Trey, my preschooler, caught me. He opened up the trash can to throw something away and saw his precious piece of artwork. Slimy, sticky, crinkled and in the trash. He took it out, dripping with goo and handed it to me. Saying, “Why did you throw my art away”? I was crushed (so was Trey). I took that gooey piece of “art” and told him I didn’t mean to throw it away and that it was so great. It is still sitting on my kitchen table, starring at me. So… I decided I needed to start displaying his art some way. Some of his art is really great so I “file” it away. This one may not be “file” worthy but to Trey it is not worthy of the trash. I need to come up with some fun way of displaying his “art”.

Here is the beloved art from today. I don’t even know what it is but I’m sure Trey knows.

These are some ideas I came across.

 
The “art of the week” display.

Simple clothes pins would be cute.

This could look great in our playroom.

This may be cute in Trey’s room. He’d love it.

Or you can take pictures of all the art and hang that up too. I love this idea.

Have fun and good luck!

So, as I was starting to write this post I thought I would do an experiment. I started making bubbles from the ingredients (see below) and thought it would be fun to add some food coloring and give the bubbles some COLOR. Uh-oh! Has anyone ever tried this before? Messy, yucky and duh, food coloring stains. So I thought I’d look up a recipe for colored bubbles. Chemistry.com was the only website I found with ingredients for colored bubbles. Ya, no thanks! Then… I hit the mother load! The first ever non-staining disappearing bubbles. Coming soon! Can’t wait. http://www.zubbles.com/
The green bubble.

The blue bubble.

The red bubble.

Until then. Need bubbles? Here’s a recipe to make your own. Enjoy this time of year, go outside, blow some bubbles. Did you know bubbles even help clean the air? It’s true.

Tear Free Bubbles ( This is great for small children! )

Need:
1/4 cup no-tears baby shampoo, 3/4 cup water, 3 tablespoons light corn syrup

Instructions:
Mix all ingredients and let bubbles settle. Have fun.

This little guy has been naughty.

(I know hard to believe with such an adorable sweet face, right?)
Terrible “2″’s come early in my family. Grady will be two May 3rd.
The wonderful people over at babycenter.com must have known I needed some advice. They sent me an email with “positive” ways I can teach my kids “right from wrong”. Here are the tips they give. Good luck, Bella Moms!

What you can do
Among the “positive” approaches that often work with toddlers:

• Do as I do. Children imitate adults, so if you show good behavior, your child will take your lead. If you want him to say “please” and “thank you,” be sure to use those terms with him and others.

• Speak respectfully. Your child is more likely to listen if you talk, rather than yell, and if you make eye contact with him. (I love this. How simple, get down on their level eye to eye and talk to them. Hmmm, I wonder why this works? Makes sense doesn’t it?)

• Tell him what you want rather than what you don’t. For instance, say “Touch the kitty gently,” instead of “Don’t hit the kitty!” Or, “Please sit down,” instead of “Don’t stand up in your chair.” (Or “Let’s not throw dirt in each others faces” instead of yelling “STOP throwing dirt in your brothers eyes. Unfortunately, this is what I have to deal with on a daily basis.)

• Make some simple rules. Establish a few household rules, communicate them to your child, and enforce them consistently. Don’t expect your toddler to know better. Simple rules that protect health and safety, such as no running in the street and no hitting, are reasonable for toddlers to follow. Don’t give him a long list of “don’t touches.” You’re better off keeping things like the VCR and your fine crystal out of his reach.

• Reward the positive. Positive behavior will continue and even increase if your child gets attention for it. “Thanks for sharing that toy with your sister,” is one example, or “Wow, you put your cup on the table.”

Anyone have tips on how to teach a 2 year old (or 4 year old) right from wrong while using “positive” approaches? It’s harder than it sounds isn’t it?

Bella Readers…

I am inviting you to be some of the first people EVER to see Kiersten (our very own granola girl) & Eric’s wedding photos! Sloan Photographers, the amazing people who documented the wedding, posted a little blurb about these two love birds.

 You must CHECK. IT. OUT!

CLICK HERE

Can you handle the amazingness??? SLOAN PHOTOGRAPHY ROCKS!!!

P.S. That handsome dude licking his chops while staring at the cake is my little Nephew, and JAMIE (our very own Mommy expert) son!

It’s a rainy day today, therefore, rainy day schedule is ON! Since my little G-man is still sick I don’t want to take him to the mall or Chick Fi-la (which is what I would normally do on a rainy day).
I found this craft idea and I think it is perfect for boys. Girls would love it too but let’s be honest, you have to be a little more creative with boys. Teaching them to paint hearts and coloring princess stuff is not super fun for them. I think my boys will love this. Hope you try it out! Happy rainy day.

Sensory Bottles (using old water bottles or gatorade bottles work great too)

Directions for Sensory Bottles-

a. Lava bottles: fill 1/2 water and food coloring, and 1/2 baby oil. It produces a lava lamp effect when tilted.

b. Snow globes: fill half with water and half with corn syrup. Add glitter, beads, paper clips etc. The corn syrup makes the glitter fall slowly for dazzling effects.

c. Discovery bottles (not pictured): fill with rice and small objects like dice, small toys, paper clips etc. As you roll the bottle, different objects will come to the surface to be discovered.

Once filled, simply fill the bottle caps with hot glue and turn them on. Let set until dry.

So lately my life has been consumed by sickness. This cold and flu season for me and my kids have been awful. I have had two sinus infections since November, pink eye, sore throat/ flu symptons, etc. My children have had sinus infections, back to back double ear infections, pneumonia, pink eye, and I’m sure more. With all these coughs going on and 2 children under 4 I’ve had to figure out how to help them sleep at night with no medications since cold/flu cough medicines have been banned for kids under 4. If you haven’t discovered Vicks Vapor rub and humidifiers yet, you should. The best thing is that it is under $20 bucks at Walmart. There is also a medicated liquid you can add in your water. It smells so good and helps with the coughing.

One trick you should know (and I already looked this up on Snopes.com and it is “undetermined” as a hoax)
Put a big glob of vapor rub on your child’s feet, rub it in and put socks over them. Do this every night until the cough is gone. My kids have slept so well during these illness and I feel this has really helped.

Here’s to feeling better soon… Cough cough!

As stated previously, I am the mother of the pickiest eater alive. Not only is he picky but he’s temperamental ( google dictionary def. = relating to or caused by temperament;
moody: subject to sharply varying moods
erratic: likely to perform unpredictably; “a temperamental motor; sometimes it would start and sometimes it wouldn’t”.
As I was saying. Picky and temperamental not a good combo for a mommy at 7:30 in the morning trying to get some food down her child’s throat before he heads off to school.
Lately, I have given Trey some choices ( giving him choices seem to get a result faster… sometimes).
Example: Strawberries, cheerios, fruit loops, (sometimes I’ll even allow “whole grain” Gold Fish) waffles, pancakes, cereal, you know, the usual good hearty breakfast.
I also tell him he can have peanut butter and pretzels. I like Peanut butter. It stays with you awhile and it’s good for you. So… Trey has been enjoying a little dipping snack. Peanut butter and waffles. Maybe on V-Day I’ll make them pink and heart shaped. We’ll see what kind of “temperamental” mood I’m in that morning. Good luck with your picky eaters and enjoy this yummy breakfast or snack.

Valentine’s Day is approaching fast. I am in need of some inexpensive decor for my house. These are so cute and what I like about them is my kids can do them with me and if they get pulled down, or broken, I won’t care…that much. 

Directions:

Cut colored paper into 3/4″ strips. Fold them in half, or if you want some hearts that are twice as big, splice two strips of paper together at the bottom of each heart with double stick tape. Curl the loose ends around a chopstick or pen.

String the heart garland together from the bottom up.  You can get string from a fabric store or use thread.  Push your threaded needle up through the bottom fold of each heart, then use double stick tape to sandwich the thread between the two halves of the curled tops.

Tada! Beautiful for your house (I think I’ll hang them from my chandelier in my kitchen, or in your cubicle at work… aka Cammie, you’re welcome.)

 
Have fun!

I found a free Valentine’s Day printable at How About Orange

I am going to let my 3 year old pass these out at his preschool Valentine’s Day party next week.  What a great alternative to just a Valentine’s Day card. I ♥ them!

We are making small heart shaped sugar cookies that will fit perfectly in these bags.

Download your own Valentine’s Day Gift Bag visit at How About Orange ~ here

** Jamie

I would like to share a little bit of information about the Bella Girls (I think this information may be helpful to some of our newer readers).  To date, The Bella Life has been about the “Bella Trio” (Bella Trio = Debs, Keighley and Myself {Camberley}). 

Debs (aka – MOB, I’m Outta Control, Debcakes, Mom, Mum, Mrs. Creative) 

Keighley (aka – European History Enthusiast, Hypochondriac, Desperate Housewife, Lover of Carbs and Diet Coke)

(Keighely is the dark haired one)

Myself (aka – Cam Bam, Cam Bot, Obsessive Compulsive Over Achiever, Social Media Freak, Hater of Taylor Swift and Carrie Underwood)

Since the creation of this blog, a short 6 months ago, the three of us have become BFF’s.  Where we use to go days without speaking with one another; now, we only go hours without speaking to one another.  As a result, I can sincerely say, my appreciation and adoration for my Mom and Sister have grown tremendously.  So, it is with GREAT pleasure that I announce the newest editions to The Bella Life.

JAMIE - Jamie is our fabulous Sister In-Law (it takes one brave lady to marry a man with 4 sisters).   She is so fabulous that we once told our brother “if you ever divorce Jamie we would probably side with her”.  In our eyes, she can do no wrong.  

 Jamie is the mother of two little boys (Trey – 3 and Grady – 18 months).  Not only is she a ”bomb dot com” sister in-law, she is a wonderful mother.  Therefore, we have asked Jamie to join The Bella Life to share her experiences as a mom. Over the next couple of weeks, you’ll notice that most of our kids’ recipes (she has the world’s pickiest eater), kids’ crafts and kids’ health posts will be written by her.  Yay!

KIERSTEN – Kiersten (the youngest girl in our family) has also decided to join The Bella Life.  Since she is a new Newlywed, we have asked her to share her newexperiences (New Experiences = decorating an apartment, moving to a new city {Denver}, cooking for two, et cetera).  Since she is now living in beautiful Denver, we have deemed her “Granola Girl” (Thanks Debs!). 

Currently, Kiersten is looking for a new job and waiting for school to start up again (she missed the first part of the semester because of her wedding and honeymoon).  In the summer/fall she will begin Nursing School – blood, needles and stitches “oh my”. 

First there were three, and then there were five ~~~~~

~Camberley