I’ve been doing some cleaning in the girl’s art area lately, and one good thing about that is that it means we’re finding things we forgot we had. It was nearly a year ago the last time we played with paint and glitter gel, and the girl found the remains of the bottle over the […]
Three Things to Do to Get Ready for a Holiday Break
We had our first snow this weekend, and though it didn’t cause a snow day, I’m suddenly thinking about the very real possibility that snow days are coming soon and the reality that the girl is home from school all next week and two weeks for winter break. With all that in mind I’ve been […]
Memories without Photographs
At the grocery store this morning, the Billy Joel song “For the Longest Time” came on over the PA, and I was immediately transported back almost two decades to the Key Club regional convention of April 1995. There was a talent show, and one of the performers was an all-boy acapella group called The Argyles, […]
In Which My Thoughts About Talking are Completely Validated
As part of my brand ambassadorship with Better Beginnings, I was recently invited to attend part of the conference of the Arkansas Early Childhood Association, a group of educators and parents whose focus is giving kids the best start possible. It was wonderful in a lot of ways — and I’ll be writing a lot […]
How to Raise a Smart Kid, Part Two: Talk a Lot
As a brand ambassador for Better Beginnings, I am being compensated for this post, but all opinions are my own. I told you the story about the girl telling her teacher that a butterfly doesn’t come from a cocoon but a chrysalis. And that I said she’s so smart in part because we read a […]
Sew an Easy Blanket out of Old Recieving Blankets
I don’t know how we ended up with so many receiving blankets when the girl was a baby. She was a preemie, so we swaddled her for a long time to help keep her warm, but the number of little cloth blankets we had still borders on the ridiculous. When she was too old to […]
Making Paper Bag Puppets (Your Own or With a Kit)
I like to give the girl crafty gifts and I have a lot of things on her wish list that are craft kits and other things I think she’ll like but that are kind of special because we don’t use craft kits all that often. This year someone bought her the ALEX Toys Paper Bag […]