Summer Centers: The Beans Edition

All I can say is that its HOT here in Charleston! I have some little boys who love to play outside, but during the heat of the day even they don't want to venture out. I was just letting them run around the house and play after lunch time, but the screaming, the gigantic mess, and general chaos started getting to me.

I'm not super crafty or anything, but I thought maybe I could come up with something to keep them occupied and learning something constructive. So, with the help of Pinterest, I've been coming up with four learning centers we can work on everyday for a week before I change them out.  I try to gather all necessary materials on Sunday night. During the week, I get my boys to clean them up before nap time everyday so that the whole thing isn't too labor intensive for me. 

They love it! This week our theme was beans (kinda weird I know). Our first center was a bean sorting station. I filled a jar halfway full with beans of different colors. I got out a muffin tin and let the boys sort the beans together. By the end of the week they knew the names of all our beans-- kidney beans, pinto beans, black beans, and white beans.

Our second center was a craft where they spelled one letter of their names each day with cardboard, glue, and beans. We do a good deal of our grocery shopping at Costco, so I cut up some boxes we had hanging around to make a good sturdy base for the letters. We're planning to hang those on the wall in their bedroom when they are finished.

 Our third center was a sensory bucket filled with beans. I added some measuring cups and spoons and let them go to town. I was surprised by how much the boys loved this station. They loved running their fingers through the beans and pretending to cook meals for one another.

Our fourth and final center was buttoning and zipping station. I let them dress up in some of Daddy's clothes while they learn to zip and button. I figure if we can learn these little practical lessons soon enough Mama won't have to help them get dressed!

 Getting through all the centers takes about 30 minutes to an hour each day depending on how 'into it' they are. I thought maybe by the end of the week, I could let them rotate independently while I did laundry or cleaned house but that never worked out. My four year old could probably work through them independently, but my two year old definitely needs me there to keep him on task. They also just enjoy spending the time doing an activity with me. Even if both my older boys are engaged in their activities, my baby boy is crawling around on the floor trying to eat fallen beans. I was constantly scooping him up to prevent death by choking. 

The challenge for me is to find activities that both of my boys can enjoy while also being able to modify them for their different skill levels. Do you have any fun ideas for Summer Centers? I'd love to hear about them!! 

Downright Motivated

I'm coming out of a season of ridiculously low motivation. We're talking put the kids in bed at 8pm and lay on the couch until bedtime while my sweet hubbs cleans up the dishes. Pregnancy, especially the first trimester, really does it to me. Extreme lethargy and nausea are my daily companions. Getting anything done besides feeding, clothing, and making sure my boys get plenty of outside play time flies out the window.

Thankfully, the nausea/lethargy combo is subsiding, and I'm slowly coming out of survival mode. All I have to say is there's a whole lot of housework that needs doing around here!

I'm pretty good at keeping the common rooms and my boys' rooms relatively liveable, but the master bedroom (aka the dumping ground) and the laundry room always give me away. If you come to our house, you are bound to find a couple of piles of laundry stashed all over the place if you look hard enough.

I'll admit it, I'm not exactly skilled when it comes to household chores. I don't enjoy cleaning, but I do enjoy the fruits of my labor. I come from a family of extremely tidy people. I guess there had to be a rebel, and I am she.

Actually starting the cleaning process is the hardest part for me. If I can resist the temptation to become completely overwhelmed by the task ahead of me, I've literally won the entire battle.

It's totally mental. When I see a mess, it just makes me want to lay down with a glass of wine in my hand. I'm learning that thinking about how much I have to do or how messy things are is 10 times more exhausting than just digging in and getting it done. There are only three things in this world that can motivate me to clean.

1. Guests
We love having people over! One of the hidden benefits of regularly hosting company is that it keeps me on my toes.  My common areas (living room, dining room, and downstairs bathroom) can be cleaned to my liking within 30 minutes. Last week, I  called one of my friends in the neighborhood to see if we could get our kids together for a playdate. She was like, "Sure, we can come over in 30 minutes. " I, of course, agreed even though my kitchen looked like a war zone, and every surface from the counters to the tabletops was covered in crumbs and other assorted food remnants.

My troops and I (armed with wet sponges) kicked it into high gear and got the place sparkling. More cleaning was done in that 30 minutes than would have probably happened all day. I need to invite people over everyday (ok maybe that's a bit extreme).

2. My Super-Duper To-Do List
Lists are another little mind game I play with myself. I love the wildly productive feeling I get from marking items off my lists. This is why I am so meticulous when I make my lists. I write down every little task that needs to be accomplished so that I can have the pleasure of striking through said tasks over and over again. It also keeps me on track and reminds me of the things I need to do instead of letting the vacuum of social media suck up all of my free moments.

3. Creating Beauty
Beauty is another strong motivator for me. I don't want to clean up all of our dirty dishes, but I do want to make my kitchen look warm and inviting. All of the dried food remnants on our dining room table are NOT calling my name, but I do want to stage our dining room so that when people walk into our home they are welcomed by the sight of pretty wildflowers and the scent of a fragrant vanilla candle. Thinking about how I can make our living areas beautiful helps me to move beyond the more grueling cleaning tasks and become engaged in making our rooms a place where we want to live. How can I make my home a delight?

What helps keep you motivated? Let me in on your tips and secrets!!

Routine Details PM

Hello there, I'm back with the details of our afternoon routine! Now let me be clear, I do not always get to do everything listed in my morning and afternoon routines everyday. Some days we just don't have the time. We may have a play date that takes up the whole morning or unexpected errands that take up our afternoon. If we don't get to everything, I just make sure we hit the important things the next day.

 

Lunch

I'm always on the lookout for new quick, easy, and healthy kids lunch ideas. This is usually the meal that my oldest son chows down so I want to make sure its a good one. I try and make sure they get an opportunity to eat veggies at lunchtime. My kids love avocados, carrots (I cut them up small), bell peppers, and green peas so I try to have one or two of these on hand to cut up and stick on their plates. Our current lunchtime rotation includes hummus and Falafel chips, turkey and cheese, and leftovers from dinnertime. If I happen to have hotdogs in the freezer I'll serve those up too-- my kids love them.

One of my Facebook friends routinely posts pictures of these beautiful Bento lunches or snacks she makes for her kids. The snack is usually shaped like an animal or something aesthetically pleasing. Its on my list of things to look into. I think it could be a great way to get my kids excited to eat their food. Plus I'm all about infusing beauty into every area of life.

Starfall

This is the "formal education" time of day for us. For some reason that I don't even remember, I used to be kind of against letting young children use the computer. Starfall changed my mind. This website has made it almost effortless for me to introduce some basic knowledge to my children. My three year old has learned his letters, numbers, shapes, and colors largely thanks to this website. They offer their ABC program for free and if you want access to their other content you can pay a fee of $35 a year. I am a paying member but I used the site for about a year before we decided to join. I only joined because my child had a firm handle on his ABC's and I wanted to try some of the more math oriented portions of the site. There may be better ways to educate but this works for us. I can sit down with my two oldest children and go through letters, colors, and numbers without any preparation.
  

Nap Time

My two big boys take an afternoon nap at the same time. My older son doesn't always take a nap. I usually send him into nap time with some toys, books, or puzzles. I tell him to stay in bed and then I close the door. I don't worry about whether he actually goes to sleep or not. I cannot force him to go to sleep but I can provide an opportunity for him to at least get quiet and rest for a while. He usually comes out of nap time refreshed even if he hasn't actually slept.

PM Snack

Afternoon snack time is tricky. It's close enough to dinner time that if I give them too much food they will not touch a thing on their dinner plates. But the funny thing is, they always want to eat a huge snack at this time. Lately the kids have been loving popcorn. The hubbs took the oldest two out for their first movie theater experience a few weeks back. They saw  Planes, complete with hot, buttery popcorn. We went to the grocery store a few days later, and my oldest son kept asking: "Mom, can we get some popcorn?" I'm a sucker for that kid, so I bought some and we've been eating it ever since.

Sit Time

Sit time helps my boys develop the discipline they need to sit still and be quiet when Mama tells them to. It really comes in handy anytime we're out in public.  It can be used at the doctor's office, big church, or even when you go out to eat. This is not something we do all the time, but I take it in and out of our routine when I feel like my sons need the practice.

A few weeks ago I noticed that my middle child was getting rowdy and loud in church so I brought back sit time. I have them both sit down at our dining room table and give them 2 or 3 books apiece. Then I lay out the rules. "Boys it's time to do sit time. I want you to sit still and read. You are not allowed to talk or get up until the buzzer goes off. If you decide to disobey there will be consequences." I set my timer for 5 minutes (we'll work our way up to 15 minutes over a few weeks time). 

 

Outside Play Time

We go outside in the backyard and play. Easy Peasy

 

Dinner

If there's going to be a meal my kids don't touch this is the one. I don't let it bother me. All I ask is that they try a bite. We leave their plates on the table and if they ask for a snack after dinner we tell them to go back to the table and eat their dinner. I can usually get dinner prepped and cooked during nap time. But if it's one of those days or seasons (pregnancy and early postpartum) when I really need to nap I'll prep at the beginning of nap time and cook while the boys are eating their snack.

Scripture Reading & Catechism

We keep this time pretty brief. The hubbs reads a small passage of the Bible, then does his best to explain it in terms our little ones can understand. He prays and then we review a few catechism questions and my older son's scripture memory verses. Our oldest son is three years old and can quickly memorize just about anything, kids his age have an amazing capacity for memory work.

Family Hangout

We just hangout and have fun together as a family unit. We may go to a local park or playground, hit up Starbucks for coffee, go swimming at our neighborhood pool, watch a movie, run out to Target, or just play around the house.

Bed Time

We usually try to get our boys to bed around 8pm, but it honestly varies. If they're super cranky we opt for 7:30pm but if we're out having fun with friends, or its a special occasion we're fine with them going to bed later.  We've found if they stay up much later than 8pm on a regular basis they breakdown, and it is NOT pretty--the screaming, the crying, the chaos. Mama can't take that.

I have friends who put their kids to bed at 6pm and some who let them stay up till 10pm. It really just depends on your family's routine and how late you want your kiddos to sleep in the morning. On a normal night we just change them into their pajamas, read them a story, give them a kiss and some tickles, maybe sing a song or two, pray and then turn out the lights. My two older boys share a room so they probably stay up talking and laughing for an hour after we put them to bed. I don't let their loud revelry bother me. As long as they stay in their beds, I'm totally down with their after hours bonding sessions. After all, we want them to be close.

 Resources

Need more ideas for your daily routine? Read Creative Family Times: Practical Activities for Building Character
Want to know what catechism we use? Catechism for Young Children: Original Edition

Hope you enjoyed this series!

Routine Details AM

 Here are the details of our morning routine. I have three kids 3 years old and under so my motto is "Keep it Simple"! 

Breakfast

It's the most important meal of the day, or so the experts say. I've never been one to get up hours before my kids so breakfast at our house used to be a bit chaotic. That was before I learned that we all have a more enjoyable morning when breakfast is prepped and on the table for our boys before they come downstairs. So this is what usually happens, I hear the first peep come out of a waking child's mouth and I run downstairs and start the breakfast prep. By the time I'm done they've had some time to play in their room and I tell my hubbs that I'm ready. He rolls out of bed and retrieves our children and we get on with the morning without weeping and gnashing of teeth (usually anyways).

Now onto our menu, I like to have 2 or 3 easy go-to meals for breakfast and lunch-- things that don't take a whole lot of effort. When we get tired of eating these things I just pick something else to put in the rotation. Right now eggs are a HUGE staple in our house. We eat eggs almost every morning (unless you're my husband, in which case all you eat is coffee). I usually just scramble them in some butter with salt and pepper, cut up a piece of fruit, maybe throw a piece of toast in there. If we're not eating eggs I usually fix baked oatmeal. There's a great recipe over at Stacy Makes Cents. The only trick with the oatmeal is that I have to get up in time to pop it in the oven before the boys wake up...so we usually eat eggs.

Prayer

I just like to sit my boys down on my lap and start the day with a prayer. Its nothing fancy or long. I just thank God for the day, pray for each of them, for Daddy, and for my own strength, wisdom, and endurance (you know I need it!).

Reading

Since my boys are already seated around me I use this time to read books. We start out with the bible story of the week and move on to our library books and any other books that they request. Some days we get through five books, some days they can only sit through one or two stories.

Room Time

I got this idea from On Becoming Babywise: Book II (Parenting Your Pretoddler Five to Twelve Months). This is 30-45 minutes where my kids play independently. It's supposed to be really good for them because it helps them to develop their creativity and learn to entertain themselves. They love it and so do I!

My two older boys share a room so one of them spends his room time in our guest bedroom. I play music and lay out a few toys for them and they play happily until I come and get them. While they are playing, I get to take a shower or get work done around the house. Yeah!

We started this process when they were 5 or 6 months old. We started with five or ten minutes and gradually week by week worked our way up. I put them in their crib or our pack-n-play and let them go to town. When our kids are between 18 months old and two years old they usually graduate to room time ( in a baby-proofed room with a baby gate).  If you think you'd like to try room time and your kids are older, I'd still start out with 5 or 10 minutes: maybe add a timer and tell them that you'll be back when the timer goes off. At first it may be tough. They may cry through the whole 5 minutes because they think you're abandoning them, but by the end of the week they'll realize you're coming back in 5 minutes and be freed up to play.

AM Snack

I usually give my boys a small apple or cut up a large one for them to share. The thing I've realized about snacks is that if they're too big my boys won't eat their meals. Also, if I get one really well eaten meal in each of them everyday I'm doing well. They just don't eat tons.

Morning Activity

Most days we just take a walk around the neighborhood and go to the playground. Back when I only had one baby, this was my workout time, but now my boys like to walk instead of ride in the stroller--so we move at a snail's pace. On rainy days we paint, play in the rain, cook, or have cleaning parties. If I need to run out to the grocery store this is when we jump in the car and go.

There you have it! This is our morning routine in a nutshell. If you have questions or even suggestions, feel free to comment or contact me. I'll be posting the details of our afternoon routine shortly, so keep an eye out for it!

What We Do All Day

Before I became a mom I was so excited about everything. I couldn't wait to stay home with my baby and take care of our home...but then it happened. I gave birth to my oldest son, and instead of just soaking up the time with him, I was always thinking, "What am I supposed to do with this baby all day? I mean I know he's got to be fed, clothed, and have his diaper changed but what am I supposed to do with him in between those times?"

First I tried scheduling our day: 7:30am wake up and breakfast, 8:00am take a walk, 9:00am reading time, and on and on... Well, I soon realized that I'm not a super scheduler. Some moms love a schedule, but I discovered that for me if I started letting the clock dictate what we're going to do I'd get anxious if an activity didn't take as much time as I planned. On the other hand, I'd get anxious if an activity was taking too long.

I tried the whole fly by the seat of your pants thing for a while, but instead of giving me the freedom I was looking for, I was still haunted by the question, "What the heck am I supposed to do with this child all day?" I needed structure. I needed order. I needed a routine. I have come to LOVE a good routine. My routine is just a sequence of regular activities that we do most everyday (except on the weekends and holidays). It has really helped me to be able to relax and enjoy my children, and it keeps me from feeling like I'm counting down the minutes until my hubbs gets home (though I still have those days sometimes).

I think having a set routine has also helped me accomplish long term training goals in my childrens' lives by doing a little every day. For example, when my oldest son was a baby we wanted him to be able to sit in big church with us. So for about 6 months we had sermon sitting time everyday. We sat in front of the computer, and I put him in my lap. I played a sermon for 5 minutes. Before we started I laid out some books and told him he could read but not speak. If he decided to talk he was disciplined. We  were eventually able to work up to sitting for 30 minutes.

My routine is a work in progress. I add to it and subtract from it when I see a need. During the winter I take the boys outside in the middle of the day when it's warmer, but during the summer I try to get them out early in the morning or close to dusk. Here's a peek into our current routine:

Breakfast
Prayer
Reading
Room time
AM Snack
Morning Activity
Lunch
Starfall
Nap time
PM Snack
Sit Time
Outside Playtime
Dinner
Bible Reading and Catechism
Family Hangout

I'm going to take each of our routine activities and go into greater detail about what they are and what we are doing in subsequent posts, so be on the lookout!

Details of our Morning Routine
Details of our Afternoon Routine