snow day

Well, this is last week. This week it's 60 degrees.   Edited to add:  except I spoke to soon.  Today it's 30 degrees.  When I typed this two days ago it was warm.  You never can tell this winter!

What is up with the weather?  I'm enjoying the jacket weather in January, but was so happy that we had some snow to enjoy.

We only got an inch or so at our house, these pictures are from Grandma and Grandpa's house where there were several inches. 

I had my snow icecream for the year. Alright, back to light jacket weather. 

carrie and carry bag

I picked up the carrie bag pattern at the fabric shop on a whim.  I was looking for a fun easy bag to carry this winter.  It ended up being really large, but I'm going with it.  I have liked it so much, that I made up a second one as a little thank you gift for a friend.  Here's her bag.

I chose a brown and pink wool like fabric from the 'suit fabric' section.  My friend is a brand new stay at home mama.  She's not a new mama, she's just finally getting the chance to stay home with her kids.  This will be a great bag to throw all of the kids things in when they go out.

This pink and brown lining is so her.  

Here's my bag.  Mine is a gray and pink wool suiting fabric, which I had on hand from a pile that someone passed on to me.  The inside is a pink linen also passed onto me from someone.  I can't keep all my scores straight anymore. 

This is where it usually is, in the car, stuffed full as always, and ready to go. The pattern was easy to use and really straight forward.  I think my bag made up in about an hour and a half and my friend's in two hours or so. 

It really holds a ton.  It was great for travel at Christmastime.  I could carry all my regular purse items as well as Bee's chapter book, my book, a few school papers, my knitting project, Lou's DS, etc. 

It's ok that hubby has teased me for carrying my 'luggage purse.'  I was just getting used to being able to leave the house with a small purse, but I sort of like having a big ol' mom bag again. 

I have no affiliation with Sweet Seams of Butterwick patterns.  All my thought about the Carrie Bag pattern are my own.   Wouldn't it be cool if I had affiliation?   That would be a fun one!

L ladybug day -preschool style

I had not planned on teaching ladybug day, but traded last minute and ended up teaching it with pretty short notice.  I felt only so-so about my materials, but we had a great day and the kids were really good listeners, so I guess they worked out.   I only ended up with one good book at the library, Ladybugs: Red Firey, and Bright by Mia Posada.  I used my ladybug life-cycle models with the book.  I think I got them in a set in the 'educational/science' section at Toys R Us.

This was the kids favorite page.  They loved the larva!  They were pretty gross.

The book was a rhyming one so I went with a rhyming activities.  We haven't done much with rhyming.  I said the picture on the lead as I laid them out in the center of our circle rug.  Then as we took turns, I passed out the lady bugs.  The kiddos matched them up.  

My sweet hubby helped me do a lot of cutting and gluing to get these gals ready.  

 The pictures I used on the leaves and bugs are from The best of Mailbox learning centers preschool/kindergarten 1996, the same place the first letter pictures came from with the kangaroos.

The ladybugs made up pretty quickly.  They are just little black circles (heads) glued on a larger black circle (body).  Then a red circle the same size as the black body is cut in half and glued on for wings.

I used some thick black string for the antennas.  They stuck in place when I laminated them. 

We snuck in this eye-spy page during this little 8-10ish minute pocket in the day.  I made the pictures a little bit bigger than an Hh page I had used several weeks ago and the kids did find it easier.  I also added the words so that perhaps my sister would find some use for it in her 1st grade room.   (I can't share this document with a link since I don't own the copyright for the pictures, but I'd be happy to email you a copy if you'd like to see it better.  Just leave me a note in the comments section.)

Here's Lou's craft.  the construction was pretty much the same as my smaller ones.  The kids stamped the dots on with a round sponge stick stamper thing. 

I had this activity ready just in case we had time and we did end up needing it.  We've done this before with colored rugs and a little bug and a rhyme that says, "Little bug, little bug, are you under the ___red___ rug?"   That was last year when they were 3 and 4.

For this day, we used the rhyme, "Ladybug ladybug, are you under the _____ rug?"  The kids took turns naming a letter and flipping the letter.  It's funny, sometimes the kids enjoy such a simple activity.  You never know.

I've been sending home each week the little letter booklets from Musing of Me.  I don't know if her printables are available right now or not, she had some trouble with copyright issues with the images lately and had to pull her printable.  Sad day, but I think she's got the trouble resolved now.

and then there were the bananas

It's pretty much confirmed that we love dried apples and they are a staple at our house. They are great for snacks, easy to pack in a lunch box and fantastic for road trips. 

And then there were the bananas. 

We were packing for a road trip and I was getting ready to dry a batch of apples.  There was a banana on the counter that needed eaten, so I cut it up and threw it in with the apples.  We are on our third batch of all bananas now!  They are great.  They have a banana flavor, but it's different.  It reminds me of the grilled plantains that we used to get in Florida.  They're lovely and I can't get enough.  We've been drying them the same style but for 11-12 hours at 170 degrees instead of the 13-14 for the apples. 

We've tried apples, pears, apple-pears, tomatoes, zucchini and now bananas.  Apples and bananas are most worth the oven space!  So far the least enjoyable was the zucchini.  We may try some strawberries this Spring, but we usually eat them as fast as we pick them.  I wonder what else we could throw in there?

not so much mother of the year

I may have earned a few mom points for carting Lou all over Tarnation to see the Monster Jam trucks that were in town, but I lost any and all points and went negative for the lessons I taught the kids the next day.

First, let's enjoy Lou, enjoying the trucks.  Bee was at school, although she didn't seem to care that she missed them.

We went with a buddy which makes everything more fun.  Plus, I enjoy his mama, so it was more fun for me too.

The drivers were signing photos of the trucks.  Lou wanted the pictures and autographs, but wouldn't get close to the drivers. His buddy lacked that fear.

Onto the next truck at the next random business in town.

I did 'encourage' Lou to grab the signed photo from the driver himself to be polite, but... oh no, too close..... retreat.  retreat!

So, the Monster trucks came to our town. I got a hold of three passes to the pit party before the show.  Hubby was to take the kids,  I was going to clean, grocery shop, sew.  Then, he had to work.  Here's where the problem started.  The pit party was from 11-12:30, the show was at 2:30.  Surely you could leave between so I packed lunches.  We had plans to walk to the downtown library inbetween and nicely pass the time then walk back over for the show. 

We went to the pit party right at the start of it (11:00) so we would not be rushed on our library picnic, I parked nice and close in the two hour slots.  As the ticket gal scanned our tickets, I asked, "When we leave for lunch, we just get our tickets scanned again?"  She looked at me puzzled and answered, "Oh Honey, you can't leave."  crap.  crap.  crap. 

I explained that we had parked in the two hour spots (I wondered why there were so many free spots so close to the building!) and what was I to do.  I told her I was pretty desperate here.  I was without my husband, had spent all of our money on the tickets and was now going to get towed (Not to mention that our lunches were in the car and we had 3 1/2 hours to kill).  She must have seen the desperation in my eyes because she took me aside and explained that all hope was not lost.  She said that if I 'needed a smoke break' in an hour or so that there was a slightly secret door between sections 112 and 113 and if I talked to a gal names Linda she would let me out that door.  Then I had to walk down three flights of stairs and there would be a gentleman named Paul who would let me outside to smoke.  From there I could hike the few blocks to get back to the front gates and pass through the line of police cars blocking the road and find my car.  Then I just had to make sure I entered back in those same back doors, show my tickets to Paul and then to Linda.  If security stopped me along the way I was not to say that Sandy had said this was ok.  I pretty much started feeling nervous and antsy and like somewhere between Linda and Paul and the security guard we were getting kicked out. 

We went to the pit party, saw the trucks up close and made posters at the kids tables.  Then we found our seats.  It was 11:40.  Crap.  We still had a lot of time to kill and the car to move and lunches to find.  I explained to Bee and Lou that we had a secret mission.  We might have to be a little sneaky and mommy might have to fib a little, but we were in a bind.  Gosh, I rock as a mom.  Lesson taught:  It's ok to lie, if you are in a bind.  

On our way to sections 112 and 113 for my 'smoke break,'  I checked out the concession stands.  $8.00 for a hotdog. $15.00 for a snow cone (I kid you not!). Oh my, now I had to sneak our lunches in too!    We made our way to 112/113 door, and found Linda.  She asked if I needed to get out to smoke.  I answered "Yes."  I am not a good liar.  Bee looked right up at me and smiled. Crap.  lesson taught:  Lying is fun if you are in on a secret.

We made out way through the back part of the building and found Paul at the door which was being held open by a safety cone.  Paul asked if he could help me find my way.  I explained that I was looking for the smokers door. Not as much a lie.  That was the door I needed.  We stood there with a few other smokers until Paul closed the door.  As soon as Paul went back in, the kids and I took off.  I wasn't sure how long a smoke break should take, but I figured we couldn't be faster than 10 minutes, even if we were lucky.  We booked it two blocks or so to the front entrance.  We made our way through the the police cars and ambulances. 

(I'm going to continue telling the story, but also show photos of the later show- so obviously we made it back)

I threw the kids in the car and buckled them up in record time.  I drove all over about a five block radius.  No parking anywhere.  I drove through the only parking garage I know about.  Full.  Crap.  How many cigarettes should I be smoking on this break?  I hated to do this, but I parked in the library parking garage.  I went to the basement of the parking garage where I think only the staff parks.  No one should notice me there.  I threw our lunches in my large purse and we hiked it back to the truck show building.  We went to the back of the building. Paul was no where to be seen, but now a security guard stood there with a few random smokers.  Crap.  He clearly saw us walk the two blocks along the backside of the building.  I whispered to the kids, "I need to both to be very quiet as we get back to our seats, don't do any talking."  I think they sensed the slightly crazy tone to my voice.  Thankfully, the security guard turned and walked over to a police officer a few yards in the other direction.  As long as he didn't turn around we would be fine.  As we approached the door, I slightly more louder than necessary said to the kids (really to all the smokers), "Let's go back in the SAME door we left from."  We ran, I dragged the kids up the three flights of stairs and through the scary back hallway.  I was pretty sure the security guard was following us or the smokers at the door had ratted us out.  Lesson:  run!  There was Linda.  She asked how my smoke break was.  I just smiled and said "thank you."  We were back in. 

It was a long 'smoke break,' but we still had some time to kill.  Like 2 hours.  We also had our lunches.  There were signs everywhere that said, "no outside food or drink.' There were very few people seated still, only the ushers everywhere I looked.  I was pretty sure we would get busted.   So I did what every good mother would do.  I took the kids to the ladies restroom and we sat on the floor of the handicap bathroom stall and had our picnic- sandwiches and oranges at least.  No shame there. It was a pretty clean stall and it's not like we touched anything. Lesson taught: Rules don't apply to us. We will eat whatever food and drink we want. Also:  When you want to do something sneaky, just hide and do it. 

The show was great.  It was loud and smelly, but we enjoyed ourselves.  After about an hour and 20 minutes the music stopped, the lights turned to normal and we gathered our things and stood up.  Then the announcer said, "It's time for out intermission- go get some cotton candy."  Crap again.  It was 3:20, we had been here since 11am and it was only half over!  Lou said, "Is it time to go home now?"  I answered, "I guess so!"  Hannah asked, "What's intermission?"  Crap, I'm pretty sure she knows.  I look at her and said, "It's time to get cotton candy on our way home."  Except when we got out there, cotton candy was $15 a bag!  Thankfully Bee and Lou both said, "Seriously?  That's crazy!" 

We were so far from the front gates and had parked closer to the smokers door, plus we'd already been so naughty this day, so we decided to leave through the smokers door again.  Linda let us out for another smoke break and we walked back to the library. We checked out a few books to feel legit about parking there. 

To top this day off with my good mom skills, I ended up teaching the kids the words to the "Mama Mia, Papa Pia"  song that kids sing.   When I told hubby this story later, his biggest issue was our bathroom picnic.  "That's gross," he said,  "Gross!"

husband in training

He's a good husband in training. 

He bakes.  (He woke asking for pizza and was happy to help make it)

He cleans.  (I had to rewash everything)  Plus he has those pretty curls.

Caution:  He does like to pick out his own clothes and sometimes knocks over chairs when he's angry... but we're working on that.

mending

Lou's poor "new owl blankey" went in for repairs this week.  Again.  Poor blanks.  The orange ribbon is the favorite and that poor corner gets the wear.  Poor blanks, hopefully he'll hold out much longer.  I don't think we're done needing him yet.

good deal on snowflakes

This one isn't just a good buy.  Even better than good buy... this was all free! All of these winter decorations for my little sister's first grade classroom were free courtesy of Target.   We scored these when we were up visiting my sister for Christmas.

Can you believe that Target was just tossing all these nice decorations in the trash?  They are a super sturdy, really thick, sort of plasticy paper and will be great decorations in her classroom for years.   When I saw them in a shopping cart by the registers I asked our cashier if they were going up or coming down. She said they were coming down, but not to bother asking for them though because there is always a waiting list.  I asked.  We got them all!  My sister may have winked at the boy helping us, I can't be certain.

There were a few big 3D snowflakes.

A couple of spiraly springy hangy snowflakes.

And sheets and sheets of what must be 3 foot by 4 or 5 foot snowflakes.  Those are actually what I saw first.  I knew that she had the perfect windows in her room for them.  There were so many that we also covered a huge currently empty bulletin board in the hallway too.  

There are even several sheets more of these snowflakes that are red and purply saved for me someday.  Hubby was doing a lot of groaning about unpacking the car to fit them in, so we'll just wait for another trip!