Jan. 8, 2008 - Penguin Lapbook
The little lapbook meme this month is penguins. My K just loves penguins and got a life size stuffed penguin for Christmas, so this theme is perfect for us. I went a little crazy and designed a whole lapbook for the kids to do. My 5 and 7 wanted to do this lapbook so pics should come later. Anyway you can find the lapbook files at lulu.com. And here is the line http://www.lulu.com/content/1828361
have fun with this theme. |
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Nov. 11, 2007 - The magic of straws
There is something magical about straws. L who is three has decided that chocolate milk isn't the same without straws. In fact she won't even drink chocolate milk without a straw. Not just any straw, but a straw that she has picked out herself. It doesn't matter that she picked out the same color or even the same straw that I had just offered her just moments before. If she picks it out it hers, and hence better in her mind. Straw magic isn't lost on my 14yo either, she says that ice water taste alot better when you drink it with a straw. M loves to tie his bendable straw into a knot and then drink. Of course he is 7yo, but I understand that he learned the trick from P who is 14 ( or will be next week.)
Wow the magic of a simple straw, and if it is a bendable straw even better.
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Nov. 10, 2007 - Overdue Books Again
I love books. I used to go to the library as a kid every week and the school library every other day. My first job in college was in a bookstore. Did I mention I love books. My home library probably rivals the library of many small towns. I manage to find more books at yard sales because frankly I must really need a book to pay full price and I will still try to get a better price on amazon. Yet I still go to the library. Where else can you borrow a book for a few weeks and then beg for more to take home. Oh thats right begging isn't allowed at our library. Good thing those librarians understand us book junkies. Oh I think they may be book junkies themselves and are supporting their habit. All I have to do is show them my book junkie card and they let me take home books. The down side of my book junkie habit is those pesky late fees. Yep I try to look noble and say I am just supporting the library with my fees, but those librarians look down on you when you do that. Yep right over their eyeglasses from behiend that tall counter or leaning back in that library chair. Being the shrinking violet I am I plop down my quarter a day fine and mumble about supporting the library or forgetting what day or year it was at that moment. You have to understand I sometimes have 15 or 25 books out at any one time. I tried to only go once a week, but I book I ordered would always come and in and I would just have to have it for a unit or project we where learning about.
Does this sound like you. At least the part about overdue book and fines? I found a solution or at least something good until the library will due home pickup.
Drum roll please.......
Libraryelf.com
This cool site will not only check my library card but all library cards that I enter and will send me notices when things are due, when things are being held. It will even due rss feeds and send text messages to your cell phone, not just plain ol email. At first my library wasn't part of the system, but I emailed them and they had my local library added within 24 hours. Sweet City! Best of all it is free. So how do they make a living. Amazon ads. But they don't seem intrusive. I will probably but a few books through their amazon link. Doesn't cost me anymore with Amazon and will keep the service going. And no I don't get kick backs from this review, I just think this is the next best thing since, I don't know, libraries. |
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Nov. 9, 2007 - Astronomy - Now where is that star?
Ever looked up into the sky and wondered where the big dipper was hiding? Sometimes looking at the stars I start thinking they all look alike. Or I wonder just what I should be looking at since I am in the city and surrounded by lampposts that wash out the night sky. Of course that also make it great for the kids to play in the front yard after dark. Especially now since it is dark at what 5 something. God created the heavens for the signs and the seasons, but sometimes in our modern world we forget to look up to the heavens. Sometimes we forget to ask our heavenly Father for our needs, wants, and desires. Now I am not saying that God is going to give you want you ask for, and He does know without being asked what those desires are floating in your head. But I know that sometimes I just like my kids to ask my for what they want. I think God is the same way, He like to be asked.
Of course I digressed. Back to ever wondering what that bright light in the heavens might be? Ever had a munchkin hanging on your leg awed by the sight of so many bright lights? Well have I got a website for you. night sky website
It will teach and then test how to find some of the more bright constellations in the night sky. And not just from one perspective but under different circumstances. Show your kids what the sky would have looked like hundreds of years ago without all our light pollution from city living. And compare it to how the sky looks in a typical city, while trying to find the constellation betelguise or the big dipper. Way cool. |
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Nov. 5, 2007 - Square Meals - America's Favorite Comfort Food Cookbook
A book review on Square Meals - America's Favorite Comfort Food Cookbook
You never know what kind of book is going to fall into your hands at a yard sale. Last Saturday while taking our daughter P to a church event I stopped at a yard sale, though technically it should of been called a driveway sale, though I doubt I could have fit the driveway or even the yard into my van. But I digress, I picked up and paid the nice lady 2 quarters for a cook book called Square Meals. I love to peruse a good cookbook. Of course my oldest K later rolled her eyes and asked why since she seems to think my cooking repertoire is repetitive. It might be but she will never know since she rarely eats at home and seemingly never with the family.
This cookbook has no color pics for those of you who grew up with the instant gratification of cell phones, dsl, and ipods. But the book does have this great nostalgia feel for an era of hot cocoa and homemade meatloaf. The pages are rife with retro pics and nostalgic prints. Recipes are not for the faint of healthy hearts, it is comfort not calories that counts in this book. To give you a feel for the types of recipes I will mention a few of the chapters. Where else could a person find recipes for Nursery Foods, Victory Dinners, Ladies Lunches, to name a few. Ending with the final chapter being the Cuisine of Suburbia. This book reads less like a cookbook than a tourbook of the kitchens of yesteryear.
The recipes are basic and down to earth and who knows maybe I will even give the recipe Queen for a Day Noodleburger Casserole or the Purple Poodle Drink a try, but more than anything I enjoyed the trip through culinary time. This book has earned a place on my library shelf.
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Nov. 4, 2007 - Afternoon at the park
We took the kids to the park this afternoon. The new favorite is playing tag in the maze. K would cry when she was it, and M never did get tagged. He would always stay far away from whomever was it. Of course P is the fastest and I think she secretly loves the hunt and thrill of being 'it.' The good sport award would have to go to S, who always smiled when she was it. Of course the smile was way to big when she sneaked up on me and I was it for a change.
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Nov. 3, 2007 - Lapbook Resources - Pilgrim
Apr. 12, 2007 - It's been awhile
Well I have been busy, lazy well I will just say I haven't written in awhile. We are starting the garden for the kids using the square foot gardening method. Did you know that retaining wall bricks are heavy? Yep we are using those bricks. Hubby has been bring home 16 bricks at a time in the van. We need 100 bricks because the area we want to plant is over 30 feet long. Let's see at 23 lbs a brick that is 2300 lbs of bricks. I don't remember what ton weighs but in the slang vernacular, that is a ton of bricks. |
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Sep. 4, 2006 - Camping in California
| Just returned from camping and will be posting about our adventures and some tidbits about how to make your camping experiences more fun.
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Feb. 25, 2006 - Gearing up for a Church Game Night
Jan. 29, 2006 - backpackit
I just found this awesome site that can help you find a small bit of organization. I have always made lists. But then I would lose them. I can't lose this. I set it as my homepage and I am confronted with my projects on a daily basis. It has the capability to have collabrative efforts for projects. I am going to try using it for planning out our churches Sunday camp we have in the summer. Those working on the project will be able to post ideas, questions, and see agendas in a real time format while saving all prior versions of the project. A virtual backpack of my brain. Sweet City. And the basic plan is free.
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Jan. 21, 2006 - A Tired Dog
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An old, tired-looking dog wandered in the yard.
I could tell from his collar and well-fed belly that he had a home.
He followed me into the house, down the hall, and fell asleep in a corner.
An hour later, he went to the door, and I let him out.
The next day he was back, resumed his position in the hall, and slept for an hour.
This continued for several weeks.
Curious, I pinned a note to his collar, "Every afternoon, your dog comes to my house for a nap."
The next day he arrived with a different note pinned to his collar, "He lives in a home with ten children - he's trying to catch up on his sleep."
From a birthday card I received from my own Mom who only had three and I have six. Kids that is, not dogs.
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Dec. 14, 2005 - Time Well Spent playing games
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Why Play Games?
Why do we believe that 'any time spent playing games is time well spent'?
In today's world, there are many ways to spend our time.
The benefits to spending it playing games are abundant.
Here are a few:
- Time with family
- Time with friends
- Economical (a few games on your shelf can provide a lifetime of playing)
- Develops strategy and thinking skills
- Great party activity
- Something to do on a rainy day
- Anyone can participate
- Teaches kids (and adults!) valuable lessons like:
- how to win or lose gracefully
- patience
- critical thinking
- creativity
- academic skills (reading, math, geography)
- planning/anticipating
- making choices
- Fun! Fun! Fun!
With so many games available, for all ages and interests, we hope that
more and more people will "get hooked" on this favorite
pastime. We can personally attest to the above list of
benefits. We see it in action during our family nights
when we play games with our 3 kids... We see it in action
during our game parties, when dozens of friends show
up to participate... date night...vacations...visits
from grandparents...when the kids are bored (never happens
in our house!)...Any time is a good time for playing
games.
This was written by the owners of Time Well Spent
my favorite online source for board games and it is a family owned
business. They have the best prices and customer service is superb.
Check out what they have to offer. Over a thousand games, most which
you have never heard of, and toys R us doesn't carry. Dave will also
give personal recommendations if you give him some idea of who will be
playnig the game.
What better way to spend the afternoon than playing games with the family this Christmas Holiday.
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Dec. 8, 2005 - An introduction to Geocaching - where you are the search engine
Loooking
for an interesting family activity that is more than going for a simple
walk or a romp in the park. Want your kids to beg for more and be
challenged at the same time? Want to look for treasure? Go Geocaching
and you have all this and more. With the help of a GPS receiver to get
you to the immediate location, you
become the search engine to try to find caches that other people have
left for searchers like yourself. The trick is that the caches have
been hidden so people just walking by can not find them, and at times,
even the searchers will have to look hard for them. Inside the cache
will be a logbook and usually some trinkets for trading. So what do you
do after you find the cache and sign the log? You go back to geocaching.com to log your find online and discover the coordinates of even more great caches.
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Dec. 7, 2005 - Citadels Game Review
The
favorite game right now is a game I almost didn't purchase. An unlikely
sounding card game about building your own city and thereby gaining the
most victory points. What makes this game unique is that each player
takes on the role of a different character each round of the game, and
the character is kept secret until your time to play. The order the
players go is determined by what character they choose in secret. For
example the Assasin always goes first, followed by the Thief. These of
course are the most unsavory characters of the lot. Other characters
are the King, the Architect, and the Merchant to name a few. Now before
anyone dismisses the game based on the unsavory character of an
Assasin, let me tell you that the assasin's only ability is to make any
other player lose a turn. The game has lots of extra characters so you
could remove the assasin and the thief if they bothered you. Each
character has a special ability or power. Sometimes you will recieve
extra gold because of your profession for that round. For example the
King will receive income based on having any gold city cards in his
citadel. The king will also be the first person to choose a new
profession for the nest round, followed by the person to his left.
The game itself is accessible to anyone easily over 10, however I have
played with a 7 year old who needed only minimal strategic help. In
fact I have a niece who will come over and say she needs a Citadel fix,
otherwise she is not that big of a game player. The game is made to a
high standard, but since the character cards are shuffled 8-10 times
during one game it is recommended that the character cards be placed in
protective sleeves. However it is not that expensive of a game, so if I
play it 100-200 times and have to replace the character cards I will
gladly buy the game again.
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Nov. 22, 2005 - Gulo Gulo Game Review - A family favorite
For
your perusal I will be presenting games that my family enjoys
playing. A game for the younger crowd, a more theme oriented boardgame,
and an abstact that anyone of any age can play. Today we will start
with the kids game.
Gulo Gulo
Weird name for a game I know. Each player is a Gulo, or wolverine,
trying to rescue a baby Gulo who got caught by the swamp vulture while
trying to steal vulture eggs.. Unfortunately for the baby Gulo, all the
adult Gulos are distracted by all the delicious swamp vulture eggs, and
it has to wait very, very patiently as the adults constantly trip the
very, very sensitive "egg alarm" rigged by the vulture to scare off the
pesky Gulos. The components are quality wooden bits. The vulture eggs
are wooden eggs of various sizes and colors, the 'alarm' is a wooden
dowel that is weighted to fall over, and the next is a fairly heavy
wooden bowl. The playing board is an everchanging set of tiles that
determine the choice of egg that the Gulo must try to remove to rescue
the junior gulo. If you set of the alarm you must go back a ways and
try again next time. This is one of the few games that parents can try
as hard as they want to win, but the kids will probably beat you.
Though the game looks like only a dexterity game it does have some
strategy involved, and parents you will need the strategy to beat small
nimble fingers. My 3 year old plays this very well, but we do need to
sometimes remind her of some of the rules. Even my 11 year old will
play this anytime we suggest it.
Stay
tuned for a review of Torres, a unique castle building game. And Blokus
a colorful abstract that may remind you of tetris, but alot more fun.
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Nov. 22, 2005 - National Games Week
National games week is an annual celebration of all forms of socially
interactive games. So open the boxes of some of those games you have in
your closet or under the bed. Interact with your family and friends,
find out how they win and how they lose. Develop thinking skills and
just enjoy the company of those around you this week and be
thankful. |
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Nov. 15, 2005 - Lost Art of Interactive Entertainment
Most entertainment in American culture involves a solitary response to something, even when the entertainment is within a group setting. Electronic gaming, watching TV, going to the theater, even reading a good book. Now I am not saying that any of these are bad or wrong. Only that the fine art of conversation and interaction is lost on most generations and is difficult to achieve with most American entertainment. Social Interaction often occurs on a hike or at the fishing hole when we away from the hum drum beat of everyday laundry and schoolwork. But think about how often we get to together as a family or a group and do something interactive. Where conversation flows and it is fun entertainment. Does it occur often? Conversation happens during dinner but there are always milk spills, food fights and dishes. I would like to suggest boardgames. Now I am not suggesting any of the games you grew up with. In the games I want to reccommend there is no passing go, chutes and ladders, or spin and roll. I grew up with these games and find them lacking in anything fun. I will run screaming if any of these games are suggested as being fun. A decade or so ago in Germany a revival of boardgames began with strategic, fun games unlike what most people have seen. This new wave of games are known as eurogames, german games, or designer games. Games with weird sounding names like Carcasonne, Citadels, Tikal, Torres, Niagara, Blokus. All well thought out, strategic and most of all fun games.
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Sep. 30, 2005 - The Pirates have landed on Hazel Ave
Rumors
of Pirate treasure lingered in the air as the weekend approached. A map
had been found that promised adventure, booty, and surprises. Micah
turned five and wanted adventure and the promise of gold. What he found
was the adventure of the hunt with a few friends and his sisters. The
pirates grimaced from the trees as one the hidden treasure boxes was
found. Fortunately the pirates had also hidden a cache of cannonballs
(waterballons) so the crew was able to defend themselves and return
victorious with the booty.
The hidden treasures included finding the pirates hats, swords,
patches, hooks, cannonballs, dubloons, and small treasure boxes filled
with gold river rocks and glass gemstones. The favorite was of course
the swords and the treasure boxes. It was a great birthday party for
everyone.
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Sep. 3, 2005 - Climbing isn't just for the big kids
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My
youngest at 15 months is growing into a climber. She discovered that
she can climb to the top of the barstools that are sitting at the
counter. That means nothing is safe in the house. She figured out how
to climb the chairs at the dining table to get to the top of the table,
even when the chairs are pushed in at the table. I will walk into the
room and she will be standing on the table with a big grin on her face,
like she conquered the world.
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