with love, here are our TOP 6

The ENDLESS ALPHABET app was recommended to me by a friend on facebook. This quickly made it to the top of my list. There are a list of things I love about this.

1. Teaches them puzzle skills

2. Teaches them the shape of CAPITAL alphabet letters

3. Teaches them the sound of each letter

4. Teaches them the meaning of big words, broadening their vocabulary

5. All the animations are so CUTE AND FUN

This ABC Alphabet Phonics-Preschool Kids Game Free App, really needs to have a shorter name ;) but I do love this app because it is very customizable

1. I could customize it to do LOWER CASE letters, a lot of alphabet games only do capital letters, but they will see more lower case letters in the reading so they need to know those too

2. I customized the prompts with my own voice, so when the kids play it they smile and giggle and say "Mommy!!!"

Shape Puzzle(Deluxe)-Kids Favorite Word Learning Game, is a winner here, let me tell you why

1) It is a great PUZZLE game, my youngest son at 18 month old learned to do puzzles on this app and impressed everyone who watched

2) It taught my kids a lot of vocabulary that they could use, and helped them communicate better with me. I was so impressed! I think this single reason should count as a hundred reasons to get it ;)

Ballonimals Lite is not educational but quite fun! The Lite version only does one animal, but my kids don't care, they will make this green dinosaur over and over again and giggle when he pops ;)

Toddler's Seek & Find: My Zoo Animals. This app is a fun interactive scene, you just have to try it ;)

Toddler Puzzle Shapes I love the background music to this app

1. helped the kids with PUZZLE skills

2 helped them identify and name SHAPES My oldest knew all his shapes by 2 years old

All these Apps are for free with the option to pay for upgrades. I just have the free ones on my phone, because I am to cheap to buy them.

Let me know if I missed any amazing apps! comment your favorite app and I will have my kids test them ;) ;)

Ground Turkey Stroganoff-with a kick!

I took two of my favorite recipes, combined them and then made a few substitutions.... turkey for ground beef and greek yogurt for sour cream. Then I added a surprise ingredient that really gives your stroganoff a pleasing kick of flavor....are you ready..... I added...... Relish!

Get my RECIPE HERE

I love using my Magic Recipe for many reasons, but one of my new favorite reasons is the have a rewards program, where they reward me just for using their website!

Messy Fun-1

My Boys LOVE messy play and this was a fun new one we tried.

Cornstarch and shaving cream. I put both of them in a pan. They enjoyed feeling each separate and then mixing them together.

It was messy but well worth the fun and memories. I even had fun feeling them together. I've never just played with shaving cream or cornstarch so it was new and fun for ME too!

Missing the snow?- Kid Fun

Are you or your kids missing playing in the snow? My kids aren't we have saved up paper from the paper shredder and it snowed in our house. It took me about 30 minutes to clean up during nap time. Those little papers can get in every little crack.

I would do it again though, just to hear those precious giggles and squeals of joy!

A Mother's Resume

Mothers Day has new meaning as a mother of 3 young kids. Today I was thinking about all the skills I have acquired as I've become a mother. No job or training could have prepared me for the job of a mother, it is at times the hardest but mostly wonderful job I have ever had!

This would be my RESUME if I was applying for my current position as mother

 Hope you enjoyed the humor! Happy MOTHERS DAY to all you mothers out there (especially my mom, mother in law, and my grandmas).

Let me know what would your resume look like ;)

Tape Roads - Kid Fun

The great thing about this road is its easy to clean up and if the kids get bored just go tape a different part of their room or different part of the house and it will spark their interest again.

Have I ever mentioned how talented my boys are at making all sorts of vehicle noises!

Cinco de Mayo - Recycled Piñata

We had a lovely Cinco de Mayo.

And the DAY OF Cinco de Mayo. We decided we had to have a piñata for that evening. We used empty cereal boxes. Some leftover tissue paper from a baby shower, and some painting tape from when we painted the bathroom.

Filled it with candy we had around the house and paper from our paper shredder to mimic confetti ;)

It was fun to make, fun to break, and even fun to clean up, and it didn't cost us anything.

We try to make some part of each day a special day and holidays help us do that.

So find a reason to celebrate and make yourself a piñata!

Pudding Painting

I did pudding painting in kindergarten and remember loving this. I hope my kids have just as fun doing it. 

 All you need is paper and pudding

It is also a great way to practice SHAPES, NUMBERS, & LETTERS

I know they love clean up (licking the pudding off their fingers ;)

My niece asks me every time she comes if we can pudding paint again.