Hiking with Small Children...Successfully

We're an outdoorsy type of family. And that means WE LOVE HIKING! We even take family vacations with the in-laws centered around hiking. My husband and I have been hikers for a very long time but when we added kids to the equation, it was a whole 'nother ballgame. We've learned some things along the way and I'm happy to say we have it down to a science. Here are my biggest tips for successful outdoor adventuring with the littles.

Take small hikes to build endurance first.
Please don't jump in with a 3 mile hike. Make sure you give little kids time to acclimate to the whole hiking shebang if they aren't used to it. When you're two years old it might seem overwhelming and crazy to walk endlessly on a narrow path when there is SO MUCH stuff to distract you. The more practice hiking you do at the park before the big day, the better. They will know the ropes and will build up endurance. That being said...

Assume you will have to carry them some of the way.
Forget the stroller. Unless you're hiking on a paved trail, it will be more hassle than it's worth. We've passed parents carrying both the baby and stroller on trails before. No judgment, just empathy. Pack that carrier, Mom and Dad. We have an Ergo and actually hide it until its needed. If I wear it around my waist to save space in the pack, the whining starts earlier, haha.

Don't buy anyone new shoes for the hike.
Nothing is worse than a two-hour hike in new shoes. That's an exaggeration. I can think of a lot of things that are worse (war, famine, injustice, misspelled rants about exes on facebook) but blisters are no fun. Remember those small hikes at the park? Those would be the time to break in those super cool Keens.

Bring an extra pair of socks for everyone.  If you think there might be any water along the trail, it's always wise to have an extra pair for your puddle jumpers. If it's summer, I just put them in waterproof hiking shoes.

Make it fun!  Sing funny songs together, take pictures along the way, point things out and explain
them, keep your eyes peeled for critters, bring binoculars, take a nature journal and make a sketching stop, take turns being trail leader...You get the idea. If you go with the attitude that you're on a fun-filled adventure, they will totally see it as a fun-filled adventure (until they're teenagers).


Pack enough water and snacks they like to eat.
All of that hiking is hard work. It's going to work up an appetite and make them thirsty. We typically pack a full water bottle per person for hikes under 4 hours. We pack fruit but also pack food that might fall into the questionable category under ordinary circumstances. Examples: trail mix loaded with chocolate chips, protein bars, yogurt covered raisins. I figure, if we're going to spike their insulin levels, it might as well be when they can use that extra glucose for energy. One of our hiking  family friends has even dubbed Twizzlers their official hiking snack for their family.
Snacks can also come in handy if a bad case of the "ARE WE THERE YETS?" kicks in. Yes, this one might border on bribery. Okay, It's bribery. Remember when I didn't judge the guy carrying a stroller on a trail like a noob? How about returning the favor.

Layer clothing.
We like to hike in the mountains and on any given day there can be a huge temperature differential at the top. In the Summer we stick fleeces in our packs. In the Spring and Fall, we wear a water-wicking base layer (not cotton), long sleeves, pants and a coat. It's easier to remove clothing if you get too hot than it is to grow fur if you're cold and didn't bring your coat like Mom told you to.

Plan for bugs. 
Hats and tall socks are great for tick season. Wear bug repellant during the mosquito season. We have a few DEET-free bug sprays and I can attest that you do not need DEET in your bug repellant for it to be effective. Check everyone, including dogs, for ticks after you finish your hike.

Plan on not having a potty.
You might get lucky and pick a trailhead with running water, but don't count on it. Whatever this means for your family, plan accordingly.

Give everyone a small whistle.
This is especially important if you're hiking with a big group and there are some who lag behind. No one wants it to happen, but occasionally hikers can get separated or kids can wander off while grown-ups are looking at maps, etc... It makes me feel better knowing that even my two-year-old can blow her whistle if she would need to. The girls each have a "survival" bracelet we made from paracord. Survival is in parentheses because it would really only hold enough cord for some extra shoelaces. But hey, you never know when you'll need new shoelaces! We hook their whistles to their bracelets. They think it's neat.

And last but not least...

DO NOT GO OFF OF THE TRAIL.
Yes, this one should be common sense but I wanted to include it anyway. Why? Let me list a few reasons:
1)Rattlesnakes have been known to hang out in some pretty well-trodden areas.
2) Poisonous plants. Poison ivy can ruin your summer.
3) There is potential to become very lost.
4) Here's a fun one...Sinkholes. Yeah. It happened. Luckily we didn't have kids with us.

The last few bullet points seem a bit extreme but like I said, we've been hiking for years now and none of us have ever actually been in a dangerous situation. Common sense and a little planning go a long way to ensure you will have a great outdoor adventure.

I believe I took this in Yosemite. Just look at that crystal clear water.

Happy trails to you!

Free Beginner Word Search using CVC "e" words.

Last week I made a series of CVC word searches containing all of the vowels. I thought it would be a fun way for my four-year-old to review and practice CVC words. The word searches are very basic. Each search only contains seven similar words. The words only run left to right and up and down. I didn't add any backward or diagonal words in order to keep it simple. Here is the CVC word search containing words ending in "et".

 Please click on the link below the word search to download.

Beginner CVC Word Search

Additionally, here is a link to the "at" word search post.   

Free beginner word search using CVC "-at" words

Thanks for stopping by!

Beacon Hill Dollhouse Construction: Progress

Here's the progress so far!

I can't get over how quickly this house is coming together!

First of all, I married a good man.
On a scale of 1 to 10, his excitement over the girls' dollhouse was a 0, when it first arrived.
Because he's a great guy, he started helping me construct it in the evenings, just so that we could see each other. He understands that I have a bit of a time crunch because I want to finish it by Christmas. I can't find any other people out there in the big wide world who constructed the Beacon Hill, as their first dollhouse, in under 2 months. I stopped looking after a while because it made me depressed.

Because I hope am going to finish it by Christmas and I want it to remain a surprise until then, I have to work on the thing in our dark, scary basement. AND only at night after the girls go to bed. I hope my little ladies appreciate this!

Living room flooring made from skinny sticks

Anyway, my wonderful husband has been helping me and because of his help, there's been tremendous progress on the house! I'm really feeling encouraged now. If you're reading this because you're thinking about assembling this house but aren't sure if you'll be able to finish it in a reasonable amount of time, go for it!   It really isn't that bad. And that's coming from a woman with the attention span of a ...what's that over there? SQUIRREL! plus the follow-through of a...[Come up with something witty to put here before publishing post].

 See what I did there?

I've primed and papered all of the first and second floors and have installed most of the flooring.

For the living room, I really wanted a hardwood floor but disliked the peel and stick fake wood, so I made a (removable) wood floor out of skinny sticks. This was luckily a great decision for a couple of reasons.

First, it's removable and pretty flexible, so I can switch it out in the future. I should be able to slide it in and out even with the trim in place. The second reason I like this flooring is that I was able to do this during the day, right under their adorable noses, so that saved some time.
Without context, the flat skinny sticks glued to a funny shaped piece of paper looks nothing like a dollhouse floor.   My girls are very accustomed to seeing mommy work on strange craft projects so there were very few questions asked. They even helped a little. Muahahaha!

The kitchen flooring still needs to be glued down.

 I made the floor by cutting out a sturdy piece of paper to fit the floor exactly. AND I MEAN EXACTLY. I used watercolor paper because that's what I had on hand.  (Afterwards, I realized that a flattened cereal box would have been cheaper to use.)
I then glued the sticks, in the desired direction, to the paper with wood glue. I chose to place the sticks with the boards running the same way as the longest wall-if this makes sense. See pictures. I did this for no other reason than the flooring installer for our real house said that was pretty standard.
 I made sure to stagger the sticks like they would with real boards in a real house. It sounds time-consuming but the laying and gluing process really only took about a half hour. Use sharp pruning shears or a utility snips tool (I think that's what its called.) to cut the sticks if you're doing this yourself.

 After the glue dried, I applied wood putty over the entire thing and scraped off the excess. After the putty had dried, I took my power sander to it until my arm was tingling from the elbow down.

Then I stained it and placed it in the house. It isn't glued in at the moment. I'm trying to decide if I should stain it again before varnishing. Um, thoughts? Indecision is the only thing slowing me down, as usual.

I plan on putting wood flooring in the entry/dining room and maybe the second-floor hallway. Who am I kidding? The second-floor hallway is getting carpet. It's waaaaay easier. I already installed the stairs. 

The bathroom wainscotting was accomplished using the same skinny-stick on paper method. I applied skinny sticks horizontally for the chair rail and the trim. I primed and painted them without using wood filler.

Bathroom wainscoting made from skinny sticks

One area where I ran into a bit of a hiccup was the stairs. The treads and risers are different sizes on different floors. It says specifically in the instructions not to mix them up. Guess what I did?
It took a lot of time to re-separate them out by dry fitting and trial and error. I still ended up with one short stair tread on the top of the second-story staircase.
Also, if you're making this house, don't forget to stain the underside of the treads if you're going the staining route.

Up next: I need to glue the third floor and decorate it.








I'm doing it! I'm really doing it!







Here's a link to previous posts on the Beacon Hill projects:

Beacon Hill box has arrived!

Beacon Hill Construction DAY ONE post

Additionally, here are some great blogs I found with more details on building the Beacon Hill.

https://jennsminis.wordpress.com

http://mysmallobsessionminiatures.blogspot.com/2012/04/beacon-hill-dollhouse.html?m=1

http://minisontheedge.blogspot.com/2009/06/beacon-hill-dollhouse-day-1.html?m=1

http://moreminis.blogspot.com/2017/09/the-beacon-hill-dollhouse-blog.html?m=1

And of course, I can't leave out the Greenleaf site,  http://www.greenleafdollhouses.com/forum/

The forum has been very helpful!

Free beginner word search: CVC "-at" words

I wanted to write a quick post to share a new word search I made. I make printables all the time so I'll try to share them as much as I can. My oldest likes having a basket of things to work on when she gets bored and it can be a challenge to keep the basket full of relevant, fun activities. I mentioned on another post that she loves "search and find" type of worksheets, so I try to find or make them for whatever we happen to be working on. At the moment we're reviewing Consonant-Vowel-Consonant (CVC)  "-at" words. I had trouble finding small, uncomplicated word searches with only CVC long "a" words, so I'm going to make a whole series.
 I like word searches for a number of reasons. They help to teach her concentration. She has to concentrate on which word she's looking for, which improves her working memory. She also has to concentrate on where she is on the search page. When we first introduced word searches, she moved over the page in a random fashion, skipping over some areas and looking at others multiple times. She's learning to order her thinking and now tends to start at the top and work her way down the page.
They also help to teach her pattern recognition. I especially like that this one has all of the same "-at" endings to really drill the pattern recognition. Plus word searches are just plain fun.
Some may frown on them as a waste of time but I like anything that can stimulate my kid enough to hold her attention for longer than 30 minutes, without a screen or flashing lights.

So without further ado, here is our beginner word search using seven words. They are only spelled up and down or horizontally. We don't need to throw any confusing diagonal or backward spelling into the mix yet!

Click here to download the "-at" Word Search

I'll be posting the rest of the CVC word search series as I make them, over the next two weeks. 

Here is a link to the word searches I've made and posted so far: 

Free Beginner CVC "et" Word Search Post

Free b and d confusion worksheet

My four-year-old has occasional struggles with b and d confusion. This is very normal for budding readers. When it first popped up, I asked my mom if it could be a sign of a potential problem down the road. My mom just happens to have a Master's in elementary education and has been an elementary teacher for over 40 years. She has an incredible wealth of knowledge and she's an extremely effective teacher. I know. I'm lucky.

She assured me, “Reversals are not at all unusual." As a first grade teacher, she especially sees kids struggle with b, d, p and q. She reminded me of my own issues with s and z. She added "Not every child struggles with it but it's pretty common. If a child is still reversing at age 7 or 8 (second grade age) then that can be a sign to look into possible dyslexia, especially if they're having trouble with reading.” She told me that our brains aren’t really wired to read the way we do and it simply has to be taught over and over until one day we just “get it”. She said just to work with my daughter on it with patience and not to worry.   

So, I set out on a hunt for fun, FREE worksheets on the subject, and not finding exactly what I wanted, decided to create some of our own. I’ve included them at the bottom of the page for you to download as well. (I personally do a little happy dance in my seat when I find free applicable worksheets. I want to spread some free worksheet love around.)

My daughter is quite fond of coloring and of searches of any kind, so I tried to incorporate the two. To complete the worksheet the child must color in all of the correct boxes to reveal a duck on the “d” page or a boat on the “b” page.

When she finished I asked her what the picture revealed and she said, “Boat! Boat starts with a b!” (Glad she could recognize it. It’s a bit, shall we say, pixelated. Ha!)

 The worksheets were a success at our house. She really seemed to enjoy her work and asked for more.  My two-year-old even got involved and wanted one. But mommy needs a break...Maybe tomorrow. 

 After just one afternoon of working on it, I noticed her reading fluidity improved on the words containing b, and d. Yay! 

 I hope your kiddos enjoy it as well! 

Click on the links below the worksheets to download.

                                                               
                                                                  b d worksheet 1

b d worksheet 2

Beacon Hill Dollhouse Construction: Day One

Okay, so I was too excited to take pictures of the process of putting the first two floors together. Sorry.  If you want to know how, YouTube it.  I’m super helpful. You’re welcome. hehe

I was shocked at how quickly and easily this came together. I have maybe 3 hours in it so far and it already looks like a dollhouse! I'm feeling encouraged.  Maybe I will be able to finish it before Christmas after all.  The hardest part thus far has been keeping it a secret from my girls. They're starting to ask questions.

Apologies for the terrible camera-phone picture.

Yes...I put furniture in it. I couldn't help myself. I'm having fun. That's the whole point of dollhouses right? Plus, I wanted to see if the furniture I bought the girls would fit. That's a much more respectable reason. I should have led with that. 

Ways I can actually be helpful to other would-be Beacon Hill-ites:

-Read the warm-up sheet. I giggled when I saw the instructions had instructions, but they're included for a reason and are very helpful.

-When it says to dry fit, dry fit. When it doesn’t say to dry fit, dry fit. A throwback to the Simpson trial: If it doesn’t fit, you must a quit. Oh man, that was bad. Yes, I know what acquittal is. Anyhoo, dry-fit!

-DO NOT use hot glue to glue your house together. If you're like me and have spent time stalking professional miniaturist blogs, you already know this. I had to include it though. Hot glue will make things move along faster but over time your house will fall apart! Don't be like the 2 little pigs. We all know what happened to them. Build your house to last.

-Do not jump ahead! Be patient grasshopper. You only get one shot, do not miss your chance to blow this opportunity comes once in a lifetime...

-Be careful punching these puppies out but don’t be afraid to sand the bejesus out of them to make the slots fit.

- If you’re not careful while punching these puppies out because it’s 3 in the morning and 'nuff said. Don't panic. It can easily be fixed with wood glue and patience. 

Here's the glued foundation waiting to dry.

-The foundation section of the instructions seemed a bit confusing to me at first. I thought it was upside down... because it was. You have to flip the board upside down to glue the underside of the foundation. Once I started using common sense, otherwise known as my husband, it started to come together. 

I've been wallpapering before gluing the walls together in a lot of the rooms because I personally find it easier. This is because I'm using very cheap thin scrapbooking paper. If you're fortunate enough to have actual dollhouse wallpaper or cardstock scrapbooking paper you could probably paper the walls after assembly. It appears to be a personal preference thing.

List of supplies I’ve needed so far:
-sandpaper variety pack
-exacto blade
- wood glue
-masking tape
-pencil
-t square
-primer
-courage

Supplies that aren’t necessary but made it easier:
-wood carving knife
-block sander
-measuring tape

-self-healing mat (This is useful when cutting out the stubborn pieces and rotary cutting wallpaper.)

-rotary cutter
-wallpaper

-some type of adhesive for wallpaper (I used matte mod podge because I happened to have some.)




Much, much more to come...

Our Beacon Hill Miniature House has arrived!

Today’s the day! It has arrived!
Through perilous journey, the box survived!
Trumpets sound, symbols clashing!
Ripping tape, teeth gnashing!
Look inside, nothing’s broken.
More shocking words n'er were spoken.
Imagination, awake anew.
Let miniature obsession ensue.

Oh. Yes. 

It was that exciting. It needed a poem.

I’m  The girls are getting a miniature dollhouse for Christmas (provided I can assemble the glorious thing in time).  To all those not in the know, Greenleaf dollhouses can be a bit...challenging. Is that fair to say?

 But I do enjoy a challenge! 

And I'm not about to break my streak of biting off more than I can chew. 

I’ve always had an affinity for teeny tiny things. When I was little my dad would sometimes take me to a nearby miniature shop and we would spend a long time looking, with fascination, at all of the miniatures. It's such a nice memory. He would always let me pick out one miniature to buy. While I demolished an abundance of my plastic toys, I cherished those delicate little miniatures. I still have them today. 

So when my oldest daughter started showing the same interest, you had better believe I was all over it. It didn't occur to me until after I purchased it that she might be young for a miniature dollhouse, but she's an extremely conscientious young lady. She has always been very careful with her toys so I'm not worried about it. My two and a half-year-old Barbie decapitator will need to be watched...

I spent an extravagant amount of time deciding which dollhouse to buy. Sadly, I spent less time deciding on my real life house. Erm. That’s embarrassing. 

Anyway, of course, I wanted to buy the Grandmomma of them all, the majestic Queen Anne by Real Good Toys (grammar cringe). Alas, I have neither space nor moolah to spare for her. After stalking hobby shops and deciding on the Greenleaf brand, I vacillated between the Garfield and the Beacon Hill for an inordinate amount of time. The girls themselves made my mind up. 

Grab the popcorn and pull up a chair.

I was literally moments away from pulling the trigger on a Garfield. I had been ignoring my husband for two nights in order to find the best deal. I had found it. Someone an hour and a half away had admitted defeat after a decade and posted their “complete unassembled Garfield kit” to Craigslist.

I had drafted an email. I even found a backup and had it sitting in my cart, should the Craigslister prove himself or herself a fraud. There was also the very real possibility that my husband might have contemplated divorcing me for being crazy enough to drive that far for a dollhouse and I would have to abandon the plan. I needed contingencies. What I'm saying is, it was going to be purchased. 

Here’s where it gets good.  I had a show on TV in the background and the girls happened to wander in. The show may or may not have been suitable for children. 

Okay. 

It wasn’t.

Not even a little.

But I couldn’t, for the life of me, find the flipping remote.  Who has the time or brain space for keeping track of remotes during the house buying process? 

Anyway, I got lucky with the TV show because it was a particularly boring scene. Their little eyes glued to the take-it-or-leave-it scene and wouldn’t you know it, the Beacon Hill was sitting in the little girls' room on TV!  When it flashed on the screen, both of my girls gasped.

Message received.

I deleted my email, emptied my cart and began my search for the cheapest Beacon Hill I could find. Divine intervention? You be the judge. 

Oh, I get chills. 

Fast forward to today and here she is. It’s like a fairytale, isn’t it? 

Stay tuned.