Well, the Christmas season is starting to go into full swing.  Now, if you are like our family, we make gifts.  However, we have a lot of family several states away and mailing gifts is expensive.  We use Christmas cards to stay in touch.  I found a great site that has links to make dozens of different Christmas cards from 3-D to handprint, photo to ways to display.  There are just some really great ideas on here. And you have plenty of time to gather up the supplies from around your house to do them.

You can click here to go to the page.  Let me know how your cards turn out!  

This post was so popular last year (thanks for all of the wonderful emails about it) that I decided to post it again.

I do not know about you, but I will admit I do love the book Polar Express by Chris Van Allsburg. While it does not even touch on the true meaning of Christmas, the story is so sweet and the pictures beautiful.  I have a list of resources for you.  I found lesson plans, worksheets, a downloadable activitiy book complete with ornaments, picture frames and all sorts of things, recipes(I kid you not), games, instructions & printables for a Polar Express pajama party,  wallpapers, games, IM buddies, and so much more.   So lets get to it! Now I am not sure if the first link I have was made for book or for the release of the movie.  Either way, this interactive site has incredible pictures and a lot of "hidden" stuff.   Let me give you some cheats.   If you move your curser along the bottom where the ticket is and place it on the snowflakes, you will see different locations that you can go to.  For the most part, each location has two "places" you can place your curser to go to.  There is a build a snowman game at the boys' house.  On the train if you go to the Passenger Car and pick up the conductor's watch, you will find a printable 10 page activity book complete with ornaments, gift cards, Christmas cards, party invitations; it is a really neat art & craft book.  At Flat Top Tunnel you will find another great activity book.  As for the games & downloadables, you can easily explore and find those.  This incredible site can be accessed at http://polarexpressmovie.warnerbros.com/flash/  (in case you are having trouble, I have a direct link to the activity book with the ornaments by clicking here.) By clicking here you will find a 4 page teacher's guide to the book.   Here is an entire Polar Express Party kit; complete with name tags, activities, recipes, games for the party, just so much.  This is a must have if you are having a party!! This would make a neat Christmas theme party.  You can access that by clicking here.   Information about the author, Chris Van Allsburg can be accessed by visiting his site at http://www.chrisvanallsburg.com/flash.html where you will also find info on other books he has written.  As for the movie; I generally am not a fan of movies from books because they usually twist the story so much you do no recognize it.  But they did a superb job.  The movie's animation is just breathtaking.  I had so much fun trying to figure out which characters Tom Hanks was playing.  (PS if you are planning to buy it off of ebay, try to get the two disks set, the bonus features are worth it.)  The official movie site is at http://polarexpressmovie.warnerbros.com/. Whew!!!! I am tired just typing all of this.  But if you can use this, it is worth it!!  As for me, I will be honest and say I would love to have the model of the Polar Express for under my tree.   Also, if you should come across the soundtrack for the movie, it is beautful!!!! It has some old time classics like Bing Crosby doing White Christmas as well as the incredible music from the film. One other thing, I promise this is it! ABC family is planning to broadcast the movie on Thurs, Dec 3 at 8ish Eastern time. Check your local listings to see this!

I meant to put this up yesterday but I was got too busy canning our leftovers.  Yeah, we had that much.  Anyway, as the Christmas shopping season has begun, I wanted to share with you a way to help Single Homeschooling Mothers that will cost you nothing.  Before you go to a website to shop, first click here and this will take you to the HSLDA Clicks for Homeschooling page.  All you have to do is scroll down and find the merchant you shop at (for example, Amazon, ebay, etc) and click on that merchant. You will be taken to that site and just continue shopping like you normally would.  That is it! You do nothing else.  The merchant will give a percent of your total perchase to the Homeschool Foundation. YOU PAY NOTHING!!! Please take the extra 3 seconds to go to this site first.  It will be a big help to these mothers.

The Homeschool Foundation was started by the HSLDA.  They collect donations for single mothers in desperate situations so that they can continue to homeschool.  Now listen, I know how tight the budget can be.  But try to consider giving to this.  God forbid, you may someday need it.  Even a small gift like $10 can add up over time.  Read their stories on the website and you will understand.

You can read why I care so much about Single Homeschooling Mothers and other ways to help by clicking here.

Hello, I hope I can be of help and make things a little easier on you as you are cleaning up your house for Thanksgiving.  (I mean, we can not let others know how we really live! He He)  I have some great FREE resourses for you so lets get started.

First, the Mayflower, you can access the directions for this by clicking here or go straight to the webpage here (the best way to print this is to move your curser over the cutout, right click & hit the print picture rather than just print the whole page.)

You can visit The Toy Maker (click here) and find napkin holders, cut out 3-d turkeys & pilgrims, photo frames, place cards, and some other really nice & cute cut outs.   Another cut out turkey can be found here.

Now I have an absolutly incredible site for you.  This is an interactive "thingy" about the pilgrims, their voyage over, how they lived in comparision to the indians, how the children lived, their daily lives;, the first Thanksgiving feast; I can not begin to tell you everything. It is presented in short segments that you can read or hit the speaker icon and hear the story being told to you by various kids.  A word of warning: if you are on dial up, don't bother fustrating yourself with this.  You can access the main home page by clicking here.

And of course, how can you discuss the Mayflower, without the Mayflower Compact. You can read it by clicking here.

If you are into crafty things or need something for the little ones to do, I have a link to a page with a list (and links) to any and every Thanksgiving Day craft I could thing of.  You can access it by clicking here. I also found a really cute Thankful Thanksgiving Day craft for any age; click here.

Now here is a lapbook on Thankfullness. You can get that by clicking here. You can download a free Thanksgiving Day lapbook at CurrClick by clicking here (you have to go through checkout but do not worry, you do not have to put in a credit card number.)

Well, this should keep you busy.  Hope you all have a great Thanksgiving. We are getting ready to smoke a turkey, ham & beef briskett.  Yeah, we have a lot of people coming this year. But I was smart.  I asked everyone to bring one traditional side, one new side of their liking, one bread, and one dessert.  Translation: since the hubby is doing the smoker, all I have to do is clean the house and make coffee.  He he. I am good!

Ok, many of us have  children of varying ages and maturity levels.  When we are at the museums and see something we really  want our teens to see or we really, really want to see ourselves, we generally have two choices: missing out or praying our younger children do not really get it. I have a solution that might work for you.

Here in SC, the state museum has an exhibit put on by the US Holocaust Memorial Museum called Deadly Medicine: Creating the Master Race.  In their own words, “the exhibit traces the journey of eugenics from its start as a scientific concept in the late 19th century to its deadly use by Nazi Germany as a justification for the sterilization and murder of millions of people. Viewer discretion is advised. “  As a matter of fact, when I was at the museum picking up the info, the curator looked at my kids and pointed to the younger ones and HIGHLY advised me not to take them in to that exhibit.  I told him I wasn’t I was just getting info. 

Well there are many mothers out there who in the same boat.  Here is the solution we came up with: tag team.  Get a group or just one other mother and go to the museum (ps most museums have free or deeply discounted prices with current homeschool IDs)  While some of the mothers are taking the kids through the other parts, the moms & teens can go in groups of two or more and go through the exhibit.  This way, no one misses out but you do not expose kids to something you do not think they are ready for. 

This is one of the most favorite recipes I post every year about his time ...judging by the emails I get. 

Well, it is starting to get chilly.  (unless you happen to live in SC where the four seasons are almost summer, summer, still summer and Christmas; none of which are cold)  With all of the left over chocolate bars from Trick or Treating I thought I would share my recipe for homemade Hot Chocolate.  We usually make this on Christmas Eve in my house.  Now I warn you, this is NOT low fat in any way shape or form. So it goes without saying, this is probably the tastiest recipe known to mankind.

Hot Chocolate

1 Chocolate bar per person (Hershey’s is still the best) or a hand full of Hershey's kisses

1 c. Heavy Whipping Cream per person

sprinkle of cinnamon for garish (optional)

Pour the cream into a heavy sauce pan.  Heat slowly over med heat.  If it starts to scorch, remove from heat.

Chop up the candy bars (in a food processor works best).

Add to the cream and use a whisk to stir it in.  It should only take a minute to melt the chocolate.  

Pour in a cup and enjoy.  You can sprinkle on some cinnamon or put in a candy cane. 

Lastly, if you drink more than 1 cup a day for a week, avoid the scale for a week or two.  MMMMMMMMM Oh, Yeah, that is good.

With Thanksgiving Day coming up, I wanted to share a great resource with you.  I found this a couple of years ago and I can not tell you how great this works!!!    This little book is incredible. But do not let the title Primer fool you. This is for adults as well.

It has a complete history of the American tradition,  a section of the Pilgrims as people, recreating a Separatist Service, the manners of the time and recipes from that time period (ps they probably did not have turkey on the menu), the real way they dressed and charts of all garments worn (if you are good at sewing you can easily make these), Pilgrim games, what the children did and something else I love.  They have a traditional picture of the first Thanksgiving meal with the Pilgrims and Indians. The author then goes through and tells everything that is wrong.  There is also a list of the passengers on the Mayflower.  There are great pictures & drawings. This Primer is a “complete guide to re-creating the first harvest festival for your family, friends or church.”

There is also a package deal here that includes a hardback reprint of William Bradford’s own diary which if very enlightening. If you can swing it, I highly recommend it.  You can see in their own words why the Pilgrims came to the New World.  No, it was not for religious freedom.  But I will be doing a post on that closer to Thanksgiving. I am also going to get some free resources up for Thanksgiving, but I have to be honest, I think this book beats anything out there.   

This book is only $6  but well worth it.  Like I said, I have used it quite a bit in this year and for the years to come. If you order it now, you should get it in time for Thanksgiving.   Now before I give you the web address here is my disclaimer.  I am an affiliate of Vision Forum who sells this book.  If you click on the Vision Forum icon in my side bar they will pay me a percentage of your purchase (no charge to you).  If you click on the link here, I will receive no pay. This is a direct link.   I really think this book would be of great use to so many out there that I do not want anyone to think I am recommending it so I can make money.  I want no one to be able to say Mrs. Dani is dishonest. 

I have some wonderful FREE resources for you today. But first, I encourage you to attend the Veteran’s Day parade in your nearest city.  I know it will be at 11 am.  How to I know that? Out of tradition for the signing of the Treaty of Versailles, ending WWI was signed at the eleventh hour on the eleventh day of the eleventh month. Military.com has a wealth of info form the history, to things you can do to links for Veterans.  You can access that info by clicking here. You can go to  this site  and/orthis site to find out the history of Veteran's Day.

This is a 4th of July site but there are some great printable flags & pinwheels.  You can click here for that.

Now here is the free lapbook from CurrClick.  You do have to go through checkout but it does not require any kind of credit card info.  This is an incredible that site that gives away a lot of free stuff (my favorite kind).  You will be signed up for a newletter that lets you know about freebies.  You can access that by clicking here. I have mine printed up and ready for the kids to do tomorrow.  I also have pictures of some of the Veterans in our family printed up to put in it.  (you can meet one of them, a true hero by reading last year's post, here)

Now some extra clipart for the above lapbook or any notebooking .

For the military branch seals, click here. 

Now at this site (click here) scroll down on the page and you will see links to more military clipart than you knew existed.  You will also find some really cool clipart here. 

Well, this should get you started.  I wanted to get this up early in the week so it would give you time to design and print up what you need.  Again, please make plans to attend the parade.

Anyway, I found a great free toy for her. Our church goes through a lot of soda.  We do not buy carbonated sugar except on rare occasions.  I generally get the bottles for free and use them for gardening purposes.  I will do a post on that another time. Anyway, I was cleaning them when the cap fell to the floor. The kitten went nuts.  She loves chasing the caps across the floor, pawing them and boy is it funny when she skids them under the stove and cant reach them. She sits there meowing as loud as possible until someone gets it or gives her another one.  Imagine, my kids insisted on paying $4 for a stuffed mouse and $2 for a jingling ball and the cat loves the free stuff!   Ok, maybe this kitten may work out well in the family after all.

Tis the season to save up to 80% off of fans for the summer….and winter energy bills.

Have I got a great tip & deal for you today!  Here in the south fans are a necessity in the summer to help keep homes cool but did you know they help keep your house WARM too. Heat rises so when you are heating your home a lot of the warm air is hanging around the ceiling!  By having the fan on low you can cycle the warm air down helping to save on your energy bill in the winter as well as the summer.   PS  In warm weather the fan should be going counterclockwise and in the winter it should be going clockwise. Took me forever to get that straight. 

Anyway, my nieces wanted some fans for their rooms. As you can see from the pic they are pretty and pink with flowers and butterflies.  These are both Hunter fans; the industry leader and most quiet you can buy-translation: the best but expensive.  Side note: five or more blades are the quietest.

These generally run $90 each.  Not too bad as far as Hunter fans go.  But by waiting until this time of year we were able to pick these up for…..drum roll please………$30 each. That’s right we paid less for both of the fans than for one by waiting until the end of the season!

Now is the time to pick these up for your homes.  If you ever wondered if these make a difference....trust me they do ( we have 6 in our house)!  So check out your local home improvment stores and see what deals they have!  Also, if you are buying more than two, sometimes you can get a manager to make you a deal!