Camp Mommy: The List

Hi Everyone...

I thought now that Camp Mommy is complete for this year, it would be handy for there to be a blog post specifically for all the fun outdoor summer activities the VDV Four did. The first three Camp Mommy days were under the same blog post, so they will all be linked to the same page. Just scroll down to the activity you are looking for.

1. Paint a Bird Feeder

 

2. Plant Flowers

 

3. Dinosaur Egg Hunt

 

4. Letter Scavenger Hunt

 

 5. Pirate Play and Treasure Hunt

 

6. Dinosaur Bones Excavation

 

7. Cloud Gazing

 

8. Construction Imaginative Play with Number and Letter Practice

 

9. Neighbourhood Scavenger Hunt

 

10. Bug Safari

 

11. Firefighter Imaginative Play

 

12. Carnival

 

13. Shape Grocery Shopping

 

14. Diving for Letters

 

15. Teddy Bear Picnic

16. Canadian Wilderness Track Following 

 

17. Galloping Cowboy on Shapes

 

18. Super Hero Rescue

 

19. Building Rockets and Exploring Outer Space

 

20. Fall Obstacle Course

 

So there you have it. 20 fun filled activities our little boys were up to this summer. Obviously, not everyone will have the extras we may have had for some of the days. But the best thing about kids is that they have such an active imagination, you can basically make do with anything. Most of these Camp Mommies were cost effective, and I'd say a large portion of them cost me around $10. Some were a little more expensive, but most of those times it was because I chose to spend more...not because the activity needed that money spent. I hope that for those who have followed our summer were able to get some inspiration on fun and cheap activities you can do with your children. It has been lots of fun, and now onto more school learning and activity filled days for my Bug (and Bear).

Camp Mommy: Fall Obstacle Course and Thanksgiving Craft

This Camp Mommy was geared around my love for Fall. My husband and I got married in the fall, and I have fall pictures of my boys each year. I just love all the colours, the warm days, cooler nights, the smell of the air...it's all just bliss! This is also our last Camp Mommy of the year. We will be doing a weekly activity still; but the basis of Camp Mommy was to get us outside enjoying this summer and now that the weather is changing, we need to bring our activities indoors.

I always try to get the boys, Bug especially, to burn off some much excessive energy on my days off. He's more cooperative, he sleeps better, and he just plain loves it when our fun is staged around physical activity. So, I came up with an obstacle course. I printed out 10 leaf pictures and laminated them. The laminating step is not needed, but I'm all for being able to reuse the items we use or that I had to make for our fun filled days, and making them more durable makes sense for me. I used some two way tape and then attached popsicle sticks to each image. These were our check points. I also wrote on the back of each one with a dry erase marker to help me remember what task Bug would have to perform at each point.

There was minimal set up required. The tasks that I got Jacob to perform were:
1.Crab Walk
2. Hurdles (pool noodles cut in half and wooden skewers stuck into the ground at an angle to attach the pool noodle piece into a curve)
3. Hopping like a bunny
4. Kick a soccer ball around poles (a pool noodle cut into 6 pieces and wooden skewers placed into the ground upright to keep the noodle pieces in place)
5. Hopscotch
6. Maneuvering through a "hall" of streamers (party streamers taped in varying heights, encouraging Bug to think about how to get through the obstacle: either going under or stepping over)
7. Log roll
8. Cartwheels (probably my favourite to watch Bug do)
9. Walk the plank (we had a piece of wood we could use, but this would be easily adapted with some tape or a long piece of bristle board)
10. And finally, run through a pile of leaves (not even an adult would pass up an opportunity to do this ;p)

Bug loved this...like REALLY loved it!! We ended up doing it about 5 times. He probably would have done more but Bear was going to wake up from his nap soon, so we had to bring the fun inside. The 10 check points allowed us to utilize both our front yard and backyard. Before we headed inside though, Bug wanted to be a big helper and rake the leaves!! Hopefully this will transition into his adolescent years!

Once inside, we completed a craft we started a couple of days ago. I knew this craft was going to be a bit time consuming, as we were working with leaves, mod podge and a jar/matte for a picture; so I figured breaking it up into two days would be easier on Bug's attention span and Mommy VDV's patience. We collected a bunch of fall leaves and used mod podge to apply them to the glass jar and matte. This clearly was a big adult helping project. I ended up doing most of the initial leaf gluing onto the jar to get the foundation done. Then Bug went and covered up the holes. The matte was easier for Bug and once all the leaves were in place, I took some scissors to cut around the outside perimeter. I went over the final products with a layer of mod podge to seal in the leaves.

The purpose of this craft was to start a Thanksgiving tradition. When I was younger, I remember visiting my grandparents in the summer. On one particular drive to a family outing, we all sat in the car, individually telling everyone something we are thankful for. I'm sure as a kid, it was something I thought we were doing to pass the time; but obviously it has held more meaning, seeing as I am calling on that memory as an adult. I thought it would be fun for us to have a Thankful Jar, something that sat around all year where anytime we particularly felt thankful, we would write it down. These thankful thoughts would sit in the jar for the whole year, and then during Thanksgiving dinner, we would crack it open. I'm hoping that reading these notes will bring us closer and remind us of the bigger picture in life...that being surrounded by our loved ones is what is most important. I will probably have a journal this coming Thanksgiving, and each year will have it's own page with the collection of thoughts. Hopefully my husband will remember to do this :) I got Bug to write "we are thankful" for the picture in our frame with the fall leaves matte, giving him some letter practice. I am one proud mommy in regards to his writing. It's getting so good! Then I asked him what he was thankful for. The first thing he said was "Mommy"! Love, love, love!! Then he wrote down another one, which of course was "Daddy".

This was the final product. I love it...it's another way for this Fall lover to have a little bit of fall happiness all year  long!

Word Document Link for Post

Camp Mommy: Rockets and Exploring Outer Space

This weeks Camp Mommy was the beginning of our transition from our outdoor summer play to our indoor fall...and dare I say, winter play. This is our second last Camp Mommy, and then we will begin another weekly activity plan.

In preparation for this day, I printed off 4 pictures of outer space as a full size paper image. This was the template we used as the background for our rocket building. Then I cut out a bunch of squares (40 in total, 5 different colours in equal amounts), and 4 different coloured triangles. The rockets we built were name rockets, one for each of the VDV four. All of our names (well, Mommy and Daddy for us parents) have 5 letters each, so a total of 20 squares were needed. I doubled the amount of squares I cut as Bug is still learning letters and sometimes he gets excited with writing, so he goes to fast and the letter isn't even close to resembling what it is supposed to be. These extra squares allowed for him to make some errors and not dampen the playing mood by me having to cut more pieces. I would ask him who's rocket he wanted to build first, and then we would start constructing. He wrote the letters individually on different coloured squares (we used a different colour piece for each letter) and once complete, I would get him to use a glue stick and adhere the squares to our outer space picture. I helped him with placement just to make sure they were all connected. After, we would add the top and I cut out some orange tissue paper for the bottom to act as fire. Finally we would send off our rocket into outer space. We would then proceed with the remaining names. Bug really enjoyed this craft.

After our rockets were constructed. We took our play outside. I had bought a $5 rocket (normally $10 but I got it on sale) from Toys 'r Us at the beginning of summer, as Bug loves watching things shoot into the air. We hadn't had a chance to use it, and when planning this activity, it seemed like the perfect time to incorporate this adult supervised toy. In all honesty, I wouldn't suggest buying this. It didn't work for long...Bug enjoyed it, but it didn't go super high and we only got about 5 uses out of it before it became really finicky and wouldn't work. Either way, Bug had a good time.

I already had planned this next part of our day; however, I'm glad it was part of our activity as it redeemed the not so stellar toy rocket. We have done this craft before, and it was a huge hit...so it seemed appropriate to bring it back considering it involved exploding film canisters that looked like rockets to Bug. We made art with ours the first time, and a very special Gramma wants an art piece for Christmas. Therefore, we made another one. Fun plus checking off the Christmas checklist all in one day...BONUS for this Mommy VDV.

If you just want to have some fun with exploding film canisters, then all you need are some empty ones and some Alka-Seltzer tablets. We got our used film canisters from London Drugs Photo Lab for free. I asked if they had any to give away and they gave us a bunch. Make sure they are the film canisters that have lids that snap into place inside the top circumference (usually 100% clear), not the ones that have a protruding lip on the lids once they are attached. You pour in enough water to fill 1/4 of the canister, drop the tablet inside, place the lid on top and turn it upside down onto the ground. Then step back and wait for it to soar into the air...and they really get some height!

If you want to make some exploding art, add some water colour paint to the water in the canister. I would suggest using a little less water if you want more of a scattered paint image on the canvas or piece of paper. It becomes quite a mess with more water, especially if you do multiple colours. It was fun to make this as an art project because Bug got to see what happened once the gas built up inside the canister, making it shoot off into the sky.

Now that our rockets have launched, we came back inside to learn about planets. I made a solar system model by printing out a picture of the sun and all of the planets. Obviously the size comparison isn't to scale; however, I did do research to know which planets were smaller than the others. I printed the planet pictures with that in mind, and clearly making sure the sun was the largest out of all of them. Then they all had paper arms in varying lengths to portray distance of each planet from the sun. I laminated all of the arms with the planets attached, as well as the sun to make it sturdier for repeated use. I cut out all of the pieces and then hole punched the end without the planet, and connected the arms to the center of the sun by using a brad. This way, the planets can actually circle the sun and I was able to teach Bug the concept of orbits. I also made laminated cards of the planet names in a dashed font so that each planet we spoke about, Bug was able to get some letter and writing practice in.  I found a clearance book/activity package at Chapters about the solar system ($5.99!). It had a book, a board game, and glow in the dark stars, planets and space vehicles. BIG FIND!!

The Solar System learning activity began by reading a page in the book, starting with the sun. It was a kids book, so the information was basic but totally toddler appropriate. I would then show him the sun on the model I made, and then give him the card to practice writing with a dry erase marker (probably the best trick I learned as a mom from the internet was the use of dry erase markers on laminated sheets). After the writing, we went through each planet, in correct order.

When all of that was done, we played the cute little board game that came with our package. Then we decorated the wall by his bed with the glow in the dark space pieces. Bug was super excited about these.

This was a big day, and for younger kids, it may have been a bit much. There are many components you can do individually, but Bug recently started school and I want to start preparing him for lesson plans and improving his attention span. At no point during this Camp Mommy did Bug show disinterest; so as a Mom, that was a plus in my books! I promise, if he lost interest, I wouldn't have forced him into all of this. We would have taken a break and picked up where we left off later in the day. If you don't have a book about planets, there is lots of information on the internet. That's easy fact gathering for this project. And glow in the dark stars are available at Dollarama. I think in total this whole activity cost me under $20!

At the end of the day, as we were admiring our glowing stars, planets and space vehicles, Bug said "Mom, you are the best". That right there is why I do this. I don't need validation from anyone else, only from my kids. And to know that I'm making their childhood that much more memorable, I'd say I am succeeding in my goal for this planning of mine.

Word Document Link for Post

The Kissing Hand

Well, tomorrow is the day that my eldest baby is going to school. It's hard to believe Bug starts preschool tomorrow. I know it is only 2 days a week, only 2 1/2 hours each day...but it's the start of our next phase with our first born. It is only adding to the nostalgia this Mommy VDV is feeling in regards to being done with pregnancies and newborns.

I have been buying a few books for Bug, ones that are specifically geared towards starting school. I have come across a few great ones, and the one that I am blogging about is really cute and had a specific activity described in the front cover. It's called "The Kissing Hand" by Audrey Penn. Basically, it's about a small child on his way to school, explaining to his mom that he isn't wanting to go because he wants to be home with her and do the activities they do together. The mom comforts the child by kissing his left palm and saying that whenever he misses her, all he has to do is touch his hand to his cheek and the kiss will remind him that "Mommy Loves You". It has a cute little ending for the parents too, who may not voice this to their children, but they are just as nervous and sad about their babies heading off into the world.

The activity is basically creating your own kissing hand, and putting a heart sticker on the palm. But we all know how a piece of paper ends up getting mixed in with other papers, misplaced or accidently thrown out. Plus, I really wanted to make something that Bug can take with him (and...for this sad Mommy to carry with her). So I bought a Shrinky Dinks package from Michaels (normally $10 but I used a 40% coupon) and decided to make a zipper tag for Bug's backpack and a key chain for me.

We traced our left hands onto the piece of plastic. Then we each drew a heart on our corresponding hand. I got Bug to write "I Love You" on his hand (plus, it's a cute way to have a durable copy of your child's first writing practice) and I wrote "Mommy Loves You" as well as some lovey words on mine. Then I cut them out, hole punched one near the bottom of the palm and before we put them in the oven, we each kissed our hands.

Bug was completely enthralled with how much they shrunk. I then put them on key chain pieces (I had some on hand, but you can easily just buy a cheap keychain from the dollar store and take the trinket off of it to use the ring).

Based on the book, I should be the one to kiss Bug's hand cut out and vice versa. But I wanted this to be a bit more than him having a kiss of mine. So Bug gets my hand cut out that I've kissed with a little message from me.  That way, if he gets scared when I'm not there or he is simply just missing me, he will always be able to hold Mommy's hand (even if it is just a shrunken version of it). Bug loved this...I mean really LOVED it. He's excited for school, but he just finally is grasping that Mommy, Daddy and Bear won't be there with him. He loved his mini Mommy hand, and kept saying thank you! I don't think I need to explain how much I love Bug's mini hand or even try to convince anyone that I won't be holding onto it tight when my little (sniff...big) boy isn't with me. I think every year I'm going to do one, and then I will have somewhat of a sense of how much he has grown (even if it is just a size comparison between his shrunken little hand).

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Camp Mommy: Super Hero Rescue

This week's Camp Mommy was planned for my first day off as we had some very special family visitors coming into town, and we would most likely not get the chance to roll out this fun day before I had to go back to work. So, whether rain or shine, this day was happening. Unfortunately, raining it was...but our fun still occurred. We just waited until the pouring had stopped, and we didn't let the wetness get us down.

In preparation for this day, I collected all of Bug's Super Hero characters and took some pictures of them. I printed them off and then laminated the images. These were our templates for the puzzles Bug would have to do in order to save the corresponding Super Hero. The puzzles I wrote with a dry erase marker on the back of the cards were:

1. Count as high as you can go.
2. Out of a scramble of numbers on the card, Bug had to show me which one was the number 5.
3. Sing the ABCs
4. Jump up 4 times
5. I drew a bunch of different shapes on the back of one, among them were many circles. Bug had to count only the circles.
6. What day comes after Monday?

I then took our Super Heroes outside, and put the 6 of them in precarious situations. I laid the card down beside the toy and then went inside to get my Super Hero ready.

I had previously made a nephew of mine a Super Hero cape and mask for Christmas. I had one cut out for Bug, but never got around to completing it. This seemed like the perfect opportunity to complete a never ending craft project of mine. So my Bug became Super Bug!

Before we went on our rescue mission, Bug ran around the yard, watching his cape fly behind him. He spend about 10 minutes getting into character.

Look at my cute, cheeky little guy!

Once he was in character, our imaginative and learning play started. I would make silly siren noises to inform us a new Super Hero needed to be rescued, and Bug would go searching for one of our stranded friends.

Bug would complete the task to save his Super Buddy, and then safely bring them to the Rescue Center (our steps by the door).

We could have probably continued playing for longer, I would just get Bug to wait or run around jumping and "flying" while I re-hid the Super Heroes and changed the puzzles; however, the rain started coming down again so we had to take our day inside. This turned out okay as I had found a cheap Super Hero Squad DVD among my shopping travels a few weeks ago and saved it for this day.

At this point, Bear was awake from his nap, so the boys got some new Super Hero stuffies, and cuddled up on the couch to keep the chill away from this fall day, watching our Super Heroes in action.

This will definitely be an activity we bring back in the future...especially when I can make a Super Hero cape for Bear. I joked with my husband that I was going to make all of us one and take a family picture next summer in our VDV Four Super Hero get up. I have a feeling I'm going to make that happen! Hehe.

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I'm Not Super Mom

I'm not a super mom. I've heard this term from a few friends over the course of this blog; and I honestly am truly and wholeheartedly flattered. But I feel with that title, I've somehow given the impression that I'm a better mom than you. This is not and will never be the case. I am not perfect; as an individual this feat is impossible; as a parent, that characteristic is completely unattainable.

What I am is the best mom I can be. Most days I'm a good mom, some days I'd even go as far as saying I'm a great mom. But among the days of being a parent, are moments, hours or even the whole day when I'm being a bad mom. Maybe though, that's the word that we so freely add to those moments that make us feel poorly about ourselves, hindering us from picking ourselves up and dusting off. Rather, this enables us as a parent to fall into a downward spiral of comparing how we parent to others. In turn, this just develops your concept that there are better parents than you out there. In those restricting, demanding, immature, tantrum....ahem...moments, instead of qualifying your parental skills as bad or even naming yourself a bad mother or father, we should say that "I wasn't the best parent I could be in this situation". With this, maybe we won't feel so disheartened by our individual name calling; but rather be proactive and do better from this point on. This is not to say we won't slip along the way; but we should continue to grow from the everyday, ever-changing situations with a child(ren). We need to stop qualifying how we are as a parent by one incident or by how another parent copes, teaches or plays with their child. We need to focus on being the best parent we can be as the unique individuals we are.

So with that being said, here is my biggest fault...I'm very quick to anger. Many people who know me may be surprised by this. It usually isn't a trait that comes out at work or out with friends. This personal characteristic actually isn't something that I truly learned about myself until I became a parent. In all honesty, I've learned more about myself when I started having to care for my little loves. This quick to anger trait doesn't just come out with upsetting moments. It rears it's ugly head with frustration, impatience, sleep deprivation, and chores not being done or not done to my standard (my poor, poor husband). Many times, it's a combination of a few of those situations...because let's be honest, what parent is never sleep deprived?! Obviously this trait is problematic when you own and share your home with a partner and are raising children, at any age. I'd say my redeeming quality after this sometimes impossible anger is the fact that rather than dwelling on this not so attractive characteristic, everyday I work at being better, at doing better.

I try not to post negative things on the internet. The biggest reason is because we already see enough negativity or let too many things dampen our positivity. The other reason is out of embarrassment. If I feel like I would be embarrassed about a not so pleasant comment, I refrain from posting. Maybe that's why some readers and Facebook followers feel like there aren't any bad days. But to go with the theme of this post, here are a couple of examples of my not so stellar mom moments:

1. Everyday, Bug and I go over the date, the weekday, the weather, his name and a letter of the alphabet. When I first started this activity, Bug obviously hadn't grasped the full concept, so some days he would remember parts of the lesson, and the next day those same parts would be forgotten. One of those days where he was unable to recall the information, I was getting rather upset. My husband told me it was time to stop the "lesson" as we weren't having fun anymore. I proceeded to say, in an angry tone..."it's learning, it isn't supposed to be fun"! Haha, RRRIIIGGGHHHTT...that's the obvious lesson I wanted to teach my 3 year old (at the time). I quickly saw the errors of my ways, but my lapse of judgement made me realize I'm not remotely close to being a capable teacher to educate our youth. My respect for teachers, even though already high, grew substantially at that moment. 
2. You'd think after the previous teaching fiasco, I would have been easier on my toddler when beginning to teach him how to spell his name by letter recognition. So, because that just seems so basic to me, it's safe and rational to assume it should seem basic and easy to my then 3 year old, right?! Mom moment of the year I'm sure, but I was borderline yelling at my toddler for not grasping the concept of spelling his name. I mean, that's something we know from birth...haha...again, why I am NOT a teacher.

Most times I feel like I get more out of trying to teach my children than they get out of me. I am much calmer and more patient with lessons, especially when we make it an activity. I've learned my teaching technique as well as paid attention to how my children learn. I'm still learning...constantly...every single day.

I'm a real mom, who tries to balance family life, my career, quality time with my husband and of course "me" time; all while trying to keep my petulant inner child at bay. My toddler does have to occasionally ask me the same question 4-5 times before I pay attention (usually after he has used my own words back at me, asking why I don't listen to him). Most of those times are because I'm too "busy" checking my Facebook account. I do tell myself that it is okay for my child to be attached to our iPad for the day because it has Apps that teach him...all because I need to get some chores done, I want some quiet time or I simply need some Mommy VDV time. I will listen to my youngest make a fuss, asking him to stop MULTIPLE times before I remind myself that they are only this little and dependent for such a short time; and I will be missing the day when all my boys need and want is me.

It is because of my faults as a parent that I find that something special that makes the time with my family uniquely mine. We all do what we need to do, to TRY to be the best we can be. We aren't meant to be perfect; which is funny that individually we try to strive for that. I don't want my kids to remember me as a quick to anger mommy. That's what pushes me to constantly work away from that trait...especially since I expect myself to stumble through this parental role. I AM going to get angry, sometimes warranted; embarrassingly, most times completely not. But my creativity, organizing and planning are my outlets, to hopefully guide the energy I easily direct to anger into something fun and wonderful. I do these activities not just for my kids, but for me too. I want to become a better parent while my kids easily show me their unconditional love, so when they become the impossible teenagers, we have something substantial to fall back on or to grow with. Or when their mother has her moment....okay, moments of terrible twos, they won't be phased because of the many special moments we have already created. They will know that more will come. I plan and organize because I know that my first day off after my last night shift is filled with sleep deprivation, which only leads to impatience and irrationality for this mommy. If I plan something fun and interactive on this day, I have something to look forward to; making me pay attention to the joy on my sons faces rather than the bags under my eyes (sigh...).

This blog is not to make you feel bad as a parent. They are just ideas of how us VDV four fill our days. Hopefully, some of them intrigue other parents to try out the activities or maybe to get your own creative juices flowing. We all do our own special things with our kids that they will hold dear. Whether it's crafts, insanely type "A" organized learning and play (who me?!), cooking, baking, excursions into their hometown, working out or being active, or simply having a pajama snuggly time under their favourite blanket. The point is just to do something, as organized or impromptu as you'd like.

If you don't share anything else on this blog, maybe just share this. You are wonderful with your imperfections as a parent BECAUSE you have the special love of your child that you help nurture by the things you do to create moments for them.

I am not perfect. I don't try to be. I just try to be better, to do better, and to do right by my little loves.