A family who plays together stays together

Today is my husband and mine anniversary and one thing that I have learned is that a family needs to designate time to just play and be active together as a unit. Instead of sitting in front of the TV watching cartoons or reality TV shows, go out and get muddy. Yes, I said it...muddy. I am a mother of two young girls, and at first I hated the idea of them getting dirty, tangling their hair, scrapping their knees, but one thing my stepson has taught me is that everyone needs to get dirty every once in a while. It can be difficult during the summer to find time to play with one another because it can get so hot that all you want to do is sit inside with the air conditioner and catch up on the shows you recorded over the year or catch up on that spring cleaning you were meaning to do. However, life is so short and your kids will not be young forever. Instead of wasting their "wake time" by keeping them closed up in the playroom, take them outside, turn on the sprinkler, create a mud pool. Find something that you can all do together that keeps you cool and keeps you active. Trust me, not only will you feel better about yourself for exercising in a fun way, but you will also establish a closer bond with your children and even your husband. Where we live in California, it is extremely hot and I despise hot weather. I know, I live in the wrong state, but since we are stuck here for a few more years, I have really had to think outside the box in order to keep active in this heat. One idea my husband and I had was wetting down our trampoline with one of those sprinklers that shoots up and around. My son loved dodging the water as it came around, and my one year old daughter giggled with delight as the water shot up and soaked her in the face. Another idea we had was we put a kiddy pool at the bottom of our plastic slide. We filled the pool up with water and then ran the hose down the slide, creating our very own waterslide. The best laugh I had was watching my six foot, four inch husband slide down the kids' slide into the kiddy pool. It was a great time and it only cost us a little more on our water bill. These are memories that our family will have forever and it is totally worth the messy house and the chores that have not quite gotten done yet. After all, our kids are only kids for a few years and then you will have all the time in the world to make your house look the way you want it. Until then, enjoy the laughter and enjoy the mud. If you have any other ideas on how to stay active with your family post below. I welcome any new ideas that I can try with my family.

Daily Art Project

A few years ago, before obtaining both my bachelors and masters in English,

I worked as a preschool teacher and I got a lot of great ideas on how to keep kids busy during the day. Still, some times I run out of ideas on how to keep my fifteen month old daughter busy throughout the day. In between naps and meals, my little one likes to be on the go constantly. This can be a little difficult especially when it is over a hundred degrees outside, and we must stay indoors. One thing that has helped me to keep my little one busy is that I set up goals for us to do every day. One of the goals is a daily art project. Of course the internet is an awesome tool to help you create ideas for art projects, but a lot of the ideas are for kids who are older. Toddlers can and should be involved in art projects too. In fact, they actually love them as long as they aren't too difficult. Today, my daughter and I created a fingerprint tree for her daddy. The only tools we used were construction paper, crayons, and paints. First, I drew the trunk of the tree and then helped my daughter stick her fingers into the paint and together we dabbed at the paper, creating a colorful tree with her tiny fingerprints. She really loved it because every time we hit the paper with her finger tips I shouted "Yippee!" and she thought that was the best thing ever. After we cleaned up the paint, I gave my little one some crayons and let her scribble on the rest of the paper. Letting toddlers use crayons helps with the development of the writing skills, but just be careful because there is something about crayons that makes a toddler want to put a crayon directly in his or her mouth. If you have other daily art project ideas, feel free to share.