Random yumminess

I'm starting to get used to this gap toothed smile... The vintage hat was gifted to her by a neighbor, the scarf from freecycle,

and the vintage dress and gloves came from Great Grandma's.I was all for the gloves (there was a small box of them), but Princess also wanted to

bring home ALL of her "house" dresses. Yes, I let her bring them home for dress up.

She also brought home "Bridget", Great Grandma's stuffed poodle.

Years ago, there was a real life Bridget the black poodle, but even before she passed away,

Great Grandma had this stuffed dog sitting on her bed.She is in great shape, because to

the best of my knowledge, Princess was the only child in history to be allowed to play with her.She was upset when we first starting cleaning at Great Grandma's, because we thought Bridget

had been thrown out, but we soon found her inside a stack of blankets in a closet.

Having some of Great Grandma's things around her has really been a comfort to Princess since her death. No matter where we looked, we could not find the box of vintage aprons Great Grandma swore were still in the house (she had promised them to me almost 20 years ago,lol).

We figured they had been tossed, but my sister's good friend was helping her clean out and pack up, and found them in a box of old clothes in the basement bathroom. Princess was so happy!

I will post pics of the collection soon. Here one of them sits on a chair under the book I am currently reading (for my own enjoyment, and I am enjoying it!) and some lovely hand made yumminess from my good friend, Patrice

I had been wearing this apron while doing the dishes this week , so it's been sitting on this chair.

Notice how the middle of the needle book matches the fabric? That is why Princess took this picture. I am not sure why she left the book sitting there. The back is just as lovely.((BIG HUGS)) Patrice, opening the mail this week was such a treat!

Another treat in my day is coming into a room and finding Princess with her head buried in a book . She has been enjoying the new Fancy Nancy a great deal.

We moved her room around for the summer, and she has been enjoying the slightly more

"grown up" feel of it. I will post more pics soon..we are still weeding out toys and stuffed animals.

Have you hugged your cousin lately?

Princess loves when we baby sit Baby "X-man"..he is so yummy!!

Can you see those toes? I still can't believe I am a Great-Aunt..I mean,

I have always been a "Great" Aunt, but, wow..I could start to really feel old if I think about it long enough. ;-) I hope you all found some yumminess in your week.((BIG HUGS))KateinNJ

Peregrine Falcon Chicks

Peregrine Falcons Web cam in Jersey City

3 chicks were hatched...fascinating!

Recovering

Princess is recovering , the more painful tooth fell out, the other one is still loose.Her lip is less swollen and less purple.We stayed close to home all weekend..We worked in our home garden weeding,watering, and harvesting

and started our community garden plot..hopefully our eggplant will produce better

there with the full sun.

Farmer Dad walked her over to the gazebo by the pond and she joined in

some break dancing with some teen aged boys that were there "hip- hopping"(her words)

The boys let her have a turn and clapped and cheered her on.
Princess created with play doh and Legos...

Cleaning the aquarium on Monday,lead to a run to the pet store for new filters,

which lead to new fish...



We also cleaned out the crabitat.There was also some scrabble playing

My little girl is growing up.

((hugs))KateinNJ

Book Selections for my 1st Grader

Here we are at Tuesday already, so here is a little book post.

River of Dreams The story of the Hudson River.

Princess has a thing for rivers, of course so do we.When I saw this book on

our libraries shelf, I had to bring it home with us.This lushly illustrated book

gives the history of the Hudson River, and the people and creatures who live there.

It also gives the history of the fight to save the river from those who have lost sight

of the fact that the river can only take care of us, if we take care of it.

We will be making our way through the suggested reading list and web sites in the back of the book as well.Chele, if you haven't read this yet, you would enjoy it!

Yankee Doodle

We have been enjoying this picture book about the Revolutionary War.

The author uses the song Yankee Doodle and explains what the song meant

at the time in sidebars.Princess really enjoyed the detail of the uniforms

of the animal soldiers.A great way to bring a bit of history to life for young children.

WE the Kids

A long time ago some smart guys had some smart ideas...

unfortunately, most kids get lost in the language of the document.

OK, a lot of adults do as well.;-)

The author gives it to the kids (and their folks) in plain talk

(with his humorous illustrations helping to make the point)

they can all understand. This was a fun compliment to Yankee Doodle.

I'll try to come back later with some photos from this weekend, and keep

checking in, because we will be having a give away this week...I have some

really cool prizes to send out. Thank you all for your kind words about

Princess. She is healing well, one tooth out, the other soon to follow (we think),

less pain every day, my blood pressure is almost back to normal from seeing all that blood...

((hugs))KateinNJ

Do you give prizes for good behavior?

We spent some time this week in the garden radishes were harvested...had a play date with the Sweet Prince which was cut short due to tired children.

A round of Monsters Inc Life with Mom and make your own sundae cheered her up

Yesterday was spent at Great Grandma's waiting for the skylights to be repaired..all day.We packed up some boxes of books for them while we waited, and played with the dog.

Princess was a really good sport, she got extra computer time for being so good,and as she was playing, she shifted her weight in the chair, the chair came out from under her,and she landed on her back with a scream..after smashing her face into the oak computer desk.I was two feet away preparing dinner, saw it, could not stop it.

She banged her lip and knocked her two top baby teeth loose..one is sticking straight out.

One emergency visit to the dentist later, and we will wait for it to come out on it's own,

and take an antibiotic for 10 days..then return.

She is lucky. No stitches..nothing broken..no injury to permanent teeth. I let her pick out

a new book (Fancy Nancy's Explorer Extraordinaire )and a DVD (Eloise) because I had a gift certificate, and she was so good at the dentist. We also picked up supplies for the crabs and we will give their tank a good cleaning this afternoon.I'd show a picture of the damage, but she will

not let me photograph it.Do you give prizes for good behavior? A surprise treat when life is just going badly? I do. That is just the way I roll.

This is another original babbling post from KateinNJ, thanks for not copying without permission

Tuesday Book Post

A few books off our Public Library's shelf....

Kindness is Cooler Mrs Ruler

A good lesson in practising random acts of kindness

for the "school age" child. This does take place in

a classroom, as Mrs Ruler has about all she can take of the

children in her class being mean to each other. She takes 5

of them aside during recess, and asks them to practice random acts of kindness.

Soon the whole class is playing along, filling up their bulletin board with good deeds.

We both enjoyed this book.

Little Whistle

We picked up this book, because we thought it was about a hamster,

but it is actually about a guinea pig named Little Whistle who lives in a toy store.

Princess enjoyed the "magic" that happened when the toy store closed up at night,

and all the toys "came to life".The illustrations are lovely too.

Little Whistle's Dinner Party

Little Whistle wakes up hungry and invites all his friends to a dinner party.

So much to do..finding just the right stove,etc to get ready.

Princess really enjoyed Little Whistle's grand entrance to his party..very sweet.

Happy as a Tapir

This book asks you to imagine a zoo where things are not what they appear to be.

Twice a year, the animals trade their "animal suits" with each other.One animal is told that he cannot trade until he can become a "better Tapir" Will he be a Tapir forever? The concept was kind of intriguing to Princess, and we got lost

down all kinds of "Rabbit holes" exploring the implications.What happens to the creature

who has to learn to be a better Tapir? You'll just have to read it and see!

No, you're not going to get the ending out of me! ;-)

Heather, if you haven't already read this with your boys..go today and pick it up!

They will love it...I promise!

This is an original Homeschooling in the Garden State post,

please don't steal my content((hugs)) KateinNJ

Ocean Fun Days

This year we attended Ocean Fun Days at the Island Beach State Park

location instead of Sandy Hook for a change of pace.

Princess had a lot of fun, playing many of the free games and enjoying the beautiful

scenery.

Princess got her life jacket on before getting permission to "come aboard",

learning how to cast

Reeling in her "fish"

which she then traded in for this fish to take home..

It's a "puffer". A smaller version of this... We all enjoyed the science fair entries..
We looked at sand from all over the world under the microscope..

her favorites? Sandy Hook, and Hawaii.
She loved these turtlesand these bugs....

and this one too..
and Jenkinson's Aquarium had a table with displays, and a crafts table too..

It was nice, except, they pretty much "did" the craft "for" the kids..only having them put dabs of glue before they attached the next piece of the penguin. This did not "sit well" with Princess,

she is more about the "process" than the "product". ;-)

This little guy cheered her up though.

We bought a hot dog and fries and sat on the beach for lunch.

Princess played in the surf,

and we built sand "cupcakes" together..


She found some pretty shells,got really wet

Fortunately, Momma brought a change of clothes for the ride home.

as well as a snack and a DVD.I hope your weekend was as fun filled.