Parenting Archives - Page 5 of 8

Summer Reading

By prioritysites June 17, 2016 June 17, 2016 Parenting

Is summer reading happening at your house yet? I am happy to report that my kids ARE reading and loving it this summer, thanks much in part to our local library!! The first few weeks of summer were busy, running from camps to All star baseball practices, scrimmages, and games; NO reading was happening!! I took the kids to the library, and we signed up for the library’s summer reading program… instant reading!!

Kids Respond to Reading Goals

The kids were so excited to get new books and have a goal to meet ~ 10 hours of reading in 6 weeks. Unbelievably, and probably because we’ve had some down time in the past week, the house will be quiet and I will wonder what’s going on. I am not saying this happens normally during the day, but I have found them reading and putting stickers on their chart to denote reading for 15 minutes at a time. I love it!! We do love to read at our house, but it’s a habit that we can fall out of. I was afraid that was happening this summer, but the library has really helped! For other ideas to help you get your kids reading, check out this page. Share your tips for getting your kids to read over the summer by emailing us at [email protected]. We love to hear new ideas!

Father’s Day Love

By prioritysites June 1, 2016 June 1, 2016 Organization, Parenting

Father’s Day is June 19, and it is the perfect time for wives and kids to express your love and appreciation to the one who leads by loving. I read recently that the definition of “leading” is “loving,” meaning that you love so much that you are willing to serve and do the hard things for those you care about. A true leader loves his or her people, whether in business or at home. In our family, we have been incredibly blessed with an amazing father and two amazing grandfathers who lead by loving. Sometimes that love expresses itself through discipline, and other times through playing rough or being silly with the kids. Sometimes it’s by working incredibly hard, or doing the hard things so that we are all better off. Father’s Day is a time to let dads know that we notice, even though they may not realize all that they do. We want the dads in our life to know how much they are appreciated, so we’ve put together an idea page for Father’s Day gifts. These are fun gift ideas for dads to relax and enjoy! Mom’s Priority has also pinned a ton of ideas for homemade father’s day gifts to make with kids.

Advertising Disclosure: Some tips include links where Mom’s Priority receives an incentive per click or per purchase. If you ever have any questions regarding this, please contact [email protected]. For more information, please see our Privacy Policy and Disclosure.

HELLOOO SUMMERTIME!!

By prioritysites May 13, 2016 June 1, 2016 Parenting

Summertime Patio

The official start to summer is still a few weeks away, even though it feels like it, but we are ready to start living like it’s summer! How about you?! With Summer right around the corner, online stores and department stores are having big sales on backyard equipment, toys, games, grills, and outdoor furniture. The time is NOW to get your backyard ready for those backyard barbeques! To that end, we’ve put together a list of fun items to have this summer so your backyard event is perfectly you, and fun! Hope you enjoy reading HERE and even more so, hope you enjoy this summer with your family! You don’t even have to leave the neighborhood! Make the time to keep quality time with your family and friends your priority this summer!!

Online Reading this Summer

By prioritysites May 10, 2016 May 10, 2016 Parenting

There are so many great sources for online reading this summer! As testing is going on in many schools around the country, parents and teachers are hoping that their children are well prepared and have acquired the reading skills needed to excel on their tests and be promoted to the next grade. More than that, though, we want our kids to have a love of reading, so that throughout their lives, they have endless opportunity that is afforded when a person can read, comprehend, and use the information gathered to change their lives. Good reading skills can certainly be life-changing! This summer, we are going to be spending time in good books- what about you? Read more HERE.

When Mother’s Day is Difficult

By prioritysites May 6, 2016 May 5, 2016 Devotional, Parenting

DEVOTIONAL

by Holley Gerth April 29, 2016

Soon we’ll celebrate Mother’s Day once again. For many families, it’s a time of celebration, appreciation, and joy. But for others, it’s one of the most difficult days of the year. This is especially true for women facing infertility or those who have recently experienced the loss of a mother, daughter, or other loved one.

I know what it’s like for Mother’s Day to be difficult. My husband and I struggled with infertility for almost a decade and experienced loss along the way. While we learned to live in hope and God eventually gave us a daughter (we adopted her when she was twenty-one years old!), we still remember the hurt and how holidays could bring it to the surface.

I also know what it’s like for Mother’s Day to be difficult because of experiences from working as a writer for DaySpring. Each year we would receive several letters from people thanking us for our “Difficult Mother’s Day” cards. One woman who wrote to express her appreciation said, “I spent seven very painful Mother’s Days longing for motherhood while dealing with infertility and the losses of eight children through miscarriage and failed adoptions. I’ve also seen my own mother’s grief and struggle through Mother’s Day after the death of her mother. And I have many friends in less-than-ideal situations either with prodigal children, abusive/estranged mother or children, loss of a child, and more.”

And finally, I know because of my training as a licensed counselor who has had the sacred honor of grieving alongside many women. I’ve learned that experiencing sadness on special occasions is a normal part of loss and longing. These days often serve as reminders of what we have let go or do not yet have.

So as Mother’s Day comes this year, I’d like to share a few thoughts from my heart to yours.

Embrace Your Emotions

First, if Mother’s Day is difficult for you then give yourself permission to grieve. When holidays come, we often put expectations on ourselves to feel a certain way. READ MORE @ DaySpring

Thank you to DaySpring for allowing us to reprint an excerpt of this devotional. Advertising Disclosure: Some tips include links where Mom’s Priority receives an incentive per click or per purchase. If you ever have any questions regarding this, please contact [email protected]. For more information, please see our Privacy Policy and Disclosure.

15 of the Best Apps for Moms

By prioritysites May 4, 2016 May 5, 2016 Organization, Parenting

Mom’s Priority Organizational Series: Part 2 ~ 15 of the Best Apps for Moms

May is here, and moms know that means busy, busy, rivaling December! Between countless outdoor events, end of the year parties and performances, awards ceremonies, teacher gifts, mother’s day, end of the year testing, making arrangements for summer, sporting events, and enjoying the outdoors, it is a busy, but incredibly fun time! Mom’s Priority has put together a list of the best apps for moms, to help keep us all sane and organized through it all! Welcome to May! Happy Mother’s Day!

Best Apps for Moms

AnyList makes grocery list making and shopping simple and easy to share with other family members! Simply start typing the grocery item, and it fills in the rest, sorting the items by type. When you add the item to your cart, simply tap the item name and it will cross it out. The basic app is free, however, you can purchase a premium subscription and have more options. With premium, Any List can be used with major recipe sites like Allrecipes, saving the recipe and automatically adding the ingredients to your shopping list! This is a great app that is making my life easier!
Errands is a task manager that reminds you of the commitments you make and helps keep you organized. I have used this app for several years now and it is super simple- just add a reminder like “call the vet”, set a due date (and time, if you need that), and a reminder will pop up on your screen, based on the settings you set. Streamlined, simple, but very valuable. If I’m in a conversation with someone and I say I’ll do something, it’s simple to add a reminder into this app. It’s important for me to keep my commitments, and with so many distractions, I can easily forget by the time I get back to my desk or a notepad. This app is so helpful for that!!
Cozi is a popular app that helps families stay organized, READ MORE

Teacher Appreciation Week May 2-6

By prioritysites April 21, 2016 April 21, 2016 Organization, Parenting

Teacher Appreciation Week is coming up the week before Mother’s Day! This always sneaks up but we can’t forget the amazing teachers! At our schools, oftentimes the whole class will go into together and give the teacher small gifts for every day. A few examples would be

Fresh flowers from your yard, in a mason jar that says “thank you for helping us bloom!”
Apples for the teacher!
A beach bag filled with simple summer items like chapstick, a magazine, lemonade mix, flip flops. Different children bring in the various items and fill the bag.
A simple card signed by the class

Gifts for teachers vary from simple to elaborate homemade to simply purchased, but the most important thing is letting teachers know they are appreciated. Check out Mom’s Priority’s Pinterest board for a variety of ideas, and thank those teachers!!

For the purchased route, gift cards are always appreciated, and Amazon gift cards are good for most anything!

For the semi-homemade route, go to Tagxedo and make a word cloud with your teacher’s name, the grade and any other words that fit your theme. Put it in a simple frame and hang with ribbon!

Our teachers pour so much into our children all year long, and it is a gift to be able to show them how much we appreciate all they do!

Unforgettable Baby Showers

By prioritysites April 12, 2016 April 13, 2016 Organization, Parenting

Unforgettable Baby Showers

I have been blessed to be either invited to or helping host baby showers for seven moms-to-be within about a month’s time! All the love, excitement, and catching up with old friends makes all the planning so worth the effort! A baby shower is one of the sweetest ways to celebrate the pregnancy and upcoming arrival of a new baby! It’s all the good- the excitement, anticipation, and joy-that surrounds a new baby. A baby shower gifts the parents to be with cute baby bedding and clothing, the latest baby technology and gear, and supplies for feeding, diapering, and helping this new baby sleep! Here’s what I’ve learned from hosting a fair share of baby showers.

Tips:

Simple or elaborate- keep the focus on the guest of honor!
For invitations, evite works, but a printed invitation for such an occasion is simply classy and a special keepsake for the new mom!

Owl baby shower invitation

3. Send out invitations a month in advance to give guests a chance to clear their schedules. These adorable stamps from Zazzle are perfect!

owl baby showers stamps

4. Think about asking your guests to bring an item around a theme, such as books to stock the shelves of the baby’s library. Or, if there is more than one guest of honor, think about filling baskets per mom to be around a theme, such as diapers, so the burden to come isn’t so great. This works great when the shower isn’t for first time moms.

Baby Shower Décor

Gather your boutique or heirloom baby clothes to hang on a clothesline for décor! No extra cost!
If you want to go along with this woodland owl theme, use burlap, sticks, nests, moss, and outdoor materials to decorate
baby showers birch place card holders

inexpensively.
Keep it simple!

Baby Shower Food

Keep the food simple, especially if it is an afternoon shower! Petit fours or cupcakes, snack mix, a little fruit or veggie tray, and a sparkling punch is the perfect amount of food.
For those of us who like everything to be coordinated, check out these plates and napkins from Zazzle. Aren’t these great?! There are many customizable options!

baby showers owl paper plate

3. Solid colored paper products or using your dishes are other great affordable options.

Baby Shower Activities

Ice Breaker – Have guests write 3 AM messages on the diapers to give new moms and dads a laugh in the middle of the night.
Games- Play identify the candy bar! To prepare, place crushed candy bars in the baby diapers. Wrap up the diapers like you are going to dispose of them, and have each guest take turns guessing. Have prizes ready for the winners!
Owl Bingo- Have each guest guess at which gifts will be given by writing them on the game board. The first to get 5 in a row is the winner!

baby showers owl bingo game

Baby Shower Favors

Don’t forget a small favor for the guests!
For the grandma, this would make her day!

grandma button owl

3. These honey jars are adorable, and would be perfect to send home with guests.

baby shower favor honey jar

At the end of the shower, you want to feel like you helped make the day extra special for the mom to be because of all of the love that was shared, and not over the top decorations, in my opinion. These are just a few ideas for making that happen.

7 Ways to Keep Your Toddler Happy While Dining Out ~ Dining Out Kit

By prioritysites March 30, 2016 March 30, 2016 Organization, Parenting

Dining Out Kit for Toddlers

If you’ve written off dining out until your kids are teenagers due to previous experiences dining out, you are not alone! We’ve all been there, done that. Some of us kept taking our kids out to eat, whether out of necessity or desire, and we’ve learned a few tips and tricks to share. Here are Mom’s Priority’s Dining Out kit recommendations:
1. Choose a small bag to call your dining-out kit, like this one from Swoozies.

2. It’s important to have a healthy snack or two that takes time to eat while you wait for your meal. Children at this age may not understand that it takes time for the restaurant to prepare your food to order, and may become impatient waiting. While children as they get older need to learn patience, at this age it may be impractible and futile to teach this skill in a restaurant setting especially. Make it a healthy snack like cut up apples or cheerios.

3. A sippy cup with non-spillable lid and non-sugary drink is a must. Chilled water is great!

4. Include a coloring book or tracing letters book, with a small* set of crayons to pass the time. *Small, so you don’t spend your time picking crayons off the floor.

5. Include a small toy or two, like a toy car or pretend phone with buttons. Anything that can clip onto the bag comes in very handy.

6. Disposable sticky placemats are the best for putting down on the table in front of your child. They make it easy to clean up afterwards and gives you an immovable spot to serve food. This set also has 4 sticky sides so your toddler is less likely to pull it up!

7. A small pack of wipes, for obvious and who knows what else reasons!

Hopefully this gives you a few ideas to make dining out enjoyable with a toddler! When dining out is a necessity, having this dining out kit ready to go is a real life saver! With a little prep, dining out can be enjoyable and fun!

Birthday Books

By prioritysites March 16, 2016 April 13, 2016 Money, Organization, Parenting

Something I have done for our kids since they were born is to make them birthday books after each birthday, to look back over the past year and record milestones, favorites, and special events. Because we don’t regularly print pictures, unless we are using them in a frame or for a special project, all these pictures that we take are not going anywhere other than on a screen! I make these books so we can look back and see how much he grew in the past year, what he was interested in, and even special stories that impact his life. Because the years pass by so quickly, I don’t want us to miss it. They are also my way of “holding on” to special artwork and writings. I take a picture of the artwork and include it either as a background or a photo. Then, for most I discreetly discard the original. The artwork goes along great with the story I am trying to tell of their lives!

So I make these books, and my go to software and development company has always been MyPublisher. I have made over 10 books using their program, and have been very pleased with the quality of the books and the ability to customize completely. They all match and their name and birthday date are on the books’ spines. You can create custom, or use the quicker method which automatically arranges the photos for you. I love these birthday books! Currently, you can receive up to 65% off! See below!

FREE 8.5″ x 11.25″ photo book with free cover option! ($39.99 value) Ends 3/24.

50% off quality hardcover photo books from MyPublisher!

Spring Sale! Up to 65% off photo books through 3/31.