Month: February 2018

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Favorite songs for toddlers

A while ago I promised to post a list of songs I sing with my kids when shopping, at bedtime, or while in the car. I’m sorry it has taken this long! You can look them up on youtube if you haven’t heard the name before. You can make songs more fun by doing different things like singing in an opera voice.

My Bonnie lies over the ocean-We end this song holding out the last word as long and as high as we can go! We also vibrate our lips on the B as we sing the “Bring Back”. The kids also like to change it from Bonnie lies over the ocean to DADDY lies over the ocean or whoever else!

How much is that doggy in the window-My children like to choose different versions of this song by switching the dog for a cat in the window, or “how much is Clover in the window” since they now have a bunny named Clover.

Three little monkies swinging in the trees-This has hand actions, and I like to replace the words with the name of my kids so I would sing “One little Ali, swinging in the trees” and I would be the alligator tickling her when she gets snatched out of the tree!

Goin on a Bear Hunt!-such a fun song with so many different versions on youtube that are so funny!

I’m a Little Teapot-When we tip over at the end we tickle whoever we “tip on to” with our “spout”

I Had a Little Turtle, His Name Was Tiny Tim-We made up our own simple actions to this song.

Little Cabin in the Woods- We sing the regular version of this song and a “creepy” version where we sing it in a scary voice and eat the bunny at the end (because our family is silly ok 😉

Once There Was A Snowman

Popcorn Popping

Raindrops on Roses-I actually don’t know this whole song by heart by we sing what I can remember and do actions to the chorus that starts “When the dog bites…my daughter LOVES it”

The Ants Go Marching-Wow this song can get old, especially if more that one child picks it as their bedtime song! HOWEVER, we invented a shortened version of it that goes “The ants go marching one by two harra! harra! The ants go marching three by four harra! harra!, etc so it turns into a really short song to get to ten! (we punch the air with each harra and my 1 yr old LOVES it haha!)

Theme Songs To TV Shows- My kids are so funny that they want us to sing their favorite TV show song. My 1 yr old LOVES Fireman Sam so we sing that to him all the time and my 2 yr old daughter used to always want us to sing the song from Sophia the First.

I Love To Go To Grandma’s House-I tried looking this song up on youtube after learning it from a dear family friend but I just couldn’t find it so I will be making a video of us singing it to you! it is a very old and very cut song I wish all grandchildren could sing to their grandmothers whenever they go visit!

I am a Child of God- I used to sing this to my oldest when he was 2. He called it “Child of God BOO!” because we did a version where I would yell BOO at random times during the song and he absolutely loved it. I don’t know if that’s appropriate or not, but it sure taught him the song fast and he always asked for it.

Jesus want me for a Sunbeam!

Please share in the comments if you or your cuties have favorite songs you like to sing together so I can look them up or add them to the list! Happy Singing 😀   -Jexi

 

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Is Amazon Prime Membership Worth The Cost?

I love my Amazon Prime Membership because it saves me time and money BUT I know it is not financially practical for everyone! Here are some questions to ask yourself if you are considering one.

Do you live far away from family or have small children? If you do, Prime membership gives you free 2-day shipping, and not just to your address. You can have it shipped wherever for gifts at birthdays, Christmas, mother’s day, etc. so you would save money there. I buy stuff for my family all the time after comparing prices at Walmart, Home Depot, etc. I know it will show up in 2 business days and that I don’t have to go to a handful of stores with my kids to get a few things. This TOTALLY ROCKS when it comes to getting my own kids their gifts. I don’t have to lose out on spending time with my husband so I can go gift shopping while he watches the kiddos. I don’t have to hire a babysitter to go shopping!

Is it difficult to get out and go clothes shopping? People who say yes may be like me with small kids-can you picture me trying on clothes while my toddlers are crawling under the stall door?! Or maybe people say yes to this question because of a health problem. I recently discovered that Amazon has awesome clothing with not only free shipping whey you buy but FREE RETURNS on a lot of sizes and styles. This means if you try it on and it doesn’t fit right, isn’t the color you expected, or you plain just don’t like it, you can ship it back for FREE as long as you just tried it on, it hasn’t been washed, and it still has the tags on. I have loved ordering jewelry, scarves, leggings, boots, dresses, shirts, pants, EVERYTHING-knowing it’s free to me to return and I can try it on at home. To return an Amazon item, go into your orders online, choose the item you want to return, and they will email you a free shipping label. I print out the label and use the same package the item was sent in to return it. If you can drop it off at a UPS store free AWESOME. If you want someone to pick it up at your house they charge 1.00-3.00 for that option.

Do you wish you had access to more educational television? It’s irritating when my kids waste their screen time on entertaining shows that teach nothing or worse, teach that violence or calling names is a normal way to handle situations. Amazon Prime Members get access to Prime shows that our kids LOVE including Fireman Sam (teaches about safety), Daniel Tiger (teaches about how to handle feelings and different situations), Super Why (teaches about letters and reading), and Tumbleleaf and Stinky and Dirty both teach about figuring out ideas and answers. There are also many, many shows for adults. I love this bonus to our family with Prime and I feel like it saves us money on rentals and movie purchases.

Do you love to read new material? This for me personally is one I answer no to, at least on Amazon. Right now I don’t really have time for luxury reading as my day is full of necessary articles I look up on different aspects of raising my kids, nutrition stuff that is interesting to me to research and write about, etc. BUT my mother and sister-in law ABSOLUTELY LOVE this part of Amazon Prime, that gives them access to probably thousands of books on their kindle for FREE.

Do you love listening to music or having pre-selected stations that fit your style? Music is one of my biggest loves in life. I love to dance to it, sing to it, and drive with the radio on. Amazon has put together free playlists, commercial free, for every genre or type of music you could want. I like listening to country and high-beat, dance and exercise music.

The one thing I love most about Amazon is FREE TO EVERYONE, and that is……the reviews! From experience, I never purchase a product if it’s review on Amazon is less than 4-stars. I love reviewing the products I have purchased on Amazon to help others as well.

Would you like to be notified when a product drops in price? This is yet another free-bee to anyone, not just Prime Members. Amazon items are constantly changing prices, and they have a great system where you can “save for later” the items in your cart you think are too expensive at the moment or you just can’t afford yet. I must have a hundred things in my “save for later” cart. Whenever I log in I can go to my cart and click the alert box telling me prices have changed to view.

Do you like AMAZING customer service? Also free! Amazon has a 30-day return policy on most things, and I’ve had to call customer service twice in the last 4 years with stellar people waiting to help meet my needs and make me happy again! For example, one time I purchased a cell phone case for my husband to protect his phone at work (screen kept cracking) but the phone was NOT there in the given amount of time. I called customer service who apologized profusely, refunded my money for the phone case even though it showed it had already shipped, and put a ten dollar CREDIT to my account as well so I could get on and get a different case for free. The first case never did show up and the lady on the phone said that they were taking the seller of the case off of Amazon because of the complaints they had.

So let’s go over the financial decision of getting that Prime Membership. Free two-day shipping to ANY address in the United States, Free Prime Shows, Free Music, Free Prime Books, and free returns for Prime members on thousands of clothing items. Maybe you have family around, time to go clothes shopping by yourself, you use Pandora for free music, and you get books off of ebay or thrift stores. Maybe even if you do live far from family you could bring them gifts when you go visit, cutting the need for shipping  at all! To be honest, Amazon Prime is worth it to me even now that we have moved back into town where family is. I love getting packages at my door so I can try on clothes, and I love purchasing gifts for my kids with it. You decide whether it would save you money and time or if it would be worth it to you!

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Ideas for Happy 4th of July with Toddlers!

I have great memories of July 4th growing up, and I want that for my kids too! BUT some fireworks at parties scream and whistle, and it doesn’t get dark here in the summer before 8:30pm which is when my kids are usually asleep. So…how can we have a kid friendly 4th of July?

The biggest life saver we discovered 3 years ago was earmuffs-the kind they use at the shooting range! You know, those really thick padded earmuffs like these so you don’t lose your hearing? I also put them on my baby one time when my husband and I wanted to go to the movies on a date but I was breastfeeding and couldn’t/didn’t want to leave him. Anyway, we got a pair for each of the kids at Harbor Freight and it was so much more enjoyable for us at the firework party! One tip is to set fireworks off on a flat piece of cardboard over your driveway or grass. We set them off last year directly on the driveway and it made a ton of black marks I couldn’t get off easy!

My husband enjoys doing a BBQ on the 4th as long as he’s not having to work! I always love the smell of a great BBQ! Our kids love hot dogs but never really eat the buns so I rarely buy hot dog buns. You can do a fruit tray and vegetable tray with dip and set out the sprinklers in the back so the kids can run around in the water while you grill up whatever!

Another thing we do for the 4th of July is purchase festive things that can be set off and seen in the day-like the army parachute guy firework-it’s become a favorite tradition our kids enjoy doing during daylight hours. My baby is always scared of sparklers so I make sure to get glow in the dark sticks for that. Colorful smoke balls are super fun in the day as well. Popsicles to end the night make an awesome memorable time for the kids! If there aren’t fireworks allowed you can always settle for a different variety of glow sticks or make cupcakes with candles in them to celebrate the birthday of our country! Kids love blowing those candles out over and over if you are willing to keep lighting them ;D Happy Fourth of July!