Monthly Archives: September 2011

Cave, Dungeon, PlayHouse?

Posted by When the Kids Go To Bed in kids and tagged with , , , ,

Our friends came over last weekend and brought my son a belated birthday gift. He was beyond excited that his birthday hadn’t completely ended. Totally unexpected.  He opened his present and was beyond delighted with what he found behind the wrapping paper. A Color Me Playhouse! I had never seen anything like it.

Not only did this playhouse provide entertainment for the evening for the kids, but over the past week this gift has been just about everything. It’s been an ancient cave with cave drawings. It has been a deep canyon of the sea for the sea monsters. It was the dinosaur cave where the little Troodons hid from the T-Rex aka Mommy after they stole her egg (a rock). The castle where the “Knights of Nevada” plotted to defeat the deadly fire-breathing dragon aka Daddy. I think we even played The Three Little Pigs. I love that they use their imagination and can’t wait to hear what they come up with next.

To our friends, we don’t mind the monstrosity in the middle of our living room. We love it! We’ve had so much fun this week. Thank you. All kids love cardboard boxes, but this one took it up a notch.

And of course I had to scope out Amazon.com to see what else I could find. They have a castle!!! Calling all princesses and knights!

Benefits of Playing Stay-At-Home Mom

Posted by When the Kids Go To Bed in motherhood and tagged with , , , , ,

Today I took the day to be a stay-at-home mom. Something I would love to do but unfortunately I need the weekly pay check. Anyway, I compiled a list of ten things I loved about today.

  1. 45 extra minutes of sleep.
  2. Not rushing Logan to school so I can get into work asap. Heart hammering and speeding with an expired license.
  3. All the beds are made. Love this.
  4. Fitting in a treadmill run before 8pm.
  5. Not having to leave Deacon and Finn at my in-laws. I get to enjoy them all to myself. Laughing, crying and all!
  6. Catching up on the laundry during the day. Now I can relax tonight during Grey’s Anatomy.
  7. Getting errands done while NOT on my lunch break.
  8. Not having to ask my father-in-law to pick up Logan from school because Daddy’s cases were taking too long today.
  9. Taking Deacon to Monster Golf while Logan was at school. Logan is petrified of Monster Golf.
  10. Picking up Logan from school, and the smile on his face and his brothers’. Hugs.

They’re little things, but they are things that really make me happy. The day was a lot less stressful, but I’m sure I will still top it off with a glass of wine anyway.

The Bookshelf #2 – “Good Dog Carl”

Posted by When the Kids Go To Bed in The Book Shelf and tagged with , , ,

Before meeting with Logan’s teacher during parent night at school all of the kindergarten parents met in the library, scene of my previous anxiety attack, for a meeting with the reading specialist. She informed the parents that they would be screening the children to see what level they were at and would then go forth accordingly. Slight internal panic…have I taught him enough? Sorry, I’m steering off topic….parental ADD. Back to what I was getting at, she showed us a picture book, Where’s My Teddy by Jane Simon. She explained the benefits of having a child go through a picture book. It helps them gather and comprehend the context of the story visually. I then immediately thought of Good Dog Carl by Alexandra Day. Good Dog Carl was a book my son Logan and I used to read all of the time when he was probably 3 and we haven’t read it in a very long time.

* courtesy of Amazon.com

This book gives the child the independence to tell you the story. You can engage them and ask questions? What is Carl doing now? Dancing in the living room. The premise of the story is that, as silly as it may be, Carl is left to watch a baby. You get to go through the story of what the baby and Carl do when the mommy is not around. Logan tells the story different every time. Each time we would observe new things going on in the beautifully illustrated pictures. I found our copy of Good Dog Carl on our bookshelf the other day and all three of my boys loved it…again. We’ve read it every night this week. The boys take turns telling what is going on in each page. This story is endearing and engaging. Hope you enjoy it as well.