ellabike

She’s eight…Let’s not get sexy please.

Elle went to the annual cheer-leading clinic tonight. They have had this for years as a High School fund raiser and the girls have gone off and on. I have never yearned for my girls to be cheerleaders, but I know that it is a fun activity for the kids and let them attend the clinic when they want to.

I understand that cheer-leading is a sport. I admire the agility and dancing skills.  I wish our local cheerleaders would cheer for the girls teams as well as for the boy teams. I feel that if they are to be respected as a sport more they need to be cheering all of the players, not just the boys.  I say all of this to let you know where I am coming from.

Tonight the girls performed the cheer they learned and that they will be preforming next Tuesday at the JV boys basketball game.  The cheer is pretty typical in that the girl are yelling,”Let’s go boys!  Let’s go!” In my head I’m thinking really, can’t we cheer for the girls just once?  I kept my mouth shut though, and watched my girl do her cheer.

Then they started their dance.

Song begins, I start filming…

Song hits the third word or so and the screen shot lowers to the floor. I look at the mom beside me and we both are like “Oh, no they didn’t”.

But they did.  They played this song for kids pre-school through fifth grade.  My little 8-year-old was dancing to

I’m feeling sexy and free…..

My kid has heard sexy before, she is far from in a bubble. However do not play music for her that celebrates being sexy.  If an inappropriate songs hit the airways, I turn it off. If an inappropriate show comes on we turn it off. Some things are not for kids.

If I pay $20 for a cheer-leading clinic I am assuming that my daughter will have fun, get a shirt, maybe learn a cheer. I also assumed she would have appropriate music.  I guess my assumptions were to much.

After the show, I found the adult in charge and told her that I did not appreciate the song choice.  She did apologize and say that it wasn’t the original song they had planed to use, but the first song was to fast and they picked this one.  I told her that my daughter would not be attending the performance if that was the song they would be dancing to. She assured me that it was not.  I was still infuriated though.

I hope that other moms also made it known they were not happy, but I seem to becoming comfortable in being the mom who speaks up.

Elle had fun. She knows I didn’t like the song choice, but she knows its not her fault and she didn’t nothing wrong.

Errr.

 

 

Eight years ago today our little Elle-bean came into the world.  Our cute and cuddly, clutter-bug is growing and growing. Finally out of the booster seat she is ready to face the world.  Hubby named her right as she is an elfin fairy in looks and attitude.  She is a pack-rat, karate-loving unique little girl who wishes to kiss Captain America!

Today she will get her heart’s desires as she is a pampered elf.  On her Christmas list she had: A doll, a Ceybord and a bick.  She got all three!  Now what will Santa bring?

Elle and her new doll who is named Elle 2 for now!

 

 

 

My top adviser…Eat your heart out Obama!

This back-to-college thing is whipping my blogging rear end. I find the time I used to blog, I am doing school work instead.  This is a good thing technically because my nursing degree pays the bills, not the blogging thing.  That all said. I do miss it, and will get back in the groove when I have the time.

Tonight Elle said something that I deemed blog worthy so I will share with you my loyal readers (hi mom!).

On the way home from karate tonight Enu and Elle were bugging me to stop at Arby’s and get them a drink and a snack. I said “no” of course, as mean moms do and they continued to beg.

Elle finally says, can you just get us water? I’m thirsty and water is free.

To which I used the powerful I told you so weapon reminding them that they are to bring water bottles to karate.  I then tell them that Arby’s cannot give out water if you are not buying anything else. I do not know this for a fact, I am guessing. It seems like a good guess though that they would have this policy.

Feeling as if I had won I was happy for the silence until I hear Elle…” When you are President I want that to be the first law you make. Arby’s needs to give out free water even if you don’t buy anything.”

Right then and there I  made my first campaign promise and probably my last!

 

A couple of weeks ago I was playing around taking pictures of the leaves and Elle came out to pose for me.  Not long after Meg and Mita run out of the house to cause ciaos play with their little sis.  The following pictures show how things turned out. Lots of whining, fake crying, some laughter all equaling a typical evening at our house!

 

Elle hamming it up feeling pretty good.

Meg realizing she had work to do tormenting her little sis.

It begins.

Mita joins in (yes we wear a lot of pajamas around here!)

Thirteen and a bit full of herself!

 

Total obnoxiousness!

 

Total Fun!

 

I love Mita’s grin in this one.

 

My fall leaves pictures may not be the traditional ones with matching outfits and perfect smiles, but at this point I’m just glad my camera battery was charged! Enu was out of the house that day, I didn’t forget her ;)

 

We were in the car on the way back to school from the dentist office talking about who knows what, but somehow I ended up saying:

” Girls the world is not black or white.”

Elle responds, “It used to be….on TV.”

Gotta love the simple facts like kids do!

 

I’ve shared my art photo books before here.  I take pictures of the girls’ art and then make a book at the end of the school year.  I have four school art books now and love them. I do have issues with remembering who did what sometimes, and there are times when things get mixed up or I am not certain on the year.  Little details like that sometimes go amiss when you have four girls carrying home full folders everyday!

Today I found this app ARTkive, and I am in love!  I have uploaded the girls’ names and current grades. I can easily add notes, like deciphering the picture or jotting down the story that accompanies the photo.   You can add contacts to share artwork with loved ones if you wish or just store the pictures for yourself.  I’m excited about being a bit more organized without a lot of work and wanted to share.  Did I  mention it was free?  Yippee :)

Have you found any new apps that are helpful for life with the kiddos?  Please share!

 

 

(Disclosure:  I have not been asked to share about this app, I just wanted to tell you all about it!)

 

Meg the pro :)

Love!

Enu was very excited, not scared at all!

Elle is a lightweight adventurer!

Loving it!

Mita had a great time as well, but hates being in pictures. fI you ever wonder if she gets to have family fun, the answer is yes!

With school looming in the coming week, we took the kids for a last hoorah and tested out a new child’s zipline down in Hocking Hills.  It was a success for sure. Meg has zipped lined on the a big zip line before, but the others have never so it was a new adventure.  They adored it and as a parent it was so fun to watch!

I’ve ziplined before and know how safe it is when done right, so I had no worries of them falling. An added bonus is that once the kids lock in to the belay they are in for the whole course. No changing of the belays on every platform like with a normal course.

My favorite shot of the day is this one:

 

Enu showing her attitude!

 

 

 

We all say dumb things sometimes, me especially.  I am pretty forgiving and have a good sense of humor so don’t worry about offending me for the most part.  Yesterday, however, the Avon lady at the fair said something so stupid that the kids insisted  I blog about it.  So, here it goes.

(Walking up to the Avon booth to look at the chapsticks with all four girls.)

Avon Lady:  Wow, you have your hands full!

Me: Everyday

Avon Lady: Are you a daycare?

Me: No, they are all mine. (Really there are only four, and they were behaving so it’s not like we were a walking tornado of twenty kids in matching shirts.)

Avon Lady:  Are you trying for a boy?

Me:  No, we are done.

Walking away as fast as possible I ask the girls if we should try for a brother….they all started laughing and saying things like ” I can’t believe she said that.” “Blog about this mom” and then Enu of course ” I want a baby brother!”.

I was happy that no one was overly sensitive or mad, it just rolled off them and was a funny family moment. When I told Hubbylater, he told me I should have told her we were trying for a tan kid but kept getting black or white.

When telling people I have four girls I often hear the “trying for a boy” thing, but only when they cannot see the girls.   I also hear the daycare thing, especially if there are cousins or friends  with us making us a bigger group.  I have never heard the two at the same time though when the kids are present and visible.

I just have to laugh.

Meg printed off her blog and made a pillow and a bag from old T shirts. Three blue ribbons!

Enu made a bag from a T shirt and made a poster about making Puppy Chow (Chex mix) snacks for the animal shelter. She also made a pillow. Three blue ribbons.

Elle made a bag and a pillow for two blue ribbons!

 

 

I had a flashback childhood moment last night.  Elle crawled into bed with me (Hubby was away, so she knew her chances were good on staying) and I heard a sigh.  A lovely sigh.

That sigh took me back to being a kid.  When crawling into your parent’s bed was triumphant victory and the safest place in the world.  I then had other flashback moments.

Pretending to be asleep in the car and having your dad carry you into the house.

Dad bringing home root beer and ice cream to make floats.

Laying over the register on a cold morning with a blanket over you to make a tent.

Talking into a fan to hear your voice change.

Hanging upside down off the couch and reading a book while the blood rushing to your head.

I wonder what my kids will remember? What are some of your favorite childhood moments?

 

 

 

Meg, Enu, Elle and my neice A are performing for the next two weekends in Joseph and The Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat. They are singing their little hearts out in the show that tells the Bible story of Joseph and his colorful coat, using different genres of music.   I had never seen the play before, but am having a fun time watching the practices.  It’s loud and fun and full of color. It will be nice to see the complete performance in order though!

If you are local check out the performances and bring friends with you! A discount is given to groups of 10 or more.  Call The Renner at 740-453-8481 for reservations.

Shhh. Don’t tell Meg she’s off beat!

 

Cousins looking way to old with makeup!

Almost 13!

Enu looking blue!

 

I know you have heard me say (or read me write?) that I hate crafts.  Well, I have been up to my ears in crafting of late. The girls were making things for the county fair.

All four of them made re-usable bags from old T-shirts and duct tape. Very cute and very handy. We are giving them out as gifts for friends with birthdays also and that saves some dough as well as being green.  I saw the following video and got the idea. The duct tape makes the bag strong and you can put wet bathing suits in the bag as well. Very handy.
 

The girls also made pillows out of T-shirts, that were no-sew, just tying knots.  Very easy and helped Elle especially learn how to tie good knots.

Meg printed out her blog to enter and took her iPad to show the judge her live blog.  Mita also made wallet out of duct tape.

My favorite was Enu’s Puppy Chow project. She made chex mix puppy chow and put it in a dog bowl and we ate it as a snack when we toured the local Animal Shelter and then gave the staff the snack and the bowl along with our other donations.  As the fair doesn’t let you take real food, she made a poster of her making the chow.   She then made some more puppy chow for the judge to taste.

Needless to say, my talented girls are the owners of several new blue ribbons and I am done with crafts for a while. Especially after our Angry Birds game that we also made this week!

 

It’s late. We took the kids rock climbing for a Father’s Day family outing. It was a lot of fun! The kids loved it and I had a great time. I learned how to belay, and my hands are a bit sore! I even belayed Hubby, with my instructer standing by just in case :) A great day.  A wonderful father!

 

 

As it is mid-May and summer is upon us.  My girls are revved up and ready to start the long summer days full of camps, swimming and a lot of nothing! The fact that they are growing up slaps me in the face almost everyday.

Ella bridged from being a Daisy Girl Scout to a Brownie Girl Scout.  She is extremely proud of this  and the fact that her first overnight camp will be this summer.

Meg went to sixth grade camp.  She climbed the Alpine tower and is planning on zip-lining this summer.  Adventure awaits her for sure.

Mita is furiously making plans for becoming a sixth grader that include playing soccer and the cello.  She will have to be at school at 7:30am next year, and while she thinks it is no big deal, I am dreading getting her up that early!

Enu, in Fourth grade, hit the jackpot for field trip years and has been busy running around the state visiting Amish Country (not a real country mind you), the high school FFA ( a different world) and has plans to visit the State House soon.  She is ready to rule the intermediate school next year in the fifth grade with NO other sisters to bug her.

Goodbye 2011-2012 school year. May we have a long, long summer full of fun times, empty afternoons reading in the shade and popsicles. Lots of popsicles.

   

Sunburned from camp!

 

If you have young children in elementary or pre-school most likely you know that the celebration of Dr. Seuss’ birthday was a couple of weeks ago.

Which means right about now your child’s backpack is full of the cutest art projects you have ever seen!  Projects that you don’t want to toss but cannot realistically keep on your fridge or in a scrapbook either.  Unless this is your first child.  Then you will keep everything for years until your basement or garage is full and realize that something has to hit the recycling bin or you have to buy a bigger home.

After having Meg fill 5+ bins I started to realize that with four kids, the bin thing wasn’t happening. So three years ago I started making school project photo books on Shutterfly (tons of other sites, but Shutterfly is my fav).  I take the pictures of the projects and save them for the next book. This makes it so much easier to toss the projects.  I don’t enjoy junking them, but it is a necessary evil of motherhood. I have also made thank you cards and notecards out of some of the projects.

So back to Dr. Seuss.  Elle came home with a few really cute things that I cannot throw away. Maybe it is because she is my baby and I’m realizing that this may be my last Dr. Seuss birthday bonanza, maybe it’s because I’m tired of taking out the recycling.  Who knows?  What I do know is that an idea popped into my head that I am happy with and thought I would share.

As a reading family there are some books that will never be donated or passed on. Dr. Seuss books are those sorts of books.  Elle has fallen hard for the rhyme master and has even read me Green Eggs and Ham backwards before (a realllllly loooonnnggg story btw!). So I merged the two and have not lost any space.

I simply added her art work to the insides of the books and now the books mean even more to me than before. I can imagine Elle’s kids opening the book and seeing mommy’s artwork from when she was a girl….ahhhh. Tears. Sniff. Sniff.

Awesome.

They better appreciate this stuff!

                         

 

 

(I see Angry Birds when I look at this!)

 

 

Watching the girls grow up is downright amazing.  I’ve said in the past that when they are small you are so exhausted and tired of saying “no”, of doing the diaper thing, the potty training thing, the sharing thing that you tend to not pay attention or appreciate fully the gains. You are just  happy to be through them.

As they get older and the achievements are more out of the hygiene realm, watching them grow, learn and become who they are meant to become is nothing less than miraculous.  I have found that every morning they come out of their rooms one step closer to adulthood and it makes me want a pause button in some ways and an applause button in other ways.

Where did Meg, long-legs Meg, get her confidence?  Both Hubby and I didn’t have great self-confidence growing up, yet she is strong, solid and humble in her self.  I’ve had teachers and other adults tell me how kind she is and how she isn’t a braggart in her accomplishments.

Mita. My dear Mita has blossomed into a young woman (seriously, have you seen her?!). She is quiet and works so hard. She is reading up a storm and is a straight A student. Straight A’s for a child who four years ago knew no English!   Her room is her castle and she loves to clean it and take pride in her appearance. The outfits she puts together dazzle and are stunning. How does she make sweats look glamorous?!  Her heart. Her heart has had more sorrow than many have had in a lifetime, and yet she is healing.  She gives me spontaneous hugs and I love yous. She calls me Mommy sometimes.  I love to just stare at her. She doesn’t like that so much though!

Enu. Enu is the child who is teaching me patience and perseverance.   She is growing by leaps and bound physically and emotionally.  She is finding herself slowly, but it is happening. She is great with young kids and as of right now she is helping me watch my niece. She will be a great babysitter in just a few years. Her smile is contagious, and she really is quite funny.  It will be great to watch her harness her energy in the years to come.

Elle.  Elle is my elfin fairy for sure.  She is now seven and  I look at what Meg was like at seven and they are so different yet alike.  Elle is becoming very funny, almost a dry sense of humor in some ways. Her comebacks make Hubby and I look at each other and smile. She can take care of herself  just fine in a pack of four sisters!  She still plays with toys, which makes me sooooo  happy.  For Christmas she got an iPod and a Lalaloopsy doll and she will walk around playing with both at the same time.  She still cuddles which makes me think she will always be a cuddler! Yeah!  My baby reads. My. Baby. Reads.

Watching my girls grow is truly a pure delight.  I am overwhelmed with how fast everything is going. Meg is talking about college (of course she has always talked about college, but now I picture it happening!).  Hubby and I find ourselves talking about a third car for the girls to share.

I know that talking about your kids growing up is a well-worn topic. I’ve heard for years how it goes by quickly.  It makes me ache that this is so true but at the same time I love, love, love watching them learn, grow and burst into the world.  If I have anything to do with how wonderful these children are it is my greatest honor in life.  My work is done, everything else is a bonus.

 

 

Pretzels From Space!

We celebrated Elle’s seventh birthday yesterday.  It is so amazing to think that seven years ago I was laying in room 207, the same room I delivered Meg,  and was listening to ocean waves.  It was such a nice, peaceful delivery.

Today, a school day, she awoke to a cinnamon roll in bed, a birthday T-shirt and cookies for her class.  We also had a family dinner complete with Light Saber hot dogs and Star Wars pretzels.  A Star Wars volcano and Yoda pie were gobbled up and then we all went and watched the birthday girl perform in her school Christmas play.

A busy day that was amazingly fun.  A couple of quotes from Elle:

“I don’t want this day to end.”

“I don’t have anything else I want now!”

She is amazing.

She is SEVEN!

 

Photobucket
Hubby got down the Christmas decorations on Thanksgiving afternoon per our normal tradition.   The girls carried the boxes in from the garage and I opening up a lid on the first box. On top was an envelope that said “Time Capsule 2010″.  Hmmm. My hand writing. Wow what a great idea! I’m so glad I thought of that, and then forgot it?!

So once all the decorations were up (the kids did an awesome job by the way, it is great to have kids who are old enough to actually help with things!) we sat down and I read the letters.  They were simple questions like:

What was your favorite song in 2010?

What was your favorite movie in 2010?

What do you remember most about 2010:

What do you hope happens in 2011?

It turns out that none of the girls’ predictions came true, Elle doesn’t have long hair and Mita didn’t get to go to Washington State.  We did make it to Chuck E. Cheese as Elle had hoped for and Meg did get to perform more in 2011 between her choir and being in Children’s Letters to God.  Enu did not get to spend the night for a week at her friends house, but she did  start doing her hair better!

A nice moment for us. I think this year I will add a few more question and have Hubby and I do one to.  I am going to add this to our Advent activities (Oh yeah, haven’t started planning those yet either.)

I wonder if I will forget next year?  Maybe I should go back and see if I blogged about my idea?  Echinacea anyone?

 

(Elle with my nephew in their school costumes.)

 

The planning of Halloween is more fun for me than the actual Trick or Treating. I love planning with the girls, looking for the good deals and finding the perfect costume.

This year Meg was…well I don’t know what her costume was, but she was cute. Purple and black with a funky hat. Very twelvish! It was all about the candy for her.

Mita wanted to be a bumble bee. I was thrilled that she wanted to dress up. She has never really embraced Halloween and the two previous years she didn’t wear her costume at the last-minute. This year she wore her costume, but put on a sweatshirt the whole time so I never saw the whole suit and of course she didn’t let me take a picture :(

Enu wore the same costume as she did last year, Tiana. She looked beautiful, but this year is definitely the last year for that costume! It was snug to say the least.  On our second round of Trick or Treating she went as a golfer.  Girls change their minds a lot it seems.

Enu as a golfer

  My baby is almost seven. This year for Halloween she dressed up as Rapunzel. She loved dressing up and her outfit was completed by a Gecko and a frying pan as well as a smaller Gecko and small frying plan. If you have seen Tangled, you will  understand the frying pan thing.  She is still excited about the costume.  How many years will I have left with her excitement? How long will it take for her to say M &M’s correctly?

Ella as Rapunzel

As I write this the girls are trading their loot. Heavy negotiations going on. It brings back memories of my brother Josh and I when we were little.  The fun part was trading and pulling one over on him!   Of course in about a week I will combine all of the candy into one pile to save space, but they seem to have forgotten that fact right now.

I wonder about next year. Will I have only two costumes to plan for?  I guess there is always the grandchildren in 20 years!

 

 

All-aboard the Dinosaur Train! PBS’ hit show has a new Halloween Book out that I get to review.  Anyone who reads my blog knows that I like to read, like to get kids to read and love having the opportunity to share my reads with everyone.

For those of you with older kids who may not have heard of Dinosaur Train, well, it’s big.  I would call it the Rollie-Poli-Olie of today. Meg was a big Rollie fan (a decade ago EEEK!).  In this animated cartoon a family of dinosaurs ride a train each episode to a new place in time.  The Jim Henson Company is the creator of the series, so you know that it is full of fun, color and learning.

In The Spooky Scavenger Hunt  (Published by Grosset & Dunlap), the conductor takes the kids (all dinosaurs) on a scavenger hunt and they learn to use their senses of sight, hearing, smell as well as touching on nocturnal animals.  The pages are colorful, though not to bright – the darkness helps with the spooky theme.  Of course the book is not to spooky to read to the little ones and is aimed at ages 4-8.

Elle (my 6.5 year old) enjoyed reading the book along with me. She does watch the show when her older sissies surrender the TV!  We will be reading the book the next few weeks before Halloween and then passing it on to the nephews I’m sure.  That’s what I love about books: They last for a long time and are never out of date for the most part!

Elle and Friend

Also coming up on PBS:  Sid the Science Kid – Spooky Science Special on October 17, 25, 30 and 31st

Dinosaur Train: Haunted roundhouse/Big Pond Pumpkin Patch on October 20, 24, 30 and 31st.

Here are links to patterns for Dinosaur Train or a Sid Halloween costumes!

Okay, giveaway details!  A copy of The Spooky Scavenger Hunt will be sent to you if you are the winner (US addresses only please.) .

Mandatory Entry:  Leave a comment to the following question:  Do you think that dinosaurs trick or treated? Explain your answer….seriously, just leave me a comment!

Extra Entries:

Follow PBS Kids on Twitter and leave me a comment that you did so with your Twitter handle.

Like PBS Kids on Facebook and leave me a comment that you did so.

Like FourAgainstTwo on Facebook and leave a comment that you did so.

The winner will be drawn via Random.org on October 19th at noon. I cannot guarantee that you will get it by Halloween, but there is a good chance!

 

 

(Disclosure:  I received a free copy  of above mentioned book ($3.99 US) from Three Sixty Marketing and Communications and the opportunity to give one copy away.  I was given no other compensation and my thoughts are my own.)

 

The four in FourAgainstTwo stands for four girls. The only boy in our family, save our three dwarf hamsters is my Hubby and to show respect he is a Man not a boy.

I have often said that God knew what He was doing when he gave me girls. Boys scare me a bit. I’m not sure how I would have parented one, or more than one. I know that I would have learned on the job of course, but I still believe that with my anxiety that girls fit me better.  I am amazed when I watch my nephews or my friends’ boys play.  They play so different than girls.  More movement, less talking, less drama and a lot more rough play!  My one regret with not having a boy is not being able to have some really cool birthday parties. I would have loved to have had a Pirate Birthday party with a treasure map activity.

My youngest Elle has allowed me to glimpse into the land of boys.  She is my Star Wars fan.  Thanks to her I can go into the boys section in search of Darth Vader shirts and R2D2 pajamas.  I also find twigs, dirt, rocks and bugs in her pants pockets when I do the laundry. She will wear the same undies for endless days as well as socks if I don’t watch her.  All of these things are things that I have heard are “boyish”.

Elle is also a pack-rat-slob. I feel bad about this attribute as she got it from me and I got it from my dad. It’s a family gene.  The other day I was gutting her room getting rid of the millions of items she has tucked away and I found this:

6 Pieces of gum...right beside the Disney fairy!

 

Chewed bubble gum. Saved for later.  Yucky, but funny. Very funny. Just don’t tell her I told her so.

 

 

 

 

A Sign We Hate To Read!

Last Saturday we drove to North Carolina to a beach house we rented with family.  Our car was full on luggage but short on children at Meg and Mita were staying behind to finish their play commitments and coming down Monday with my parents.  It was just Hubby and I with Enu and Elle.  The drive went fine. We had no traffic, decent weather and the car ran fine.

The last forty-five minutes the kids kept watching the GPS system. It has a little checkered flag at our destination address.  As they watched us get closer they started reading the signs at the side of the road.  I’m sure every one does this on long road trips.  There is nothing else new to do so we read signs.  Road signs, restaurant signs, bumper stickers and just about everything within site.  We then start passing large billboards that say things like:

 

I Got My Crabs At Dirty Dicks

and

Try My Nuts

Okay, so they are advertisements for a seafood place and a nut store, but please  oh please don’t let my kids start reading these signs and repeating them.  Elle already has a good idea  of other definitions for nuts and dicks and I just hope the other crab definition doesn’t pop up to soon!

It makes me want put in a new DVD and have the kids mesmerized by the screen just to keep them from reading!

What signs have you winced at said a prayer that the kids won’t pay attention?

 

Yesterday on our weekly trip to the library I found a fun new book that I thought Elle and I would enjoy.  It turns out that Enu is in love with it and *bonus* it is a great bonding tool.  The book is called You Read to Me, I’ll Read to You: Very short stories to read together by Mary Ann Hoberman and illistrated by Michael Emberly.

Elle is an emergent reader, reading on her own a bit, but still needing help.  Reading with her can be fun or can be tedious depending on her level of stubborness at the time!  What is so great about this book is that we are reading short lines together, which keeps her (and me) from getting bored.  There are mostly rhymes which is great for new readers and writers and the book gets silly which means fun!  Fun while reading is so important when they are young. We can’t make it a chore.

As I mentioned in a previous post, one of the reasons for homeschooling Enu was to give her some one on one time that she missed when she was little.  This book offers a fun and easy way to spend that precious time with her. She missed the fairy tales and rhyming books. She missed the silly reading stories.  She adores this book. We have reserved the other titles in the series:  Very Short Fairy Tales and Very Short Mother Goose Tales and I am hoping to get them in time for vacation.

I get happy when I find something with multi-uses and this book fits the bill. I encourage all parents of emergent readers or parents of older-adopted children to check this book out at your library and give it a try.

Have you read this book with your kids? Is reading time bonding time for you all as well?

 

(Disclosure: I recieved no compenstation for reviewing this book, nor was I asked to review it. I borrowed my copy from the library. Amazon links are not affiliate links and I will not get any money from them.)

 

 

Art Credit

 

 I am having a hard time with the title of this post.  Forgive me. I’ve been eating chocolate.  I’ve actually had chocolate all over my arms and hands…a wonderful thing for the most part!

We received a sweet delivery a couple of weeks ago to our house. The folks over at ImagineToys.com send us a Candy Factory: The Science of Sweets to test out and review! It arrived on a day I was down with a serious infection and now that my antibiotics are done and my energy is almost back (joking, moms know that the energy never. comes. back. ever.) I’ve finally let the kids get it out and have a go with it.  Needless to say they have been quit antsy to check it out.

It is marked for ages 10 and up and I believe that is a good age for this edible scientific project. I did have my younger girls make chocolate tonight though since the other two are in the final days of play practice and their time is full of practice and homeworkright now. My plan is to have them do a more involved recipe and  I will let you guys know what they made and how it turned out. 

My younger two  (ages 6 and 9) made chocolate Santa Clauses and Chocolate lady bugs.  Delicious, fun and EASY! I did show them how to put together a double-boiler and monitored them pretty close with the hot water, but everything else could easily be done by them since this was a simple recipe.

 

 

 

 

 

I am very impressed with this kit. It has quality tools, a great “Experiment” book full of not only recipes for several types of candy, but the history of sugar, cocoa and a section on the biology of taste.  If you are a homeschooler or  just have kids who like to learn about things they don’t get at school this kit is great. 

 Remember that it comes with a lot of things (molds, sticks, wrappers, cutters, candy thermometer and much more.  If you buy this and want to get started creating candy immediately be sure to have chocolate, corn syrup and condensed milk on hand at the very least!

I’m hoping to try the peppermint patties and Meg wants to make a Christmas Nerds-filled chocolate egg for Christmas gifts. I’ll update you on our progress.

The price at $45.95. At first glance I may have baulked a bit, but after seeing what all it comes with and knowing the quality it is I think that price is worth it and would consider this a good birthday or Christmas gift. 

 

 

(Disclaimer: I received the above mentioned Candy Factory for free  by Imagine Toys.com for my honest review and opinion.  No other compensation was given. )

 

Love the fake smile here!

 

She's fast I tell you!

 

Really fast...

 

Dunking by Thursday, I just know it!

 

I cannot remember when Meg hit what I call the age of understanding. A time when a child starts paying more attention to her surroundings, starts to digest conversations she overhears.  I think one reason I didn’t notice when Meg came into this is because she was the oldest. We expected more from her. She had to be smart, polite, brave… I wish I hadn’t had such high expectations of her, not because she couldn’t do these things but because of the pressure we put on her.   This is what we tend to do with our firsts.  Mita and Enu came to us at ages six and eight so we did not have the opportunity to watch them reach this milestone.

Elle, however, is the baby.  Her growth and maturity always catches me by surprise.  I’m not ready for her to grow up. I know she will, but I treasure her youth and try to hang on to it.

The other day we were sitting outside on our porch, just Elle and I. I was reading her a Magic Treehouse book.  She is really serious when she asked,”Mom, can I ask you something?”  She then goes on to ask about a conversation she overheard between Hubby and I a couple of days earlier.  She is confused and asking me to clarify.  She was so grown up, so articulate.  My heart was full of pride and sadness.

Then on Easter morning we were watching the news. They were showing a reporter trying to find an Easter Service in China.  The Chinese had guards at a popular church site and were turning people away.  The reporter told a police officer “Happy Easter” to see what the response would be.  Meg happened to walk in and say Happy Easter about that time. I murmured not in China and Elle says yeah, they are having a crack down. Hubby and I looked at each-other with surprise.  She is watching and understanding the news?

The age of understanding isn’t always convenient for parents, we have to watch our conversions a little more closely now around her.  It seems Hubby and I can only talk like big people after 9pm now!

I took this over Easter weekend. I think it is the best shot I have ever personally taken of my littlest girl.

 

Does she have to grow up?

 

Photo Credit Mandy W. 2011

 

 

 

 

© 2011 Four Against Two Suffusion theme by Sayontan Sinha