Moms

When you’re decorating your child’s room I think you need to make sure it’s fun and includes pieces that the child loves now but also pieces that will grow with them. Sometimes that is pretty hard to do but I’ve found one product that is gorgeous and timeless – Pigtails Ink  paper art. Pigtails Ink. art is a whimsical, unique and affordable way to personalize a child’s bedroom, playroom or bath. They have a variety of designs to celebrate your child’s interest; princess’s, space explorers, athletes and superheroes. Their letters are great for initials or spelling out full names and their bath art will remind your little one to Brush, Wash and Scrub.The art is printed from original illustrations and hand personalized by the artist with name and hair color. Prints are sold matted and fit standard size frames. Personalization and shipping is always free! - Pigtails Ink website I was provided one 8×10 art for review and it was very difficult to choose which one I wanted to place in Matthew’s room. Well, his soon to be bedroom (right now it’s still a playroom). I wanted to pick something that wouldn’t reflect something he was interested in now but could possible outgrow later in life. And let me tell you there were LOTS of choices – the themes I looked at included football, baseball, airplanes, racing and more….there was everything available for a little boy. I finally chose the Smile God Loves You artwork matted in blue. When I received it I was amazed at the quality and beauty of it. Matthew loved it and so did I. I really hope that this is something he will treasure as he gets older. It’s a beautiful piece that I think is so special. Most kids love personalized items and this is a fun addition to any room. All art is sold matted. If you would like it framed, that option is available, or you can just purchase a standard size frame at your local store. Pigtails Ink also has a variety of other items for girls that include art work, letter art, and bathroom art. The themes available for girls are princess, reading, cheerleading, skiing, and even Stars Wars Princess Leia inspired art. It is amazing and you will love it! Right now on the Pigtails Ink website you can receive a 20% discount. Enter coupon code SMILE20 at checkout. Custom artwork and stationery excluded. Expires July 15, 2013 Enter to win We want you to experience the fun of choosing artwork for your child so, 5 Minutes for Mom and Pigtails Ink is giving away one (1) 8×10 paper art to one (1) lucky reader!! Use the Rafflecopter form to enter this giveaway. New to Rafflecopter? Watch this 45-second video on how to enter! a Rafflecopter giveaway Which art would you choose?     Lesley is a mom of two kids – one girl and one boy. She’s married to her first and only love, Robby. Author of Life with Lesley. Her blog has a little bit of everything – life, love, parenting, along with product reviews and giveaways.

1. If you’re going to be late coming home don’t wait until the last minute to tell her. Remember when you’d have to do chin ups and you knew you had to do 20? You’d get to 18 and think “I only have two more to go, I can make it” then some asshat comes along and says “Gimme 10 more”. How much do you like that guy? Not so much.  2. Come home and get in the house. When you get home this is not the time to chit chat with the neighbor over the fence about how it’s gong with the new baby. Assume that it is always Lord of the Rings orc war in the house and get inside to relieve the day shift because your wife has probably been walking around with that baby thinking “I only have to hang in there 30 more minutes….29…..28.” (see point above). 3. Get excited about the baby. I know, I know, you love that little weeble more that anything, but most new mothers are wired with this demented sense of responsibility so even if their baby is screaming like a rabid howler monkey they don’t want to leave it. So if you go in and say something like “take a shower, I’ve missed him all day and I can’t wait to hold him” she will be more willing to go bathe, eat or generally reset to be less crazy. It’s win-win. 4. Don’t ask “What’s for Dinner” If everyone in the house is alive when you get home that’s a successful day. My friend’s husband asked her why dinner wasn’t ready because “she’d been sitting at home all day doing nothing”. Aw, Buddy, c’mon. If you ask “What’s for dinner?” the answer may very well be “Your left testicle”. Eat cereal, order take-out or drink pumped breastmilk. Wing it. 5. Don’t go on about how hard your day was. Even if your day consisted of being gang raped by angry silver back gorillas, she can probably trump you. Not only can she trump you but it may include details that you otherwise wouldn’t have known about and don’t want to hear. You’re tired. You’re stressed. But it will just open Pandora’s box and it ain’t worth it. Also consider that this is someone who is up all night looking at your peaceful, sleeping vulnerable body. Don’t give her a reason to smother you with a nursing pillow. She’s probably already plotted your death a couple of times by now so don’t push her over the edge. 6. Don’t say you’re babysitting. The mother of your child may be too tired to catch this slip but any woman who has had more than 20 minutes of consecutive sleep is going to do a slow, Chucky-head-turn and hiss “You’re not babysitting. You’re parenting.” In your defense, I totally understand this statement. If you’re not the primary caregiver and you’re stepping in to take care of the baby then you are technically babysitting. Terms like “Daddy Duty”, “On call” and “At the helm” are always safer alternatives. 7. Don’t lie on your back and hold the baby above your head facing you. They puke. It’s the infant equivalent of the Funny Home Video guy pitching to the kid with the baseball bat and getting squared in the pills. Everybody likes lying on their backs, holding the baby in the air and fly them over their face. Babies LOVE this and this joy often sends a surge of yak right into your who’s-daddy’s-airplane-open-mouth. They give no warning. They are vomit grenades. 8. Be CIA guy. Too often I think fathers get shoved to the side and it’s all about the baby, and to a lesser extent, the mom. Don’t worry about it and just be a gazelle in the grassland because you’re in the trenches, and there’s no glory in the trenches. Be like those awesome CIA guys with the silly putty in their ear who silently, seamlessly gets the odd glass of water, load

This post on how to create a vision board was made possible by an item provided for review. This post may contain affiliate links.  All opinions are mine and mine alone. I work at home and my day is a combination of family and work responsibilities. I may be folding laundry while on a conference call with a client. I might be answering emails on my iPad while my son uses my business computer for his homework.  Unlike days when I worked in an office, my responsibilities sort of blur together some days. It’s easy to get off focus and find myself playing Candy Crush a few too many minutes or working after dinner when I should be relaxing with my family. How To Create A Vision Board To help me keep my mind on my goals and my attitude positive, I decided to create a vision board.  A vision board is a visual reminder of your personal goals and the positive thoughts you want to focus on.  Learning how to create a vision board is not difficult at all. Materials A piece of cork or foam board to serve as the base Ribbon to decorate Thumbtacks to hold your cards and images Card stock Images from magazines or scrapbook images that match your vision Fiskars 4XL Lever Punch Stamp Out Marker Instructions Using the ribbon, make a criss cross pattern over your cork or foam board.  Secure on the back with a staple or thumbtack. Using the Fiskars 4XL Lever Punch Stamp Out, cut out enough squares of card stock to write the word that describes your vision. Write one letter of your word on each square. Attach the card stock squares to the top of your vision board as a reminder of what to focus on. Attach the images that fit your vision around your vision board. You can slip them underneath the ribbon or you can attach them with thumb tacks. Hang it on the wall in an area you will see it regularly.  Mine is in my office. The Fiskars 4XL Lever Punch is part of Fiskar’s newest line of lever punches that makes it easy to create extra large embellishments for a variety of craft projects.  They are great for creating layered embellishments with multiple designs or creating windows on cards, scrapbook pages, or collages.  I love the Fiskars brand punches.  I have tried other brands before and the quality just does not stand up to frequent use. This lever punch has a wide base which means it’s not going to tip side to side while I’m using it. The Fiskars 4XL Lever Punch works with card stock up to 65 lbs so it is perfect for my scrapbook projects. It’s very easy to use and it punches cleanly through the card stock without a lot of effort. It also has a built in confetti catcher to catch the punches which is extremely handy. Fiskars offers a variety of different sizes of lever punches from compact to extra large. Shapes available include daisy, heart, star, butterfly, circle and  more. The Fiskars 4XL Lever Punch makes it so easy to make a bunch of punches that are exactly the same. Now that you know how to create a vision board, what will you have yours say? // document.write(''); // The post How To Create A Vision Board appeared first on Confessions of an Overworked Mom.

Dawn, 5M4M contributor, recently attended the EPIC movie premiere in New York City. Expenses for her travel and lodging were covered by 20th Century Fox. All opinions expressed here are wholly her own. Have you heard about the Leaf Men and the amazing, hidden world of the forest in the upcoming film EPIC? I’m excited to share more thoughts about the new movie that will hit theaters this Friday, especially about the comedic elements. Check out my previous post for the lowdown on the story and some insights from the director on the underlying themes. Though EPIC is most definitely an adventure film with a lot of heart, there are plenty of laughs, too, and most of them are provided by the slimiest creatures on the screen. Mub the slug, and Grub the snail, are the protectors of the plant pod that holds the magical soul of the forest. They’re the perfect caretakers because the pod needs to stay moist– a huge talent of both snails and slugs! With funnymen Aziz Ansari and Chris O’Dowd as the voices behind Mub and Grub, the laughs come naturally. If you’ve seen the trailer, then you know all about Mub and Grub’s eyeball antics. What other creatures could even theoretically knock their eyeballs back and forth? Ansari and O’Dowd both bring their signature voices to these characters. Ansari is quick with a punchline, expressive and energetic, and O’Dowd’s charming Irish accent fits perfectly with his character who longs to be a Leaf Man despite his being a slug. I was incredibly fortunate to participate in a group interview with Aziz Ansari and Chris O’Dowd recently, and let me tell you, these guys are as funny off the cuff as they are when they’re performing from a script. How often do actors get to talk about their experiences playing a slug and a snail? When one blogger jokingly asked if they had done any research before taking these roles, they immediately launched into a funny back-and-forth: Aziz Ansari:  “No, I didn’t really do any research.  They have a piece of paper that has a script, lines on it.  And then, I just go in there and I say those a couple times, like we got it, and then I go home, done.” Chris O’Dowd:  “I had a slug farm, so like I felt like I was already one step ahead, yes like an ant farm.” Aziz Ansari:  “And me and Chris went to the woods with a magnifying glass and followed a snail and slug around for a couple of months.” Chris O’Dowd:  “It did not end well, obviously.  It was a sunny day. One thing led to another.  Yes, it was really sad.  It was sad, but worth it.“ I couldn’t stop myself from mentioning the slugs that keep finding their way into my own kitchen every spring and summer, and I expressed my hope that after viewing this movie, perhaps my kids won’t be so grossed out by the slow-moving, slime-trail-leaving creatures. Thankfully, Chris O’Dowd was happy to play along: Chris O’Dowd:  “You are welcome.  Get yourself a nice slug farm.” Me:  “I’d like to know how to fill that habitat.” Chris O’Dowd:  “Just slugs.  What I do is I don’t put anything in it other than the slugs.  So, it’s just slugs.” Me:  “Just slugs?” Chris O’Dowd:  “That’s right, yes, plastic tub of slugs, which is also the name of my autobiography, out this Christmas. Yes, hopefully, slugs are going to get a good rap from now on because I’m sick and tired of the anti slug brigade.” Their easygoing banter with our group was fitting, seeing as they had provided the lighthearted side of the movie with their funny performances. As a parent, I frequently find myself frustrated with kids’ movies, because of the innuendo and more adult-like humor that too often finds its way in. I was delighted that this wasn’t the case with EPIC. I didn’t find myself cringing at any parts

Confession: I am a DIY fan girl (not to mention, pretty gosh-darned fond of acronyms) and I may or may not have openly admitted to having a slight crush on Mike Holmes. By openly, I mean blogged about my crushing...

This guest post has been submitted by Sarah Normandie   Teach your young child the science of creating colors with these fun activities that link art, science and literature all together. Your  “color scientist” will be having so much fun that he or she won’t even realize that there is learning involved!  Activity 1: Popsicle Paint Book to read:  Why Did My Ice Pop Melt? By Susan Korman  After Reading the book, Why Did My Ice Pop Melt? By Susan Korman, try this fun summer activity! First, fill Popsicle molds with washable children’s tempura paint. Use primary colors: red, yellow, and blue, to prep your child for the color mixing activity. You can find the tempura paint in most craft stores and local department stores that sell children’s art supplies. Next, freeze the paint in the mold. Then, head outdoors on a hot summer day to do some Popsicle painting! An easel would work great for this activity, or you can just hang your paper onto a tree. Younger children will have an easier time building their fine motor skills by painting in this upright motion. Also, as the Popsicle paint melts, the paint will mix together. Discuss why it melted and predict which colors mixed together will create other colors.  What Your Child Will Learn: Your child will build their fine motor skills, and gain reasoning/prediction skills while engaged in scientific inquiry (discovering and predicting how the colors will mix). These skills will prepare your child for reading-as prediction skills are correlated with reading strength. This activity will also strengthen their problem solving skills.  Of course, freedom of expression in art and language development will also be fostered.  Bonus Activity:  Frozen Ice Melt: Another color mixing/ice melting activity is the “Frozen Ice Color Melt”. Fill various containers with water colored by food coloring (remember, primary colors only!). Put the “colored ice” in an outdoor water table, bucket, or kiddie pool, and watch the water change color as it melts. Don’t forget to talk about your child’s predictions to promote scientific inquiry and language skills.  Activity 2: Foot Painting Book to read:   Color Dance by Ann Jonas  What better way to learn about mixing colors than with some dancing! After reading Color Dance by Ann Jonas, bring out some large poster board or a roll of butcher paper, washable children’s paint (primary colors), a brush, and a bucket of water (to wash their feet). Paint your child’s foot, or simply let them rub their feet in a small puddle of paint (don’t forget to hold their hand, it can get slippery!). Put on some fun summer music and let your child dance on the paper, painting their footprints as they dance! Wipe off their feet and use different colors. As they dance, the colors will mix!  What Your Child Will Learn: In addition to language development and science inquiry skills, your child will build their gross motor skills (jumping, walking, balancing, etc) and learn to express themselves through art and music.  Activity 3: Water Spray Paint Book to read: White Rabbit’s Color Book By Alan Baker  White Rabbit’s Color Book by Alan Baker is one of my favorite color mixing books for young children. After reading the story, fill 3 spray bottles with a small amount of bottled watercolor paint (found in craft stores) and water. You can also simply fill with water colored by food coloring. Tack a piece of white paper to a tree, and let your little one spray the paper with the primary colors. Discuss how the colors blend together as they spray. Little ones will find it easier to spray upright, and older children could spray paper laid on the ground or on a table. You could also use stencils, or various objects such as string, buttons, or stencils placed on the paper to make various designs.  What Your Child Will Learn: Your child will build their fine motor strength by using the spray bottles, gain problem solving, and scientific inquiry skills by mixing colors and noticing the pat

Just over a month ago, our family was blessed to welcome in our third child. Adjusting to becoming a family of 5 has been so wonderful and now that we’re finally getting into a bit of a routine around here, I’m determined to start loosing this baby weight. Thankfully, my husband is on the same page with me and we’re in this together. In a few months, we’ll be celebrating our anniversary. By that date, we hope to have reached our weight loss goals. Healthy eating can certainly become terribly boring, especially if you don’t intentionally try to make delicious recipes that don’t taste like “diet” food. This salad has become a new favorite of ours. It’s packed with tons of nutrients and the flavor profiles make it taste like a bistro-style salad. With the taco meat, black beans, corn, avocados and of course, the Cilantro-Lime Dressing, this salad is fabulous and totally satisfying. Southwestern Taco Salad with Cilantro-Lime Dressing Print Southwestern Taco Salad with Cilantro Lime Dressing Author: Angela Strand Ingredients Large head of romaine, chopped 15 oz. can black beans, drained 1 large orange bell pepper, diced 2 tomatoes, diced 15 oz can corn, drained 3 green onions, chopped 1 avocado, diced 1 pound hamburger, cooked with Taco Seasoning and drained Creamy Cilantro-Lime Dressing 1 cup cilantro leaves ½ cup plain Greek yogurt 2 Tbsp. fresh lime juice (about ½ lime) 1-2 garlic cloves ¼ cup olive oil 1½ tsp. white vinegar ⅛ tsp. salt Black Pepper to taste Instructions Place all dressing ingredients in a blender and blend to combine. Next, place all salad ingredients in a large bowl and stir to combine.Toss with dressing. 3.2.1230   So — what is a good salad that you have had this month?

September is going to be a big month for us. Not only is Belle leaving primary school this summer and moving up to big school, but Bee, my precious first-born, turns into a grown-up and heads off to university in London. As if by way of a reminder, Belle bought this home from school this week. My last ever copy. It is a truly terrible publication, full of poorly designed ads, yet I can’t help but feel oddly fond of it all of a sudden: They are actually growing up and it is leaving me feeling a teeny bit sad. Of course it could just be the cold I’ve got this week. I did cry at our netball match on Tuesday night when I didn’t score any goals in the first quarter and had to come off not feeling well, (embarrassing), so it would appear I am a tad on the over-emotional side, but still, having children grow up is a thing I think you’re allowed to get a bit teary about. As if by way of rubbing salt in the wounds, last weekend I worked for three days at the Baby Show in Birmingham, surrounded by glowing pregnant women and chubby cheeked babies. It was almost enough to make me, heart-of-stone-mother that I am, a little broody. ‘It might be quite nice,’ I thought to myself, ‘to have another go. This time I could actually make an effort and do it properly, make my own sweet potato purées and not hide on my own in a corner of the playground at school pick up time. It could be fun to have a baby with chubby cheeks.’ Then I have to make myself remember that evening when Belle was about three months old. We were both lying on my bed. We had been lying there for some time in fact. I was lying on my side, Belle lying next to me. She was breastfeeding, and every ten minutes or so she would appear to fall asleep. I would wait a little while, then delicately begin to extract my boob from her mouth. Sometimes she would let me get as far as the door before waking up and crying again, but not often. It would get to the point where your options were basically to scream or cry, where every gulp she took felt like having the life literally sucked out of me. I can’t remember exactly whether it was a scream or cry moment, but I remember telling myself ‘If ever in the future you think about having more children, think about this moment and remember that you decided right here never to do it again.’ Those words have stuck in my head long past the memory of how I actually felt. I know that it’s natural to feel sentimental, that having children grow up and move on doesn’t mean you need to replace them, but I can’t help but feel I might have a tear in my eye at Belle’s final sport’s day this afternoon. Maybe it’s time to start my cat collection. How do you feel about your children growing up? The post The end of our Primary Times appeared first on Slummy single mummy.

The following conversation took place between me and my Tejano outside of his wine bar. Tejano: That couple across the street are Koreans. I think I am beginning to get good at noticing. Me: Really? why? (making a note of the baggy pants on the man who is standing with his upper torso slouching toward the woman in pony tail)...

By SHAWN TAYLOR I am blessed to have received a great education. Maybe it was a time in U.S. history when educating our nation’s children was a priority, but I don’t feel anything was lacking in what... [[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]]