Naptime Shopping

I've found the quickest, easiest shopping trips usually don't include my youngest child-almost 2-years-old. If at all possible I run my errands while someone else is watching him. Other times, I do my shopping during my son's naptime. I know he'll fall asleep in the car and stay asleep once in the stroller.
The only problem is if it's a big shopping trip-like Christmas shopping. How do I push a cart and a stroller?
Well, during my last holiday errand run, I put the umbrella stroller inside the shopping cart, locked the wheels and placed my darling, sleeping son in the stroller and strapped him in. I had plenty of room to place items in the cart and didn't have to fight through crowds while maneuvering a cart and stroller.
(I shopped for an hour and half and he didn't wake up until we were back in the car on the way home!)

Some kids love to have their picture taken with Santa Claus...




and some kids, not so much...

Homemade Christmas Ornaments

I'm big on traditions, and thanks to my daughter's homework this past weekend, I've started a new one. Homemade Christmas ornaments.
The kids always enjoy a craft and making an ornament to hang on the tree or around the house during the holidays will make decorating even more special.


My daughter's project was to color a gingerbread man cut out of white paper for the class tree. (She colored with crayons & embellished with foam cut-outs. Try buttons, jingle bells, glitter pens, yarn or felt for other options)






I thought we could do the same thing each year. The kids can decide what project they would like to create. I'll date the back of their decoration and each passing year, we'll have more homemade ornaments to add to our tree-not to mention all the memories will be adding too!

Need a good, inexpensive gift idea for the grandparents? Why not have the kids make them an ornament. Or buy a simple, photo-frame type ornament and put a nice picture of the kids inside.

Christmas Cards

Are you fretting because you haven't sent out your Christmas or Holiday cards and it's after the 1st of December? If you include pictures with your cards, do you hate the hassle and expense of portrait studios? Take one yourself! Some of the best, funniest and most memorable cards I've received are ones the families took themselves.
I usually mail my cards out after Thanksgiving so everyone can enjoy it through the month of December and I'm usually done with my shopping by now too. What happened to November? Anyway, I didn't want any stress about cards, but I still wanted cute ones to send out to family and friends. I ordered online from Wal-Mart. Yes, Wal-Mart. The 4X8 photo cards are only .33 cents/each if you pick up from the store. If you need a rush xmas card job, the cards are only .40 cents/each for one-hour service. And they look great! Many other stores and websites offer photo and regular cards online too. It's just one less thing you have to worry about. I didn't have a recent family photo or a "holiday" photo of the kids so I improvised. I used a picture my mom took of the kids as they were getting ready for bed one night...