Deirdre, Author at JDaniel4s Mom

Deirdre Smith writes/owns JDaniel4’s Mom. After twenty years as a elementary school and technology resource teacher in Northern Virginia, she became a stay at home mom in upstate South Carolina. Her blog features ways she and her 5 year old are exploring learning, crafting, creating healthy meals and living life to its fullest. Deirdre can also be found on twitter as @jdaniel4smom and on her blog's FB page. You can also check her out on Google+.

Using Coinstar at Bi-Lo

March 19, 2012 By Deirdre

I am trying to help JDaniel learn more about money. When I had the opportunity to try a Coinstar at my local Bi-Lo, I decided it would be a great way to help JDaniel learn a little bit more about money. It is right beside the machine with the claw that picks up toys that JDAniel would love to try, but I had never used the Coinstar before. Using it meant paying a fee and I just didn’t what to pay it. Well, the Coinstar is now no-fee if you select a Bi-Lo gift card as the way to

When I explained to JDaniel that we would be shopping with a gift card after using the Coinstar, he was thrilled.

We have a coin jar that has been been sitting in the cabinet since he started potty training. The idea was he could earn money by remembering to use the pottty. It was a great idea, but not want ultimately helped him learn. It took a lot of time and practice.

The jar has just been sitting in the cabinet for months gathering dust. He reminded me that we could use those coins for this project.

We also looked under cushions and in my purse and found a little change.

Once we had all the coins gathered, we dumped out his jar. There were some stray items in his jar and we set them aside. When there were only coins left, we sorted them by type.

After exploring them, we put them in a plastic container and headed off to Bi-Lo. The Coinstar machine was right in the front of the store right near the games I try to avoid. When I asked JDaniel to find it, he knew right where it was.

JDaniel was eager to dump them right in the machine and start the coin conversion process, but we read all the directions before doing so.

It was so easy to follow the directions on the screen telling me how to use the Coinstar.

When I was done reading, JDaniel finally got to dump the coins in.

It took no time for the Coinstar to tell us what coins we had dumped in.

The receipt and gift card came out quickly.

JDaniel was ready to shop for the food items of his dreams. He ended up with a box of Trix and one of Vanilla Wafers. He was in heaven until he realized the cereal would have to wait until breakfast and the Vanilla Wafer had to wait until after dinner.

It was so easy to follow the steps in the coin conversion process by reading the messages on the screen. I will definitely use the Coinstar again even if it is near the “claw” machine.

Disclosure: I have been paid (at Coinstar’s request) to try and blog about Coinstar’s
products/services as part of a Collective Bias ( #CBias) shopper insights study . All
opinions are my own.”

Oreos Birthday Lunch and a Memory for Muffin Tin Monday

March 19, 2012 By Deirdre

Oreo is turning 100 this year. In honor of their birthday, I created a birthday lunch. I made it at night while JDaniel was asleep and he found it first thing in the morning.

He decided we needed to celebrate Oreo’s birthday over breakfast. I decided a ham and cheese sandwich with cookies and fruit wouldn’t make a bad breakfast.

Oreo is great all during the day.

My sisters and I played a lot outside when we were little. The house that we lived in when we were really small had a big backyard. While we played there a lot, my mom also took us to local parks a lot too. Sometimes we headed out in the morning and other times in the afternoon. It probably depended on when she needed a change.

She would usually bring a snack for us to have during our outing. I remember enjoying getting to enjoy Oreos when she bought them as our snack. We didn’t get cookies often and so Oreos were a treat.

Recently JDaniel and I went with friends to explore the local science center and park and brought some of the Spring Oreos with us to have for dessert after lunch!

Both children loved getting to have Oreos as a special treat just as I did when I was little.

It looks like they are starting their own Oreo memories.

Have fun writing about your earliest OREO memory! Remember that this is a four-month campaign that will follow moments and memories from childhood to adulthood, so start with a young memory and then we will move up from there.

OREO is celebrating its 100th Birthday by encouraging all of us to take a moment to slow down and celebrate the kid inside. Celebrate with us for a chance to win $200! Simply follow these two steps to enter:

1. Add your photo or video to the OREO Moments Gallery

2. Come back and reply below describing your photo or video, and tell us about your earliest OREO memory

This is a sponsored conversation written by me on behalf of Oreo. The opinions and text are all mines. Official Sweepstakes Rules.

St.Patrick’s Day Craft for Kids- Simple Rainbow

March 17, 2012 By Deirdre

I was in charge of the St. Patrick’s Day party in JDaniel4’s preschool class on Thursday. I looked and looked for a craft or game to play with the children and couldn’t decide on what to do.

It was during a trip to my local grocery store while looking at school supplies that the idea for this craft came together.

Everything in the craft was gathered from the school supply area or the pharmacy section.

Supplies:

Colored Dots

Cotton Balls

Unlined Index Cards

Directions:

1. Draw three arches on each index card prior to passing them out to the children.

2. Give the children two sheets of dots to place on the arches.

3. Pass out cotton balls for the children to glue to the end of the rainbow.

Read.Explore.Learn.- Leprechauns Never Lie

March 16, 2012 By Deirdre

Welcome to Read.Explore.Learn.! This meme was designed to be a place for you to share the learning opportunities, crafts, field trips, and other activities you have done this week that tie into children’s books.

I look forward to seeing the ways you have learned with and explored books.

Steps:

- Link your activity below.

- Please place the Read.Explore.Learn. the badge on your post or create a link back to this meme.

- Please try to visit at least three of the other people that have placed links below and leave a comment. I will visit each of you and leave a kind comment.

- If you are not linking up an activity and are just visiting, please try to stop by a few of the links below.

My Book Tie-Ins of the Week:

St. Patrick's Day Activities: Leprechauns Never Lie Learning Fun

The leprechaun in Leprechauns Never Lie by Lorna Balian is a very tricky guy. Ninny Nanny and her Gram are in dire straits prior to catching the leprechaun. Once he has been accidentally captured when Ninny Nanny falls over a log and onto him, the leprechaun appears to forget where he has hidden his gold.

The leprechaun first tells them that he thinks it is in the straw that was to have been put on the roof of the thatched house to repair the holes that exist there. Ninny Nanny tries spreading it on the ground and finds moving it to the roof is the best solution.

Then he says it is in a pile of branches under a tree that should have been taken in as firewood. Gran sorts through branches to look for coins and Ninny Nanny carries them into the fireplace.

Next, he says it is in the river. Ninny Nanny has to drag buckets of the water to a water barrel outside their house that is empty when dropping it on the ground fails to keep the water from flowing back into the river.

Finally, he remembers it was moved to the potato patch that is filled with potatoes that Ninny Nanny had been too lazy to dig up. After digging up all but one plant, Ninny Nanny is furious that the treasure can’t be found.

She is so upset that she releases the leprechaun in a fit of anger. He runs as fast as he can away.

That night Ninny Nanny and Gran have potato soup by a warm fire made of wood Ninny Nanny brought in. Later in the night, the leprechaun returns after they have gone to sleep to retrieve his gold from under the last plant.

I love that Ninny Nanny and Gran along with the leprechaun both end up with treasure. This is such a fun book to read. The brown and white pictures are filled with humor and whimsy.

What did we do?

We upcycled the wipes container and made it a treasure chest. Inside the treasure chest was pinto beans and shamrocks. JDaniel had to dig for the shamrocks using a little rake. After a few minutes of raking, he decided to use measuring spoons instead.

Once he had found all of the shamrocks, he decided to just transfer the beans back and forth between the treasure check and the container I use to hold the pinto beans.

Wipe Container Becomes a Storage Container

When we finished playing with the beans and shamrocks, we put plastic bags into the wipe container. We put the container in my car so, we will have plastic bags and a hand to store treasures ( acorns and small rocks we find during outings, dirty clothes, and more.

Shamrock Cookies

JDaniel loves to eat cookies and make them. We made shamrock cookies to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day and to share with friends.

What did you do this week?

Last year I reviewed Leprechauns Never Lie and shared a shamrock hunting activity on The Book Chook.

Quest to Find Answers to His Questions

March 14, 2012 By Deirdre

Our days start with questions.

“Is it morning yet?” JDaniel shouts from his bed upstairs.

“I think I see light outside my window. Do you see the light?” he continues his questioning.

Sometimes it isn’t a shout but, it is a whisper in my ear made after tiptoeing down the stairs.

Once the first questions are answered, he is ready with the next set

“What can I have for breakfast?“

“Can I look in the fridge before I decide?”

“Is there still leftover pizza?”

“Can I have ice cream? It is a dairy product , isn’t it? Don’t you let me have dairy products at breakfast time?”

Once breakfast has been eaten, the questions shift to non-food questions.

“Can I watch a show or use the iPad?”

“Will you play with me before you shower?”

“Do I have to go to school? Can’t I just stay with you?”

“Won’t you be lonely without me?”

“Do we have to get in the car now?”

Once we get in the car, the questions shift to building connection questions.

“Are leeches and worms in the same family?”

“Can you tell me the name of every type of cat the you know?”

“What were my favorite sleepy time friends as a baby?”

“ What are all the books you know about frogs?”

“Why can’t I have the window down?”

“Why is there pollen?

The questions barely end after we get to school and I walk him to his classroom.

They start over again as soon as we get back in the car on our way home.

Similar questions to those asked at breakfast are asked again during lunch.

Once lunch is done, the questions swirl around activities we will do in the afternoon.

“Do I have to have quiet time?”

“Will you play with me first?”

“Can we play outside?”

“Is the pollen bad today?”

“Do you have a craft planned?”

“Will I get a treat if go upstairs for quiet time without fussy?”

“Does this counts as fussing?”

“Is quiet time done? Hasn’t it been a long time? Isn’t five minutes a long time?”

“Where is my shoe?” “Did you put it somewhere?”

“Can a friend come over?”

These questions will continue until dinnertime. When new questions will be asked.

“Why can’t I choose the food for dinner?”

“Why can’t a cheese sandwich be what I have for breakfast, lunch, and dinner?”

“ Can I have some of Dad’s green tea instead of milk?”

“Can I use hand sanitizer instead of washing my hands?”

“Can I just have five pieces of meat and five peas?”

“Is this tomato a vegetable or a fruit?”

“Why are most things we call vegetables fruits?”

Following dinner these are the questions said most.

“ Do I have to take a bath?”

“Can I play light sabers in the dark with Dad?

“Can we read two or three books instead of one? Two are good for me.

“Can’t we just snuggle?”

“Can I have another hug if I get in bed?”

“Can I have more water?”

“Are all bats nocturnal? Why didn’t God make me nocturnal? Can’t I be nocturnal?”

“Why am I in bed when I’m not tired?”

“Would you say that frog and alligators are in the same family?”

“Why won’t you answer questions after nine o’clock?”

“Will you come check on me?”

“ Will you always love me?”

Finally the questions end and it is silent.

I think that while he is finally sleeping he is still thinking of questions to ask.

He is building connections, testing limits, finding understanding, and constantly learning through questions.

I am left with two questions.

What will he ask tomorrow? Will I have the answers?

This post is linked to Mrs. Matlock’s Alphabe Thursday.

Cooking with Kids: Making Simple Irish Soda Bread

March 14, 2012 By Deirdre

I am so thrilled to be sharing how to make Simple Irish Soda Bread on No Time for Flashcards today. It is one of my favorite blogs on the web. Allison’s had amazing ideas and great activities to do with the children. It is my honor to be guest posting on No Time for Flashcards while Allison is spending time with family.

Please stop by and check out my post. You are going to love this recipe as well as No Time for Flashcards.

Pause Life for a Moment- Sue’s News, Views ‘n Muse

March 13, 2012 By Deirdre

I love to visit Sue’s blog Sue’s News, Views ‘n Muse. She has a wonderful writing style that flows. Sue is a huge fan of spending time with family. The posts that she shares about her family as some of my favorite. I met Sue via Mrs. Matlock’s Alphabe Thursday. She is regular on the hop. I am so blessed to stop by to visit on Thursdays as well as other days of the week.

Pausing Life for Some Mommy Maintenance

Thanks to our good friend JDaniel4’s Mom for inviting me to guest post. This blog is always a delightful place to visit, and I am excited to be a part of it today. I especially like the idea of pausing life for a moment, and though I’m not always good at it, I’m a lot better than I used to be!

Let me begin with a question. How often do mothers of young children take time out for mommy maintenance? If things are the same as they were when I was having babies, the answer is probably “not often enough .”

Back in the day, my sometimes frazzled and frequently sleep-deprived friends and I were influenced by Anne Morrow Lindbergh’s collection of essays called A Gift from the Sea. It’s a little dated for women today, but I think many of her thoughts and concerns about mothering still hold true. Maybe you’ll agree: “With a new awareness, both painful and humorous, I begin to understand why the [Catholic] Saints were rarely married women. I am convinced it has nothing inherently to do, as I once supposed, with chastity or children. It has to do primarily with distractions. The bearing, rearing, feeding, and educating of children; the running of a house with its thousand details; human relationships with their myriad pulls…woman’s normal occupations in general [tend to] run counter to creative life, or contemplative life, or saintly life. The problem is…how to remain whole in the midst of the distractions of life.”

Of course, our children are far more to us than distractions and putting their needs ahead of
our own when necessary is a meaningful gift, one that every mother willingly makes. But the remaining whole is important too, and the trickle-down effects of a mother’s good self-care benefit the entire family. Christ was the most selfless Servant imaginable, yet even He knew when the time had come to withdraw and nurture himself, particularly when demands upon Him were heavy: “…and great multitudes came together to hear, and to be healed by him of their infirmities. And he withdrew himself unto the wilderness, and prayed” (Luke 5-15:16). We all need those moments of solitude sometimes, and we need to make time for them, giving ourselves permission to withdraw into our wilderness, too.

Solitude

The water is wide and shimmers clear.

Each tree’s reflection, straight and tall,

stands witness to the majesty

of God, who has created all.

In quiet places He draws near;

let any who would seek release

withdraw into the wilderness

and find in Him a sense of peace.

Who needs peace more than mothers of young children? Every woman needs to be able to withdraw into her own wilderness sometimes, to pause life for a moment and just be. And the chances are that it won’t happen without some planning. That’s where mommy maintenance comes in.

Mommy maintenance can mean anything from lying on the front lawn watching the sunset to walking under a harvest moon, feeding hummingbirds, or cutting fresh flowers for the kitchen. For some people, it might mean learning or creating, praying or meditating. It will always mean doing things that bring a smile to our lips and comfort to our hearts, things that remind us of the girl we used to be and the “depth” woman we have become. Lighting a fragrant candle, curling up in my rocking chair, and writing a poem is one of my favorite ways to unwind. Spending time with good friends is a great rejuvenator, too. Whatever you decide to do, make sure you do it with a smile. And leave the guilt behind!

Irish Symbols in a Snack for Muffin Tin Monday

March 12, 2012 By Deirdre

This week you will find many posts on Irish symbols. There will be shamrocks, rainbows, leprechauns, and pots of gold incorporated into meals and crafts galore. My favorite Irish symbols are created in the bread sections above. It is the Claddagh.

When I was a teenager, my mom gave me a Claddagh ring and I cherished it. The meaning behind each of the sections is powerful. The hands symbolize friendship, the crown symbolizes loyalty, and the heart symbolizes love.

I chose to use two different sides of the bread in this snack for a special reason. I wanted to use the difference in color as a talking point with JDaniel. Friendship is something that isn’t limited to race or culture. The simple slices of bread gave me a jumping-off point to talk about that. We don’t have a lot of diversity in our preschool and church, but I would love for JDaniel to have friends from lots of different places and cultures in the world.

The snack also features four different shamrocks. There is a green spinach one with a cheese shamrock across from it. One of the muffin cups has peach yogurt with green Smarties and the other has vanilla yogurt with mandarin oranges. The last two are more abstract shamrocks minus their shamrock stems.

The colors of the Irish flag are also featured in this snack. The flag’s colors are Orange, Green, and White. There is a lot of green and orange in this lunch. The vanilla yogurt is the only white in it.

Two More Irish Symbol Snacks

I have been so blessed to get to shared two other Irish symbol snacks via guest posts on wonderful blogs that shared great ideas of things to do with your children.

Yesterday I shared How to Craft a St. Patrick’s Day Snack on Quirky Momma’s Kids Activity Blog. This snack featured spinach hummus under a rainbow of colored peppers with cauliflower clouds.

Last Wednesday I got to share a post called Getting Children to Eat New Foods: St. Patrick Loves Veggies on The Iowa Farmer’s Wife.

I am so thankful that each of these blogs gave me an opportunity to share on them. If you haven’t had a chance to check out these guest posts, please take a moment and visit them today.

Oh! The Circle on Mom’s- Creative Moms contest ends on the 15th. I am currently in 36th place. I would love to make it into the top 25. If you have a moment and would like to vote for me. It would be wonderful. You can vote daily.

This post is linked to Muffin Tin Monday.

Read.Explore.Learn.- The Bump and Remembering My Bump

March 9, 2012 By Deirdre

I look forward to seeing the ways you have learned with and explored books.

Steps:

- Link your activity below.

- Please place the Read.Explore.Learn. badge on your post or create a link back to this meme.

- Please try to visit at least three of the other people that have placed links below and leave a comment. I will visit each of you and leave a kind comment.

- If you are not linking up an activity and are just visiting, please try to stop by a few of the links below.

My Book Tie-Ins of the Week:

The Bump by Mij Kelly just arrived in my spring shipment of books from Tiger Tale Books to review last week. I couldn’t wait to share it with you this week. I really love it.

It is a story about a mom sharing how she went out getting ready to have a baby. It is a story shared with the child when he is a little older but, you only get a small hint at the beginning of the story that it was about them.

The mom gathers things the baby will need, she gets scared, she feels unprepared, and she feels love for this wonderful child she can only see when she is at the doctor’s office.

She shared the healthy and unhealthy things she eats as well as how big her clothes got as the bump grew.

This lovely book covers so many of the things I went through when I was expecting. The wonderful pictures by Nicholas Allan make you laugh and cry. His pictures of the growing mom and her world are such fun.

What did we do?

Made Fruit Smoothies

When I was expecting, I craved smoothies and milkshakes. Meet the Dubiens has a fabulous post called that gave me great hints on smoothie making.

JDaniel loved the idea of making smoothies. We made several different kinds using the Dubiens formula of frozen fruit + a liquid + yogurt.

We made strawberry yogurt+ frozen pureed strawberries + berry fruit juice.

Next, we made vanilla yogurt+ frozen pureed mangos + milk.

Finally, we made peach yogurt + frozen pears + milk.

The post on smoothies on Meet the Dubiens suggested getting small freezer containers to freeze the leftovers. We did just that.

Snuggled Up to Read Books for Young Children

I received the spring books being released by TigerTale Books at the end of last week. This week JDaniel and I curled up with one of these favorite baby blankets to read them along with one that came in a previous shipment. ( Watch for a giveaway for this book to go up on Sunday.)

Theme Party Ideas: Star Wars

March 8, 2012 By Deirdre

I am guest posting on The Iowa Farmer’s Wife called Getting Your Children to Eat New Foods: St. Patrick Loves Veggies. (It actually went up yesterday and I had no idea it was up.) The post shares how to get your children to try new vegetables by serving them in new ways. Please stop by and leave a comment on that post. It would make my day.

JDaniel loves Star Wars and robots. A few weeks ago he announced that he was going to have two parties. One party needed a Star Wars theme and one needed a robot theme.

I totally agreed. He was very surprised that he would be allowed to have two parties. He was totally not in agreement with one of the parties being snack time at preschool.

He really thought he should have a party at home and one a Chuck E. Cheese. He was sure he should have the two parties that way.

Well, here is what he had.

Preschool Snack

I found really cute robots on Pinterest that were pinned from a blog called Gifts That Say Wow that I thought would be a great treat for the students in JDaniel’s class to take home. They were super cute but, were made of candy and a juice box. I decided to switch out a box of candy they used for the head of the robot with a box of raisins.

The robot contains a juice box body, Starburst feet, candy bar arms, and a raisin box head.

Gifts That Say Wow used larger plastic treat bags and I should have. I found small bags at a dollar store and decided to see if they would fit the robot. They were too short. The bags only reached the robot’s necks.

I decided to ask the teachers to serve them with the cupcakes I was also bringing in instead of having them go home with the children. The robot’s heads were sort of loose and would probably fall off and the parents won’t find the newly decapitated heads for a while in their children’s backpacks.

The cupcakes were super easy to make and came out just the way I pictured them. (That rarely happens when I create things). All I needed to do was cut colored Twizzlers into small pieces to represent the two sections of a Star Wars light saber. The rainbow pack of Twizzlers came with purple licorice sticks that made great handles and the red, green and blue licorice sticks make great light sections.

JDaniel was so proud of both creations being taken into his class at school.

Party at Chuck E. Cheese

The treat bags for this party were really treated containers. I have to be honest and say that it was easier to build the robots than it was to try to put duct tape around the Pringles containers. It was a challenge to keep it smooth. Yes, it was a challenge that I lost.

It was fun to fill the light sabers when they were done. I was so fortunate to find Star Wars coloring packages in the dollar section at Target and Star Wars fruit chews at my local Bi-Lo. JDaniel insisted that there needed to be blowers and candy in the containers too.

The cupcakes for this party were so easy to decorate. JDaniel received a sticker book from my next-door neighbor for Christmas that contained tons of bonus stickers in the back of it. I decided they would make perfect cupcake toppers.

They came out so well. All they really are is stickers on the poster board with plain toothpicks stuck between the stickers and the poster board. I did cover the sticker with contact paper to try and insure they would stay stuck to the poster board.

Once again JDaniel was thrilled! I have to say that I was thrilled too.