Guided Access: Keeping Your Apple Device Kid-Friendly

I’ll be honest, they’re are times when 5 minutes of Avery on the iPad give me just enough time to get my stuff packed up uninterrupted so we can be out the door and on our way. Not something I’m overly proud of, just speaking the truth. The kid loves to look at pictures of himself and if it means he’s occupied for a few seconds, I’m game.

We’ve all heard the horror stories of children deleting every photo from a specific album, or launching the Living Social app and purchasing a cruise (that really happened!). Butttttt, after doing a little research, I learned that Apple made a way to avoid these mishaps.

Of course they did.

Guided Access keeps tiny fingers in a specific app, while eliminating certain areas of the screen so that even if they’re tapped, they won’t respond to a touch.

Ready?

1. Tap settings, then go to ‘General’.

2. Tap ‘Accessibility’.

3. Scroll down until you see ‘Guided Access’. Tap.

4. Turn on Guided Access, then set a passcode. You’ll also want to make sure ‘Accessibility  Shortcut’ is set to the on position.

(Bear with me on this next part, once you’re in Guided Access, it disables you from taking screenshots, so I had to take photos of the screen as best I could. Also, I switched from iPhone with those screenshots to iPad for the actual photos, but you should be able to follow along as they’re very similar).

5. Open the child’s app, camera, or photos (whatever it is they like to look at), then triple-click your home button. Guided Access should now pop up. At the bottom of the piano, there’s an area I’ve tried to highlight with red. It says “circle the areas of the screen you would like to disable”.

Because we have a free version of ‘My baby piano’, there are still ads. Thanks to Guided Access, I can make sure Avery doesn’t click on the ads that then lead to the internet. If you’re child likes to just look at himself in the camera, you can disable him from getting to the pictures and accidentally deleting them by blocking off that specific area of the screen.

6. Once you’ve circled them, the device will recognize the area and make a block that you can then resize.

Now that you’ve blocked off these certain areas, Guided Access will remember this the next time you open this app again.

7. Tap ‘Start’ in the upper right-hand corner. If it’s your first time using Guided Access, you’ll be prompted to enter a 4-digit passcode and then verify it by typing it again.

8. You are now running Guided Access and your screen should look like this:

And then this:

A few things to note:

You can disable the home button so that if it’s accidentally pressed, nothing happens by selecting ‘Hardware Buttons’ from Step 6:

When Guided Access is on, your phone will vibrate should a call come in, but it will not actually ring. A very small banner will appear at the top of the screen to let you know a call is coming in, but it’s very easy to miss a call when Guided Access is running.

The volume can’t be turned up or down once you’ve started running it, so make sure the device is at a comfortable volume before starting Guided Access. Otherwise it’s a lot of fumbling, entering passcodes, restarting Guided Access, etc..

After your first time using Guided Access in each app, all you have to do it open an app, tap the home button 3 times, and Guided Access will automatically start without having to enter any passcodes.

9. Once you’re ready to exit Guided Access, tap the home button 3 times quickly. You’ll be prompted to enter your passcode. Enter and then tap ‘End’ in the upper left-hand corner. Your app will remain open, but you can just tap the home button to return to the main screen.

Seems like a lot of steps, but this built-in feature is a lifesaver when it comes to making sure kids stay in a specific app (and when you just need 5 uninterrupted minutes!)

A Boy and His Dog

And we were worried Goose wouldn’t like the baby…

4 Weeks and Counting…

That’s right, in less than 4 weeks (hopefully!) we will be welcoming our sweet boy into the world.

And it’s just now becoming real.
Not that it hasn’t felt real before- I’ve felt the kicks, or shall we saw acrobatics, taking place inside of me. I had the morning sickness. We set up a crib and the majority of his room. The cloth diapers have been purchased and pre-washed. His car seat is ready to go. Our stroller is assembled. But just this week, it hit me.

We are having a baby.

Don’t get me wrong, I am absolutely thrilled and SO excited to hold our little boy for the first time, but I don’t think there are any words to describe how nervous/slightly panicked/overwhelmed/unprepared I feel knowing that we are having a baby in a matter of weeks!

Holy. Smokes.

Thankfully, last weekend, my sister and I went to a Beth Moore study along with 7,300 other women and it was amazing. Worship like you wouldn’t believe, and a study that was so perfect for this exact season of my life. I’d been looking forward to this weekend every since I found out Beth was coming to our town, and prayed that baby boy wouldn’t arrive a month early and keep me from attending.

Beth spoke on Ecclesiastes 3:1-8…

“For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven:
a time to be born, and a time to die;
a time to plant, and a time to pluck up what is planted;
a time to kill, and a time to heal;
a time to break down, and a time to build up;
a time to weep, and a time to laugh;
a time to mourn, and a time to dance;
a time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together;
a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing;
a time to seek, and a time to lose;
a time to keep, and a time to cast away;
a time to tear, and a time to sew;
a time to keep silence, and a time to speak;
a time to love, and a time to hate;
a time for war, and a time for peace.”

Friday night, we left the seminar and Beth asked that we pray God would reveal which of these seasons we’re currently in.
Saturday morning came, and I still had no idea, but in her message on Saturday, Beth mentioned that often, there are things that you just know you need to get rid of. Things you need to kill. Whether it be a habit, a lifestyle, anything you’re holding onto that you know is not of the Lord.

Monday morning as I had my quiet time and continued to read over this passage, I realized it’s time to kill and pluck up some of what’s been planted.

In about a month, we’ll have a baby. We’ll be tired, (exhausted most likely), but overjoyed with our new bundle of joy. We’ll know a love that we’ve never known before.

We’ll be parents.

But in the meantime, there are some things that just need to be killed and uprooted.

More specifically Pinterest, and Facebook.

I waste hours on both those sites. I waste hours perusing photos of homes that I’ll most likely never be able to afford, finding craft projects that I don’t have time for, and pinning recipes I think look good, but Ian will never eat. I find myself clicking away onto a blog, then comparing myself to the woman behind the blog with the spotless home and perfect children. I find myself lusting after these lifestyles, when God has blessed me beyond belief with things I often overlook.

As for Facebook, I don’t even want to know the number of hours I’ve spent on Facebook during my lifespan. But again, it’s a way for me to waste time and compare myself to the lives of those around me (most of whom I haven’t talked to in ages).

And so, I’m learning what a season of killing and uprooting looks like:

Less time in front of a screen
=
More time in the Word.
More time with my husband.
More time to complete projects I started months ago.
More time to prepare for baby boy.

A sort of calm-before-the-storm if you will.
A storm that brings happiness, joy, late-nights, tears, frustration, laughter, and humility all at once.

Peace out Facebook and Pinterest. It’s been real, but we’ll keep our distance for awhile.

A Sip & See for Sydney

Say that 3 times fast.

Last Saturday we had a Sip & See for my sister and the newest member of their family. It was a relaxing afternoon at my sister’s home where friends stopped by, we snacked on brushetta, fresh fruit, and desserts, and guests brought frozen meals in lieu of gifts while baby Sydney got passed from one set of hands to the next.

Kind of  a perfect afternoon.

1. I made a simple garland by cutting different size circles from various paper and sewing them together. (I’d post a tutorial, but really, it’s so simple it doesn’t need a tutorial.)

2. Whenever I make tissue poms, they turn out like crap, but I love the way they look. I finally broke down and bought the Martha Stewart kit from Michaels and they were pretty impossible to screw up.

3. A simple banner that was attached to 2 pink paper straws and strung on top of the mini cakes.

4. Chocolate cake made in tin cans! Have you tried this method? It was super easy! I just used a cake mix, but you could use a recipe from scratch, clean out 4 tin cans, grease, fill cans about halfway, and bake on a cookie sheet for 30-35 minutes. Once they’re cool, flip the cans over and the cake should fall right out. Slice into 1″ pieces, slather on some frosting, and continue to layer on more slices until you have your cakes the desired height!

5. I’d seen “Wishes for Baby” on Pinterest where you have guests fill out a sheet with a bunch of different answers, but I decided to change it up a bit. I stamped different “Prayers for Sydney” on mini cards and created a prayer/shower book that I’m finishing up now. The book includes everyone’s prayers for Sydney as well as pictures from the shower…a fun little memory book from the afternoon (without the pressure of having to fill out an entire sheet!)

6. Quite possibly, the best dessert ever, and they are SO simple. My mom made these for the party and they were a hit! Take store-bought thin chocolate wafers (not all stores carry them), and place whip cream between each cookie (again, you can make these as tall as you want). Cover with plastic wrap and place them in the fridge for a few hours, the whip cream will soften the cookies and make them cake-like, and they can be served straight from the fridge. Top with a sprinkle of cocoa or shaved chocolate and you have the perfect, bite-sized treat!

Such a fun, pink-filled afternoon to welcome this beautiful baby girl into the world!

DIY Baby Blocks

Lately I’ve been searching for some new homemade baby gift ideas since I’m getting a little sick of burp cloths. Don’t get me wrong, they’re fun to give, but I feel like a little bit of a burp-cloth-making-machine and I wanted to challenge myself to take on a new project. So here’s my new project of choice:

Soft baby blocks perfect for little hands!

Although they look a little intimidating, they are surprisingly super easy, thanks to a technique I saw on Pinterest the other day and modified for this project. The best part is that no pins are required! What’s better than a sewing project that doesn’t require any pinning?!

All you need for this project:

: : fabric of your choice (you can choose a couple coordinating fabrics, or make 1 solid block)
: : fusible interfacing
: : sewing machine
: : thread
: : double-sided fusible interfacing
: : scissors
: : iron

1. Begin by cutting out your fabric. You’ll need 6 squares all together, and I recommend using a quilting template to make sure your squares are perfect (trust me, it makes it a lot easier down the road).

2. Lay your squares out on the fusible interfacing with the wrong side of the fabric facing the right side of the interfacing.

3. Make sure the corners of your squares are lined up perfectly, then iron the fabric to the interfacing. It’s best to just set the iron on one section and not move it around, but steam the area to adhere to fabric and interfacing, then pick up the iron and go to the next area. Be sure to get all of the seams completely adhered.

4. Once you’ve ironed everything together, trim away the excess interfacing as close to the fabric as possible.

5. Now, you’re going to sew along anywhere that there’s a fold. It sounds confusing, but basically anywhere there are two fabric blocks touching, you’re going to fold them over:

6. Sew a straight line along the back, with a 1/4″ seam allowance, like in the photo below:

7. Once you’ve sewn the seam, open it up and use your iron to press the fold open. Now, you’re left with a perfectly straight seam that required no pins!

7. Continue this process for all sides where 2 blocks meet. When you’re done, you should have something that looks like this:

8. And a closer view for you:

9. Next, it’s time to start forming your block. Your block should look like the one in the photo below, so start be sewing side B and C, right sides together, leaving the same seam allowance. Next sew D to E, H to A, G to F, etc.

10. Don’t forget to leave your seam allowance. It will make sewing your corners much smoother as you get to certain pieces.

11. You can start to see your block forming!

12. Finally, sew all edges together, leaving just one side open. I sew along the edges of mine, leaving about a 1.5″ opening, backstitching multiple times so that when you flip it inside out, it still stays intact.

13. Next, comes my favorite part because I hate hand-stitching seams closed, and this saves me from having to do that! Measure your small opening (it can be a rough estimate) and cut a small strip of double-sided fusible interfacing to fit there.

14. Peel and stick your double-sided interfacing, then iron. Peel the other side off, stick the opposite fabric on interfacing, then iron your block shut.

15. You’re left with a seam that’s invisible and looks like every other seam on the block!

16. Done!

Here’s a set I made for another friend, using 5″ and 4″ squares:

Whip up a few matching burp cloths and you have an easy, inexpensive homemade gift, made with love.

Or make a trio of blocks using 4″, 5″, and 6″ squares:

*I added appliques to these for my niece, if you’d like to do the same, I recommend adding them to the squares before you adhere them to the interfacing. You can also add ribbons to the seams so they stick up and give baby something to grab on to.

Have fun with them!