Go Fishing! Good and Easy After School or Any Time Snack

Here is a snack for the kids that is healthy and fun. It is also easy on mom.

What you will need is cream cheese, celery, and fish crackers.

Smear some cream cheese on the middle of a plate. Then place the fish crackers around the cream cheese. The celery is the fishing pole.

The snacker uses the celery to dip in the cream cheese and then catches some tasty fish!

Yummy, healthy and fun!

Thanks to Family Fun

Some of My Favorites on Etsy.com

Etsy.com has to be one of my favorite Internet sites. The homemade items that the merchants sell on this site are incredible. I was going to do a post about some of my favorite things on the site but I realized there would be way to many favorites to put in one post.

As I was looking through all the goodies on Etsy.com I came across this art work by TummyMountain. I love this art work. It is so cute and just reminds me of my little ones so much. Take a look at some of these prints.

The Thinking Tree.

Walking With Sticks

When Friends Drop In

Are these adorable or what?

How to Raise Good Catholic Kids

I love this painting. This is what I want, to take my children by the hand and lead them straight to God.

Sometimes it's easier said than done. I use the site ehow.com for lots of things, like how to make a skirt, or how to fix the noise my washing machine is making. Who knew the site would have simple tips everyone could do to make a start at raising good Catholic children.

I love the side bar that tells you what you will need. The list includes- perseverance, Bible, and Rosaries.

Take a look at the four steps it takes to get your children on their way to becoming good Catholics HERE.

You can always look at How to Avoid Grizzly Bears While Hiking later.

Double Trouble...Do I Need a Double Stroller?

I am a stroller fanatic. I love to buy strollers, used of course. I had a double stroller with my first two children and I used it all the time, now I am kind of over the double stroller thing.

I have a sit and stand that I want to sell because I can't push the darn thing and I almost cut my leg off trying to fold it up and get it into my van!

One of my recent favorite finds was a Peg Perego single stroller that I found at my local thrift store for $9.00! It is in excellent condition and it can be a front facing stroller or a carriage type that we all know is just the cutest. I love this stroller and really don't want to give it up for a big heavy double.

When the baby is born Oney will almost be three years old. I could put Oney in the single stroller and get a Moby Wrap for the baby. We will only be going for neighborhood walks anyway.

What do you think, do I need a double stroller?

We Are Having a Boy!

We found out yesterday that the sweet little baby that is on it's way will be a boy!

I took the kids to view the ultrasound and we were all in anticipation to find out if this little one would be a boy or a girl.

My oldest son Lil D was being his witty self and then my maturity level went down to that of an eight year old boy. Lil D was making me laugh and I had to tell the woman doing the ultrasound more than once that I was sorry for laughing. We had fun.

Lil D had a lot of comments as he watched the baby on the monitor, one being that he was glad he is not a woman, and I think he said, this is disgusting a couple of times. Miss my oldest daughter's comeback was, "You don't know what natural beauty is."

When we finally knew it was a boy I looked at bug and saw the tears starting to roll down her cheeks. She was not as happy as everyone else. She stopped crying when Miss told her having a baby brother meant that Miss and her could share a room with bunk beds, that made Bug feel better. Lil D's response to his little sister was, "Don't cry Mama can make you a baby sister."

It was a very interesting doctors appointment.

I could not be more excited to have another little man in my life. It is a wonderful gift.

Interview With a Four Year Old

Four year old children are wonderful little people. They have such an innocent view on life and the people they share their life with.

Here is an interview I did with my four year old daughter Bug. It was interesting and funny to see how she thinks of me.

1. What is something mom always says to you?
You love me.

2. What makes mom happy?
When I give you a hug.

3. What makes mom sad?
Monsters

4. How does your mom make you laugh?
You make funny faces.

5. What was your mom like as a child?
You wanted a book.

6. How old is your mom?
Five

7. How tall is your mom?
This big (She reached as high as her little arm could go)

8. What is her favorite thing to do?
Cook dinner

9. What does your mom do when you're not around?
You and Daddy play games together.

10. If your mom becomes famous, what will it be for?
Princesses would dance with you. (Maybe she means Dancing With the Stars, or maybe I will have a role in the movie Princess barbie?)

11. What is your mom really good at?
Your good at drawing.

12. What is your mom not very good at?
Your not good at making a monkey.

13. What does your mom do for her job?
You get suckers.

14. What is your mom's favorite food?
Tomatoes with cheese on it. (?)

15. What makes you proud of your mom?
You give me my books and you make my bed.

16. If your mom were a cartoon character, who would she be?
Dora!

17. What do you and your mom do together?
We like to play Dora games.

18. How are you and your mom the same?
We love each other.

19. How are you and your mom different?
We have different color eyes.

20. How do you know your mom loves you?
You show me pictures, you help me do my ABC's.

21. Where is your mom's favorite place to go?
Church

Snow Day!

It has been snowing like crazy around these parts. About 6 to 10 inches of snow fell last night. It looks beautiful, and the kids are happy about it too!

Tune Out

I would consider many moms to be super heroes. By the grace of God we are given many talents to carry out this vocation called motherhood.

Mothers also have certain powers that we have learned over a period of time. One of these powers is called tuning out.

My dear husband has a low tolerance of loud screeching children, slamming doors, banging feet and the constant shrill of voices. He comes home from work to find our children doing all of the above plus a couple more neighbor kids doing the same.

He will find me on the couch engrossed in a book or magazine. He stares at me with the are you kidding me look and my response is, "what?"

I have learned to tune out. It is a wonderful power that mothers have.

Here is a picture that my husband took of me using this very power.



This is what it looks like when I read. Bug was not quiet or lying still. The other kids were off banging away with their friends and I am not sure where Oney was.

I believe I have perfected the tuning out abilities of mothers, and this power can be a wonderful thing.

Overwhelmed or Lazy?

I am feeling overwhelmed, or just lazy.

We have some kind of extra curricula activity every day of the week except Wednesday and the weekend

I have found that on the days where we have no extra things to do school goes much better. There is no rush, I can do the things with the kids that take extra time and we enjoy it. I may even get a load of laundry done or clean the kitchen on those days.

I like being home, and after a day of school all I want to do is get the house tidy (notice I didn’t say clean.) and chill out. Yep I am a lazy mom or overwhelmed, however you want to view it.

My kids are independent. They all play together and really don’t want anything to do with me unless a Barbie needs to be dressed or a fight breaks out. I can sit and read my books while they sit at my feet and play. So it is not like I need to get out of the house or a breakdown will happen.

My kids also play with their friends in the neighborhood, that means after school and after the extra activity all the “regular” school kids are banging at my door at 3:00pm to come over and play. On those days I can feel a breakdown is close.

My kids’ socialization is through the roof, I am the one that needs work in the socialization area

When I was a kid there was no such thing as extra curricula activities. I went to school, came home did homework and chores, if I didn’t have to watch my brother I went out and played until the streetlights came on.

I feel like I have to do all these extra things for my kids or they will feel left out and unsocialized, even though it may be effecting the education I would like to give them, not to mention my sanity.

I need to find a comfortable place for both my kids and me. Give them extra activities without compromising school time. Have some fun activities planned without the result being pulling my hair out.

I need advice from parents, whether you homeschool or not, how do you handle all the extra activities that seem to be a must for kids these days?

Just Another Day at School

Halloween

Backward, turn backward, O Time, in your flight make me a child again just for to-night! ~Elizabeth Akers Allen

Halloween, it brings such wonderful childhood memories. I can remember my mom making my costume and my brother and I waiting all day in anticipation for my dad to get home from work so he could take us trick or treating.

All the kids would jump in my dad’s van and he and my uncle would drive us to the so called “rich houses” all that means is we did not live in the best neighborhood, so we would go into my grandparents neighborhood where my dad said they gave out better candy.

My brother, cousins, and I would be let loose into the night to run free from house to house. I was a kid who had to be home when the streetlights came on so being outside to run free in the dark was awesome.

We would have our pillowcases out and ready to be filled. We were allowed to trick or treat until our pillowcases were full and we could not carry them anymore.

I remember the ever-dreaded moment when my mom would make me wear a coat over my costume, but if I pestered my dad long enough while trick or treating he would let me take it off.

Mom got wise and started making our costumes big enough to fit over a winter coat.

Who can forget the best Halloween show ever made, It’s The Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown. Watching this cartoon special at night when no cartoons should be on was another highlight of Halloween.

I have fond memories of my childhood Halloween and I enjoy watching the fun my kids have today.

My kids get their pillowcases ready and wait for dad to get home. My brother comes over to join in on the fun.

Halloween is a time where kids can be free and own the night. And a pillowcase stuffed to the brim with candy isn’t so bad either.

For more Halloween goodness check out the post Top Ten Things to do for a Catholic Halloween at Canterbury Tales.


Happy Halloween!

You Know You Homeschool When...

Everything in your home becomes a part of school. A foggy bathroom mirror is a perfect place to practice writing your letters.

Pick a Seat Already!

Miss is an Alter server at our Church. She goes with her dad for the 8:30am Mass because Big D helps out at that Mass as well. I on the other hand can’t get it together until the 10:30 am Mass. Lil D and I attend Mass at that time.

I have been attending Mass every Sunday going on seven years now, and we have pretty much sat in the same general area for that long. If you know anything about Catholics you know that we have our certain seats at Mass and we like to keep it that way.

Where Lil D and I sit means that when it comes time for Communion we go to the back of the Church and a Deacon or a Eucharistic Minister will give us Communion. I have no problem with either of these folks distributing Communion. Lil D on the other hand seems to have a problem with this.

Last Sunday as Lil D and I were preparing to go up for Communion, I was informed by my son that he did not want to go up unless we would be getting Communion, or a blessing in his case, by our Priest or a Deacon.

I said all right, thinking it was a simple request, and proceeded to maneuver over to the line that was going to our Priest. You will have to know that in our Church it is a maze to get into a Communion line if you are not going with the flow by where you are seated. We basically had to walk around the entire Church, be physically stopped by an Usher, and I think we cut off a sweet older women. The things we do for our kids.

I realized that sitting in our normal seat would not be a great place to receive Communion from our Priest or Deacon, unless we want to cause havoc, which we don’t. The only other option is to find new seats, and do this without upsetting any of the people who have had these seats for the past 10 years or so.

Next Sunday Lil D and I will go to Church early and scope out the seats. I will try to remember who sits where so I don’t ruffle any body’s feathers.

We will find the perfect seat, one that will make my little traditional Catholic happy. If I ask him if these seats suit him, he better not say, “What are you talking about mom?”

Wordless Wednesday

Lil D-"Hey Mom I roasted you a marshmallow."

Me-'Ummm thanks honey."



Wordless Wednesday

Wordless Wednesday

Birthday cakes Big D and I have made for the kids.







This one was a bit difficult. It turned out a little messy, but Lil D loved his Lego cake.


Wordless Wednesday

Adventure Academy

My Husband always has great ideas for helping the kids think and learn. He thought it would be fun to come up with an educational board game for the kids. It is a cross between Trivia Pursuit and Dungeons and Dragons. This is one of my favorite ideas of his because it's fun and we can all do it together.

The idea of the game is the kids come up with characters. I will be in charge of writing the characters backgrounds, strengths and weaknesses. There will also be a narrator during the game that comes up with adventures the characters will go on.

The object of the game is to roll the dice and get around the board. If you land on a question mark then the player has to answer a question to move on. The questions will include what the children are learning in any given subject. The questions will be geared towards the age of the child, that way all the kids can play.

Along the way there will be clues to a riddle. If a person lands on a magnified glass they will receive a clue that will get them a step closer to solving the riddle.

The first player to make it around the board and answer the riddle wins.

Big D took his old Dungeons and Dragons’ board and modified it to fit our game.





We decided to try it out. We didn’t have time to come up with the educational questions so we played with Nickelodeon trivia questions. We plan on making our characters out of modeling clay, but for our first game we used Dungeon and Dragon pieces and a Sponge Bob character.



Here are the clues for the riddle of our first game.
Can you solve the riddle?

Funny Things Kids Say

Today I was the lunch mom for Miss’s class. On the way back from recess I had the class walking behind me, Bug holding my hand while I pushed Oney in his stroller.

As we were walking back into the school, the kids started saying, “Step on a crack break your mothers back.” They were shouting at the kids who had just broken their mother's back because they were not paying attention and stepping on all the sidewalk cracks.

I was one of the people who was not paying attention, because all of a sudden I hear Bug scream, “Momma you stepped on Crap!”
Although it sounded more like, “Momma you stepped on Cwap!” Her speech has an uncanny resemblance to Elmer Fudd.

The kids started laughing. Bug had no idea what was so funny, but she was pretty proud that she made all the big kids laugh.

Funny stuff

Now That's Talent

Friday we spent the evening at Miss and Little D’s school. It was the night of their talent show. Last year Miss sang You Can’t Get to Heaven on Roller Skates. This year she sang Work it Out from High School Musical 2. It was a bit of a difference from last year, but she did very well. It made me realize she is growing up, still my sweet innocent baby girl, but still growing up.

Lil D did something a little different. Before I tell about it I need to go back a couple of weeks to give the whole story.

This was Lil D ‘s first year in the talent show. I was curious as to what he was planning to do. The conversation went something like this…

Me~”What do you plan on doing for the talent show?”

Lil D~ “I am going to do my Irish dance.”

Me~ (puzzled, because he has no dance training and I had no idea he knew what an Irish dance was) “What Irish dance?”

Lil D~ “This one.”

Then Lil D proceeds to do a 7-year-old rendition of River Dance. He folds his hands across his chest and starts kicking his legs. It was like River Dance meets Russian Dance.

Me~ “Oh.”

Here was my dilemma, I felt like one of the parents or friends of a contestant on American Idol. Do I say the dance is not that great and crush his dreams, or do I let him do what he wants and stop being so dramatic over a child’s talent show? I chose to stop being dramatic.

Among the other things I keep in my minds inventory, I pondered on how I was going to help Lil D’s performance. Do I dress him as a leprechaun? Do I get him a tall furry Russian hat, should he wear tights? After a couple of days with these oh so important thoughts going on in my mind, Lil D comes up to me as I was doing the dishes.

Lil D~ “Hey mom, want to hear me say the ABC’s backwards?

I say sure, expecting this to be a little joke and he is going to say CBA. But no, he rattles off the whole Alphabet backwards. I asked him to say it again but slower this time. He does and sure enough he knows the whole Alphabet backwards. I asked him how he learned that and he said he just knows how. My first thought was, he’s gifted!

Like any proud parents Big D and I asked him to do this for every family member and friend that we came across.

I could not have been happier when Lil D announced he would be saying the ABC’s backwards for the talent show. That meant no Irish/Russian dance while wearing tights.

Friday night Miss did her song looking cute as ever, doing a little dance as she sang. After a few dancers, piano recitals, and singers, my Lil D came out. He announced what he was going to do and then he did his ABC’s. I could not help but notice the people in front of us look at each other with wide eyes. When Lil D had finished he came to sit down by us. The lady next to him was telling him what a great talent he had. Lil D then told the lady that he could also spell his name backwards, and he did.

Maybe I went a little far telling myself that Lil D is gifted. I am genuinely impressed by his ability to say his ABC’s backwards. My children make me proud everyday, weather they can sing, dance or do any other talent kids may have.

Lil D is a gift to me and I think I will still say he is gifted, even if it’s a thought I keep to myself.

The Florist Lady and the Balloons

My plan for this morning was to go to the grocery store to get laundry detergent. I had two big garbage bags full of empty bottles and cans. Bug, Oney, and I would make a quick trip to take the cans back and get the detergent. I figured it would take a total of thirty minutes, quick and easy.

I packed up the kids and the two garbage bags in the van and away we went. It is about 53 degrees here with a lot of wind. As I am getting the kids in the cart the wind is whipping us around the parking lot, we finally make it into the store. I start putting the cans into the machine, while Bug asks me about twenty times if she can help. I picked her up a couple of times so she could put the cans in. I realize if I keep this up we will be here for a good hour, so I give her the job of putting the cardboard in the bin. Meanwhile I have to stop every so often because Oney, who hates wearing shoes, is taking them off and throwing them as far as he can. The lady who is next to me can see how haggard I am at this point and offers her machine up so I can get done faster. Bless her heart.

We finally get done with the bottles and cans; I am now sweating and focused on getting the one item I need and getting out of there. I go straight to the detergent isle, not stopping to look at anything. I grab it and we are almost to the check out, almost home free. That is when I spot her. The lady who is the florist at the grocery store, I see her quickly grab four big helium balloons and she starts walking towards us. She walks up to me and says, “We can’t use these anymore, and I was just waiting for some kids to come in to give them to.” Bug and Oney have huge smiles on their face. I am trying to make my smile as natural as possible. In my head I am thinking, “You either have no kids, or you have not taken toddlers shopping in a good long while.” She hands Bug and Oney the balloons, we say thank you and now my fun begins.

At the check out Bug is screaming because Oney is grabbing one of the balloon strings. I ring up my item; pay and now we are on our way out. From the grocery store to the van, I have dodged and picked up flying shoes that Oney feels the need to throw. At the same time trying to keep the balloon strings from wrapping around his little neck. As I mentioned before the wind is whipping and the balloons are flying all over the place.

We get to the van and by now the four balloon stings are in a tangled mess. I tell Bug to hold on to the balloons or they will fly away. Bug then goes into a crying fit, screaming that she does not want her balloons to fly away. I try to get Oney in his car seat but he has a death grip on the strings. I pry the stings out of his hand, and now I have two screaming toddlers and four tangled balloons.

I get everyone safely in the car, and the balloons untangled. On the ride home I get to listen to Bug and Oney fight, balloons hitting me in the back of the head the whole way home. At this point I need to find something, anything with a point so I can pop those dreaded things and end this whole episode.

Now we are home, the balloons are in the corner of my room, tangled for the third time and not being played with at all. This was my morning, thank you grocery store florist lady. Thank you very much.

Tales From a Messy Bed

I am not a good housekeeper. There I said it. We don’t live in filth; the house is what you would call tidy at times. You will find dust, toys, some dirty dishes, and things of that nature. One thing I do not do is make the beds. I don’t require my children to do this either. I know some people may disagree, and think that this is a good discipline to make a habit out of, but I don’t. I remember when I was younger my mom tried to incorporate making the bed into my routine. I gave her a logical reason why I thought this practice was impractical Why should I make my bed when I am just going to mess it up when I go to sleep? My mom bought this, or she did not feel like arguing. From that day on my mom only asked the beds to be made when company was coming over. I have kept this philosophy.

Let me get to my messy bed. My bed is a place where I like to go during the day and just think by myself, with no interruptions. I am laughing to myself as I write no interruptions. For some reason my kids love my bed, they must be on it when ever they get a chance, especially if I am on it thinking by myself. I still try to get some alone time. I will very quietly sneak up on my bed. All the while keeping my eye on the door. Listening to the kids playing in the bedroom. I think to myself, perfect I made it; I am up here, alone. They didn’t hear me. Then I see a little face peak around the door. It’s Oney, the baby. He sees me and starts screaming “UP, UP!” Then I hear the playing stop. I hear the kids jumping off their own beds, and running into my room. They know mom is alone on her bed. Here they all come, one by one they jump on my bed, hugging and kissing me. They argue who is going to sit right next to me. The boys start to wrestle. Miss wants to talk about stuff. I want to scream, “GET OFF MY BED!” But I don’t.

I remember what I used to do as a kid. I loved being in my Mom and Dads bed. We would all snuggle, as I listened to my Mom and Dad talk and laugh. I remember when my Grandma would be talking teenage issues with my Aunt on her bed. I would just lie there and listen. When my Grandma would lie in her bed and read, I would jump up and insist she read to me from her book, she always would.

Now my bed is the place where I talk to Miss about things that are on her mind. Where I cuddle with Bug. My bed is the place where Lil D, Oney, and I tickle and wrestle. When Big D is home we all sit on the bed and look at Photo albums, listen to music, or just talk about the interesting things going on around us. Sure I could lock the door and tell Miss to watch the kids while I have my alone time on my bed, but I won’t.

I don’t want to think about a time where I may be alone in a big messy bed. Wanting a waiting for someone to come and talk, cuddle, or wrestle. So I will keep my door open and I will welcome the chaos and the quiet moments that happen on my messy bed.