Healthy Wealthy Living

My daughter recently turned four! Before her birthday, we kept throwing around different celebration ideas and party themes. Should we have a cookout in our yard and have a kiddie pool, jumpie house etc? Do we hold off-site at a  type of kiddie playland? All great options… options we’ve done for previous parties . This year we wanted to do something a little different. Since she had been asking to go on vacation or as she calls it, “Bacation”, we decided to go on a long-weekend getaway to celebrate her birthday. But, where do we go? We have been told by many that she is a little too young to truly enjoy Disney. We needed to find a fun-filled, spot that was geared to little ones. We decided on Story Land in Glen, New Hampshire. Story Land is a family-friendly park geared for families with kiddos ranging in ages from 2-12.  Last year, we went to another well-known theme park in Pennsylvania but unfortunately had an awful experience. We swore to never go bac...

You know the drill. You put your child to bed, tuck him/her in, say goodnight, leave the room, then called back in to check under the bed for "monsters".  You check under the bed, in the closet but no monster. Your little one swears it is there. How do you convince your very imaginative child that the very scary monster is not there? I recently stumbled upon an awesome, interactive storybook, Matthew's Monsters by Stephanie Sisler. I'm so glad I did! The story is about a 6 year old freckled little boy, Matthew and his quest to find the five scary monsters he keeps imagining.  This 31 page book is now one of my daughter's favorites. Not only does it tell a story, but it teaches colors and color word recognition, counting and has pages that your child can finish coloring in. Matthew's Monster s ends with Matthew realizing that the noises in fact were not at all what he imagined. A message that your child is sure to find comforting. I have never recom...