Ever since the day I saw these sand molds on My Mom Shops, I knew we had to have them. The problem was that mymomshops herself thought these were only available from French store FNAC. I did a few quick searches that night before bed, trying to find them in the US, but I struck out. So I sent out a quick email at 9:30 asking PisecoSis for help, she put the word out on her LJ, and by 10:35 I had an email reply with the website for Discount School Supply. And I ordered these darling, marvelous molds.
Sand molds of an Egyptian pyramid, the Acropolis, a Mayan step pyramid, the Coliseum, and the Taj Mahal. Too cool!
They arrived today, and JediBoy and I took them up the hill to the park with the BIG sand box.
The Taj Mahal and the step pyramid were […]
Original post by piseco
JediBoy’s new math is my old math - old as in the early 1980’s: he has found a new love in my old Speak & Math. Do you remember the extra-geeky cousin to the Speak & Spell? Well, my high-tech double-screen boy loves the clunky old technology as much as I did when it was cutting-edge.
Original post by piseco
One of our best garage sale finds this summer was an inflatable mini ball pit that we found two or three weeks ago. The kids have had a blast in it - jumping, burrowing, throwing, using the tic-tac-toe board and bowling set that are part of it, having it be a fort, a castle, a clubhouse, a bed.
It’s great for JediBoy, who is 6, and BabyGirl, who is 19 months, to have this kind of central focus. The ball pit has been a huge draw for both of them and has helped them spend more time actually playing together, not just in the same room.
I love to have something big and physically entertaining in our living room, but I like change too. So this evening we’ll deflate the ball pit and pull out our door-hung basketball hoop for a while. We also rotate the pop-up castle, […]
Original post by piseco
A big thank you goes out to Celebrity Baby Blog and Daisy Rock today. Way back in January, I won a contest for three For The Kids cds and a beautiful butterfly guitar. When JediBoy saw what we’d won, he immediately thought of giving it to Em, who dreamed deeply of having such a guitar for herself. There were a few hiccups with shipping, but the guitar arrived safe and sound last week, and today Em gave me a private concert.
She loves it, and we love watching her love it. Now she can rock like Miley Cyrus!
Original post by piseco
I love giveaways! After posting that I have (slightly) better than average luck at things like bloggy giveaways, I’ve heard that I’ve won 8 prizes this weekend. Some of the most interesting are my new handmade BRA PURSE from Shana,
handknit BABY UGGS from Laura,
and six homemade MINT CHOCOLATE TRUFFLES from Kelsey, who even posted the recipe on her site so we can all try it. Yum! Thanks to all of you, and Heather, Erin, Geri, Tracee and Stephanie too - and all of you who had contests for us to enter.
Original post by piseco
It occurred to me that although I’ve been changing the books in my Book Basket (my librarything widget in the sidebar), by not posting about it, I’m not creating any permanent record for myself of what books we were perusing when. So I’m going to try to post about the book basket more often, to jog my own memory later.
This week, we chose a pile of books from our Africa cubby. (Back in March I also made a post of our books from and about Africa that you can read here.) Upstairs in The Nursery, we have two bookshelves that each have 9 square cubbyholes.
They are roughly sorted - some better than others! We have a Knights, Castles & Robin Hood cubby, an Africa cubby, a Trains & Trucks cubby, a Songs & Music cubby, a Seasonal cubby, one devoted to Arthur, Franklin & Froggy, […]
Original post by piseco
We had snow last night, and blowing winds, and all the area schools are closed. A good day to stay tucked inside and warm except…
When I was putting laundry in and JediBoy got in BabyGirl’s face, wanting to give her a kiss on the lips, and she bit his lips instead, HARD!
Or when JediBoy decided his black “Fear Factor” popsicle (oh, yuck) which he was eating to ease the pain and swelling on his lips was too melty to finish, so he put it in a bowl on a kitchen chair… and a few minutes later, BabyGirl found it there and ate some, smearing the rest on her body, the chair and the floor. Eeeew.
Or when the power went out about five minutes later, leaving me wondering how long it might be out and what that might mean about the heat, or cooking, or the laundry now festering in the […]
Original post by piseco
My Dad and his wife are here for a very short visit. It’s the first time they’ve met BabyGirl and the first time we’ve seen them since - hmm, maybe July? JediBoy was very, very excited to see his Pappy.
They brought a nice wooden rocker for BabyGirl’s first birthday (a tradition in our family) and several outfits and other presents from South Africa. JediBoy got an “unbirthday” package with a Meccano set and a book and notebook from South Africa, but Pappy told him there might be one more thing for him out in the car.
Today they brought it inside (after: playing Legos, where JediBoy accused Pappy of “only building weirdos,” putting on a puppet show, reading books, wrestling, and then playing basketball outside). JediBoy was beside himself with glee at the “grown-up” present he received:
A Lionel O-Gauge Pennsylvania Flyer set.
My Dad loves model trains and has a big collection […]
Original post by piseco
A crazy day today. Another photo shoot, then a stop to meet Santa. JediBoy did better than in years past, but BabyGirl had the typical one-year-old’s reaction:
Then a whirlwind stop at the grocery store and the adoption store copy shop, and a restless rest of the afternoon spent with books and dolls, balls and blocks, and a little Plaza Sesamo.
PisecoDad had to go to the calling hours for his friend’s son tonight, so when he got home late we all headed out to drown our sorrows in salsa. It worked, too. JediBoy got his face painted first. He asked the girl to make him “Beowulf.” She furrowed her brow and said, “I can only do what’s on this card. See, here’s a wolf, okay?”
Then we got our yummy meals. BabyGirl was very, very fond of her beef, bean, rice & cheese burrito. And the chips and salsa. And the chicken […]
Original post by piseco
Today we’re striking a good balance. I was up first and so had a little time on the computer to myself. Then JediBoy joined me and we eagerly read the extreme dinosaur article in the December National Geographic, where he was most fascinated by the teeth of Masiakasaurus. The essay by John Updike, as well as the cool images of the bizarre dinos, are all available right now on the NGS website. You can download the images (like the Masiakasaurus below) to use as wallpaper on your computer here.
When BabyGirl woke up, we had a good long cuddle and tickle in bed that included JediBoy trying to teach BabyGirl how to do the movements to “Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes.” Then we all trooped down for breakfast, where BabyGirl was trying so hard to sign - she’ll sign more for eat or more, and has an arm-raised spinning sign that meant turn […]
Original post by piseco
JediBoy helped me take these pictures, and then said: When will you put this on your blog? Ah, how deeply different it is to grow up in this age of the internets.
But he wasn’t wrong, of course! So here is our series of pictures entitled Grubby Baby Loves Joe-lash. (Joe-lash is goulash made with sloppy joe sauce, beef, noodles, corn and beans. It gets a rave review from both kids.)
My lovely Vista system recently lost my photo-editing software, and crashes whenever I try to reinstall it… so adding pictures has become a big pain, but such is my devotion to my readers (both of you) that I hard uploaded the pictures!
Joe-lash
1 lb. ground beef, browned and drained
2 c. noodles, cooked and drained (we use Hodgson Mill Whole Wheat Veggie Radiatore)
2 c. frozen corn
2 c. frozen green beans
1 can sloppy joe sauce (or 8 oz. tomato paste and 8 oz. ketchup)
Mix these together, […]
Original post by piseco
We’ve been having a cranky day - more on that later - but an email in my box saying that I won a pair of these lovely Robeez holiday shoes was a nice surprise!
Thanks, Robeez! (And Celebrity Baby Blog, who hosted the contest.)
Original post by piseco
That’s the question from JediBoy tonight. He’s been “playing George Washington” and reciting dialogue from Liberty’s Kids all afternoon and evening.
He asked me if we have a telescope. I wasn’t really thinking of why he’d want to know, so I told him of course we do. He said, “Great!” and wanted it right away. Well… we have an Astroscan telescope, and what he really wanted was a spyglass like George Washington had. So it wasn’t what he wanted, and I wasn’t about to let him go traipsing around the backyard with it!
So he had to make do with a paper towel tube for today, but he really wants a functional spyglass.
Next, of course, he wants a costume of sorts. I’m not really thinking of buying him an actual George Washington Costume, though I know they’re out there…
I suppose I’ll be looking at thrift […]
Original post by piseco
Three packages plonked on our front porch earlier this afternoon… my dad and his wife had been in Nottingham in August, and JediBoy is becoming a huge Robin Hood fanatic. Connect the dots, and you get…
He’s been running around like a crazy thing, hollering “This is my lucky day! I am so lucky! I loooooove this stuff!”
If the hat, vest and bow weren’t enough, the long skinny package also held a 2/3 scale great sword (in ash wood), and the smaller package held postcards and two new Papo figures - none other than Robin Hood and Little John, of course. He’s over the moon.
Original post by piseco
So when Labor Day Larry came to our house (What?! Labor Day Larry doesn’t bring gifts to your house? What a shame!) he brought our little scientist a gift basket from Steve Spangler Science. The gifts included the Mix & Measure Kit (six big test tubes in a rack, five plastic pipettes, three 250 ml beakers and three 650 ml beakers, plus a liter soda bottle), two Color Mixing Trays and a bag of 100 Fizzy Tint Color Tablets. I especially love the indestructible test tubes that Steve Spangler calls Baby Soda Bottles.
The scientist in JediBoy was thrilled and immediately asked to “do some experiments.” First, I put plain water in a beaker and showed him how to use the pipettes, and let him work on that to be able to control the amount of water going in the tray.
When he tired of that, we […]
Original post by piseco
I feel like a new woman today. Having the threat of PGN lifted - one family was in PGN for a year! - that’s huge. Now we know we’re bringing her home, and that it will be sometime during the month of October, barring some rare crisis (sometimes there’s a difficulty procuring the new birth certificate, etc.). More than a storm cloud or a huge weight lifting, today has been like coming out of a fog. I feel like in the two and a half months since JediBoy’s birthday, I haven’t really been myself. Today, I feel free and hopeful. Aaaaah!
So, we went garage saling. (How else would one celebrate??) I picked up a color-changing dragon shirt and a pair of faux-camouflage shorts with frogs on them for JediBoy (trying desperately to find a suitable replacement for his favorite scrubs). We […]
Original post by piseco
As I am a fan (but not what you’d call a Fan) of both Star Trek and Edward Gorey, I was rolling with laughter this morning at reading The Trouble With Tribbles, as drawn by Edward Gorey. HT - PisecoSis.
Today holds a park day, probably, soccer practice, and a lot of crossed fingers. Another family on one of the adoption forums got out of PGN yesterday after being resubmitted the day before we were. That makes today a cliffhanger day - especially since if we don’t hear today, we’ve got an infinitely long three-day weekend ahead of us. So keep all your fingers crossed for me.
Original post by piseco
This is what the three of us do on a rainy evening with no meetings and no errands to be run.
Uno
Monopoly Junior - Dig’n Dinos
Secret Sound
Scrabble Sentence Game for Juniors
Original post by piseco
I found this list of 100 Children’s Books over at Nina’s. Here I’ve bolded the books I’ve read to JediBoy and put in italics the books I’ve read myself.
Charlotte’s Web by E. B. White
The Polar Express by Chris Van Allsburg
Green Eggs and Ham by Dr. Seuss
The Cat in the Hat by Dr. Seuss
Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak
Love You Forever by Robert N. Munsch
The Giving Tree by Shel Silverstein
The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle
Where the Red Fern Grows by Wilson Rawls
The Mitten by Jan Brett
Goodnight Moon by Margaret Wise Brown
Hatchet by Gary Paulsen
The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe by C. S. Lewis
Where the Sidewalk Ends: the Poems and Drawing of Shel Silverstein by Shel Silverstein
Bridge to Terabithia by Katherine Paterson
Stellaluna by Janell Cannon
Oh, The Places You’ll Go by Dr. Seuss
Strega Nona by Tomie De Paola
Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day by […]
Original post by piseco
They’ve been waiting for this for weeks. My boys (31 and 5) finally got their hands on a copy of
HeroScape Marvel: The Conflict Begins.
It was Christmas of 2005 that PisecoDad got the big master set and lots of yummy expansions for the original HeroScape game. Last summer they were particularly obsessed with it and took it with them up to camp every time we went. We’ve had a long dry season from HeroScape - they’ve moved more into playing with Legos together or long games of Uno and Go Fish. But this newest expansion had them excited - even though JediBoy doesn’t know who any of the Marvel characters are, other than Spider Man. We looked for it last night at Toys R Us but they didn’t even have a spot for it on the shelf yet - thank goodness for Target!
I just heard […]
Original post by piseco
Well, $21.40, but who’s counting? I needed a way to focus my energy today, and I did that by hitting some garage sales. I went way out of my way for the first one, which specifically listed “home school books” but found when I got there that the very Christian family had homeschooled starting in 6th grade, so nothing they had fit our family. Here’s what I did find today:
$7:
National Geographic Global Pursuit game - this has an unusual game mechanic: you must correctly place a pentagonal map piece to align at least one side with the existing map you’re all building on the table in order to answer a trivia question. After you’ve correctly placed a map piece from your hand, you answer a trivia question in the category the piece represents (ecology, politics, etc.).
Scrabble Sentence game - similar to Scrabble for Juniors, this has […]
Original post by piseco
Most of you already know that 5 Minutes for Mom does lots of good contests. This time, they’re giving away a 37″ flat panel tv from Best Buy. I almost didn’t enter, because my one holdout against having to save up for a Wii and its related gadgets and games is that we use a teeny 13″ tv that lives in our closet, and the Wii just wouldn’t be playable on that screen. So I know that if, in JediBoy’s wildest dreams, we do win the tv, I’m doomed to a life with the Wii! But it was too good to pass up.
You can also enter to win $300 in Horizon Organic dairy products. Or a Sesame Street DVD. Or a collection of stories about Quinceaneras. Did I mention they have lots of contests?
Original post by piseco
Yesterday morning I was just starting in on another section of living room carpet to steam (it’s nearly impossible to do it all at one go, with all the furniture we have, and with a five-year-old running through, so we do it a section per day for a week) when Heather called to ask if we wanted to go berry picking.
Goodbye carpet steamer, hello berries…
We had a lovely hour picking (and eating) blueberries with the four kids. JediBoy loved eating them straight from the bush and feeding them to baby Jamie. He and I picked about 2 quarts together. The weather was cool and delightful for berry picking, and it just started to sprinkle as we left. We spent the rest of the afternoon at Heather’s house, playing and baking cookies.
At about 4:30, JediBoy asked to leave because he was sleepy. So we packed up […]
Original post by piseco
After soccer this morning, Annick and I were chatting about taking long car trips with our boys. She mentioned that her 3 year old has one of the kids’ mp3 players and loves it, so I told her I’d pass along the sites I know of with free mp3 stories. There turned out to be a lot of them in my bookmarks, so I decided to post them all here.
Storynory is a site from the UK that has tons of free stories (75+) including lots of fairy tales, myths and fables.
Whootie Owl has 8 free stories available - fables from different cultures that speak to “facing adversity” and “caring for others.”
Light Up Your Brain has about 16 stories read by the site’s host, Chuck Brown. There are several Beatrix Potter stories here, a few fairy tales, and some others.
Candlelight Stories has 5 free fairy tales, including one […]
Original post by piseco
I can go days without wanting to log into LibraryThing, to add books or look for books. I find it’s especially helpful in remembering what books we have upstairs. But now it’s been down for a couple of days, just when I have a shelf full of books I wish I could add!
JediBoy is so excited about animals. Last night at the bookstore, we bought him the big DK Eyewitness book called Animal Kingdom and today he wanted to read about moles - then he asked me to find him a mole in the yard! We did go outside and hunt but didn’t find any molehills or tunnels. I have been going through some books we’d had stored in the basement, and others scattered about the house (that’s more literal than you may imagine) to collect the non-fiction animal ones into one location. I […]
Original post by piseco
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