Garrett and Washington DC

You never know what kids have picked up when you do things like vacations, educational trips or just a science experiment. Well today Garrett (5) proved that he really wasn't too young to learn something while we were in Washington DC earlier this summer.Now keep in mind that I should have known this because when he was 2 1/2 we went to Mt Rushmore and to this day when he sees a picture of Mt Rushmore, he will announce that he knows what it is and that he has been there.

Well today was one of those days!! We were yard saleing (yeah!) and a friend had on a patriotic shirt. As we were standing there Garrett went up and point to one of the pictures on her shirt and says, "That's in Washington DC, I was there!" Now here's the interesting part - he was pointing to a picture of the Capitol Building, which we only saw briefly and we didn't go up close to or tour. (I figured that we could save that for another trip when they were both older and understood government a bit better). But at 5, Garrett knows where an important building in our nation's capitol is and in fact that it is important.

He also this week picked up one of his brother's books and pointed out to my Abraham Lincoln, and said "That's Abe Lincoln, he was our president!"  Boy I really need to set up what we are learning around our house as Garrett is picking it up quick!

But be careful what you put in front of your kids to see and hear as they are listening even when you might think they are too young .

Becoming a United States Citizen

Robert has been working on our Family History for his 4-H project. This has already taken us to new places, but in one of the censuses he found that his great grandmother was not born in the United States. So we then talked about what an alien was and what they had to do to become a naturalized citizen. Well, Monday morning the TV station was interviewing some people who were becomeing citizens on the 4th of July. And they were giving  afew questions from the naturalization test. So out of curiousity, I went to find the test. It is 100 questions long, but includes, American government, American History & Geography. So I printed out a copy of the questions and answers and we had trivia time at breakfast just to see if we could become citizens, if we hadn't been born here. Gary & I did alright. But there is a lot of learning still going on in our house for the boys to make it;)

But here is the link http://usgovinfo.about.com/library/blinstst_new.htm  You have to scroll down a little for the test to begin, but give your crew a trivia test and see what they know!

Fourth of July Fun

As much as I like fireworks, I do not like having the ground fireworks or sparklers around small children. As a way to keep things still fun, but safe, I purchase LOTS of glow sticks that are the bracelet size. I then hand out glow sticks in the evenings. My boys have decided that glow sticks in a circle make a great nighttime Frisbee. They will put bracelets on and then play hide and seek in the dark. They have also played that they hide the glow stick for someone else to find (kind of I spy). Regardless, they are still having fun and are being safe. And we take in enough public firework shows to keep everyone happy.
Have a great, safe 4th of July.

Maps and kids on vacation

If you are planning on going on vacation, take a little time and plan ahead by purchasing not only yourself, but your children an atlas. There are kids level atlas' out there, but as long as it is small enough for them to handle in the car it doesn't have to be a kids' atlas. But before we leave, I take my roll of contact paper and cover all the states that we will be traveling through. Then while we are on the trip, I have Robert take a marker and follow where we have been on his map. Now if I want it to be able to be erased, I have him use a dry erase marker. I also will have him look at the map and show him where we are starting and where we are going. his job is to give me a route using the road numbers on the map. I check out his trip on my map. Recently we were looking for an alternative route to avoid traffic. Robert's routes turned out to be a VERY nice, traffic free drive. I will also have them look at the map and ask questions like what is the next closest town North of where we are. This helps them understand their compass points.

For simple day trips, I will copy a local map and mark it with stickers of things we will see along the way. This way Garrett can visually see that we are getting closer to where we are going. For example, when we are heading towards eastern PA, I put a sticker where the exit is that we would get off the interstate, a sticker at Penn State,  a sticker at the bottom of 7 mountains (reservoir), Lady Liberty in the Susquehanna and Harrisburg- I will announce when we are passing or stopping at each sticker so that he can follow that we are getting closer to where we are going.

Just a little something to think about before leaving on vacation that helps keep the kids interested in where they are going. And it just takes a little bit of prep time! Have a great time on the road!

Garrett's 5th Birthday

Happy Birthday Garrett!!! We celebrated Garrett's birthday a few days early because of other things on the calendar. But last evening we had a a couple of his friends over and we played games, ate, had a hay ride, opened gifts and ate cake. A John Deere tractor with a chisel plow was a big hit (thanks Nanny!) the kids seemed to have a fun night.

Garrett with his new book from Aunt Caren-
she reads it to him! Very Cool!

An Aunt Caren Shirt

A super airplane that Garrett is all into

Yum Popsicles!
Boy these are heavy!

Dinner with friends

Oh, what's in here?

And we are off for our hayride

Blowing out the candles - check out that tractor and chisel plows!!!

God's Training Camp VBS

Garrett and his team practicing their Team Cheer

This year's VBS at Knox United Methodist Church, was "God's Training Camp" and each day was a different sport theme.  The kids had a great time and the mission project was to raise money for tornado victims in Alabama and Missouri.

After learning about the Armor of God and how it is like a football uniform-
Robert tried on the uniform- GRRR! Doesn't he look mean?

Vacation to Washington DC & Williamsburg, VA

OKay ,life is slowing down a bit so at the beginning of June we had the opportunity for a trip to Williamsburg, VA with Gary's Family. Well we added 2 days in Washington DC on the way down. We stayed right in DC, so we could walk everywhere we wanted to go to. We actually walked the entire mall plus around the tidal basin. Things have changed since I was last there (granted that was years ago) but the boys really enjoyed it. I remember as a kid not getting to go up the Washington Monument because it was such a long wait. Well the wait is no longer. You can get free tickets (if you go early!) that are time stamped and then you go to the base of the monument at the assigned time. This was really cool, because it was VERY hot when we were there and waiting could have been a patient tester! Unfortunately the reflecting pool is drained for reconstruction so it wasn't as pretty there as it is with the pool.

The Boys with the Washington Monument
the first stop in DC

 

Across the tidal basin with the Washington Monument

After seeing Washington DC, we went to the National Cathedral & Arlington and the boys were very impressed with the Changing of the Guards. Plus we went and found Ross McGinnis's grave - a young man from the Knox area who gave his life for our country.
We then traveled to Williamsburg, VA and met up with the rest of Gary's family. We spent a day at Colonial Williamsburg, a day at the Beach and a day in Jamestown Settlement.

 



The Changing of the Guards at Arlington Cemetery



Garrett in the Largest Sandbox he has ever seen!

The Cousins that we spent the week with

Robert in trouble again!

Busy Month and fun idea for vacations

Okay school was out here on June 1st and it has been continual, non-stop go since Robert got out of school. We spent the first weekend in Washington DC with the boys, on our way to Williamsburg,VA for a week's vacation with Gary's family. This was a fun week, with Laura Ann & Conrad's family, Brian & Tammy's family and Grandma & Grandpap. When we returned from vacation, we started right into Vacation Bible School at our church and I was the director. It went very well and there will be more posted on it later. On Thursday of this week, Robert went to 4-H camp. So now that Robert is home, VBS & vacation is over, I thought I might have a chance to but a bit on here. There will be a few photos from the past week's events, but here is a fun and simple idea for the kids for while they are on vacation.

Robert and Garrett have been taking quarters and pennies with them places for a few years now. They are collecting pressed pennies from the places that they have visited anytime that we can find the penny press machines. These are not only cheap and easy to travel with, but they are also simple to keep and provide a great keepsake. If you are looking for a frugal vacation keepsake, check out the website  http://www.pennycollector.com/ you can see if the locations that you are planning to visit offers pressed pennies and how many different pictures that are available.

1st Communion

Elizabeth relaxing a little bit to strike a poise!

This past weekend, we had the priveldge to watch Elizabeth take her 1st Communion. She was a beautiful young lady for this special day. We also had fun seeing relatives and friends that we haven't seen in a while.

Robert's busy week!

Robert's 1st Band Concert



Robert's Urkraine Eggs in Art Show

 This past week has been a busy one for Robert. He had his first Band Concert since he started taking lessons for trumpet in September at the school. They had their Spring Concert on Thursday evening. For only a few months of lessons, these kids have learned a lot! They played several songs and they did a fabulous job! Robert actually played 2 parts. As he played trumpet for all but 1 song. Then he became a percussionist and played clavas for 1 song. He was very excited!

He also entered the School's Art Show which is the 4, 5,& 6 grades. He entered 2 of his Urkainian Eggs that he made this Easter. He didn't place, but maybe next year. There are a lot of excellent artists at Keystone.

In both events, we are very proud of Robert!

BIRDS!

Garrett is my birdwatcher.He is always pointing out the birds and I'll hear "Sh, we dont' want to scare the bird" But he has an exciting project that can our way. There is a Robin that has nested in the playset. So the other day we went up and looked in and there were 4 eggs. So we have been watching the eggs and so far 3 of them have hatched. He is so very excited that there are baby birds at the playset.

But we also have a Great White Egret that is hanging out in the pond near our house. So we had to come check our bird book and when we didn't find what we were looking for we went on line. We found a great site from Cornell University that has all sorts of information about birds. You can search them by name and hear their song. You can check their habitat, the breeding habits and their standard menu. If you would like to take a peek at the site here is a link http://www.allaboutbirds.org/
So take a look at the birds around your house, put out a feeder and enjoy the beautiful colors that you will find! Garrett loves it!

Happy (Belated) Mother's Day!

Sorry all, but the sun has started to shine at our house and that has meant "get OUTSIDE!" So I didn't blog recently so I regret that I didn't wish everyone a Happy Mother's Day. I hope that if you are a mom, that you had a very nice day yesterday. The boys treated me well here! But something that we start doing on Mother's Day is that we tend to take a few more back country roads and watch for wildflowers. The trillium have started near my house and I am hoping to go looking for the Lady's Slippers sometime this week! But this time of year always has beautiful flowers regardless if they are wild or domestic. So take a little time from your schedule and stop and look at God's creation and remember that if he takes care of them, he will take care of you too!

matching shoes/boots

Garrett has been having problems with getting the correct shoe/boot on the correct foot. I am always having to have him change his boots around. So yesterday i remembered a little trick that I had done with Robert. I took a permanent marker and put a little dot on the inside of both his boots. Now to get the boots on the correct feet, he has to first make the dots kiss (or put them together) then put on his boots and they will be on the correct feet. Just something simple, but it saves a lot of frustration and a little bit of time.

Drive In Movie Night

Andrew in his milktruck

Robert in his race car

It was once again drive in movie night at Kids Klub at our church. This year Andrew has joined Kids Klub, so this was the first time that he got to go to Drive In Movie night. I know that he has seen Robert's cars from past years, but he got to build one and go to the movie too. So Robert built a black race car and Andrew built a truck like his Dad's milktruck. Both boys seemed to have a good time as did the other kids in Kids klub. This is such a great activity for the kids and they really enjoy it!

The Royal Wedding?!?!

Okay, I remember when I was a kid getting up early to watch Princess Di get married. So I really haven't been following the events of this wedding, but I believe that I will be getting up early tomorrow morning to watch the events unfold. So will you? Will anyone else be joining me to watch history happen?  I guess it is that "oh I'm not a princess but it is neat to watch a real one become a princess." So will you be up?

"The Tiny Seed" by Eric Carle

I love the Eric Carle books for their great stories and illustrations. Today we read "The Tiny Seed" which is a most appropriate book for my boys because each year they plant sunflowers! But today I saw 2 new things in this story. First, was that as I read it Garrett was worried about the tiny seed and he was upset when it died and the new seeds took off.  We talked about the life cycle of many things and that this is the way God made plants to work. (I could have gone really deep and explained that it will happen to us too, but I didn't.)
But the other thing that I saw was the similarity to the Biblical story of "The Sower" found in Luke 8.  The first seed got too hot, the second got too cold, the 3rd drowned, etc. But this was very similar to the story which I hadn't picked up on before.

Anyhow now that we have this story fresh in our mind, we will be starting our sunflower seeds so that when it finally dries out around here the boys can move them outside to their "Sunflower House."  This was an idea I found in a book over 10 years ago and we have been hooked ever since. In one corner of our garden, the boys will layout their "house." Mainly a rectangle with doorways (places where they haven't planted seeds), this gives them a place to dig during the summer, plants to take care of on their own and they are always amazed by how tall the sunflowers get. Robert has now taken to reading the seed catalogs when they come in to find what variety will grow the tallest. So here is a great story to read and a fun activity that will grow all summer long and then in the fall, you can collect the seeds, or just leave the heads outside and watch the birds eat the seeds right from the heads. But I know that we will be starting sunflowers here in the next few days.

Easter at Our Place



Checking out the Loot



Garrett hunting for eggs. It's rain or shine here!

Easter at our house was a little crazy, but school is back in and things have gone back to "almost" normal. Garrett went to the Easter Egg Hunt in Salem, but Robert didn't get to go this year because he was weighing in his pig for his 4-H project. We spent Easter morning at Sunrise service with my family and Robert & Andrew got to help cook breakfast again for the Easter breakfast. (This has become a "big" thing for both boys & Papa too!)  We then came home, found our Easter baskets and then went to church at our church. Then we went to Gary's parents and had lunch with his family. We did get to spend some fun time with Josh, Katy, Elizabeth, Laura Ann & Conrad while there, plus we went and visited on Monday too! It was a busy break, but the kids had a good time and anything to fill in the time of an Easter break that was 90% rain was helpful!
(Thanks Aunt Caren for our suits! They looked great!)

Lego Kids Fest

Do you have a Lego KID? Then you might want to take a look at what is coming to Pittsburgh! The LEGO'S Kids Fest is coming June 17-19th. This looks very cool and exciting and mind blowing of what people can build with Lego's. So here is the information about where and when, just check this link for ticket info and everything else!
http://www.legokidsfest.com/
This might be a fun thing to do with Dad for Father's Day if he is a Lego fan!

A few discounts

I know that everyone is looking for ways to save a little bit of money. So here is a coupon that is worth while Sign-up for the Dunham's rewards card. They will send you an email each week. So far that email has contained a 20% off coupon. Which is great if you are purchasing sports equipment or shoes or clothing there. Just wanted to share this great little tip.
Here is the link if you are interested: http://www.dunhamssports.com/

* This is an unsponsored post

Empty Tomb Biscuit

This is an activity that I used several years ago, but I brought it out again this year to remind my boys what the real meaning of Easter is. Here is a list of supplies that you will need.

1 can of refrigerated biscuits

1 large marshmallow per biscuit

cinnamon and sugar mixed together (about 1-2 tsp of cinnamon & 1 cup sugar)

1/2 stick of melted butter/margarine
baking sheet
oven.

You can read the Easter story from several places Matthew 27-Matthew 28; Mark 15-Mark 16; Luke 23-Luke 24; John 19-John 20. When I did this with the boys yesterday, I read through parts and pieces. But here is how it went.

Putting the marshmallow into the butter
Jesus taking on our sins

Each please take a marshmallow. This represents Jesus. It is pure white and without sin. He hasn't done anything wrong.  Then please put the marshmallow into the melted butter and cover it in the butter. The butter represents the sins of the world that Jesus took for us. Jesus (marshmallow) has the sins(butter) of the world on it and was crucified. Once he gave up his final breath, Joseph asked to have the body. It wasn't prepared properly, but they most likely had some spices and quickly wrapped his body.

Adding cinnamon and sugar
Jesus' dead body with all our sins having the burial spices applied

Please take the sin covered body of Jesus and cover it in the burial spices. The cinnamon and sugar represent the spices.

wrapping with biscuit
Wrapping in the burial cloth

Now they wrapped his body in stripes of material. The biscuit represents those stripes of material. Now make sure that all of the body is covered and that the seams are sealed.

Putting into oven
Placing the wrapped body into the grave.

 Now you will place the body into the grave, represented by the oven. (You will cook these according to the directions on the tube, but about 12-15 minutes.)  Then ask the children to check the grave clothes, because Jesus has risen from the grave. (Actually the marshmallow has just melted into the biscuit) These make great little treats, but also a wonderful time to spend with your children and answer their questions about the events that lead up to Easter morning!

Robert said that he remembered eating these before, but he didn't remember the meanings and he was glad that I included him in doing this activity again. So I guess it is worth rerunning some of these learning hands-on activities! 

Palm Sunday

Today is Palm Sunday, I am wondering what you all are doing to include Christ in your Easter week and Celebration's? We received palms at church and Garrett and I talked about how the crowds would have been waving the palm branches and placing their coats on the road. We have a set of Resurrection Eggs, which gives 12 items to help the kids understand Easter a bit better. Last year, I hide the eggs and set the GPS unit  locations for each egg in order. This made it that we were in nature and we would stop and read the reading for each egg once we had found it. Between eggs we could discuss different elements of the Holy Week.
So I hope that you are finding ways to include Christ into your Easter Week and hopefully if things don't get too crazy around here, I will be able to share what we are doing, but I know that this is going to be a busy!!! week.
Happy Easter Week!

Egg Production - Ag Minute

With this week being Easter week, I thought it most appropriate to discuss eggs this month for the Ag. Minute. Eggs are produced from layer hens in several different ways. There are caged hen/layers, there are cage-free hens/layers, there are free range hens and there are organic hens. I will touch on each of these production practices.

Caged hens/layers- these hens are placed usually in pens that house several chickens together. They are then placed in rows and the birds are allowed to roam within the cages. These hens receive feed and clean water on a regular basis.

Cage-free chickens - these hens are kept in large open buildings where they are permitted to roam throughout the "barn." These birds lay their eggs in nesting boxes.

Free range chickens - these chickens are the ones that roam through the barnyards and lawns of owners. They lay their eggs in a location that they feel is safe.

Organic birds - these birds' diet has no pesticides, antibiotics or other chemicals added anywhere along the food chain. They are cage free or free range birds in most locations and are allowed to roam at their own will.

For pictures of several facilities Sauder's from Pennsylvania has a great page with a camera view available under the animal care section, cage-free chickens. Check out more chicken information here: http://www.sauderseggs.com/caged_hens.html

With all the hard boiled eggs that are around, it is a great time to do some egg dissection with the kids that may not be quite as messy. You can compare a cooked egg and an uncooked egg. If you want to know the parts of an egg, check out this worksheet that also provides an answer key. http://urbanext.illinois.edu/eggs/pdfs/eggparts.pdf

To see a brief video about poultry & eggs, check out this You Tube video. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dR9rkd36SsI&feature=related This will let you see a little bit of the housing and production.

Oh and don't forget that different breeds of chickens provide different colored eggs. When dying your eggs this year, try a dozen of brown eggs too. They make the colors more intense and deeper in color!

Regardless, we will use a pile of eggs for Easter Egg hunts and decorating them. However you get you eggs Enjoy them this Easter!!!

Ukrainian Eggs

 

Well, with the Easter Season upon us we had a great opportunity yesterday to not only learn a little bit about family cultures of Gary's family, but also a craft or art. We went to Nanny's house and learned how to design an Urkaine Egg.  Robert, Garrett and myself all made an egg. Then Garrett decided that was enough for him, but Robert was really into it. "Can I make another one?" "Can I come back tomorrow night after school?" Learning to color thing in reverse was a little difficult unless you stop and think about it, but our eggs turned out fairly well and we learned how this art is done and had the opportunity to try it out.  Steady hands was not our strength, but I'm sure that with practice, we would be much better at it!!! Check out our eggs:



Robert's egg #1



Robert's egg #2











<>

Garrett's 1st egg (both sides)













And I tried my hand at it too!



Start with a dot!

Garrett's dot creatures. Can you find the pig and maybe a bunny?

The other day I challenged Garrett to think about drawing things and what things are made from. I gave him a sheet of colored dot stickers (the kind you use to price things at yard sales). Then I asked him what we could draw around it to make it into something. Or how could we hook them together to come up with creatures. He & I had a good time thinking about what we could draw and how to combine them together.So see what you can come up - here are ours!

Robert's Soccer Season

Since my computer crashed about the same time as the end of Robert's soccer season, I'm just now getting things taken care of. Robert had a great year! He had several big plays where he ended up with scores out of it. He had 3 goals in one game! (He was having an excellent day) I' m amazed at how much these kids have improved over the years, and how much faster the game moves in comparison to when they started! Robert had a great coach and he is looking forward to next season!

Inexpensive Organizing

I have been trying to catch up on some email and blog readings so I'm a few days behind, but tonight I was reading Jill Savage's blog from yesterday. Jill is the founder of the Hearts at Home organization and yesterday she was discussing how to organize toys and children's items! Here is a link to her comments and the discussion http://www.jillsavage.org/2011/04/home-organization-ultimate-blog-party-day-5-discussion-and-giveaway/#comment-4628

As I read the discussion I was amazed at how many of us rely on plastic storage bins of some size and then baskets. Yet, there were a few comments on the price of those organization items( to which I agree can be expensive!) So today here are a few ideas of ways to use things that are already around your home or neighborhood for storage.

Oatmeal canisters - (I have more of these available since I started making our own granola bars) but these work great for refrigerator magnets at our house. The boys have also made them into silos for their farms but that is a different post.  The lids are easy enough for kids to get on and off and you can take the label off and draw or trace what is inside.

Frosting containers - These have worked great for Robert's small lego pieces. They have also worked for crayons for in the car - the container fits into the cup holders (depending on the car). I actually found colored pencils and the mini markers fit into them too so if traveling, you can offer different writing items.

Ice Cream buckets - Oh the uses!!! but they come with lids that can be covered with paper and contact paper with pictures of what is inside or take permanent markers and draw right onto the side of the bucket. Matchbox cars, tractors, playing cars, art supplies, etc. What can you put into an ice cream bucket?

Frosting buckets (from the local bakery) these are 2 1/2 gallon buckets that can be washed out and are ready for use. This is where the bulk of the matchbox cars are kept at our house. Dress up clothes, Thomas the Tank engine trains can be kept in these (most of the track doesn't fit). I'm sure that Barbie doll or American Doll pieces would fit well in these too!!! Oh and the play food!!!

Yes these are all recycled, an most of them round, but they stack well and the kids can get them opened and it is inexpensive!!!! What more could we ask for???

Can't judge a book by it's cover- Children's Sermon

Before I explain the children's sermon, there is a little bit of background. Our pastor announced 3 weeks ago that he and his family have been reassigned churches and that they will be moving this summer. Last week, it was announced who had been appointed to our church. Since the announcement, there has been questions about the new pastor and his family. I hadn't worked on children's sermon very hard this week, but for some reason I wasn't worried about it. Saturday night around 10:30, it came to me and in about 15 minutes, I had everything pulled together. My mom had presented a Children's Sermon similar to this over 20 years ago and that made it all fit together easily.

(Prep work before church- I took my Bible cover and removed my Bible and found a book close in size - it happened to be a cookbook and put it in the cover I also have a Bible that is pink with a brown stripe and a notebook that is very similar but is blue with a stripe - I took all of these with me to church on Sunday)

I welcomed the kids and asked how they were, then I said that I had something very important to talk to them about. I asked one boy, who I knew could easily accomplish the task, to look up Matthew 7:1 using my Bible (and I handed him, my Bible cover with the cookbook inside) He unzipped the cover and flipped it open and then I got this very stunned look. I asked him if he had the verse and he said "no- it's not here" Of course it is , I replied. "No this isn't a Bible it's a cookbook" "Now that can't be - it's in my Bible carrier, of course it is a Bible, let me see" (To which I look at the boy and said April Fool's since it happened to be so close to April 1st) I then talked to the kids about how they all knew that it was a Bible carrier and they all knew what should have been inside, but it wasn't. Then I held up my 2 striped books and asked which one of them might be a Bible. After a close look they found the correct book. We then read Matthew 7:1-2 - "Do not Judge, or you too will be judged...."

I explained that we were going to have a new pastor and (very sarcastically) "oh the things that I had heard" "I heard that he rides a motorcycle and you know what that means - we will have a Black Leather Sunday where everyone has to wear leather."  "or do you know what else I heard, I heard that he likes to hunt, which means that he won't be here the Sunday after Thanksgiving because he will be at hunting camp." And about that time, the one of the girls spoke up and said "We aren't suppose to judge". (I was so excited that she had picked up on this!!!) I answered you are correct, and that is what I want us to remember, that if we are going to judge the new pastor and his family by what they are wearing or by what they enjoy then we need to remember that maybe they might be judging us the same way. So when we get to meet our new pastor and family, we need to remember to not judge the book by it's cover but take the time to get to know him and learn about his heart and his love for Jesus.

We then closed in prayer.

Lesson Learned the Hard Way!

Unfortunately, I have had to learn a lesson the hard way. I'm terrible about backing up my computer and the items on my computer. Well, my hard drive had to be replaced and the files were corrupted. Therefore, everything that I have done on my computer for about the last 5 years (since Garrett was born at least) was on this computer. Now it is all gone.  So I am starting a new practice in my life. With the help of flash drive, I am going to make it a priority to back up our computer files at the beginning of each month. That way if something else goes wrong, I will at least have only lost the most recent items which might be able to be replace instead of the things that I have on the computer for memories.

So how do you back up your computer files? How often and does anyone have a method for their computer clean-up and back ups? Just looking for advice.

Have a great weekend and remember to back up your files!

4-H Day at the Mall

Are you curious what 4-H does in the local area? Venango County 4-H will be at the Cranberry Mall on Saturday all day to share that with you. Stop in and see what the kids have been doing. There will be demonstrations of projects, activities for kids to do and lots of 4-H projects to look at and explore. This is a great opportunity to explore what 4-H is all about. The annual award ceremony will be at 7pm in front of JCPenny's, so stop in and see what the 4-H'ers are doing! You will be amazed if you check out everything there is to be offered!

Cake Balls

Okay these have come to me in an odd way. It started with a college student who made a batch of these for his girlfriend for Valentine's Day. He shared some of the extras with my mom, who asked for the recipe. Who then made them and shared 2 different flavors with me, which I in turn asked for the recipe.

Tonight, I made up a batch that I had added green food coloring for Spring and then bright colored sprinkles for Robert's youth group. Well I had several kids ask for the recipe or bring their mom's over for me to share the directions for these. So since I have shared the recipe with a few, I figured I might as well post it here. These are SO simple & good.

Cake Balls
1 cake mix (flavor of choice)
1 container of frosting (I used vanilla, but here that the Cream Cheese is good too!)
melting chocolates or white chocolates
sprinkles (optional)

Make the cake mix according to directions and bake completely. Once the cake is baked, remove from oven and crumble while warm. Once crumbled add the entire container of frosting and mix together. (I used my hands - it just seemed like the right thing to do!)  Refrigerate for a few hours or overnight if possible. Then take a melon baller for small bite sized balls or a cookie scoop for a bit bigger balls, and roll into bite sized balls. Melt your chocolate and then dip the cake balls into chocolate or completely dunk into a bowl of melted chocolate. Add sprinkles while the chocolate is still soft. Let chocolate harden and you are ready to serve.
These are SO simple and kids would like to make them, but I haven't heard of anyone who has tried one that hasn't liked them.

If you want to see photos or other ideas for these go to www.allrecipes.com and search "Cake balls" they come right up! Enjoy!

Signs of Spring

Well, in the last few days we have had 60 degree weather and it has seemed like spring. With today being the first official day of Spring, it is time to start looking for sings of Spring. For our house we start looking about the time that we tap Maple trees, but they are now easier to find. Garrett has been pointing them out all day today. On our way to the car this morning, he saw a robin "Look, Mom! It's a robin!" on the way to church it was "Look at the geese! They are back!" Then this afternoon, "mom those flowers are almost ready to... they are almost ready!" (He had seen a daffodil with a bud on it).  I try several times in the Spring to take a walk with the boys and point out different signs of spring, but it seems that Garrett is going to point them out to me this year!  And then all I had to do today was watch 3 boys playing in the backyard and then 2 of them riding bikes down the road and I knew - Spring is here! It might hid for a day here and there, but it is officially here!

HAPPY SPRING!!!!!

At The Movies

A new listing of movies at "The Movies" at Cranberry has been released. Here are the upcoming movies for the next few months on the $1 Saturday morning movies! What great bargin movies! Don't forget to print off the coupon for your chance to win a free pair of tickets. Just print off the coupon, take it to the movies when you go to a movie and drop it in the fish bowl for your chance a a pair of tickets. (there will be 2 winners!) click here http://schickfunideas.blogspot.com/2011/03/tickets-give-away-for-movies-at.html for the coupon (it's at the bottom of the page)

March 19	TMNT
March 26	A Bug's Life
April 02	Megamind
April 09	Junglebook
April 16	Wall-E
April 23	Ratatouille
April 30	The Blue Elephant
May 07	The Princess and the Frog
May 14	Up
May 21	Toy Story 3
	May 28 The Little Mermaid

Are you wearing green?

Happy St. Patrick's Day! So are you wearing green? Are you looking for the rainbow and the hidden gold?  In the past I have hidden gold for the boys or we would spend the day making rainbows. I'm not really sure what Garrett & I will be doing tomorrow, but I know that it will be lucky whatever we do!

We have already made a few shamrock's with some very simple supplies.
green paper (any kind)
contact paper
scissors

Take the contact paper and draw on a shamrock (You need 2 of these) While you are doing that have your child shred or tear up the green paper. We used tissue paper and green construction paper. With your contact paper cut out the shape of the shamrock and then peel the backing off. Lay it with the sticky side up and let your child push on pieces of the green paper. Once covered in paper, peel the other piece of contact paper and sandwich the green paper between the 2 pieces of contact paper. Now you have a St. Patrick's sun catcher, if you used tissue paper, or if you just use construction paper, you now have (depending on the size) either coasters or placemats!  And they are cute decorations for the holiday!

Cookie cutters are for more than cookies

I have a large barrel of cookie cutters that are all plastic, that I was given as a gift. I use the holiday ones on a regular basis but I seldom use the letters and numbers. I pulled out the container the other day and Garrett asked to see them. As we were looking at them, I thought about how we could use them, without making cookies. I gave him all the letters and numbers and let him start tracing them on paper. Wow not only was he practicing letters but also coordination of holding with one hand and tracing with the other.  While watching him, I remembered tracing Christmas cookie cutters to make wrapping paper  (which I had forgotten until I was watching Garrett tracing the shapes).

As I watched him, I thought of a game for the numbers. I quickly put the numbers in a bag. We had to pull out a number and then go find that many similar things. For example, Garrett pulled out the 3 and he went and found 3 matchbox cars. I pulled 6 and grabbed 3 pairs of gloves (6 gloves). We played this for a while too.

So what other uses do you have for cookie cutters?

The Music Man Musical

The Oil City High School will be presenting the musical "The Music Man" Friday and Saturday evenings starting at 7:30 at the high school auditorium. I do not know the cost of tickets, but I know that Oil City usually does a wonderful job with their musicals.

Agriculture Minute - Maple Syrup Season

Well, it is one of he first sings of spring here at our house, when everyone starts watching the temperatures to see if it goes above freezing during the day and below freezing at night. When the snow starts to melt a little and we start seeing more daylight. This is the beginning of Maple Syrup Season. This year we started on March 1 by tapping a few trees and then we finished up on the morning of March 2.

Tapping trees is a simple process that actually come from the Native Americans, but for my family it comes from my Paw. As a kid, we would go to Paw's and help bring in sap and help tap the trees. We never got to cook down our own sap until all of us became adults. Mom did get a chance to learn from Paw, but we have learned from Mom and from the things that we can remember. Anyhow, we use the plastic tubing and plastic taps. We take a drill and drill bit and drill a hole into the southern side of a maple tree, about 2" deep. You then put the tap in place and use a hammer to "tap" it into place. The tubing is then put into a bucket or jug to catch the sap. It takes about 40 gallons of sap to make 1 gallon of syrup. But we collect the sap in buckets each day and then I cook it down.

Cooking down is fairly simple process until you get to the end. To start we put the strained sap into large kettles and put it on the stove to evaporate the water content of the sap. This involves opening the windows in the house as it gets very humid in the house. People who make sap for more than a hobby , like us, usually have a "Sugar Shack" where they will cook down their syrup because of the humidity.  but we do it in our kitchen with lots of open windows. As it cooks it goes through several different stages. We learned to "Read the Bubbles" which is a very non-scientific way of making syrup. But as you watch the syrup, it is done when it starts to foam up like the reaction of baking soda and vinegar. The syrup will foam up and then it is jarred. We don't sell our syrup, we use it for gifts and for our own use, but it is definitely better than the artificial stuff that you get at the store.
When I get a chance and my computer back, I will try to post a few pictures of our syrup making. Maple Syrup is a large industry in the states of Vermont, Wisconsin, Michigan but there are producers in most of the New England States.

For videos of maple syrup production and different techniques, go to www.youtube.com and search maple syrup production. There are a lot of videos showing different ways to make Maple Syrup. But now you know how we make our syrup!

Movie this week and give away

This week at The Movies At Cranberry the Saturday morning $1 is Snow White and it starts at 10 am. The rest of the movie listings are available at www.themoviesat.com and then select which theater you are planning on attending for the listings at that location. Remember at the bottom of this old post http://schickfunideas.blogspot.com/2011/03/tickets-give-away-for-movies-at.html there is a coupon to sign up for a chance to win 2 free tickets for the theater when you attend a movie for this month only!!!!!

So hi ho hi ho it's off to the movies we go!

Family Tragedy in Pennsylvania

On Tuesday night a PA dairy farming family experienced a tragedy, that I pray no one would have to experience. My heart goes out to the family and I pray that they will be able to cope and cling to their faith to get them through the loss of 7 children in a house fire. The mother was in the barn and the father was on his milk route when their 3 year old came to the barn to tell mom about the smoke. Until she got there it was too late and she tried to get help.

As my heart aches for the family, I used this as an opportunity to remind my boys about our fire escape plan and what we are to do. The thing was last night we had the opportunity to practice and we failed. I had boiled over something in the oven and forgot to clean it out. Gary lit the oven for supper and he went outside for a minute, when he came back in he said the kitchen was full of smoke, but it wasn't throughout the house. So I asked Garrett, our 4 year old, "What did you do?" He answered "I went to see if the smoke was in my bedroom." To this I just wanted to cry. I asked him what he should have done if he thought there was a fire in the house or even just smoke. He answered correctly, "Get out of the house." But that wasn't what he had done. He was curious, just like many 4 year olds.

We were lucky that all it took was to turn off the oven and open a few windows to air things out. But the grief that the family in Eastern PA is suffering, is something that none of us want to experience. So here are a few things to remind your families, and not just in October for Fire Safety month.

1. Check your fire alarms
2. Change batteries in those alarms - we change at each time change just to be safe!
3. Practice getting out of your house and make sure everyone knows where to meet at!
4. Try a fire drill in the middle of the night, and see if your children will wake up to the fire alarm and time them as to how long it takes to get to your meeting place. This was a post that I had earlier about these drills. http://schickfunideas.blogspot.com/2010/10/fire-prevention-month-and-drills.html
5. Learn how to use a fire extinguisher
6. Practice with the kids on a play phone (fines apply for fake calls) how to dial 911 and what information to be able to give. Full name, full address, full phone number and what the emergency is are the main things to know

Our thoughts and prayers are with the family, but let's make sure that none of us are he next tragedy.

Kid's Sunday

This morning we were blessed by the children at our church as they took control of the entire service. They were the praise team, the ushers, the greeters, and then they performed a skit "Got Faith?" for our sermon. Unfortunately I am having a few tech difficulties so I can't upload pictures of this morning, but what a blessing those kids are and I am pleased that our church listens to Matthew 19:14 and lets the children come and we do not hinder them. Once the tech problems get worked out, I'll put up pics and don't forget to print off your movie coupon for the movie ticket drawing!!!

Tickets Give Away for The Movies at Cranberry!

Okay here is the deal. For the month of March for each moive you go to see at The Movies at Cranberry, you need to print the coupon below take it to the theater and put it in the fishbowl. You will be entered into a drawing for a chance at 2 free tickets. There will be 2 winners, so the theater has offered 4 tickets! How cool is this!!! Then on April 1st the 2 winners will be pulled at random - no foolin'!!!

So grab your kids or your honey and head for The Movies at Cranberry, don't forget to take your filled in coupon along and you will have a chance at winning 2 free ticketes!!! Let your friends and neighbors know as this is only for this month and maybe the Luck of the Irish will be with you this month!!!!

Highlight the lower portion of this post and then print selection and you will have your coupon!

______________________________________________________

Schickfunideas Blog Give Away

Official entry form

Name ___________________________________

Address _________________________________

_____________________________

Phone number ____________________________

Email address ____________________________

Dr. Seuss Week

practicing tracing our fish

I really don't think that one day is quite enough

for all of the Dr. Seuss fun stuff.

On day one, we had a lot of fun,

Red Fish, Blue Fish, One Fish, Two Fish

Oh the things that I had wished!

We made our fish from fun foam

And then we let those little fish roam

Behind the chair

There was only 1 pair.

Fishing for our colorful fish

We went fishing by color matching

When our magnet was a latching

Have a great week 

And don't forget to stop back for a peek!