Kids have so much energy. I can only wish I have it too. Kids can’t stay still. They have to constantly move. At times, it gets frustrating for parents especially when they need to do chores and run errands but just couldn’t get it done because of the kids. My personal go to activity for my little one when I need her to stay clear of my way is to keep her little hands busy with play dough.
I love this activity because it is so easy and it is always a win! Telling my 5-year old that we are making our own play dough automatically sets her mood for fun. It shifts her focus right away. All I need to do is help her get started with the measurements. I used to do everything with her when she was only two. But, now that she is older, I trust her to do all the hard work, the kneading, rolling and cutting. She loves the idea of being independent. Accomplishing a task on her own gives her confidence a boost.
Choco Loco
Here’s our DIY NON-TOXIC PLAY DOUGH RECIPE
INGREDIENTS:
1 1/4 cup all purpose flour
1/2 cup salt
2 teaspoons cream of tartar (I skipped this last time and the play dough that we made still came out nice)
1 tablespoon cooking oil
1 cup warm water
1 teaspoon food powder to color (I used neon gel food color because it looks brighter)
OPTIONAL: Few drops of therapeutic grade essential oil (I match my scents with the colors that I use)
These play dough balls smell great!
Purple dough – lavender essential oil
Yellow dough – lemon essential oil
Orange dough – orange essential oil
Green dough – eucalyptus or mint essential oil
Red or pink dough – floral scent like rose or geranium
Blue dough – energy booster essential oil
Brown dough – chocolate essential oil
INSTRUCTIONS:
Mix all dry ingredients in a bowl adding flour, salt, and cream of tartar in small amounts to avoid a lumpy mixture.
Add oil and water to the dry ingredients. Stir well. Divide in smaller amounts.
Add the food coloring of your choice and mix well. Knead and roll until the consistency feels perfect to you.
Add few drops of essential oil if desired.
Store the playdough in an airtight container in the refrigerator.
Please feel free to download our FREE PDF PRINTABLE Math aid for 1st grader. Soon we will post a video in our YouTube channel using these printables for our daily Math drill.
August 23, 2021, our homeschool session at our local library.
CoVid19 pandemic created a different world for all of us. Yes, Esperanza has been homeschooled ever since she was 2 years old. Yzzabella started 100% homeschool this year after being on remote learning for the last quarter of 2019-2020 school year.
When Illinois shutdown on March 15, 2020, all schools transitioned to remote learning up to the end of that academic year. When 2020-2021 school year started back in August 2020, the schools only offered remote classes for the first quarter. It was during the second quarter when the schools started giving the families in-person learning option. Our family chose to continue with online learning until the end of the school year.
Over summer break, we researched on other options that are available and fit for our family’s need. We have Esperanza, she is too young to be eligible for the vaccine. Santi, Yzzabella and I have all been vaccinated. As parents, we wanted both our kids to be safe. Despite that, we are also aware of their need for socialization among their peers or age group. Thus, we asked Yzzabella to voice out her thoughts and to let us know what will work best for her.
She knew that we were doing research on all possible learning alternatives for her and her sister. She was insistent on doing remote classes for another year due to the surge of delta cases. The continuous mutation of the virus will create more variants in the coming days. She knew her sister need to be protected. She knew that her Dad, being immunocompromised, is at high risk. She also knew and understood that having been vaccinated does not guarantee that we will never get infected.
Yzzabella’s school did not offer any remote classes this year. There were times when we received conflicting school communications regarding mask mandates and their Covid19 protocol. Until one day, we got the message about the school board deciding not to implement obligatory mask on students and staff regardless of vaccination status. That was our turning point. We decided to pull Yzzabella out of school which she agreed. We then registered her as a full time homeschooler just like her little sister.
All the different public health measures that the schools are currently implementing does not directly affect our family. But, we too, feel the effects of this pandemic. We are not complaining. We strongly believe that we all need to do our part to help keep our community safe, protected and healthy. We are navigating our lives on a daily basis by adjusting what needs to get adjusted in order to conform with public health mandates like staying at home, wearing mask, social distancing and getting vaccinated.
As a homeschool family, we used to have more activities that involved learning outside of our home but that drastically changed during past 16 months. We stayed home for an entire year. We took advantage of delivery and grocery pick up services that our local stores offer. We skipped parties and even close family get together. We took our kids out from their extracurricular activities. They stopped going to martial arts school. They moved on with music school online instead of their one-on-one in-person lessons. As healthcare workers, we wanted our family to be compliant with the mandates for public safety. Like everyone else, we too, got stuck at home.
One thing that we loved to do during the lockdown was taking our kids out for joy rides a couple of days a week. We wanted them to enjoy few hours outside but still away from people other than those in our household. We let them play in our yard but they knew the danger of the virus. They always went back inside the house when there were other people around. It was an extremely long 2020 but it made our family closer. It made us realize the importance of time spent well with family.
When the world stopped, our family changed our routine. We canceled our planned trips and vacations. We kept our kids at home. Santi and I went out only for necessities that couldn’t be delivered nor picked up curbside. We did everything online except for our jobs because we were not fortunate to be able do it remotely. The past year was definitely a trying time for our family. There was a time when it seemed like there was nothing left but hope. Yes, we held on tight and believed that things will eventually get back to where it was.
Finally, the world reopened. It was great news but it also came with some terrifying news for our family. Both Santi and I were struggling with health issues. Santi was diagnosed with cancer. I had an ectopic pregnancy. We had nothing good left other than the kids being healthy and us still having our income to support our needs. Our family life seemed upside down. The things that we were looking forward to as family were all put on hold because we had to restructure our plans to accommodate Santi’s therapy and my healing. It was exhausting for us and the kids but life goes on.
We all have countless blessings from up above that oftentimes are left unnoticed. Simple things like having our family close to us or being in an area where everything is accessible. Our family has always been grateful for our parents’ health, the kids’ health, our safety, our jobs and our capability to continuously share our blessings in form of church tithe. We are not wealthy but God had always and is still providing for us. He planted our family in a place where we have everything that we need. When things get tough, we always remind ourselves how other people from other parts of the world live their lives suffering with zero sight of a better future.
Yes, we are being tested. We are struggling but unlike others we did not lose our jobs during the pandemic. Having our jobs also gave us the advantage of having medical insurance that we especially needed for Santi’s therapy and my constant need for doctor’s visit and varied testing during my bout with ectopic pregnancy. At that point in our lives when we both were too weak to travel and the kids have not yet been vaccinated, the only thing that got us excited was when our local library reopened.
It may be boring to some but it was great news for our family. It was sometime during the first quarter of this year when our library reopened its doors to our community. We knew we couldn’t go anywhere soon. Even if there were more places that tried to reopen for tourist, our family needed to stay put. We didn’t want to complicate Santi’s treatment schedule. We also didn’t want to take any risk. There was nothing left around that we were interested in doing other than getting back to an activity that we used to do with the kids. Visiting the library twice or thrice a week is one of our family’s favorite. Our library’s reopening provided us the opportunity to spend time leisurely in its premises and to hold our homeschool session in a safe environment at least few days a week.
Seeing other families with young kids like ours in the library make us feel some sense of normalcy. Seeing young children running and hopping around full of energy bring back life to an otherwise empty room. It is sad not being able to see their smiles but most kids seem not to care whether or not they see their friends’ pearly whites. It is us, parents, that worry most about the possible mental health effects that all these events might bring to ourselves and our children. Indeed, kids are more resilient than adults. Their inexperience make them worry less about what is going on these days but it doesn’t mean that they are free of the negative effects.
For now, we are dwelling on the fact that the country remained open and has no plan for another shutdown. One step at a time. One day the world will heal. One day we will all heal. One day we will get back to normalcy but that will be a different kind of normal.
Being a full time working Mom in the U.S. requires more than just overseeing the kids, their care and their activities. You have to be a hands on Mom because everything falls on you. Some families have a wide network of support but others don’t. Unfortunately for me and Santi, we have no one else other than my mother in law. My Mom and Dad are both in the Philippines. I have a brother and a sister here in the U.S. but they also live far from us.
There was a point when we really needed to hire a babysitter because of our work schedules. That was the time when I felt the need for one of us to give up working to take care of the girls and avoid breaking our bank with tremendously high childcare expenses. Since then, Santi and I tried to get our schedules ironed out each month for us to make sure that we would be able to tackle all of our babysitting needs. To help cut our childcare expenses, I had to move from evening shift to night shift. I didn’t really like that idea but it was the only option for us at that time.
Americans are very independent. That is one thing that I learned over the years of living here in the U.S. That is also what I needed in order to survive the American way of living. As a Mom, I play different roles on a daily basis. Other than Santi, I have no one else to help me. I have to shift from being a cook, chauffer, teacher, tutor, entertainer, nurse, doctor, dance instructor, and everything else you can think of. I am not complaining. I am just stating a fact. Despite all the ups and downs, I am happy and will forever be grateful for my family.
Speaking about the different roles that I take as a Mom, my personal favorite is being a cook. I love food. I love to cook especially for my family. Planning our family meals come easy for me because I grew up watching my Mom who cooked for us after work. Even if we had a live in cook in the house, my Mom prepared our dinner every day. She is the reason why I love the kitchen. I am very blessed for having my Mom who trained me in the kitchen. Without the example that my Mom set, I wouldn’t be the kind of Mom that I am to my children.
Anyway, here’s one of my favorite recipes as a child that my Grandma used to make us.
Toddlers are always enthusiastic about learning. Take advantage of their curiosity. Introduce them early to math and science concepts. This activity aids in the development of their fine motor skills and eye-hand coordination.
When toddlers start school they will be taught to read and write. Exposing your child to activities that strengthen their hands will help them get ready to hold a pencil before even going to school.
Activities like playing with small objects which make them use their pincher fingers are great at strengthening those tiny hands.
You can use varied materials based on availability. (Disclaimer: This activity should be strictly supervised by an adult. Depending on what you choose to use for this exercise, it could involve tiny materials that are choking hazard. PLEASE WATCH YOUR CHILD while doing this.) You can use beads, beans, small pasta or if you like it to be more colorful and fun like I do; you can use orbeez or water beads.
Esperanza had so much fun doing this activity. She isa water lover, so I gave her what she wanted for motivation. We used a 28 qt Sterilite plastic container as our water table.
There are water box or sandbox tables that are especially made for kids. I always try to find affordable hacks. I’ve seen those water tables for kids priced between $40 and $250. It is too pricey for me. I didn’t want to spend much on something like that.
We already have a kiddie table which is perfect for her height. We use the table to hold the Sterilite container that I used for her activity. The only thing I paid for was a jar of orbeez for $8 from amazon which was actually a leftover from last summer.
Esperanza was extremely excited to see how science worked by changing the tiny hard orbeez to soft colorful beads or balls. She was watching it grow for an hour. When it was big enough to pick up, I gave her a couple of containers to transfer the beads and sort them out by colors.
As she was sorting them out, I had her count the beads. I saw how she was having difficulty picking up the tinier orbeez which was really good for her as she was able to practice her pincher fingers.
P.S.
My Sterlite cost me $4.99 at Target which you might already have at home. Again, the choice is yours. You can buy or you can DIY.
Hi, my name is Sophia. I am a real mom living a real life. I have two lovable girls and a wonderful husband. I don’t live a perfect life nor am I trying to portray one. Life is not perfect. We all have our imperfections. We should not exhaust ourselves to achieve perfection.
I am medical laboratory scientist by profession. Together, my husband and I try our best to raise our girls. As a wife, I am trying to support my husband in all his endeavors. As a daughter, I try to take care of my parents despite being thousands of miles away from them.
Like you, I have struggled a great deal in the past. I decided to use my hardships to make me a stronger person. Yet, from time to time, I still feel weak. I still stumble and fall BUT I ALWAYS TRY TO RISE AGAIN. My intention is to encourage people like me to show what real life is.
I post photos of my real-life experiences because I believe that every moment is perfect. Every moment in our lives should be captured and saved. My Instagram will not show perfect portraits. I capture true to life moments of myself and my family.
Clearly, I am no celebrity nor am I a popular influencer. I am not some 20 something femme fatale with the perfect face and figure to show off. I am a 40+ family-oriented career woman. I am not an expert make up artist who can enhance my facial features to make myself picture perfect.
I am a simple woman. I do not wear high-end branded clothes to fashion around. I do not use professional cameras to take perfect looking photos. I am not a writer nor am I a book author who can entice you to keep reading my content. I am simply ME.
I use my phone camera to take photos. I capture memories that I find significant. I believe that the real essence of life can be found in our day to day hustle and bustle. I do not fantasize perfection. I do not attempt to make believe that I have not struggled.
The world has to know that IT IS OKAY TO EXPERIENCE SOME STRUGGLES. What is not fine, is allowing struggles to defeat and consume your life. Strive to bounce everytime you fall. You are strong. We are all strong. We are human beings equipped with all necessities to survive and live life to the fullest.
Not everyone will like my posts. There will also be haters but I am here to SPREAD POSITIVITY. It is okay to BE REAL. It is okay to show your flaws. Remember, WE ARE ALL IMPERFECT BEINGS in God’s perfect world.
Living in the Midwest has been quite an experience for me. I lived all of my younger years in the Philippines where the temperatures range between mid 70s to upper 90s. It is summer all year long in that part of the world. Most people have natural sun kissed tan because every day is bright and sunny. Totally different from the four seasons that Midwest has.
Back in the Philippines, people long to experience winter. Everyone is curious how the snowflakes taste and feel like. People wish for a white Christmas which they only see in the movies. Come on, who does not like white Christmas? Even after living here for almost two decades, I still anticipate the first day of snow. I do dread driving when it snows but I love winter.
Although some people might think otherwise, winter to me is wonderful. The girls love to sled and play outside with us. It is one of those small things that cost us nothing but matters a lot especially to them. After few minutes to an hour being outside playing, it feels perfect to just sit on the couch, watch the snowflakes fall and disappear as it touches the warm window glass, sip some hot cocoa with peppermint and smell the burning woods from the fireplace. That, to us, is an ideal winter day.
Life and Lego Blocks #library time for this #little #girl
What is your big dream? What is your goal in life? This girl’s goal today is to build a sturdy Lego tower.
Life in the U.S. is not as easy as people from other countries envision. I was browsing some posts on Instagram during my break time at work.
As expected, 80-90% of all the posts I saw were definitely perfect looking termed by many as “instagrammable.” Everything flaunted beautiful portraits, astounding places, impeccable travel and vacations, winning moments, and so much more. In short, life seemed to look perfect.
Whether we want to admit or not majority of the famous influencers, bloggers, vloggers, social media celebrities are mostly from the U.S. or some other western places. For those who have had no experience visiting the U.S. nor have had the chance to live in the U.S., seeing all the wonderful IG posts and the seemingly perfect lives of people here make them think that U.S. life is all about good things and the greatest American dream.
As an immigrant, I feel the need to educate people around the globe that life here is not all milk and honey. Like everywhere else, life in the U.S. also has its own set of good and bad. The big American dream does not come easy. It is not as simple as a blink of an eye.
Like the Lego tower that my toddler is building, you have to have a strong foundation in order to successfully move to a higher level and eventually reach your goal.
Similar to building a Lego structure, achieving the American dream needs careful planning. It is built from the bottom up. As I was watching my daughter building her Lego tower, I realized life here is comparable to Lego blocks especially for the immigrants like me. We build our lives one step at a time until we reach our goals.
A structure is conceived in the mind of a child and block per block it is slowly materialized through constant addition and restructuring. To me, this is how American dreams are made of. Big dreams arise from our minds then step by step we make it come to reality.
If we don’t add blocks to build our dreams or if we don’t take effort to reach progress, we will end up broken and wasted. Therefore, I encourage you all to keep yourselves motivated! Stay happy! Stay on track, and you’ll eventually embrace your big American dream.
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MIXED KNOT 