Perfectly Pretty Pancakes

Did you know that you can have fun shaped pancakes that are easy to make without dirtying all your cookie cutters?Use a squeeze bottle! This one gives fine lines, reuse a ketchup bottle for thicker! This opens up the pancake to so many cool shapes and even better: Little hands can do it too!!

Sometimes we all need to be reminded of this very thing! Maybe some coloring time for all ages would help ease the stress in the world...Enjoy every minute my friends!

Spin & Spell Revisted!

A Visit from the Archives, while I'm away!

 I wanted to make my kids some fun spellers that they could build their word vocabulary with and went through many ideas. I wanted a more industrial chic look that could be modern and fun. I started at the hardware store with a rough idea of what I wanted in my head.

I rummaged through my craft supplies for rub on letters from Michaels .99 and my Mod Podge. 

I added these supplies to what I picked up from the hardware store (5 hex nuts, 1 carriage bolt and 1 lock nut). Make sure that your hex nuts are larger than your bolt so that they slide as opposed to screw up and down the bolt. This makes them easier to turn, the more nuts you add on.

I added the letters onto each side of the nuts and then put the mod podge on top of them to adhere them to the nut. Since my kids are at different vocabulary levels, I knew I needed to make it a game that they all could play! This was perfect! They could easily play the game with 2,3,4 and 5 letters (Just add or take away the nuts as needed) and when they think they've spelled them all, take them all out and mix around the order!!

For my youngest, I go down to 3 letters at times when he is learning new words and sometimes we just use 1 letter and  I have him find the letters that I ask for, that way he gets a better understanding of letters. This is a game that we have all gotten into and tucks away easily into a busy bag or even my purse!! I've made about 12 different nuts of letters and we have 5 bolts so that there can be multiple games going on at once and the letters can be switched up often.


LETTERS USED:
For beginning readers try
F, L, M, N, R, S on the first hex
A, E, I, O, U, R on the middle one
B, D, G, P, T, S on the last one
For 150 pronounceable combinations

For More advanced combinations:
4th: s,t,e,d,r,n
5th: t,h,d,e,y,n

MIA

We are happily away on vacation! The weekend took us into the city for boat races and exploring smaller pockets of the city that are normally not on the 'list' of things to do! It has been such a learning experience for us all to grow closer to one another. 

For the next week we are experiencing the calming world of Island life. Carriage rides, beach visits, hiking, trails by horseback and so much more...We like to end the Summer together in hopes that this will be just what we need for back-to-school separation!

My Planner Secret!

 

I have a secret, I'm busy all the time! I don't know where my days go and before I know it, it's dinner time and I forgot to take something out last night to prepare. My days are endless from one errand to the next and sometimes I even forget things! GASP!!! I started keeping planners/diaries/Calendars everywhere! Once a month, I sit down with all of them to make sure they all match and 1 goes onto our school clipboard that hangs in the homework center. 1 goes into my purse and 1 goes to my husband. How do I keep them all organized with an ever-changing schedule?? DOTS! Sticker Dots that is! I write down events and times on them and if they get cancelled or changed, I can peel them off and move them or just stick on a new one over it! So easy and inexpensive! What works for you?

Wordless...

My Children are taking a Puppetry Class today!

Friday's Photo!

Why is it that when we go to the zoo my children would rather find their own animals (chipmunks, birds, lizards, spiders etc.) instead of looking at the ones on display?????

They take a backpack with binoculars, bug boxes, tweezers, picks and the like whenever they go to the zoo!

On an Adventure!

This morning was HOT, HUMID and UNBEARABLE! We didn't even want to go out back to the pool but 1 thing got us moving today. A treasure hunt was in order for today! We were online reading some blogs and noticed an awesome post from Kitchen Counter Chronicles! She spoke about this little phenomenon called the Little Free Library!  Right away we were on a mission! We looked on their site and found some Little Free Libraries pretty close to where we are!! Time to go on a hunt!

First, we picked out books from our Goodwill bag, we were ready to donate a bagful, but now we knew where they were headed! Before sending them off, we put personal book reviews in each book, yes even I did it with the books I read! What fun we were about to have.

The first one was about 25 minutes away, so we loaded up and headed off with directions in hand! Once we turned on the right street, it was all about hunting it out. WE FOUND IT!! Look at how cute this little library is! We were so excited to find this new treasure.

The kids opened the door and looked all around, every book was like gold as they looked at each title. There were kids books, adult books, travel books and even some business books it had a little bit of everything! We took 3 and dropped off 5! We packed into the van again and headed off to the 2nd one that was supposed to be nearby.

WHOA! This one was only 2 minutes away! Though slightly smaller, this one was quite unique too! I love how each one is so different and full of wonder.

We all took turns digging through and looking at each book before we left with 2 and deposited 4. We have found 2 more that are about 1 hour away from the house but we will check those out next week. How wonderfully fun and exciting is this? We cannot wait to make one of these for our own home.

Material World...

My mind has been building this post for quite awhile and I figure today is the day to post it. I've been questioning how this Material World keeps getting worse and worse and before long I had the answer RIGHT IN FRONT OF ME! Notice that when you get a new car people are thrilled for you, they make a big deal about it and pat you on the back. Get a new home? Forget about it, there are oohs and aahs and wow and all of that junk, just like you hung the moon! New purse? Shoes? Clothing? It all gets attention and comments that are made to make you feel amazing!

How about when you tell those same people that you spent the day as a family riding bikes to the park, get some ice cream and then the library? Their eyes begin to glaze over and you get a small nod or smile of partial interest. 

I don't understand why material items are shown such glory and family time, togetherness is always seen as mundane and unimportant. Children hear this growing up, see this when they talk about their weekends and such and it is constantly shown to them that material items get a better reaction. A little girl in a new dress? The compliments don't stop! New 'fast' gym shoes for the boys? Yup, they get so many reactions, their smiles are endless. All these smiles then get turned around in their head. They begin to realize how they feel and put it together with the new items.

Have you ever noticed on Facebook that when you post about something you did with your family, you get halfhearted comments (if any) and a few LIKES on your status. Post a photo of something you bought and BAM, people comment and like and question about it. 

Let's band together and try to change what our children hear and see! Talk about how wonderful it is to see families out and about. Comment and Like posts on Facebook when people mention 'family time' that involves spending genuine time together. A parent that just took her kids to the library? Make THEM feel AWESOME for spending time that costs nothing with their children! Go on, WE CAN DO IT!

If we slowly start to celebrate TIME instead of STUFF, maybe we can change how people react to what we DO & not what we BUY!