The Button Behavior Jar

Like everything in life, my kids are always changing! The punishment system/behavior system we put in place last school year is not having the same effect this school year. I wanted to try something else, like a visual reward system, for my oldest especially. I came across this Pin a long time ago and decided to try it out:

How it works:
It is pretty basic, you use the buttons like money and then there are rules that I have set out for my oldest to both receive buttons for good behavior and get buttons taken away for bad behavior. In order for him to get 1 button he can: be good/good listening, do a chore, behave at school or behave at the store. Each one of those gets him a button. To get 2 buttons he has to: do a chore without me asking him to or  behave really well at school. And if he does very, very well at school (I get notes everyday on his behavior) then he receives 3 buttons! Now when he has "Bad behavior" I will take away 1 button per the following: being bad, having to be told "no", telling me "no" when asked to do something, or misbehaving a little at school. When he is behaving worse, he will get 2 buttons taken away per each for: very bad behavior at school/phone call from teacher, putting his hands on others or the cats (hitting, pushing, etc.) or throwing a fit instead of using his words. And the biggest offenses of them all that earn him 3 buttons taken away are: being extremely bad at school, needing a spanking or throwing a fit in public.

And on Saturdays he can "cash in" for rewards. I am hoping this works and motivates him to behave better. If this does work, I will be making something similar for my youngest.

Happy Mommy-ing!

Back To School 2018-2019!!!

The Summer is finally over!!! I know lots of moms that are so happy to have school back in session! I learned over the Summer that my boys behave the best when we are on a schedule of some sort. So our Summer week looked like this:

Something Every. Day! No wonder I didn't have any time from blogging! But it was well worth it! My boys had a great summer, we did new things and met new people and that's really all a mom could hope for. But now we are back in school mode and I am so beyond happy! My oldest needed to do something else because he was starting to get bored with everything.
Now I am NOT a last minute type of person (not that there is anything wrong with that by any means, everyone is different) heck, I already have Christmas presents in my closet! So I got pretty much everything ready for my son to go to school as soon as we got the school supply list (which we got off the Wal-Mart App! It was SO COOL!). Plus is helps so much that his birthday is at the end of the summer and he gets lots of clothes for that!
The only thing I need to do is make sure everything is in place for us in the morning because I am a very grumpy woman in the morning and anything to make it easier is a blessing, for everyone!
My Tea :

My cup with my tea and the Kettle all filled with water so all I have to do is turn it on and add sugar! 

Back-Pack:

My son's back-pack lives in the kitchen, on his chair! It only leaves once it's time to go to school and gets put right back as as soon as we get home. Makes it easier to pack and see all his school papers.

My Purse:

My beautiful Lily Jade Cailin lives at the table too! Makes it easier to pack and grab once it's time to leave!

Clothes:

My clothes for the next day, totally helps when I am half asleep!

My youngest's clothes since I tend to wait until it's time to leave to get him. It is so much better for me to not have him under foot or have the 2 of them fighting while I am doing other things around the house. Plus he is very grumpy if we wake him too early! Then I bring breakfast for him in the car.

Snacks/Lunch:

These are our lunch pails: Spider-Man for me and my youngest's snacks and space for my oldest at school

After we drop off my oldest at school, my youngest and I still follow our summer schedule of doing something everyday before nap time. And of course it helps to have a few "mommy routines" as well to help keep everything moving in the right direction:

1. I try to do 1 load of laundry (wash, dry, fold and put away) every other day so everyone has clean clothes. Last year I wasn't so on top of this and there were a few times it bit me in the rear: my oldest has long legs but a tiny waist so even though he has a lot of the next size up (because I just know he's going to grow here soon!) he still only fits in about 5 pairs of shorts right now. So keeping the laundry going is a huge help so we are not yelling in the morning that he doesn't have clean shorts.
2. I have my oldest pick out his own clothes on Sunday night and place it in this hanging divider in his closet so he can get dressed quickly.

3. I run the dishwasher at night right before I go to bed. During the day I fill it with dirty dishes so there aren't dishes piled in the sink and then unload it the next morning or after I drop off my oldest at school.
4. I have an alarm for when I need get up and one to go to bed. Sounds so funny right?! Why would I, a mom, need a reminder to go to bed? Well, when the house is finally quiet because the kids are asleep, the house is clean and everything is ready for the next day... I like to relax on the couch, watching my show (currently The Vampire Diaries!), eating those foods I don't what to share (you know what I'm talking about!) and crochet my next project in peace! Of course time would get away from me! If I didn't have my alarm, I would stay up pass 11 PM and it still takes me about 20 minutes to get ready for bed and then I don't even know how much longer it takes for my brain and body to relax enough for me to fall asleep! But I just know that with my alarm, I am in bed asleep by 10:30 PM! It helps, trust me!

Those are some of my secrets to making the week a bit less crazy during back-to-school! 

Happy Mommy-ing! 

Surviving Our Income Tax Appointment

It's Income Tax Time! My husband and I have always gone into an office to get our taxes done just in case something goes wrong or we fill out something the wrong way. This post is about how we took our 5 and 2 year olds into an office and how they behaved well in a cubicle for our appointment that lasted an hour and a half: 

1. We Prepared Before-Hand: Whenever there is a chance for me to print off forms and fill them out at home, I do. The Tax Office told us what forms to fill out and what documents to bring with us when we called to set up our appointment. I found all the things I needed and once I filled out the forms, I put them all into an accordion file. 

All of our papers were safe from the rain and kids in this folder

2. We Brought Quiet Activities: I have done a few posts on all the quiet time activities I have for my kids (link here to Ultimate Busy Bag Post). I brought our Restaurant Kit (link Here) with us as well as some small blocks and this V-Tech Tablet my youngest got for his birthday but it also helps my oldest with his letters and numbers. Most of the time my youngest sat in my husband's lap coloring and eating while my oldest sat playing with the V-Tech toy, then the blocks on the floor since he decide the blocks needed to fall down after he built a tower with them. 

Our Restaurant Kit, V-Tech tablet toy and blocks

3. We Had Snacks: Snacks are the #1 thing that keep our 2 year old from having meltdowns every minute! We always have packed with us: a sippy cup with half juice/half water, fruit snacks, some type of cookie and some type of cracker. This time we almost brought extra cereal in a snack container, mini water bottle, mini juice bottle, cereal bars and extra fruit snacks. 

This is not all we took with us, there was a lot more! This was all that was left!

4. When All Else Failed, We had the Tablet with Headphones and Movies: I don't know where my husband got this headphone splitter years ago but it helps us out so much! I brought their headband headphones (LOVE THESE!!), Tablet and tablet stand. We ended up not needing this until the very end. My youngest was okay watching a movie after he got tired of sitting on my husband's lap while my oldest sat on the floor building with the blocks.

Headband headphones, headphone splitter and tablet stand. My oldest has his tablet for nap time right now.

5. Mommy's Secret Weapon! I didn't end up needing this Secret Weapon but I had it stashed away in my purse in the event I needed to calm or bribe one or both kids to behave. It works every time! 

We did it! We got through our appointment with one meltdown from each kid but it was quickly resolved by a snack or new activity! No one had to go to the car or take a kid home, no one got stressed out and no weird looks from anyone so I would call today's appointment a success! 

Happy Mommy-ing!

Surviving 2 Under 6 While Flying Alone

We are going on our 7th snow day and I am finally feeling almost normal sick wise so I finally unpacked the last of our stuff from our trip to Disneyland.
I flew with my two boys (ages 5 and 2) alone and I prepared and researched activities, apps, and snacks for months prior to our flight. I OVER-PACKED AND OVER PLANNED! I had so much packed that my bag would not zip closed! 

I had:

•  2 coloring books
• 2 packs of crayons
• felt street Busy Bag with toy cars
• the pill box pom pom color game
• a Melissa & Doug Water Wow
• Travel pack Color Wonder
• a kid's tablet
• an old phone with baby games
• my Surface Pro
• headphones for us all
• a headphone splitter
• blankets for both kids (I wore a blanket scarf)
• packed breakfast boxes
• 2 kids' thermoses (I purchased a bottle of water, a bottle of apple juice to split, and a highly caffeinated soda for me once we got through security)
• a bag of suckers for the take off and landing
• extra snacks
• extra clothes (pants, socks, shirt for youngest and shirt for oldest)
• 3 times the amount of diapers and wipes I normally have (8 diapers and a full thing of wipes)
• both disinfecting wipes and travel spray
• travel flush-able wipes for my oldest
• 2 extra pacifiers (his Wuby pacifier with animal attached and extra pacifier)
• my wallet 
• my keys
• my IPod (which I forgot to charge) 
• pill box with medicine for us all
• an external battery pack with three charging cables
• the homemade bib my friend made me (since my youngest won't use the disposable bibs, he just stares them off)
• a wet bag in case I needed to change them
• my zipper pouch that had odds & ends (lotion, chapstick, tide pen, pouch food straw attachment, toy teethers, extra pacifier clip, band aids, diaper rash cream, sunblock stick) 
• and of course my stroller! 

Holy crap! No wonder the bag didn't zip shut! Even with my oldest carrying his own backpack and my youngest little backpack being clipped to the stroller... I still carried a diaper bag and a computer bag plus blankets. We did have about an hour layover both going and coming home but but the time we deplaned, found the bathroom to go potty and change the diaper, then find a store to get some snacks, and a Dr. Pepper for mommy and found our next gate we had maybe 20 minutes before they called us to board the plane so not very long. 

Everybody's kids are different. Some kids need a bunch of activities to keep them entertained and don't like to eat or snack all the time. I quickly found out I did not need half of the stuff I had brought with me:The toy cars were fine but I didn't need the street because there wasn't enough room to build it. The pom pom game got thrown on the ground under the seat in the airplane so that didn't work. My oldest liked his Color Wonder little pack better than the bigger coloring book with the small colored crayons because they easily got lost and the Color Wonder markers were easier for him to find and put away. My youngest didn't like either coloring option because he just threw the markers and colored crayons on the floor and tried to color on the seat. However he did really enjoy the Melissa & Doug Water Wow coloring system. 

It's cardboard with a little non drip water pain that you color on to reveal things in the picture. It's about 3 or 4 pages long, nice size pages that once you've colored them all you wait for them to dry and then you do it again! It kept him entertained the longest.

The suckers, although they were hit, caused both of my kids to become very very hyper and that's just not something you want when you want them to sit still and be quiet on a plane full of people! So for my kids coming home instead of the suckers on takeoff and landing, I gave them some medicine (Kid's Tylenol and Kid's Dramamine, not at the same time! Kid's Dramamine on take off so they would go to sleep and Kid's Tylenol, 1/2 their normal dose, little bit before landing). The pill box also had: Aleve, Sudafed, Pepto Bismol, Anti-poop medicine, Dramamine, Kid's Tylenol tablets and Kid's Pepto Bismol. 

On our layover they ate the breakfast boxes I made them which had: mini muffins, pop tarts, dried apples, yogurt melts for my youngest, cereal and breakfast cookies. They could eat whatever they wanted because they both had the same things (expect the yogurt melts) and it was a huge success making nose the only issue I had is I packed them vertically so a little spilled but not much. 

The tablets were obviously a huge hit! I got a bunch of their favorite games and about four of their favorite movies downloaded to work in airplane mode. I also purchased $5 headphones per each kid. The problem was my youngest didn't like having his headphones on and my oldest headphones broke halfway during the trip so that meant no movies and Note tablet because neither one of them could use my earbuds. I wish we would have gotten these before the trip but for Christmas we got them headband headphones, it's exactly what it sounds like it's a soft headband that goes around their heads and it has built-in speakers that go over their ears. They're about 20 bucks each depending on where you buy them from, and they're perfect we should have purchased them before the trip because both my boys have fallen asleep in the car wearing them and my youngest no longer has an issue wearing them and they don't fall off at all. So if you have kids with tablets I highly highly recommend you purchase some headband headphones especially for your kids that are younger! They are a lifesaver and my youngest's currently stay in our diaper bag so that when he wants to use my phone at the grocery store I don't have to hear it anymore. Plus the headbands fold-up and the ones we got are washable, the speakers come out and we can wash the headband.

On Left: The new headband headphones we love! Plus they have a volume restriction so the kids can't turn up their tablets too loud. The old phone for my youngest and their shared tablet (although it's really more used by my oldest) and the headphone splitter under it and the cheap, always falling off kids' headphones on the right.

I limited the amount of fluids both my boys drank before getting on the airplane and since I gave them medicine on take off, they slept the majority of the flight. My oldest did not need to use the bathroom on the plane and he was very good at holding it till we got to the airport and found one. I could've pack only 3 or 4 diapers and would have been fine with a travel-size pack of wipes for my youngest instead of the 10 I packed and a full thing of wipes. It would have saved me a lot of room in my diaper bag! And although it's always nice to have extra clothes in your diaper bag, both my boys are older -they're not babies anymore so I probably could have left my extra clothes in my suitcase and not packed in the diaper bag. And I also didn't need my an extra clothes for both my boys packed into a Ziploc bag and my wet bag both in my diaper bag. I should have simplified my odds and ends pouch - I didn't need a sunblock stick in my diaper bag for the airplane. I didn't need 3 charging cables for the external battery pack, and I really should have charged my iPod the night before!

So the next time I fly with my kids I will make sure that I have a simplified packed diaper bag with:

•  3-4 diapers (Hopefully next time I will not need diapers at all)
• travel wipes
• still both travel-size disinfecting wipes and travel spray
• a zipper pouch (band-aids, food pouch attachment, chap-stick, diaper cream, travel lotion, 1 pacifier with extra clip)
• travel flush-able wipes
• the pill box with medicine for us all

Activities for my boys (in each of their backpacks):

• a charged tablet with a couple of their favorite movies
• headband headphones
• their favorite blankets
• Color Wonder travel set for my oldest and the Water Wow for my youngest
• 1 toy car each
• snacks

I added carabiner clips to both their backpacks so when I had to hold them, I could easily hook them to the stroller 

My tip for you Moms is - don't overthink it. You know your kids, and most likely you'll be the one carrying everything. You don't need to take everything in the kitchen sink just take what you think will entertain your kids the best and keep them well-behaved on the airplane.

 Happy Mommy-ing!

What's In My Purse?

This is my current purse: it is a Thirty One Retro Metro tote that I bought through Ebay. I love how spacious it is! On the outside you can see I have my hand sanitize from Bath and Body Works in Stress Relief (being a mom I need clean hands and a clear head) and my Peter Pan Pin.

Inside I have a purse organizer that I saw on Pinterest and just had to have! It holds everything I need! I will admit that it doesn't work as well as I envisioned it would but for now it works okay.

Here is the insert out of my bag. As you can see it has a large middle pocket, 2 zipper pockets and mesh pockets on the sides. 

On this side I have (from left to right) my tissue, my breath mints, my Victoria Secret Bombshell roll on perfume, Bath and Body Works Georgia Peach travel body lotion, Baby Lips in Peach tinted lip balm and orange tic-tacs.

On the flip side I have only my store loyal cards on a key ring (Pin from Pinterest!) and my Belle notepad.

From the middle I have my pill case that houses 6 different medicines I might need when I'm out and about (pepto bismol tablets for both me and my kids, Aleve, off brand of Sudafed, Dramamine, Imodium and Allergy medicine) my Dave's Ramsey Financial Peace Envelope system (I have my grocery money, money for diapers and wipes, money for going out as a family and money to spend when family is visiting)  and my Perfect Cents Wallet from Thirty One. 

Inside my Perfect Cent Wallet I have a pen, my gift cards, bank cards, zoo membership card, and a few loyal cards that I use often. It has 4 pockets I can put money and I often separate my money on the left: top has my money to spend freely and underneath it goes the money I use for gas. On the right hand side has pictures of my family. 

These are the contents of my "Just in Case" bag. I have two compact mirrors (not sure why I have two but I do and the Peter Pan one doesn't stay in this bag, it lives in one of the side pockets on the outside of my purse), sunscreen, a Peter Pan Power Bank with cord, Tide 2 Go Pen, a mini lighter, 3 extra lip care items (2 are lipstick and one is chap-stick but not the shimmery one I have in my purse, in case I don't want the color or my husband needs some), a tiny tube of tinted moisturizer, a tiny tube of fountain, a travel sized mascara in black and a small thing of cream blush that I can use as eye shadow as well, travel sized finger nail clippers, extra hair ties and bobby pins and a small safety pin (which yes I actually have used this a few times when I needed to keep my dress from showing too much in the front 😉). 

This is one of the zipper pockets and it just has my headphones wrapped around a clip and a small USB charger that I can use to charge my phone (with that small cable from the "Just In Case" bag), I can charge my power bank or charge my Ipod (that cable is in the car unless I'm not driving then I take it with me). 

This Retired Metro Retro Tote has the key holder on the inside. My car is key-less and we always go in through the garage so I don't need to have my keys out and ready but having them on this hook makes sure they don't fall into the purse and get lost)

Hiding way in there is my Ipod and normally my phone in the outer pocket closest to me. 

I like that this Metro Retro Tote has a tag thing on the outside, I hook my sunglasses to it when they are not on my head. That way they don't get lost or broken!

And that's what I have in my purse with me at all times! You never know what you will need or when so I have always thought it best to be prepared for anything! 

Surviving Eating Out with 2 Under 5

My hubby and I love going out to eat! We enjoy it but...not with our kids with the ages they are right now (18 months & almost 5). They get impatient, they don't want to sit at the table, they're distracted by everything going on around them and the other people other tables. They each have a Kids Tablet & I have a Kids Mode on my phone (such a lifesaver!) But they tend to get loud and messy, and then once it's time to eat they don't want to turn off the games, so we try to avoid using Electronics and save them as a very last resort.
I'm a huge follower on Pinterest of all things "Mommy Hacks" and both my mother and myself are huge into Organization. A lot of Pins come up when you type in "restaurant busy bags". I think it's a great idea to have a bag in your car that is filled with items to help keep your kids happy in a restaurant or anywhere that you're really waiting for a long time. We even used this bag when we were buying my husband's second car at the dealership because it took like 3 hours for us to sign all the papers and these little toys really came in handy. 

So this is my version of a restaurant kit for my kids:

Okay first and foremost this is the newest item for my restaurant kit; it stays in the car and I use it so much more than I initially thought I would when I purchased it off Amazon. It is a walking harness, a portable high chair, and a cart harness for when the straps in the shopping carts are broken. It's a Lucky Baby/ Yochi Yochi brand 3 in 1 baby/toddler safety harness. 

I absolutely love this and I have used it at least 4 times a week in the past 3 weeks. We went to the zoo before we purchased this harness and my youngest screamed his head off when it was time to eat lunch! He didn't want to sit in the highchair, he didn't want to sit in his stroller, he just wanted to sit on my lap and try to get my food from my hands as I was trying to eat it. I placed him in the chair next to me but he kept moving and I was afraid he would fall off of it, so my meal was not enjoyable.  

This harness has a permanent place in my car! I went to my friend's house the other night for dinner and used it as a high chair! Absolutely love this product! A must have for moms! It lives in my Thirty-One Utility Tote in the trunk of my car along with a Deluxe Utility Tote with my other must have car items (for another blog) and a laundry basket for groceries. 

Okay time for the bag part of the restaurant bag. The bag I use was gifted to me for my oldest when he was about 2 years old. It's a usable type bag with short handles with Cars characters on it so it's really rather perfect for this kit. 

Inside I have a sketch book with stickers, A felt Travel Busy Book from the dollar bins from Target (it has a road with cars & signs, a map of the US with puzzle pieces, and Tic Tac Toe), Color Changing Markers, Spot It Jr. Card game, Disney Eye Found It Card Game, Fruit snacks, Melissa & Doug blocks, Gerber Place-mat, 2 sippy cups, and wipes. 

(Inside the Gerber Place-mat I always have utensils and a disposable bib)

Here's my youngest sitting at the restaurant, in his portable high chair, eating from his place-mat. We decided to go to Buffalo Wild Wings because of the TVs and the noise level is already louder than at normal restaurants so if the kids got a little loud, it would be okay. Our youngest stayed in his seat and played; our oldest went thru the toys fairly quickly but eventually settled down and played with the stickers until our food came.

Another way we personally survive eating out is we bring food for our kids so we don't waste money on new foods they will either throw a fit not to eat or just completely ignore altogether. Our oldest is extremely picky when it comes to food and our youngest is going through a phase of trying new foods, some he loves and some he throws on the floor; so we brought with us pasta for the oldest, cheese sticks and fruit snacks for both, and Gerber yogurt, cereal bar and Gerber Grabber for the youngest. When our food came, we asked for carrot sticks along with our wings so they could have a veggie with dinner too. 

Both kids did a great job behaving! Definitely planning on eating out more often with the help of this kit to make it less stressful and embarrassing for us, as well as less boring for our kids.