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Halloween Lessons – Learned & Relearned

November 2, 2012

In an ordinary season, these lessons wouldn’t come in handy again until next year — but since so many affected by the storm have had to postpone Halloween (as we did last year), maybe its just in time for some…

#1: For the younger set, costumes should be easy, lightweight and feel like normal clothes.

I’m pretty sure I would have loved those prairie days because hand stitching (cannot figure out my new/old sewing machine) Noah’s Frosty the Snowman costume out of a $7.00 white fleece blanket made me crazy proud.

My kids are now requesting my “pants dance” because I ran around the house last week dancing and singing “I made pants. I made pants.”

I have no business writing a sewing tutorial — basically I made a pattern from a pair of PJ pants that fit Noah well, following these brilliant instructions from Simply Modern Mom (ok, prairie mom meets internet), but cheated a little by using the blanket’s pretty edging as the pants bottom. As for the snowman belly, I improv sewed some fleece to a white H&M kids tank top and added some stuffing in between and three big buttons.

So Noah was essentially wearing a fleece blanket as a costume. Who could complain?

Well, the hat was pretty annoying.

By the time actual Halloween arrived, he said he would only wear the pants (I made pants!! I made pants!!), not the belly or the hat. Thanks to pinterest, I could handle it and quickly hot glued some felt to make a new Frosty shirt – this time, hold the stuffing.

#2: Too much Halloween is simply too much Halloween.

Our Moms & More club hosts an unbelievable Halloween stroll through our town each year, with a parade and trick and treating on Main Street and beyond on the Saturday before the big day.

The kids love spotting their friends and so many cool and adorable costumes. We love enjoying our adorable town, the nice shopkeepers and going out for lunch and margaritas with our friends (something we should do every Saturday but just don’t).

At this stage, the stroll is Halloween for our family. After that, its pretty much just pumpkin carving and tooth decay.

Four days later – on Halloween itself – Ryan actually asked “Do I have to wear a costume?” for his kindergarten parade (he did and had a blast). Then, we had a Halloween-themed birthday party after school, followed by actual trick-or-treating.

All individually wonderful and totally enjoyed, but complete overkill. Halloween should come but once a year. Once! My kids happily trick or treated around our block, but were home and sorting candy by 6:40 p.m. After showers and watching “It’s a Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown” in our bed, the kids requested and gobbled up carrots, snap peas, peppers and dip before bed. Veggies at bedtime? Too much Halloween.

#3: Target’s Dollar Bin rocks.

This you must already know, but very fun stuff this year — stamps, doormats, Halloweeen Bingo and Go Batty (Go Fish with mummies and vampires) cards and some signs that struck just the right note for Halloween fun (no blood, guts, bones or other ghastliness for me).

#4: This book should be sold with every pumpkin purchase in America.

We read this book all year in our house, but this year was the first time we counted our seeds along with the book. Lots of counting (by twos, fives and tens) and so many good lessons for kids (sometimes a small pumpkin has tons of seeds). You can buy it here for $5.99. or download the e-book and check out some cool pumpkin facts here:

Apparently, each ridge on the outside of a pumpkin is a line of seeds on the inside. Ryan says there are 20 seed on each. Our pumpkin had 27 ridges, 531 seeds. Pretty good math.

Haven’t had enough Halloween yet? Check out our fall play dough and Spa-lloween and Love U Madly’s Baked Pumpkin Donut Holes.

Check out Love Them Madly’s visit to The Connecticut Historical Museum & Library today on Out and About Mom.

Practically Perfect

September 25, 2012

We started family date outings in February, with intentions of carving out alone time each month for each parent/child pair in our family (not to mention more regular mom/dad dates which have been far too infrequent). Ryan also adorably requested “brother dates” but I haven’t figured out how to practically implement those yet. Our date book is a bit sparse, so I was glad I had booked show tickets over the summer to spur this weekend’s “dates.”

After a super garden birthday party (details to come) on Saturday for a kiddo with (1) a mom who used to be a kindergarten teacher, and (2) a dad who owns one of the best restaurants in town (you should find friends like this – it ROCKS!!!), we were all happy, full and exhausted. It might have been a better night for PJs and a movie but we had to rally for “date night.” N.B. Are we treating our kids to quality family time or training them to get mono in college by running themselves completely ragged??

It didn’t look promising. Parental requests to pick up the toy room were met with whining and painfully reluctant compliance. When I asked Ryan to change into “nice ” clothes for the play, he lay on the floor yelling and screaming and asking why he couldn’t wear his Avengers sweatpants to the theatre. So at 5:00 p.m., I changed into my running clothes. Thank goodness Ryan noticed.

“I can’t take you to the play if you are whiny and miserable. Sometimes date nights have to be cancelled.”

He yelled and cried, then (with some gentle prompting) apologized, calmed down and changed his clothes. I did too.

We parted from Couple # 2, who headed off to the local burger joint with friends and a deck of Go Fish! cards.

Ryan sweetly brought his camera along (thank you Playful Learning photo e-course), so I’ll let his pics tell the story of our dinner:

Ryan explained his framing: “I zoomed in on the sign but I wanted some brick wall too.”

Exciting to see Mary Poppins Poster at the restaurant

Fried “fresh” mozz & caesar salad for appetizers, followed by spaghetti squash for me & plain pasta with butter for him.

He totally let me pick up the check, though he insisted on buying his own candy (not mine) at the play.

Dinner was sweet and fun, and included some silly conversation and midway through our meal, a deliciously impromptu hug from Ryan.

Off to the show, where we met up with our friends. The production of Mary Poppins was fantastic. I imagine it would ordinarily captivate my musical loving kid but, exhausted after a few weeks of kindergarten, Jewish holidays and trying to share a bed with his little brother the night before, Ryan hardly had a chance. He mostly stayed awake through the first act; the promise of intermission snacks and his wallet full of allowance keeping him going. A brief sugar high got him through the first few songs of the second act. Then he slept and slept. And slept, through a huge Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious finale, thunderous applause and the clearing out of the theatre.

The next day, Ryan reported to his dad that he loved the show and saw what we came for – Mary Poppins flying with her umbrella and the chimney sweep walking on the walls and ceiling. The pictures don’t lie though – this was deep REM sleep.

Mary Poppins is an admirable mother-figure. She knows what children need – love, discipline and a lot of whimsy. She’s orderly and stern, but utterly engaging. She loves to play games, but only if she chooses them. She never promises to be fair, just that she’ll be “practically perfect.” And in one of the play’s most poignant scenes, Miss Poppins tells the Banks children that they are also “practically perfect, in every way.”

What a lovely way to think of our naturally, appropriately imperfect children. And ourselves.

Toyroom clean-up before the play? Practically perfect.

Wardrobe selections for the play? Practically perfect.

Mom’s decision to get tickets for a two hour forty minute play at 7:30 p.m. after a tiring first few weeks of school? Practically perfect.

Falling asleep for most of a big stage production. Practically perfect.

Family Date Night? Practically perfect too.

Here is a blank Family Date Time template for you to print. I’ve left the name boxes blank for you to write or type in. I used the font Quicksand (size 37) in Picmonkey.

Mary Poppins is on national tour in these cities through June, 2013. I recommend a MATINEE for ages 5 and up.

DIY: Kids’ Food Shopping List

September 19, 2012

As you can see here, my son loves grocery shopping – both real and pretend. When we decided to go so far as to open a pretend market in our backyard for his third birthday party, I wanted to give the kids an opportunity to make a list of things they would be shopping for in our play market. I thought they’d like modeling this very adult activity (list making), not to mention it would avoid the crazy overflowing cart free-for-all that has occurred at nearly every children’s museum grocery store exhibit I’ve ever visited.

I happened to have just cleaned out our media cabinet and finally decided to toss the empty DVD cases that take up so much room in our storage drawers (most of our DVDs are in DVD wallets). Just before I tossed the cases, I had a brainstorm: you could replace the movie banners with any insert, so my cases had to be useful for something. We played around with the cases by inserting family photos beneath the clear plastic and doodling (eyeglasses, beards, crazy hair) with a dry-erase marker. The plastic cleaned up easily.

Here’s what I worked out for the party:

FRONT OF CASE: Looseleaf List-Like Paper for writing on with a dry-erase or washable marker (contained inside the case), which I printed on 5 by 7 white card stock on my home printer.

DOWNLOAD: Shopping List Template

FONT: American Typewriter or any basic typewriter font

BACK: Chalkboard-Style Magnet Board for attaching magnetic images of list items.

I used adhesive-backed magnetic sheets, trimmed to size (about 5 by 7), to attach a magnet to the DVD back, just below the clear plastic casing.

I printed the food items on regular printer paper, then attached it to sticky side of the adhesive-backed magnetic sheets, then trimmed with a scissor.

DOWNLOAD: Shopping List Magnets Download

INSIDE:

Our party-branded (Noah’s Fresh Market) CD with Noah’s current playlist and a slim non-toxic dry erase marker).

I ran out of magnet sheets, but you certainly could line the inside of the case opposite the DVD insert with magnet for easy storage.

The lists worked great for our party, but would work equally well for pretend or practical play at home or school. For one time use, you could simply print out the list pictures and have the kids tape or glue them on a shopping list.

My rule-following birthday boy adhered stringently to the items on his list, going so far as to ask me to “put back” the twirlers and lollipops he initially put in his cart.

Noah’s Grocery Store Birthday Party

September 19, 2012

One morning in July, after dropping Ryan off at day camp, Noah and I sat at our kitchen counter having breakfast.

“Noah,” I said,”You’re going to be three soon. What kind of birthday party should we have?”

Ryan would have rattled off a dozen ideas in a minute, but with limited birthday parties in his little world, Noah was quiet.

“Well, what kinds of things do you like to play?” I prompted.

“Grocery store,” he answered instantly. Sometimes, three year olds give offbeat answers but this one was no surprise. Noah has loved playing market, going to the market, even talking about the market, since he was 18 months old. He’s always analyzing our store options as we do tend to frequent about 8 groceries within a 10 mile radius of our home and we make quick stops a few times a week (in the name of quality, variety and freshness, not, of course, for any lack of planning or efficiency):

Noah, about Whole Foods: “They have all my favorite foods at this store.” (Yes AND my entire paycheck!)

About Stew Leonard’s: “They still have the cow there. And those funny singing chickens.” (Thank goodness, the death grip has loosened and Noah and his brother finally find those chickens funny).

About Big Y: “That is Grandma’s market.“ (I agree – even though one opened in our town a few years ago, Big Y will always be “Grandma’s market.”)

About The Crown, our kosher market: “I like to push those little carts. And the lady by the challah always gives me a green leaf cookie.”

That day in July, we made a guest list and a bulleted list of ideas for Noah’s “Market Party” (donuts, shopping lists, shopping bags, pretend money, play food, carts and wagons, candy and pizza). Noah started telling everyone we were having a “grocery store party.” I searched the ‘net for ideas, only to find that it seems there has only been one documented grocery store party in the history of the internet. And actually, I’m not sure the party ever actually happened or was just stunningly designed and photographed for a party blog.

Armed with one stunning inspiration, my list and my vast experience actually playing grocery with Noah, I struck out on my own. Noah’s favorite color changes by the hour, but he remained steadfast about our party theme. The lunch menu did change (at his request) from pizza to cereal with marshmallows (popular with 12/13 kids and pretty popular with me now that we have some leftovers).

Our invite, designed on Picmonkey and printed at Staples.

We had a fabulous party – and I’m so glad I heard my little guy and designed a party that was just right for him. His guests enjoyed our shopping, and we all had fun getting ready for the party. My family pooled their recyclables for play food, the kids (and their babysitter) loved stuffing empty juice and produce containers with colored tissue paper to make it look real, and Ryan went to town pricing everything.

On a sunny and warm fall morning, we welcomed 13 kids on our front stoop, all excited and curious about our shopping party.

I asked the kids what you need to go grocery shopping, gently guiding them to: (1) a shopping list, (2) shopping bags and (3) money.

The kids made their own shopping lists, using old DVD cases I had turned into dry erase and magnet boards. This was super-simple and you can check out how I made them here.

The kids went to work right away, drawing/writing items on their list or adding them with picture magnets I had made (download here).

Once lists were made, the kids each picked a shopping bag and tagged it with their names.

List, check. Bags, check. For our “spending money,” we had a backyard hunt for plastic eggs filled with plastic gold coins and a few chocolate ones. (Who doesn’t love an egg hunt in September?) Once each had a full carton of a dozen eggs (a nice way to limit the big kids), I rewarded them with a pencil case “wallet” already filled with paper money bearing their faces (more on that later this week). They dumped their coins in the wallet, and suddenly we had a yard full of “big spenders” ready for our market.

We lined our shoppers up beside the market for a quick stop at our photo booth.

Now, here comes the shopping.

We set up our lower back deck as our little market, with areas for produce – real and pretend,

carb-loading

and more.

The kids took their shopping lists seriously. Most enjoyed the treats I planted in the aisles, though Noah insisted I put back the Twizzlers and lollipop he’d picked up when he realized they weren’t on his list.

The check-out ended up a bit crowded (the clerk might have needed a bit more training).

Noah was so eager to hand out our adorable mini-markets filled with gummy bears, that I found my shy guy wandering the yard asking his guests if they were leaving yet.

Our shoppers had a blast.

And I did too. Happily, the party continued most of the day with cousins, neighbors, friends and two borrowed bounce houses.

Possibly the sweetest moment of the day: watching this crew (my niece, my son and some friends) giggle and chat as they found shapes in the afternoon clouds.

From Pirates to Produce

September 7, 2012

With my two fall birthday babes, I tend to have birthday parties on the brain from August through Halloween.

I like creating birthday parties that invite playing and pretending. It feeds the six year old girl in me and makes my kids and their friends pretty happy. As you’ll see, I’m a hybrid DIY - I balance what I can handle creatively with what makes sense to farm out. That means I may go a little overboard on set-up, paper branding and stickers but I let Stop & Shop make the cake.

While I’m putting the finishing touches on this weekend’s grocery store birthday party for Noah, I thought I’d share our pirate party with you…

Starting with what’s probably the coolest thing we ever pulled off in our backyard: our swing set turned “The Brothership,” in honor of Ryan’s 4th/Noah’s 1st birthday.

My husband printed some wood grain clipart on corrugated plastic boards. We cut out portholes, strung the boards together and decorated with some netting, burlap and our nicely weathered wooden bridge (from a previous year’s birthday party).

When our pirate guests arrived, they outfitted themselves at our Pirate Supply Store, chock full of eye patches, bandanas, hats, earrings and striped sashes that I actually hand frayed until my fingertips were calloused.

Scott and I read the adorable How I Became a Pirate aloud to get our crew thinking like scabbies.

The kids crossed our plank (a wooden board bolted to two big red buckets) and tried to fish out little bags of jewels from the croc-infested waters below.

At another station, I attached raffia loops to our favorite jewel toned CDs with our favorite pirate tune. The kids used Captain Hook’s hook to grab a CD from a “swamp” filled with smelly socks.

At Cannonball Pop, the kids sat on black balloons which held Hershey’s Silver Nugget bars.

Next up, a treasure hunt in the backyard to find wooden nickels covered with pirate stickers, using these cute Nautical collection bags, from Oriental Trading.

Each treasure seeker found (or borrowed) 2 dozen nickels. Then, each pirate got an adorable customized sticker sheet from Chickabug on Etsy. When the kids stuck the stickers on their wooden nickels, it made a perfect take-home pirate matching game.

More good stuff from Oriental Trading – these treasure maps/sticker sets were giant and awesomely detailed.

Cake by Stop & Shop, with a few of our own pirate accessories.

Gotta run and set up a grocery store…

Birthday Surprises

September 3, 2012

Do birthdays and three-day weekends ever turn out like you imagine?

I imagined we’d be in Rhode Island for one last summer hurrah and to celebrate Noah’s 3rd birthday poolside with my parents and in-laws.

I’m glad we made the most of our summer adventures before Labor Day, because we’ve been house bound since Thursday with pneumonia, except for a few brief but memorable daily outings:

Saturday: A trip to Whole Foods where I bought reusable shopping bags and nothing else, because I simply ran out of energy.
Sunday: A one mile walk to Sleepy’s. My husband is fed up with our too soft pillow top bed and during an ill-timed burst of energy, I agreed to go mattress shopping with him. This is a terrible idea if you have been sleeping upright on the couch for three nights to pacify your cough. I tried one mattress for 10 seconds before coughing so much I had to exit the store, leaving my husband to choose our bed for the next 20 years.
Monday: A trip to iParty to buy replacement balloons for the birthday boy after a very sad birthday mishap, during which I cruelly kept taking photographs.4. Now that the antibiotics have really kicked in, we had a much more successful trip to Whole Foods yesterday, where my kids met my cooking/Clean Food guru, Terry Walters. We also bumped into Noah’s favorite teacher Janice, which truly perfected his birthday, plus a few other friends which made me so grateful to be back in the world of the almost-healthy.

Noah’s third birthday was sweet and simple. We were technology-free, except for some music we played while popping bubbles shooting out of Noah’s amazing new bubble machine which Dad and Ryan picked out at Kiddlywinks.

As with most activities, swords and flyswatters found their way into our bubble popping dance party – this time, it was quite an impressive fine + gross motor activity for all of us (the most exercise I’ve had in a week).

By repeated request, we’ve read this book to Noah a hundred times in the last few month:

It’s one of the few books, Ryan, our beginning to read kindergartener, has picked up and voluntarily “read” to Noah when we weren’t looking. The combination of pictures and words in the “secret” birthday message make the book a great literacy tool for preschoolers and early readers.

I left a secret message for Noah in our mailbox, very much like the one that leads the birthday boy in the book to his new puppy.

My drawing is not great, but Noah (and his Dad) got the idea: Start at the mailbox. Go down the hill (our driveway). You will see a hula hoop. Go in. Follow the path to the rock mat. Above it, you will see a door. Open it. Go up the stairs. You will see a tunnel (I set up a tent tunnel in the hallway leading to Noah’s room). Crawl through. Find the house.

No real live puppy for us but this was waiting for Noah in his room, in the doll house a neighbor generously handed down just in time for Noah’s birthday.

Noah thought the puppy was cute, but liked the scavenger hunt better, asking to do that part again, while also later requesting that Scott take the dog to work with him.

In the end, there were Mickey Mouse waffles with whipped cream, lots of cake, smiles and giggles, a whole lot less coughing, and a happy birthday boy who greeted his daddy with “I’m three now” in the morning and cuddled close to me at bedtime. I couldn’t have planned it any better.

Obstacles at Any Age & Stage

August 23, 2012

For a pokey decision-maker, I am pretty good at making vacation choices.

Eggbeaters or egg whites? Whites.

Run or gym? Run.

Pool or beach? Pool.

S’mores or ice cream? S’mores.

And the vacation decision of the week…

I went for the zipline. Did the Tarzan swing last year.

For the last two summers, our family vacation to the Lake George, NY area has included a treetop tour at Adirondack Adventure Course. Last year, my sisters and our husbands (and my oldest nephew) bonded over a day spent in the trees, meeting challenges 10 to 60 feet above ground. This year, my little sister and her husband couldn’t make the trip, the husbands bowed out on account of childcare/being afraid of heights. My 60+ year old mom proudly took their places on the log crossings and plank bridges.

How many 11 year old boys can say they’ve been zip-lining with their Nana?

That’s my nephew Josh, my awesome ropes course partner. And his brother Brett, 8, cruised through the kids’ ropes course four times, hardly taking a step without smiling.

Last year, my son Ryan, two years and inches shy of even the kids’ ropes course, begged to just be harnessed in and practice clipping the carabiners. Luckily, a small ropes course just opened at Mount Sunapee, so he got his chance in the trees during our B-school reunion last week.

On the low ropes course, Ryan eyed an obstacle that just looked too hard — a thin cable wire to cross with just some knotted ropes on one side for support.

He took a tentative first step, then crossed the obstacle in a minute. “Isn’t that cool, Mom?” he asked. “I thought I couldn’t do it, and then I just figured it out.”

Exactly. In a minute, he learned the definition of an obstacle, felt the desire to overcome a challenge and went for it. He cruised through the low ropes course the second time around and we advanced to the high course. The second obstacle was high and frightening – he wanted out. A guide tried to help him through, but Ryan decided to go back down.

I was proud of him for going so far, and for knowing that he’d had enough. He waited patiently, if a bit tearfully, as we finished the loop. When I started the second loop with my friend’s daughter and my friend tried to take Ryan to the low ropes loop, he lost his patience.

Imagine crossing a log forty feet in the air, with your six year old crying and screaming for you from below. It’s what I call one of those not-so-glamourous moments of motherhood. An out of body experience that you don’t fully believe is happening to you. I actually asked the guide nearest me if I had to go down to get my kid quiet. (As if that job might miraculously fall to someone else? I was quite tied up, you know).

I learned what “obstacle” meant too. This was intense; embarrassing in the usual way of a child’s public fit, yet far more heart pounding and impossible than any toy store tantrum. I kept my relative cool across that log and the next, yelling something at Ryan neither profound nor profane (my sister later suggested “I’m going to fall and it will be all your fault”). He quieted when he realized I’d be finishing the course, and later, murmured an apology to the guides and our friends when he wanted to hop back on the low ropes course.

Yesterday, Ryan cheered me through the Adirondack course, repeatedly asking when he’d be old enough to try it. Looking forward to our next time in the trees together. Is it safe to wear earplugs?

Shockingly Spoiled & A Scavenger Hunt

August 21, 2012

To quote Noah’s favorite alphabet song/book (Alligators All Around, Maurice Sendak/Carole King), I’m feeling “shockingly spoiled” with this summer’s opportunities for my past to meet up with my present.

We just wrapped up a wonderful weekend-at-the-lake reunion with 10 friends we met while my husband was in business school eight years ago, a group now enriched with seven kids ages 2 to 8.

Some of our guests’ travel included two red-eye flights in 48 hours, 22 hours in the car with two kids and NO electronics (these parents must write a guest blog entry for me on this).

Still, thanks to early morning wake-ups courtesy of the next generation and communal childcare/cooking efficiencies, we managed to hit nearly everything on our weekend bucket list, including a running/lake swim duathalon and a treetop adventure course (more on that later this week), water sports, fishing and s’mores.

My in-laws not only lent us their awesome place for the weekend, but my mother-in-law Barbara lovingly designed a scavenger hunt that delighted us all.

Collect a little last bit of summer with a scavenger hunt for your little ones – any list or basic drawing will do (even if not as lovely as ours) or create one online in minutes (and free) with clipart here. Ours smartly included a few edibles (blueberries, gummy worms and jelly beans) which served as “prizes” (warning: there were requests for a more substantial, competitively-awarded prize from some of the little MBA legacies).

The Wonder of It All

August 6, 2012

Last week, I forked over a few bucks for 250 Love Them Madly business cards. Uneasy about treating my blogging as something akin to a career, I tucked the little box of cards in my rolling suitcase amid dresses and quasi-comfortable shoes without showing my husband. To counter the ridiculousness of getting ready for a blogging conference, I profusely thanked Scott, my friend Stacey, my mother-in-law, my dad and babysitter for taking over my carpooling/cooking/tucking-in/mommy-ing duties for three days.

I reliably have counted on my sons to be my alarm clock for 99% of my wake-ups over the last six years, so I barely slept Wednesday night, out of distrust for both my iPhone’s alarm function and my alarm-setting abilities. In the wee hours, I showered and slipped out of the house and onto Metro-North bound for NYC.

Nothing legitimizes blogging more than spending a day at a “Blography” (Blog Photography) class and the next two at a BlogHer conference. Two posts or five posts a week, paid or unpaid – no matter; I’m a blogger. Along with about 4 million other moms in America. 4 million. I know. It’s a wild number. So wild that President Obama addressed the 4,500 conference attendees via live video feed to discuss the election. Martha Stewart spent an hour of her birthday speaking to us, endearingly perfect (“Blooper reels are great. I wish I had more of them.”). And Katie Couric (adorably promoting her new show Katie), Christy Turlington Burns (advocating for maternal health as founder of Every Mother Counts), Malaak Compton-Rock (urging all to “pay your rent for living with service” as she does with her Angel Rock Foundation) and Soledad O’Brien (promoting Christy and Malaak and social responsibility) all interrupted their summer weekends to share their business and philanthropic platforms with the women of BlogHer ’12.

And there are certainly a lot of companies that feel women bloggers are important enough to want to make an impression. In prepping for the conference, I heeded bloggers who said business cards were mandatory and listened to my sister when she told me to wear fun necklaces. I had every intention not to be a “swag hag” who showed up at writing labs and blog audits weighed down by product samples and literature. I did not want to be the person trying random products just because they were free.

My medicine cabinets are fully stocked, thanks to Walgreens, Pfizer, CVS and Oral-B. Ditto; pantry, bookshelves, junk drawer. I am sporting a Zicam charm bracelet (thank you Kim for dragging me from the booth as I wrestled among mothering, homemaking, cooking, blogging, photography,traveling, running and teaching charms), to remind me of the four most important jobs I must stay healthy to accomplish.

I am now considering becoming a full time conference attendee with a swag re-sale business. Check out Love U Madly‘s mild mocking/admiration of my methods (and the delicious post-swag meal she made me).

Mrs. Love U Madly had a bit of fun herself.

I’m hoping to really start understanding my camera when it returns from Nikon (or morphs into a new Nikon) and put into practice the many excellent lessons on writing and storytelling I learned from some very fabulous bloggers this week.

And now a little swag for you: check out the website/free app Wonderopolis from the National Center for Family Literacy, sponsored by Verizon Wireless. Each day, families can share an offbeat little wonder of the world. Click below to see yesterday’s wonder and check out the site. You’ll see Wonderopolis answers the question well, and folds in a bit more. In yesterday’s wonder (below), the site opens a discussion on fears, rational and not, and a list of words related to the day’s wonder. Great conversation starters whenever you find downtime. I’m excited to have found another learning tool to share with my kids during car time, waiting time and maybe even, meal time.

Have the Games Begun?

July 31, 2012

I look forward to falling in love with the Olympics with my kids just as soon as AT&T reconnects my cable and internet after a so-far inexplicable outage just in time for us to miss yesterday’s Men’s Gymnastics Final (perhaps for good reason).

I’m hoping that once the Olympic fever sets in, the kids will invent lots of Olympic events for our backyard. Until then, I’ve set up our own medal tracker and a little familial competition to spark some Olympic spirit, and tie in some literacy and math skills.

We started by looking at the 2008 Summer Olympic Medal Winners. We took the top ten overall medal winning countries, adding Japan because it was a top 10 overall medal contender in 2004. I put a picture of the flag of each country in a hat and each family member took a turn drawing a country to root for. We’re all rooting for Team USA together; Ryan drew Britain (but later negotiated a trade with Nana for China), Noah scored with Russia, Scott took Germany and I’ve got Italy.

I downloaded the flags for each country with this great free printable from Homeschool Creations, with all you need to play three games: a traditional memory matching game to help differentiate the flags, a flag to country name matching game, and a country/flag to continent matching game.

And here’s game #4.

I used the new-to-me packing tape sticker transfer technique to put the flags on glass jars.

I matched each medal to a foil wrapped chocolate: gold, silver and bronze.

Had I known there were over 300 Olympic events, and that certain countries might win over 100 medals, I might have picked something smaller, like jellybeans, or something inedible, like nickels (not so gold), dimes and pennies. Or a mix…gold chocolate coins for the gold, nickels for silver, pennies for bronze. Anyway, rookie mistake, and I’m prepared to have lots of chocolate on the table for a few weeks.

On the way home from New Hampshire yesterday, I picked up a New York Times. After I explained what a newspaper is (kidding) Ryan and I looked at the front page shot of Romney visiting the Western Wall in Israel and then through some stunning Olympics photos (check out the Times’ daily digest of photos here). My mom helped the boys match flags to countries and chocolates to medals using The Times’ Medal Table:

Online, the New York Times has an awesome visual graph of the medal count (historical and 2012 results) that we’ll be checking each day, along with watching events here and there. If you click on the circle for any country, you can get a list of medal winners and events.

We’ll have to do a bit of math to compare each day’s medal count with the previous days’ count before awarding the chocolates. A small price to pay for the sampling I imagine we’ll be doing.

As we are going to have more chocolate than we know what to do with over here, I’m going to give away Team USA’s winning jar of chocolates, which will hopefully be filled to the brim (Shh….I haven’t told THEM yet, but they won’t miss it and the dentist will thank me).

To enter, check out some medal history with your kids and take your best guess on Team USA 2012′s total medal count by commenting below or on my Facebook page before Sunday, August 5th. Closest guess wins the jar and the chocolates symbolizing Team USA’s swag. In case of a tie, winner will be randomly drawn among the closest guesses.