A while ago, right around the time Pumpkin Baby started eating solids, the cloth diaper company, Bummis, had a meme contest. They posted a picture and asked moms to write a caption, and the funniest would win their new Best Ever Bib. So I entered.
And I won! Hooray!
Here’s the meme I made.
Here’s Pumpkin Baby eating sweet potatoes without a bib.
And here is Pumpkin Baby wearing her Best Ever Bib!
Thanks so much Bummis!!!
Spending as much time as I do with young children, I occasionally wonder what they would do in certain situations. You know, like if a toddler worked at some corporate office, or if a preschooler was a professional athlete.
Well, today I was imagining what my children would do if they were secret agents had to torture someone for information. Crazy, I know. But this list is pretty funny!
Spoon-feeding pureed food. Because nothing says “torture” than providing nutrition!
Diaper changes. Seriously. You’d think babies would WANT that mess cleaned up!
Getting dressed. This is like diapering, but worse. And let’s not even mention socks and shoes!
Taking a bath. It’s torture to get them in the tub, and torture to get them back out!
Cleaning their noses. Or any mess on their faces. They act like if you wipe hard enough, their nose will wipe off too!
Sitting still. The only time my children stay still is when they’re strapped down by the 5-point harness in the car seat. And even then, they wriggle like worms…
Nap time. They’ll regret this one day, when they’re too old for naps. That’s when they realize how great it really is!
Funny how some of these things would be welcomed by the typical prisoner (maybe not the diaper thing, but most people enjoy being clean, fed, warm and well rested!). Ha!
Oh well. One day they’ll understand. š
In a rare, but welcomed, moment of academics, Monkey Nose found an alphabet themed workbook and decided to do some “work”. My only instructions were to find a crayon or pencil, open the book and find a page she would like to color. She picked the page with the letter B and started coloring, talking about the pictures of things that begin with /b/, and what the letter looks like.
She was showing so much interest, I decided to open up the “work” a little by writing an uppercase B on the easel paper. MN came right over, so I showed her how to feel the crayon-wax making the shape of the letter. When she picked up a crayon to color there, I walked away.
A few minutes later, she exclaimed, “I made a B!” So proud of herself! She went on to draw a picture of herself and a “tiny boat with a bumblebee inside.”
Here is a picture of the artist and her work!
This week, we will be “traveling” to Scotland, home of rolling green hills, men wearing skirts, and Nessy.
Also, on Thursday, Friday, (and Saturday), we will be at our bible fellowship’s Children’s Camp, so I don’t have anything scheduled for those days. However, I will list a few additional activities and interesting links under the calendar for anyone interested. Just don’t expect to see any pictures of those in the album at the end of summer (because we’re not doing them!).
So, here it is!
Scotland
|
7/15-19/13 |
Monday |
Tuesday |
Wednesday |
Thursday |
Friday |
|
Songs |
Childrenās Fellowship Summer Camp |
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|
Story |
Tell āOnce Upon a Timeā stories |
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|
Games |
Go āfishingā in Loch Ness |
Make a castle board game |
Dancing to Scottish music |
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|
Art/Science |
Make kilts from paper bags |
Sink or Float experiments |
Make spiders from playdough |
||
Extra Activities:
Make a Nessy puppet
http://www.dltk-kids.com/world/scotland/index.htm
Build “Hadrian’s Wall”Ā with blocks
Golf š
Have a HIghland Games competition
Bake Scottish Shortbread
Have fun this week, and we’ll see you when we get back from our other camp adventure!
Ā
In the mailbox this morning was one of those great offers from Highlights Magazine, for a series featuring world travel. I always enjoyed reading (and coloring in) these magazines as a kid (*ahem adult*). And it will be exciting to share these moments with my little ones.
Of course the magazines are developmentally inappropriate for Monkey Nose right now, but the package included these stickers! What amazing timing! It almost seems like the people over at Highlights were reading my blog.
Well, almost š
G’day, Mate!
This week, we’re traveling to Australia, the land of The Wiggles, kangaroos, and Vegemite. Today is a rainy day here, so we’re taking advantage of being stuck inside and watching one of my favorite movies, The Rescuers Down Under. I’ve literally been looking for an excuse to watch this movie ever since I discovered it’s on Netflix!
So, here’s the calendar of this week’s activities, and the appropriate links for instructions or whatever. Instead of listing specific books, I gave ideas for topics instead, and you can pick whatever you like (or can find at your local bookstore or library). We went to the library Tuesday, and Monkey Nose had a blast picking out books on ocean animals of all kinds, including sharks since that’s what we were looking for. She really is interested in all sorts of animals, and prefers non-fiction books with lots of pictures.
| 7/8-7/12/13 | Monday | Tuesday | Wednesday | Thursday | Friday |
| Songs | Willoughby Wallaby Woo | Kookaburra | Waltzing Matilda | The Sailor Went to Sea | Aiken Drum |
| Story | The Sandcastle that Max Built | Books about sharks | Books about the beach | Movie Day: The Rescuers Down Under | Make a Memory Book |
| Games | Make a sand center | Shark Play Poem | Make colored sand for sand center | Hopping like a kangaroo | Australian Animal Memory |
| Art/Science | Spatter paint boomerangs | Shark hats | Sharks and minnows experiment | Aboriginal bark paintings | Koala door hanger |
We had such a great time with the Sharks and Minnows experiment (I had printed out a clip art of a shark, glued it to a piece of card stock and a popsicle stick,Ā then painted it with dish soap) that MN insisted on repeating the project in the bath last night š
We’ve decided to make a memory book with pictures from our projects and adventures this summer, and will add to it every Friday, instead of reading a specific book. You can do something like this using a notebook or a small photo album, or you can get fancy and design a photo book on Shutterfly (or your preferred picture website). Or, you can skip it all together and just read more books together. Whatever floats your book.
Also, here’s a link for a traditional Aboriginal song, that you may or may not find inappropriate for your child. I thought it was great and showed MN the YouTube video, but it’s up to you. My Boomerang Won’t Come Back
And, lastly, click on the hyperlink forĀ The Sandcastle that Max Built to find a Google Doc with the words and some clip art . You can find or draw your own pictures if you don’t like mine. I won’t be offended, I promise!
Have a fun trip!
Okay, okay, I know. I promised weekly updates, and it’s been 3 weeks! But in my defense, they have been a very busy 3 weeks š We have been blueberry picking at Earth Friendly Organic Farms , to the Firefly Festival at Terhune Farms, announced that WE’RE HAVING ANOTHER BABY, and tried (and failed) at a round of potty training for Monkey Nose. So, in the meantime, the whole summer camp project had gotten swept under the rug.
Well, now it’s back out, and we’re going to keep at it. It’s even on my “Summer Project To-Do List”, so it has to get done!
Last week, we stared our traveling with a little “staycation” right here in the USA, which seemed appropriate, it being the 4th of July and all. Here’s the calendar of projects and whatnot from that “trip”:
| 7/1-7/5/13 | Monday | Tuesday | Wednesday | Thursday | Friday |
| Songs | Yankee Doodle | Wave a Little Flag | Colors of Our Flag | Independence Day | Down at the Flagpole |
| Story | America the Beautiful: Pop up book | A is for Abigail | This Land is Your Land | Fourth of July Mice | America the Beautiful |
| Games | Patriotic Parade (make instruments) | Ribbon Wand dancing | Online Eagle puzzle | Field Trip to the Spray Ground Park | Bubble Play Day |
| Art/Science | Make a Flag | Patriotic Teddy Bear | Bald Eagle | Fireworks Painting | Bubble Art |
Many of the links here will bring you to other blogs that inspired my ideas. The links for books will lead you to amazon.com (not affiliate links), but I usually take Monkey Nose to the library for these sorts of things. We read a lot, and while I have quite an extensive picture book collection, it would just get too expensive to pay for every book we read!
And just for the fun of it, here’s a picture of Monkey Nose and a friend at the Spray Park in Monroe, NJ.
About two weeks ago, we went out to Terhune Farms in Princeton, for their Firefly Festival with some friends. We had a great time eating farm fresh barbecue, dodging through occasional downpours, making buggy antennae and wings,
coloring firefly wings
going on a tractor ride,
on the tractor ride
listening to kid-friendly music by the talented Miss Amy, Ā climbing all over farm equipment,
driving the John Deere with Jeremiah
going through a gymnastics obstacle course,
Monkey Nose climbing with gymnastics instructor
and feeding some sheep and ducks. Oh, and just as the sun was setting, a beautiful double rainbow appeared over the field.
Double rainbow over sheep field
It was a great day!
sweet
http://simplehomeschool.net/free-steady-moms-freedom-guide/
I was referred to this page by a friend, and now I’m paying it forward. From now until 7am tomorrow (July 9), you can download a free copy of this blogger’s book on homeschooling. I haven’t read it, but I am always searching for good resources on homeschooling. After I’ve read it, I’ll update with a review. If you read it too, feel free to comment with your thoughts. Homeschooling is really customizable, and there’s no “one size fits all”, but we can all learn from each other’s experiences and hopefully meet the needs of our children.
On Father’s Day, (June 16, 2013) Busy Papa and I announced to our family that
We are currently 4 months along, due at the end of November (after Thanksgiving), and feeling great, although a little stretched out!
We will be announcing “boy or girl” as soon as we find out, and may even ask some input on names, especially considering how long Monkey Nose went without a name š
Thanks for sharing in this special time with us!
We are eternally blessed, and looking forward with great excitement to all that this new adventure will have in store. And, hey, maybe I won’t be quite so bored anymore…
(p.s. – photo credit, because I’m not that creative. http://healthycoconutblog.com/2012/10/29/baby-announcement-our-little-pumpkin/)
Mama is Bored 