Where were you when the lights went out?

We were gathered around the dining room table
with stacks of games, books, snacks, and enough candle light
to play and read by. Princess even played some
music on the piano for us.
I had originally thought we'd hang outside with
the fire pit and stars, but it was very cold here, so we stayed inside.
Princess had a blast as we geared up and didn't complain until we
had four minutes to go and she had to go to the bathroom.
She did not want to go in the dark. She left her flashlight somewhere
in the house when playing earlier, so although I had a votive lit in a wall
sconce, I followed her in with a larger candle.

Once the timer went off she said we should do this every night.

Green Hour 8pm local time!

Don't forget to join in on the Green Hour March 29,2008
at 8 pm your local time.
Need ideas of stuff to do with the lights off?
How about a rousing game of Flashlight Tag in
the backyard? How about a Scavenger Hunt for
recyclables (cereal boxes-scrap paper-newspaper-etc)
with flashlights? You could read by candlelight or flashlight
or fireplace or wood burning stove....
You could just all snuggle up in the biggest bed in the house
and talk about what you could do to lower your families
carbon footprint on the planet, or just tell stories about
how much you love each other.
You could check out the web site above and find other ideas
or just come up with your own. Have a great idea? Leave
a comment here with a link back to your blog so we can
all see it.

Are you smarter than a 7th grader?

Are you as smart as an 8th grader?

My friend Wendy had this on her blog, and I thought..I'll try it,
but I don't think I'll tell anyone the results, but look here..I passed!
Guess all these years with my big science geek (aka,Farmer Dad) have "rubbed off"..
must be all that NOVA he makes me sit through! LOL

Kiwi Magazine Giveaway

Excited yet? Thanks to my friend Daphne,
I got turned on to another great contest.
This one is to win a free subscription to Kiwi Magazine

You can check them out here kiwimagonline.
To enter the contest, you will need to go here
http://momnmore.blogspot.com/2008/03/fantastic-contest-free-subscription-to.html#links

Leave a comment about what you and your family are doing to "green up"
and if you blog, you can blog about it and leave a direct link and get another chance to win.
Friday March 28th 11:00 am PST she will post a winner (to be chosen randomly).

We have been doing a lot of "greening" around here for the past few years.
We practice the 3 Rs, Reduce-Reuse-Recycle,like religion.
Our light bulbs have been changing over to more energy efficient choices, we use a
low flow shower head and faucets.Even our toilet is a low flow pressure assisted model.
We garden organically, so we naturally compost and use water barrels. We also use our
"gray water" for watering plants inside and out as much as possible.We are also looking into
verniculture in a serious way.
We have been working to make our home more energy efficient every year we have owned it,
and although we are far from living "off grid", we are always trying to reduce our footprint.
We recently starting making a much stronger effort to not bring plastic or paper bags into
the house and use our many canvas bags instead.I have always washed and re-used our
plastic lunch bags and foil, but recently we ordered these to further eliminate our "lunch" waste.
The biggest green thing I have done is in raising my daughter to be "green", from nursing to just
plain teaching her by example that we make choices every day that affect the entire planet.
She loves her "mother planet earth" and practices her 3 Rs every day.
What are you doing?

Tuesday Book Post is Back!

I have been slacking around here, but I am
going to try to make it up to you..

Croco'nile
Princess loves all things Ancient Egyptian, so
this was a nice treat.The story is about a brother and sister
who stow away on a sailboat allowing them all
sorts of adventures.There are also ten hieroglyphic messages
hidden in the book and a key to decipher them
in the back of the book. Princess has been enjoying the challenge.

Outside and Inside WOOLLY MAMMOTHS
Princess has had this thing for woolly mammoths
for a while now, so this book fit the bill for her "fix".
She really enjoyed seeing how technology is helping the
scientists to figure out the cause of their extinction.


BIG BAD BUNNY
Princess thought this book was really funny.
Big Bad Bunny takes something from everyone,
then he has to give it all back and say he is sorry.
We really liked the ending.


Dear Deer a book of Homophones
This is a great picture book to introduce children to homophones.
Princess especially liked

The DOE KNEADED the DOUGH because she NEEDED the dough.

I promise to work on my updating frequency..so much to share...pictures
and ideas to post....I'll be back.

Camp Katie Day

Monday was a day off of school for my friend's daughters,
so it was time for another Camp Katie Day!
We had crafts and activities planned, but the girls have not
spent time together in so long, they mostly wanted to play.
You will notice in the pictures, they are all wearing their
Camp Katie Day t-shirts.
They started the day with the stack of library books on
the coffee table and moved out to the 3 season room for
some doll house play and jumping on the mini trampoline.
O. enjoyed drawing on the chalkboard, and J. had a grand time
setting up the doll house neighborhood for the three of them to
play in. I called them in to make their own pizza. I had the dough ready, and
they each rolled out, put the sauce and cheese on and I put them in the oven.
They decided my craft idea was "too much work", so they colored pictures that I had printed off the computer instead.
They are not into crafting the way Princess is,
so I knew to be prepared with an alternative.When the pizza was ready they set
themselves up in front of the tv and watched a movie while they ate. Princess also
brought her Barbies out to the living room (she rarely just watches t.v.) and soon they were
all in her room, movie forgotten playing again. After a snack, their Mom came to pick them up,
bringing with her a huge bag of clothes that they have outgrown for Princess. Words don't describe
how excited this made her. She spent hours after they left trying each item on and twirling around the living room
first for me, then Farmer Dad when he arrived home from work.
She is such a girl! lol
We had a good night and bed time went more smoothly than it has been lately.

Breakfast with the Easter Bunny

Saturday morning we attended a Breakfast with the Easter Bunny.
It was organized by the PTO of the preschool our friend's
youngest child attends.They did a lovely job organizing everything
in just two weeks.
There was face painting and the Easter Bunny and a magician
and an Easter Egg hunt to entertain the kids. A tricky tray and yummy food for all
and goody bags for the kids. All donated. Every dime raised was
going to my friend's family to help deal with their loss.
It was a very heartwarming morning.Her husband was in shock at the
magnitude of support in this terrible time for them.
The lovely parents who run the PTO of the son's school asked if it
would be ok if they continued delivering meals 3 nights a week to the
family, they had it arranged through June. It is always nice to see how
much people pull together in times of crisis.
A reminder to all of us STAY AT HOME MOMS to be sure there
we have life insurance and not just on our husbands. Your family would be at a loss without you
even though you do not "bring in a paycheck".How would they go on?
Just a thought.

Easter Egg Hunt

Today we had an Easter Egg Hunt with our play group friends.
We had a lot of fun, Princess found a lot of plastic eggs filled with goodies,
I ate too much yummy food and drank way too much hot and delicious coffee.
After the hunt, and snacking, the kids colored eggs and then played outside and
in the play room before collecting our booty and driving home with full
hearts and bellies and smiles on our faces.(Thanks Becca!)
Farmer Dad greeted us at the driveway and we started more seeds and
they played basketball and guitar while I got to blog a bit.

Chance to win Free Rosetta Stone Curriculum!

OK, You all know how much I love free stuff, so when I saw

my friend, Daphne's blog post about this chance to win a free Rosetta Stone curriculum,I

just had to get in on it!

Check it out....

Rosetta Stone has been the #1 foreign language curriculum among homeschoolers for a while -- next week they are unleashing a brand new curriculum, and you can WIN the *all new* Rosetta Stone Homeschool Version 3… FOR FREE!

This is a $219 program (and believe me it's worth every penny!) and the winner gets to pick from any of these 14 languages: Spanish (Spain or Latin America), English (American or British), Arabic, Chinese, Japanese, French, German, Italian, Portuguese, Irish, Hebrew, or Russian.

This will also include a headset with microphone, and students will participate in lifelike conversations and actually produce language to advance through the program. Rosetta Stone still incorporates listening, reading and writing as well, in addition to speaking. Many homeschoolers requested grammar and vocabulary exercises, and with Rosetta Stone Homeschool Version 3, they're included! For parents, the new Parent Administrative Tools are integrated into the program and allow parents to easily enroll students in any of 12 predetermined lesson plans, monitor student progress, and view and print reports.

To win this most excellent program -- in the language of your choice -- copy these (blue) paragraphs and post it in (or as) your next blog post -- then to enter the contest, go to the original contest page HERE: http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/JenIG/501132/ and leave a comment with the link showing where you blogged about it. And please make sure the link works to get back to the original contest page when you post it. And good luck! The winner will be picked randomly on March 26, and will be notified thru the link they left to their blog pg. And if you have more than one blog, you can post them and enter those separately for more chances to win. Yay for free stuff!

Pictures, lack of crafts and dying microwave..

OK, here are some pictures from Thursday.
We did not do a single craft, nor did we
bake or even attempt to decorate a single
desert. Princess was busy all day playing
with her dolls and stuffed animal friends
and I tried to get a jump on the laundry
and a bit of cleaning done.
She did get outside a bit when Farmer Dad came home
and they played and ran around while I got dinner ready.
Notice she is wearing her cardigan (hand knitted-just like Mr.R.).
I took a ride with my sister to pick something up from
freecycle and then went to the library because we had books
due and books on hold, and the next day I would get there
would be Tuesday! These next few days will be busy for us.
I will have to actually leave my house people! You know how
this pains me.;-)
Today we have an Easter Egg Hunt with our play group, and
tomorrow we have Breakfast with the Easter Bunny (a fund raiser
for Fran's kids) and Sunday is Easter and Monday will be a "Camp Katie Day"
with my friends twins. We will also try to fit in bringing my niece some "baby gear",
fixing the garden fence and planting peas and strawberries. Farmer Dad also is on the hunt again for
a Bosc Pear tree like he had growing up.
I will post pictures of all the excitement as it happens....
This is a little "art and craft" desk I picked up last week from a freecycler near me.

Mr. Rogers Goodbye

I will admit, I cried watching this....

Fred Rogers Birthday!

Wear a cardigan sweater tomorrow March 20,2008.
Here is more info from Mr McFeeley
Check out his site for other ideas.
We will be decorating some sweaters and maybe decorating cookies
with "sweaters"..I will post pictures of what we do.

Pictures on a Tuesday

Here are some pictures from yesterday.I figured I'd post
them before I forgot.It was sunny and not very cold,
we actually went outside and played in the yard a bit
before Farmer Dad got home,
We looked for anything green in the yard and came in for dinner.

I'll post more pictures about what is coming to life in our corner of the Garden State
on my garden blog if anyone is interested.
Dinner was delicious.
Corned beef,cabbage and mashed potatoes along with homemade bread.
Farmer Dad and I had a beer, Princess enjoyed her "Shirley Temple".

While I got dinner on the table, they practiced the piano together,
and after dinner we played games at the cleared table.
Here are some pictures of her new game from the Leprechaun.;-)
We had to wait for Farmer Dad to come home and blow the pieces up.

It was a lot of fun!
Then Princess watched a bit of t.v. while I read a book and we
all turned in for a fairly early night.
Before I forget....
Our seeds that we started Saturday
are poking out a bit and it is feeling like Spring will arrive after all.

Unplug Your Kids Group Project

This week's theme is WOOD,
Be sure to leave a comment and your link over at Mom Unplugged's place
if you join in.
I almost didn't join in this week I must confess..I just couldn't come up with an idea
Princess was interested in with "wood", but then while doing her "maths", she requested
her math "manipulatiz" (that is how she says it) to work out her problems, I realized that she was using wooden popsicle sticks!
That led to her decorating some of them with her markers.

Happy Saint Patrick's Day!

We have a little tradition here in our corner of the Garden State
of holding a "Rainbow Scavenger Hunt" to find the treasure the
Leprechauns leave for Princess every St.Patty's Day morn.
We use the colors of the rainbow...RED,ORANGE,YELLOW,GREEN,BLUE,INDIGO,VIOLET
because the treasure (or pot of gold) is always found at the end of the rainbow
We started this a couple of years ago and normally this is a
great way to have Farmer Dad keep her busy while I prepare
breakfast, however this year he was at work, and we did it
just the two of us.Princess woke up to this little guy
(Great Grandma brought him back from Ireland this past year)
He sent her to the bathroom..which she needed to visit anyway 1st thing in the morning.
The next clue sent her to the dining room,
That clue sent her across the room to look behind the living room curtains...
That clue sent her into the "master bedroom"...
Under a blanket on our blanket rack...
The next clue sent her back into the bathroom...
that clue was written to send her to Farmer Dad's back pocket, but I just told her to look in mine
instead (the Leprechaun probably didn't realize people work here in America on St Patty's Day..lol)
This one sent her back to her room to look for the Violet bear,but was she then informed me ,
actually a bunny..(that silly Leprechaun again).Princess decided it was probably hard for him to tell what
it was when it was so dark in her room at night.;-)

What did the Leprechaun bring her?
Why a "maths" game of course!
That Leprechaun is not so silly after all ;-).
The coolest part was , that this year she read most of the clues herself!
Yes, this sappy Momma was wiping a tear or two during the scavenger hunt.
I am so proud of her some days my heart could just burst!

~We hope all of you find magical surprises today!