Slow and Steady

I recently came across an article a teacher wrote after speaking with her students about advice they would give moms on "mothering"... She said that year after year overwhelmingly the majority of them said that what they enjoyed most, and what made their hearts happiest was when their mothers did simple things for or with them. I loved reading this list, I found it refreshing and doable ...so sharing it here! To read the full article go here.

Here is a list of the top ten things students around the world said they remembered and loved most about their mothers.

1. Come into my bedroom at night, tuck me in and sing me a song. Also tell me stories about when you were little.

2. Give me hugs and kisses and sit and talk with me privately.

3. Spend quality time just with me, not with my brothers and sisters around.

4. Give me nutritious food so I can grow up healthy.

5. At dinner talk about what we could do together on the weekend.

6. At night talk to me about anything; love, school, family etc.

7. Let me play outside a lot.

8. Cuddle under a blanket and watch our favorite TV show together.

9. Discipline me. It makes me feel like you care.

10. Leave special messages in my desk or lunch bag.

This "list" written by the very ones whose voices should be heard.... says a lot. Slowing down and simmering in the simplicities of just being together and sharing life together in a slow, sweet pace sounds awfully good! 
One of my New Year Resolutions...? You betcha, slow and steady baby!

I Love You to the North Pole and Back!!

I have to confess, my soon to be 5 year old had not had a full blown birthday party until this year. His birth date is December 28th, and that... is such a hard time for a party. I have felt guilty over this little issue and vowed to myself that THIS year Reid would have a party with his school friends. THIS YEAR, this year, this year, this year....


But seriously, this year WAS going to be the year and it turns out that once I embraced the whole winter~Christmas theme that comes with this time of year my mind flooded with ideas and I began to wonder why I was so stumped each year with how best to pull off a party in December. ...Give me a summer birth date and I have ideas galore, Luke has benefited from a fun party or two in his little lifetime, but poor Reid~ Nada.


The more ideas rolled in, the more obsessed excited with the thought I became. A huge inspiration came after reading this post on Kelle's blog. I had already thought about having snow delivered but had not fully developed my ideas until I read about her North Pole party she hosted for her girls to just "embrace the fact that Christmas was encroaching"~ and that's when the flood gates opened..... "THAT'S IT" I thought....Reid would indeed have a birthday party... and it would be hosted in no other location than the North Pole (AKA my front yard) and, it would be hosted by none other than Mr. and Mrs. Claus and a cute, spunky 10 year old elf who also goes by the name Luke. Once I got the plan set in motion I reached out to Serendipity Soiree who made these invitations for me, I LOVE them, she did such a great job!
Toby knew something was up when he noticed me typing furiously one night and giggling all the while and asked what was going on... I smirked and told him that I had an idea for a party for Reid....and that, gulp, it was going to require him in a costume..... and, gulp.... memorization of a script! He gave me the o'l, "Oh no, not again...." look. He has been through this with me before, once I hosted a Scooby Doo Mystery birthday party for Luke and Toby was our "Present Thief" and he was given strict orders to follow the script I had typed out for him! Oh, the joys of parenthood..... but my amazing hunk of a husband took it all in stride and was the most lovable Santa that day, and even threw in his own spontaneous dialogue that made me howl with laughter!
Once the invitations had gone out to Reid's classmates one of the moms stopped me and said, "Just so you know..... (insert sweet little girl's name) is telling EVERYONE that she is going to the "real North Pole" for Reid's party!!". We laughed together about it, but then the pressure MOUNTED..... I. Must. Transform. This. Place. Into. The. North. Pole.... So, operation North Pole went into full affect. 1st, I literally walked up to a neighbors house a few streets over that I had never met and, gulp, gave them an invitation and asked if I could borrow 3 of their huge inflatable lawn decorations to help "set the stage" for the North Pole. This stranger woman surprisingly did not close the door on my face but smiled huge and said "Of course!" 2nd, I scoured the Dollar Tree and 99Cent store for as many decorations as I could find to "North Pole" the place up (though I had bought gobs of stuff, gobs of it never made its way out the door that day.... we had rain the day before so my decorating time got cut short~ but I think it was North Pole enough to do the job). 
Once the decor was taken care... the kindergarten teacher in me began to relish in the fact that there were so many fabulous "stations" I could have the children rotate through... and decided that "Mrs. Claus" would read a story to the children to help conclude the party while Reid's dad ran inside and changed into his Santa costume.
Anyway, here is what our Sunday looked like around here.

 

Luke was such a great sport being our "Chief Elf"! ...you could tell he loved every minute of it! ...Truth be told, he even slept in his costume that night, said it was "comfy" ;)

 

Our neighbor graciously made these balloon candy canes for all the kids!

We contacted our local ice company and purchased several 40 lb bags of snow which they delivered. The idea was for the children to make snowmen at one of our "stations". I had carrots, tree branches, buttons, jewels, and wiggly eyes for them to choose from. However, I think the kids found it most fun to just slide around in and throw at one another.





We set out a gingerbread decorating station.

We had an Elf Wrapping Station. At the beginning of the party I handed out elf hats from Oriental Trading Company and told the kids that Santa needed help putting the finishing touches on the gifts by adding ribbons and bows. Then, they were to add their name on the back so we knew which elf inspected it. .... They did not know that these were actually their "party gifts" and the name tags on the back was to help "Santa" call out names at the end of the party once he made his grand appearance.




 

I found these cute little plastic reindeer jars at the Dollar Tree and thought they would be perfect for adding "Reindeer Food" into... however, the 1st store only had 8 so I began searching other stores in the area until I had to realize I was getting neurotic about these dang reindeer jars and that no... it was not healthy to drive 10 miles to pick up the 1 jar that the store manager said he had left, sigh, so I caved and bought the Santa ones to have as back ups. I had to giggle to myself when I had 4 reindeer left over after the party because lots of kids preferred the Santa (Mama Mia... I could have saved a bundle on gas and on headaches had I allowed myself the grace to know that it is okay if reindeer food does not necessarily make it into a reindeer bottle) ;)










After the "stations" had been thoroughly visited it was time to cut the cake...which was also Toby's cue to head into the bedroom to change into the Santa costume we borrowed from a friend. 






Santa and his Chief Elf had been instructed that they were not to come out of the house until I had the kids seated and I had read a book to them....



And then the time had arrived.... Santa made his debut.
....and he came bearing gifts, the presents they had finished wrapping at the "Elf Station"


Toby and I had to laugh that night.... about how much "power" comes along with wearing the big red suit. Kids crawled up on his lap unsolicited and one sweet little guy in particular looked him square in the eye and asked him if he was on the "naughty" list?? He got hugs... and kids lingering around not wanting to say good bye. One dad told me later that his little girl told him, "At first I thought it was Reid's daddy... but then I noticed hair on his hands and thought that must mean it really is Santa" ...Oh my gosh, kids are so funny! Even Reid was staring at Toby trying to figure it all out. 

And as for Mrs. Claus... though she is best known for her fabulous cookie baking abilities and managerial skills with the elves, she is also known to have a bit of a sassy side to her that she unveils from time to time ;).

Reid, we had so much fun celebrating your little life! Happy 5th birthday!We love you..... to the North Pole and back!!

Bagels = Zeros.... and Some iPad Love

In case you didn't know....... bagels look like zeros. ....Reid told me so. 
A week or so ago while making bagels Reid shouted out, "Mom..... ZERO!!" while proudly holding up his bagel. I stopped and looked at his little face.... and realized he was connecting that a bagel is shaped like a zero, therefore it was a zero and....well, I squealed.... yes, like a girl.... no, more like a very happy momma that was celebrating that her child had made this connection and then picked that little guy up and twirled him around. These little connections are BIG connections in our world! I didn't even know he knew zero yet.
So what do you do when your child brilliantly declares bagels look like zeros? Well.... you plop him on the couch and document it baby!

and then you eat those zeros bagels!

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One of the BEST investments we have made for Reid..... which we have seen contribute to much of his progress in number and letter recognition is the iPad. I love this thing, absolutely LOVE, LOVE, LOVE it.  He is so independent with it and navigates himself around to the apps he wants to work in that day and I feel ZERO guilt because he is playing and learning all at the same time. 

If you have thought about getting one for Christmas or are on the fence..... my advice? Get it. The advantage it gives our little ones with special needs is HUGE. In my opinion it is worth EVERY cent!

The app Reid is working on below is the iWriteWords app (it also has a # section) and I believe the one with the letters is from his Starfall ABCs app.... both are must haves. 

Other items worth mentioning are the Big Grips Frame shown below in blue and the Just Mobile stylus. The Big Grips Frame goes without saying... you want to protect your investment and we have found this one to be perfect for Reid's little hands. We had our iPad about a month before we bought this and we had too many close calls with falls so I feel much better with this on! The stylus is something we decided to purchase to help him with gripping an item such as a pencil or crayon. This is also one of his IEP goals so this stylus is helping us achieve that I think. We bought it in yellow to resemble a pencil but they have lots of different fun colors. He loves using  it to trace letters and numbers on the iPad... and sometimes you will even find my goofball with it behind his ear to be, well, ahem ....a goofball.