It's a controlled chaos

The most common comment I get is "Boy, you have your hands full!" Original, I know. I guess people don't know what else to say when they see me with 3 little ones running in opposite directions (that's not true, I usually strap them down somehow, he he he). Anyway, it's always a struggle to keep their little minds busy especially when we're trapped inside with rainstorms or hurricanes (yeah, Gustav was FUN!).

I swiped a good sized cardboard box from the office and taped it shut on all sides. I cut a halfmoon shape near the bottom of one side for a mouth. I them drew large circles out of plain white paper and made eyeballs out of them. I then cut an oval shape out of orange construction paper and voila! An Elmo bean bag toss.

For the bean bags: I took some scrap fabric (doesn't have to match) and stiched up about 6 bags. I cut 5 inch squares, stiched them together with a 1/4 inch seem, wrong sides together, then flipped them right-side out. Don't forget to leave one small corner unstiched. I added some old dry beans and stiched close the corner. OR you can just buy some bean bags if sewing isn't your thing. My kids love this thing. Keeps them entertained forever. I also use the beanbags for games of "hot potato."

Another cheap (free actually) way to keep a stir-crazy kid entertained is to give them an old catalog and let them rip the pages out. Sure it creates a mess, but then make a game out of the clean up! That and my favorite saying is:

"Happiness is realizing that giving our children a good home is more important than a clean home."

Don't mind wasting a couple of dollars? Give your kids a box of tissues and let them pull them all out. It's amazing the amount of joy a one year old can get from this. Plus, I just shove all the non-slobery tissues back in the box, and that box goes on my nightstand, lol.