Chore Chart

I saw a cute idea on a blog I read about making a personal Chore Chart.

I found pictures depicting the chores we wanted Madi to complete daily.
A bed for making her bed, a trash can for emptying her trash into the big kitchen trash, a puppy for feeding the dogs, and a dress for putting away her dirty clothes.

Then as she completes each chore she puts a sticker in that box.

She LOVES the idea so far!

I know a simple sticker won't do the trick for long but it's teaching her to help out each day and she enjoys doing it.

After a few weeks we'll either switch out the chores or just add new ones.

Magic Nuudles

I'm now always on the look out for fun "schoolish" type crafts to do with Madison.

I found these Magic Nuudles on sale at Joann's the other day and they were a hit! Not just with Madi though, but a hit with me too.

1. She can play with them all by herself.

2. There's absolutely NO mess.

3. And if whatever she makes out of them accidentally breaks then she can just put it back together. She was really concentrating here!

We made some flowers this morning as well.
She just had to sniff the flowers!

Come on Spring!

Never Boring!

Whoever said being a stay-at-home mom was boring . . .

Never met these two kiddos!

Can you find the word DOG?

I read about a neat game to play with your kids on a blog the other day. I printed out 3 letter sight words and taped them around our guest room.

Madi can spell the majority of them so I threw in a few new ones too.

Then we turned off all the lights, laid on the ground, and got our flashlights ready.

Then we'd try to find certain words and spell them too!

I'd say it was a hit because Madi looked over at me and said "I really like this game Mommy!"

I'm planning on also doing it with numbers too.

(Most of the pictures were taken in the complete dark with the flash so they are super blurry!)

A Day with Daddy

Daddy worked the gym today so Madi and I tagged along.

There are so many neat things to play with at Daddy's school.
First, she painted Clifford and other PBS Kids printables.

Then she played on PBSkids.org on Daddy's SmartBoard.

She loved being able to actually "touch" the screen.

She was even able to watch some shows on the "big screen."

It's pretty obvious she had a good time.

Not to mention it took her all of 3 seconds to konk out today at naptime!

Another Cold Day!

We've been having many cold days around here lately.

So we've been staying home and inside a bunch.

I've been trying to keep these two from getting too bored.
So, this day I pulled out the fun Sesame Street track.

They played for over an hour quietly right after I put it together.

And then they'll play with it a few more times throughout the day.

I love when they can play happily together for that long.

Because it means I have a little free time for myself!

Toys

Madi was so blessed this Christmas with all she received.

After much debate, we got her a tv for her room. I know, I know there's lots of controversy on this one but so far it's proven to work perfectly for us.

She still only watches a certain amount each day but now I don't have to watch it as well if I don't want to! Plus a side benefit has been that she plays in her room more.
These punch balls from Grandpa and Grandma Heider were a hit! They're still all over our house.

She loves to chase the dogs with her remote control car.

I'm impressed that she can actually steer the thing.

She thinks she's such a big girl since she knows how to turn on and off the tv and dvd player.

She got lots of dress up clothes, a boa, shoes, jewelry . . . to play with!

Matt's mom found these adorable Raggedy Ann and Andy dolls that I remember having as a kid. They are so sweet!

More punch balls . . .

(ignore the dark spot on the pic below. I got a light scoop for my camera and had to change the settings to play with it and needless to say I haven't figured it all out yet!)

The softest pillow pet ever!

Perfect for watching a show!

She received many other wonderful gifts as well. She loves the rolling suitcase and robe with her name on them from my parents but for some reason we don't have any pictures of those.

Overall, Madison is one blessed little girl!