Allowance

Today in church during Priesthood/R.S. we talked about tithing. That brought up the idea of teaching our kids, and allowing them to gain experience paying tithing, which naturally led to the idea of allowance. This has been a subject my husband and I have talked about extensively, and it was again discussed at dinner tonight. What it comes down to is we have no good ideas how to give our children money to practice paying tithing. We have a few years before the idea of "allowance" becomes an issue, but it's something we hope to reconcile before Greta reaches the age where she can ask for money, and have a grasp on how to spend and save. We know we want to give her money to use, but we don't want to end up teaching her that she can get something for nothing and/or that she'll get paid for doing the things that she's expected to do as part of a family (i.e. chores). So we're at a loss.

What are your thoughts? Did you receive an "allowance" growing up? How do you plan on giving money to your children so they can learn the essential skills of money management and the blessings of tithing?

"How old is she?"

How do you label your babies after their first birthday to people who ask their age? Do you still do it by months?

Surviving Public Bathrooms

I have an aversion to public restrooms. I hate them and will do a lot to avoid them. However, I had the most pleasant experience at one this week. Our local mall is totally family friendly. They give out crayons and coloring pages to the kids, have a play area for kids, the food court and play area have hand sanitizer dispensers and I discovered their bathrooms recently. Mall bathrooms are usually nothing to rave about. But this one is. I walked back to the bathroom area and the entry is a sitting area with comfy couches and several changing counters with all the amenities for diaper changing. The mens and women's rooms are to the left, but to the right there are two nursing rooms and two family bathrooms. The family bathrooms are the coolest. They are normal bathrooms, plus a miniature toilet, sink and hand dryer close to toddler height! Plus, they have one of these. It's a fold down wall seat to keep your kid in one place if you need to go and don't have a stroller, etc. I think these are so cool. And much better than the other option (see the cute baby to the right) I found while searching for a pic of a wall-mounted chair. So for someone who holds it at all costs until she gets home, I was quite pleased with how family friendly this bathroom area was.

When you gotta go, you gotta go, but what are your essentials to having a pleasing public experience???

I'm on the hunt...

Hi Ladies,
I need your expertise in the sweetest, cheapest, "best deal" baby shopping department. Last month we found out that our little #2 is a girl. We are totally and completely thrilled, but I feel less prepared for this teeny little one than I did with our son, being that I have lots and lots of boy stuff, but little to no sweet girly stuff. Lately I've been searching for warm clothes for the arrival of our little bundle of joy and have yet to find even a basic onsie for less than $5-10. I know lots of you ladies are the mothers of girly girls, so I was hoping you'd be willing to share any hints or tips you might have. Like lots of you, we're working on a budget here, so the less expensive the better.
Thank you, thank you, thank you. Just when I started to feel like an "expert" in this mothering thing, another exciting adventure enters our lives. I love it!

And the winner is...

The winner of the Peekaboobaby nursing cover is....

Trenda!!

Congratulations!!

Visit Peekaboobaby, choose your fabric, and then e-mail Julie at julie@peekbaby.com

For another chance to win, visit this post on Tales from the Crib!

Many thanks to Julie!!!

Last chance

Tonight is the last chance to sign up for the Peekaboobaby Freebie. Spread the word!! Tell your friends about Peekaboobaby!

Blogging templates

Hi all,
I have checked out some of the contributors blogs and I have to say they look so good! I have been wanting to spruce mine up a bit to make it more personal but can't seem to get beyond a basic template offered by blogger. So how do you all do it? By that I mean change the background, etc. I have searched on the web for some tutorials and haven't found anything that is easy to understand. I have a basic knowledge of html, if that helps. I would appreciate any tips or hints!