TIME TO START CHRISTMAS SHOPPING PART 2 KIDS

Okay so, I have done a part one on Christmas Shopping. I so far have a gift for 18/22 people on my list COMPLETED for Christmas and that is something to be proud about having accomplished this by last week which was. But my Kids, they are more extreme to shop for, especially our own. I have come across some websites that are new to me that I have started using that I'm about to share, I have some ideas for low cost, home made, handmade, personalized, and low cost gifts for just kids. So here are some very helpful tips I was taught, picked up or learned throughout the years.

Okay. FIRST THINGS FIRST: KIDS

ONLINE SHOPPING FOR CHILDREN



• As you know I was a skeptic turned huge fan of Amazon. The economy today doesn't leave much room for spending $5, $2, $6, $9, or even $0.75 extra on a gift if Amazon is able to search the SAME gifts from DIFFERENT stores at different prices, saving a few bucks here and there. EVERY PENNY COUNTS DURING THE HOLIDAYS TO AVOID DEPRESSION, AND AVOIDING DEPRESSION GIVES ONE THE REASON TO ENJOY THE SEASON: FAMILY, FRIENDS, LOVE, AND THE BIRTH OF JESUS. No need to say what we've all said ONCE at least, "I can't wait until Christmas is over!" Avoid it using every resource available. Click on the right side of the blog here to check out SAVINGS and GIFT ideas that are brought to your door. If you are one of those people who doesn't put credit cards online, that's fine, you'd still save money buying a prepaid credit card which doesn't require any personal information and can be purchased at your bank, grocery store, or drug store. (ALSO MAKE GREAT GIFTS). OR to avoid the WHOLE credit card or checking acct issue, then buy an AMAZON GIFT CARD, sold at the same stores, and pay with it. You can then chose to have it gift wrapped and sent to the person, or sent to your home. Christmas of 2011 I did ALL shopping on AMAZON. DIDNT ever leave the house.
• Next, I found a website GREAT for gifts of every holiday and reward in a magazine: Women's Day. ~This one can be used for your own kid/grandkid/etc. or a child you know little about. It's a Web Site you can get to by clicking this link named: The Toy Insider Guide: For the hottest toys of the season . It just lists toys well known, and little known of that are great for all kids.
• Remember all those GREAT toys from your childhood, or looking for either a specific or special toy for a child? Try this Web Site: The Land of Nod . I enjoy this site because the gifts are unique and if you sign up for their email, then you get coupon codes as well as special offers.  And as I will FOREVER and ALWAYS mention that making your own gifts is the best, and shows time and love as well as saves money, the Land of Nod also has a blog with some interesting things they call, "Tips, quips and tricks." on their blog that gave me some ideas for some DIY gifts. It's at this site: HONEST TO NOD.

 

SPECIAL HANDMADE GIFTS FOR CHILDREN

• I find a home made gift one that means more as children grow. It's also especially special if you can get one or more siblings in the mix of making a Do It Your Self gift, because they will STRESS how special it is.  Last year I did some sewing for my children. I went and picked out two fabrics per child, some stuffing and made a pillow per child. NOT JUST ANY PILLOW. I made fleece on one side, regular cloth on the other, and put a patch of the regular cotton cloth on the fleece side, making a nice pocket for them to place books, Diaries, E readers, ETC. So you have a pillow with fabric that matches their personality, and EVERYONE loves doing things they shouldn't once in a while, right? So in that pocket I also gave them a SHARPIE PERMANANT MARKER. This was because the pocket was intended for books~regular, chapter, or E books. And when they were done reading this stuff, they could write the name of book, and date. Like a book journal on a pillow. My youngest daughter still loves hers.
• 

  Have you heard of "Quiet Books?" They are books which are made of felt and are real unique, not just another reading book, but a book with activities to keep the kids quiet, entertained, and imaginative. I'm going to share two from one of my best loved ideas I found from a blog named: SUNSHINE, LOLLIPOPS AND RAINBOWS.  A HUGE plus, not only do kids like them, they are easy to make, and last a life time, BUT this blog SHARES the templates/patterns you need to make them. For free. That's right, free templates to a one of a kind kids book. (If you make one, as I'm going to, make it your own, add your own few touches and share it with the bloggers. FIRST QUIET BOOK: Kids of all ages like MR. POTATOE HEAD. I would make one for all my children ranging from ages 2-10 and when you see it, and see how easy it is, you'll fall in love as I did. If you're not an expert sewer, so what, neither am I, and you don't have to sew you COULD use fabric glue, right??? :) Here is my most favorite, click the link it will take you to the blog that has the templates; Mr.Potatoe Head Quiet Book and I'm sure your little one, tween, teen, or even older children like me at 29 will love getting this. The next one I'm sharing is getting made for my 2 year old son. He I obsessed and LOVES cars. It's great for the car in my opinion, Junior can sit in his car seat with his quiet book, being quiet, driving. Being a back seat driver while daddy drives up front. To get to this blog's pattern for the car and roads quiet book: Car page Quiet Book . These are just TWO of my favorite quiet books, and there are many more. Just be sure to check out the whole Blog: THE WHOLE BLOG~ "SUNSHINE, RAINBOWS,AND LOLLIPOPS" they are quite creative.
• 

  Ok not a fan of sewing, not a fan of felt books, or looking for something else to do? Then here is an idea that I recently made my kids for their walls. I received two metal trays from a yard sale for a total of $0.15 each. I then made my 6 year old PINK Chalkboard paint, and my 2 year had his chalkboard paint done in blue. So, step 1 find old metal trays (I used decorative trays, but you could use old metal trays from TV dinner stands, old metal serving trays, I'll show an example picture, as long as it's metal it'll work). We made these as a craft/home made gift for my son's 2nd birthday this past October 4th, and of course the sibling helping needed her own, so she got it. Any way we took acrylic paint, mixed it with unsanded grout until it was the consistency of thick pancake batter, painted over the beautifully decorated trays, let it dry and hung them on the wall. They now had a magnet tray AND a chalk board to hang on their wall in one.
• My all time FAVORITE BLOG is called A Beautiful Mess, just like ME! So, these are two sisters that do crafts, home décor, photography, fashion, beauty, and recipes ALL year long. They also taught me to make my chalk board paint I made for the last project I listed ^above^ , however I believe it's important for kids to have a creative journal at all ages. That is a great way to let them outlet their feelings, thoughts, fears, happiness, and be okay with it. Now this blog has a TON of DIY ideas, but my favorite journal for kids is made little, but special. I put stickers and used different sorts of craft and cardstock papers for my daughter's. But check this easy to pack in your purse, your son's back pack, a diaper bag, your daughter's purse, etc., It's called a Mini Magazine Notebook. Click on the link to check it out. (this would make a good gift for an adult who doesn't remember well or who's always taking notes too) The DIY Mini Magazine Journal. For more gifts like more types of journals and scrapbooks, as well as  textile printing, phone cases, sewing for beginners, DIY decorating for your kid's room/toy room/and the rest, and most importantly at the bottom of this next link the DO IT YOURSELF KIDDO, with a bunch of ideas for kiddies. Here's the link to their DIY crafts: DIY Crafts~Choose a gift for ANYONE in the family, there is EVERYTHING! And if you want to see what's newest, and start at the main page of the blog, get to know about Elsie and Emma and how they are so creative, then you can chose your categories for a gift by going to: A Beautiful Mess Blog, Everything creative
• FINALLY FOR NOW: Who has better, and more perfect ideas than Martha Stewart? Well in my opinion it's the Beautiful mess blog, BUT I stopped by and checked out some of Martha's things. I think that you could make a gift for a kid of ANY age with her help. There are gifts in a jar, gifts kids can make, gifts for book lovers, bath and spa gifts, stocking stuffers, pet gifts and even MORE! So, here is the link to get Christmas Crafting: Home Made Christmas Gifts, How to with Martha Stewart . There will be something FOR everyone to be able to make and something FOR everyone to LOVE.

Well I KNOW this has been a long list, a lot of information, and a LOAD of links to check out, but I'm confident you'll get your "shopping" done early and find the right gift for everyone you look for just by looking at these links. REMEMBER: last minute shopping=stress and regret and dread. So Stress, Regret, and Dread=RESENTMENT. AND Resentment of having to shop for the Holidays=not enjoying the reason for the season: Celebrating the Birth of Jesus, and sharing with family. Not just toys to kids gifts to others BUT love, togetherness, and happiness.

Look out for my FINAL and Part 3 of Christmas shopping for ADULTS.

xoxo happy shopping and crafting~

Megs

PARENTS: Better Safe Than Sorry, DO YOUR HOME WORK!

EVERYDAY I pick up the news paper. EVERYDAY-give or take one or two a week there is someone in the paper for Child Molestation!!! As a mother, a Christian, and a HUMAN BEING, I can't imagine what, why or how someone could take the innocence of our children and not see anything wrong with it. It is amazing. The people I know-(I know a lot of people), are always bringing this subject up as well. I was reading up on it, to try to understand it and although I CAN'T grasp it, I did learn a bunch. I found out that a child molester is most likely someone who knows our kids. A family member, a neighbor, and often at one point even our priests.
Although we can not stop it from happening, we can lessen the chances of it happening. If it did happen we can stop it from continuing.

1.  Do your homework. There are 47 sexually violent predators and a total of 53 people on Megan's law within a 25 mile radius from my home. I showed my daughter photos of the ones who lived within 2-3 miles, and explained if she sees them not to talk to them. I KNOW people change. But, these are our kids. I'm not taking any chances.
2. Do your homework. If your child shows the warning signs as listed below, talk to your child. You can easily say, "You are not in trouble, and have done nothing wrong. Did somebody touch you in your private areas in a way they shouldn't."
3. Do your homework. Check Megan's Law to keep you and your children aware of anyone who has harmed children in the past. They show photographs of the predator every six months at least.
4. Do your homework. Look for warning signs.

•  Extreme fear of someone shown by your child. Your child may not know that something wrong has happened, but they may lose interest in being around the predator, or show anxiety when they are mentioned.They may even break down emotionally or throw an unusual fit when they know they will be around the predator.
• Loss of interest in playing with friends, and doing activities that they normally love to do. They may even lose interest in school, refusing to attend.
• Shame: a child could suddenly become over obsessed with their body in either negative or positive ways. Normally, it's negative. They may even state that their body is hurt, bad, or not good anymore. 
• Unfortunately a child who has been hurt in this way is exposed to sex before they should be. So of course, they may talk about it, when you as the parent may not have brought it up yet. The child may even introduce sex into play with dolls, figurines, or even friends.
• Behavior changes. Since children have trouble expressing how they feel, they may channel their anger or hurt into acting out. They may end up with a behavior issue, where as before they didn't have one. They may even channel this anger towards other people, even those they love most because they aren't sure how else to say they are hurting, angry, mad, confused, or any emotion for that matter.
• PHYSICAL CLUES: Don't make a huge issue of it at first, because these signs don't mean your child has been hurt FOR SURE in this manner. Do a physical examination. Watch your child. Does it hurt when they sit down, are they having trouble pooping or peeing, wetting the bed unusually, swelling and or bruises in the vaginal area, redness or blood.
• Loss of sleep: Child wakes more than normal, is suddenly afraid of the dark or has more nightmares than usual. Your child may ask for a light when they did sleep in the dark.

I was astounded at the amount of people in my hometown-small home town who are child predators. you can check your hometown, or a specific person by clicking on this  link:
Megan's Law Registry for The United States of America 
So parents, do your homework and don't be afraid to discuss this with children. Child abuse is on the rise. If your child, your child's friend or someone you know is being harmed, or you have a suspicion that someone is hurting a child, sexual, physical, mentally, or emotionally, don't let it continue. YOU alone make a difference. Call the National Child Abuse Hotline at 1-800-4-A CHILD (1-800-422-4453) where there are counselors available 24/7/365. Or click this link, and once you are there click on the purple tab that says "GET HELP" for more information on this service. Here's the link: Find resources, information, statistics, stories, or get involved by helping, even if you don't know anyone who's been harmed.
I hope you found help, or will now use this knowledge, as I will to help children in the future or present.

xoxoxox
Megs

IMPORTANCE OF GETTING YOUR KIDS TO JOURNAL/SCRAPBOOK

     When I was in school, I hated creative writing. As I got older, I found that keeping a sort of journal/scrap book helped me. Several reasons. As I get older I can always look back and see how much I have grown, or how things in life changed. Being able to visualize the change, see it on paper, brings reality for an adult/teen to see that yeah times get hard, but "will this problem matter 10 days from now, a year, ten years?" Usually It won't but it's hard to see the light at the end of the tunnel.

     My youngest daughter is 6. She was having some issues sleeping, and some feelings about life a 6 year old shouldn't know about I wouldn't think (no body likes me, everyone wants me to be unhappy). I made her a journal out of an old cook book(you can see it on this blog by clicking here>>> homemade cook book journal. DIY journal art "cook book" journal ). This also gave us the chance to be creative together putting it together. However, when she is having a bad day, sometimes I give her a "time out." Not as in she's in trouble, but as in "Princess, you're getting mouthy, you are not listening, please take time out and go write in your journal. Or draw a picture of how you are feeling." 9/10 times it works. I feel doing this is giving her a head start in expressing her feelings, and NAMING her feelings~which is hard for adults let alone kids. They think they feel either happy, angry, mad or sad. But there are so many more emotions. When she comes out she is so much more happier from writing, drawing or even pasting photos, cut outs, or other memorabilila in her SPECIAL journal. 

    When she comes at me with a, "mom I don't know what to write." I give her ideas off the top of my head. Here is a quick list of ideas.

• What is your biggest dream come true.
• What do you want to be when you grow up, and how will it help other people.
• Name three things you would like to know about your family or family members.
• Make a "bucket list" or list of things you'd like to do on the next rainy day. Then every rainy day, go back and check them off as you do them.
• Write about your hero, who it is, why they are your hero, what things have they done that you would like to do too someday.
• If animals could talk what animals would you want to talk to, and why?
• Describe your dream vacatoin.

There are so many more ideas, but there is always something that the kids can write about a few times a week. Again, this will prove helpful during hard times they can look back at their las "hard time" and see how quickly it went away. Skills for identifying emotions are important. How can we fix negative feelings or celebrate positive ones if we are stuck with 4 feelings~happy,sad,angry,mad? I found giving a description or list of feelings when my daughter gets her "time outs" to journal, helps her to use more than one feeling. Especially for a 6 year old, it's best to have pictures and names below them to help her spell them. I am able to then ask her how she felt and explain the meaning. This is great for vocabulary.
  I hope that parents find this helpful for children with nightmares, behavior problems, emotional issues, boredom, or to even use it as a family "night" making journals, and/or decorating them and/or writing in them. 
   No matter what your child does, if they show effort it's important to notice outloud to the child their efforts and accomplishments. This will build self-esteem in the end. How do I know? I once was a child who couldn't express emotions. I had no outlet when i was upset. I was bored as an only child. As I started writing, and my parents commented on my writings, I then moved from loose leaf paper to putting them in a scrap book, and eventually buying a journal with birthday money at the age of 8. My progress in writing helped me to become a fast reader, and enabled my self-esteem to grow.
  Try it out. I recommend it and so does my 6 year old daughter, along with MANY teachers, parenting experts and Psychologists.
Here is an example of some emotions or a chart you could use:

There are plenty of websites that offer these charts, as well as charts thruout the day. Here are a few links.

• Feeling journal for kids with chart
• feeling and behavior charts for FREE
• "Name It to Tame it" Feeling charts for children

Hope you parents, or journal fanatics like myself or teachers found this helpful. I do. Any questions or coments, Feel free to give them as you please.
xoxo~ Megs

PARENTING LESSONS GIVEN FROM A LOST MOTHER MOLE

WELL Yesterday when my husband was taking JR to mow the yard with our tractor, he found that SOMETHING had built a nest in the engine. Not only had it built a nest but "it" was gone and left 2 little babies that were no more than one inch big with NO hair, and their Eyes are yet to be opened. He pulled them out and made the mistake of showing them to me. He said 'throw them over in the woods, they are going to die.' I belive in FATE and think HE found them for a reason. So I did not listen to him. I warmed up a rag in the microwave and got it hot. I put it in an old LARGE coffee container, put a cloth over it and put them on top of each other to keep them safe and warm. I have been feeding them with a medicine dropper and milk. It's hard because they can't latch on. One eats and one doesn't. They are honestly as small as my pinkie finger. My husband called them Mice. I know from being a CHILD mice lover that they were not. I had 7 litters of mice when my pets had families. Come to find out they are baby Moles. And Moles are usually ugly to me. But now that I'm taking care of them, they are beautiful. I feel like I'm doing God's Will since I have kept them alive over 24 hours. I am in a hurry tonight so haven't snapped a pic yet. BUT this is the CLOSEST pic I could find online. Now mine are hairless and their eyes are closed but other than that they do not look like moles yet. They look cute.Neither of them have ANY distinguishing marks so we can't name them. It's sad, they are wild animals and I am keeping them alive as long as I can to the best of my ability. BUT what do I do when they are old enough to leave my nest~if God is willing they live that long without a REAL mother? I will be sad, and hope that I'm able to give them skills needed to find food on their own. I don't even know how old they need to be. I have real researching to do. :) However, I wanted to share the mirical of life. As a mother of 4, I think this is God given me an experience so that when my children grow up, I will already have went thru what I am dreading most of parent hood... Empty nest syndrom. It's the same. Will I teach my kids the things they need to survive, and I will be (even more) sad to see my kids go as well. So, here is a life learning experience for me all given thru the loss of a mother mole. Here is a similar pic of ours(minus the hair and 2-3 inches).

RAISE CHILD'S SELF ESTEEM WITH DR.SEUSS QUOTES!!!!

I BELIEVE DR. SEUSS REALLY COULD MAKE A CHILD'S SELF ESTEEM RISE. I USE THESE WITH MY DAUGHTER ALL THE TIME....HECK IT'S HELPED MY SELF ESTEEM.