Fall.

With temperatures still in the 90’s this past week, it is hard to believe it is here.

And while I am sad that the days of swimming, laughing, and having no particular place to be are over.  There are things I am looking forward to this fall.

1.  Cooler temperatures.  This last, sudden burst of heat has been miserable.

2.  Watching 2 daredevils jumping from the big rock out front into the crackling pile of leaves.

3.  Celebrating my kindergartner’s 6th birthday.  Last year it was a tea party theme…  I can’t wait to see what she asks for this year.

4.  Halloween.  Every year for Trick-or-Treat we head down to my parents’ house.  We walk the kids along the same streets I walked, then we head back for cocoa and spend the night.  On top of looking forward to this tradition, I am looking forward to helping my kids turn into whatever creature/item they challenge me with this year.

5.  Motorcycle class.  It’s one of the goals I have set for myself to achieve by 40.  All my gear has come in, and class is scheduled.  Here’s hoping I don’t have to test that gear!

6.  Watching my kids grow.  One’s in kindergarten.  Every day she learns so much, grows so much.  One started church preschool on Sundays.  (I could write a whole post about how amazing that is.)

I am thankful today that there is so much to look forward to this fall!

(Inspired by Mama Kat’s Writer’s Workshop prompt:   6 things you look forward to this Fall.

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For over 2 years now I’ve written a Thankful Thursday post weekly.  Last week I lost track of days, and as I climbed into bed Wednesday night, I realized I wasn’t going to have time to write a post before our busy Thursday began.

Having just jotted down numerous commitments on the calendar for September, I’ve decided I need to give myself a break.  While Thankful Thursday may not happen every week here on the blog, I will still be celebrating it on the Facebook page each week.  I hope you will join me there in taking a moment to think about all there is to be thankful for in the world.

The post Looking Forward to Fall first appeared on There's Just One Mommy.

I am thrilled to have Ginny Marie of Lemon Drop Pie guest posting today!  She has some great ideas on how to keep your kids reading this summer!

School’s out for the summer! One of the first things we do every summer is sign up for our public library’s reading program. However, sometimes reading conflicts with what we really want to do. My daughters and I spend a lot of time at the pool and playing outside. Reading can fall by the wayside. Lily, who is eight years old, loves to listen to me reading books to her. Reading independently, however, has been a struggle for her. Here are some ways that worked to keep her reading during second grade. She came up with most of these ideas on her own, and then I encouraged her to keep reading!

1. Read to a pet or stuffed animal.

Lily loves reading to Stripe, her pet fish. She really thinks that he listens to her read, and who am I to argue with that? Emmy, my five year old, was caught reading to her teddy bear the other day. She just finished Kindergarten, and all of a sudden she is becoming an independent reader, too!

2. Find a quiet reading nook.

Lily and Emmy have a small play tent that I will bring out for fun every once in a while. With some pillows and blankets, this little indoor tent makes a perfect reading nook. This summer, we’re going to set it out in the backyard for an outdoor reading spot. Emmy also creates her own little reading spot in her bedroom. She will put her child-sized rocking chair in the little nook between her dresser and bookshelf and camp out there to read.

3. Become a reporter for your local newspaper.

The joy of writing also encourages reading. Lily often grabs a notebook to report the latest news in our neighborhood, such as a water main break. Of course, every day happenings are not always that exciting, but Lily has included our daily adventures such as trips to the park in her one-copy-only newspaper. She also knows that I am a writer, and has even written a guest post on my blog.

4. Have some DEAR time.

I encourage Lily to sit with me on the couch to read her book while I’m reading mine. So far, this has been a challenge because Emmy hasn’t been an independent reader for very long and doesn’t know what to do with herself while we read. We’ll keep working on this one. (You may recognize the D.E.A.R. acronym: Drop Everything and Read.)

5. Don’t let the enjoyment of reading end when the book is over.

Lily LOVES to talk about her favorite books, even when she’s done reading them. Her favorite characters in books become friends, and she talks about them as if she really knows them. After reading The Mysterious Benedict Society with her dad, she talked about Kate and her red bucket for days. You can help your child extend the book by having them draw a picture of their favorite part or write interview questions for one of their favorite characters. Lily has also written a quiz on Goodreads for one of the Magic Tree House books that she loves. (I checked her questions and answers before I published her quiz on Goodreads.) After reading a retelling of The Gingerbread Man, Lily and Emmy held a mock trial to decide if the fox was guilty or innocent after he ate the Gingerbread Man. My husband and I were the jury. Extending the book in these ways help enrich the reading experience for your child.

Most of all, if your child sees you reading, whether it’s a novel or your favorite magazine, you are sending a message that reading is fun! Enjoy your summer reading!

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Ginny Marie loves sticking her nose in a book, and has often forgotten to start making dinner because she can’t put her book down. She taught second grade for thirteen years and now she reads books to her preschool students. She blogs at Lemon Drop Pie, and you can also follow her on Twitter and Facebook.

The post Five Ways to Keep Your Kids Reading This Summer first appeared on There's Just One Mommy.

“Mom, I’m bored.”

These are words moms dread hearing over and over during summer vacation.

When it’s too hot to run around at the park, and you don’t want to spend a bunch of money, what do you do?

Go bowling!

Thanks to a wonderful program called Kids Bowl Free, your kids can bowl 2 free games every day all summer long.  That’s a lot of bowling!

This summer I decided my 2 preschoolers were ready for the challenge, so I signed them up for the program.  Did I mention it was free?  (I love that!)

So I loaded them up in the car and we headed off to check it out.

It has been a while since I’ve bowled.  Things sure have changed!

The lady at the desk was super helpful.  Pretty soon our lane was outfitted with bumpers and 8 pound bowling balls.  Once we were decked out in our bowling shoes (just $2 to rent), we were set to give it a go.

Little Peanut went first.  She gave that ball a mighty shove… 

Can you tell she was proud of knocking down the pins?

After rolling the balls down a few times, the kids decided to try the ramp.

Yes, I said ramp.  Who would have thought that they would have a ramp for preschoolers to roll the ball down?   I mean, how neat is that?  It makes bowling easy and fun for the whole family!

And you know what?

I found out my youngest is a bowling natural!  In his first game, the four-year old got 4 spares and the only strike between us!

The whole place was full of moms with kids bowling — so great to see!

We will definitely be bowling a lot this summer… After all, I have to redeem myself!

The four year-old beat me!

See that?  He got 97 to my 93…  And that was with me keeping the bumpers on when I bowled!

Want to bowl with your kids?  If you plan to bowl more than a couple times, save money and get the family pass, which is good for up to 4 adults, for just $24.95.  Remember, kids are free all summer long as long as you sign them up!

And, if you are looking for more free (or almost free) summer activities, check out my Free Summer Fun post.

As mentioned previously, this is a sponsored post on behalf of Kids Bowl Free.  I received a family pass in exchange for writing this post.  All opinions are 100% my own. 

The post Kids Bowl Free! first appeared on There's Just One Mommy.

I was staring at a basket of laundry, willing it to put itself away, when I heard, “Mommy, will you take a walk with us?”

Looking at the clock, I saw it was almost lunch time.

“Sure, Sweetie.  You guys wait on the back porch and I’ll make lunch to take with us,” I answered, leaving the basket of laundry for the cleaning fairy to put away.  (She hasn’t been here in a while; anyone know where she’s at?)

I made a few p.b.&j. sandwiches, tossed some grapes and bell pepper slices in a baggie, tossed in an almost empty bag of pretzels and filled a bottle with water.

My picnic partners were ready and waiting on the back porch.

Like so many picnics, we wound up at the pond.

After eating, it was time to play and explore!

Notice the clothing change?  Yep, I actually thought ahead of time for once and grabbed a change of clothes for my daughter and some shorts for the little guy.

By the end of our trip to the pond they were both sandy, very wet, and excited about some tadpoles we had found.

It is simple moments like a picnic with my babies that I am thankful for this week.  I’m looking forward to many more of them this spring and summer.

Leave a comment telling me what simple moments you are thankful for this week.  I can’t wait to hear from you!

If you have a thankful post of your own, be sure to link it up with us.  I’d love it if you let your readers know you linked up here!

The post Thankful Thursday — Simple Moments first appeared on There's Just One Mommy.

Toys.  If you have little ones, you know how the toys can seem to take over.  Blink, and Hot Wheels are parked all over the couch.  Turn around and doll house furniture litters the floor.

Just how can you get preschoolers to help clean up?

1. First, make sure to have kid-friendly storage.  Clear plastic bins or storage drawers make it easy for kids to see what’s in them.  Labeling them (use pictures for non-readers) allows children to know which toys go back in each container quickly and easily.
2. DON’T tell them they need to pick up ALL the toys.  (Even if they need to eventually)  That can be overwhelming to a small child.  Instead, start with one type of toy.  “Put all the dinosaurs in the dinosaur drawer.”  Once that set of toys is picked up, you can move on to the next set.
3. Turn clean up time into a game!  Grab the timer, set it for 5 minutes and race to see how many toys you can put away before it goes off.  (You can sweeten the deal with a mini reward for successfully getting the toys put away before the timer goes off.)
4. Have a princess of your own?  Tell her you are going to play Cinderella!  Jump into the role of “evil step-mother” and tell her what toys to pick up and where they need to go.  As a reward for cleaning up, play the Fairy Godmother later on and let her go to the ball, where she can dance with you as the prince!
5. Got a car-lover on your hands?  Have him race the cars to their correct location.  Ready, set, go!
6. Have some music lovers?  Turn on the music!  See how many toys you can put away before the song is over.  Or, find fun ways to dance the toys to their correct location.
7. Ignore the desire to “fix it” if something isn’t put away just right.  Think about how you would feel if you cleaned up and then someone came by and “fixed” it.

Have a tip that works for you when it comes to getting the toys cleaned up?  Leave it in the comments!

The post How to Get Preschoolers to Pick up Toys first appeared on There's Just One Mommy.

Happy Thursday!

One day closer to the weekend and time for some happy thoughts!

This week I am thankful for spring weather!

We have been able to have several picnic lunches this week. Our first was a walk to the pond, where my son was excited to find that Papaw had brought back the box of construction trucks and other sand toys, ready for some serious play this season. It was hard to contain his excitement long enough to get him to eat!

Although it was still sweatshirt weather, which meant Mommy had to remind them to stay out of the water several dozen times, we all had fun reuniting with the sand toys.

We have also gotten to picnic at the park — no sweatshirts needed that day!

I lost count how many times they went down all the slides. And the grin on Monkey’s face while I pushed him on the swing? That was priceless.

Have you gotten to enjoy some outdoor time yet this spring? I’d love to hear what you’ve been up to!

And, if you have your own Thankful Thursday post, or other post related to being thankful, I’d love to read it! Link it up below, just be sure to link to your actual post.

Linked up this week with Black Tag Diaries, The Fontenot Four, and Six by the Bay

The post Thankful Thursday — Spring Picnics first appeared on There's Just One Mommy.