Great summer contest/giveaway

Would your kids like their very own bouncy house? I thought so! Here's a drawing for a huge one!

The Secret is in the Sauce - Six Weeks of Summer contest.Pin It

Where have all the horses gone?

My boys love to ride the mechanical horse outside of Safeway or Fred Meyer. I noticed this past week that they are gone from both stores in our neighbourhood. What a shame! I haven't heard any safety bruhaha about them. What is up?

Am I going to have to take them to Chuck E. Cheese just for the rides? I've been avoiding that place like the plague. :)Pin It

Closing up some tabs/some fun links to share

I love Mozilla Firefox. I can have so many tabs open at one time. My hubby tells me it can slow down my computer, however. Its time to close some tabs and that means sharing some fun links!

150 + ideas for summer fun - an unpink life blog. I am on the look out for new ideas to keep my boys busy now that preschool is finished for the year.

A fun method of presentation for snack or lunch. Muffin Tin Monday. I need to try this.

A fun craft to use up those zillion broken crayons.

As I've mentioned before, our spring weather has been awful. So, I need lots of rainy day activities up my sleeve.

Home schooling *may* be in our future so I'm doing a bit of research. Here is a great blog post from a pro which outlines her method and gives some great book suggestions.

How to cut a cantaloupe.

When it gets above 70 degrees, I'm going to make watermelon popsicles.

Millet muffins sound interesting. Maybe add blueberries?

Remember the wife rating scale? Here's the husband version.

Fun, educational videos for preschoolers. Cullen's ABCs.

A fun wind chime craft.Pin It

Summer reading (for me)

I decided to join a reading challenge. I failed miserably the last time I tried one of these, though! This time I will make my list VERY short so I can finish it. My problem is I change my mind about what book I will read or start a book and not finish it. I feel quite confident that I will enjoy these books.

My list - to be read by August 31st:

- Mr. Pip by Lloyd Jones (next book for my book club)
- A Year of Wonders by Geraldine Brooks (this is an upcoming book for my book club)
- In the Company of Cheerful Ladies by Alexander McCall Smith
- She Got Off the Couch and other heroic acts from Mooreland, Indiana by Haven Kimmel

Here is the link to the challenge.Pin It

Summer reading programs for kids

My oldest son is a very enthusiastic reader. He loves nothing better than a big pile of books from the library and/or Half Price Books or Value Village.

There are several programs to sign up for this summer that reward kids for reading. Here are a few.

- Barnes and Noble - their rules states grades 1 through 6. Kids must read eight books, write about their favourite part, and then bring a completed list to the store. Children then choose their free book from a list of paperback titles.

- Half Price Books - their program is for ages 10 and under. Yeah! Kids earn a gift card to the store.

Your local library probably has a program as well.

I think we will do the Half Price Books program and the library one.

Scholastic also has a program where for every 4 books your child reads, they will donate one to a needy child.Pin It

Need a laugh?

I know I do. I currently have a cough and a cold, it has stayed in the 50s for days, and it is STILL raining.

I heard this on NPR yesterday and had to share. It is funny audio clips from the presidential primaries, including McCain joking about his age.Pin It

Wordless Wednesday

OK, I can't be wordless!!! This is from C's third birthday party this past Saturday. I made the cake. :)Pin It

Happy Birthday Sweetie!

It is my hubby's 36th birthday today! We went out to a steakhouse to celebrate. He loves Indian food best but that is hard for the rest of us to eat - me the spiceaphobe and the kids like "American" food best. :)
J as a baby.
J, enjoying a cup of coffee. I love you Sweetie!Pin It

Work for Me Wednesday - less dishes to wash

I read this great tip at the Real Simple website. When giving out dry snacks to your kids, instead of using bowls or plates, use a coffee filter. It holds snacks well and you can even find smaller ones. I'm using less snack bowls since I started doing this. Anyway I can reduce the number of dishes to wash is a good thing!For more great tips, head over to Rocks in My Dryer for Works for Me Wednesday!Pin It

Felt boards and a short, fun video on YouTube for kids

I recently made a flannel board for my boys. Thanks, Kelli at the Sparrow's Nest for the Three Bears story pieces! I got the directions to make the board here. I actually used peg board from the hardware store and a $2 frame from Value Village. You need 1/2 yard of felt. I bought a whole yard but hey, I have a supply of light blue felt to last forever! :)

I was surfing and found this fun video.

There are quite a few more videos made by Cullen (the woman in the video).

I'm desperate these days to find activities for my boys. Preschool ended for my 4 year old and my almost 3 year old has been behaving especially badly. :(Pin It

What kind of wife am I?

In honour of me and hubby celebrating our 10th anniversary today, I found this hilarious link about rating a wife in 1939.

I've got LOTS of demerit points, especially that cold feet one!

I'd love to share a picture of our wedding day but our scanner isn't working. :(Pin It

These are a few of my favourite things!

My friend Leah posted some of hers yesterday and I feel inspired to do the same. This has been rolling around in my head for a while.

And first of all, raindrops on roses is NOT one of my favourite things. I'm tired of the rain!!!!

1. Izze - Pomegranate flavour. I buy this in small cans at Target. I love that this drink is just a mixture of fruit juices and sparkling water. No sugar. I'm not good at drinking water alone but *this* I can do. Blackberry is also good but tastes a bit sweeter.

2. Trader Joe's whole grain sesame pita chips. Almost the whole family fights over the bags of these.

3. Life's Picture Puzzle books. I am on my 4th one of these! They are a great way to unwind at the end of the day or take along for waiting at appointments. I've gotten my hubby addicted to them as well. My 4 year old does the super easy ones at the front of the book, with a little help. I found them at Target.

4. Tazo Awake Tea. I drink this every morning. It has just enough kick to wake me up but isn't bitter.

5. Strum Whole Wheat Blueberry Oatmeal. Since I found out that I have high cholesterol, this is my breakfast. I get this at WalMart.

6. Bloglines. When you read as many blogs as I do (I'm not going to tell the total), you NEED bloglines. When there is a new post, that blog shows up in bold.

7. The Crafty Crow. Since my sons like to make crafts and I'm a crafty gal, I love this site. It is a collective, that is it has daily links to blogs that have posts of kid crafts. Even if I don't end up doing them, it is fun to find new ideas and new blogs.Pin It

Some YouTube laughs

Family Dance Night - the dad (Bart Millard) is from the band Mercy Me. Thanks, BooMama, for the link.

Remember your dating days? Would these lines work?
Kids and milk
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Getting dirt under my fingers again.

We've had an unusually cold "spring" this year. Today was the first Saturday we've had that wasn't rainy or cold or snowy, seriously. Well, there was one Saturday where the temperature got up to 80 or so but who wants to spend a day like that in the garden?

Today I did a lot of weeding, working the soil and planted sweet peas and stock. The directions for planting stock seeds said to NOT cover them with soil. Hmmmm. I hope the birds don't eat them.Pin It

Mother's Day songs and poems and a craft

Today at A's preschool they sang and recited some songs and a poem for the moms.

Oh, I wish I had a little red box to put my Mommy in,
I'd take her out and (kissing sound) and put her right back again.

Oh, I wish I had a little red box to put my Daddy in,
I'd take him out and (kissing sound) and put him right back again, etc.


Mommy, Mommy, here are my gifts
a special hug and a great big kiss.
You always love me even when I'm bad.
You always love me and never leave me sad.


Plus the "I'm Bringing Home My Baby Bubble Bee" song.

Unfortunately, I couldn't get the video camera to work. :( I did take some photos but there are other kids in the photos and I don't want to post those.

We made hand print cards for Grandma with paper clay, an idea I found here. The clay I used was from Daiso - the $1.50 Japanese store.Pin It

April photos

The most exciting event here in April was the visit from "Grand Dad," my father in law. He lives far away in eastern Canada and visits about once a year, or less. The weather was terrible but the boys had fun with him nonetheless.Activities included:
- a trip to the Science Center- painting and constructing model boats- operating a remote control boat on a quiet pond
- wrestling
- playing Hi Ho Cherry O and Chutes and Ladders
- doing word games with A, reading to C and A.

Earlier in the month we had a gorgeous sunny day and we visited the Zoo. I love the look on A's face as he enjoys the chickens. He is a big fan of farm animals.
Here are my boys watching the elephants.Pin It

Wordless Wednesday

 

My hubby took this photo so I can't take the credit.

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Taking kids out to eat

This is sooooooo true to life!

Baby Blues cartoon.

Thanks, Carrie at Mommy Brain, for the tip.Pin It

Bad blood

Yep, I have bad blood. I had my cholesterol checked and it is way too high. Sigh. I'm too young! :)

My doctor is sending me to a dietitian to see what we can do with diet changes. Goodbye scrambled eggs, hello oatmeal.

I asked my husband to get his checked since I want to share in the misery. His diet is worse than mine, anyway. Of course there is the chance that his cholesterol is just fine.Pin It

MOM song

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