Mrs. H

Magnet Exploration

I recently signed Gray up to take a class at The DoSeum – our local children’s museum that I have written about before. The class is called “Little Makers” and it’s basically a science and engineering class for toddlers 18-36 months old. Yesterday was our first class. Not only did Gray have a blast, I came away very inspired…
magnets at the dose

His teacher, Ms Cheryl, had all sorts of magnets for the kids to explore with. The invitation to play was simply a box of random items and a couple of magnet wands. Gray immediately dug in and was ready to explore! She had extension activities for those who were interested in sorting their magnetic vs non-magnetic items, and blank paper “journals” for any who wanted to draw/write their thoughts. Gray enjoyed sorting his magnetic/non-magnetic items, and eagerly sat in my lap to sort them! He enjoyed playing with magnets on the classroom divider wall, and of course he loved the story – Goodnight, Goodnight, Construction Site is one of our family favorites! (Aff link, thank you!) Then after class he enjoyed going to the Kaleidoscope play area and spending more time with the MagnaTiles there. (Aff link, thank you!) All of the magnet play inspired me, and we ended up purchasing our own set of MagnaTiles to take home with us.

While he napped, here’s what I set up for when we got home from picking up Sis from Mother’s Day Out:

magnets at home The invitation to play was simple – a box full of random items both magnetic and non-magnetic, and a bunch of MagnaTiles. When we got home, Becca immediately hopped up into her chair and started playing. Without me even showing her or telling her what to do, she started testing items to see if they are magnetic. Today, I’ll give her the same activity with a sheet of paper similar to what Gray had for sorting at the DoSeum and let her sort her items based on whether they are magnetic or not. Gray also immediately dove in and really enjoyed the activity again at home in our little variation.

reality check

Because I’m all about being honest with you and telling you what works and what doesn’t work, this is NOT an activity for your toddler to do unsupervised. I thought I’d take advantage of them being so engaged, and I’d do the dishes… well, then I looked over and he had something in his mouth. Thankfully, it was just a pompom – not a magnetic item, but because he’s cutting a couple of new teeth right now, I can’t give him the box unsupervised. This is an activity to do when I’m sitting right with him. To buy myself some more time, I simply removed the box from his reach and let him play with the MagnaTiles. He LOVES building with the MagnaTiles and that easily occupied him for the rest of the time I needed him to be occupied until I could join him at the table and let him have the box back with close supervision.

MAKING THE BOX
Here are some ideas of what you could put in your box. I used the following items that I had laying around randomly here:
-Colored Rice (non)
-Mixed beans and corn from an old fall sensory bin (non)
-Paperclips (magnetic)
-Paper brads (magnetic)
-Refrigerator magnets (magnetic)
-Feathers (non)
-Pipe cleaners, cut into pieces (magnetic)
-Jingle bells (magnetic)
-PomPoms (non)
-Play plastic coins (non)
-Foam blocks (non)
-Fruit pouch lids (non)
-Plastic stackers (non)

Here are some other fun magnet activity sets that we have and enjoy (Aff links, thank you!):
MindWare Imagination Patterns (Becca got this for Christmas and loves it! Gray has not used these… but easily could – they are large enough to be toddler safe, she’s just very possessive of them.) UPDATE: Gray loves playing with this set! There are a couple of small circles that I take out of the set when he plays with it.
Magz51 New Interlocking Toy Building Set (NOT toddler safe)
Magnetic Spinning Gears (Both kids LOVE this set!)
Lauri – Fun with Magnets (I have this set on order and can’t wait for it to arrive!)

more fun with magnets — update 4/7/16: He loves playing with the Imagination Patterns AND the MagnaTiles together because the Imagination Patterns board allows the MagnaTiles to stand upright for vertical fun!

Children’s books about magnets (Aff links, thank you!):
What Makes a Magnet?
What Magnets Can Do
Magnets: Pulling Together Pushing Apart

What fun magnetic activities have you done? The kids are totally enthralled and I’m looking forward to finding more fun magnet activities! I also think Becca would enjoy going on a magnetic hunt to test different household objects to see which are magnetic and non-magnetic… we may do that today!

Teaching Graphs

I’m not going to begin to put an age level on this lesson because I’ve sort of lost all realistic memory of when is the “right time” to do this type of activity. SO, I’ll say that if you think it might be time for your child, you might be right!

Graphing is so much fun. And it’s even more fun when you add in a technology element and work with your child to set them up in Excel or Numbers! I have a Mac, so our work was done in Numbers. The first step before creating any graphs, however, is to collect data.

I came across this insect survey free on TPT and thought, somehow I have to make this work for Becca even though there isn’t a class full of kids to survey! Enter social media. I polled Facebook through my page (thanks to several friends and family members who shared my post!) and we received over 30 responses!

tally sheet

As I scrolled through the responses, I would read them out to Becca, and she learned about making tally marks. She would mark the sheet, and then once we had recorded all of the answers, we counted the marks and I wrote how many of each insect had been “favorited” by our participants. Making tally marks was a new experience for her, and she wanted to circle the groups of four instead of making a line through them for five to group them together. Cody and I were both there for this lesson, and we had to explain to her that this isn’t something you can do however which way you want – to make tally marks, this IS the way to do it. No other options. She wasn’t real sure about that, which I dealt with again with her when we did our second grouping of data, which I’ll talk about later in this same post.

So, once we had the numbers for our insects, I pulled up Numbers and immediately set up a little data table. She read off the insect names to me and how many of each one. Then she decided what title we should put on our table. I knew that I wanted to teach her about pie graphs AND bar graphs (she has seen some bar graphs before, but it’s been a while), so I first put the information into a pie graph, and she was immediately intrigued – she helped me select the colors that she wanted, and was very pleased. She started asking questions about what % means… and I skirted around it by simply saying, it’s what part of the whole group it is – sort of like fractions. She said “oh” and was actually content with that. No doubt percentages will be entering our math time very soon. Then I let her select whether she wanted a vertical or horizontal bar graph, and she selected the color. She decided that she needed some pictures of her top favorite insect to make it look a little “happier,” so I pulled up Google images, and had her type in “butterfly.” She selected the image and I showed her how to save it. Then she also saved a dragonfly and a ladybug. I showed her how to import her photos into the document, and once I got them the right size, she dragged them to where she wanted them. I had her tell me about her graphs and typed her words onto the “poster” as well. We printed it out on card stock, and she was so proud to show her daddy!

becca w graph — Left: she typed in the words to save it to my computer, and was quite frustrated wanting to know what crazy person put the letters in the wrong order on the keyboard! HA!

Then, a couple days later, we colored Easter eggs with some dear friends. And we had ALL. THESE. DANG. EGGS! What to do with them all? So after she had spent a good amount of time sticking butterfly stickers all over them, we sat down and made a tally of how many eggs we had of each color, and I had her draw a bar graph on paper so she would have the physical concept of what the bars show. We talked about how “this is what three orange eggs look like in real life, and this is what they look like in tally marks, and this is what they look like on a bar graph!” She said “that’s cool let’s put them on your computer.” Hey, what can I say? It’s really fun to make “graph posters” on Numbers! So, for ease (and because it was almost bedtime) I pulled up her previous file, renamed and saved it as a new file, and then had her tell me the new data to type in. She was quick to notice that I needed to change my titles on the data table, and told me what names I needed. Instead of types of insects, I needed colors of eggs! She decided this poster needed different graph colors, and of course it needed Easter egg images. We also edited our text, and in about 7 minutes, we had a whole new graph poster about our Easter eggs! We printed it and she was so excited again to show it off to her Daddy!

eggs

This is a super simple way to get your child talking about Science and Math AND to incorporate the Technology aspect of STEM as well. Don’t have a computer or experience with Excel/Numbers? No problem! Drawing on paper can be awesome as well – you could draw on copy paper, cut them out, and post them onto a large sheet of construction paper! Clip photos from magazines, or illustrate yourself with paints and markers!

I’ve noticed since doing these graphs, Becca is much more interested in Math again – not shying away from addition and subtraction story problems, and excited to count and sit to learn new math concepts as well. Remember – Math HAS to be FUN!!! Make it that way!

insect survey

egg graphs

It’s Friday!

Wow. Where has the week gone? I had some huge aspirations for this week. I mean, come on ya’ll! Spring Break!! It’s the perfect time to re-organize the family room and clean up my office, right? A great break to finally make all the things happen that don’t happen during a regular work-school-housework week. HA!

Did the family room get organized? Nope. It’s still our wreck room. Yup, spelled W-R-E-C-K. HA! Did my office get cleaned up? Nope. Did the laundry room get re-organized and re-decorated? Nope.

Did we spend time playing outside for hours on end? You bet!
Did I laugh with my kids? You bet!
Did I do some form of artwork every. single. day? You betya I did!
Did I get so spend some time working on my blog? YAY!!! YES I DID!!
Did I spend time with my best friend? Of course! (The pedicure on Monday was an AMAZING way to start the week!)

spring break

All while still maintaining my exercise routine and keeping the housework controlled to it’s normal level. (Ya’ll, this morning I conquered Mt Laundry… it’s been growing since, well, Monday.. and amazingly, there is another mountain in the laundry room floor waiting to be washed. Maybe I will spend some time today working in there to make it a more inviting place where I actually want to spend some time…)

So was this Spring Break a success? You bet it was! And the best part is, it’s not over yet! I still have time to tackle the laundry room, laugh more with my kids, spend more time exploring outside with them, watch more tv with them (aka have more snuggle time!), and do more fun activities. We brought out some old favorite activity boxes this week, and I’m hoping this weekend to do some play in our water table outside! (aff link, thank you!)

Processed with MOLDIV

So what did you do this week? I’d love to see your pictures over on my Facebook page! If you aren’t following on Facebook, please do join us! Have a wonderful weekend!

Why I’m a Consignment Mommy

If you have kids – especially if you have more than one – you know that there are times when you’ve been standing there in the store and you’re looking at that super cute outfit and the price tag on it, thinking “but how long will it REALLY fit?” Kids grow. Some of them grow at astonishing rates. In the first eleven months of her life, Becca went from wearing a size newborn to wearing a 3T. No joke, ya’ll. Those baby shower gifts and hand-me-downs from friends that were supposed to last two or three years? Well… many never even got worn because she needed them at the wrong time of the year. When Grayson was born, I was prepped for similar growth. In the first year, he went from size newborn to size 2T, though he could still fit into some brands of 18-24 mos stuff. Thankfully Becca has slowed her growth quite a bit and we actually stayed in 5T for the vast majority of 2015 (the year she turned 3…) She even has a few 5T items that still fit her now! Thank the Lord, right? Because kids just grow so. dang. fast! And truly, the cost of growing up is INSANE!

So, how have we kept TWO kids in food, diapers, AND clothes for the past almost two years without totally breaking the bank? Well, that I credit to a friend of mine named Kim, and the consignment sale that she runs twice (and sometimes three times) a year. Here We Grow Again San Antonio has been on my radar since before Becca was born. I actually worked my first sale as a vendor alongside a friend – the spring of 2012 before she was born. I have assisted as a volunteer in every sale since then. I have consigned the clothes and toys my kids have outgrown in several sales as well. I truly feel like this sale has been such a blessing to our family, which is why I’m writing this post. (Kim isn’t giving me anything special or any monetary compensation for this post.) Every sale I’m more and more amazed by the quality and quantity of clothes, books, toys, and shoes I’m able to pick up for the kids at ROCK BOTTOM prices… and when I volunteer, I get paid in “grow bucks” that I can turn right around and spend during the sale on my kids! When I consign, I get a paycheck afterward for all of my stuff, and I chose to donate the rest of my items that don’t sell… and get a tax receipt for those items! It’s truly a win-win-win situation.

If you don’t know of a consignment sale in your area, you need to look around. (Check out that link, ya’ll. The Consignment Mommies website has an amazing region by region search engine!) There are several “brands” of consignment sales, and while I don’t think it matters which brand you go to, keep these things in mind and look for this in your sale:

Find out how long the sale has been in business. The longer it’s been around, the more experienced the owner(s) are in running the sale and the better your results will be.
If you are interested in consigning your items, VOLUNTEER FIRST. Work the sale a couple of seasons to see what sells, how pricing works, etc. (People that are proud of their stuff don’t end up with good pay checks because noone wants to pay $15 for a brand new shirt even though it is brand new and it is Gymboree! Slap some pants or a skirt with it, price it $9 and wahoo! You are set for a sale!)
Look at the location – where in town is the sale? Is it easy for folks to locate? Is it in a good part of town? This is important if you are going to consign your items. You want the most amount of shoppers viewing your items as possible… and you want the least likelihood of theft as possible!
Before you consign, talk to other consignors. Is there a Facebook group you can join to get tips? Do they offer training classes or videos? You want to be as successful as possible to make the most money possible.
Do they offer a starter kit? Do they make it clear how items must be hung up/labeled? What is the consignor fee? Is there a way to get that fee waved by inviting a friend to join you in consigning? Do they offer perks to volunteers like cash to use at the sale (and if so, are they competitive with other rates offered by other sales in the area)? What percentage do consignors make on their items?

I can’t say enough good about Kim and the Here We Grow Again sale in San Antonio. Are there glitches occasionally? EVERY company has glitches occasionally. It might be that the website is down at the moment I’m ready to make tags. Or perhaps the location for the sale doesn’t have a public restroom. But ya’ll, check out all the stuff I got… and check out my PROFITS on top of what I spent: I made (literal cash in my pocket to spend however I want) a PROFIT of $220! And this is what I got. No little glitches will keep me from these deals – EVER!

Boo clothes gray clothes books

So… yeah. If you haven’t found a consignment sale in your area, start googling. And if you’re in San Antonio, look no further! Here’s the Facebook page if you want to follow along for the most updated info. Again, I wasn’t asked to write this post, and I’m not receiving anything for it. Except that maybe if you’re in San Antonio and you go to the sale in the future because of this post, you might buy one of my items… and then I DO profit! 😉

If you have questions about consigning, volunteering etc – feel free to let me know. I’m happy to help.

And I’ll leave you with this… check out this amazing bed my mom bought for Becca at this past sale. It was $100. Simply gorgeous. Fabulous condition. And Becca LOVES it. It makes her “big girl room” truly a big girl’s DREAM room! Best part is, the height is adjustable, so we can have it low for now since she’s little, and raise it up when she’s older! So why am I a consignment mommy? Because it’d be crazy not to be!

I. Fit. Well.

In 2010, I was diagnosed with Rheumatoid Arthritis. In late 2011, I got pregnant with our first child. I weighed a bit more than I wanted to, but hadn’t really been interested in doing anything about it. At that first check in for Becca’s pregnancy, I weighed 170lbs. Due to my RA and a large flair about midway thru my pregnancy, I got put on prednisone… And gained a LOT of weight. When I went in to deliver her at 38 weeks, I had gained over 75 pounds.

Due to other health issues (gallbladder removal the week after she was born and not being able to eat for almost 8 weeks), I lost that 75 pounds relatively easy (though not in a manner I would recommend!), and when I went in the fall of 2013 for my first appointment with Gray’s pregnancy, I weighed in at 172.

I only gained about 40 pounds with his pregnancy, but found myself in the fall of 2015 18 months from delivery, with no plans for more kids… And weighing around 180-185. I was not happy, and not feeling healthy. I had started going to the gym occasionally- mainly for the playcare room to give me a little reprieve from the kids. (Guilty mama admission there!) But I often made excuses and it definitely wasn’t a regular thing.

Part of our family Christmas photo shoot - I wasn't huge, but was not happy with my body, and certainly wasn't feeling good carrying around extra weight... plus a kid or two. — Part of our family Christmas photo shoot – I wasn’t huge by any means, but was not happy with my body, and certainly wasn’t feeling good carrying around extra weight… plus a kid or two.

Then December rolled around and I was determined to start the gym habit before the January new years crap. At some point, though I don’t remember what date specifically, I walked into the dietician’s office bc my best friend was sitting and chatting with her. I butted into the conversation when she said she was going to do the 52 day Best Body Countdown and said “oh sure I’ll do that with you.” I didn’t even know what it was or what I was signing up for. I was just doing it to support Johannah.

Best friends... not really knowing what we were getting into or how awesome we'd feel 52 days later! — Best friends… not really knowing what we were getting into or how awesome we’d feel 52 days later!

What I didn’t know was how it was going to change my life. Drastically. I’ve been told by several doctors that regular exercise would help my RA- and ease the pressure on my joints. And now? Now I’m seeing that. I have an amazing trainer who in one quick session was able to teach me some really awesome ways to modify exercise to allow for joint pain, and to still push my muscles to build strength. I have learned so much about my body and my own autoimmune hindrances, and I’m learning ways around them. I’m learning how to listen to my body, and stretches, strength training, and cardio routines that are making me not only lose weight, but become a stronger person.

The other piece to the best body pie that I didn’t really think about when I dove in was just that – pie. I have always (esp when pregnant) had a sweet tooth. I find it really hard to pass up baked goods- brownies being top on that list. A good brownie is pretty darn close to Heaven, in my books. So hearing the words “only 5 grams of added sugar a day,” sorta felt like a death sentence. But I was determined. I had paid my money and I was going to do this for Johannah, if not for me. But somewhere around day 45 (about 8 days into the countdown), it became less and less about doing the program just to support her, and more and more about building a healthier me… While supporting her.

A meal sample - with the log from MyFitnessPal with the nutrition info. — A meal sample – with the log from MyFitnessPal with the nutrition info.

Now? I’m proud to say that having a salad with kale, spinach, and swiss chard is my typical lunch. Every day. Instead of being obsessed with ice cream and/or brownies, I pop cherry tomatoes like they are going out of style. I eat peanut butter I’ve fresh ground myself at the store with local honey on a high fiber English muffin as a decadent treat for breakfast every couple days. Breakfast? Oh yeah, I eat breakfast every single day. Three solid meals and a strong snack every day. My water intake wasn’t a problem before, but now I make sure I maintain my regular intake before I consume any other beverages. Pop and tea are a thing of the past. Coffee and wine? They are here to stay, but with the rest of the way I’m living my life, I can easily consume my one or two glasses wine once every or every other week with no worries of the calories or sugar.

Yup, yup I’m on fire. And there’s no stopping me now!

I truly have learned how to control my portion sizes and make smarter, healthier choices for not only my meals, but also my activities and daily routines. I have made fabulous progress, and this is no where near the end! I plan to continue these habits the rest of my life! I’m so thankful to my support system- my best friend/accountability partner (who pushed me to be my best every step of the way!!), the staff at the gym, and to my wonderful hubby who encouraged me and pointed out my visible progress milestones along the way!

My stats:
Increased plank time by 1:44 (from 1:00 to 2:44)
11.8 pounds lost
3 1/4″ lost around the waist
Lost 1/2″ fat at the halfway point, Gained 1/2″ muscle back by the end- around my left thigh

I can’t say thank you enough to the whole Fitwell team.

Come to find out, not only did I complete the program, I lost the most weight of anyone participating from our gym! They rewarded me with a new Fitbit Flex and a free membership to the next TRIBECore workout group ($150 value)! WOW. It’s so amazing to not only feel good about myself and be proud of my progress, but to see these people who believe in me… Enough to literally INVEST in me… Wow. Just wow. I have never felt so encouraged! To know that they believe in me is just amazing. I never doubted Johannah or Cody’s support of me because they are truly my best friends, but to see the support from the gym staff is just incredible to me. I’ve found not just a gym close to home with excellent playcare for the kids while I work out, but I’ve found a FAMILY that is an incredible support system!

Want more information about the program? Check out Sohailla Digsby’s website here to join in the next round of the program and countdown to YOUR best body!!