Top Five Fridays - Genius Diversion

It's the last few hours of the day. Everyone is hungry, getting tired, and restless. Sound familiar? If not, you're going to have to clue me in; it's practically a nightly occurrence at our house.

Well, here are five little bits of geniusness that I've read about and stolen from other moms. (I always laugh when someone compliments me on an amazing idea; if amazing is what you get for copying or tweaking another person's great idea, then I guess I am the queen of amazing.)

1. Crayola BathCrayons. I got this one from my mother-in-law. She sent some of these in a package to the girls a few months back and I tell ya, it is like she is babysitting my kids from 3,000 miles away. They are so happy. I can sit outside the bathroom door with a book or my guitar for what feels like hours! (In mommy land, twenty minutes of happy children that aren't asking for something can truly feel like hours.) I must warn you that these bad boys can stain the grout in your tub if you are not faithful about wiping off the walls that the kids colored on - well worth the effort in my opinion.

2. Want to make bath time quite time? Impossible you might say? Not at all. Give them each a succor. When my girlfriend Heather told me about this one I must admit that I thought it was kind of gross. I thought "ew, they will dip it in the water and they are surrounded in their own filth". Then I quickly realized that my kids drink the bath water during every bath anyway. No matter how many times I say "Icky water, you don't want to drink it" they quickly forget. Well, I choose my battles and don't enforce this one. I'm sure they've put things in their mouth that I am unaware of that is much worse than their own bath water.

3. Painting the fence. At least that is what they THINK they are doing. Give the kids a bucket of water and some paint brushes and tell them to paint the fence. By the time they get all the way to other end you can point out that somehow their "paint" has "mysteriously" disappeared and they need to start all over again. Entertainment for a full hour the first time we tried it at our house! This one is thanks to my girlfriend Amanda whose mother-in-law clued her in on this mothering trick of the trade.

4. Saran wrap. It can do more than just make you mad for not sticking to everything it is supposed to stick to, only to do a fabulous job of sticking to itself instead. Saran wrap a big section of your sliding door windows and then equip your crazy kids with stickers and dry erase markers and let the fun begin. It peals right off when you are done. I have not done this one myself, but my friend Heather did this one day while watching my kids and they loved it.

5. "The Special Box" I read about this one in a book. Gather some favorite toys and books or anything to your liking and put it in a box. Let the kids decorate it and pronounce it "The Special Box". The box only comes our during certain times when mother needs it (i.e. when you want to pull your hair out). It amazes me what can be done with a few things that are just lying around in your house and calling it "special" can do.