sarahez's Profile

I have two boys ages 3 and 6 and am a stay-at-home mom (with no family close by and a husband who works full time and can't often take time off if I'm sick). The 6 year old is getting MUCH easier at entertianing himself and getting himself dressed, snacks, etc., but the 3 year old is super high maintenance. The best way I've found to deal with being sick is to PREPARE as much as possible ahead of time. This is what I do:
*I always have a (BIG) secret stash of sick foods: juice, pedialite, soup, crackers, ginger ale, pretzels, tea, etc. I stock up before flu season and keep it stocked so that when I'm sick I don't have to run to the store.
*Stock up on cold and flu meds ahead of time. Both for kids and adults. I buy tylenol motrin, stomach meds, Nyquil, cough drops, etc.
*Stock up on other sick stuff: make sure you have filters or distilled water for the humidifier, paper plates and cups for sick days so I don't have to do dishes, keep a little extra cash in the house in case you have to call a sitter and don't want to run to an ATM.
*I also have a secret stash of kid entertainment for when I'm desperate: a few new DVDs (even if it's something I don't normally let them watch like Spiderman or something), little puzzles and toys and art supplies.
* When all else fails, use as many services as you can to help: We have Amazon Prime and can buy movies to watch instantly--this was a HUGE help when I was down for the count for a few days, even if the movies are a ridiculous $3 each. Some pharmacies and grocery stores will deliver for a fee or have curbside service.

Awesome job on the mower! I say since you offered to let her choose the color, go with pink. Maybe even take her to the store with you and let HER pick out the shade of pink and even let HER paint it herself. Yeah, it won't be perfect, but it'll be HERS and that's what she'll love (and she'll feel so proud of herself)!

I love the theme, and it's very well executed... but does it bug anyone else that "marshmallows" is misspelled?

This makes me think... if you painted a wall with magnetic paint, you could attach the magnets to the back of the frames and then just sandwich the art between the frame and the wall. AND you could switch the layout of the frames all the time without adding more holes in the wall.

Awesome!! Thank you thank you for this post! I'm planning a Harry Potter theme party for my son's upcoming 6th birthday. You're right though-there's so much coolness in these books it's hard to choose what to focus on. I really love the idea of having the kids travel around to different classes and complete fun little tasks-6 year old boys definitely need to have something to occupy them for part of the time or everything resorts to a big sword (wand?) fight. :) Thanks for the awesome inspiration!

Holiday05, The tension rod thing is genius!! Thanks!

Thank you, Nellymom! Took the words right out of my mouth.
Can't we all just get along? :)

Also, if you're with a group of adults, several breweries give pretty cool tours. The one in Boston (I think it's Sam Adams??) gives an awesome tour where you can see them bottling the beer and at the end you get to try tons of different beers and even the really rare ones (like the triple bock). I'm not a beer person, but my husband and I went with some out of town friends and we all enjoyed it.

HAHAHAH! The lumberjack costume is awesome!! I love the facial hair, hilarious!

OH, and my oldest used to love this Melissa and Doug latches board, too. Although I think it may have helped him learn to undo all of our childproof locks. :)
http://www.amazon.com/Melissa-Doug-Deluxe-Latches-Board/dp/B000NVBE1A/ref=sr_1_1?s=toys-and-games&ie=UTF8&qid=1310495254&sr=1-1