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The Honest Toddler & Signed Book Giveaway!

One individual I was very excited to see at MommyCon Minneapolis was Bunmi Laditan aka The Honest Toddler. I had been following her on Facebook, Twitter and had subscribed to her hilarious blog. She was even more funny in person!

The Honest Toddler does NOT hold anything back. She lays it out just as it is. It is amazing how many things she describes and explains hit so close to home. It seriously is a relief knowing that you are not the only parent out there dealing with all the things, with a toddler. As she explains, toddlers are entirely another species!

The Honest Toddler just recently published a book called Toddlers are A**holes. “Toddler a**holery is a normal part of human development—not unlike puberty, except this stage involves throwing food on the floor and taking swings at people who pay your way in life.”

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I just finished reading the book and loved it. I will give you a heads up … yes, you can relate to a LOT, but some of the things may be taken to an extreme. I have no doubt in my mind though, that there are parents out there that deal with these extremes! Honestly, any and every parent who has a toddler or has graduated out of the toddler stage (lucky you) can and will relate to this book!

I was able to get my hands on two signed books and am giving one away! All you need to do is …

  1. Comment below one crazy thing your toddler has done!
  2. “Like” Midwest Mom & Wife on Facebook

I am really excited to hear all your crazy toddler stories 🙂 I will announce a winner Saturday, May 23rd! Let the craziness begin …

Disney Jr. Live! 2015

Monte experienced his first, live show on Sunday! When we heard Disney Jr. Live! was coming to town we KNEW we had to purchase tickets to take Monte. I was a little worried about how well he would do sitting there, but once the show began, I knew there was nothing to worry about.

This tour was the Disney Jr. Live! Pirate and Princess Adventure. Monte LOVES Jake and the Neverland Pirates. He loves anything pirates right now. We dressed him up like Jake and he looked adorable!

At the beginning of the show, while everyone is getting seated and adjusted, Doc McStuffins comes out with her toy “Monte” the Monster Truck (what a coincidence!) 🙂 All the children helped Doc make her truck feel better.

Of course, Mickey and Minnie Mouse were there! They helped introduce the princesses and pirates!

The first half of the show was Sofia the First and all the princesses, including Cinderella!

The second half of the show was Jake and the Neverland Pirates and Peter Pan!

Monte enjoyed dancing, singing and getting involved in all the stories.

If you have not taken your children to a live show before, I think this one would be perfect.

WARNING: Be prepared to spend a ridiculous amount of extra money on light up toys, snow cones and food :/

Fun at Apex Athletics

The kids and I checked out a new, fun place last week … Apex Athletics.

Apex Athletics-2

Apex Athletics is located in Johnston and known for their all-star cheerleading and tumbling. They have been open since May of 2009 and since their opening, they have won several grand championship rewards, spirit rewards, community recognition, and more!

Not only do they offer cheerleading, tumbling,  and dance for ages pre-k and older, but they also offer awesome open play times, morning out programs, kids night out, and more!

We dropped in for a Des Moines Moms Blog play date event and had a blast! The gym was open for all the kids to run around and play. All of the tumbling equipment was available, a huge trampoline to jump on, a balance beam, a large area with lots of balls to play with, and more!

There were also several kids and moms their. It was a great opportunity for moms to meet other each other and the kids made friends quickly also.

Apex Athletics offers a lot and it’s all very affordable also.

Mom’s Morning Out: Monthly registration program. $80 a month or $25 for drop-in. Monday or Friday 9 am – 12 pm. Drop the kids off while you go run errands! The kids will enjoy crafts, gym time, snacks and more!

Daytime Playtime: Available every Thursday 10:30 am – 12:00 pm. The entire family cam come and enjoy the gym. Families come meet other families, while the children run around and play. There is no age limit and it’s only $5 per family!

Lunch Bunch: Available every Friday 12:00 pm – 1:30 pm after Mom’s Morning Out. $10 per child. This includes more play time, crafts, and children bring their own lunch to eat. Register the previous week to attend and you do not have to participate in Mom’s Morning Out to attend.

Pre-K Tumbling: These specific classes are available during the week days. The classes are available as 10-week sessions. They will learn basic tumbling techniques, coordination, and more. Check here for dates, times and prices.

Recreational Cheerleading: These specific classes are available during the week days for children ages 3-6 years old. The classes are available as 10-week sessions. Children will learn tumbling, jumping, stunting, dancing and more! Check here for dates, times and prices.

They also offer a lot of special events monthly and other fun activities. This is definitely a site to bookmark to keep track of what is going on!

Barnes & Noble Storytime

I just learned about Storytime at the local Barnes & Noble recently. Every so often Barnes & Noble will offer Storytime, usually a Friday evening , Saturday afternoon or various other days during the week. An employee reads a special book and sometimes, there is a craft to go along!

This past Friday was a very special holiday edition of Storytime and Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer was read! The kids dressed up in their holiday pajamas and sat around while the classic was read to them.

They even got their own little red nose, like Rudolph!

Afterwards they were able to decorate a special gingerbread man, drank milk and ate a cookie!

In the Barnes & Noble cafe, they were offering $1.00 hot cocoa during the Storytime period. With every item you purchased in the cafe (including hot cocoa) you received a very special Rudolph shortbread cookie!

Monte and Amelia had so much fun!

Barnes & Noble has two different locations in the Des Moines area. They offer Storytimes at various times through out the week. This is a great alternative then Storytime at the libraries. It’s a nice way to change it up! Check out the event calendars for each location below, to see when the next Story Time will be!

Have you ever attended Storytime at a Barnes & Noble location? What book did you hear?

I Love Busy Bags!

Have you heard of Busy Bags? They are amazing! I was introduced to this whole concept last summer. One of the many Facebook groups I belong to, created a small group of mothers and we all took part in the Busy Bag project.

Pretty much, if there are say eight mothers in your group, you choose one activity and make eight of the same activity. You then all come together, swap activities, and you end up with eight different activities for your Busy Bag! It’s very similar to a freezer meal swap, but you get fun toddler activities instead!

Not only will these activities keep your kiddos busy, but they are awesome to use for a learning tool too! A lot of these activities incorporate matching colors, practicing numbers, fine motor skills, matching, and more.

Here is a snap shot of just a few activities I received from the swap. Sorry this isn’t the best picture! 🙁

These are also awesome to place into activity stations during the day, to keep the kiddos busy!

I just participated in another one a couple of weeks ago, but instead of just swapping we made a night of it. We came together with all of our activities we chose and decorated a small bag to keep all of the activities in. Of course, there was food and wine! It was so nice to get out, without kids!

I love keeping all the activities in a bag. You can throw this in your car, if you are going out to eat, going to a friends house, or anywhere you may need to keep your kiddo busy. This is a much better solution then handing then a smart phone, tablet, etc.!

There are ideas for Busy Bags all over Pinterest. Literally, probably hundreds. Here are some links to ones I like and some that I have in my Busy Bag!

  1. The Princess and the Tot – Toddler Busy Bags – Family memory game, finger puppets, lacing cards, matching colors, and more!
  2. Busy Bags for Teaching Colors
  3. Clothes Pin Number Match 
  4. Pattern Matching
  5. Popsicle Stick Puzzles
  6. The Rigneys – Toddler Busy Bag Swap – Velcro Mr.Potato Head, Button Turkey, Brown Bear Head and Tail matching, upper and lower case matching, and more!

Have you participated in a Busy Bag Swap? What activity did you make?

Christmas Movies!

 

It’s that time of year again! Here is a list of MUST WATCH Christmas movies. Also, I have discovered the Hallmark channel which plays Christmas 24/7!!! It’s amazing! 🙂

 

ABC Family broadcasts most of these movies through out their 25 Days of Christmas. Luckily, we have a DVR so I have went through and recorded most of these so they are available to watch anytime! Make sure you do the same!

1. Elf

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2. Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer

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3. Frosty the Snowman

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4. The Santa Clause

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5. Miracle on 34th Street – New

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Miracle on 34th Street – Old

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6. Fred Claus

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7. Christmas Vacation

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8. Scrooged

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9. The Polar Express

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10. A Christmas Story

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11. AND one more, just because this is also my favorite!

How the Grinch Stole Christmas

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What are your favorite Christmas movies that are or are not on this list?

Activity Stations

I thought I would share a new thing I am doing with Monte. Since I have been home full time and watching other kiddos, I have been trying to find an easy way to have different activities out to play with daily. I usually keep puzzles, paints, playdough, busy bag items, etc. out of reach, for obvious reasons.

I decided each day, I will place 2-3 trays out with different activities in them. That way Monte and the other kiddos can choose what they would like to play with and everything is in one spot. It makes for easy clean up also!

This was last week. I had our “sewing” busy bag in one tray and matching cards in another tray. I also had Monte’s favorite hippo game out! It was nice because he would run around and play, then stop, sit and work on one of his trays. It’s hard for Monte to sit still for a length of time, if he is not in the mood. This way, when he is ready, he can play!

I picked up the two trays above at Target. They are actually just letter trays and were about $6 a piece.

I already had this red plastic one which is very sturdy. I use it for crafts such as paint, glitter, glue, etc. like when we decorated our witch’s hat!

The trays are also easy to carry things outside like when we did the Erupting Sidewalk Chalk.

What tricks do you do to make kids activities for you and the kids?

Ironwood Park

I have to tell you about a REALLY fun park located in the Des Moines area, Altoona to be exact!

Ironwood Park or also know as the Pirate Park!

Ironwood Park

If you have kiddos Monte’s age or older, you know how popular Jake and the Neverland Pirates is! Monte loves acting like a pirate and this is the perfect place for him to be even more like Jake!

You can even walk the plank!

This is a newer park located on the very southwest edge of Altoona. We actually accidentally found it last summer when we were looking to meet for a play group. We ended up staying here to play because it’s so much fun!

There are two playgrounds. The pirate ship shown above, and a much larger wooden playground off to the left side. The wooden playground also has slides, a bridge, and climbing walls.

This park is perfect for a half-day outing. Pack some snacks and even a sack lunch and spend the morning running and playing. There is even a HUGE green hill that kids love to run/roll up and down! This park can definitely entertain for hours.

I would recommend checking out this park now, while it’s cooler out, instead of in the middle of the summer. Since it’s a new area of town, they are still building in the surrounding area and there are not much trees for shade. It can get super hot, super quick!

Have you been to Ironwood Park before? What is your favorite park in the Des Moines area?