How to get your kids to actually play with all of their toys.

by Meg on January 21, 2012

If your kids are anything like mine, they have a few favorite toys and the rest are just a tripping hazard (because they always get pulled out of their spots but rarely actually played with.) The thing is, the rest of those toys are great toys. They’re educational, imaginative, and you wish your kids would use them!

If your kids are also like mine, they have a hard time finding something to play with in a messy room. Ben especially can become frustrated when everything is out of place and there is no order to their room. Most of the time, as soon as i start putting everything away, he finds something good to play with.

I think I found a solution. It works best with pre-school age kids and takes a little bit of set-up and a bunch of follow through.

Boxes. Yep, boxes. Boxes labeled Monday through Sunday.

This morning I sorted all of Ben and Ellie’s non-favorite toys into themed boxes and labeled them. Ben caught me as I was just finishing sorting and he had a bit of a meltdown at the sight of ALL of his toys being (what looked like) permanently put away. TIP: sort and box toys when your kids aren’t around.

How it works- Everyday when your kids start their play time they get to open a box. It’s like opening presents at Christmas! They get to play with any toy in that box or any (what I’ll call) ‘everyday toys’ during the day and then at night before bed they will put all of that day’s toys back in the box of the day along with straightening up their everyday toys.

Our Boxes:

Monday- Musical toys that are battery operated (keyboard etc.)

Tuesday- Wooden musical toys.

Wednesday- Play camping gear, toy farm. tool sets.

Thursday- All of their plastic toy animals.

Friday- Their little people zoo and it’s accessories.

Saturday- Legos, Melissa and Doug pounding toys, toy laptop.

Sunday- Roadway floor mat, and water doodle thing.

Everyday toys- Ben’s Thomas the Train set, Ben’s cars, Ellie’s dollhouse, Ellie’s stacking blocks, their big set of blocks, balls, stuffed animals, fort building supplies, and all of their puzzles and books. They can also have access to their coloring stuff if they want it.

So really, there are only a few toys in each box because I tend to get rid of anything that truly goes unused. I also put the less awesome boxes on days that we don’t play in their room as much. B.J. works most Saturday and we rarely have a play date on Saturday (meaning we are in their room a bunch) so they the coolest box on Saturday and a pretty simple box on Sunday when we are out or napping most of the day.

They kids really seemed to like opening the box this moring and we cleaned up a bit before nap time. Putting 5sih toys in a box was pretty simple for them.

I think I’m going to like this system. If you decide to try it, let me know.

Cool.

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We Four Kings Update

by Meg on January 12, 2012

Hey! How’s it going?  We four Kings here in Louisville are doing just fine. I thought I would write a quick update for you all.

The Christmas season was a fun one for us. Ben, Ellie, and I trotted on down to Texas for two weeks in the beginning of December, sans B.J. (he had to work.) We saw lots of family and the kids had a blast with all of the attention. The rest of the month was quiet, which is normally how I like it.

B.J. has been working a ton. This 100% commission job is tough for our family, but it has been such an obvious opportunity to learn dependence on Jesus. We’re trying and He’s providing.

Ben has been growing like a boy, tall and fast. He like to act like a dinosaur (“RAWWWWRRRRR”) and jump off of EVERYTHING. He’s learning manners and his speech is picking up quickly (New funny words: Gee-gup=grandpa, waagers=water, muk=milk, ludge=love.) He will drive anything he can get in his big puppy dog hands on. And perhaps my favorite Ben thing is his new desire to “nuggle.” He can melt his momma’s heart, that kid. “Lugde you, momma.”

Ellie has been our problem child as of late, and not because she is misbehaving. No, she’s a sweetie. It’s her little head that is causing us trouble. We think she has been having petit mal seizures, which are also known as absence seizures. She had a EEG done this week and we are now being referred to a specialist. The doctors don’t seem too worried and we aren’t either. We are trusting our heavenly Father to take care of our baby, while we try everything we can to care for her.

I am doing well. I know I have been quiet on the blog, and honestly it is because I have had some personal stuff going on since about October. I felt like it was best to stay quiet on the blog front so that the personal stuff didn’t find its way onto the un-erasable blogosphere. I’ve missed writing and resourcing. Hopefully I will find my way back soon.

Here are a few pictures for your enjoyment… trust me, this is just a few of the hundreds of good ones from December.

Ben and Ellie checking out the dolphins at the Texas State Aquarium with Mimi.

Ellie showing off for her MawMaw.

Ellie and Ben riding in the back of the truck on the ranch with Deedee.

Ben and the cow checking something out.

Us back at home with B.J., opening presents.

Tagged as: we27kings

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31 Thoughts: Susannah Spurgeon

by Meg on December 28, 2011

I am just finishing a short biography about Susannah Spurgeon by Charles Ray. Here is a quote from the book:

“I gratefully adore the goodness of our heavenly Father in directing my beloved wife to a work which has been, to her, fruitful in unutterable happiness. That it has cost her more pain than it woul be fitting to reveal is most true; but it has brought her a boundless joy is equally certian. Our gracious Lord ministered to his suffering child in the most effectual manner when he graciously led her to minister to the necessities of his servants. By this means he called her away from he personal griefs, gave tone and concentration to her life, led her to continual dealings with himself, and raised her nearer the center of that region where other than earthly joys and sorrows reign supreme. (…)”

- C. H. Spurgeon (in his preface to Ten Years of My Life)

… led her to continual dealings with himself (God.) God gave Susannah Spurgeon a life work (directing the Book Fund) that would lead her to continual dealings with himself. We can assume that means that her work was not easy and that she continually found her own financial and personal (emotional/physical…) accounts bankrupt. God had not given her everything that she needed to complete her work so that she would continually have “dealings” with God.

Motherhood is that difficult work for me. I find that I am everyday, sometimes by 9am, at the end of my rope. Before the kids even nap I am prone to anger and all I am doing is looking to hurry up the end of the day. But, it is also true that if I will continually deal with God, and ask him to make up for my shortcomings, I am provided everything that I need. I can be peaceful, kind, gentle, patient, and FUN. But only if I will continually deal with God. I think that he designed it this way and I am thankful for a difficult work that will lead me to continual dealings with God, because I might not come otherwise. 

Tagged as: 31 thoughts

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31 Thoughts: Socks

by Meg on December 27, 2011

Today I am thinking about how socks make great impromptu mittens for toddlers hands when we need to run outside.

Also, when do you guys take your Christmas decorations down?

Tagged as: 31 thoughts

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Merry Christmas!

by Meg on December 24, 2011

 

We didn’t get a Christmas card out this year. So, here’s hoping this will suffice.  Thanks for reading this blog, no matter how sporadic the posting. Merry Christmas.

 

10 And the angel said to them, “Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. 11 For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. 12 And this will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger.” 13 And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying,

 14 “Glory to God in the highest,
and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased!”

 

 

 

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