Introducing ~ Christy

I am a stay at home mom of four children ~ two boys and two girls ranging in age from 5 months to 14 years.  I am currently blogging at Snacks and Stories where I share our favorite books and fun snacks to go with them. 

Here at Totally Tots, I will be sharing many of the snack ideas in the monthly feature Little Books for Little Cooks. Looking forward to sharing some fun ideas with you!

Introducing ~ LaToya

I'm a single, homeschooling mom of two bouncing boys {Bubba and Chubba}. I'm also a grad student. I graduated from law school in May 2011 and am currently working on a Master's Degree in Social Work so that I can open up my own God-centered adoption and pregnancy center. I'm also a Sunday School teacher for the little ones at my church.

In my spare time (haha) I love to read novels, write, listen to music and watch old movies. I live for the quiet moments of the day which are few and far between with my rambunctious young men running around the house. I'm going to contribute to Once Upon a Book here at Totally Tots and I'm so excited to be a part of this great team of ladies. I blog about my life at Christian Momma.

Introducing ~ Michelle

I am an Elementary School teacher turned stay at home mom.  I really enjoyed  teaching 1st and 4th grade and am so excited to share my love of teaching and learning with my two daughters, Emily (4 1/2 year old) and Juliette (2 year old) and my wonderful husband Michael who is always there to support me on my different projects and ideas. Our family loves books, puzzles, cooking, crafts, music and most of all God. We are always looking for new and fun ideas
for learning about the world God created for us.

I am looking forward to being a part of Totally Tots and sharing some great hands on learning activities in the Totally Tots feature: Little Hands on ABC's and 123's.  You can also find me on my blog A Mommy's Adventures where I host stART a weekly book and activity link-up.

Introducing ~ Sarah

I’m striving to glorify God in all I do and live in the world and not of it. Supporting my husband and raising our children to glorify God is my ministry. We enjoy living as natural as possible. It’s been 5+ years down our organic-lifestyle road, and I’m constantly learning more and trying new things. My crunchy and green journey started when I was pregnant with Aaron, we took the Bradley Method class and I also began to make my own household cleaners. Since then, I think my friends and family might say I’m pretty weird in my homebirthing, babywearing, kefir & kombucha growing, grain soaking, Young Living oils wearing ways. But I’m okay with that.

Here at Totally Tots I will be writing for the What’s in the Tub? feature. Away from Totally Tots, you can find me blogging at Simply Sarah or networking on Twitter. In my (limited amount of) free time, I enjoy photographing our life with my Nikon and reading great literature with my book club. If I happen to be blessed with more time beyond that I paint. Mostly abstract. I love color and have many future paintings brewing in my head.

New and Updated Features for 2012!!

Over the last two months we’ve been working behind the scenes to tweak a few of our features and planning a fun new one for you all! Our new schedule and team of writers will start on the 1st of January, but we wanted to give you a little ‘heads up’ to get you excited about what is coming!!!

Ready for a little sneak peek into the 2012 Totally Tots year??

We are so excited to introduce a new feature called Montessori at Home! This once a month post will be written by Jodi and featuring ideas that are talked about in John Bowman’s ebook, Montessori at Home. John has also been writing monthly guest posts called the Montessori Minute over at 1+1+1=1.

While we are saying a goodbye to a few of our features {for now} and also a few of our writers from this past year, we do have many that will be staying with us and continuing on during the upcoming year as well!

Continuing Features and Writers…

In addition to the new features above, we also have some writers that will be switching around behind the scenes and taking over some of our current features. Here’s a quick look at the list of monthly features and the writers behind the posts.

~ Crafty Corner….Mama Jenn will continue to write this feature.

~ In My Heart…Val will continue to write this feature.

~ Little Hands-on ABC’s and 123’s ~ Michelle will be taking over this feature.

~ Mommy Made Printables…Carisa will continue to write this feature.

~ Now I Know My ABC’s…Carisa will be writing this feature.

~ Once Upon a Book…Maureen, LaToya, and Sara will be writing for this feature.

~ Play With Me…Jolanthe will continue to write this feature.

~ Simply Made….Sara will continue to write this feature.

~ Treats 4 Your Tot…Carisa will write this feature.

~ What’s in the Tub?…Sarah will be writing this feature.

Stay tuned over the next few days to meet the new writers that will be joining the 2012 Totally Tots Team! We’re excited to have some AMAZING ladies on our new team!

Introducing ~ Julie

I’m the Christian mother of two wonderful children (3 and 16 months) and I have now been married five beautiful years to my dear husband. We are a trilingual, multicultural family.

Before having children, I was a third and fourth grade teacher.  A little secret is that I was once pre-med, but God led me to realize that my calling was teaching children. My passion is Montessori, a passion that blossomed once my daughter was born three years ago. We do many hands-on learning activities at home, most of which are Montessori inspired. I am looking forward to sharing many of these with you in the Totally Tots feature: Little Hands-on ABC's and 123's. You can also find me at our learning blog The Adventures of Bear.

Introducing ~ Sara

As a former kindergarten teacher turned stay-at-home mom, I have embraced my new role as mother to a toddler boy and enjoy exploring, looking for bugs, and making sound effects for things that go "vroom." I've learned more about God's grace and provision for my life in the past 3 years as we have transitioned from two full-time salaries to counting every penny and cutting coupons. My husband, Ray, and Jonah (3 years old) are my favorite people in the world! We're also in the beginning stages of the adoption process from Ethiopia.

In my "former life", I taught kindergarten in a challenging urban school with a large ESL population--half of my students did not speak English--forcing me to think "outside the box." I have a degree in Early Childhood Education (PreK-4th grade) and a master's in Urban Education. Here on Totally Tots, I will be writing posts for Once Upon a Book and Simply Made.

Away from Totally Tots, you can find me in the Happy Brown House crafting, baking, and finding the joy in the journey of motherhood. Most nights I'm burning the midnight oil sewing for my Etsy shop, Stitches By Sara to raise funds for our upcoming adoption from Ethiopia or networking on Twitter or Facebook.

Introducing ~ Maureen

I am mom to 6 wonderful kids, ages 12 yrs. - 2 weeks. I've been happily married to my husband for a little more than 14 yrs, and we have had quite an adventure so far! We never planned on becoming a homeschooling family, but God laid that on our hearts when my oldest was 3 yrs. old. Now homeschooling has become a lifestyle for us. I have always had a passion for teaching, and it brings me such joy to see others learn.

Through the years I have had many opportunities to use my teaching skills. I've been active in children's ministry, especially at the toddler/preschool level. I've helped write curriculum and plan programs. For several years I taught scrapbooking at conventions and local scrapbook stores. Before becoming a stay-at-home mom, I was an elementary school teacher and taught 1st-2nd grades. In 2009 I started my blog, Spell Outloud, with the desire to give back in some way to the online educational community. I'm just amazed at the friendships and camaraderie that can occur in the virtual world.

I'm thrilled to be a part of the Totally Tots team and contribute to the Now I Know My ABC's posts. My prayer is that, while interacting with your children via educational activities or play, you draw close to each other and to God.

You can see what my bunch is up to by visiting Spell Outloud.com or following me on Twitter: @ SpellOutloud.

Introducing ~ Tara

I am a Christian work-at-home-mommy to my awesome preschooler! We have begun some informal homeschooling while also working on his speech therapy. “Little Man” is a curious, cautious-yet-sometimes-adventurous, goofy guy and I adore him!

I became a certified Christian Life Coach in 2008 and have focused on being a Mommy Mentor to other Christian moms as we walk on this parenting path together! This has naturally branched into what I love best – writing! I’ve written two e-books focused on helping Christian moms: “Raising Godly Children: What Every Christian Mom Should Know” and my newest one that is free on my website “Moms on a Mission”.

My newest venture is Mommy Missions, an online project designed to equip Christian moms of kids ages 10 and under with tools and resources to teach their children about God, the Bible and the Great Commission in simple and fun ways! My passion is to instill heart knowledge of God and the Bible into children and trust God to nurture the seeds and reap the harvest!

I am humbly privileged to help you teach your little ones about reaching outside of our own little world to reach others with Christ’s love and Good News in the Totally Tots feature Tots on a Mission.

You can check out more of my writing and teachings on my blog as well as iBloom, Heart of the Matter, Seeds of Faith, Cindy Rushton’s Time for Tea, the Ultimate Women’s Expo and the Ultimate Homeschool Expo. Please feel free to email me with feedback or suggestions at tara@ibloom.us.

Introducing ~ Valerie

We are thrilled to share another new team member with you! Most of you probably know her, or have at least been to one of her awesome sites.

Valerie is the mom of 3 little ones and the creator of these amazing sites:

• Christian Preschool Printables
• File Folder Fun
• Preschool Post
• Bible Story Printables
• Lapbook Lessons
• The Crafty Classroom

Valerie also has her own blog, The Crafty Classroom. It was Valerie who got me into blogging several years ago. I joined in with her Little Laplinks as a way to give back and look where it led me!!!! Not only was it Little Laplinks that got me blogging, Valerie has been an amazing friend behind the scenes. I am truly grateful for her and honored to have her on our Totally Tots team!

Valerie will be creating the printables for our next “In My Heart” series!

We are thrilled to share that these new printables will be based off of the amazing Seeds Family Worship CDs!!!

Valerie will be sharing a new printable every other week, beginning next week. She is starting with the first Seeds CD…Seeds of Courage.

If you would like to purchase any of the Seeds CDs, you can use this coupon code on their site…Or you can find them on Amazon, or on iTunes.

A HUGE thanks to Seeds for sending review copies our way, we are in LOVE!!! We even have a giveaway coming soon!!!!

Introducing ~ Cindy

I am a homeschooling mom to Emily (7) and Aiden (3) and wife to my best friend, Rick.  We've been married for 18 years. 

Before becoming a stay at home mom, I worked as a Human Resources Officer at a bank.  After the birth of our daughter, Emily, God truly changed my heart and showed me that working 50 hours a week was not what my family needed.   

Blogging has become my creative outlet.  I have just as much fun as the kids making crafts and creating fun, hands on ways for them to learn. You can find me blogging at Along The Way.

I am so excited to be part of Totally Tots! I’ll be joining up with Jolanthe for the Now I Know My ABC’s posts and can’t wait to share some of the fun crafts we’ve been creating.

Behind the Scenes at Totally Tots...

We have lots going on here at Totally Tots and although MANY moms make this site what it is, we have a few who do a lot of work and writing behind the scenes. Please click on each team member's name if you'd like to read more about us!

The managers of the blog...



Our contributing writers...

We also feature Mommy bloggers in a few of our features. If you have been featured, you are welcome to display this button on your blog if you’d like!



If you’d like to submit to Totally Tots you can contact the following writers (remove spaces when emailing):

• Crafty Corner: JennAtTotallyTots @ gmail.com
• Simply Made: happybrownhouse @ gmail.com
• Cute Tots: CarisaAtTotallyTots @ gmail.com

Above all, we hope to bring honor to Christ through this blog. Please read our mission here if you’ve never read it!

Introducing TOTALLY TOTS!

Welcome to the brand new TOTALLY TOTS blog! This blog was conceived and designed all in one night when I woke up out of a dead sleep around 2 in the morning. After lying in bed fighting the ideas racing through my mind, I finally got up and spent an hour on the computer getting them all out of my head.

After that night, I began to bring the racing ideas to reality, and took some time to see if this was really the direction the Lord wanted me to go. Doors just kept opening and ideas kept flowing, so I continued to go with it and here we are!

I was going to wait and launch when all of the details were ironed out, but then I realized that the Lord will take us on this journey together as we grow as moms of tots-together. You can read a bit more in my About post.

For now, we will be launching features as they are ready, with more and more being added as time goes on. Be sure to add us to your *blogs I follow* list or a reader so you can see when new things are added! I really just want this to be a great resource for moms of tots who are desiring to keep their young children at home and raise them to love the Lord!

So, I invite you to join me on this journey. You can add our sidebar button to your blog(html over there on the right), write a post on your blog to help spread the word, or just join in as a reader(follow info on the left sidebar, subscribe info on the right sidebar)!

About Totally Tots...

Totally Tots was designed for Christian moms who are choosing to keep their tots at home in possible preparation for a homeschooling future. I don't doubt it will be a resource for all moms of tots, but it grew out of a desire to give moms who keep their tots at home as a place to come together and grow together.

What is a tot?
Here we define a tot as any child between the ages of 12 and 47 months (1-3). Some people call them toddlers, we call them tots!

Totally Tots was designed by Carisa (Christian, missionary, homeschooling mom of two boys,and a baby girl), you can read about the beginning of the blog here. After almost a year online, the blog grew to over 1000 subscribers and became to much for Carisa to keep up with, so she partnered up with Jolanthe and they now maintain the blog together. They are also assisted by an amazing group of mom bloggers. When reading a post, be sure to look for the *written by* button at the end of the post which will tell you who wrote that particular post. This button will also link back to the writer's home blog.

To read Our Mission, click here.
To see our very first Introducing Totally Tots post, click here.
To read more about our main features, click here.
If you'd like to meet our *Behind the Scenes* team, click here.

Totally Tots was designed with the idea of bringing many moms of tots together, we hope you'll be one of them!

Introducing ~ Jenn

I am a Christian and I love my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ! I am striving to be a Proverbs 31 woman! I am happily married to my best friend who is a wonderful man who seeks the Lord with all his heart. I am the homeschooling mama of five little ones; one girl and four boys. Our sole princess (KJ) is 6 years old. All of our boys came in sets of two! My oldest set of twins (DC & JJ) are 4 years old and the youngest set (JI & TJ) are 2 years old. I love spending time together as a family (all seven of us). The kiddos always keep us laughing! Prior to having children I was a high school math teacher. I have my BA in Math and a Masters degree in Education. In my "spare" time I enjoy scrap-booking, though blogging seems to be taking its place. I currently have three blogs. Mama Jenn is my family/homeschool/craft/everything blog. "Brown Like Me" is a book review blog featuring books with "brown" characters. The Homeschool Resource List is a collection of all the free online resources that I have found for homeschoolers.

Here on Totally Tots, I will be contributing to the Simply Made and Once Upon a Book features. I am thrilled to be part of Totally Tots and I look forward to seeing how the Lord will use this awesome site to bless other moms as it has so blessed me!

Introducing ~ Heather

I’m the mother to four great kids, three girls and a boy. I am an eclectic homeschooler and I love teaching and learning beside my children. I love writing and feel that it is a gift that God has given me and a calling that I want to use to honor Him. I will be writing for Get Real with God~Inspirations for Moms here at Totally Tots. I hope you take time to read and gather biblical insight that we can apply to our lives as mothers. My blogs are at: From Tiny To Teen ~ homeschool product reviews, my homeschool adventures, this is my main blog. Babies & Ballpoint Pens ~ school, home, and reviews, and Novelized ~ this is where I explore my writing. Lots of samples of my writing and novel excerpts are here. If you love to read, please check this out. I'd love for you to stop by and get to know me.

Introducing ~ Carissa

I’m the joyful mother of six children, ages 14 to 2. Homeschooling is a way of life for us and I’m so thankful to be doing it. I’ve been married to my high school sweetheart for nearly 17 years and started loving Jesus when I was just a tot (5). My heart’s desire is for mom’s to see that the Bible is relevant in all things: How you raise and teach your children, your marriage, your homes, your finances, your joys and sorrows. God’s covered it all!! My passion is to encourage moms to KNOW that God is for them! I will write honestly in sharing how God has dealt with me in this regard in Get Real with God. I share about the rest of my life and my beautiful family on my blog: My Life on a Taffy Pull. Please join me as we seek God and find His will for us during this precious time of raising Tots.

Introducing ~ Carisa

I am a homeschooling mom of 2 boys {Pac Man and Krash}, and a baby girl {Ladybug}. I am happily married and have been for over 10 years. Our family has lived and served in one of America's most crime-filled inner city neighborhoods since 2004 as full time missionaries.

Before becoming a mommy, I taught public school Kindergarten for 5 years and I also hold an Early Childhood (Birth-K) degree. My passion through this blog is to bring Christian moms of tots together. I only hope I will honor the Lord in all of my efforts to bring us all together and keep the blog well designed, functioning, and useful along with Jolanthe! Currently I am writing/overseeing posts on the blog for the following features: In My Heart, Cute Tots, Treats 4 Your Tot, Play with Me, & Mommy Made Printables. You can follow me at my personal blog, 1+1+1=1 or visit me at Lil' Ladybug if you'd like! I am also on Twitter: @1plus1plus1.

Introducing ~ Jodi

I am not who I used to be, thanks to God working through me over the years. I met my high school sweetheart (Hottie Hubby . . . AKA Brian) almost 17 years ago on a blind date (that I organized) clueless as to how my life would radically change in the year to follow. Through an organization called Campus Crusade for Christ, I came to know about Jesus while visiting my husband's sister on a college shopping weekend. I discovered that you could be in a sorority, wear trendy clothes and know Jesus. Shallow . . . but it just goes to show you that God reaches out and works in our lives wherever we are at. I never joined a sorority, but I did follow Jesus, and have yet to dress trendy! The Hottie Hubby and I have been married 10 years and continue to date while training up three busy boys, Mr. Smackdown, Mr. Me-Too, and Mr. Smiley. Prior to being a mom, I taught English to junior high students, was privileged to homeschool another family, sorted books in a basement in India, and loved being a kindergarten teacher for 3 years. We feel led to homeschool our boys due to where we currently live and to be ready to enter full time missionary work when the Lord gives us the green light! I will be writing for Once Upon a Book here at Totally Tots. You can find me blogging about our granola life, school, products, food, books, and God over at Granola Mom 4 God.

Introducing ~ Jill

I am living the blessed life – saved by grace and bought by the precious blood of my Savior. Through His tender mercy, love unending and never changing my life has changed from ordinary to extraordinary. I am blessed with a God fearing husband who seeks after the truth daily, digs deep into the word and lives to bless others by teaching it!

Scott and I are the proud parents of 9 amazing children (5 girls – {our newest daughter Lilly will be home January 2010!} and 4 boys) - 7 have come into our hearts and home through international adoption over the last 3.5 years. Our children's ages are 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 12 & 15 yrs old. Our house is never dull and as my husband's parents like to joke - "grass doesn't grow under our feet for long". Only by God's grace and never ending mercy can I be the Mother and wife He is calling me to be. If you peeked inside our home you would see me up just as the sun begins to rise for my beloved quiet time with the Lord. I have learned that time is what gives me the strength, patience and love to meet the needs of our children. We begin our day with morning prayers, and time spent in their Hermie and Wormie Bible. Each day is filled with homeschooling five of our children, coloring, play-doh, singing, dancing, building with blocks and legos.

I enjoy capturing our special moments together and share them on our family blog Forever ‘n Ever ‘n Always and Forever ‘n Ever ‘n Always Photography. My heart and passion is to write about God's love and all He has done for me and our family. You can also find me at my homeschooling blog, The Excellence of Wisdom, and also at Breaking Free: Truths for Healthy Living. Here at Totally Tots I wrote posts for Did You Know and In My Heart. Currently, I am writing a new feature From Tots to Teens where I express my hearts cry for every Mom to know and live by His grace no matter how many children you have! I'm so excited to be a part of Totally Tots and humbled to travel in this journey together as we seek after God's plans for our families.