Why I love Once Upon A Child

Have you ever been to this store? 
Prior to moving, a "Once Upon A Child" store opened very close to the Animal Hospital I worked at.  I soon became a frequent flyer there!  They are a second hand store, and are a pretty large chain! At first I was apprehensive, thinking they're gonna have smelly and stained clothing, but I was wrong.   They only accept gently used clothing and gently used toys.  I've found a lot of nice inexpensive clothes for my daughter. I've also been able to bring in clothes that don't fit her and get money on the spot for them!  You can do a trade for new stuff from the store! Why spend full price on kids clothes when they grow out of them so fast?! 

 Onward to the heart of this post...I found this Dora house, with tons of stuff!

Tons of stuff!

 

 

She wanted to lie down with the Dora people

So Detailed!

 A mini van, play set, store, and pool along with stuff for the inside; beds, chairs, tables, toilet, even the kitchen sink!....just tons of stuff, oh and it is battery operated so Dora talks to her in English and Spanish when she pushes different things in the house!  I saw it in the store for $35 dollars. It seemed like a great deal, but I first went home and did a little google research and found out that Yes, it's an awesome deal.  So I went back later that day (luckily they still had it) and I got it.  We saved it for Christmas, and put all the parts in a bunch of different boxes so she had a lot of presents to open up.  This was defiantly her favorite Christmas present! She plays with it all the time....no joke as i'm writing this she's walking down the stairs from her nap asking if her Dora house is out. 

We don't have a Once Upon A Child store near where we live anymore, so sad. Whenever we're in a town with a Once Upon A Child, I make sure we stop!  If you have this store and haven't checked it out, you must! 

Wizard of Oz Sensory tub!

Let me preface with this:  I loved the Wizard of Oz as a child (after I got over my fear of the scary flying monkeys). I always seemed to get Wizard of Oz themed gifts for birthdays and Christmas, so I've got a nice little collection of  Wizard of Oz memorabilia.

The other day I was rummaging through a box of some of my childhood toys and found all these plastic Wizard of Oz figurines! Yes, part of Tin Man's arm is missing.  One of our dogs growing up is to blame for that... If your interested you can actually still find them on eBay.  They're from the 80's.  I knew my daughter would love to play with them! I also knew she'd get bored after a short while, unless I could incorporate them into a sensory tub....  The hunt was on for something yellow for the "yellow brick road."  I picked up some popcorn kernels. The Great Value brand at Wal-Mart was less than $4 for 2 bags. I added some silicon cupcake liners, and some little shape connecter plastic things (whatever they're called).  Then ta-da!  This sensory box creation created at least 1.5 hour of fun sensory play the first time she saw it!

 

 

 

 

 I have some rice that I picked up too that I'm planning on dying.  I have to do some google-ing on diy instructions for that, and I'm then going to make another sensory tub.  I think it's going to be a dog park sensory tub, so stay tuned for that!  I believe sensory play is really important for all little children, and when it's this easy to make happen, why not!

What are happy pants?

Some people are jean wearing people, some are slack people, some are skirt wearing people, I'm a happy pants person!!
Growing up, I don't think my mom ever put me in jeans. Working at a fabric store, she usually sewed my clothes.  I think I first started to wear jeans in my late elementary years. Don't get me wrong, I wear jeans when I go out of the house. When I was working as a Veterinary Technician, I wore scrubs, but the minute I get home I take those off and find some happy pants! 

There I am with my happy pants on! My name is Ashley.
I suppose a definition could be handy:
Happy Pants: Any pants that have a stretch.  Comfortable, loose fitting, pants that are easily transformed to workout pants and/or sleeping pants. 
...and i'm a little on the short side so mine are usually too long. 
This is my daughter Tessie! I get to stay home with this little talkative ball of energy everyday now!

Some brief history coming your way:  I enjoyed being a Veterinary Technician for 5 years after going to Vet Tech school for 2 years.  I developed very personal relationships with clients, and enjoyed caring for their pets.  I assisted in surgery, monitored anesthesia, took blood samples, did therapeutic laser treatments, and the list goes on and on!  It's not an easy peasy job, but I loved the work. Just over 3 years ago I had Tessie, and I was so sure I wanted to keep working, which I did for her first 2 years of life, I had to.  We couldn't afford for me to stay home, but the desire to stay home with her was strong after she was born.  I didn't think I'd ever be able to, but things worked out. We made a move to Montana for my husband's job, and I'm now a stay at home mommy! 

Now that I'm a stay at home mom, I pretty much wear happy pants all the time!  It's wonderful!
In addition to my love of veterinary medicine, I love crafting, especially scrapbooking and paper crafting!  Now that you know what happy pants are, I can get on with this blog... I'll be highlighting adventures of a stay at home mom with fun things that we come up with, also showing off fun crafty things I come up with!  You can expect to see fun sensory project ideas as I strive to do more of these type of things with my daughter, along with lots more!  Stay tuned for what's to come...

Disclaimer:  I was not an English major, nor did I enjoy taking English classes, so don't expect proper editing or grammar in this blog, and any opinions are my own, it's just me, being...well me!