Busy Bag Storage: Gallon Ziplocks

When I started putting busy bags together the first ones I did were the felt board pieces.  With so many little pieces I needed a storage solution right away.  Looking around the house at what I had and wanting some uniformity in storing the various activities I decided to use gallon ziplock bags and a Homz plastic hanging folder tub that I have had for 6+ years.

Button Snake

I was organizing my Pinterest boards earlier this week and later that night I was watching shows on my computer.  My hands needed something to do and I remembered seeing this idea and since I had everything I needed sitting in front of me I figured I had something to work on.  It wasn't on my original list of busy bag projects, but rather quick and easy.  There are several different ideas out there, I did a google search for "button snake" and clicked on one of the images that was listed at the top which took me to Jonah Lisa Land's post.

Not too much to write so here are some pictures.  My supply list and directions are below.  I'll do another button snake using smaller buttons and felt pieces once Melodi has mastered this one.

Supplies:
5/8" grosgrain ribbon (about a yard)
2 buttons (about 1")
Thread
1.5" square felt pieces

Directions:
Sew the buttons onto the ends of the ribbon.
Cut a bunch of felt squares.
Cut a slit into the middle of each square, just big enough for the button.

Insane Goals: April Update

I found the idea of an "Insane Goals" list on Simply Rebekah and decided to join in the fun.  Check out the progress that others are making in their insane goals at the Simply Rebekah's April Update.

Accomplishments

1. Food & Supply Preparations
• I got freezer/pantry meals put together or stocked.  In the freezer there are 7 containers of soups (potato soup and black bean soup), and two meals each of a cheesy chicken casserole, tater tot casserole, and vegi loaded meatloaf.  My pantry meals consist of enchiladas (store bought frozen burritos and enchilada sauce), chili and cornbread/pon de lote, and soup over rice.  That's a total of 21! meals which is more than I was planning on, but it'll be great to have so many.  Added some spaghetti sauce and a bag of frozen meatballs to use with spaghetti already in the pantry, so we're over 21 meals now.
• I started purging and organizing my pantry right before my mother-in-law came to visit, so the project was put on hold for a few days.  But I did get my garage storage organized while she was here.  I needed to do this so that I didn't buy stuff I already had for my freezer/pantry meals.  The pantry got finished after she left though!
2. Baby Themed Goals
• Transferred my shopping list into my baby registries.  This is a tip I would pass on to any mom who will not have a shower, or any mom in general:  Make a registry, even if it's just a shopping list for yourself, in order to get the completion coupon.  Be sure to set the date early enough so you can go get your stuff!
• My mother-in-law flew in for a couple days to help me get all the baby stuff ready.  All the clothing got washed, the baby gear got cleaned, the crib and bassinet are up, and it gave me the chance to get the freezer meals done.
3. Melodi Themed Goals
• Done working on the busy bags for Melodi.  I still have some ideas that I'll get around to eventually.
• We also got Melodi's room finished up.  Getting her new bed in doubled as determining where we will keep the stuffed animals.
4. Labor & Delivery Goals
• The bags are all packed and ready.  No baby yet though.
5. Home Goal
• Another benefit to having my mother-in-law visit is that it only took 30 minutes to make 4 phone calls to get stuff set up for the house.  We had my puppy fixed, the carpets/upholstery/air ducts cleaned, and the lawn done.  I also got some questions answered about paperwork sitting on my to-do pile. 
• While I didn't do a full Spring Cleaning I definitely got a lot of stuff done around the house.  The list is ever evolving and I got to some of it, but there are projects that just haven't been done yet.

Disappointment

1. Labor & Delivery Goals
• So I found the books and have looked at them a little, not as much as I would like to though.  I did mark a page for hubby to refer to when I get to the point of potentially requesting meds.
2. Crafting
• I haven't had the time or energy or drive to get crafting stuff done.  Some stamping got done and some paper cutting got done, but that's about it.
3. Blog!
• I've started a few posts but need to take and add pictures so I'm definitely behind on my goal of two posts each week.

INSANE GOALS

Food & Supply Preparations

• Purge & organize freezer
• Purge & organize deep freezer
• Purge & organize pantry
• Create freezer/pantry meal list for approximately 2 weeks worth of dinners
• Fill freezer/pantry with dinners
• Create shopping list for 2 weeks worth of food (take a single trip after return from hospital)
• Create a small stockpile of bath products

Baby Themed Goals

• Decide if we will make a changing station in our room
• Pull out and clean bedding
• Pull out and clean gender neutral clothes
• Pull out and clean diapers
• Clean bouncer
• Clean baby toys
• Clean and install carseat
• Set up crib
• Set up bassinet
• Decide whether to make or buy thank you cards, or use leftovers from Melodi
• Decide where to store baby toys (think we have it figured out just need to implement it)
• Determine what needs purchased for baby
• Make necessary purchases
  

Melodi Themed Goals

• New bed installed
• New dresser installed
• Clothing moved from changing table to new dresser
• Find a way to keep stuffed animals organized
• Reorganize cups in kitchen
• Update Publisher baby book
• Finish second year album
• Make “busy bags”

Labor & Delivery Goals

• Read Homebirth in the Hospital
• Reread Birthing from Within
• Review Spiritual Midwifery
• Pack hospital bags
• Pack Melodi’s bag

Crafting Goals

• Complete hanging blanket for Kaden (got started on it, but haven't figured out the arrangement)
• Stockpile cards through August
• Birthdays (7?)
• Mother’s Day (5) -- (DONE with the exception of stamping/writing/addressing)
• Father’s Day (5)

Blogging Goals

• Finalize blog layout and copy to all blogs
• Reevaluate having the teacher blog at this point in time
• Write twice weekly on each blog

House Goals

• Decide on carpet (clean or replace)
• Get slab jacked up
• Get the garden started
• Get rid of last year’s left over garage sale stuff
• Spring cleaning!

Stay tuned for another check-in come the first week of May, unless baby decides to arrive early!

Insane Goals: March Update

I found the idea of an "Insane Goals" list on Simply Rebekah and decided to join in the fun.  This is the first post that I will ever be participating in a "link-up" with.  Check out the progress that others are making in their insane goals at the Simply Rebekah's March Update.

Accomplishments

1. Food & Supply Preparations
• Both freezers have been purged and organized.  They are now ready for freezer meals to fill them.
• I got my lists made for what meals I want to have in the freezer/pantry.  The grocery list is done for both my freezer meal cooking day and for a trip to the grocery store when we get back from the hospital. 
2. Baby Themed Goals 
• Thank You Cards.  While I would love to make some really adorable thank you card it's not going to happen.  This is a downside to not finding out if we're having a boy or a girl.  I have a starting stash of 22 or 23 cards to use for initial thank you cards.  Depending on if I need more and when that time occurs I will either buy some or make some based on how I am feeling at that time.  I did pull out the cards, and have them stashed in a pencil box with a pen, return labels, and stamps.  As I wrote this I threw in my main mailing list, and a couple blank index cards to track the gifts and thank you notes.  I'll keep the box somewhere it can be easily grabbed when I have time to write some notes. 
• I also have my lists printed for my before baby shopping list and to do list.
3. Melodi Themed Goals
• Hubby got Melodi's dresser stained and installed in her room.  He even put baby proof latches on the drawers and screwed it into the studs.  Melodi's clothing is now in her dresser and the changing table dresser is basically empty.
• After dinner one night I took the time to go through all the kiddo cups and snack traps to get some organizing done.  I got rid of all the lids that didn't have matching straw/valve pieces, but we will be keeping the cups for water/rice/bean table play
• I have completed some Busy Bags for Melodi to play with while I nurse baby.  Three felt board themes are done, but I still need to finish the actual felt board.  There were a few grab, bag, and done projects that I bagged (flash cards x4 sets, stringing pony beads on pipe cleaner, and color sort pompoms on cardstock flashcards).  I also have felt fish cut out for a fishing game and patterned butterflies cut for a file folder matching game that I need to finish up. 
4. Labor & Delivery Goals
• I picked up a new book to read, Homebirth in the Hospital.  It's not quite what I was expecting, but a good read with good insights.  The other books that I own and want to read or review are currently misplaced.  Oops.
5. Crafting Goals
• A set of 10 cards is done for Mothers Day and some of the birthdays.  I used the One Sheet Wonder method which made them easy to power through.
6. Blog!  
• I have decided to maintain a single blog instead of three.  This came about through some of my pinning and looking at the blogs that pins were coming from.  The "Labels" functions have helped me figure it out.  Since I only have one blog the tweeks that will continue to be made should be easier and can be done as time allows.  
• I would love to have a custom blog header and background, that just isn't going to happen right now.  However I did get a signature line figured out after way too much time spent on it.  I also made a header and button (need to figure out the button HTML stuff).
• I like putzing so I doubt that my blog will ever be 100% set up the way I want it.
7. The boxes are gone!  
• Salvation Army just picked up my pile of boxes that needed to just disappear.  When we moved into this house in November 2009 part of the unpacking process was setting a lot of stuff out that we really didn't need anymore. In April 2011 we had a garage sale and the stuff just got piled back into the garage.  It's finally all gone!

Disappointment

1. Baby Prep
• This really should be my primary focus, but I've invited my MIL to come visit so that we can spend a couple days really focusing on baby prep.  Everything else is taking priority until she can make it out in a couple weeks.
2. Other Projects.
• So I have this list that really does NEED to get completed before baby comes for the most part.  Sure if some of it ends up sliding then that's what happens.  But I keep deciding to do other projects with finite deadlines that were never in my scope of things to do before baby got here.  Not that these aren't good things to accomplish, but they weren't on the list which takes away from getting the things on the list done.
• Registered Melodi for Jr. Preschool starting in September!
• Had Easter pictures of Melodi taken.  Decorated hat and basket.  Got cards designed, but need to get them ordered.
• Participated in a Baby Die Cut swap on the Cricut board.  I'm almost done with all the cuts.  Need to do some teddy bears and finish the baby girl shoes.

INSANE GOALS

Food & Supply Preparations

• Purge & organize freezer
• Purge & organize deep freezer
• Purge & organize pantry
• Create freezer/pantry meal list for approximately 2 weeks worth of dinners
• Fill freezer/pantry with dinners
• Create shopping list for 2 weeks worth of food (take a single trip after return from hospital)
• Create a small stockpile of bath products

Baby Themed Goals

• Decide if we will make a changing station in our room
• Pull out and clean bedding
• Pull out and clean gender neutral clothes
• Pull out and clean diapers
• Clean bouncer
• Clean baby toys
• Clean and install carseat
• Set up crib
• Set up bassinet
• Decide whether to make or buy thank you cards, or use leftovers from Melodi
• Decide where to store baby toys
• Determine what needs purchased for baby
• Make necessary purchases
  

Melodi Themed Goals

• New bed installed (purchased)
• New dresser installed
• Clothing moved from changing table to new dresser
• Find a way to keep stuffed animals organized
• Reorganize cups in kitchen
• Update Publisher baby book
• Finish second year album
• Make “busy bags”

Labor & Delivery Goals

• Reread Birthing from Within
• Review Spiritual Midwifery
• Pack hospital bags
• Pack Melodi’s bag

Crafting Goals

• Complete hanging blanket for Kaden
• Stockpile cards through August
• Birthdays (7?)
• Mother’s Day (5) -- (DONE with the exception of stamping/writing/addressing)
• Father’s Day (5)

Blogging Goals

• Finalize blog layout and copy to all blogs
• Reevaluate having the teacher blog at this point in time
• Write twice weekly on each blog

House Goals

• Decide on carpet (clean or replace)
• Get slab jacked up
• Get the garden started
• Get rid of last year’s left over garage sale stuff
• Spring cleaning!

Stay tuned for another check-in come the first week of May, unless baby decides to arrive early!

Felt Board Busy Bags

Yesterday I got three busy bag felt board sets done.  While the felt board isn't made yet the labor of cutting pieces is (mostly).  I decided to make a cupcake, tree and doll set.

While I started with a list I definitely didn't stick to it when I got to the store.  I ended up with a large (12x18) and a small (9x12) stiffer white felt which I plan to attach to something to use as the board.  This is more than half (15) of my pile of felt (24) so I bought too much felt since I have a lot of usable scraps left to finish up other busy bags.  Since I was making some dolls I decided to get some printed felt also (3).

 
Here are my cupcakes.  I used this pattern from Money Saving Mom.  The only pieces left to make for this bag are the toppings for the cupcakes.  I skipped making them because I want to use the scraps but started with this set.

I designed this tree in Publisher.  Get the file below!

For the dolls I used the Dress Up Dolls pattern from Little Gene Green Bean.  I created the dress by pinning the tank top and skirt next to each other and cutting it out as a single piece.  The hair was made by drawing around the head on a piece of paper to make a template.  I still plan to make shoes since they are Melodi's favorite.

As promised, here is the tree template.  VIEW PDF

It was a busy but productive day.  Hubby finished up Melodi's new dresser and watched Melodi while doing it.  Definitely nice to have a crafty day while not having to watch Melodi.  I was also able to get some pictures done and backdated posts finished up.

Insane Goals: Baby Prep

I came across Simply Rebekah somehow, someway.  Honestly, I don’t remember how exactly but it was probably some combination of Pinterest and clicking to other blogs.  She started in 2011 writing up a list she title "Insane Goals" that would last her through the year and doing a monthly check-in on her blog including accomplishments, disappointments, and her goals with items crossed off.  Some of her goals for 2012 could be pasted right into my list as she is also expecting another little one.  I think it’s a great idea (I started a list a couple weeks ago anyways) and will work for me to get some of the non-routine (oh wait, I don’t have routine) stuff done around the house before baby gets here.  So here goes my list of INSANE GOALS!

Food & Supply Preparations

• Purge & organize freezer
• Purge & organize deep freezer
• Create freezer meal list for approximately 2 weeks worth of dinners
• Fill freezer with dinners
• Create shopping list for 2 weeks worth of food (take a single trip after return from hospital)
• Create a small stockpile of bath products

Baby Themed Goals

• Decide if we will make a changing station in our room
• Pull out and clean bedding
• Pull out and clean gender neutral clothes
• Pull out and clean diapers
• Clean bouncer
• Clean baby toys
• Clean and install carseat
• Set up crib
• Set up bassinet
• Decide whether to make or buy thank you cards, or use leftovers from Melodi
• Decide where to store toys
• Determine what needs purchased for baby
• Make necessary purchaces

Melodi Themed Goals

• New bed installed
• New dresser installed
• Clothing moved from changing table to new dresser
• Find a way to keep stuffed animals organized
• Reorganize cups in kitchen
• Update Publisher baby book
• Finish second year album
• Make “busy bags”

Labor & Delivery Goals

• Reread Birthing from Within
• Review Spiritual Midwifery
• Pack hospital bags
• Pack Melodi’s bag

Crafting Goals

• Complete hanging blanket for Kaden
• Stockpile cards through August
• Birthdays (7?)
• Mother’s Day (5)
• Father’s Day (5)

Blogging Goals

• Finalize blog layout and copy to all blogs
• Reevaluate having the teacher blog at this point in time
• Write twice weekly on each blog

House Goals

• Decide on carpet (clean or replace)
• Get slab jacked up
• Get the garden started
• Get rid of last year’s left over garage sale stuff
• Spring cleaning!

Stay tuned for a check-in come the first week of April.

I Need Busy Bags or Quiet Bins

Our second baby is due in 8-10 weeks and as I will be nursing I need something for Melodi to do while I take some quiet time with baby.  I think the best way to accomplish this is to make a LARGE collection of Busy Bags or Quiet Bins.  I'm going to start with some Busy Bags and reserve Quiet Bins for when Melodi gives up her nap, but still needs some quiet time to herself.

There is a collection of ideas that I have found on Pinterest for Busy Bags.  I figure that I will need about 4 a day for 5 days during the week, so I need to come up with 20 bags.  I think that some of these may be books, magnet sets, and chunky wooden puzzles kept "put away" for nursing time.  Of course I would like for most of them to be educational or developmental in nature, and NOT messy.

It is going to be a work in progress as I have quite a few pins to sort through.  Luckily I have 2 months to get these together, but I also have a pile of other projects.  Maybe I'll have the planning done and be ready to do the shopping when my mother-in-law is out next month to help me with final baby prep.

Current Idea List

1. Paper, colored pencils/crayons (add stickers when a little older)
2. Lacing cards
3. Pipe cleaners, pony beads
4. Matching Color Shades (a little to young still, so do a Color Matching Wheel)
5. Felt board
1. build your own cupcake
2. tree
3. house
4. doll and clothes
6. Letter magnets (refrigerator, these are better than the premade bright colored ones)
7. Number magnets (refrigerator)
8. Fishing (felt fish with washers inside, pencil fishing pole)
9. Sensory Texture Boards
10. Matching Cards (store bought since we have a couple, or homemade)
11. Button Matching Game (I like the one a little ways down this page better)
12. Quiet Books (also useful for church, meetings, etc)
13. File Folder Games (switch out seasonally)
1. The Easter Story
2. Daniel in the Lions Den (telling time, too young still)
3. Shapes
4. Flowers
5. Counting (octopus, watermelon)
6. Colors
14. Lacing Cards (make with laminated cardstock shapes and a hole punch)
15. Popsicle Stick Puzzles
16. Color Sorting
1. colored pasta into cups
2. craft pompoms onto color cards
17. Flashcards
1. color
2. alphabet
3. animals/sounds
18. Lacing Beads

Some of these will make for good car travel bags for our road trip this summer and future PCS moves.

Reading Levels

Recently my husband asked me about the reading level of some of the books that we read to Melodi.    She LOVES reading and would spend all day bringing us books to read to her if we let her.  I had no clue what the reading level was of any of our books as it is not posted on the back of them as I remember it being when I was growing up (okay, late(?) elementary when I knew where to look).

The Dr. Seuss books were taken care of once I saw this on Pinterest, talk about great timing since we had just talked about it.  Leann of Montessori Tidbits had just posted this list on her blog.  She breaks it out Late Kindergarten, Beginning/Middle/Late First Grade, and Early/Middle Second Grade, based on her interpretation of the Accelerated Reader grade level equivalent.

We also have a large collection of the Little Golden Books so I did a Google search for "little golden books reading level" and found this.  It is not exactly what I was looking for but I should be able to convert it to a list like Leann's easy enough.

In my search I also found the 1000 Good Books List by the Classical Christian Education Support Loop.  This list is broken into grade levels of 1-3, 4-6, 7-9, and 10-12.  It's a large list and I haven't spent enough time exploring it to give a fair assessment, although I will be returning to it in order to find more books to add to our library.

Here we go with a list of the Little Golden Books reading levels.

Baby-PreK

• The Poky Little Puppy
• Sleeping Beauty
• Little Mommy
• The Little Red Hen
• A Day at the Seashore
• Pinocchio
• The Fire Engine Book
• The Shy Little Kitten
• Triceratops for Lunch
• The Saggy Baggy Elephant
• Nurse Nancy
• Good Night, Little Bear
• Noah's Ark
• The Happy Man and His Dump Truck
• Richard Scarry's Busiest Firefighters Ever
• Old MacDonald Had a Farm
• A Blessing from Above
• The Color Kittens
• The Bunny Book
• Thomas and Friends: May the Best Engine Win
• The Little Christmas Elf

Not done yet.  Thinking this is going to be more work that I really want to take on.  The list that I am looking at on JacketFlap is not really what I want as it includes non-Little Golden Books making it difficult to sift through at times.  There are also 1,176 books in the Baby-PreK level, and in the Ages 4-8 level there are 2,884.  So, this plan is going out the window.  Another reason to throw this one out is that I'm not sure I totally agree with some of levels given to the books on the Baby-PreK list that I've gone through so far.  There are far too many words in "The Poky Little Puppy," "Sleeping Beauty" and "Saggy Baggy Elephant" for it to be considered Baby and I don't think that a 3-4 year old would be reading them on her own.

Back to the drawing board for this project.  I may use the same technique that Montessori Tidbits did and just do it myself using the Accelerated Reader grade level equivalent and the books that I have.  Look for more on this in the future, it may end up being a page instead of a post so that I can add to it as we accumulate more books.