That Aha Moment

Last week we had the opportunity to check out a really amazing place in Lancaster, Ohio called the Aha Museum with a good friend and her little one.

This place was any child's dream.  They had so many sensory and imaginary play stations that it was easy to get overwhelmed.  The clear winner with all three of our kiddos was the water table.  

Child Safety: Furniture

Let me start by saying this.  It's tough being a parent.  And we've only been doing this gig for just over 3 years.  I keep hearing the hardest years are to come (and I believe it).  I've also heard that parents love to stress out about little things.  I really try to only stress out on the super important stuff (to me) but sometimes little fears creep in.  My favorite that I heard from another parent was after having the baby, they were irrationally worried about not keeping enough bananas in the house.

Now, my fears are usually a little more safety related so that comment really made me laugh.  The thing is, is I'm almost alway the parent that tries to sit back and let me kiddos bump into things, fall down while running, and swing really, really high.  When they do get little boo-boo's, we try not to make a big deal of them.  We like to give them kisses and encourage them to try again.  I can't tell you how many times I get the strange looks from other parents when I see a (tiny) accident about to happen, but allow my little ones to learn from their falls.

This type of parenting though, I've learned, really does encourage a type of fearlessness in my kids.  So, it shouldn't have come as any surprise when my three year old decided to climb the changing table to get closer to her "stinky little man".  She climbed that dresser so quickly and effortlessly that I didn't even have time to say anything to her before she was sitting next to him!  And I was standing right there!  We certainly do not allow her to climb furniture and I thought she knew better.  The thing is, now that I've witnessed this act, it can not be ignored.  She has an identical dresser in her room so the odds that she's climbed her dresser are very high.

Where am I going with all of this?  Oh yeah, my fear is that a piece of furniture will fall on one of my kids.  That's way bigger than any bump or scrape.  That's a whole different ball game.  And it scares me to death.

Here's the dresser that both kids have in their rooms. (You can see the other dresser here.)  Notice the perfect little "climbing footings" also known as handles :)  This piece of furniture is super heavy but there is always that possibility of it tipping.

Free Printable: Gardening is Cheap

I have been out in the garden like crazy the last couple of days (with plans to be out there again today...)  I feel like all of this gardening is going to cause me to need therapy... But that's not how the saying goes :)

I made a free printable for all of my lovely readers (cough, mom)... 

Feel free to pin, share, download & print! You can find the file here!

I'm looking forward to having the front yard caught up for a few days from all of the weeds, extra tree limbs, & junk that has accumulated in the flower beds out front.  Have you been playing catch up to the losing battle of weeds?  Do you have a secret to combat them?  

Enjoy your weekend!

Janice

Oh, My Achin' Back!

I know a lot of blogs like to "keep it real" by showing a pair of dirty socks on their living room floor or a dirty cup in their sink.  (I can assure you that we have that and a lot more all the time).  But today, I'm keeping it real outside in our garden jungle.  Oh yes... there are just a few weeds that need pulled.

Can you spy the Labrador Retriever hiding among the shrubs?  How about a massive Hosta?  They're both in there, I promise.

So, here's a before and after shot.

Big Girl Room Collage Wall

So many times I do a project around the house but never take the time to blog about it.  Today, I'm gonna turn back time and show you something I did in my daughter's big girl room.



I had a lot of black frames laying around that I converted to white with a couple cans of spray paint.  I picked up a bunch of other frames from a trip to Ikea.