Dream dates

My daughter used to have horrible nightmares, something that the pediatrician said was fairly normal for kids her age. She would wake up in the middle of the night screaming at the top of her lungs. Eventually she would just end up in bed snuggled up with me. As much as I loved being able to snuggle with her at night, my husband and I thought it would be best to foster an independent child and give her the confidence to sleep in her bed all night long.

We went to visit my parents over the holidays and my mother started asking her each night what dreams she was going to have. I feel in love with this idea, so we implemented it into our nightly routine. We read books, sing songs, and I ask her two simple questions:

1. What was your favorite part of today?
2. What are you going to dream about?

She started asking me if I would be there, in her dreams. Well...why not? Tonight we are meeting in a garden filled with big pink flowers that we'll pick together. Some nights, we have picnics. One of my favorite dream dates was the night after it snowed and we meet up to catch snowflakes on our tongues.

I'm curious, have you ever had a dream date? If not, you should defiantly try one. They are the best!

Planning a road trip

I haven't been able to spend a holiday with my family since 2000. Now that I have a 4 year old daughter and 1 year old son, I want to share my families holiday traditions with them. My hubby started a new job a few months back and his time off hasn't accumulated much. That means the kids and I will be traveling on our own and he will fly out to meet us. Our trip will start in the Midwest and end in Southern California.

Something you should know about me, I'm a huge planner and I love to organize. I'm starting to plan for our trip even though we don't leave for three weeks. Our route is going to depend on the weather. Snow means we'll take the southern route through New Mexico and Arizona. If the weather looks clear, we'll take the beautiful Colorado and Utah route!

The first thing I do is plot out the two different drives. I make plans for a two day trip as well as a three day trip (safety first) and plot potential overnight locations. I also do some research to find some fun activities to do along the way so that when the kids (ME) get antsy, we have some potential fun things to do.

I plan to stock the van to the max! The key will be to make everything accessible to me as well as my eldest so that I don't get distracted while driving. I plan to put a cooler in between the two front seats filled with milk in sippy cups, drinks and protein rich snacks. (I'm thinking some energy drinks might make their way in there).

In between the kids, I'm going to pack a tote full of toys, games, and activities for the kids that are at their arms reach. I'll have a few "new" toys (previously loved toys that no longer make it out of the bottom of the toy box) and keep them as little surprises. I'm lucky to have a DVD player in the van. (That will keep my daughter entertained for hours). Some other important mentionables are a trashcan (pinterest style), pillows, blankets, road emergency kit, and of course...lovies.

I'll let you know how our trip goes and what I think I could've done to make it smoother. If you have had some road trippin' experience, please share your pointers below!