General Conference with Kids

We LOVE General Conference and look forward to listening every 6 months.  If you are a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints you know what I am talking about.  This is a time when we have the opportunity to listen to our prophet, the 12 apostles and other general authorities in a worldwide conference.  General Conference is Saturday March 31st and Sunday April 1st, with two sessions each day, one starting at 10 A.M. and the other at 2 P.M.

Everyone is welcome to watch here.

We usually watch general conference at home over the internet. It can be a long 2 hours for our 3 year old so I put together a little activity to help keep him involved and wanting to watch. My hope is to help him identify the prophet and the 12 apostles.  We usually hear from all 12 apostles except for 2 that usually speak during the priesthood session (Saturday night) so we will have 2 activities left over that we can do sometime between conference sessions.

Here is the activity I put together:

It's pretty simple, just a basket of different kinds of treats and activities that he can do while listening to conference.  I put a picture on each activity so he can watch to see who speaks and then find the activity/treat with their picture on it.  I put together 15 activities one for our prophet, his two councilors and the 12 apostles.

You can't see a lot of the things that I put in the basket because I wanted the focus to be on the prophet/apostles not on the activity.  Here is a list of what I  put in the basket:
Connect 4 game
Crayons and Coloring Book
brownie mix...to make during the session
Snickers candy bar
animal crackers
goldfish
Magnetic doodle board
M&M's
Chalk for our chalk board
Apple
Magnet Noah's ark tin
Beads/necklace
Fruit snacks
Quiet book
Stickers

I used pictures from a quiet book I made awhile ago.

Heather put it together over at simply fresh designs.  You can get the templates for your personal use by visiting her site.

I love it because each page has a photo of the prophet along with facts about them.  I used these pages instead of pictures so we can learn about each one as part of the activity.

Enjoy General Conference and have a wonderful weekend!

New Design

We are so excited about our new design!  Things are a little crazy at the moment as we are getting everything put together...so pardon the mess.  We hope you enjoy the new design and are able to find your way around our blog once everything is done.  

We wanted to thank Katie for all of her hard work in putting our new design together! She has been wonderful to work with and done a great job.  Thanks Katie! 

Cute and Modest Swimsuits

I always have the hardest time trying to find a cute and modest swimsuit.  Once again Iv'e found myself searching for the perfect suit.  In my search I have found some cute suits and some fun websites that I wanted to share with you...as I am sure you will be in search of one sometime soon. Here is what I've found:

1- Shade Clothing- basic yet cute available in solids or patterns, priced around $30 for top, $54 for one piece. 

2- Lime Ricki - fun patterns with retro look, priced around $45 for top, $62 for one piece. 

3- Downeast - 10 styles to pick from, about $37 for top. 

4- Modbe Clothing - 11 styles to pick from. Tankinis run about $50 for top and $30 for bottom, $50 for one piece.  

5- Divina Sole - $99 to design your own suit, super cute styles! This is by far my favorite site although I'd wait for the $69 sale. 

6- Rey Swimwear - Fun and hip suits, anywhere from $50 -$80.

7- Hapari - Lots of tankinis to pick from priced around $50 for top.

8- Popina Swimwear - Retro swimsuits priced $60-$99.

9- Old Navy/Gap - A few modest suits priced around $40. 

10- Landsend - Lots of tanks and one pieces. 

11- Target - Huge selection of suits under $50.

12- Kohls - Huge selection online and in store.  

13- JCPenny - Huge selection online and in store.

I would love to hear of any other sites that offer cute and modest suits...feel free to share in the comment section!

Phantom Energy

What is phantom energy?  
Did you know that many of the devices that you use every single day are using energy even when they are turned "off"?  Some of those things that were using energy even when I didn't think they were and taking money out of my pocket were:  my computer, laptop, t.v, wii, VCR (that's right we still have one), DVD player, radio/stereo, microwave, kitchen appliances, humidifier, cell phone chargers, digital cameras, power tools, and computer cords.

When I learned about phantom energy I decided that I wanted it to stop.  I went to the store and bought three power strips.  We have one in the study area, one behind the entertainment center in the living room, and one in the kitchen behind the stereo.  When these things aren't in use it makes it really easy to flip a switch and stop that energy from being used.  At night it's really easy to check and make sure, not only the appliances are turned off but that the power strip is off as well! ; ) 

I was a little hesitant and first but I did notice a difference in the utility bill this month.  Although it wasn't drastic...we did save some, and over a year it will add up.  Hope this helps.


What do you do to save energy or money in your home?

A fun way to keep track of what each cord is for. We just used bread bag ties and put them on each cord:)

St. Patrick's Day Treasure Hunt

We did this fun scavenger hunt for St. Patrick's day and our kiddos loved it!  You can find the  printables over at oppsey daisy or by clicking here.

I printed out the cute clues onto green paper and hid them around the house (Their are 10 clues)

 Our kiddos eventually ended up in the kitchen and found a pot of treasure in the fridge!

They were so excited!

2 Year Old's Favorite Activities

My little boys 3rd birthday is next week...where does the time go! Anywho, I wanted to have a special day with him. I got all of the housework done early and told him the morning was his/we could do whatever he wanted. I also got myself and the kids ready early with the thought he might want to go to McDonald's or visit a friend, or just get out of the house but that was not the case.

We spent the morning:

~ Playing Hide and Seek & Duck, duck goose

~ Dancing to music and singing songs

~ Creating animals with Play-doh

~ Playing a couple board games
~playing with cookie cutters

~ Watching a movie while sitting in a laundry basket

~ Coloring

~ Going on a walk

~ Reading Books

~ Playing with his toys (using our imaginations)

~Building a Fort

~ Going on blanket rides

He really just wanted to do the simple things that we do all the time. I loved the things he choose and it was a reminder of how much our children want us to spend time with them...at least at this age. It was also a reminder that the activities we do with them don't have to be thought out or different from the everyday routine to be fun. It really is the time we spend with them that makes the difference!

Hand Molds!

I LOVE my baby's precious little hands and toes and don't ever want to forget just how little they are.....SO I decided to take molds of them.  Have you ever been to the dentist to get molds of your teeth??  Well since I work in the dental field that's how I made my molds.  I recognize that most of you don't work in the dental office so I would  recommend checking your local craft store.  I've seen little kits that contain the putty and plaster needed to make these.  Aren't they precious?

If You Give a Pig a Pancake

A couple weeks ago we made a day out of reenacting scenes from the book "If You Give a Mouse a Cookie." You can view what we did by clicking here.  My little guy had a really fun time with it and kept asking to do it again but with the pig or moose.  He has been really into cooking lately and keeps pretending to make pancakes so I got really excited about doing this with him.  We broke this one up into 2 days because last time we did it all in one day and it felt like we were having to rush the kids from one activity to the next.  

Anywho, here is what we did: We read the book lots of times leading up to this.

First, we made piggy ears and snouts.

Then we made pancakes!

We have a favorite pancake recipe if you are looking for a good one you can find it here.

Dad reviewed what happened in the book while I made pancakes.

Next, we ate pancakes with lots of maple syrup...

the kids got sticky so they took a bath.

Then the kids got dressed and danced to music

We wrote some letters and colored some pictures for grandparents, put them in envelopes and added a stamp to the corner and took them to the Post Office. 

Then we built a fort (In the book it's a tree house, but this was good for us)

It was a very simple activity but lots of fun!  We enjoyed being little piggies for a day. 

My little boy is still taking about doing an activity for "If You Give a Moose a Muffin" so I am sure we will be sharing that soon.  He doesn't know about the book "If You Give a Cat a Cupcake" but I am planning to do something fun with that too.  Have fun with your activities!

If You Give a Mouse a Cookie

We absolutely love this book! The little boy in this story gives a mouse a cookie and then ends up doing all sorts of things to keep the mouse happy. This story reminds of what it’s like to be a mother constantly running from thing to thing to keep the kids busy/happy. Our kids love this book too so we decided to make an activity day out of it!

First we made cookies

And these cute little mouse ears

(we made them from a sheet of pink paper, a grocery bag and a glue stick)

Then we read the book together wearing our mouse ears

After we read the book we reenacted scenes from it

We had a cookie with milk, a straw and a napkin just like in the book

(This was our kids favorite part)

We pretended to trim the boys hair...they didn't really get into this part.

We cleaned the house

Took a nap...really just played in blankets

Colored a picture...

...and hung it on the fridge with tape

Then, we had another glass of milk and a cookie.

Our kids really loved this activity, my little boy is already talking about doing our next activity...he wants to do "If You Give a Mouse a Muffin," I am sure we will be doing that soon. If you haven't read this book you should give it a shot its by Laura Joffe Numeroff and illustrated by Felicia Bond. Have fun!