Tot Time - March Plans

Earlier this week, I shared this post with all kinds of ideas to work on for St. Patrick's Day.  I've used those ideas and other ideas I'll share here along with some other generic ideas to get us through the whole month. 

First up, check out this awesome free downloadable subway art!  Today's Fabulous Finds graciously has posted many different versions of this art so please click the link, pick your favorite, print and make sure to leave her a comment!

I was so excited to see these activity cards posted by Mydeliciousambiguity - the same place I picked up the Valentine's cards last month.  These are my spring board for many ideas to use with my kids throughout the month and I'm so thankful for the work she puts into these.  (I was secretly hoping she would post something awesome like this!)

MooMoo's and Tutu's has also just recently posted a St Patrick's day packet.  You can purchase it for a small fee and get tons of ideas. 

And, one last unit that just came up is from Musings of Me - she always posts such great ideas!



In looking for some other ideas to do outside of just St. Patricks Day, I went back to one of my favorite blogs and that is Musings of Me. (same as the one I just mentioned!)  I've picked out two themes to incorporate.  One is her Space Unit

She is also doing a "trekking across the state" them and has several units out already.  We are going to start with Alabama unit and just work through items slowly.  She also created a Passport that is super cute.  We aren't going to use it yet but I have it saved to use down the road as my boys get bigger (Yes, we will do these same units several times over the next few years by adding more of the activities as they get older and also adding more things that I find elsewhere.)

One other idea I started throwing around is this Tot Book from 1+1+1=1 based on the Movie Cars.  Currently the movie the boys LOVE to watch when we travel is Finding Nemo.  But both boys love playing cars so this seems like a naturally fitting movie to tie in now. 

And then there is one that goes with Nemo too!

And Thomas

I should also include this - the New Cars Preschool Pack as well

Overloaded yet? I am LOL  But, I took ideas and have plugged them into our calendar.  It is a general plan for the month.  This week, I'll be working on the ideas for the first two weeks of the month with much more specific ideas.  Than, I'll work on the last two weeks during the first weeks of March.

If you would like to check out my March calendar just click here.  Just remember that it is my plan - it doesn't mean I will get to everything but if you don't plan, nothing gets done!.  I tried to include links on the calendar as there are some things, like file folder games, that I didn't list in any post. (I created it before adding a few of the links above so I may change and/or incorporate different ideas as well!)

Enjoy :-)

A Birthday Getaway!

My husband's 45th birthday was on Tuesday, the 22nd and I planned a great two day getaway for him, if I say so myself!  The best part of all was that he was TOTALLY surprised! 

I actually started his little birthday surprise a week before by sharing with him a "Few of my Favorite" things about him along with some of his favorite things.  First of all I printed off these cards.

I gave him the poem and the first card (along with a treat!) 5 days before our get away.  Each day he would find one stuck in his bag or left in the truck.  You can get a copy of the poem and the cards at oopsey-daisy.  She actually did a blog swap with Dating Diva's and that is where the post came from too! 

On to the surprise.  My plans were almost foiled when we got hit with a HUGE snowstorm on Sunday afternoon into Monday morning.  I love snow but this one threatened ice and I knew if we got ice, there was no way I could pull this off but, thankfully we "only" got about 12 inches of snow AND my parents only got snow too! 

This whole two day date was based on clues that I had written.  On Monday morning, I waited for my parents to arrive, planning to give Darryl the first clue when they walked in the door but, wouldn't you know it, he just happened to see them turn the corner LOL  He was dumbfounded!  I don't think he even really knew what to think or what to do!! 

We hit the road and the first clue gave him a rhyme to tell him where we were eating - he had to sing the song "Rockin' Robin" to figure out we were going to Red Robin . . .but, just that morning I had seen a coupon for $5.00 off of $15.00 at TGIF so I gave him that option and we switched restaurants to save some money :-)

 Once we finished our fantastic burgers, he had a clue that gave him the choice of two activities - (both in secret rhyme)  - either bowling or a movie.  He decided a movie was in order.  I had printed off the sheet with movies and highlighted the times that worked.  We decided to go see "The Tourist" mostly because we both love Johnny Depp as an actor.  It was a good movie but not very deep (and it does have a couple spots of language in it . ..just saying) And of course, we had to have popcorn! LOL

Now, due to all of the snow, my parents arrived a little later than originally planned so . .. something had to give in my plan.  I had originally planned that we would next go to Target and each buy some treats for a game we would play later.  We tossed this out but you can check out the idea at Dating Diva's and may decide to use it yourself :-)

We did stop and buy a few snacks a little later since I hadn't brought anything as I normally do but we did not play this whole game.

Instead, I gave him his clue of where we were staying and we headed to our Hotel.  I love Travelocity - I got such an awesome deal, which is why we could go away over night, on an incredible hotel!!

Darryl was very excited to be at a hotel - can you tell?

Our room had a balcony that overlooked the pool - it was awesome!

The Pool Area.

My next clue had to do with dinner - even though I had picked a place we liked, I let Darryl make the final decision and he picked my second choice (sometimes rhyming with one is better than the other LOL).  We went to dinner at The Crazy Horse Saloon - a fantastic Steak Place.

It is tradition to put a $1.00 on the wall at the restaurant.

Than we just headed back to the hotel, which was pretty much empty, swam in the pool and relaxed.

Tuesday morning, his actually birthday, his first clue sent us to the Mall where he got to pick lunch (We ate at Panera Bread) and than, I had a game planned at Barnes and Noble.  This is another Dating Diva's idea and is a blast.

If you read her post, you'll see that they only got to three at a time - well, she's right.  It takes awhile to do the first set of three but is so much fun!  Here are pictures of our recipes that we found:

We are planning on each making the recipe we picked out over the next two weeks so that should be fun!!!

From the mall, we headed to the Grand Rapids Public Museum for the Bodies Revealed Exhibit.

It was really pretty amazing to see all of the different systems within our body and how they work.  Both Darryl and I really studied the section on the lung trying to figure out how much of her lung my sister-in-law had taken out !!  The tickets included the whole museum and a free ride on the carousel!

I'm the baggage LOLOL

Darryl is saying "I want out of here fast!" Yes, we always do dorky stuff like that!

Finally, the last clue sent us to a restaurant that we always have wanted to go to - Charley's Crab - and we were not disappointed.  Get this, the day I made my whole plan and solidified everything, Darryl came home with a $12.00 coupon to THIS restaurant!  What's the chances of that?  Needless to say I hid it away to use for dinner.

This was by far one of the best meals either one of us have had in a very long time!  Yes, it will be a once a year treat but it was so worth it!! (And this replaced "The 1913 Room" on my 40x40 list . .just saying LOL)

Then, we headed home :-)  It was a fantastic and much needed get away . .. I think I could have almost used just one more day!

OHHH one last thing!  His gift.  Darryl has seen those stickers on vehicles for awhile that show the members of the family and just really liked them.  So, I did some looking and found a fantastic site called Say It On the Wall and got him this:

Isn't that awesome???  And Laura was fantastic to work with!!  She responded quickly, gave me all of the options and explained the process well; than I had my vinyl within just a few days!  Check out that site if you are looking for some neat things for your wall or vehicle!!  I also gave him the date cards that I talked about in this post.

What I'm Loving Wednesday

This week I'm loving:

I'm loving that my parents were willing to drive 2 hours to watch our kids so we could go away as planned despite a snowstorm that hit less than 24 hours ahead of time!

I'm loving all of the SNOW we got in the latest storm and am so thankful that we ONLY got snow and not the thick layer of ice so many other people got! 

I'm loving Travelocity where I can get FANTASTIC deals for travel so that I could surprise my husband with a night away for his birthday!!

I'm loving coupons - they saved us over $30.00 on all kinds of things planned for our little Birthday get-away!

AND I'm loving this birthday boy and those two little munchkins too!!!

Hope you are having a fabulous Wednesday :-)

Too Cute Not To "Toot"

The Idea Room has some really cute idea.  The rosette balls that she gives a tutorial for are adorable.  They would look so cute in a little girls room or for a baby shower.  Other than being time-consuming to make they look pretty easy.

Increasinglydomestic gives a really cute tutorial for using baby food jars to make candle holders.  Again, another great wedding/shower idea.  Not to mention cute for any holiday .

This cake from Emily in the Desert is very adorable.  I might have to do this for a birthday party . . .

Sorry for the short list this week - I was concentrating on March Tot Time Activities and a getaway for my husband's brithday!  :-)

March Ideas for the Kids!

We are still having fun with our February countdown calendar doing different activities 3-4 nights a week (planning for every night just doesn't happen . .. sometimes we just play!)

Now, though, Darryl paid me a wonderful compliment and handed me a little more work!  He said to me, "I really love how you planned all these activities - do you think you could do this every month?  Just 2-3 nights a week so we don't just end up sitting in front of the TV?"  How could I say no to that? 

I've already starting digging for ideas to do in March and thought I would go ahead and start sharing some links.  You will noticed that these are from last year based on the dates - I went to my favorite educational blogs and searched ideas since they haven't started coming out yet!  I'm sure I'll have new ideas before long but we have to start planning now :-)

First up is Roots and Wings.  I really like the concept of writing out the "I am lucky because . ." shamrock shapes.  It reminds me of doing the Heart Attacks for Valentines.  A great cooking idea is to make Shamrock Treats - use Lucky Charms instead of Rice Krispy Treats. 

She also a whole idea of using Lucky Charms Cereal for several activities which you can check out here

And finally, she showed this cute idea here - not sure if I'll find these this year but I'm going to be on the look out for them just in case.

Another site I found that has some cute ideas is JesseKateDesigns. This treasure hunt is a great idea for kids that are little older and it goes beyond just the hunt and teaches the "Pay it Forward" concept.  I don't think we'll be doing this one this year but I am saving it to use in another year or two!

She also gives this great glitter craft idea which you can find here. 

And she also gives another idea for doing the "I'm lucky" concept which is also super cute.  You can read the full post here

I love this Recipe for layered Jell-O that she gives as well.  I've made another version of the recently and it was much more work and wasn't as "soft" as I like my Jell-O.  This one looks awesome and I already know my kids love it!

One of my favorite blogs, Mydeliciousambiguity gives two great ideas for using the colors of the rainbow.  Check them both out using the above link!

She is also so good at giving these great downloads for Songs and Fingerplays.  I know my kids LOVE to sing and this really helps my search for fun seasonal songs.

And there's more!  She gives a recipe for edible fingerpaint and a project to make as well.  Check it all out here

Are you overloaded yet?  Just a few more :-)

Katie's Nesting Spot made these adorable cards to use for various games.  She gives great instructions on how to make them and how to use them!

Secrets of a Super Mommy gives a whole bunch of great ideas in one post including doing a Shamrock hunt, buying the kids green shirts to wear for the day (and to use for the whole month) so they don't get "pinched", and giving them a green bath.  Check them all out by clicking the link I provided!

She also gives a fun list of 10 foods that you can turn green.  Check out all of the info here.

Are there more ideas?  You betcha but I think I'll stop for now!  I don't really want to overload you but watch for another post soon with some more ideas.