Fall and winter are the seasons that keep me quite busy. Because of the weather, we are spending more time at home. You have to find activities and projects for your energizer bunny toddler, to prevent going mad.

So between running arounds, hide and seeks, few sets of Thomas the train, and playing restaurant we do crafts. Snowman at night is one of them.

For Snowman at night you need:

Construction papers in white, black, red, orange and brown colors.
Paper puncher
Glue

Direction

Cut three circles in three different sizes. Punch white paper at least a bunch for your snow.  Punch red paper for buttons, black for eyes. Cut small orange triangle for nose, a red crescent for mouth and two narrow and long rectangles. Also cut a white base for your Snow man to stand on.

Now your toddler has to use his or her imagination, glue the pieces on a black paper, and create the perfect snowman at night. you can cut two sets of each piece and do it together.

I’ll have a few easy for toddler Christmas craft coming up, still working on the end result to be able to post it. ?

Have fun and be creative.

Until later,

It’s wonderful autumn day, a perfect day to go to playground. We have a play date in the park today. It’s with my son’s friend from preschool. This is new to me, most of our play dates were with my friend’s kids and mine.

This is good I was looking forward for him to find a friend of his own. The preschool teacher says they are amazing together, they understand each other very well considering my son is just learning English. English is his second language at least for another six months?

Play dates and playground times are the most challenging and difficult times of parenting for me. I have to let him win his battles, let him judge and act. I have to let him try and communicate with other kids although his English is not comprehendible most of the time.

He is only three and a half years old and when I talk to other moms, preschool teacher, or a daycare owner they all say he is just doing fine for his age. To me, he can do better, he can be more polite and more giving and more sharing. Read the rest of this entry »

I personally don’t want to think about economy, it’s depressing. But somehow I can’t, when I look at my bills and what I hear in media I kind of wonder if I can keep this up.
So I’m thinking of ways to save money. Here are some that I came up with until now:

1.    Make your decoration as much as possible. This will keep kids busy too.
2.    Try to be more personal with your gifts see if there is anything you can make
3.    Make a complete list of your daily food need for the whole December. We intend to buy more food than we need when it’s Holidays and then try to use them as soon as possible or through them out.
4.    Check stores for deals. Look in to different stores and even online shopping. The competition is so tight that you might be able to get even a better deal online.

These are a few that I came up with so far; I’ll be happy to hear your ideas.

Until later,

It is understandable why the stores and shopping malls have Christmas decorations and Christmas deals so early. Yes, the economy is a big part of it, somehow this is making people excited about Christmas and get them to start preparing for it earlier than usual.

What I can’t digest is that I heard from a security guard of an apartment building that some people put their Christmas trees up. I’m all for excitement and parties and happiness but still I think it is too soon to put your tree up. I’m just starting my Christmas craft shopping and getting ready to have some Christmas crafts projects for my toddlers. This is exciting for the kids and me, it gives us enough time to prepare and start our projects.

Putting a Christmas tree up is too soon. I think the reason beyond that is that people are wishing for better days. They are wishing secretly for Santa to make things better. And that’s why they started so early to decorate and put their tree up.

Well there is nothing wrong with being hopeful and happy and I wish everyone to be as happy as their imagination let them. Remember happiness is from within not what you have or how you spend.

Until later,

Thanksgiving dinner or lunch parties could be crowded and stressful for the host.
Here are a few ways to throw a nice party and enjoy it too.

The key is to prepare, prepare, and prepare ahead.

Here are some tips:

*Decide wisely on your menu well ahead

-Choose recipes that you can make ahead fully or partially
-Choose recipes that complement each other
-You will save some money if you have different foods that use at least one similar ingredient or different part of the same vegetable.

*Study your recipes very well

-Note down all the ingredients even the ones you have in your pantry
-From the list of all ingredients mark the ones you already have
-Create a shopping list
-Note down if you need a food procedure or a mixer or any other small appliances.

*Shop earlier in the week

*If you have to order something make sure to do that well ahead Read the rest of this entry »