Scrapbook Pages

March Madness--Family Style!

March Madness has become a tradition for our little family. Early on in our marriage I realized that I could either dread this blessed "season" or embrace it. In the years since...it has become a really fun way for Greg and I to have something to follow together and talk about.

The honest truth is that we don't really watch basketball until the tournament starts. But, in the last couple days we have each read up online, etc. to become somewhat educated in making our "picks".

Some years we've had competitions with other couples...husbands against wives...with a get-together at the end of the tournament celebrating the overall winners. Each couple brings a dessert...made by either the husband or the wife...whoever was the low scorer of the two. Once again...creating a fun thing to talk about in the weeks of "play" and a great reason to get together in the end.

I have been surprised how much Nathan remembers doing this last year. He has been anxiously awaiting his turn this March. So, Greg had both Nathan and Joshua make their own "picks". We write the brackets on a big poster board and then have taped it and each of our picks up so we can easily keep track. Tonight...after the first real night of play...Nathan leads! And Joshua is a close second! So much for carefully "getting educated" on my part! I'm in last place!

Package from Grandma--Dinosaur Style!

We are so lucky to have a Grandma Franson who sends us packages of fun projects to do. This last week we got one with a dinosaur theme. I hope to post an activity a day for the next few!

The first project came from Michael's. I cute dinosaur bone skeleton to put together. Often these kinds of things are a little too tricky for Nathan (5). But, with Daddy's help...this triceratops was the perfect "difficulty level". Nice instructions included. No glue needed. Just punching out pieces and sliding them together. Really having a "put together" project is something we love having for Nathan and Greg to do together. There's something about creating something and having a finished product to show at the end that is definitely "bonding".

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

It's St. Patrick's Day morning and we've officially carried out our one main family tradition...green milk! (My mom would also sometimes do green eggs for breakfast.)

Our family could really use a reason to "celebrate" today (really we just need a little perk in life and a fun way to be together). So, I'm trying to think of fun ways to spend the evening.

One of my favorite websites for finding ideas to "Celebrate the Day" is:

Family Fun

They've got some especially cute "Leprechaun Traps"...that we might try if we get ambitious.

So, help me! What do you do to make St. Patrick's Day memorable for your family?

Beads - Beads - Beads

There are a few 'staples' that I like to keep around for entertaining kids. Some of them are predictable -- like Play-Doh. But a few days ago when we got out the beads for the first time in a while I thought I should post about it because they have killed many an hour around here.

My kids LOVE stringing beads. We have made more necklaces and bracelets than you can imagine. This most recent experience we made necklaces for the Webkinz in our family. It was great because their necks are smaller than human necks so the kids had enough of an attention span to make it clear through them.

Over the years we have collected some more 'exotic' beads, but we started with a big bucket of "Pony" Beads (that's what they call them) from Michael's (I'm sure I used a 40% off coupon so they weren't too expensive.) I also think Elastic Thread is worth every penny -- and really it isn't that much. Most bead 'kits' come with a plastic 'thread' that doesn't stretch and doesn't tie. It's mostly a frustration. But the elastic thread works well. Just tie a bead on the end and let your kiddo go to work. If they are too young for the thread to work for them, Pipe Cleaners work great (just bend the end around one bead to keep them on)! What do you do with them you ask? You can form the Pipe Cleaner into their favorite letter, you can make a candy cane or wreath for a Christmas ornament, or just be creative. If you allow it, I think your kids will have the best idea yet! (Heaven help you :) )

Beads can even be a good thing for killing time on road trips. I just give my kids some beads in a 5 oz. paper cup (another kid staple -- especially for road trips, but that's another post) and some string or a pipe cleaner and they thread away while we drive. And when we get to Grandma's house we have a new necklace just for her.

St. Patrick's Cookies

It's Joshua's week to take the snack for Nursery. I've hoped to pull off cut-out sugar cookies for the occasion. (You can picture them--shamrocks with darling sprinkles.) But, I just couldn't bring myself to do the whole messy process.

The cookies I ended up making still have green bits in them...and I think we like the taste even better! They are made with Andes CREME DE MENTHE Chocolate Mint Baking Pieces Bits ...found in the baking aisle with the chocolate chips. The recipe I've used several times is just found on the back of the package. (I always use half the bag of Andes bits per recipe.)


Nathan loves leveling off the cups of flour and pouring all of the ingredients in. Joshua helps count the eggs...and when Nathan and I are both feeling brave...Nathan even cracks an egg!

One of my favorite things to do lately...when I do get in baking mode...is to make a large batch. I bake one or two cookie sheets worth (12-24 cookies) for us to eat right then. And then scoop with a "cookie scooper" the rest of the dough into balls and place them in a 9 x 13 pan. I freeze them just until they are slightly solid and can hold their shape. Then I freeze in 1 quart freezer bags the little balls. 12 in each bag. Then later when we want to "make cookies" again, we just pull out a bag from the freezer and bake ourselves one sheet. You can enjoy the "fruits of your labors" for longer and slows down the consumption for all of us!

A Favorite Children's Author

Have you ever gotten home from the library with a whole stack of children's books, but none of them keep your children's interest (or yours for that matter!) I am sometimes amazed at all of the books that do get published especially after hearing how many there are that don't.

Well there are lots of things I love about the library including the Children's Reference Section that has great teaching aides from finger plays to book lists, the Children's Video Section, the LeapPad books and Cartridges, On-line Holds and Renewals that make things so much easier with little ones, and Story Times and other programs.

I often, however, get frustrated with the books themselves. So I love it when we find an author we like. This morning I was reading a Robert Munsch book to my kids and was amazed how they all started gathering around me. I started reading it to the almost 3-year-old and by the time I was done I had the 5-year-old on my lap too, the 7-year-old was close by making comments and the 10-year-old was do other things, but definitely listening. We love his stories. His most famous one is I'll Love You Forever. It is totally different than all of his others which are sillyand fun. They are exaggerated stories of things that you can relate to in family life. Some of his titles are More Pies, Get Out of Bed, Aaron's Hair, and many more. He also has some of his books in Munschwork Collection books with 4 stories in each book. I recommend checking them out -- they're a lot of fun.

Winter Exercise=Laps...Race Car Style

The long days of winter here mean little chance to "get the wiggles out" around here. I don't know what we'd do without our (at least) daily "race". (Usually I turn on the music when I get the call that Greg is on his way home from work. They will usually keep at it until he gets home 15 minutes or so later!) Thankfully our townhome is shaped in a circle on the main floor. So, there is a well defined little lap to make. (You may need to be creative on defining your racetrack.)

Our race includes:

The Cars Soundtrack
(The first track is all we really use for racing. You can download it off of Itunes. It's called "Real Gone" with Sheryl Crow and John Shanks.)
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Racing number and Exhaust pipe
(Number just printed off of the computer and mounted on cardstock. Exhaust pipe is a tinfoil-covered toilet paper tube with thin elastic tied to each side so it fits on like a belt.)

=

Brace yourself for some engine-revving, paint-swapping fun!
(Usually there are two boys and no push-toy. But, today while Nathan was gone, Joshua wanted to race on his own.)

Our boys like it best when we're willing to do their "pit stops". After every few laps they stop for some "gas and tires". We "glug, glug, glug" a little gas into their tummies and "zrt, zrt, zrt, zrt" down by their feet to change their tires.

Crayon Rubbings

We went on a great outing today! The weather is unseasonably warm and it was time to get out. Before we went, though, I had each kid make a notebook to do crayon rubbing in. Each child cut two pieces of paper into quarters. I had drawn lines on it and both Matthew (who is almost 3) and Sarah (who is 5) were able to cut the 8 pages for their 'notebooks' with the exception of one page that Matthew cut too much of.

Then Sarah wrote her name on her notebook and I wrote Matthew's name on his. We stapled them together and put their notebook and a crayon with the wrapper removed into a plastic bag. Then we put those and a snack in their backpacks and we were off.

We went to this great bike trail that has leaf imprints in the walkway. I thought that they would be great to do rubbings of, but they actually didn't work out too well. We still had a great time exploring, eating our snack, and finding all different kinds of textures to try 'rubbing'. We found some raised letters on signs, logs, old leaves, and other textures.

The kids felt like it was a real outing to get to wear a backpack, go exploring, and stop for a snack. I had a great time being out of the house in the beautiful air enjoying the kids and having some time away from the jobs at home.

They love each other -- they just each needed a side to HOLD ON too!

The Formative Years

I was reminded again lately how the 'preschool' years of a child's life are the most formative years. I strongly believe that, but with the birth of our 5th child and with two 'older' kids busy in school and activities I realized I was doing what I never wanted to do. I was having my preschoolers accompany to many activities, but I had quit enriching their lives in the ways I want to. So this blog is to encourage me to do fun things with my preschoolers (and other kids) and to share these ideas with others.

At What Cost
Some of these ideas will cost money -- not a lot of money, but some. I am very tight with money and have always had to justify these costs. Here are some of the justifications that I feel good about:

Co-op Preschool: I am in the middle of my 7th year of co-op preschool. This is like Joy School except we come up with our own curriculum and ideas. So how it works is we get together with other Moms in the neighborhood or ward that have children that will be in the same grade and take turns teaching a week of preschool each (2 days). We rotate through the school year. It has worked out really well. Around here preschool costs $150-$220 a month depending on the school and the number of days and hours. This adds up to a significant amount of money that I'm not spending every year. So I feel good about spending some money for fun crafts and activities for preschool days and other enriching activities.

We haven't had cable or high-speed internet until last September. Then we got them in a package deal. We are about to get rid of cable again (but keep the internet). When we've wanted to have cable in the past we've always decided that we'd rather spend that money on other fun family things rather than trying to get our money's worth out of cable. It just feels better.

Around here there are lots of neat community classes. We have participated in some of them. Occasionally they have really been worth it. Most of the time, though, I come away feeling like we could have invited a friend over and done as well or better on our own. And if I'm not driving them there and back to a class that provides time that I could be enriching all of my children's lives and not just the one that the class is for. On average these classes cost $10 an hour. You can buy supplies for a pretty neat craft or activity or treat for $10!

So there you have it. Maybe money isn't an issue, and maybe you've tightened as far as you can and there still isn't money. We hope that there are still fun things in here that work for you and your kids. I have come to really view the time I spend with little ones as treasured time that is worth every minute and every penny. This is my job and my calling -- it feels good to magnify it.