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photo credit: vera46

Feel Good Monday!! Today is the McKlinky Blog hop and the theme is to post something that makes you feel good!  For me it’s being by the water or seeing a picture of it!  It always makes me feel happy and at peace.  I went for a walk with my family on the beach yesterday and it was great!  Even on a cool day I love to be on the beach.  The kids love picking rocks and shells to bring home and paint!

I use the beach as an example for my kids as a place they can think of that is peaceful when they are angry or having a hard time.  It’s a good relaxation technique to use visualization.  When I asked my kids where their special place was they both had a water theme to it.  My son said “floating on a raft in the pool or at the beach” my daughter said on the “shore, by the beach”.  It’s good for kids (actually all of us) to have a place to imagine when we need to feel more relaxed.

Where is your special place?  What makes you feel relaxed?

This weeks Mcklinky blog hop is to fill in the blanks for the paragraphs below.  It was tough, because some things might not have fit exactly for me, but interesting to do.

You just found out you have one week to live. The first person you call is _my kids and husband_ and say __I love you_. Immediately after hanging up the phone, you leave the doctors office and before heading home you go to _Get a Journal_ so you can __write letters to my children, husband, mom, step dad, sisters, brother, nephews, niece, in laws, sister in law, Dad___.

You gather your family at home that night and say _I love you and I will always be with you.  I want you to be happy and do things you love, be kind and take care of yourself and eachother, always.__ then all of you together _Go for a walk on the beach__.

You book a three day trip to three different places because you’ve always wanted to _France_, _Italy__ and _St. Martin__. On the way back from your trip you stop off at _Lydias___ to _give her a hug_ because you’ve been meaning to for a long time.

For two more days you spend your time reading _books on helping your kids get through a loss_, writing _letters to my family, and __tell my kids how much they mean to me__. You make sure you _tell my husband where all the important papers are, _finalize the will_ and _figure out what special things I want my kids to have_… three things you know you should have taken care of but have been putting off.

The final day is too personal to write about but you wonder to yourself: why did I have to get a death notice before I finally did all those things this week?

The reason I’ll probably keeping putting off all those things is __that there is not enough time__ but _eventually I’ll have to make the time, although, I frequently force myself to stop and enjoy the moment, I alsotell my children how I feel about them, but I do want to write them letters__.

Special thanks to Shoplet.com-Purell Hand Sanitizers for sponsoring this blog hop.

photo credit: RLFilipkowski

It’s McKlinky Blog Hop Monday and I LOVE the theme for this week.  Three things every parent should teach their kids.  Below I have listed Three things (there are many more!) I feel are important.  They are by no means the most important but valuable for children to know.

Three Things all Parents should Teach their children

• Be Kind to others – Do unto others as you would have done to you.  This is such an important lesson for life.  I always remind my children that they should treat others kindly and as they would like others to treat them!
• Everybody makes mistakes, the important thing is to learn from them.  Of course, we try to teach them to make the right decisions, but everyone makes mistakes.  It is important for children to understand this and try to learn how to not make the mistake in the future.  Children don’t like to acknowledge their mistakes, they fear getting in trouble.  Making it safe to say they made a mistake gives them the opportunity to learn from it.  I always give examples of my own mistakes and how I learned from them.
• Love yourself.  I want my children to feel good about themselves from the inside.  I try to emphasize the importance of being ok with themselves and having respect for themselves.  This is particularly important as kids get older.

What are your 3 lessons you feel children should learn?

Special thanks to Purell Hand Sanitizer for sponsoring this blog hop.

This weeks McKlinky Blog hop is about why you should read The Toddler Crafts Blog (well actually, each blog will talk about why that particular blog is special!).   So, I will take this opportunity to share why I think you should read Toddler Craft.

As a mom, and day care provider, I am always looking for inspiration to create fun and simple activities with the kids.  I realized, that I would always search the internet and books for new ideas.  I personally liked simple crafts and activities for kids that had some educational value.

When I discovered blogging through my freebie trading I thought that it would be great to share some of the fun things I did with the kids with other parents.  From this idea, Toddler Craft was born!  My goal is to share easy, fun and educational crafts and activities for kids ages 1-7.  I believe, you should be able to create most activities with things you have on hand.  It doesn’t have to be expensive or complicated to make crafts with kids.   I also  share helpful parenting tips or experiences I have had.  Some of the topics I discuss are: getting your child to sleep, potty training, school anxiety, and going back to work.

I hope Toddler Craft gives you the inspiration I was always looking for!!  I’d love your feedback and to hear the types of activities, crafts or advice you would like to see here.  Please share it in the comment area.  Thank you  for reading Toddler Craft I really enjoy the community of readers that participate on Toddler Craft!

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It’s Monday, and time for the McKlinky blog hop again.  The theme this week is Art Work.  I was really excited to participate in this Blog Hop.  I have so much art work that my children create, and it’s always fun to share it.  I look forward to seeing the other participants Art Work.  The pictures displayed above are of water color paintings my daughter created.  Water Color is a really fun medium to paint with.  It is a great Activity for Kids.