Over spring break ( pictures to come) we took Addie to the Betty Brinn Kid's Museum and she loved playing in the sandbox so as we were driving home Mitch told me about his brother Matt and how he had made a bean box for his boys to play in and it sounded like a great idea to me. It's a fun activity for Addie to do indoors and it's not as messy as sand, which is great. We decided to institute the "bean box" right away but the only container that we had to use that was deep enough for her to sit in and not as easy to get the beans outside of the box, was our cooler.


Well the cooler remained the bean box until I got a bigger plastic tub to put them in. This one gave Addie a little more leg room and a lot more playing area to dump, scoop and bury to her hearts content.The rule we made for the "bean box" is that there are no beans that go outside the box, if beans go outside of the box Addie gets a warning, and if she does it again then the bean box goes away for awhile. Addie does really well with this rule and usually before I even get it out or mention it she says "no bean" and waves her little index finger back and forth, indicating that she knows the rule of no beans outside the box. I actually read this great article about using "instead" phrases to replace the usage of "no" and Mitch and I have been trying to apply it and I can already see the affects. Although there are still times when we say "no" like when she wants to cross the street or something that might hurt her, but we try to give her an instead sentence that tells her what she can do which is more positive. For example if she is coloring and starts to color on the table I would say something like, "Addie, instead of coloring on the table let's color on this page." I think it's an amazing technique and I don't feel so awful saying "no" all the time. Anyways that was a little tangent. On we go.

Lucy Loveday a friend of mine out here in Wisconsin had me over a few weeks ago to show me how to make these cute reversible bags. I was so excited for her to teach me because I had been wanting to make bags to use as grocery sacks because I hate collecting the plastic ones in droves! Anyways,so she taught me using a simple pattern and voila, seven grocery bags. I just completed them this week so I haven't had a chance to use all of them in one go yet, but I took two shopping on Monday and they held tons more stuff and heavy things too, like two pineapples in one! and at our grocers there is a discount for bringing your own bags, BONUS!During the week I've used them as library bags and as a little tote when Addie and I go to the park, I can tie it right to my bike. Anyways, thanks to Lucy for such a versatile bag.