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Over the years, my kids have accumulated quite a collection of stuffed animals.  We periodically do purges and give away some of our "extras" but they still have dozens that are their "favorites"!  I try to keep them contained in baskets and bins, but they still end up everywhere and look messy even when put away.  When I saw this idea on Pink and Green Mama to put the stuffed animals in a bean bag cover, I knew I had found the solution to our stuffed animal woes!  The girls can still play with them when they want to, but when they're not in use, they're tucked away in the pretty bean bag. Check it out... Doesn't it look sooo much better?   I found this bean bag cover at Bed Bath & Beyond, used a coupon and only paid about $10.  If you have a similar stuffed animal collection, this is the time of year to pick up a cover to contain them ~ they are pretty easy to find with the back-to-college stuff in the stores. All we had to do was fill it up... ...

A few months ago, my son and I found this book,  Tricks & Pranks to Fool Your Friends , in the children's book section at Goodwill.  (Awesome place to find cheap books, by the way ).  We've been having fun testing out some tricks and this was one of our favorites. Check it out... Here's what to do... 1.  Get an old playing card and a pair of scissors.  2.  Fold the playing card in half lengthwise. 3.  Make two cuts down from the folded edge on either side.  You want them to be pretty narrow (mine were about 1/8") and go down almost to the bottom (again, about 1/8") 4.  Continue making alternating cuts about 1/8" wide.  Make your 2nd cut starting at the bottom (non-folded edge) and going up to about 1/8" from the top, do the opposite for the 3rd cut and so on. 5.  Now, cut on the fold for each of the middle pieces.  DO NOT CUT the two ends! 6.  Carefully open up your card and you should have cuts that look like this. ...

This is the second year the kids and I have gone to Cherry Crest Adventure Farm , near Lancaster, Pennsylvania.  It is AWESOME!  The kids love it and we stay from open to close (10 am - 5 pm!)  A farm has to be pretty amazing to keep us all happy for 7 hours, but this place is.  There are more than 50 fun activities and they are all really cool.  I literally took hundreds of pictures of my kids (and their cousins who met us there), but I'll try to narrow it down to a few collages so you can get an idea of all the place has to offer.  Without a doubt, I'd recommend it to anyone with kids who will be in the Lancaster area.  (Oh, and I'm not being paid to write this post and I didn't get anything for free ~ we just really like it!) First, a few of the really fun activities...     As you can see, the kids had a blast!  There are big slides down the hill and a giant slingshot (my son's favorite).  They jumped on a giant bouncy pillow, ro...

Ever since the kids were babies, we've been going to the Baltimore Zoo (actually called the Maryland Zoo in Baltimore ).  Here are a few highlights from our recent visit. The Maryland Zoo is divided into two main sections ~ The African Journey and the Maryland Wilderness Children's Zoo.  A tram will take you from the Main Entrance to the area with the exhibits.  My kids are past the stroller stage, but both the tram and the pathways are stroller friendly and most areas are fairly well shaded. The African Area has many of the more "exotic" zoo animals.  A winding path takes you on a large loop through the woods and the animals' exhibits are on either side of the pathway.   There's a giraffe feeding station as well as camel rides (both have an additional fee). My favorite area is the chimpanzee exhibit.  Eleven chimps share a large indoor and outdoor exhibit area.  We were lucky to be there for the zookeeper chat this past visit (check the schedul...

The highlight of our recent day trip to Washington DC was our tour of the Bureau of Engraving and Printing at the U.S. Treasury.  If you want the chance to see the printing process and be in the presence of  more cash than you'll ever see in a lifetime, this is an awesome tour! Check it out... The Bureau of Engraving and Printing is right off the Mall on 14th Street (next to the Holocaust Museum) and very close to the other museums of the Smithsonian.  Tours are FREE but you must get tickets which will tell you your entry time (more info about tours  HERE ) .  On our last few trips to DC, the tickets for the day were all gone by mid-morning.  This time, (maybe because it was a really hot day in the middle of week) , we were able to get tickets for the 5:45 tour ( we got to the ticket office around 12:30 pm) .    One person can get up to 4 tickets, so if you are in Washington DC, it's well worth it to send someone over to pick up you...

Today is a special day for me...  It's the 20th Anniversary of my 21st Birthday!   At the original celebration two decades ago,  I spent my day surrounded by college friends  and went out to a bar around 9 pm to start a long night of drinking .   On this 20th Anniversary,  I'll be spending my day surrounded by my three kids and will go out for an early dinner at a kid-friendly restaurant  so we can be home and in bed by 9pm!       Despite the fun (although somewhat hazy) memories of the original night, I know I'll like today's celebration just as much. Plus, I know I'll be feeling MUCH better tomorrow morning than I did the first time! To celebrate this special day,  here are Five Fun Ideas for Birthdays  that I've shared here  at Come Together Kids... Here they are... 1.  Birthday Countdown Stand     How many more days until the big day? This cute little countdown stand  makes it m...

Today I decided to take the kids on a spur-of-the-moment trip to Washington, DC.  I knew it was going to be hot, I knew the kids would probably be cranky, but I figured instead of being hot and cranky at home, we'd make the one hour drive and be hot and cranky in the Nation's Capital.  While we did enjoy some parts of our day, we decided that the adjectives  Alexander used to describe his day also applied to our trip. Doesn't look so bad here, but keep reading. That's right, the car thermometer was reading 103!!  (it actually reached 104 several times, but not when I had my camera out).  With the humidity, I heard the heat index was up around 112!     But, Laura, you say, your kids look fine in front of the White House and at the American History Museum.  That's right, but you must remember, I had all three of my kids with me.  My oldest daughter was whining so much about the heat and how much her brother and sister were bothering her, that...

When I saw this idea for melted bead suncatchers a few weeks ago at The Artful Parent , I put it right at the top of our "must do" list.  We had the plastic pony beads and the baking tins already, so we were good to go.  Following a suggestion in the comments of Jean's post, we decided to melt our beads outside on our gas grill instead of inside in the oven.  The beads melted quite quickly and there was very little melting plastic smell to worry about. Check it out... Here are the simple supplies needed: That's right.  Just some plastic beads (we used a combination of translucent colored beads and some pastel glow-in-the-dark ones) and metal baking pans ( I happened to have some heart-shaped pans as well as regular mini muffin pans) Here's what to do: 1.  Preheat your oven or grill to about 450 degrees. (I used our grill, put the burners on high, then shut the lid.) 2.  Arrange your beads in a single layer in the bottom of your pan.  We did some pa...