A Sandbox & A Water Hose....

....make a fun, yet messy, combination. This combo also makes for happy kids (& neighbor kids). They had so much fun making this.

Park Day for Mom

We went to the park today with some friends. Lauren said, "I know why you moms want us to go to the park. It's so you can TALK."

You got that right, babe! She learns quickly, huh?


Apparently I don't though because while I put sunscreen on the girls' faces and on the back of my neck and on my arms, I somehow neglected the front of my neck and the v-neck part of my t-shirt. I'm nice and rosy there. Nice little "v" with the occassional white streak from where I came around from the back of my neck to the front while applying the sunscreen to the back.


I somehow forgot about my own face because I now have a half red, half white forehead. My bangs only cover half of my forehead, so only half got burned which results in an interesting look.


Maybe I could wear my bangs the opposite way tomorrow so as to burn evenly.


Somehow, even with sunscreen only on their faces, the girls aren't sunburned at all....they are all one color.


The strange sunburn (which really isn't THAT bad...it doesn't even hurt) is worth it for all of the laughs and good talking that went on for four hours at the park. My mom said, "FOUR HOURS? You were at the park for FOUR HOURS?"


Yep, but it didn't seem that long at all. Good thing I was there with the right people. I think other moms were jealous of all of the FUN going on at our little bench.

Good times, good times.


Moms....get yourselves to a great park, pronto. Meet up with some great friends there, be honest and real with each other. Your life will be all the better for it. (And your kids will think you're awesome for letting them play with their friends!) Whatever it is you might be dealing with, you're not alone. Sometimes it just takes a park day to find that out!

It's Math-Tastic!

We use Math-U-See for our math curriculum. We love it. When the girls start a new lesson, they watch a short video clip of Mr. Demme explaining the new concept. Lauren and I got to chat with Mr. Demme at a homeschool expo yesterday. She was thrilled.


Lauren's comment about Mr. Demme: He's really TALL!

Ashley's comment about Mr. Demme (upon seeing the picture): He's really BALD! lol (He wasn't shaving his head yet when the videos were made)

Why I love Math-U-See:

• We use blocks to demonstrate just about every thing....love the hands-on concept of BUILDING an addition and subtraction problem. The child can really see that the two block plus the three block is the same length as the five block.
• I love how telling time is taught...once again, with the blocks....and you only do minutes until those are mastered and then add hours alone and then combine them. And you get to put the blocks on a huge clock pattern.
• I love that each single digit number and the numbers 10 and 100 are associated with their own unique colors. I feel this is especially helpful for right-brained children as well as for children with learning disabilities. It helps give color and visual cues for that right-brained child. When we add 2+3=5, we see that it's orange+pink=light blue. And believe me, the kids KNOW that orange is two, three is pink, and five is light blue!
• I love how it teaches place value with "Decimal Street" and houses for the units (ones), tens and hundreds blocks.
• I love the on-line worksheet generator and the on-line practice drills.

You can watch a demo video of how Math-U-See works by clicking here. And no, I am not getting paid to write all of this stuff. I just think, when used correctly and the way they tell you to use it, that this is a really good math program!

The Fiber Arts Festival OR The Bowel Regularity Carnival

We went to a Fiber Arts Festival this week. Our friend Aaron said it sounded like it should be called the Bowel Regularity Carnival.

Hopefully the only ones displaying the regularity of their bowels were the alpacas and goats that were available for our viewing pleasure.

For a mere 50 cents each, the girls were able to weave their own baskets. They also did some wet felting and make little flowers out of wool. Well, I think it was wool. I was a little unclear on that part.

The girls each spun some yarn. I was just glad that Ashley didn't growl at the man showing them how to do it. He got a big kick out of her and how shy she was. In fact, I think we had a break through today because I don't think she even scowled at him. Trust me, the look in this picture her scowl.

They also did a little stitching and made little stars on plastic canvas. A fun, cheap time was had by all.

Ignore the Yard Clutter

If you promise to ignore our yard clutter, I will post some pictures of our recent gardening adventures. We truly are not the hillbillies of the neighborhood, but you can't tell that from these pictures. The shed will be re-roofed this summer (it's just hideous looking, don't you think?) and the sawhorses will hopefully be placed INSIDE the shed SOON. The wood pile is one of DH's little summer projects. He has a lot of wood to split so that we can burn it in our wood burning stove next winter.

Hmmmm....maybe we ARE the hillbillies of the neighborhood.

Regardless, the plan is to eventually hide the woodpile with plants, but that might take a few years. I was thinking of putting up some sort of trellis and having some sort of creeping flower plant on the trellis. Feel free to remind me of what those types of flowers are called because the name escapes me at the moment. This year there will be loads of sunflowers growing along the back edge. We hope.

This is the "after" picture of the above flower bed. It will get a nice edge and some stepping stones in among the plants someday (instead of the handy shingle scraps we had available). We moved all but two of the flowers in this flower bed from other places in our yard. Two of them come from DH's parents though.

Below is an empty corner where DH doesn't want to mow. I do not mow. I am not allowed to mow for various reasons, one being the safety of everyone around. Once while using the electric hedge trimmers, I almost cut through the cord. I cut down to the wires and through their plastic coating miraculously not getting electrocuted in the process.

These hostas are from our front yard, our side yard, and DH's parents. I think he wants to put rocks around these hostas even though he knows how much I abhor rocks in flower beds. But, since I'm the primary weed puller, I might let him try it in this corner. NEVER in the front flower beds or the one by the shed though!
This is a picture of the edging DH is putting around the front flower bed. I have wanted a defined edge around these beds for three years. Isn't that middle bush just LOVELY. It's a late bloomer and every year I swear it's dead, but it comes around.

At least the front yard doesn't look like a hillbilly yard. We actually have a very nice looking front yard due to DH's diligence with the weed killer and grass fertilizer. Plus, I paid Ashley a dollar per flower to go through and pluck off the yellow dandelion heads. I figure if you pluck the flower part off before they go to seed, then the week killer can kill them through the leaves and we'll be good to go AND have less seeds floating around. I hate dandelions.

Easy to Grab Snacks!

I love to have snacks that are cheap, easy to grab, and portable.

Since my kids love Chex Mix, I make up a batch of that, put it in individual snack sized baggies, put all of those into one large baggie, and stick them all in the freezer. This keeps them fresh, they are easy-peasy to grab, and yes, they are VERY portable!

I just use the three different kinds of Chex cereal (the store brand usually) and sometimes throw in some pretzels if I have them.

I don't use the recipe on the cereal box because I SWEAR they have added ingredients to it since I was a kid, and I like the one I use better.

The Recipe:
3 cups EACH of wheat chex, rice chex, and corn chex.
1 cup each of pretzels and/or nuts if you want

Mix all of that together in a big bowl.

Melt 6 Tablespoons butter (or margarine if you don't like the good stuff) and mix in 2 Tablespoons worcestershire sauce and 1-1/2 teaspoons seasoned salt.

Pour over cereal mixture and mix it up well. Try not to break all of that crunchy cereal. :o)

Pour the cereal onto big baking sheets (like you use for cookies, but you need to use one with sides on it!)

Bake at 250 degrees for one hour, stirring every 15 minutes.

Another great recipe that freezes well and is good to grab & go is this recipe for homemade granola bars.