The Fun Mommies

Easy Vacation Memory Keeper

2010-05-10T14:27:00.001-04:00

A couple of years ago my Mom hosted our entire family for an amazing trip to Italy. We stayed in a town called Montecatini Terme in an amazing house with a pool. We participated in passegelato after dinner every evening ("passegiata"=evening walk, "passegelato"=evening walk to get gelato).

It was lovely. Thanks, Mom!

During this trip we were faced with the challenge of collecting some souvenirs for the kids that would remind them of the amazing trip without taking up an amazing amount of space in our luggage.

We noticed that there were these great tourist-y pins at many of the stops on our journey and decided they were just the thing to collect. Small, inexpensive, and available just about anywhere our travels would take us. Sold!

When we returned home from the trip, I was determined to find a way to display the pins so that Sprout and Tater could enjoy and add to their collections over time. After considering different materials and ideas, we ended up with this super-easy combination of felt and cork board.

To make these we took a tile of self-adhesive cork and cut it in half (that made one for each child). Then we cut a piece of black felt to the same size and stuck it to the cork (using the adhesive from the cork to stick it on). This (not good) picture shows the side of the felt/cork sandwich.

I bought a length of canvas-like ribbon and sewed it to the back of each "plaque" so that it could be hung up. I had to fiddle with them a little bit to get the ribbon spaced properly so that the center of the cork wouldn't sag.

Then we just stuck the pins through the felt and cork and used their backs to hook them on. The backs really have to be smooshed on pretty hard to get them to click together, but eventually we got them all hooked.

This has been a really fun collection to add to over the intervening years.

Here is one of the originals from Florence:

Rome (we didn't go there - but my parents did):

There's also one on the side there from a Phillies game. And the one on the far left is from Munich (we were in the airport on the way back from Italy, the kids figured that was pin-worthy).

There are also more domestic destinations represented in their collections. Nashville:

The Mote Aquarium in Sarasota (no, I don't know what those manatees are doing...):

These are fun mementos of trips that we have been on, and it is fun to get souvenirs from the travels of friends and family, too.

How do you commemorate your travels? Do you have a collection, too?

Dinotopia at the Delaware Art Museum

2010-04-23T15:05:00.001-04:00

We were looking for something fun to do with the kids last weekend and in my Googling around for events for kids, found that there was an exhibit at the Delaware Art Museum of original artwork from the book series Dinotopia. My mom had actually given me a clipping about the exhibit a few months ago, but I had forgotten about it.

Anyway, we set out for our drive down to Wilmington via scenic Route 52 through West Chester, hoping all the way not to set off a bout of carsickness in Tater. The boy is not so good on scenic roads.

Luckily he was OK (whew) and we made our way to a lovely lunch at the Cosi in Greenville and then into Rockford Park to the museum.

The kids and I had been to the Delaware Art Museum last summer (I think) to see a sculpture collection, which was very cool. This time we skipped the other stuff and just went in to the Dinotopia exhibit.

We had a lovely tour guide who told us all about how James Gurney originally started doing paintings of this imagined world where dinosaurs and humans lived peacefully together and then started to develop them into stories. The level of detail in his works is completely amazing, as is the amount of imagination that went into building this entire world.

The exhibit included original oil paintings, sketches, and models that were built so that Gurney could study how light and shadow would play off of his imagined creations. The kids especially liked the stories about how Gurney would have his friends and family act out some of his ideas to see how they worked.

The "viewing of artwork" got a little tedious for the kids after a while, but they were troopers about the whole thing and really enjoyed seeing the world of Dinotopia. Apparently there are a few books and also some movies about this imaginary world. We are going to have to work on getting some of them so we can see what it is all about!

The Dinotopia exhibit is on display at the Delaware Art Museum until May 16th, so if you get a chance, you should definitely go check it out.

While we were there, we also stopped in to take a look at some photographs by Harold Edgerton, which capture things that the eye can't even see, The kids loved these amazing photos, possibly even more than the dinosaurs!

Unfortunately, this exhibit is only there through April 25th, but if you get there before then, make sure to take a look!

Finally, we walked out through the Copeland Sculpture Garden, We think this guy belongs in our yard. He's only about 40 feet tall. I think the neighbors would love that!

The Delaware Art Museum is a fun day trip and offers quite a few interesting collections and exhibits. It makes for a less overwhelming introduction to art for little kids than a huge museum like the Philadelphia Museum of Art. You should go.

Jell-O Suncatchers

2010-04-13T14:24:00.001-04:00

Back before Easter, I was flipping through the newest issue of Family Fun Magazine and found this fun idea to make "plastic" sun catchers using gelatin and food coloring. Fun, right?

I asked the kids if they wanted to try it out and they gave me kind of a hard time about it, but eventually gave in when I told them they could squirt in the food coloring. Food coloring is fun!

So we gathered our materials:

A box of unflavored gelatin
Some food coloring
Some glitter
Some plastic plates
Little bowls (make sure they are heatproof so they don't collapse when you add boiling water)
Spoons for mixing
And some boiling water (I was in charge of water).

First we put an envelope of the gelatin (which is icky smelling stuff) into each of our little glass bowls.

Then I carefully added 3 Tablespoons of boiling water to each. The steam came leaping out of my Pyrex measuring cup at one point causing me to spill a full spoon of boiling water over my hand - ouch! Be careful!

The kids diligently mixed until the gelatin dissolved in each bowl. It got a bit lumpy here and there, but with more and more mixing, the lumps eventually went away. I tried zapping one of the bowls in the microwave for a few seconds to see if that would help and - oh my - that was not a good idea. There was a lot of frothing and bubbling. Very frightening. I wouldn't recommend it.

Once we had the gelatin powder all dissolved the kids added a few drops of food coloring to each bowl and mixed that in well. Somehow everyone ended up with very green hands. Not sure whether that was an accident or intentional.

Then we poured each batch of colored gelatin onto an individual plastic plate. I had these strangely shaped rimmed plates. Bigger flatter ones would probably be easier to work with. It was hard to peel the dried gelatin out of the corners of these.

Anyway, we spread the hot gelatin mixture out on the plates and then added a few drops of a contrasting color and swirled it around on a few. We also dusted the surfaces with a little bit of glitter.

Then we waited overnight for the cooling, drying process to take place.

The next day I peeled the almost dry (it was still a little rubbery) result off of the plates and laid them out to dry the rest of the way. You can see the swirls on the surface of the finished product and how they got a weird bendy, organic-type shape to them. I think this was because of the weird plates. If you had bigger ones and could just pop the dried disks off, I bet they would stay flat.

In the magazine, they said to cut the dried "plastic" into shapes. But when I tried that with the blue one, it was too brittle and cracked all along the edges. Maybe if I had tried when they weren't quite dry it would have worked better. Or if I had a decent pair of scissors. Or talent. This picture is supposed to show the cracking.

I like the effect of the bendy circles anyway. I think they have a blown art-glass sort of feel to them. This one reminds me of the sun.

This was a fun project, but sort of dangerous and tedious for the kids. They liked the coloring part, but the boiling water part was sort of nerve-wracking and the waiting-for-things-to-dry part wasn't fun at all. But the final results were really cool.

Disco Easter Eggs

2010-04-02T22:49:00.000-04:00

I found a great idea for Easter Eggs in a Family Circle Magazine that caught my eye last month. They wrapped double-sided tape around the eggs and then rolled them in extra fine glitter. So very cool. I ripped out the picture and saved it so we could try the technique out on our eggs this year.

We have a traditional egg decorating party with our friends on Good Friday (that was today!) so earlier in the week we gathered our supplies. From the scrapbooking section of Michael's we picked up some glue dots and a roll of thin double stick tape. Then from the craft section we got a fantastic collection of 16 (!) colors of glitter for under $4. Yay!

This morning I boiled two dozen eggs. I agree that that is WAY too many eggs for a family where only two people are willing to actually eat hard boiled eggs, but we have tried to split a dozen in previous years and the decorating is over in about 10 minutes. So disappointing.

Our friends brought several other egg decorating kits and we all set to work.

The technique for the glitter eggs was, starting with either a naked egg or one that had been dyed and dried, to place the tape or sticky dots onto the egg and then to pour some of the glitter into a little bowl. Then dipping the tape and/or our fingers into the glitter, we rubbed the glitter into the tape/dot until it was completely covered and shiny. We used a soft, dry paintbrush to brush off the extra glitter.

Everyone really enjoyed this technique, although my kitchen looks very much like fairies have visited. Very sparkly.

I am not sure what happens when you try to peel and eat the glitter eggs. Seems like there might be some residue. But I am hoping that a quick rinse will resolve that situation.

Sprout spend so much time and care on her eggs that she had only completed half of them by the time the other kids were done. But she eventually finished them all and they are quite fabulous! She made the polka dotted egg and the one that says "Happy Easter" at the top (bad picture, sorry).

Tater made this one that he called "Elvis". I did the one with silver/blue/pink stripes.

Here is a gallery of our other creations. I highly recommend this technique as a new twist on egg decorating - it was really fun and so very sparkly!

Food Children are (almost) Willing to Eat

2010-03-27T15:16:00.001-04:00

I made this great Salsa Chicken in the crock pot last night. Sprout ate a bite of the chicken and declared it to be "not my favorite chicken (which would be nuggets, thus the picture) but not bad." This is high praise indeed and the grown-ups thought it was quite delicious.

I didn't take a picture of what we actually had. Too busy eating.

I know it's not fun...but having the kids not throw themselves on the floor in fits of agony over how horribly disgusting their dinner is is about as good as it gets some days.

Slow Cooker Salsa Chicken
Put the following into a slow cooker (mine is 4 quarts):

4 Frozen chicken breasts sprinkled with
1 packet of low sodium Taco Seasoning
1 can of Cheddar Cheese Soup
1 cup of salsa (I used Chi Chi's Mild)
1 tiny can of green chilis

Turn the cooker on low for 6-8 hours.
Shred the chicken up in the sauce.
Serve over rice and topped with sour cream if you really feel fancy.

Contract Law

2010-03-19T15:13:00.000-04:00

Next week my daughter, Sprout, and I are going to a orientation meeting for Middle School.

I need a moment to get my head around that. OK, I am better now.

Like I said, Middle School. As in, no longer Elementary School. As in, one of the more traumatic experiences of many pre-teen lives. My baby is going into the belly of the beast.

Earlier this week we were talking about this big transition, and Mike said something about "soon she'll be leaving home". At which point, Sprout looked at us with panic in her eyes and said, "But we still have the contract, right?"

Ah, yes. The contract.

Walk with me down memory lane to about 5 1/2 years ago. Little Sprout was just turning 5 and in Kindergarten. And, being the oh-so-funny Mommy that I am, I looked into her big green eyes and said, "Pretty soon you'll have to get a job and your own apartment." Ha ha ha! I am FUNNY!

The next day, the Kindergarten teacher reported that Sprout had spent much of their naptime crying. Something about how she didn't want to have to get a job and move out?

Doh!

Of course I reassured her that I had been TOTALLY KIDDING about the whole job/apartment thing. Totally! And that she could always, ALWAYS live with us.

But a mere verbal contract was not sufficient to re-assure her. So we drew up an official document showing that she could always live with us. Signed and everything.

Not notarized. We might need that loophole later with this whole contract thing comes back to haunt us.

This official document has now been filed away for all of those years. But when faced with the impending (like, 8 years from now!) end of life-at-home, Sprout went and dug it out and put it on the counter. Just so we won't forget that we promised.

We won't forget. I am in no hurry to get rid of her permanently.

I am assuming that by the time she is able to leave, she'll want to. She probably will choose a college far far away. (Sob.) She'll probably seek her fortune in a big city somewhere. (Sob.)

But I am happy for her to have this piece of mind that if ever the road points her back toward home, there will be room at the inn for her. Always.

Fun with Egg Cartons

2010-03-13T15:07:00.000-05:00

Since we haven't done anything fun in a long time, I am digging back into old things I never managed to write about.

Which brings us to this guy.

Tater did this almost entirely on his own. He found the idea in some book, I wish I could credit it properly, but it was months ago, so I have no idea where it came from.

He cut out a little cup from an egg carton. Well, actually I did that part because he tried and it kept coming out the wrong shape and I was afraid he was going to start throwing things (like scissors) around the kitchen. So I intervened.

I don't like it when people throw scissors.

Once we got the body to be the right shape, he used a permanent market to draw on the face and stripes. We glued googly eyes on the face and cut another little piece of foam from the egg carton and glued it on for a tail.

Voila - raccoon!

The book showed a cardboard-type egg carton, and that might work even better. We had the foam kind and I wasn't going to buy some different kind of eggs just for the carton. Stubborn, yes.

This could work for little cats, dogs, cows, pigs...really any animal if you embellish it properly. Tater was really happy with the end result and proud of himself for doing it (almost) all by himself.

Inspiration

2010-03-12T10:12:00.000-05:00

I apologize in a huge way for being MIA around here. I have stumbled into some freelance projects that have kept me busy along with working on my resolutions project.

I have a little pile of activity ideas that is growing on the counter, but we just haven't gotten ourselves together to do any of them in a while. We are planning on some really fun Easter Eggs, but we can't do that just yet!

Today is a rainy day and the kids are home from school, so we are trying to figure out what to do with ourselves. Tater says he wants to go shopping and buy a Spongebob Lego Set and that will be his "craft".

I don't think he is the spirit of things.

I was just checking out a website, which I think saw in Woman's Day Magazine - Instructables.com. It seems like a great resource with wide gamut of different projects. I just haven't figured out which one to do. The magazine suggested Vegan Marshmallows, but the instructions include a bunch of ingredients that I a) don't have and b) don't know where to get. So that's not going to happen.

I will have to come up with something stunningly original and exciting and reclaim my Fun Mommy title!

Stay tuned!

Aqua Sand Review

2010-02-24T14:05:00.000-05:00

Check out our experience with Aqua Sand on the Review page.

Olympic Bead Projects

2010-02-12T11:25:00.001-05:00

My friend, Jen, who is a far funner Mommy than I, just sent me this link to some Olympic themed fuse bead patterns.

This could be a way to salvage our third snow day in a row!

Thanks, Jen!

Snow Day

2010-02-10T15:51:00.000-05:00

We, like most of the East Coast, are in the midst of a big big BIG blizzard. So Tater and Sprout are home from school. Again.

We had our traditional Snow Storm French Toast for breakfast. I assume that's what everyone makes with the eggs, milk and bread that they hoard pre-storm.

We have watched a ridiculous amount of TV. Again.

The snow is blowing sideways and so I am hesitant to let them go outside to play. Not to mention that Sprout has a "boot" on her broken foot and therefore can't wear a snow boot. Seems like frozen toes would be unavoidable if she goes out.

Right now they are playing with a mixture of cornstarch and water and food coloring (3/4 cup cornstarch + 1/3 cup of water + a few drops of food coloring = weird slime). I fear that they will have blue hands for several days. Smurf-like.

Yesterday, during my pre-storm preparations, I bought this new Pillsbury cookie dough. It has only the ingredients that you would actually put in cookies if you were motivated enough to bake them from scratch. So when I asked the kids if they wanted to bake the cookies they said, "YES!" Of course.

So Sprout said, "Can I mix them?" as she grabbed the whisk. Um...there's no actual mixing involved.

Then Tater said, "Can I measure things?" as he went to get the measuring spoons. Nope...no measuring either.

Sprout: "Can I scoop them out and roll the little balls?"

Nope - pre-formed.

Sprout: "These cookies are NO FUN."

Sorry.

We put them on the tray and did the little fork crosses on top and they are in the oven now. I am guessing they'll think they're more fun in about 15 minutes.

There are a bunch of coupons available on the Pillsbury site (for other products, too) and if you Google for Pillsbury Simply Cookie Dough there seem to be some coupons there, too.

Happy sort of baking.

Kideos

2010-02-07T17:14:00.000-05:00

My kids love to play on the computer. And I have bookmarked all sorts of kid-appropriate sites for them.

PBSKids

Disney Channel

Nickelodeon

But my friend just found this kid version of YouTube and I think the kids will love it. It's called Kideos and they have kid safe videos filtered out from YouTube. Nothing rude or inappropriate, just a bunch of funny animals and cartoons. The videos are divided up by age group, and go from baby to 10+.

I think Sprout would like this one of the crowd at the Oprah show dancing to the Black Eyed Peas.

Tater would probably enjoy this one with a dog riding on a skateboard.

Of course they spent last night laughing hysterically at this guy - which is probably not at all appropriate. Somehow he didn't get filtered into Kideo.

Hmmmm...

Where is the fun??

2010-01-23T17:40:00.003-05:00

I have totally fallen off of my fun bandwagon, it is sad. We have been busy keeping warm, cleaning up after our dog, going to basketball practice, writing reports about the rainforest and the Dewey Decimal system, and of course watching way too much TV.

We figured out how to get movies from Netflix on our XBox and the kids have been demanding regular movie nights. First we watched Benji, then Bolt and just now Tater and his dad finished watching some Tom & Jerry. Lots of animal flick action!

I am busy writing over here at 43 Resolutions...and I did post a fun video of my dogs being silly, so maybe that will distract you momentarily while I get my act together to post more fun stuff over here. I haven't forgotten about you! Really!

Tater has been working on these little pegboard "fuse bead" projects (pictured at the top there) like a maniac. We have had them for a few years, and now he is coordinated enough to do them himself. When the kids were smaller they would make me sort the different colored beads out for them, which was a bit tedious for me, but made them feel all management-like.

If you do a Google search on "pegboard beads" or "fuse beads" you can find them, or they are available at any craft shop and even in the toy department at IKEA. Here are a few Amazon links to get you started: Perler Fuse Beads, Perler Small Pegboards For Fuse Bead Activities, Perler Fuse Bead Bucket Activity Kit.

We discovered that it is most cost-effective to buy a big tub-o-beads and the basic pegboards and then go print designs from on-line. Google "fuse bead designs" and you will find tons of them for FREE!!

Tater does these en masse and then makes me get out the iron and fuse them all together. I think he does this just for the novelty of seeing me with an iron in my hand.

Very rare. With an element of danger that is very exciting...will I set something on fire??

I haven't yet. But every time there is a chance!

Never a dull moment!

Showtime (and a recipe)

2010-01-07T13:24:00.002-05:00

Oops. I went MIA there for a little while. With Christmas and Winter Break and my new project and cleaning up Christmas...I just got a little distracted. Sorry about that.

We did do a few fun things during the break. The whole family went to see Disney on Ice at the Wachovia Center on December 28th. The kids loved the show and the skating was really impressive. They had a whole slew of Disney characters out there, including the new ones from the Princess and The Frog, which we also saw last week.

Aside from a Fantasia-like segment with skating brooms in the middle (that movie always freaked me out), the kids loved it - especially when the Toy Story characters came out near the end!

The deal on Disney on Ice Tickets is still going on through the end of this month, so if they are still performing near you, it's a fun event for the kids!

Another performance that we attended was the annual "Panto" at People's Light and Theater in Malvern. This year it was based on Snow White - but the "evil stepmother" was an aging actress and "Snow White" was her sweet young daughter. These shows are always fun - lots of audience participation. Sadly, it ended last week - but check out other performances there - they do a great job!

As I mentioned, we saw The Princess and The Frog, which was very cute - and surprisingly, the heroine's mother survived the entire movie. I think that is a Disney first!

We also saw Alvin and The Chipmunks: The Squeakquel and oh my...that is not a good movie. Although the kids thought it was SO GOOD. I wonder about them sometimes!

And, I know this is completely random, but since I can't eat cheese this month, I have been unable to make this meal for my family (because I would want to eat it!) I made this a month or so ago, and everyone LOVED it. And that hardly EVER happens!

So, if we can't be eating it, I thought maybe you could.

This is from the December/January issue of the Taste of Home: Healthy Cooking Magazine, which I may have to get a subscription for.

Echilada Lasagna

(I seriously thought the name alone would be enough to terrify my children - so I called it "Taco Lasagna")

1 lb lean ground turkey (I use the 93% fat free kind)

1 large onion, chopped (I used frozen diced onion)

1 large green pepper, chopped (I used frozen chopped peppers)

1 small sweet red pepper, chopped (I skipped this)

1 pkg fat-free cream cheese

1 tsp. chili powder

1 (10oz) can enchilada sauce

6 whole wheat flour tortillas

1 cup shredded reduced fat Mexican cheese blend (I like the Kraft 2% version)

1. In a large skillet, cook the turkey, onion and peppers over medium heat until the meat is no longer pink.

2. Stir in cream cheese and chili powder.

3. Pour enchilada sauce into a shallow bowl. Dip tortillas into sauce to coat (I did them as I used them rather than having a big slimy pile of tortillas - and I used a brush to coat them).

4. Place two tortillas in a 13X9 baking dish coated with baking spray; spread with half of the turkey mixture, sprinkle with 1/3 cup of cheese (I may possibly have used more...maybe)

5. Repeat layers. Top with remaining tortillas and cheese.

6. Cover and freeze for up to 3 months or bake, uncovered, at 400 for 20-25 minutes or until heated through and cheese is melted.

7. Let stand 10 minutes before serving.

8. Serve with salsa and sour cream (we use Greek Yogurt instead of sour cream) if desired.

9. To use frozen lasagna: Thaw in the refrigerator overnight. Remove from the fridge 30 minutes before baking and then bake as directed.

Yummy.

Happy New Year!

2009-12-31T22:53:00.000-05:00

We hope the new year brings you health and happiness and lots and lots of FUN!

All the best,

Kristen, Mike, Sprout and Tater

You are My Miracle

2009-12-29T17:45:00.001-05:00

Tater brought this sweet poem home from school. Once I stopped sobbing, I thought I should share it.

You are My Miracle

I am your parent.

I am your child.

I am your quiet place.

I am your WILD.

I am your hot chocolate.

I am your marshmallow.

I am your nutcracker.
I am your cookie dough.

I am your gingerbread.

I am your frosting and goo.

I am your paper.

I am your glitter and glue.

I am your wrapping.

I am your surprise.

I am your "Don't peek!"

I am your wide eyes.

I am your "Bundle Up!"

I am your dash outside.

I am your uphill pull.

I am your fast sleigh ride.

I am your fortress.

I am your snowball fight.

I am your decorate.

I am your tangled lights.

I am your helper.

I am your "do-it-myselfer."

I am your Santa Claus.
I am your Christmas elf.

I am your glass ball.

I am your popcorn string.

I am your pageant.

I am your angel's wings.
I am your steady hands.

I am your rising star.

I am your stocking.

I am your chocolate bar.

I am your caroling.

I am your jingle bell.

I am your favorite song.

I am your First Noel.

I am your old stories.

I am your make-believe.

I am your "Go to Sleep!"

I am your Christmas Eve.

I am your "Hush now."

I am your lyrical.

I am your peace on earth.

I am your miracle.

And there I go again with the sobbing...what a sap...

Jingle Bell Wreath

2009-12-23T10:12:00.001-05:00

I was trying to remember why I had jingle bells lying around, and then I realized that it was because we made this cute little wreath last year.

Jingle bells are crazy cheap at craft stores, I think a bag of them was about $2. Or maybe I am deluding myself into thinking they are cheap. I am still firmly convinced that greeting/birthday cards cost about $1. I am always surprised that they are closer to $4. For a card!!

Anyway, maybe jingle bells cost more than $2 a bag. But they aren't very expensive.

We already had this and I thought, "How hard could it be to make that?" And really, not hard at all. Although ours isn't exactly the same. This one is on wire, the one we made is on monofilament (fancy name for fishing line).

To make a little jingle bell wreath you need:

Jingle Bells - ours are all silver, but a mix of colors could be fun.

Monofilament - like heavy fishing line, you can find it in the beading section at a craft store.

Ribbon

1) Cut a piece of the "string" about a foot long.

2) String the bells on. They will cluster up as you go. You want them all packed together as tightly as possible. We used about 26 bells. But depending on the size of the bells and what you want to do, you could use more or less. The kids love to do the stringing.

3) As you go, try circling the threaded bells into a wreath shape, when it holds the shape appropriately, stop stringing. If you make it too big, it will be all floppy and unwreathlike.

4) Tie the string tightly. Double knot. Heck, triple knot.

5) Tie the ribbon in a nice bow (hardest part, I think). I used the wire-edged ribbon, which is really pretty, but a PITA to tie. You are probably better at it than I am.

6) You can either tie the ribbon right onto the little wreath, or use the "tails" from stringing the bells to tie the bow on. Whatever works for you. We used the tails.

7) Trim the ends of the string.

8) Hang up your cute little wreath.

I like to put these on doorknobs so they jingle when you open the door.

Next up - I am going to figure out how to make one of these. I have no clue where to start, but I love the "grape-iness" of the way they are clustered up.

But right now, I have to go get gift tags, deliver a cello to school, and go for a LONG walk to unload some of the cookies that have jumped, unsolicited, into my mouth in the last few days.

Jingle on, my friends! (Like "Rock On"...but jingly...)

Teacher Gifts - Candy Pretzels

2009-12-20T22:43:00.000-05:00

This week we are still deep into preparations for Christmas. Sprout had her Winter Concert on Thursday night and she performed brilliantly in the chorus and orchestra (cello). The layout of her school "cafetorium" is such that about 10 people in the front row can actually see anything, so my pictures of the actual performance are awful. But she sure was cute!

Saturday brought the "Storm of the Century" to Southeastern PA and we spent the day alternating between shoveling the driveway and working on our teacher gifts. As my shoveling technique leaves much to be desired (mostly I desire not to have to use it!) I will tell you about the gift project instead.

Candy-covered pretzel sticks!

I found a cute little Christmas Tree candy mold at Michael's for $1.99 and figured that melting couldn't be all THAT hard.

So I also got these little melty candy things.

We dumped a bunch of these into a plastic bowl and melted them in the microwave, following the directions on the package. About 2 minutes at 50% power seemed to do the trick for us. The result was this stuff that looks very much like melted crayons. Yum.

I always thought that the candy resulting from melting and forming these things would be completely gross - like white chocolate, which I hate. But it is actually quite delish if you can get beyond the color factor. Much less waxy than I would have expected. And with something crunchy and/or salty...mmmm....

I put the kids to work putting little dots of the different colors into the molds to make "ornaments" on the trees. They used toothpicks to drop the red and green into the molds and did a very nice job.

They are a good work crew. And very cute. Especially in their jammies.

The melting and dotting of the red and green took a little while, especially since they were also (of course) watching something on TV. But it seemed like on a jammie day in a blizzard, you should be allowed to take your time.

See how un-control freaky I was being? Good, right?

Once the dots were done and had set for a little while we melted some white (with speckles in it...fancy!) and filled the mold about 1/3 of the way up. They each did three and didn't even fight about it. I love this project.

Then we took pretzel rods and rolled the ends in some of the melted candy.

After the first batch I just started dipping them in the little bowl, which was actually a little easier.

Then the dipped pretzels went into the molds, so that they were about 3/4 of the way up the little trees, and then we covered them the rest of the way with melted candy.

We had to prop the ends up so the pretzels weren't flipping out of the mold while the candy hardened. The Brookstone catalog worked nicely.

We waiting about an hour to make sure they were really and truly dry and hardened and then carefully (oh so very carefully) popped them out of the molds.

Not bad, right??

I figured out later that popping them into the fridge briefly made them a little easier to get out of the molds. I am guessing that you could put some kind of non-stick into the molds to make them come out easier. But then wouldn't the candy be greasy??

We also made green ones and red ones, with the other colors for the "ornaments".

Then there was some extra melted candy stuff leftover so I hunted around for something to put it on. I came up with graham crackers. I think potato chips would have been quite fab. Wish I had had some.

I dressed them up with some sprinkles. I also tasted a few to make sure they were good. I am all about quality control.

I had purchased some cute little candy boxes, but once I realized that there were more teachers requiring gifting than I had originally planned, we moved on to plan B - some cellophane bags that I had left over from last year.

I put one of each color tree in the bag, and then two of the graham cracker squares (which filled in the bottom nicely, I thought). I tied the tops with gold ribbon, but then I remembered that I had some jingle bells left from some other project from years ago.

And then when I was digging out the jingle bells (and dropping them all over the floor, scaring the dickens out of the dogs), I found some silver pipe cleaners, which were also left over from some other project.

So I put the bells on the pipe cleaners and made these funky little twisty things out of the pipe cleaners (wrapped them around a pencil). I think the final embellishment is quite Martha. Even though I am so totally NOT.

These are all packed up now for the kids to take to school tomorrow. I am so hoping that there is no droppage or breakage. But I know that taking them in myself is way too control-freakish.

Awareness is the first step. Right?

This candy-molding thing was fun. I would totally do it again - but it would need to be for some occasion where we give the results away. Because really, yummmmm!

It's Beginning to Look (and Sound) a Lot Like Christmas

2009-12-17T09:46:00.001-05:00

My name is Kristen and I have an addiction to all things Christmas. Candles scented like pine (since we have the fake tree, they are necessary), sparkly ornaments, Santa hats...and the music. Oh, how I love the music.

I am not allowed to listen to Christmas music until Thanksgiving. And I have to stop on New Year's Day. But in between, it is playing on the iPod at every opportunity.

Every year we add a new CD to the collection. This year, because my kids are big fans, we added The Taylor Swift Holiday Collection. This wasn't as painful as you might think. Taylor is OK. A big upgrade from The Wiggles and Hi-5, which were staples of Christmases past. Although I have to say I kind of loved Hi-5. I am sad to see them moved out of the rotation.

Last year we added the Awesome 80s Christmas collection. Sprout is a huge fan of Christmas Wrapping by the Waitresses and both kids are perplexed by Christmas in Hollis by Run-DMC.

Another big winner in our collection is the Brad Paisley Christmas album. The kids love Penguin, James Penguin and request it regularly. They also enjoy Santa Looked a Lot Like Daddy...although somehow it doesn't seem to be triggering any suspicions. Ah...the innocence of youth.

We also like Vanessa Williams - Star Bright, The Barenaked Ladies - Barenaked for the Holidays, Christmas with Johnny Mathis, and of course Christmas with The Chipmunks and Rudolf the Red Nosed Reindeer. Gotta love Burl Ives. Really, you do.

One of my favorites, which is not even remotely appropriate for kids is Merry Christmas from the Family. Anything that starts with "Mom got drunk, and Dad got drunk..." is probably not quite right for the kiddies. But it sure is funny.

So that covers the music side of things.

The day after Thanksgiving we also get out our big box of Christmas books. We've been adding to the box every year. The books don't even really fit in the box anymore.

We started with classics like How the Grinch Stole Christmas (of course), and The Night Before Chrismas (this is an amazing pop-up version). Then we expanded to include things like Olive The Other Reindeer, The Longest Christmas List Ever, How Santa Got His Job, and The Chicken Who Saved Christmas.

The kids love the interactive nature of Dear Santa Claus (I can't get the link to go to the hardcover edition - but that's the good one!) Each page has a letter to Santa in a real envelope and there is a little book of reindeer jokes, an advent calendar, etc. We always have to negotiate who gets to read what and who gets to open the envelopes. Good times.

The Jolly Christmas Postman is a similar deal with letters in envelopes. So fun.

My favorite Christmas book has to be The Christmas Crocodile. "The Christmas crocodile didn't mean to be bad. Not Really." The pictures are hysterically funny as the crocodile eats his way through Christmas. Love it.

And then my most recent favorite is just called Santa Claus. This is an amazing pop-up book that is presented like an encyclopedia of information about Santa. It is really well done and even my older kids think it is completely factual.

So there you go - our Christmas media list. Fun music and books that mark the season for us. Hope something in there rings a bell (jingle jingle) for you and helps make your holidays as merry as they can be!

Do you have a book that you love that you can recommend? We are always looking for good ones. Any songs I need to add to my collection? Let me know!

The Christmas Traditions Keep Coming

2009-12-16T10:14:00.012-05:00

As I have mentioned before, I am a creature of tradition.

It makes me happy.

My tendency to do the same things each season makes it a challenge to not repeat myself now that we are in the second Christmas of this blogging thing. So...sorry.

But we visited Koziar's Christmas Village again last night. Rather than telling you all about it again, I will refer you here.

It was a lot like that. But not as cold. Yay!

Here are a few pictures from The Worst Cell Phone Camera Ever:

Here are the kids at the outdoor train village. See how happy Sprout is?

Watch out for the Mistle Toad! This one worried Tater a bit (where is the toad??) until I assured him it was a joke. Ha!

Oooooo...sparkly.

Ooooo...even more sparkly stuff.

Santa's Post Office.

Indoor train village. We purchased Hot Chocolate in this little shop. We did not purchase Cotton Candy, which angered the children to no end.

And here are my kids in lederhosen. Tater originally had his head on the shoulder, which would have been funny. His tiny head is pretty funny anyway.

Next time I am going to tell you about the books we read (every year) and the music we listen to (every year...but with additions each year...) It will be a multi-media holiday extravaganza.

Tomorrow.

Elf Yourself

2009-12-09T17:33:00.002-05:00

Come on...you know you want to...

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

Glitter and Glue Ornaments

2009-12-07T21:55:00.006-05:00

This is a quick and easy project from one of the Kid Concoction Books. I don't know which one because Tater found it in the book, described what he was going to do, and then did it. I got the supplies out for him and provided encouragement, but besides that I was hands off on this one.

First I need to mention that I clearly need some photography training because it is far beyond me to share with you how pretty and sparkly these are on the tree. My attempt over there is flat and lame. So noted for my developing resolution list.

Materials: Sheet of Wax Paper, White Glue (Elmer's), Glitter, Ribbon

1) Lay the sheet of wax paper out on a cookie sheet or a piece of cardboard (so you can move it later to let it dry).

2) Draw shapes on the wax paper with the glue. Use a decent thickness of glue so that the end result is a sturdy-ish ornament (you are going to peel it off of the wax paper).

Tater made a diamond, a little triangle, a Christmas Tree and a star (the tree is in that pile of glitter).

3) Cover the glue with a thick coating of glitter.

4) Let dry overnight.

5) The next day, peel the glitter shapes off of the wax paper and flip them over.

6) Retrace the shape with glue and cover the other side with glitter.

7) Let dry again overnight.

8) Loop a ribbon through for hanging.

Voila!

Disney on Ice DEAL!!

2009-12-01T19:45:00.006-05:00

I have been trying to make some plans for what to do with the kids during the LONG week of Winter Break. Hoping to catch up with some friends, maybe do some ice skating. And then I found out about this great deal for tickets for Disney on Ice!

The shows are playing at the Wachovia Center and open on December 23rd. If you use the coupon code MOM at www.ComcastTix.com you can get four tickets for $44 for Monday-Friday matinee shows, and $4 off Friday night and weekend shows; any additional weekday tickets are still priced at $11. That's $11 per ticket!! That's less than Monkey Joe's (sorry Joe).

Here's the official description of the show:

Disney On Ice presents Let’s Celebrate! It’s one colossal party on ice, with all your favorite Disney friends! Enjoy a winter wonderland with Mickey Mouse and Minnie Mouse, a Halloween haunt with the Disney Villains, a Very Merry Unbirthday Party, a Royal Ball with the Disney Princesses and more in a magical medley of holidays, celebrations and festivals from around the globe.

We are going on December 28th and the kids couldn't be more excited. One day planned...seven more to go!

I wrote this post as part of the Feld Entertainment Activator Program. In return for sharing this (awesome) news I received a free family pack of tickets to the show. Yay!

Traditions and Obsolescence

2009-11-29T22:33:00.016-05:00

I come from a family steeped in tradition. Not like the Mayflower or anything, but what we do when. What we eat. How we celebrate. All full of traditions.

One of the traditions we have is that on Black Friday, the kids and I build gingerbread houses.

Once Sprout and I went to a fancy gingerbread decorating event at a fancy schmancy bakery. And that was way fun. But the next year, when we tried to go back, the fancy schmancy bakery had gone belly up (the nerve). There we were, wandering the streets of Downingtown wondering what we were to do to fill the gaping tradition void (for the tradition that had been started only the year before).

Luckily our wandering led us to a store with Gingerbread House kits. And that has been our traditional mode of gingerbread house construction for lo these many years.

This year, we were a little late on getting the houses built. We were busy doing stuff like this. That's Sprout sitting in Tony Romo's locker. Eat your heart out Jessica Simpson! Tater and our favorite Texan are sitting in Jason Witten's locker. How fun is that?

They didn't actually sit there all week. But we were traveling home from Dallas on Black Friday and, strangely, Southwest isn't big on building Gingerbread Houses during the flights.

But today we finally had some time and went to Target (oh, Target...how I love you) where we purchase two of these fine Gingerbread House kits ($9.99 each).

With...wait for it...premade icing!

Now, if you have no experience with the powdered Royal Icing that usually comes in these kits, that may seem like no big deal.

But, really...big deal. Last year I attempted to use spray icing. I do not recommend this. Too squishy. Too slide-y.

The pre-made icing was an excellent upgrade to the already convenient nature of the kit. So convenient in fact that my darling children decided that, after the initial construction phase, they did not need me to help.

Sniff. I am not needed. I'll be over here feeling sorry for myself. Or, maybe taking pictures.

Sprout was carefully doling out her candies. Attempting to use as few as possible without me noticing her evil scheme to have lots of leftovers to eat.

I'm on to you...
She was also trying to watch Star Wars while building. Multi-tasking with frosting can be trouble!

This guy has trouble written all over him. Or maybe that's frosting. Definitely frosting.

I think the end results were quite festive. This one here is Tater's. The one at the top is Sprout's. I did manage to get her to put most of the candy on - but it wasn't easy!

The tradition carries on. Despite my apparent obsolescence.

We did have an unfortunate incident with some roof slippage on Tater's house. And I was summoned to help with the repairs - so I guess I do still have some role to play. Whew!

Next year I am going to break out the spray icing again so there will be lots of repairs for me to help with. Gotta stay relevant!

Cookie Decorating Event - December 6th

2009-11-18T22:58:00.004-05:00

I wanted to let you know about this great event that benefits one of my favorite charities. Mommy's Light helps kids who have lost their mothers (sob) remember special traditions that they enjoyed with their mothers when they were alive (sob again).

They are also some of the most wonderful and committed women you will ever meet, working tirelessly to help these kids. I do some volunteer work in their office each week and I am in awe.

The Embassy Suites in Valley Forge, PA is hosting a Holiday Cookie Decorating Party on Sunday, December 6th from 2 - 4PM and the proceeds will go to Mommy's Light to help them do all of the good work that they do.

I can't get this little flyer to be any bigger - but hopefully if you click on it, it will get big enough to see the details. I will list them out here just in case...

When? December 6, 2-4PM

Where? The Grille at Chesterbook - Embassy Suites Valley Forge
888 Chesterbrook Blvd, Wayne, PA

How much? $15 for each adult/child set (1 adult + 1 child)
$5 for each additional adult or child

What? Hot chocolate, decorating holiday cookies and making holiday crafts.
Entertainment by Sally's Music Circle and a special visit from Santa!

How to Sign Up? Call 610-407-7106 OR e-mail Liz.Iozzi@Hilton.com by December 1st.

We'll be there.

Tater will be the one running away from Santa.

Christmas Gift Idea - Oxfam America

2009-11-15T19:42:00.002-05:00

Want a great gift idea that will help your kids learn to help others? Check this out.

Slumber Party

2009-11-14T22:17:00.020-05:00

First, I have to get all braggy because I am excited that I am now a contributor over at Chesco Moms. So, it isn't that I haven't written in more than a week. I just haven't written HERE. Which is inexcusable, yes. And yet, I am making excuses.

But I did want to share with you the events of last Friday evening when, in honor of Sprout's 10th birthday (with which I am still coming to terms), we hosted our very first SLUMBER PARTY!

And yes, there was even actual slumber involved!

So, let's run through this in chapters...

Chapter 1: Arrival

We had sent invitations to 5 of Sprout's friends, so our total planned number was 6 including Sprout herself. The invitations were for 5:30.

Except apparently they weren't. My friend and assistant, the lovely Ms. Jess arrived just before 5:30, but no kids. Not even one. And then it was 5:45, and I was getting a little nervous.

Did I write the wrong date on the invitations? (Because it is entirely possible that I would).
Did they all catch the Swine Flu? (Although I would guess they would call if they did).

Tick. Tick. Tick...Tick.

And then at 6:00 all of the kids arrived en masse. So apparently I got the date right, but the time wrong. Oh me, you suck at planning...

Chapter 2: Dinner

Tater and Mike (aka Daddy) stayed and had some of the pizza and chicken fingers (that had arrived just before 5:30 and were now approaching old). Yum. Then the boys took off to go see Disney's A Christmas Carol so they wouldn't get a whole bunch of girl germs on them.

Wine was poured. No, not for the kids. Courage was mustered.

Chapter 3: Make-Overs

In preparation for this momentous event, I procured for young Sprout the vast array of cosmetics shown at the left there. Yay for Ulta! This monstrous kit was only $19.99 and I think I may need one of my own.

I figured that I would de-mystify make-up for her, she can play with it as much as she wants. She can't wear it out of the house for a few years, but she can play.

And I can borrow it. Woo Hoo!

Anyway, we set up two chairs and Ms. Jess and I set about making over those innocent little faces. Not that they needed it, but it sure was fun. Ms. Jess even brought her own can of hot pink hair spray, because that's the kind of girl she is.

So here is Sprout before:

And here she is after.

Most notable surely are her raging red lips. For all of the other girls we carefully applied sparkly pink lip gloss with Q-Tips, to be sanitary and not spread illness all about the place. But Sprout felt that since the make-up kit was hers, she could go full-on with the lipstick and applied her own.

I am in very, very much trouble in the near future.

Unfortunately, I am not going to show you the other girls, because they aren't mine and I don't know how their parents would feel about that sort of thing, but trust me, priceless. Many sparkles were involved.

Chapter 4: Craft Project

We ordered these very cute monster pillows from Oriental Trading. The fleece pieces have little strips that the kids tied together to put the front and back together and they came with the stuffing and face parts.

Unfortunately I didn't have the right kind of glue, so there were face parts everywhere except on the pillows. But it was fun while it lasted.

The girls were giggling and chatting and comparing cell phones (!) Ms. Jess and I attempted not to eavesdrop. Sort of.

Chapter 5: Cake

I purchased an unfrosted 1/2 sheet cake (effectively wigging out the bakery department at the Acme), and the little cardboard circles that bakers use to display cakes.

I cut the big naked cake into 8ths, so that each child (plus Tater) would have their own smaller naked cake. The cakes were placed on the fancy little circles and passed out to the girls along with tubs of frosting, spreaders, sprinkles, and decorating icing.

And so they set about decorating their own cakes.

Ms. Emily decided that she didn't really want to decorate her cake and entertained herself by eating her naked cake without a fork. This set a dangerous precedent for later, as you will see.

Sprout applied a liberal layer of vanilla frosting and attempted to created a waterfall of blue. I took the blue away from her, much to her dismay. Mean Mommy. But she was still smiling.

Here is the finished product for one of our other guests, I believe it was Ms. Maddie.

And about 30 seconds later, THIS was Ms. Maddie.

Need a fork?

And then about 10 seconds later, Ms. Maddie's twin sister, Ms. Lexi got in on the action.

Oh my.

Of course the other girls thought this was HYSTERICAL and they continued to face plant in their cakes to the wailing laughter of the crowd. Ms. Jess attempted to be of assistance by pulling their hair back and pinning it.

And then their hands went into the remaining frosting tubs and there had to be an intervention and some serious frosting removal.

I never really want to have to investigate the nostrils of another woman's children in this kind of detail again. Just sayin'.

Chapter 6: Singing

While all of these shenanigans were going on, I quickly frosted the last piece of cake (8 pieces - 6 for the girls - 1 set aside for Tater = 1 left over) into a quick "real" birthday cake so that we could sing to Sprout.

I only put one candle on it because of the very real fire risk of children randomly sticking their faces into cakes. Safety first.

Then the kids went down into the basement and commenced some enthusiastic Guitar Hero/Karaoke. Eye of the Tiger and Living on a Prayer never sounded quite like that before.

Meanwhile, Ms. Jess and I attempted to remove the wayward frosting from every kitchen surface. Rug, table, dog.

More wine may possibly have been drunk. More courage mustered.

A couple of our guests had early morning soccer and left around 10:00. I had to make Sprout drag herself away from the singing to say good-bye.

Because Ms. Jess is violently allergic to dogs, she had to leave me to go home and breathe. I allowed her to go. I am a nice friend.

Chapter 7: Movie

Luckily, Mike and Tater returned from their movie excursion just moments later. Reinforcements!

Around 10:30 we had the remaining partiers in their jammies and sleeping bags and draped all around our family room. Tater joined the girls (who kindly accepted his presence with no fuss) and the lights were all turned down/off. And then they settled in to watch Aliens in the Attic.

I retired to the office to do some work. Really.

There was giggling and laughing. A few requests for water.

At midnight they told me the movie was over and I took Tater up to bed. He asked if he could read. Um, no.

The girls were really winding down, they watched some of the special features/deleted scenes/bloopers type stuff.

I did more work. Really. Why are you looking at me like that?

At 1:11 I finished my work and went out to check and it appeared that everyone was asleep except for the birthday girl. I gently removed the remote from her hand and clicked off the TV and went to bed.

Chapter 8: Sleep

Chapter 9: The Morning

At 7:30 in the morning, Tater came to my bedside, poked me and asked, "Do you know where the girls are?"

My first though was, "OH NO - They are gone!"

But then I suggested that he check the basement. And he found them.
Whew.

I got up around 8 and my rock star of a boyfriend (aka Daddy) had gone out and gotten donuts, bagels and (YAY!) an iced coffee. He is awesome.

So the kids ate donuts. They rejected the bagels because we didn't have cream cheese. Drat. And then they went downstairs to play.

Chapter 10: The End

Parents came for the remaining partiers around 9:30 and found them in the midst of a rubble of toys and dress-up clothes in our basement.

Party favors were these super-cute little monster boxes (coordinated with the pillows), with candy and a little LipSmacker Lip Gloss inside.

Sprout and Tater and I cleaned up the basement later in the day.

By late afternoon there was little evidence that anything exciting had taken place.

But Sprout was smiling all day!

Ten???

2009-11-05T16:35:00.024-05:00

My baby girl turned 10 today.

I know this sort of by definition means she isn't my baby girl.
And yet, she is.

I am having trouble getting my head around the facts that:
a) My child is 10.
b) I have been a parent for 10 years.

I still remember being amazed that they would let us leave the hospital with her. And wondering what the heck we were supposed to do with her once we got her home.

She was very round. And very cute, I thought.

In honor of this auspicious occasion, I thought I would share with you some of the many sides of my Sprout.

She can be very weird.

She is musically talented.

Sometimes she can be a little bit stubborn and grumpy.

She is becoming a fan of fashion. She comes up with some unique statement looks.

She loves to have fun.

She is a superhero in many ways. Super smart. Super funny. Super cute.
Sometimes super gross.

She likes sports. I think mostly because she can share it with her dad. And I will have no idea what they are talking about.
She is a good sport. Going along with most of my ridiculous ideas.

She adores her brother, even though she'd deny it.

She's a ham.

Overall, an excellent all around package of kid, if I do say so myself. Not that I had any control over the situation. She is who she is and she isn't changing that for anyone. Not even me. And I think that is very cool.

I know 10 isn't really all that grown up. There are plenty of milestones to come.

But I realized that we are more than halfway through the time she will live with us (!) She does have a signed contract from her parents that says she will always have a room in our home.

Although that room may be full of my shoes.

But she could borrow them. Maybe.

This is all assuming we survive tomorrow night. The first slumber party.

Help.
I don't think 10 years of parenthood has prepared me for this moment.

Election Day

2009-11-03T21:57:00.016-05:00

Today was election day. I am sorry to admit that I was an irresponsible citizen and did not go and vote in my local elections. But I would like someone to explain to me whose idea it was for the kids to have the day off for election day. Is that supposed to make it easier for me to vote?

Um...no. It does not.

We spent the morning waiting for a service to come and clean our carpets. I will not name names, but I was not happy when they did not arrive within their allocated 4 hour time window. So I told them to forget about it. I was tired of waiting and it was noon and we were all still in our jammies.

Spending the day in our jammies isn't a bad thing. We are big fans actually.

But today seemed like a doing day. Except that it turned out not to be.

We started out by not having our carpets cleaned. Progressed to not going out for lunch. Not going to order the cake for Sprout's birthday. Not picking up the movie for the same party. Not getting the gifts for her class. Not really going anywhere beyond our cul-de-sac.

Inspired by my burning desire to get the candy OUT OF THE HOUSE, we did try this science experiment. We used Skittles. We dipped each Skittle in water and drew a line across a strip of coffee filter with the melty color.

The wetness of the Skittles in no way dissuaded my children from eating them. So, the whole idea of this activity as an alternative to eating the candy was a bust. Should have dipped them in spinach. They wouldn't have eaten them then!

Anyway, then we stuck the striped pieces of coffee filter into plastic cups with a little water in the bottom. The bottoms of the strips were in the water, but the stripes were above water.

The idea here is that as the water is sucked up into the coffee filter strip it causes the colors to separate out into the individual dyes used. Unfortunately, this process was not at all exciting to watch. Slow. Watching water seep. Boring.

We went outside to play, and when we came back a while later, the strips looked like this.

The top one was yellow - which stayed yellow.

The next one was green - which separated into blue and yellow. Cool!

The next one was purple - which separated into blue and red. Also cool!

The other ones were orange and red - they didn't do much.

The kids looked at these and said, "Hmmm. Cool." and then went to watch some SpongeBob. So I can't say this was a huge success. But it was sciencey. And we tried.

As I said, while we were waiting for our colors to separate, we went outside to play. Both kids started to ride bikes and scooters, but then Tater found his kite in the garage and asked if it was windy enough. It didn't seem like it was, but we decided to give it a shot anyway.

He was so excited he never stopped to take his helmet off.

First we had to get out the kites. We have four. We have never successfully flown any of them.

Then the launch. Run Tater...Run!

Sprout decided to just watch...and strategize.

OK. Maybe just a little more running...

Maybe uphill would work better...

Uh oh...wipeout...

Take a little break...relax...rewind...

Then run some more...

That boy ran and ran and ran...and the kite never quite took off. But he was smiling and laughing and having a great time.

Then his big sister asked if she could try. And up it went.

And he wasn't even mad. They were both so delighted to see a kite IN THE SKY that for a moment there was no competition. No "it's not fair!"

She even let him hold the string.
It was a beautiful moment.

I guess it was OK that they stayed home. Even if I didn't get to put my vote in for Registrar of Wills.

Whatever that is.

More Halloween Ideas

2009-10-27T22:07:00.007-04:00

My friend Jen, who is one of the Funnest Mommies around, sent me some pictures of Halloween crafts that she has done with her kids and I just had to share them with you.

First up are these super-cute Sesame street pumpkins. How awesome are the Elmo and Grover-o-lanterns? And the Mr. Potato Head totally rocks, too!

She made them with fake craft pumpkins so they can be used over and over and she suggested using battery operated tea lights to light them up.

She even sent me this link to a site with other Sesame Street themed pumpkins. So fun!

My kids would have LOVED these back with "Melmo" was their favorite character EVER.

Then we have this completely awesome pumpkin patch cake. She got the idea from Family Fun Magazine (always great), but I think her execution gets bonus points.

I wish I had a picture of the graveyard cake I made a few years ago for Sprout's birthday. I might have to recreate it. Similar idea with a chocolate-frosted sheet cake sprinkled with chocolate cookie crumbs for "dirt". Instead of the pumpkins (which are SO cute) I used Vienna Finger Cookies and frosted them with white icing to make the gravestones. I put them across the cake and put one letter on each stone to spell out "Happy B'day". I think there were also some gummy worms sprinkled around. I was quite proud of it.

Anyway - I was sharing Jen's stuff...so the other thing she sent me was these little craft-y pumpkins made with rolls of toilet paper wrapped in fabric. So clever. Another Family Fun idea involving very few "ingredients" and a great end product!

Thanks to Jen for sharing all these great ideas!!
Yay - my first contributor!!

Do you have any fun ideas to share?? Send your ideas to me at kjbassick (at) hotmail (dot) com and I'd be happy to post them!

Pumpkins

2009-10-26T09:23:00.003-04:00

We still don't have our pumpkins to carve for Halloween. We didn't go to the farm and ride out to the patch. Wanted to. Didn't. Too much other partying and visiting (and staying out of the rain) to do.

We did do a hayride in late September and the kids decorated pumpkins with stick-in face parts that my friend had...but those pumpkins rotted before October even darkened our doorstep.

Rotten pumpkins are gross, so I always want to wait until the last minute so that lighting the Jack-o-Lanterns isn't a matter of sticking my hands into some mold-encrusted cavern of yuck.

Last year I convinced the kids to forgo the carving for something new. Well, Sprout went along with that plan - Tater was a harder sell.

This week we are chock full of extra-curricular activities leaving this afternoon as the one possible opportunity to go out and have the kids pick the pumpkins. And in the name of magical childhood experiences, I guess they should pick them. On a farm. With ice cream and cider.

Or do you think they might just go for this?

Pre-Halloween Preparations

2009-10-22T08:57:00.007-04:00

Of course, the kids already have their costumes. After much deliberation and many changes of heart, Tater is going to be a ninja, and Sprout is going to be a trucker.

He has a full-body black suit and mask and a plastic sword that I am sure won't make it until the big day. She has a very tall trucker hat, a flannel shirt and a toothpick. She makes a cute trucker. If there is such a thing.

However, we are attending a party on Saturday with an 80's theme, so for the first time in many years, I need a costume, too. And my headband with pumpkin antennae won't work. Nor my cat ears. And that's pretty much all I have lying around.

So...80's. I wasn't that much of a fashion plate in the 80's (as I am now...not). But I spent much of yesterday piecing together something that should work - leggings, a pink sweatshirt, big pink earrings, a scrunchie. But the sweatshirt, in order to work for this, needed to be Flashdance-ified.

So I took scissors to my $5 sweatshirt, much to the horror of my children.

"Why are you cutting that?"
"Why are you wrecking your new sweatshirt?"

It is hard to explain Flashdance to elementary school children. But I tried.

So I cut a wide hole at the neck and I cut off the wristbands. And then we stuck them on Tater (see above). And then we stuck them on Sprout.

And then we stuck them on the puppy.

We thought the neck part looks like pig ears. Dixie thinks we are nuts.

Sprout wore this for the rest of the afternoon under her bike helmet. Quite a look.

Later the dogs decided to try on their costumes (they can be so diva-like with their demands).

Dixie is going to be a pumpkin. Angus is always a skeleton.

It is difficult to get dogs to look at you and smile. I have a new respect for the people who make those posters with cute puppies on them. Much patience is involved. I don't have it.

So, here is a picture of Angus smelling Dixie's butt. Because that's the best I could do. What do you think - poster?

About two seconds later Dixie started trying to rip her costume off.

Not a fan of Halloween apparently.

So, Saturday is the party. Sunday we have to go get pumpkins and carve them and all that. I might have to eat some cider donuts...because it's traditional. Thursday our friends are having a Halloween party, Friday is the Halloween Ball at school and then Saturday is the real deal.

I don't know when Halloween turned into such a multi-event extravaganza. We aren't even going to the various trick-or-treat events at local farms, shopping centers, malls...

What happened to one night collecting candy in a pillowcase while wearing a horrifically uncomfortable costume (possibly with your cousin attempting to pull your horse head off the whole time, possibly dressed as a crayon wrapped up in poster board in a way that made it impossible to bend, possibly wearing your grandfather's Navy uniform that survived a war and then was destroyed when you fell on your face running for candy...just possibly)?

I guess that all went the way of the Flashdance sweatshirt...

Have fun out there!

The Fort

2009-10-15T22:11:00.017-04:00

OK. First things first. When I went to log in here to put up this post I blanked on the name of the site where I write it. Dooger and Booger went through my head before I finally pulled Blogger out of the mist.

I think that this means either a) it's been too long since my last post and/or b) I am losing brain cells at an alarming rate.

But my encroaching senility aside (because I am told that sometimes it isn't ALL about me), what I really wanted to share with you is the result of about 10 hours of outdoor, independent play.

My kids, without me, outside, playing with other children, building stuff.

Not entirely without me, of course, I hovered around. I eavesdropped from my yard on the pretense of digging out bushes (which was, by the way, a lot of physical labor to have an excuse to be around without explicitly being around).

It all started sometime Friday afternoon. Progressed to Saturday afternoon. And culminated in 6 hours (!) on Sunday.

Varying numbers of kids, somewhere around 6-10 at any given time, working together to haul sticks (and some small trees) out of the woods behind our house across the street into the woods in front. Many trips to the cul-de-sac to move rocks. Rakes and shovels were involved. The Dangerous Book for Boys and the Double-Daring Book for Girls were referenced. There were very few disputes. Very few places where I had to say a word.

From time to time they would all start riding scooters and bikes around the cul-de-sac, singing "Hot Hot Hot" at the top of their lungs.

It was creepy, I tell you. All that cooperation and fresh air. All that friendship and laughter. All that age-appropriate independence. Gives me the willies.

It all came to, almost literally, a screeching halt around 6PM on Sunday, when all of a sudden, as if some internal alarm clock had gone off, the children lost all coordination and started collapsing from sheer exhaustion.

Of course, this collapsing happened to my kids while they were riding scooters. So first we scooped Tater up and bandaged his elbow and wrist, and then moments later scooped up Sprout and iced her leg and elbow.

I said, "Wow, it was like you lost all coordination at about 6 hours".

And Sprout said, "I did not, I just started falling down."

Tomato, To-mah-to.

Late on Sunday night we realized that some of our gardening tools, specifically several rakes, had been left out in "the fort". So on Monday morning, after getting the kids off to school I went to retrieve them and this is what I found.

This was the first time that I really approached what they had been doing and saw that there was actual structure to it. I had seen the "teepee" in the back, one of the neighbor dad's had helped them get that worked out. But the rest was new to me.

This huge stick (like probably over 10 feet long, although I realize the picture gives no perspective) was carried out of the woods by two 7-year-olds. When I asked the kids later what this was (I showed them the pictures and we talked about all of their hard work), they said this was for skiing. I have no idea.

This here was apparently the "house". The carefully arranged sticks and rocks just blow my mind. They put a lot of effort into getting this just so.

If you told me to make three logs stand up by bracing them with a bunch of rocks, I don't think I could do it.

This is a little further up the hill. The teepee is in the back, I am not sure what the big circle of leaves was called.

I am not clear on how masking tape came to be mixed into the leaves. Apparently there was some early attempt to tape leaves onto the trees. I know it is technically litter.

These are the "extra" sticks that they hauled up out of the woods.

This is the "fire". Of course we had a big discussion about not even thinking about trying to build a real fire.

I have no idea what this is. I think another fire.

This is apparently the "bathroom". Again, strong discussion about not actually using the bathroom. Tater is horrified by the mere concept of using the outdoors in such a manner. I don't know about Sprout. She assures me no one has used it. Whew.

The "shower". See the drain?

This is the view back down the hill. That's our house. So I was just a little pinpoint in the distance over there (a sweaty, cursing pinpoint, prying huge bushes out of the ground and peeking over from time to time).

They were back out making tweaks and moving things around on Monday. And Tuesday. And then it started to get cold and windy. And now the rain is coming down.

I am not sure what will be left of the fort (inhabited by "The Wind Clan" I am told) when the storms end next week. But I am so glad that they had this week of building something they could be proud of. And, schmaltzy as it sounds, some great memories!

Go Daddy!

2009-10-10T22:05:00.002-04:00

We made this poster to commemorate Mike's first (and possibly last, depending on how he feels over the next few days) marathon!

YAY!!

I am beyond amazed. My boyfriend ROCKS!

Beady's

2009-10-08T09:18:00.009-04:00

With school back in full swing, our chances to do craft projects and things are quite limited. Yet, Tater frequently looks at me and says "I want to do a craft."

Sometimes he does this at 8AM and I hand him the remote and tell him to go watch some Spongebob. Crafts in the early morning are not my thing.

But when it is a reasonable time, and the homework is done, and we have a few minutes to kill, it is nice to have some small projects on hand. This is why I scout the $1 bins at AC Moore and Michael's and stock up on little paint sets and foam stickers and these little "Beady's" projects.

I see them all the time at the stores, and yet strangely can't seem to find them on-line. The world is making no sense. Anyway, I guess you have to haul yourselves to the actual physical store (gasp) if you want to do these.

Basically, these are bead-stringing. But there are two strings and you cross them back and forth to make the rows. The diagrams that come with the kits are pretty easy to follow and the kids are now able to pretty much do them themselves.

We made some a couple of years ago and with guidance, they kids were able to stack the beads onto the one string and then I would do the crossing over parts and make sure everything was nice and tight. They still need a little help with the trickier parts (legs, ears).

Most recently, each child made a lizard, a mouse, and Sprout did a cat while Tater did a snake. I was remiss in my photo-taking responsibilities and only got a picture of the final product of the snake. Bad Mommy.

Tater has a couple of these hanging on his backpack. Sprout might have one, too. We also use them as keychains for our spare keys. It is unlikely that someone is going to lose a key with a beaded lizard on it. Like a bathroom pass in elementary school, but beadier.

They burned through my entire stash of these - a marathon beadfest. So I guess it is time to go revisit the $1 bins.

Maybe next time I will save one for myself - they are fun and it is hard for me to stand around and watch. My inner control freak wants to get in there and interfere. She misses little kids who need help and she can get a little grabby, so it's best to give her her own project.

Plus, you can never have too many keychain animals. Right?

Spooky Window Treatments

2009-09-30T21:39:00.010-04:00

How fun is this?

We were at home yesterday. An in-service day...following a day off for Yom Kippur = desperate for things to do!

Even though it is not yet October, we decided that it would be a good idea to get started on Halloween decorations.

Yet again we started with an idea from Family Fun Magazine. They suggest doing this with cardboard. I thought poster board would be infinitely easier.

We carefully measured our upstairs windows. This is unlike me. I usually eyeball it and wing it. And then regret it and rig it. This time I was smart and patient and measured. And promptly left the paper with the measurements at home. Oops.

Luckily my intermittent dyslexia (which kicks in when I am attempting to tell someone my phone number and I blank...) didn't strike and I was able to remember that the windows were each 33" X 64".

We went to Target and found black poster board for $0.69 per sheet (which rang up as only $0.57 each...ka-ching!) Each sheet was 28" x 22" so I figured we could stack 3 together with a slight overlap and end up in the 28" X 64" range.

Aren't you glad I am sharing the specific numbers since your windows will totally be a completely different size? I just want to show off how good I am at math. Impressed?

We laid the sheets out and taped them together with packing tape. Then the kids each drew Jack-o-Lantern-ish faces on the boards. Sprouts window has a seam down the middle, so she did it as one big face. Tater was doing two separate windows.

Then we (I) cut out the holes. I did offer to let them cut. They didn't want to. Really.

Is it some measure of progress on the Zen-Mommy front that I didn't yell at Sprout about sitting on the table until after I took her picture?

After we (I) cut out the faces, the kids took white tissue paper and taped it over the holes. They each did a "Dracula" face and used red tissue on the "blood".

Tater felt the need to use the longest pieces of tape he could possible tear off.

I wasn't all that zen about that.

After all of the holes were covered with paper, the faces were ready to hang up.

How happy is this kid?

We used masking tape to stick the finished faces into the windows. Of course, since I didn't actually measure the sheets as we taped them together, the first three were a few inches too long. But we rigged it to fit. Improvisation is our friend.

Sprout's window. Now her room is like a cave. No light is getting in there. She can peek out through the eye holes if she wants a glimpse of the outside world.

Tater decorated our guest room (his room is in the back). He is sad that he can't look at the faces all the time.

I suggested he could sleep in the guest room, but he was freaked out by the double bed. And the fact that we call the room "Grandma's Room". Like she might sneak in at any moment. Scaaaaarrrryyyyy!!

Now we are all set for Halloween. Although I think that the kids are on a roll now and will want to keep going. Tater had some interesting ideas last year. I wonder what he'll come up with as the month rolls along.

This was a fun, easy project that took up a decent chunk of time. And the final results are, I think, "spooktacular"!

Tiny Treasure Cubbies

2009-09-29T17:12:00.011-04:00

We are paper towel tube collectors. They are one of the best craft materials.

We have made castles out of them.
We have made marble ramps out of them.
We have made other marble ramps out of them.

Last week the drawer was full again and so we made these little display cubbies. I found the idea, as I often do, in Family Fun Magazine. Love them.

First we rummaged through closets until we found two shoe boxes.

Then we rummaged through our gift wrap collection to find something fun, but sort of occasion-neutral. Stars seemed to work.

Then we wrapped each box in the paper, leaving the top open.

Finally, we cut our enormous stash of paper towel tubes so that they filled up the boxes. We got about 2-3 box-height tubes out of each paper towel tube.

There was one minor injury, Sprout cut the tip of her finger. Minor cut, thank goodness. But I did feel slightly vindicated for the heart palpitations I have every time I watch the kids cut towards their fingers.

Is that wrong?

Anyway, once the boxes were filled up with the tubes, the tubes held themselves in place. Tater was a little worried about everything falling apart, so we put glue on the bottom of his box to make things more secure.

Then we were ready to fill the little cubbies with all of the little mementos the kids have filling up their rooms.

Sprout filled hers completely. Finding rubber bracelets, bouncy balls, bug key chains and everything else she could fit to occupy each little space.

Tater left most of his open for later acquisitions. Although he did think it was a handy place to put his collection of (2) clown noses.

The best thing about this project was that it was completely FREE. All of the materials were things we already had and most of them are recycled.

Time to start filling the drawer again. I wonder what we'll make next!

Ultimate Laziness

2009-09-22T19:59:00.005-04:00

How lazy can I be?

Pretty lazy.

Want to read about it?

I knew you did.

I Am...

2009-09-17T15:23:00.002-04:00

Sprout wrote this poem at school, I hope it isn't wrong to share it.
I think it is awesome.

I Am by Sprout

I am smart and weird.
I wonder if my PopPop likes dogs.
I hear a choo-choo train puffing along as I fall asleep.
I see smooth thestrals flapping their wings.
I want an electric scooter.

I am smart and weird.
I pretend I am a famous director.
I feel uncomfortable in the presence of a crowd.
I touch my snack of apples and peanut butter.
I worry about black bears chasing me.
I cry when my mother doesn't buy me candy.

I am smart and weird.
I understand how people get jittery if the expectations are too high.
I say "eat at Moe's Southwestern Grill".
I dream I have a huge house.
I try to make a good impression.
I hope I get a sister that gets along with me.

I am smart and weird.

I don't know how much to read into this. They were given a set of prompts to frame out the poem...but I think her responses are very cool. It is amazing all of the places that the mind of an almost-10-year-old can go.

Sorry about the sister. Sprout - that isn't happening.
But your brother is super cute and you (mostly) get along great!

DIY Lunchables

2009-09-14T16:40:00.003-04:00

My kids have a love affair with the Lunchable.
(I would insert the trademark thing here, but I can't figure out how. Lunchables are made by Oscar Mayer and they are a fine product.)

Oh, the tiny compartments!

Oh, the itty-bitty pieces of cheese. The itty-bitty slices of ham. Even the tiniest hot dogs ever. Swoon.

And then there is juice! And chips! And, if you are lucky...candy!!

But then...the turkey one (which Tater prefers) has chocolate chip cookies...which he does not prefer at all. Or the ham one (which Sprout prefers) has (hold on...it's scandalous...) no Kool-Aid!!

And really, those tiny stacks of cheese and lunchmeat are tiny...not really enough for a growing kid's lunch.

So, I started to make my own "packaged lunches".

I took a big one-gallon sized zippered bag. And into that, I put smaller bags...with a couple of cheese sticks, some crackers, maybe some grapes, a few cookies (in the case pictured - little donuts...I was going WILD!) Along with this I packed single servings of milk (Tater prefers Silk Vanilla Soy Milk, Sprout likes these Horizon ones).

I told them that I made them their own special "Lunchable" (sorry Oscar Mayer) and they totally bought it!! And they ate it all up!

And...

* less packaging. If you are really diligent you could reuse some of the bags.
* healthier ingredients. (Except for the donuts...)
* more customized to what the kids like.
* much less expensive.

A big win on all fronts. They can have this kind of lunch much more frequently, and I actually feel good about it!

Which is not to say that I don't wimp out and get the "real" ones from time to time. I am still a bit of a sucker for the itty-bitty compartments!

Just a little word...

2009-09-11T14:32:00.003-04:00

Tater was getting ready to work on his spelling last night.
He was going to type out his words on the computer.

He turned on the computer, turned to me and said:

"Should I start up Microscopic Word?"

How cute is that??

Homework Helpers

2009-09-07T18:34:00.014-04:00

The kids started back to school last Monday, and then promptly had a four day weekend. So now summer is officially, unofficially over!

In preparation for the first day of school we did our normal school supply shopping. Sprout is quite the connoisseur of school supplies, and is in possession of the world's largest collection of novelty erasers. I am thinking about submitting her to the Guinness Book of World Records. But regardless of how many pencils, pens and erasers (shaped like ice cream, and lipstick, and small animals, and hearts, and...) she has, there is always a thrill when "the list" arrives and we have to hit the Target to stock up for the year.

I have to say, I share in the thrill of the hunt for just the right notebook. And of course, an excuse to hit the Target is always welcome!

This year, we added some extras to our shopping list. I saw these homework cubbies in Family Fun Magazine and thought they might help the kids focus on getting through the dreaded homework hour (hopefully keeping it from becoming the homework four-hour-nightmare...)

We started with a cardboard presentation board and cut it in half height-wise (I did the cutting - utility knives + children + neurotic mother = too much for me to handle.)

After we had two half-height boards, I scored an additional line down each seam (described in the directions from FF Magazine, so that the cubby can be folded up with "stuff" inside.)

This picture shows Sprout holding the (closed) utility knife and ruler. Just to show you how...I did the cutting, but couldn't figure out how to take a picture of my own hands...

The lines are just scored through the top layer of cardboard so that the board can fold.

Like this...

After the cutting, we covered the inside of the cubby/board with contact paper.

Sprout was so traumatized by my inability to line things up correctly that she decided not to cover the outside of hers. Tater went along with covering both sides. We had to re-score the folds on his from the outside so it would fold with the covering on.

Then we used mounting tape to hang up hooks and supplies inside the cubbies. Each kid has a little white board to write down assignments or reminders, one side is covered with cork squares so they can pin up things, and they each have a pencil box mounted with Velcro so that they can take it down to get the pencils out.

Here is Tater's finished cubby:

And here is Sprout's. She is very excited about her protractor.

They were so excited when they finished these that they immediately went and got some workbooks to do a trial run. They were both sitting on the porch with their cubbies up, working on crossword puzzles or something...

Then they realized school hadn't started yet and they went to watch some Phineas & Ferb.

I hope these will be fun for them to use when they are doing real homework.

Maybe I need one, too. And some fun pencils - and an eraser that looks like a hamburger - and a protractor...

The Butterfly Treehouse

2009-08-29T08:33:00.017-04:00

In early August, I mentioned that our shipment of caterpillars for our Butterfly Treehouse had arrived. They were in a box marked "Live Insects" - I don't think I have received a more terrifying piece of mail in my life.

Luckily they came in a little plastic cup with holes in the lid and they were able to happily (maybe) live out their caterpillar days in the comfort of that very same cup.

Those caterpillar days were quite brief as within a couple of days, three of them were already in their chrysalis stage, and by 4 days in, all four were hanging from the lid of the cup. I guess they lived out most of their caterpillarhood in the mail. I am sure they have fond memories of the box.

Anyway, at the point where they were all hanging from the lid, they needed to be transferred into their treehouse. I delegated this important (and potentially gross) task to Mike, giving him a wonderful bonding moment with his son. Sharing the joy, that's what I am all about.

And you know, not touching bugs, I am very much about that, too.

Then we had to wait. The instructions said it would take 7-10 days for them to hatch (emerge? unchrysalize?) Tater was very excited to see them, but we had a weekend at the beach coming up and I was afraid we would miss the big event. He assured me that he wasn't all that interested in the hatching, he just liked the idea of having butterflies in his room.

Right around the 7 day mark, we found that there were two butterflies hanging out on the side of the treehouse. Apparently they have to sit around for a while for their wings to dry before they can actually fly around.

I had read in the instructions that came with treehouse that there could be some "red stuff" in the cage, which was part of the hatching process and not anything to be concerned about. I am glad I read that, because otherwise when I saw the splatters of what looked like (a lot of) blood all over the bottom and sides of the cage, I would have been QUITE concerned.

As it was, we had the treehouse sitting very close to the blinds in Tater's room and they looked like part of some sort of crime scene. Luckily it could all be wiped up pretty easily, but I would definitely recommend not putting this thing anywhere near upholstered surfaces or curtains. Could be big trouble!

Once the butterflies had hatched, we had to feed them. We mixed up some sugar water and put a few plastic bottlecaps full in the cage. Let me remind you that sugar water is quite sticky, and sugar water in a bottlecap is not at all spill-resistant. So make sure your kid understands that swinging the cage around is a BAD idea once the water is in there. Not that I have any personal experience with such a thing, but just saying...

On the day before we left for our beach weekend, all of the butterflies were out and beginning to fly. We made a deal with Tater that we would let them go the day after we returned, so that the butterflies would live out at least some piece of their lives in freedom. He sort of agreed.

So off we went to the beach (and had a lovely time), and when we came back, all of the butterflies were dry and flying around. Fun!!

So finally the day had come to set Tater's pets free! Except that he begged for one more day. So then THAT day arrived...

First we had to carefully take the (very sticky) bottlecaps out.

Then we took the treehouse out on the deck and unzipped the door.

Then we waited.

And waited.
You know how a fly can't seem to figure out how to go out of the open window?

Butterflies are just about that smart.

Finally, one flew out and away...and of course it went so suddenly and so quickly that I was unable to get a picture...

Then...another one...suddenly and quickly...

Then, more waiting. And some experimentation with encouraging the remaining occupants of the treehouse to take to the sky.

Then the third butterfly came out, circled Tater's head (wouldn't that have been a great picture?? Except that it isn't...) and flew away. This is what it looked like right AFTER the butterfly flew away. I am an excellent photographer.

Then, finally, the last one came out and landed on Tater's garden. I know you can't see him here...

But here's a closer look...see him now?

The kids thought it was very exciting that he had landed right there and was free, yet still visible.

They watched him for a little while and then encouraged him to fly away...at which point he fluttered down to the grass and didn't fly away. And didn't fly away. And still didn't fly away.

I am telling myself he just liked us and didn't want to leave...but he might have ended up being lunch for some bird. The circle of life.

The directions in the Butterfly Treehouse suggest that it can be re-used. You can just order more caterpillars and start all over again. However, with the blood spatter and the sugar water stickiness, I felt that it was not something we needed to keep around. And really - been there, done that.

Now, Tater wants some thing that he heard about for hatching ladybugs. And maybe praying mantis. Did I mention that I am not all that fond of bugs?

Besides, now we have this little stinker...so I am thinking we are full up on pets for a little while!!

Use Your Noodle

2009-08-26T14:51:00.003-04:00

I have been remiss in my reporting duties.

Fun has been had, and yet, I did not write about it.

I promise to do better. For now - here is the review of our experience with Brain Noodles.

And no, that isn't food. That would be gross.

Mug Cake

2009-08-19T12:49:00.011-04:00

My aunt sent me this recipe/idea last week and of course we had to try it right away.

The recipe is for a chocolate cake cooked in a coffee mug. Fun, right?

Of course, Tater refuses to eat chocolate cake. So we left the chocolate parts out and made a vanilla version.

So...here's the recipe:

5 Minute Chocolate Mug Cake
4 tablespoons flour
4 tablespoons sugar
2 tablespoons cocoa (we left this out)
1 egg
3 tablespoons milk
3 tablespoons oil
3 tablespoons chocolate chips (we left these out - my aunt said they all sink to the bottom anyway)
Splash of vanilla extract (we used a big splash since we left out the chocolate)
1 large coffee mug

So we took our mug (new mug from Cape Cod).

Added the dry ingredients and mixed well.
Added the egg and mixed thoroughly.
Added the milk and oil and mixed thoroughly.
Mixed in the vanilla (this is when you would add the chips).

Sprout loves to mix things.

So does Tater.

We should have made two of these - less fighting over who gets to do what.

Live and learn, right?

Once everything is mixed together, you put the mug in the microwave for 3 minutes at 1000 watts.

Ours was 1800 watts. I think we overcooked it a tad.

The cake rises dramatically out of the top of the mug. Very exciting! Once the oven goes off, it sinks back down.

So then we let it cool for a minute or two and dumped it out on a plate.

Mmmmm...scary looking, huh? Sort of like a cupcake gone wrong.

But we cut it up a bit and doled it out onto 3 plates and dressed it up with strawberries and whipped cream.

Sprout just had the whipped cream part.

Icing would also be good.

The cake was very dense. Probably more suited to a fudgy chocolate sort of thing. A little heavy for vanilla. Probably also because of the overcooking situation.

But it was still yummy. And I would totally try it again!

5 minutes till cake!

The Maine Event

2009-08-13T22:20:00.016-04:00

We went to Maine for the last week in July and stayed in a lovely cottage on the coast near Boothbay Harbor (the area is actually called Ocean Point). Starfish Cottage even has its own Facebook page, so Maine isn't quite as cut-off from civilization as you might think. The cottage even had a wireless network so we were able to check e-mail despite the fact that no one had any cell phone coverage at all!

Technical considerations aside, we were in Maine because my parents rented the house and invited my brother and me to bring our families along for the week. Mom's idea. Yay, Mom!

It took us a while to get up there - a flight from Philadelphia to Manchester, New Hampshire and then about 2 1/2 hours in the car. But I have to say, I think it was worth it!

Maine is bee-oo-ti-ful! The house had this incredible view of the bay, lighthouse, boats, rocks, wildflowers... stunning.

Maine is also rainy and foggy much of the time, leading to quite a bit of in-the-house time. Luckily we had a challenging puzzle, several decks of cards and three kids who haven't played together in a year or so. The novelty of my gorgeous nephew was enough to keep my kids playing nicely almost the whole time!

The fog also ensured that we could enjoy the blast of the foghorn every 30 seconds for approximately 5 days straight. Honk.

On the first full day of our vacation, the rain was coming down and the kids spent the entire day in their pajamas building forts in the "bunk room" - where no children wanted to sleep, but they all loved to play.

Mid-day we found this note on the door.

The guns were made of Lego, so we weren't all that concerned.

Late in the afternoon, the rain stopped and the kids (mine still in their pajamas - but with jackets) went out to explore the rocks and tide pools. They each came back with a bucket of crabs and snails and they were SO happy about it. Check out the smiles!

In the morning we found that most of the snails had attempted to make a break for it and were scattered around outside of the buckets. Oops. After we gathered them all up, they were swiftly returned to the ocean.

But our big adventure was a whale-watching boat trip.

Tater has some motion-sickness issues, so I was worried about his sea-worthiness and dosed him with Dramamine before the boat trip. He slept part of the way out to sea, but woke up when we got to the whale feeding area, said "A whale!" and scampered off to see.

I, on the other hand, took a Dramamine just in case and totally should have taken 2 (or 3 maybe...) Luckily the whales came close enough to the boat that I could see them without standing up. And luckily Mike was taking pictures. Because standing and focusing were so totally not on my list of things to do while out on the open ocean.

The next day my parents, my mother-in-law-in-law and all the kids went on another boat tour to see puffins. They really enjoyed it - but I have no pictures since I wasn't there. I was shopping in Freeport, which was very entertaining in its own way!

We set up a badminton net out front and there were several heated tournaments.

Three Interesting Badminton Facts:
1) I can totally smash the birdie over the head of a 6-year-old.

2) Saying shuttlecock is funny no matter how old you are.

3) My mom totally rocks at badminton.

Not much story here except how cute are the lobster hats?

And Tater lost a tooth while we were away (see the enormous - or as he would say "hue-normous" hole in his smile) AND the tooth fairy TOTALLY found him in his bed in Maine. That is one smart fairy.

Because where we were was on a point out into the ocean, there was a west-facing side that looked out over the water. This means a sunset over the water.

Of course, that only works if it isn't foggy and/or raining. My Dad went and saw an amazing sunset, but the night that we all went it was pretty much a big cloud with light around it, which was cool anyway.

This is our group of grown-ups at the "sunset party" (except Mike, who took the picture). At the moment when the sun disappeared over the horizon, someone fired a cannon (an actual cannon!) before lowering their flag.

Cannons are loud, especially when you aren't expecting them.
I am surprised none of us fell off the rock.

Here is the younger set enjoying the sunset - and climbing around on the rocks.

I think they enjoyed the rocks as much as they do a sandy beach. With all of the climbing and exploring, they thought it was very exciting!

We couldn't really swim near the house since it was freezing cold and so rocky, but we did find a "real" beach about an hour away and went there on our last day.

Here are the sandcastle builders at Reid State Park Beach.

The day started out very nicely, but soon after we finished building our sandcastle, the rain started to fall and we had to high-tail it out of there.

Hmmm...other highlights of the trip:

1) Both kids tried lobster, and of course both liked it. Sprout, who complains bitterly when she is served chicken again, declared it to be "sort of chewy", but she will surely order it again!

2) My sister-in-law taught Sprout to play double-solitaire.

3) We finished a 1000 piece puzzle that was crazy hard. My brother was utterly obsessed and did most of the work.

4) S'mores.

5) More fort building.

6) Several highly competitive rounds of Monopoly.

7) A giggly game of Rummy 500.

8) A more-than-3-mile walk along the more-highwayish-than-we-thought road to the store.

9) Lots of smiling.

10) Quality time with our far-away people.

I have to say I would totally make the Maine coast my go-to summer destination if it wasn't so very far away. The cool weather, beautiful scenery, laid-back atmosphere, smell of the ocean, cute shops...all good stuff.

Just have to remember next time - more Dramamine!

Karate Camp

2009-08-07T10:52:00.013-04:00

I know, I know - I still have to tell you about Maine.

But the pictures are on the other computer and it is WAY over on the other side of the room.

I am just that lazy.

BUT, I will tell you about the week that my kids have had at The Martial Arts Studio summer camp over in Lionville. Some of you locals can still get in on the remaining weeks if you want. My kids would highly recommend it.

PLUS (see, I am like a Ginsu Knife commercial over here with the extras...) they have been on cool field trips and you might like to check out where they went.

So really, I am doing you a favor by deferring the Maine story. See how nice I am?

First let me say that my kids used to take karate lessons at The Martial Arts Studio. And I highly recommend their after school program - Sprout did it for 3 years and it was great. I wish I could get them to go for more karate, it seems like such a lifetime sport/activity. But they insist that that phase of their lives is over.

Well, they aren't quite that eloquent about it, they just say "No" and whine a lot.

Anyhoo, I wasn't sure they would be all that into Karate Camp, but it was the only camp offered in August and I very much liked the idea of them having something to do at some point during the month.

Very very much.

So I signed them up. This week is "Ninja Week" and the kids started things off learning to use Nunchuks (they say "Nunchuku" on their website). Foam ones. So not all that scary. Although I am still forbidding their use in the house.

They start of each day with a class using the Nunchuks, which they are enjoying. Sprout said that if they could do weapons training every time, she would go back to Karate class. I am trying not to be troubled by my sweet daughter's apparent interest in weapons.

Also, three days this week, they went on field trips (included in the price of the camp).

On Tuesday they went rock climbing. Apparently their favorite thing was some kind of bouldering (which I must admit I am utterly clueless about). Sprout came back with blisters all over her fingers, but she wants to go back. Tater said he isn't so great at rock climbing, but he liked it anyway.

On Wednesday they went innertubing down the Brandywine River. Tater had some concerns about this because someone told him there was a crocodile in the Brandywine River. I assured him there was not, and hoped I was right. No one was eaten (this time anyway!), so I am guessing the crocodile was a suburban legend.

Yesterday, their final trip was to Mt. Gretna Lake, near Lancaster. I had never even heard of this place, but the kids had a blast swimming and playing in the lake. At least one of the teachers went off of a trapeze into the water (!) which the kids thought was extremely cool. I am thinking this might be a destination later in the month when we need something to do!! I found this discounted admission coupon which would make it $11 for adults and $7 for kids over 4. You can find a full-sized one and some others on their website.

Today they are having water wars and pizza. And a "surprise" trip from the ice cream truck, which is sure to be one of the highlights for my poor, deprived children - since their mother doesn't believe in the Ice Cream Man.

They are exhausted from all of the physical activity (which is a good thing). Tater has had a hard time keeping track of his belongings, losing over the course of the week: his shorts, his pants, his shoes, and yesterday - his underwear.

But all has been recovered and overall, they have LOVED the camp. So - check it out if you are still looking for something to do this month - or check out the field trip destinations from this week!

Either way - only 3 weeks left until school starts (Yikes!) We have a lot of plans for those three weeks including:

1) Puppy shopping (!)
2) Visiting the Amish House in Lancaster
3) Crystal Cave
4) A weekend in Avalon
5) Golf with PopPop
6) A trip to Florida which MAY include a day at SeaWorld (!)
and
7) A revisit to the zoo...

Hopefully also a lot of sleeping late and pool visits.

Speaking of "sleeping" - Tater's caterpillars (which thankfully came in a cup and haven't (yet) had to be moved) - wasted no time in turning themselves into chrysalises (chrysalii?)

Two of the four are already doing their metamorphasis thing...meaning that someone (hopefully NOT me) will have to move them into the "Treehouse" in just a few days!

And really, at some point I will tell you about our awesome week in Maine!

Stay cool!

Teaser

2009-08-04T12:29:00.005-04:00

Tater bought this in late June.

He saw an ad on Nickelodeon (of course) and was trying to get me to order over the phone. But I prevailed and made him to to Toys R Us and get it in person without paying shipping.

Because that's the kind of tough-love parent I am - FORCING the children to go to Toys R Us!

The caterpillars had to be ordered via mail, and would take several weeks. Considering our week-long trip to Maine, we decided to get them delivered in early August, so we would be around to experience the whole "metamorphosis" thing - which is sort of the whole point, right?

So the "tent" has been sitting, forlorn and empty in Tater's room for many weeks. And he has frequently said that he was waiting for August 3rd, which I thought meant he was PRETTY excited about my birthday - but alas...no...it was the bugs.

And the caterpillars did not come yesterday.

BUT...this little box was in the mail today. And I must admit I was a little skittish (squeamish? skeevish?) about picking it up to carry it inside.

Live insects. Yuck.

But when Tater gets home from camp this afternoon, there will be much rejoicing.
And live insects.

I'll keep you posted!

Happy Birthday to Me!

2009-08-03T22:14:00.005-04:00

It's my birthday today and despite how much I don't want to keep adding the numbers, I wouldn't want to give any of it all up, so I guess I'll keep moving forward!

I ate ice cream today - twice. So that was good.
I don't think it counts on your birthday.

I will be back soon with tales of what we did in Maine (which was AWESOME).

But for now...this is what we found when we got back...and it was AWESOME, too!

That whole "growing food from a seed" thing is TRUE!

Hope you had a great day, even if it wasn't a double-ice-cream type for you!

Vacation Surprises

2009-07-25T23:02:00.000-04:00

By the time you read this, I will be here.
I mean, there.
Where the picture is.
Boothbay Harbor, Maine.

I've never been to Maine before. It looks pretty, huh?

My mom has decided that we need to take family vacations together again. My brother lives far away (Dallas), and we need to get the whole gang together and vacate.

And we do what Mom tells us to do, so we go. We're no dummies.

The last trip was a week in Italy in 2007, which was completely awesome. The kids were just happy to have their cousin there. And a pool. They thought it was sort of amusing that they couldn't understand what people were saying. And Tater enjoyed the Carousel enough to want to go back.

This time we are staying a bit closer to home - at least in the good old USA. Although pretty much as far from Dallas as one can go and still be in the country. I wonder if there is a message in there for my brother...hmmmm. Anyway, in commemoration of this event, we decided to make t-shirts.

We went to the Dollar Store and got plain blue shirts for each child and then we got some of this (fabric paint that doesn't get weird and crunchy...and is washer safe after 72 hours...):

And some of these (letter stamps - from JoAnn Fabrics - $12.99 for the set of two sizes):
We folded the t-shirts carefully and put a piece of cardboard between the front and back to make sure the paint wouldn't bleed through. Then we painted the fabric paint ever so carefully onto the stencils, and we made these.

The kids each did their own and did a great job. They were careful about spacing the letters and making sure they were pointing the right way. Very impressive, I think!

I made one for my nephew and the plan is that they will all arrive wearing these tomorrow and surprise my Mom (Nana - in case you didn't guess).

Check out the backs:

Get it? "Maine" event?

My brother is in advertising. He's my go-to tagline guy. Not that I need one that frequently. But when I do, I go to him.

I am hoping this isn't one of those things my Mom will look at and say, "I don't get it."
That would suck.

But then, we will be spending the rest of the week hanging out here, so I can probably handle it either way.

Thanks for the trip, Mom! You rock!
Yay for Nanafest 2009!!

Garage Reveal

2009-07-24T18:40:00.006-04:00

The garage is finally done! We actually finished it last weekend, but I didn't get to take pictures and I know you have been waiting to see photographic evidence that we finished!

Although it didn't turn out to be quite the kid-friendly activity that I originally envisioned, the kids did help out quite a bit. They liked giving ideas for what should go where and were great about handing me things while I was on the ladder.

I even got over my neurotic control-freak tendencies and let them help with the drill and power screwdrivering on the things that didn't require a ladder.

The walls are all nice and blue-ish. The paint color is called Mineral Springs. It looks purplish in the pictures, but it is more gray-ish blue in person.

We used this Rubbermaid rail system to hang everything up. Each of the rails is on at least 3 studs and then a bunch of anchors - they aren't coming down any time soon! Sprout enjoyed using the stud finder. I don't even want to think about the jokes about her future teenaged tendencies that could come out of that.

We still have this toy basketball hoop junking up the joint, --->
but as soon as I can convince the kids to let it go, it is all going to be nice and neat. At least briefly.

My car is blocking the view of the scooter-hanging area. It's rainy and I can't move it right now...not good photography composition, sorry.

Sprout felt strongly that we needed hooks for helmets next to the scooter and bikes (the bikes are parked behind my car). Good idea, I think. The bottom shelf there has all of their other toys - stomp rockets, jump ropes, etc. The bins were on the floor before, so this is better.

My bike is now down on the floor for the first time in 10 years. It is not in good shape, but I am going to get it fixed up so we can all go ride together. As soon as I can convince Tater that he needs to pedal more than once to keep the bike rolling and get myself a helmet. Probably need to get myself a helmet hook, too!

Garden Update

2009-07-21T22:49:00.008-04:00

Much to my amazement, pretty much everything that Tater planted a couple of months back is growing.

Not dead. Alive.

I am feeling guilty that I said that he had inherited a black thumb. I was wrong. So very wrong.

The sandbox garden, after several weeks of severe flooding, bounced back and is thriving. Even the basil that I thought was being eaten by some kind of critters has gotten very tall and is getting flowers. I didn't know basil could even have flowers.

Weird.

We also have a HUGE vine going on the cucumber plant. And a bunch of flowers, which I guess means eventually there will be a bunch of cucumbers. I am not sure how baby cucumbers will feel about laying on the deck...may need to build them little beds or something.

Our carrots and herbs are also growing like crazy. We weren't sure what the carrots were going to look like when they were ready to go, so we picked one to check. They are super tiny, but really and truly carrots! So in a couple of weeks, we may be ready to harvest. Unless the bunnies find their way up onto the deck.

Stay back bunnies!

Then we have the Topsy Turvy Tomato thing, which isn't going so great. I keep forgetting to water it, and the hole in the top is apparently too small to catch enough rain. Since Tater can't reach to water it, this one is totally on me. So, not all that surprising that it isn't going well. But it isn't dead yet - and there are three tomatoes on there. So there is still hope.

Finally, there is this vine.

I can't remember what it is supposed to be. Something viney, with flowers. This is truly the biggest thing I/we have ever managed to grow from seeds. Pretty amazing. No flowers yet, but hopefully soon. We have had to repeatedly pull the vines off of the little tree and wrap them around the post so that they will climb, but it seems to be going well now.

Of course, we are leaving on vacation in a few days, so there is no telling what is going to go down while we are away. Hopefully we won't come back to a bunch of brown shriveled deadness.

Because Tater WILL make me start all over again.

Kid Friendly Technology

2009-07-15T14:54:00.008-04:00

When Sprout was a wee thing in first grade, she was picked up by the bus for aftercare program two days each week while I was far away working in a real live office. Except for the one day they forgot her.

Well, they didn't forget - some other kid said she wasn't coming on the bus (wrong!) and the bus left without her.

So not cool.

And I had no way to contact her to tell her it was going to be OK and someone was coming to get her. And she had no way to contact me to say "Where the heck is the bus?"

So I decided it would be a good idea for her to have an "emergencies only" cell phone. So that if she was stranded somewhere, she could call for help.

At that time, we got her the Migo - a cute little kid-friendly phone that allowed only 4 numbers (plus 911) to be programmed in, so she could call for help, but couldn't chat up her little friends or prank call them, or whatever it is 6-year-olds might do on the phone.

Then she got older and wanted a "real" cell phone. Although she still doesn't actually call anyone, and I don't really like the idea of her chatting away during the day.

And then I found Kajeet - a cell phone service just for kids - with LOTS of controls for parents. Even a control-freak like myself can find very little to argue with at Kajeet.

We are signed up for a $5 per month basic service and can control the hours that the phone can be used, who she can call, who can call her, etc. There are two payment accounts, so we can foot the bill for calls home, and she can be on the hook for calls to friends. AND if we wanted to, we could activate a GPS chip in the phone and actually know where she (or at least the phone) is during the day.

So cool.

We even got Tater one, because he shouldn't be stranded anywhere either.

Then the next communication frontier - my old friend and master e-mail - reared its head. Sprout wants to e-mail.

Immediately I think of all of the generous offers for Viagra and other interesting and not-kid-appropriate things that I get on a daily basis and think...hmmmm...no.

But then I searched Google for "e-mail for kids" and found Zoobuh. This is the e-mail version of Kajeet. Yay!

I signed both Sprout and Tater up for their own accounts. We have a free 30-day trial and then it is $1 per month for ad-free, kid-safe e-mail.

You set up the contact list for the kids and then control whether they can receive e-mail from people outside of the contact list, or send to them. I have it set to send me a copy of each e-mail that they send or receive (just to make sure nothing inappropriate is going on). As they get older, I could turn that feature off if I want to.

The kid pages are ad-free, the parent pages have some minimal advertising. So far, it seems like just the right thing.

So now the kids are connected...to only the people they should be connected to. They are happily e-mailing their grandparents about camp and newly missing teeth.

And they still don't know anything about Viagra. Whew.

Awesome Snack Idea

2009-07-12T16:52:00.009-04:00

First you need one of these...we prefer Granny Smiths, nice and tart and crunchy.
Cut it up in slices.

Then get some of this, or whatever your nut butter of choice is.

Obviously if you have nut issues this is not the snack for you. My kids like the chunky version. I am personally on an almond butter kick. Either would be good.

Put some in a little bowl for each kid.

In another small bowl put a few of these. Maybe 3-4 tablespoons of them. The kids are likely to beg for more. Totally your call whether you give in...

Give the kiddies the sliced apples and the little bowls of PB and chips.

Instruct them to dip in the PB and then the chips...resulting in this...

I know it's an awful picture...but it's a great snack!! Yum!

Bendaroos Review

2009-07-09T16:06:00.002-04:00

Over here on the super new review page...

Cheap Labor

2009-07-09T15:48:00.008-04:00

I had what I thought was a great idea for a summer activity. The kids love home improvements, love to paint, love to help with projects - so I would have them help me paint and organize the garage. Brilliant!

I wouldn't mind if the painting was a little messy - it's the garage!

I wouldn't mind if we drip a bit here and there - it's the garage!!

The kids would be so happy. My garage would be all spiffy. Win-win!! Yay!!

So we took things down and threw things away and cleaned (and cleaned and cleaned) spiderwebs and leaves and other yuckitude off of the walls. Then Sprout and I went and bought some gray-tinted primer and went at the first wall.

Two hours later:

1.) The wall looked exactly the same as when we started (apparently the paint guy at Lowe's was WRONG when he said we didn't have to tint the primer...not happy with him AT ALL.)
2.) Sprout was very annoyed with me for insisting that we paint the entire wall and not just a strip at her waist height.
3.) My back was broken from bending and stretching and painting.
4.) It was time to call in the professionals.

But Tater was very unhappy that he hadn't had a chance to paint. Poor Tater.

Today I went and got a quart of the paint the professionals will use to paint the garage and let the kids do the bottom half of the primed wall. The nice lady at MAB even gave me painter's hats for them to wear!

Tater went to work with a brush on the bottom, Sprout had a pad painter (which I find much much easier to work with than a roller). They started out with lots of energy and I was being all (sort of) zen-ish about their technique.

It's the garage. It's the garage...that was my mantra...

They did a really good job and even took turns every 5 minutes or so so each of them could try the different tools.

Tater and I took a break to play some tic-tac-toe. Which he then carefully painted over.

They even finished the entire wall - about halfway up.

Sprout was again annoyed when I suggested that we had to fill in all of the spaces. But she did it in (mostly) good spirits.

I would declare this partial project as a success. No major fights. No major messes. Over an hour of entertainment and busyness that didn't involve electronics.

The pros come next week to finish. They apparently don't have an "only the garage" rate...so if I can figure out how to get these guys on ladders (without causing myself a heart attack, which is the tricky part) we might have them do the rest!

Although I don't think I possess that level of zen. Even if it is just the garage...

The Toad Abode

2009-07-05T23:08:00.010-04:00

Things have been busy around here, what with so many episodes of iCarly to watch and so little time!

The kids actually did an art camp last week through Kidzart. They did a similar program last year at AC Moore - but this year the program was held by DARC. They actually had the same instructor (Mr. Steve) from last year - which they were happy about.

During the week, my mom took each kid for a special event. Sprout went to a concert at the Mann Music Center where she saw a 14-year-old violinist play. She apparently hummed along to Vivaldi's Four Seasons - probably something she remembers from Little Einsteins. See, TV can be good for you!!

Tater went to Tyler Arboretum to participate in one of their kids programs. The kids have been to lots of these programs and they always enjoy them. This time he got to make a "Toad Abode", which is a house for a toad (clearly) that we tucked into the garden. I have never seen any toads in our garden, so this may be vacant housing for quite some time, but he did a fabulous job and it looks very festive out there.

The Toad Abode is a flower pot that is decorated and flipped over, with the edge propped up on a rock to let the theoretical toad crawl under it. Apparently toads aren't fearful of houses teetering on the edge of a rock. Brave toads.

Tater's Toad Abode is beautifully decorated with mosaic stones, which are stuck on with what he called "mask". I wish I could tell you what that is - it looks like a groutish substance. But this could easily be done with hot glue, or just paints. Any decorating technique that is weather-resistant, since the toads are most likely going to be seeking their abode outdoors.

Unless you have indoor toads and then you probably have different housing arrangements for them anyway.

This seems like a good opportunity to give you a brief tour of the other decorations in our garden. Because I am sure you want to know. So here we go...

This is our turtle. He was our first piece of statuary. Just one little whimsical touch. Next to him is a big rock that Sprout stole from a jetty at the beach (shhhh...).

Over there on the right is a little puppy who was added to memorialize Mike's grandmother. She died when Sprout was about 4 and was the first person that Sprout knew who passed away. We didn't take her to the service, but she wanted to do something to remember Gram so we put this puppy in our garden and then stood and held hands and said a little something about Gram being in heaven and how much she loved dogs (which may or may not actually be true...but it made me sob at the time).

This is a bird. I just thought he was cute. No good story.

Just a bird.

This little bunny was to remember my Nana. Because since we did it for Gram, we now have a tradition of commemorating the passing of our loved ones with lawn statuary. I don't think we did any kind of ceremony for Nana's bunny. But the kids helped pick him out and I think of her whenever I see him. Hi, Nana - I miss you.

This one just makes me laugh. Because this is totally my gardening philosophy. I don't know what anything is. I am getting better, but not good.

There is also a little parrot out at the far edge of our lawn (I was too lazy to walk over there - bare feet + grass doesn't make me happy), and then another bird and the mushroom in Tater's sandbox garden.

I guess at some point we passed the tasteful whimsical touch.
But this is more fun.

Coolest Mom - EVER!

2009-07-01T22:44:00.009-04:00

Sorry...you need to click over here to my brand-new review site to see this most interesting and exciting post...

Summer - Week 1

2009-06-24T21:44:00.012-04:00

School's out for summer...school's out FOREVER...OK, not forever. Only about 10 weeks for us this time. Which will probably completely fly by. The first one is whizzing past at an amazing pace.

The kids had to go into school on Monday for 2 1/2 hours to get their report cards and watch movies. Don't even get me started on how ridiculous that is - since they got out 2 hours early on Friday... Right, not starting on that.

So we went out for a celebratory lunch at McDonald's and ice cream at DQ on Monday and then spent the afternoon at a pool party our lovely neighbor threw for all of the kids in town. Yay!

Yesterday we went to the Philadelphia Zoo and had a great time. The weather was just right and the kids were extremely cheerful and cooperative. Amazing!

We saved our lunch money by packing sandwiches and redirected the budget to rides! All three of us pedaled a Swan Boat (and only ended up in a bush once!) and Sprout rode a camel. Tater was going to ride a pony, but changed his mind at the last minute. He decided he was too big and was afraid he was going to crush a pony. Much as we tried to convince him that he wasn't that huge, he wouldn't do it. Oh well.

A treat of Dippin' Dots and all was well. Not even any begging for face painting. Unbelievable! We sprung for the family membership so we'll be going back again sometime this summer, and in the fall, and the winter...to get our money's worth! I'll do a post later in the week with zoo pictures. I took lots!

Today (Wednesday) we met my mom at Hank's Place in Chadds Ford for a late breakfast.

Then we accompanied her to the Dansko Company Store in West Grove, PA. Sprout was very excited about shoe shopping until she realized there were limited choices for kids. Like, apparently only Amish children can get shoes there.

They actually wanted these. Um, no.

Sprout then got her heart set on these - which are more reasonable from a fashion standpoint, but were too big and not summer-appropriate. So she is thinking maybe they could be school shoes in the fall.

After Nana found her new shoes for her trip to Paris, it was still fairly early so we decided to go check out the Eldreth Pottery shop/factory in Oxford. What a great idea!

Their Oxford location is back in farm country, and we put great faith in the directions that the nice ladies at Dansko had printed out for us and finally found it. The front of the shop was surrounded by painted pottery birdhouses and birdfeeders - so cute!

We were looking around in the shop when we were directed toward the back to go see how they make the pottery and got a full tour of the production facilities.

This guy showed us how to make a bowl on the pottery wheel (in about 2 minutes).

See how fascinated my children are?

Then this nice lady showed us how she does the hand painting.

And no, I don't know why Sprout is doing that with her arms.

Here is a close-up of the painting - which turns blue when it is fired. Weird, right?

Then we also saw where they do molded pieces and where they paint the more colorful redware - which I love and covet. Didn't know I did until I saw this big display of it. But I think we look good in front of it, and therefore must have a house full of it. It's only logical.

So this was one of those days that I am sure didn't sound all that fun to the kids (shoe shopping? pottery?). But it turned out to be super cool and interesting.

Tomorrow we are headed to a kid's session at Super Suppers. The kids get to make a dinner, a snack and a dessert. They love to cook, so I think they will enjoy the chance to do so without their neurotic mother freaking out about sharp knives and hot stoves.

After they "cook" we are going to meet friends at the Crayola Factory in Easton.

This week is not indicative of the pace that we will be taking for the rest of the summer. We are really going at more of a breakneck pace than we will be maintaining from here on out, hopefully with lots of time hanging out at the pool and playing.

But it's been fun so far!

Fine Art

2009-06-18T14:40:00.011-04:00

How do you like this fabulous piece of art? It was painted especially for us by a young (very young) artist.

You know her as Sprout.

She did this one when she was about 4. I liked the abstractness of it and thought it looked like many of the random artworks that you could buy to fill your walls. So I got this nice frame and hung it on my wall.

This one is a Tater original.

I believe that the lines were made by driving a toy truck through paint. Very emotive, I think.

Then we have this example of a multi-media composition, I think this was a Sprout, but I can't be sure. Colored tissue paper. The rainbow-ness of it is moving in the direction of clearly pre-school art. But I love it nonetheless.

And finally, a Pollack-like splattery thing. I think this is a Tater. I should have labeled them so that my poor, weak brain cells wouldn't have to search for the answer.

I have these hanging in my "formal" living room and dining room. I think the abstractness of them is key to it not looking like my kids' artwork is hanging all over the place. But maybe it just looks like my kids' artwork is hanging all over the place and no one has called me on it.

Either way, this could be a good idea for what to do with some of the huge piles of artwork your kids bring home from school at the end of the year. It makes them feel like "real" artists to see their work hanging in real frames on the real walls.

And I love that the art on our walls means something to us.

And, yes, I know you can see my reflection taking the picture in almost every shot.
I meant to do that.

Birthday Traditions

2009-06-11T11:53:00.007-04:00

I grew up in a family with many traditions. Many of these traditions surrounded major holidays: tree trims, Father's Day dinners, creamed onions (!) for Thanksgiving...but I don't really remember a lot of kid birthday-related traditions.

We usually had a monthly birthday-fest with all of my cousins to celebrate whoever's birthday had happened recently. My birthday in August was frequently pre-empted by our beach vacation (which I was OK with...the beach is a good thing to be pre-empted by!)

But around here, we have some birthday traditions.

The birthday child wakes up to this:

Wears this:

Usually gets some of these:

And frequently gets to spray some of this:

He/she also gets to pick a restaurant for a dinner out. And chooses a treat.

Tater chose Isaac's for dinner, and Milky Way Farm for ice cream.
He's an excellent decision maker.

We usually have a kid party - although I think we may have just had the last "big bash".

And then there is the family party. Tater's usually includes some sort of water play element - we have a Slip-N-Slide ready to go, if our yard isn't a total swamp. Sprout, with a birthday very close to Halloween, has done costume parties or scavenger hunts.

We call it Birthday-palooza...and I am fairly sure the kids feel adequately celebrated. And if I ever tried to skip even one of the elements...I am fairly sure I'd be in a boatload of trouble!

Super Seven!!

2009-06-09T21:44:00.005-04:00

Seven. Seriously? Seven?
That can't be right.

He was just a little velvet-headed baby in a basket.
He was just in one of those baby-slings looking at me like I was insane to do that to him.
He was just freaked out by the rocking horse that talked to him.
He was just unwilling to touch the sand on the beach.
He was just telling me that I should cook the green beans in the toaster.
He was just bringing me paper flowers.
He was just convincing his sister that it wasn't so scary to ride the bus.
He was just six...and I was just getting used to the idea...

Saving Blankie

2009-06-06T22:00:00.018-04:00

I'd like you all to meet Blankie.

Blankie has seen better days. He has been a constant companion to Sprout for over 9 years - some of those more constant than others. When she was an infant and toddler she took him (and Lambie) everywhere with her. Back in those days Blankie was a gorgeous chenille blanket from Churchill Weavers - which I discovered has apparently gone out of business. Sad face.

Back in his heyday, Blankie looked sort of like this...but pink. And no, I don't know why he's a he. He just is.

Anyway, Blankie has been crumbling before our very eyes. Behaving much like the museum-bound artifact that he is. We attempted a "fringectomy" and stitched around the edges to stop the unraveling. He has several huge scars where we sewed huge tears back together. He is a mess.

A week or so ago Sprout was lamenting his sad condition and broke down in tears that he was going to completely fall apart and then she would need a new one.

Did I mention the company that makes them has gone out of business? That you can get one on eBay - but it will cost you $200 (!) and that she is 9 1/2? All of these factors add up to a great big negative on a replacement strategy.

So I came up with the brilliant (I think) idea of sewing Blankie to some sort of soft, supportive backing fabric that would hold him together and allow him to live a long life of soothing the jangled nerves of my pre-pubescent child. Sometimes a girl just needs her Blankie.

I went to Jo-Ann Fabrics and found this nice velvety/veloury fabric. The goal was for it to be super-soft and thin enough to be cuddly once it was hooked onto Blankie. This fit the bill nicely. And the stars are cute.

My original plan was to sort of quilt Blankie onto the top of the fabric. And no, I have no idea how I was going to do that. But once I laid him out on top of the new fabric, I had this great brainstorm that I could just sort of fold up the sides of the new stuff around him, like it was the binding on the blanket. Like a frame around Blankie.

Doesn't he look sad all laid out there, like some animal pelt? Poor Blankie - don't worry, it will get better...

So I wrapped the edges up and pinned them. Blankie is missing a huge hunk of corner so the end result isn't square, but I think that is somehow more fitting.

I even carefully (sort of) mitered the corners so there wouldn't be so many layers of fabric to jam through my underutilized sewing machine.

Where is that thing anyway?

So I found the sewing machine, and after breaking the needle, annoying the bejeezus out of the nice lady at Jo-Ann's with my sewing-machine-needle-buying cluelessness, finding that there was actually a spare in the machine (oops), tangling the thread several times, and remembering how much I adore my child and why it was worth doing all of this...got everything sewed up. Whew.

I think the end result is quite fabulous. He even looks pink again with his new backing. I did some vertical lines of stitching across Blankie's surface to stick him down to the backing so he is firmly attached.

And no, they are mostly not straight. And his scars are all still showing.

But I think that's OK. He's not going to be modeling anytime soon. And Sprout has been walking around hugging him and wearing him and loving him. And she's pretty happy with me, too.

Ah, the things we do for the love of a child. The things we can fix, we fix. The things we can't fix, we try to find a way to fix anyway. And sometimes it actually works out. I love it when that happens!

You are SUCH a Mooch!

2009-06-05T10:33:00.006-04:00

I have a problem. I am addicted to books. I have piles and piles (and maybe a few more piles) of books that I am reading, plan to read, think maybe I should read, or think someone else should read.

My children have inherited this sickness and each of their rooms is full of shelves of books and piles of books. And they want more books. Always more books.

Of course, this is a good sickness to have. But it can take a toll on the wallet. And yes, there is always the library. But I frequently can't find what I want at the library - and I also have some patience issues (I know, shocking) and so off I go to Barnes & Noble and drop more cash for more books...

And then I found that mooching can be such a good thing! Now I am also completely addicted to the Bookmooch website.

Basically, you list all the books you have (from all of those piles) that you would like to give away to a new home. People who want those books "mooch" them from you and you send them off to their new families. You pay postage (media mail - about $2.50 per book) to send the books away, and you get "points" in return.

Then you take your points - one point per book generally - and use them to mooch new books that you want. And they are sent to you FOR FREE!!

If the books you want are not immediately available, you can build a wishlist, and when one of them becomes available, you get an e-mail. It is such a beautiful system.

I have given away 40 books (!) and gotten 30 FREE ones in return (and I have enough points to get 14 more!)

You can find TONS of kids books on Bookmooch. We have gotten a bunch of "Magic Treehouse" books and a bunch of "The Littles" books. Also lots of bestsellers, current books, older books. The most current will take a little while to get to Bookmooch (people must buy, read and decide they no longer want them first) - but I got all of the Shopaholics for free (not proud that I read them...but I didn't pay for them!)

If you can control yourself (as I frequently can not) at the bookstore and just write down the books you'd like and then go check Bookmooch, you could save yourself a TON of money.

And it is earth-friendly! Recycling at it's finest! Great lessons to teach your kids - patience, cheapness, and reuse/recycle!

What is happening to me??

2009-06-03T22:09:00.002-04:00

I am actually excited by the fact that the Jonas Brother, Ashley Tisdale and Mitchell Musso are coming out with new CDs. So I will have more selection on my "kids mix" on my iPod.

So not good...

Tater's Sandbox Garden

2009-05-29T12:19:00.004-04:00

Despite some evidence to the contrary my Tater is quite the aspiring gardener. He frequently requests trips to Lowe's to pick out flowers, and he begs and pleads for additions to the garden every time we see flowers outside of the grocery store.

He picked out a bunch of seeds earlier in the Spring and we planted them around outside and have our fingers crossed that they will survive beyond the sprout stage.

So, when I realized that we still had our ancient sand table under the deck, I thought perhaps it could be repurposed into Tater's own little garden. Like a windowbox, but bigger...with bridges!

Of course he LOVED this idea and pestered me relentlessly for several days about when would we go get the dirt and plants. When? When? WHEN???

So finally last weekend I gave in and took him to Lowe's where he picked out all of his own plants, and some decorations, for his garden.

I have been on a perennial kick for our outside beds - something about planting just once and not having to do it again next year is very appealing. Tater has latched onto that idea and was a little disappointed that the sandbox garden was probably more appropriate for annuals since the soil is not very deep and the chances of things surviving the winter in there are pretty slim.

There was a moment of drama when we took the lid off of the mud-encrusted table, which had been closed up for about 2 years. We weren't sure what was going to be living in there. I was prepared to scream and run away, but aside from a few substantial spider webs it wasn't so bad.

We used the hose to spray the table clean, and squirting the hose is always fun for a kid! Then we hauled the empty table up onto our deck and filled it with potting soil and all of Tater's plants. He did a nice job picking a mix of colors and textures - the finished result is quite fabulous and he is very proud of himself.

During the planting was where Sprout thought she might like to get involved, but she was shut out (poor Sprout) since Tater felt he had done all of the hard work and she couldn't just jump in for the fun. Which is true.

He picked out a rain gauge that looks like a ladybug to sit on the "umbrella hole" on the table, and a ceramic mushroom (the blue on the left). We also put the bridges from the sand table back in and an iron bird that had been sitting on the deck. Somehow a garden just doesn't seem done (to me anyway) unless there is some little hidden statue somewhere.

I don't know where I got that from - my parents are not big on the statuary. But I kind of love it - as long as it is subtle. Like little surprises you find amidst the flowers.

Anyway, the finished garden is a lovely addition to the deck. I am considering this to be a recycling project since the table was definitely headed for the trash before we found a new use for it. So, yay us!

Now I have to go get MORE potting soil because my little gardener also insisted on seeds for cucumbers...and might like to grow some carrots. And maybe a few more flowers out front...