Thrifty Thursday: Children

Happy Thursday :)

With the economy the way it is, I know a lot of parents are going to be struggling to get toys and presents for their children this Christmas.  So I thought I'd share with you so things that my daughter adores that are fun, inspire imagination and self learning, and won't break the bank.

If you're a sewer, I know you'll have tons of scrap fabric around, but even if you aren't, raid everyone's wardrobes for clothes that don't fit, are stained, ripped whatever, and cut them up - I made this fab play mat for my daughter in a couple of days out of scraps, old shirts, and some left over polyfil from a cushion my cat scratched up. The base layer is from a vintage wool coat that had irremovable stains on. And if you don't sew, no worries - a tube of fabric glue will set you back about $5 and works just as well :)

I think most kids love mini things - so why not get some blank peg people?

Set of three, $1 from giddygirlie.etsy.com

You could either paint them for your child, or paint them together as a fun Saturday afternoon project.

You all remember my castle right? You can order free shipping boxes to be delivered straight to your door from usps.com and whatever you don't use for your orders can be turned into all sorts of fun things for your child to play with.

As always, feel free to post links of your fun childrens crafty things on my facebook fan page all day. 

Potty Training Trials

My dear darling daughter..... I love her, but we're having some issues.

She is well able to start training now, but whenever I ask her if she wants to use the potty, she balls up her little fists, goes bright red and yells:

"NO big girl! Am BABY!"

Um... Any ideas?


Please?

The Journey

I'd like to take this moment to publicly thank God for giving me such a wonderful, well behaved child.

Honestly, she was an angel the whole way. The first leg - Rochester to Philadelphia, she sat in her little seat, seatbelt fastened, reading the in flight magazines and eating Goldfish. We must have looked a pictured the pair of us - the stewardess even came and asked me if she could read already!

We had a 2 hour stop in Philly before our next flight to Dublin - at this stage I was getting sleepy - but queen Blythe wished to bestoy her love of the dear people of Philadelphia - sitting in her carriage (stroller), being pushed by her servant (me) and waving and laughing at everyone.

She hasn't quite got her laugh worked out yet - it's a little bit scary. Someone would smile at her, and she'd look up at them and let out a loud 'BWAHAHAHAHA!'

I got some funny looks.




The star tantrum saver of the trip was the pack of stickers I got at the dollar store. she played happily decorating the wall of the plane to Dublin for about an hour and a half before crashing out on my lap for a few hours.


By the time we finally got to Cork, the poor child was exhausted - fast asleep the whole way home. But bless her, she stayed up til about 7.30pm Irish time before crawling into bed and sleeping for twelve hours straight.


Happy Baby. Happy Mummy.

And for my dear AntiqueAttic - the start of your photo collection:

Oh the Joy of Travel....

.....With a two year old. As most of you know, I've lived a lot of places and have been flying since I was two, and by myself since I was seven.

But I've never done it with a toddler. I'm very proud of myself - I leave on Tuesday, and as of about ten minutes ago I'm all packed - and I've managed to get everything into three bags - two to check in, and one for the plane:




The blue one conveniently fits in the under basket of the stroller (which it oh so perfectly coordinates with ♥), so changing planes in Dublin should be a breeze as the black one hooks on the handles, and the brown bag can go across my body - so hands free!


I'm pretty sure I have a good bag of tricks going - colouring books, washable markers, playdough, stickers, and a little make up set.....



....and of course - the toddler essential - lots of snacks! Nothing worse than a hungry child in a crowded place. Tantrum city.



Can you tell I love ziplocks?

As it's the weekend...

I've been spending time with my baby girl - who is just about my most favourite person in the world ♥

It's her Birthday (and mine) this coming weekend - and that means party party time!

I'm very excited - I love being hostess - it gives me an excuse to play at being creative.

I've decided on a flower theme - lots of bright colours to cheer up the dreary Rochester winter, so out come my trusty scissors, glue and construction paper!


I made these little baskets for party favors - and as I can't get the flowers I want for the table - I made these:

We're going to have bright yellow table cloths and blue plates, lots of mini finger food and brightly colored jello pudding.

I've also got yellow streamers and have made daisies to hang at the corners.

I know she won't remember it - but I will.

Oh the things you can do with postboxes...

My daughter and I have great fun!

In the next of my series of cool things to do with your toddler - How to make a castle!

Look - There's even a dungeon:



I'll be painting it this weekend with her :)