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Have Fun and Good Luck

Today is the first day of fall and it’s a beautiful day. I noticed for the first time yesterday some trees have started to change to their beautiful red, orange and yellow colors.  This is my favourite time of the year. The air feels crisp and clean, beautiful colors everywhere and of course my favourite event will soon be here; Halloween. Sometimes I think I have more fun with Halloween than my children. There are so many costumes available for the kids it's hard to choose one and the ones for babies are even cuter. However, there are a few things we need to remember when choosing a costume for our little ones:

Make sure your child can be seen by drivers. Use bright coloured costumes and decorate with reflective tape or bands.

·        Give each child a flashlight to carry.

·        Prevent harmful falls; your child’s costume shouldn’t be longer than their ankles and their shoes should fit properly.

·        Costumes with masks should be used only for children who are a little bit older. Face paint or make-up is safer than a mask since they don't block your child's ability to see.

·        If you plan on making a costume, choose materials such as nylons and polyesters as they don’t catch fire as easily as other fabrics.

·        Check to make sure the costume is labelled “flame resistant” when buying it from a store.

·        Costume accessories (swords, knives, etc.) should not have any sharp edges and be made of a soft, flexible material. 

·        If your child is wearing a scarf, hat or wig, be sure it is secure so that it won't slip over your child's eyes.

Here are some of my favourites:

Green Pixie Costume

Scooby Doo™ Costume (Size 2/4T)

Little Lamb Costume

Little Pig Costume

Firefighter Costume (Tan)

Pooh Bear Costume

Have a wonderful first day of fall

Today is the first day back to school and my 6 year old did not want to go, and to tell the truth I didn’t want either one of them to go.  I loved spending the summer with them and although it has only been an hour since I left them at school I already miss them terribly.

All week I was trying to prepare them for back to school. I took them to the grocery store so they could help pick out items they want for their school lunches. I pretended to be excited that it was a new year and told them how much fun it would be and all the new friends they will make as well as see old ones. And gradually we have been getting back to our regular bedtime routine and wake up time.  So why is it so hard for us?

Last night my 7 year old couldn’t sleep and ended up sleeping with me. And, this morning he said he didn’t want to go to school. But as usual my brave little boy talked himself into being ok.  I don’t think I could have handled both boys falling apart this morning. 

I know my anxiety will pass in a few days and my boys will most likely have a change of heart within the first hour or so in their new class and I also know these feelings are common with many parents and children; however some are more severe and may need medical intervention.

I found a fantastic website about Separation Anxiety at http://www.anxietybc.com/parent/separation.php  this site contains lots of useful information such as: Home Management Strategies for Separation Anxiety Disorder  and  How to talk to your child or teen about anxiety and much more.

Wishing everyone a stress free back to school day

Our website Devoted to Parenting is planning on expanding in the near future and would really appreciate your input on what’s important to you as a parent.  Click here and give us your feedback. Don’t worry it’s a very short questionnaire it will only take a minute or so of your time.

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On our last family outing we took a trip to Sudbury, ON to visit Science North.  We just went for the day and we had such a great time, next time we are going to stay longer.  There are a few hotels that offer family packages at a very reasonable price.  Based on a family of 4 you can stay in a hotel for 2 nights which includes entrance to the science centre, Imax Theatre, Virtual Voyage ride and Dynamic Earth  all this starting at $314 cdn.  I highly recommend that when you go to the science centre  make sure you’re there when the doors open because there is just so much too see and do. We all had a great time, my boys who are aged 6 & 7 usually get bored pretty fast and even they didn’t want to leave.

On our way out we visited the gift shop and the boys picked out 1 item each, they both picked Science Kits where you grow your own Crystals.  I have never seen anything like it.  We started growing the crystals a couple days ago, one is topaz yellow and the other is purple and they take about a week.  This was so interesting and educational that I was trying to find more and in my search I found an educational toy store that sells lots of other science kits that the boys (and myself) are interested in.  I just love it when learning is fun!

“I’m bored” is what I heard the week after school was let out. With all their toys and games, how can they be bored? I would make suggestions and all I got was “I don’t want to” or “that’s boring” and this always seems to happen when I’m busy doing something.  So I found the only way to get any work done was to schedule time to do my work and after that I can spend time with my children.  I would inform my children after breakfast that they need to find a quiet activity to do while I do my work and when I am finished we will do something together.  So far this summer, our agreement is working out pretty well, just as long as I don’t work to long. I also found that many problems are caused by the lack of structure for which they are accustomed to. The trick is to adjust the structure and make it more flexible and less demanding than it is during the school year. For example:

• Have the children stick to their chores and still help around the house
• Set your regular wake-up and breakfast time later than usual. Allow some flexibility if the kids were up late for a special event (sleepover, drive-in movie, fireworks, etc.)
• For many children it is a good idea to enrol them in some regular activity (Karate, Music Lessons, Swim Team, etc.)
• Have some outings scheduled such as picnics or a trip to the beach. And for those rainy days a trip to the local Children’s Museum, Science Centre, or Bowling Alley are all great indoor activities
• Summer is a good time for sleep-overs and even more fun in a tent outside
• Enjoy spending time with your children; read to them, go for walks and explore your neighbourhood, hikes and bike rides are also a great way to bond and get to know your little ones

 Keeping peace in the house one day at a time

My boys have discovered fishing.  I don’t know what got them interested but they kept asking me to take them fishing.  I haven’t fished in over twenty years and the thought of putting live bait on a hook made my skin crawl but they really wanted to go.  So we headed to the store and we were pleasantly surprised when we found children’s rods in a kit.  For about $30 for each child we purchased a fishing kit which included a child size rod with line, hooks, sinkers, lures and more. We also purchased a tackle box to put all their accessories in. I was also very happy to find fake worms and grubs in this kit because there is no way I’m going to stick live ones on a hook (I didn’t mind it when I was a kid but I do now).

If you take your kids fishing make sure to find out what the fishing regulations are for where you live.  I live in Ontario, Canada and a Canadian resident needs an Outdoors Card to fish in Ontario if they are at least 18 years old but have not reached their 65th birthday.  If you are under 18 you must carry a valid birth certificate with you. For more information go to Fish Ontario.

Now just being me I over think and analyze everything and started to stress. I need to know everything like what bait do you need to catch what and do we have the right size line and sinkers and on, and on, and on… So to put my mind at ease I found some great websites and booklets.  If you go to CatchFishing.com they offer tips and resources and a wonderful booklet to get started fishing with your kids. Another website is the Youth Fishing section from the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources and they also have a booklet Take a Kid Fishing.

I also have a couple videos that remind me not to over think and just enjoy:

I have to share with you my most favourite website for making my life easier; Celebrate Express. When it comes to birthday parties I get extremely stressed.  I don’t find it fun running all over the place trying to plan the perfect party.  I just don’t have the time and as I’ve mentioned before I think internet shopping is the greatest invention since sliced bread. You have to check out this website Celebrate Express not only do they have over 150 different party themes they also have hundreds of costumes available. They also offer party planning guides that coincide with your theme.

The only downfall is not all party theme packages are available outside the United States and at this time they don’t deliver their catalogs outside the States either. But, they have so many fantastic themes that there is always another alternative that sometimes turns out even better than the ones we wanted in the first place. I found the most perfect birthday theme package for my youngest boy.  He just loves dogs. I mean LOVES Dogs! It’s crazy how excited he gets about dogs. I couldn’t explain how fantastic this birthday pack is so I’m going to show you.

Ultimate THE DOG Party Pack - $ 129.99 Includes 8 dinner plates, cups, forks, spoons, activity placemats, 16 napkins, solid-color tablecover, centerpiece, mylar balloon, 24 balloons (2 colors), crepe paper rolls (2 colors), curling ribbon (2 colors), confetti, cake candles and thank-you notes. Also includes filled favor boxes, pinata and fillers, assorted puppy ears, kooky chews, dog bone cups and dessert plates. ($156.50 if purchased separately.)

Now all I need to do is pick out a cake.  I wonder if I can order it online and get it delivered as well. That’s what I’m going to research next; finding a local cake decorating website.  Oh I just love the age we live in.

I am feeling very frustrated. I cannot find any affordable clubs for my kids whose ages are 6 & 7.  I can find an overwhelming amount of programs for infants and mom and quite a few programs or activities for children aged 5 and under.  I can even find a drop-in hangout for teenagers but nothing for 6-10 year olds.  I’m looking for groups of children with similar interests to my children so they can interact and make friends with like minded individuals. I am finding it way too expensive to send two children to camp for the whole summer.  We need something affordable and ongoing. Our church doesn’t even offer any sort of children’s group which I find very disappointing. I just spent my whole morning and part of the afternoon looking for anything appropriate for my boys to be involved in around our community and found absolutely nothing.  I will keep searching but I won't hold my breath.

I love scrapbooking.  I love the way my pages look when completed.  Unfortunately the only time I can work on them is when the kids have gone to bed, which would be ok if I had a space devoted to my scrapbooking but unfortunately my house does not have the room available. So, by the time I pull all my supplies out and complete one page it’s time to put everything away and go to bed.  Needless to say I don’t get much scrapbooking done.

Now as much as I love the look and the satisfaction of cropping, arranging and sticking I think I love digital even better.  I am so in love with Windows Movie Maker, I arrange my photos, select my effects, add a title and credits and voila I have a movie with my favourite photos and I can watch them on my TV, share with family and friends over the internet or I can just copy another disk and mail it to them. Also the disk doesn’t take up much room unlike the large scrap book.  I love it! 

Now I do miss the look and feel of my book with all the embellishments and such and I think I have found a solution to my problem, Digital Scrapbooking!  I get the look I love without having to store massive amounts of supplies and I found a site called Scrapbook Flair and it’s free to join. It offers free software and lots of free accessories for your pages. Scrapbook Flair is a scrapbooking community where you can share your designs and projects and ask for help if needed. With the free software that you download to your computer you can print your completed pages or export them to share online or to email to your friends and family.  If you don’t want to download the software you can create your scrapbook online and for a fee it will be professionally printed, bound and shipped to your door.  I have researched many online photo print stores but I found their photo books were limited and pretty boring unlike Scrapbooks Please this one has a nice selection to choose from.

Another one of my favourite scrapbooking sites is a Scrapbook Super Store, here you buy just about any scrapbooking supply you can think of even digital supplies and they also have online scrapbooking workshops, articles, tips and forums.  These three websites are my all time favourite Scrapbooking sites. I highly recommend them to everyone but be careful if you are just starting it is very addictive. 

Happy scrapping!

Here’s the links again to visit  Scrapbook Flair, Online Photo Books and a Scrapbook Super Store