Family Fun: Playing Charades

During the pandemic it has been difficult trying to keep an 8 year old entertained without telling him to “just use the iPad”. I have been making a point of trying to have “play-time” for at least 30 minutes every day after dinner. This includes playing outside, maybe he’s on the scooter and I am doing laps in the driveway, or we are tossing the football. We all know the attention span of an 8 year old, it isn’t long. He always want to do play something like “lets pretend we’re….” which is GREAT, I want him to build his imagination, but by the end of the day I have no brain-power left and having to come up with an “expedition” can be taxing. I’m not an imaginative play parent. Maybe it’s because I did so much of it as a kid. My mom is laughing her ass off right now.

Fast forward to last week. My son comes into my office and says “Lets play charades”. I’m like okay I can do this. I may suck at it but this should be entertaining. At first we started to think of our own things to act out and then I realized that again took way too much brain power. So to the Google Box I went. I found a couple of lists that work great for kids and are easy enough that it isn’t frustrating. So I started printing and cutting out little slips. I tell him we can play for 30 minutes and whatever we get through we get through.

Then we finish out the rest the next day. We played for 4 days and now I have to find more lists. It’s been entertaining to see how he acts things out and we did a ton of laughing. He also learned some things to so it’s a win win!!

I have attached one of the games. Just print and cut out the slips.

charadesDownload

Hope you have a great weekend and make some memories!!

Until next week

Real Life: The Art of Juggling

No! this post isn’t about actual juggling. It’s about keeping your head on straight and keeping everything organized.

Sorry everybody I know that I am a day (almost two) late with my post this week. The scheduled posts finally caught up to me. The last couple of weeks have just been NUTS!!!

As we are starting to think about Back-to-School and Back-to-Work here in New York and in my house. I am thinking about what schedule will be best for me and the family. I am thinking about what planner will work well so that I can keep track of when school is in person vs. at home, when I am going to go to the office as well as the normal appointments and bills.

I love school supply shopping and in the past it has been a pretty fun and easy task. Now I have to sift through 3 websites (or more) to figure out what he needs and what we need to know about what the school day is going to look like. But, at the same time mommy needs supplies for continuing to work from home and I, in a twisted way, love looking for a new planner. Yes I still use a paper planner, so sue me.

Needless to say, this school year is something for the record books in the way of organization. As parents, it’s our responsibility to make sure our kids understand what’s going on so that they keep themselves safe as well as their classmates and their teachers.

So while we add another ball to our juggling act, remember we are all in this one together and everybody’s safety is top priority!!

Hope everybody has a great week!!

Six months into the year…Where do we go from here?

This year, by far has been one of the craziest, scariest, most confusing years of my life-time. I can honestly say that I am over having “textbook worthy” events happen. Seriously, a pandemic? One that can’t be controlled because of selfishness!! I won’t go into it now, maybe another post. I mean this is nuts. I have been settling into a new “normal” by working from home and being with my family more. I am grateful that I can work from home and that I have not been affected by the onslaught of unemployment. I am also grateful for having a stay at home daddy husband that can tend to homeschooling, while I am on a million conference calls.

I was kind of excited in the beginning I was excited that I would be able to do more projects that have been on my list forever, like blog posts. Yup nope!!! No more four hours of commuting everyday, great you can work those 4 hours. Then jump right into mommy/wife life. Well, after almost four months of constant go, go, go and little to no time to breath I ended up making myself sick.

So after a couple of days in bed and taking a CVS’s worth of medicine, I’m back to normal and refocusing. It also helps that my company is “closed” for three days for the holiday, but then it’s right back into it.

So with my “free time” I am kicking off a weekly blog post series to be published on Fridays for the new few weeks. They included book reviews, organizational ideas and other things. These are posts that I have been working on for a while and realize now would be a good time to get them off into the world.

Hope you enjoy the posts in the coming weeks!!!

Frozen invites are here – Etsy Shop madness

Trying to find that one thing that is going to drive a new business is difficult.  I was so excited about my Jersey invites, but it’s almost too much of niche market.  So I started building my Disney collection of invites and what better way to promote my business than to have a line of Frozen invites.  After all, it is the highest grossing Disney movie of all time  🙂

Here is the collection.  Each photo is hyperlinked to the listing in my Etsy Store.  www.etsy.com/shop/WarmTidings

 

All invitations can be customized.  Do you like an element from one but would like it on another?  No Problem.  Want the font changed?  Easy.  Please share with anybody you know that is a huge fan of the movie.

Also, these can be invites for ANYTHING.  It could be a frozen movie party.  Also I could take out the wording and add pictures as Thank You notes for the Frozen birthday party.  The sky is the limit!!!!

I hope you like them.

Stay tuned for the rest of the week for more card ideas, non-digital this time  🙂

-Stef

September Project #2: Toddler Flash Cards

Now that my son is almost 2 I figured it was time to for him to really start learning something.  I know there are a ton of different apps for phones and tablets out there that help your kid learn, but I remember growing up there was nothing like a good flash card.  I also thought that hey, Jack is only 2 and he is going to destroy these so it would be best if I didn’t invest a ton of money into flash cards so let’s make them.  Plus when he gets bored with these we can always make more.

Here is what you will need:

• 3×5 index cards (or any size you want really)
• Markers
• Clear Contact Paper
• Scissors

Start by writing/drawing whatever you want on the cards.  The object on the front and what it is on the back

I did a group of Colors, Shapes and Objects.

For the Objects I raided my sticker collection and what I didn’t have I printed using Google images and pasted them onto the card.

once you have all of your cards set it’s time to start Laminating.  Clear contact paper is perfect for this because it’s less expensive.  It’s under $10 for an entire roll that will last a while and you don’t need any machines.

Cut a decent sized sheet from the roll and with the backing up pull it back to expose the sticky side up.

Get enough up so that you can put your first card down.

Keep repeating until you have filled the sheet with cards.

I put the back back over the top so it would be easier to cut them them apart and not get sticy

 

Cut them apart and then repeat the same steps as above for the other side of the card.

 

Once completed I had 26 learning cards for Under $1

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Just 8 days until I start the 31 days of Christmas where I post every day in the month of October with ideas for cards and gifts for the Holiday Season.  VOTE NOW for what you want to see!!!

 

 

Sunday – My Day to get organized for the week and reflect on the weekend

I always find that Sunday night, after the baby goes to bed, is when I have the most energy.   I reflect on the weekend,  I organize all of the pictures that are on the camera and get them ready to get onto pages.  I also get everything ready for the week and start thinking about what I want o accomplish during the week.  My biggest problem is that I am just thinking about these things and not writing them down.  So, with the help of my friends at Cultivatingtrio.com and my trusty new planner type notebook, I feel that much more organized and can take on just a little bit more during the week.

With all of that said, here are my goals for the week.  I will post next Sunday to let you know how I did.  And while you wait go check out the ladies at CultivatingTrio.com great inspiration every day!!!

Every Week Goals

Laundry put away
Housecleaning
Plan weekly dinners
Make lunches
Kid routine

Special Projects for this week
Keep working on my 2012 Scrapbook
Pick up the pace on blogging so much to say in August
Hang Curtains
Organize new desk
Start taking the train to work 1 day a week to be able to get personal admin

It doesn’t seem like a very big list, but with a lot of time in the car where multi-tasking isn’t an option it makes for a very small window of time to get things done in the evening, but I am up for the challenge!!!!

Follow me while I am on a serious mission to be organized, healthy, and sharing my memories with the world!!!!

See you all later in the week!!!

-Stef

It’s A Boy…It’s A Girl.. NEW Fast to Fabulous Albums from Creative Memories

Do you love the look and feel of scrapbooks, but get completely overwhelmed by the idea of putting one together?  Creative Memories has come up with an fabulous solution for just that issue.  A pre-bound, designed and laid out book where you just add your personal touches.  It is called the Fast to Fabulous Album.  These albums are a perfect way to start getting your precious pictures into albums.

The two newest additions to the Creative Memories Fast to Fabulous are It’s a Boy and It’s a Girl. These albums make it so easy for a new mommy or grandma or anybody in the family to put their favorite pictures into an album in just an afternoon.  

The system comes with a 12×12 album with pre-loaded pages and features double-sided preprinted pages, stickers, die-cut shapes and foam squares that turn your memories into an instant treasure. The album features a printed design on the cover and includes page protectors to protect your cherished photos.

Prices for these albums is $68 each and are available starting March 1st on my website.  www.mycmsite.com/steflorello or through me at any time.

 

Please like my facebook page to stay on top of all new products and SALES!!! Stef’s Creative Corner

Interested in having a party to get these albums and other things for discounted prices or even free?  Book Parties and Home parties are available.  Reach out to me TODAY to book your fabulous party and fun times with friends and Family.  stef.lorello@gmail.com

Thanks for visiting my blog today, stay tuned for more new products throughout the week.

-Stefanie

 

Tales of a Concerned Mommy

Let’s just say that this is a crazy crazy world we live in.   It’s an election year so that makes people extra special at times.  There is gun violence everywhere and to top it off, my kid is speckled.  I thought Pregnancy was stressful this whole raising a kid while working full time, being a wife all while maintaining a household is kind of exhausting.  I know now why so many women just give up and say “I have no time”, “I’m exhausted”.  I am also beginning to realize that we as mommy’s, wives, and bread winners, that we are the cornerstone of our families.  Without us there would truly be mass chaos all of the time.

Here are some of the things that I am going to to do better myself and make sure I am the best I can be for my family.

I am learning the power of laughter.  It’s amazing how much better your feel after having a really good laugh that the tears run down your face.

Exercise:  Honestly right now I  feel disgusting, I am the biggest I have ever been in my life.  I am not nearly as fit as I once was so now it’s time to do something about it and make a change about it.  It’s time for self esteem to come back, even if just a little bit, FYI it’s way buried in there.

Take just a little bit of ME time.  Even if it’s just an hour (like time to write in a blog).  It just gives you a little time to re-boot and re-focus and move forward with day to day life.

Have fun saving money.  Coupons are your friend there is no reason to pay full price for a lot of things.  It’s worth the time and thinking about it most mommy’s multi-task so Clipping Coupons could be you down time.  See efficiency at it’s finest.

Keep those photo albums updated.  For my family, our photo albums are such entertainment to us.  I can’t wait until my son can actually start enjoying them.  Right now he’s 9 months old and all he wants to do is destroy the pages, he’ll get there.  Actually, just yesterday he finally noticed the pictures of us the day we brought him home from the hospital and he giggled when I pointed out Mommy, Daddy, and baby Jack.  LOVE IT!!!!!!  I know I looked at our photo albums CONSTANTLY as a kid.  In reality it was my version of reading.  I was studying my family and the past.  I want that for my baby boy.  🙂

-Stef