Easter is confusing

Can someone please tell me how to do Easter!!>??...i feel like this is the one holiday that tests the belief-meter in my children.

there are far too many ways to mess it up and leave tell tale clues.... like empty jelly bean bags in your closet that you forgot to hide, because you were too tired to notice, because it was 11pm the night before Easter, when you finally found time to fill their baskets.  How does the Easter bunny know to come in your house and find all the mismatched plastic eggs and put jelly beans in them and hide them in your yard?  Often the holiday matches up with their school spring break, so somehow the bunny finds us and brings the baskets to their hotel room? We didn't leave him a note or anything...hmm, very suspicious....I think I remember this holiday being the gateway to other startling revelations when i was a kid, like why did Santa buy presents (price tags), and why is the same candy that was in our stocking also in mom and dad's closet?

I go out of my way to try to tilt the belief meter at more than half way around our house...kids have to believe in the good that is out there.  But this holiday always seems to throw me for a loop.  So, if you have any wonderful Easter traditions around your house, please let me know.

For our 15is portion:  I am going to talk about getting children to dress in their fancy clothes.

For some, this is not a problem. Around here, it is a monumental undertaking.  First of all, I don't like to go out and just buy them new things unless they have truly outgrown what they  have.

We dig through their closet to see what fits, which, if it's winter, is of course something light and frilly, or if it's spring, something dark and heavy.  (I am talking about girls here, for my son, anything that fits-works).  "Ok, fine, I won't make you wear the black, heavy, velvet dress from Christmas".  But, wanting to show them that how you look is NOT the most important thing in this world...(or spend a ton of money), our first stop is our local consignment shop.  There are limited choices here, and for everyday clothing, great.  But, when you are forced to choose between: a tight, bright pink, sparkly dress with a matching "half jacket" that barely covers the bulging buttons in the back, and your daughter is sqealing "please mommy, please! this is the most beautiful dress I've ever seen!"  Or, a purple butterfly and flower printed dress with a deep v-neck and sparkly spaghetti straps (for an 8 year old!) And you say to yourself, well, the pink one is only $10 and she'll probably come to see that it doesn't quite fit right.................famous last words.  

Not wanting to cause an image problem in her head, I agree to buy it and keep my mouth shut, but not without a few grumblings on Easter morning when she insisted on wearing her black sparkly tank top underneath.   More than a few actually.  Then, on the way to the big family Easter brunch, after I have vocalized my wishes for the children to just wear what I want them to wear on special occasions...( I did go to Old Navy and pick up a few extra dresses to sway her away from the first one to no avail) comes the wisdom that only a child can provide. "mom, it doesn't matter what we wear.  As long as we are together.  That's all that matters, is love and family, not what you look like".    

Ahh, I guess I have done my job.  That's what I wanted all along.   She actually did end up looking great.  The color was beautiful on her and she practically glowed when she put it on.  I think it was  because it "was the most beautiful dress she had ever seen". :)

But, in the interest of actually providing you with some useful information that you can use...here are a few tips on HOW TO GET YOUR KIDS DRESSED FOR A FANCY OCCASION WITHOUT LOSING YOUR MIND:


Spend 15 minutes thinking about what you/they will need for the day.  Plot out where you will buy them or when, if online.  

Start early.  I used to go through their dresses and try to shop the day before a big event, because I was too busy enjoying the moment of everyday life with my little ones.  Good stuff, but it's ok to plan ahead.  Saves YOU a lot of headache the morning of.

Buy online.   I got my daughters communion dress at a shop online called CutieClothes.com.

It fit perfect and was beautiful.  We bought the veil, gloves, shoes and even a purse at this site.  We paid the same price for the dress and all the accessories as we would have for the same dress at our local Nordstrom's.  They had tons of selection instead of the just three or four to choose from at Nordy's.

For my son, we bought him some Khaki dress pants online at a skater type shop....probably Dan'sComp.com.  They are made by Volcom and he puts them on without much of a fight.   Any kind of collared shirt will do for most occassions.  If he needed a blazer or sport coat, we could probably buy online, but since he's not picky, I think we did just go to Nordstroms and get their basic blue one.

Shoes:  For girls, these will realistically, probably only be worn once......Old Navy is a great source, Target, and Payless.  For boys, depending on how old they are, just invest in a good pair of Sperry boat shoes.   They last through all seasons and any occasion and go with anything they wear.

Make them shower the day before you'll be good to go the morning of!!

Good luck and remember to take pictures! Who knows when they'll look this clean and presentable again!

Excuse me now, while I finish off the last of the black jelly beans from my kids baskets.  mmm good.  Happy Easter!

traveling with kids

my youngest and oldest right before take off

 We just returned from spring break.  I love traveling with kids.  It's as much a challenge as it is an adventure.  For the most part,kids can get from point A to point B, fairly easily. This is made fairly easy because of the ubiquitous in-flight entertainment systems, DS, iphone, etc...
But what happens when these crutches are not available....their batteries are dead, or goodness gracious, there are no tv's on the plane!..... for those of us with older kids,  we remember what it was like to sing with the kids in the car.   Or, play fun games like "honey, please don't stand up and lean over the seat in front of us, the man doesn't like you breathing on his head!" over and over again, on the plane.  Ah, the good old days.  

Here are some good old fashioned tips for when the power shuts off.


Most are things you could think up on your own (bring crayons and paper) some are unique (bring a roll of scotch tape...endless possibilities). For a complete list of those i've used and/or read about, please see below.


(But, even if you were super mom and brought everything (map of where you're going for them to draw on or help navigate, stickers for airplane tray tables or a fruit loops necklace!.....) the most important ingredient in all of this is....YOU).


What the typical list of "tips" leave off is how much face time kids actually need.  How many of us have given a kid a coloring book and crayon and sat back and read a magazine?  I am not saying that we need to entertain our kids 24/7, just help get them started.


 I find that if I absolutely concentrate on them for at least 15 minutes at various points throughout,  afterwards,they are more apt to get involved in an activity on their own. (And I can get some reading in!)  For my youngest, her favorites are: playing a funny game where i pretend to be the baby and she the mommy (or any game where they are the ones in charge), various tickle games or "eating" games where I pretend to be hungry and her earlobe looks like just the right thing for a snack..or one of us freezes in a funny position and the other person "unfreezes" them....etc..on and on.....For the older ones, just some good old fashioned attention aimed directly at them....see below for suggestions.


(While we're on the subject, there is something to be said for not just tuning your kid out with the latest electronic gadget.  Believe me, I have been on 6 hour plane rides with a 2 year old, and I am grateful for any kind of distraction.  Especially after hour-3 of non-stop crying, while they throw anything you try to placate them with, up 2 rows, thus bonking other passengers in the head... 
but, dare i say, i do think kids learn valuable life skills when they are forced, at times, to do without). 


For older kids, this might include: patience, bordeom=daydreaming, going with the flow, adaptation, creativity, bonding time with a sibling (remember the guess the letter game you scratch on your brother's back? or plant a rose garden on their arm?-priceless!), if your in the car - singing (most likely not going to happen on the plane).  For younger kids, i don't know if they'll learn much, but maybe the parent learns to appreciate the above skills, or at the very least a great story to take away!~(baby throwing pacifier and bonking fellow travelers).


We all learned these skills when we traveled as kids.......i still remember the elaborate "room" i concocted in our car during our long drives (secret room located under the drivers seat where I had my own couch, air conditioning and bathroom!)  i spent hours decorating it and daydreaming that i was actually in it, and comfortably lying down on my couch, while my siblings suffered in the hot vinyl seats above.  i wonder what ours will remember or learn from their long drives or plane rides when they are tuned in electronically the whole time.........





travel tips:
for young kids..
1. bag of cheerios or for a special treat: fruit loops and a piece of floss, string, licorice rope. tie a knot in one end and they can string the cheerios on until it makes a necklace. tie it around their neck (assuming you will be supervising them so they don't choke) and they can eat the cheerios off during the trip.

2. learn origami and make pages of the in-flight magazine into a bird, star, cootie catcher. (i only read about this one, don't actually know how to do it)

3. keep a plastic bottle of water after it's empty. leave cap on and tighten almost all the way. when the plane lands, the pressure will squish the bottle. cool!

4. scotch tape. tear off small pieces and put on their tray table. they can stick them all over. I don't know why they think this is fun but they do.

5. paper + crayons.

6. post it notes. you can make a flip book of a dot moving (or something more elaborate if you are an artist. they will love it either way).

7. stickers. similar to scotch tape.

8. any kind of pen - turn motion sickness bag into a puppet. :)

9. for car rides, think of a few obvious sights they will see along the way and make a "map" similar to Dora the Explorers. i.e.: bridge, tunnel, city! they can hold the map and keep an eye out for the landmarks.

10. felt. get a large piece of felt and put it on a baking tray. cut out different shapes or letters. (there are also cute sets you can buy)

11. baking tray is also good for magnets.

12. books, songs, i spy.

for older kids:

1. travel bingo or rubber neckers (card game where you draw 5 cards and try to find the things on the cards {bald man driving, car with broken taillight, graffiti} and each card has a certain number of points associated with it.

2. book on tape (get a good one and it's better than a movie, i promise!)

3. if on a long car ride, pull out the map, and have them help you navigate. kids will balk at this at first, but actually they will enjoy it

4. teach them how to sing a "round" song. row row row your boat, or hi-ho anybody home. Or teach them one of your favorite songs that you knew as a kid. Hobo songs are particularly endearing. Hi-ho mentioned above, or anything by Burl Ives or Harry Belafonte.

5. The alphabet game. you know this one.

6. I'm going to a party game.......
(someone thinks up a categorty (a certain letter, words that start with someone's initials, things only found at the beach, etc.) and you start by saying: "I'm having a party and I'm bringing pretzels." the next person says "can I bring.....a cake?" and you say "no you can't come" (because your theme is anything that starts with the letter P). you let people come to the party who have picked up on this and say they are bringing pizza, pontoons, party poopers, etc.......until everyone gets it or they all give up.

7. magic tricks

8. origami

9. a card game

10. drawing together (fold a piece of paper in to fourths the long way. one person draws a head and part of the neck. they hand the paper [folded over so that only the bottom of neck is showing] and the next person draws a torso connected to the neck. they hand it back and the other person draws the legs connected to the torso and the next person draws the feet connected to the legs. Open it up and you have what often resembles a monster in a dress with hairy legs wearing flip flops. i never get tired of this game!
11. thumb wars

12. crafting (strips of tissue with a glue stick and a piece of paper is hours of fun)

13. table football, sleeping, homework(!), joke books, origami, magic tricks...the list is only limited to your imagination.

HAPPY TRAVELS~!



























for those of you who are following my own 15 minute a day actions, here's what i tackled today:


ordered more jewelry supplies 
finished two necklaces


not much! but this is all done during the wee puny time that my youngest is in school. (3 hours!). needless to say, these each took more than 15 minutes...but i focused on just one subject today {my fledgling jewelry biz and worked on that}. i did look at the Pepsi Refresh page and think about what I want to submit...15 minutes.
Ok, now kids are home, toddler awake. nuff said. can't think straight.....someone's yelling, what are they showing me? jlkjviouaehrfgu;ughvkjna;fuhvn;aoghiuwyeouwp90gtuw99p9oj;acklnu;gbhkj HAVE TO FOCUS!
time to dive right in! homework, toddler play, dinner, scouts, mom's meeting.......sleep
this blog gives me enough to float on until i can be alone with my thoughts again.  thanks for reading!