{Tuesday's Tip} Fun Things to Do in the Snow

It snowed at our house a couple weeks ago and hopefully we will get more snow throughout the winter months. I know that not everyone loves winter and snow as much as I do. It takes effort to get those kiddos in all their winter gear and then they are back inside after only a few minutes.  But I love all of the fun snow activities, and if you enjoy the snow with your children they will stay outside and play longer because they love being with you!

Here are 21 super ideas that you can play in the snow to enjoy your time together:

{1} Build a snowman.  Have items on hand to dress your snowman (hat, scarf, carrot, rocks, leaves, twigs, etc.)

{2} Snow ball fight

{3} Build forts to hide behind

{4} Play "Fox and Geese."  You stamp down the snow in a large circle.  Then stamp two lines across the middle of the circle making an "X."    After you have a nice path in the snow, it is time to play.  Your fox is "it."  The fox stands in the middle of the X, closes his/her eyes, and counts while all the geese move around the circle.  The fox opens his eyes when he is done counting and chases the geese.  They can only run on the paths you created.  If the fox tags one of the geese, then that person becomes the fox.

{5} Snowshoe on trails or in the mountains.  Hiking trails are like a different world in the winter than during the summer.  My favorite is snowshoeing by rivers, they are so pretty in the snow!

{6} Sledding

{7} Cross country or down hill skiing

{8} Make a pretend house in the snow by stomping pathways for hallways, bedrooms, etc. all over the yard

{9} Fill spray bottles or squeeze bottles with water and food coloring to color the snow or make a picture

{10} Make a big snow hill to sled down

{11} Shovel.  Have shovels that are kid-sized

{12} Use sand toys in the snow.  Pails, shovels, mods and make snow castles, or just practice digging

{13} Make an igloo using bread pans it make your bricks

{14} Ice skating

{15} Ice fishing

{16} Make snow ice cream. Use fresh snow, of course. ;)

{17} Find ice cycles

{18} Make snow angels

{19} Play "Follow the Leader"

{20} Blow bubbles see what happens in cold weather

{21}  Build snow sculptors

Then, when you are done playing in the snow, you can warm up together inside with some yummy hot chocolate or hot apple cider!

DIY Advent Calendar

My husband went on a business trip for a month.  That's a long time, plus I knew that he would not always have internet access.  So before he left I wanted to give him something fun and special that would help to remind him of  home.  

When I was at Target in their dollar section, I saw a dry erase board with a string and got an idea!  An advent calendar, that's what I wanted to make.  It would be small and easy to pack but give him a little surprise every single day. 

To make my advent calendar, I used an Exato knife to cut little windows out of scrapbook paper. I made enough windows for every day that he would be gone on his trip. Then I taped the scrapbook paper to the edges the dry erase board.

For each window, I hid a little note inside and taped the window closed. For some of the notes I wrote small messages on post-it notes for him, and on others our kids wrote notes or drew pictures for him. This way he had a little message or memento to remember that we loved and missed him. Then my kids helped me decorate it the calendar with stickers.

The day my husband left for his trip I slipped the advent calendar into his bag so he would be surprised when he arrived at his destination.

Butternut Tomato Soup

Soup is one of my favorite dinners during the fall and winter months. I came across a new soup recipe here at Deals to Meals and wanted to share because it turned out so yummy! It's creamy butternut tomato soup.

Ingredients:
1 butternut squash, cut in half & seeds removed
1 onion, cut into large pieces
Drizzle of olive oil or butter
2 1/2-3 c. chicken broth
1 can evaporated milk
1/2 pint whipping cream or half & half
3 cans diced tomatoes (or fresh)
1/4 t. cayenne pepper
2 t. salt, to taste
2 T. brown sugar
3 cloves garlic, minced
2 t. basil
2 t. Italian seasoning
2 1/2-3 t. chicken bouillon or chicken base
1 t. black pepper

Cut the squash in half and place on a cookie sheet. Cut the onions as well and place them on a cookie sheet. Drizzle the onion and squash with a little olive oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper.

Cook in the oven at 400 degrees for 25-35 minutes, or until the squash is soft and tender. My squash took approximately 45 minutes to soften. Remove the pan from the oven and let cool for a few minutes until room temperature.

Place the onions in a food processor and pulse until smooth, and then place in a large soup pot. Turn the heat to medium heat and saute onions in a littler more olive oil. While this is coming to heat, spoon out the insides of the squash and place in the soup pan.

Continue to cook for awhile until the onions are even more soft and then add the seasonings, garlic, chicken bouillon and the chicken broth. Continue to simmer for a few minutes and then add the canned tomatoes.

Let the soup simmer until it is warmed through and the squash has broken down nicely. If you like a really smooth soup you can use a hand wand to blend the soup or add ladles full of soup into your food processor and blend the soup until smooth.

Once the soup is simmering you can add the evaporated milk and whipping cream. Season the soup to your desired liking (more kick, add cayenne pepper, more sweetness add more brown sugar, more salt, etc.)

Serve this soup with grilled cheese sandwiches or warm bread out of the oven. Enjoy!

{Tuesday's Tip} How Family Dinner Helps Your Child's Language

Dinners are important in our homes.  First of all, if we are sitting around a table, we can see each other.  This is important to the socialization of families.  Sitting face to face, looking at each other, observing facial expressions and body language.  This is all part of our social experience.  Socializing at the dinner table can help us not only to feel more connected as a family but these face to face interactions can help our children learn so many social and language skills while at the dinner table. This Tuesday's Tip is all about sharing ways of...

Here are some that I've noticed with my own kids: 

{1} Children learn to follow simple directions.  "Please pass the carrots."  "Put a napkin at each person's plate."  "Put the milk, butter, and jam on the table."

{2} Simple directions also teach our children prepositions.  "Push the chair under the table." "Put the cup above the plate."  "Place the water in the center of the table." "Put the napkin on the plate."

{3} Children learn manners.  Waiting, taking turns, saying "please," "thank you," and "may I be excused."  We don't say, "yuck, I hate that," instead we say, "no, thank you."

{4} Ask your children open-ended questions.  "What did you do at recess today?"  "What was your favorite thing you did today?"  They have to figure out a response and become independent thinkers.

{5} Children can ask us questions.  "How do carrots grow?"  "What is this?"  "What are we doing after dinner?"  Children are curious and want to learn and be included.  Dinner is a great time to teach them.

{6} Little ones who are not yet verbal hear others speaking.  They recognize familiar words and learn new ones. They also watch how we interact with one another and learn how we treat each other.  They learn that there is waiting before the next person speaks.  It is amazing all the things that our little ones learn simply by observing!

{7} Families build connections and relationships at the dinner table which are so essential for trust.  Language is more fluid and natural when we feel we are in a safe place. These connections and trust can grow with the child no matter how old they are.

{8} Dinners can be a time to relax and enjoy.  Children don't feel drilled or that they need to perform.  This aids in more language and learning because when you aren't stressed about teaching,  it often happens naturally.

{9} Using idea's from this blog can make dinners fun, different, and enjoyable. :) A change in pace or trying new things at family dinner time may trigger more conversation with your children because you have them focused and engaged.  Maybe you will discover a new interest. 

{10} Children love routines. Yes, it's good to change things up to challenge our children, to find things that interest our children.  But, routine is also very important.  Young children thrive on routine.  They thrive on understanding what happens next. This helps them feel safe and comfortable, which allows them to relax and talk.  Ways to do this include: have dinner at the same time everyday, give your children the same dinner time chores, have your children do the same activities right before and after dinner (like finish homework before and take a bath after), etc. 

{11} Problem solving skills that are important to language can be learned at dinner time.  Children are learning how to scoop, eat with utensil, drink from a cup, try new foods, cut with a knife, etc.

These are just some of the reasons why it is important to try and have regular family dinners together. If our children are in front of a TV or playing video games, they will miss out on ALL of these social and language benefits. If we are always texting, making phone calls, using Facebook, or are just to busy, we will also miss out. Sure, there are times when life is so busy that it's all we can do to pass the happy meals back over the seat so the kids can eat before the next activity. (Been there done that!) But even in those moments, are there ways we can still take a minute to engage our children and help them learn these essential skills?

Kids with better language will do better in school because they will understand more of what the teacher is telling them.  They learn language by there interactions with us.  It does not cost anything to talk to our children.  IT IS FREE!  We just need to invest the time.

Thankful Chain

Beginning November 1st, my family and I started a thankful chain.

I cut strips of construction paper from several different autumn colors.  Every night before bed time we gather as a family and write something on a slip of paper we are thankful for that day.  Then we loop and staple the paper strips together to form a paper chain. The paper chain is decorating my banister and grows each day as we add to it. By Thanksgiving we hope to have a long chain of the many things we are thankful for.

 

My plan is to read all the paper strips together as a family on Thanksgiving day.  It is nice to be reminded of simple things we take for granted on a regular basis.

To give you an example of what things we are thankful for at our house, here are some of the things we have added to the thankful chain so far:

• Glad to have a car
• I like music class at school
• Thankful for my job
• I have good friends
• Enjoy watching movies as a family
• My monster high doll
• Safety in traveling
• I am thankful for heat in our home
• I LOVE my bed at night!  (I am grateful for this every busy day!!). (Haha!!)