Nov 25, 2009

Sugar cube houses/ walls and towns...












We had some silly sweet fun today - After schoolwork was done and a movie was watched, Sam and Abby set to work building houses and cities with sugar cubes - using icing as 'cement'.

We also had an indoor snowball fight - with marshmallows!!!!  :)

They burned off some of that 'sugar high' by heading out for a walk with the dogs!!

Animal sewing cards...






I saw these great animal sewing cards at Chez Beeper Bebe.  So I quickly printed the pdf and created a few of them for Sam to use!  I made these two just by sticking them on to cardboard to make them stronger, but I think I will make the others by laminating the animals before hole punching the holes!  That will make them last longer for sure!!!

These cards are GREAT for hand - eye co-ordination!!!

My wish came true!!!






;)

The things they notice....

So Lloyd has noticed that if he makes Lara Croft crouch down, and then makes her stand up, her boobs bounce!!  He thinks thats fab lol - and funny ;)  BUT what gets me is that some sad little game designer actually designed that into the game!!!!!  lol!  I guess boob bounce is important and realistic huh??  lol!

Another...






I decorated another notebook - this time another big notebook :)  I love these little books :)

Festive touches.....






I picked up this little cushion a few weeks back - it has a little pocket on it for a child to leave a letter to Santa on Christmas Eve.  I thought it would look perfect on the little yard sale rocking chair I painted white this Summer.  It looks really cute in the corner of the kitchen/ dining room.

I picked up the holly and the fir cones at the Reuse Centre last week and decided to fill a bowl with them.  I haven't decorated for Christmas yet, but when I do, this will sit on the table in the front hallway. I had a big pile of holly stems left, so I have filled a jug with some and that is sitting on my dining room window sill - and I have another bowl full in the front room.

I will probably decorate fully this weekend.

How about you????  Have you decorated for Christmas yet?  What plans do you have for decorating?

finishing touches....









Lloyd has been busy in my craft room - the baseboards are now all on - and he has started the crown moulding.  I think it all looks lovely :)

Oh and the white basket in the picture is one I got at the Reuse Centre last week :)  I thought it would look perfect in my craft room for holding supplies :) At the moment I am keeping my punches in it, but I may use it for holding more mini albums instead!!

Altered notebooks.....






These little notebooks are pocket sized composition books that I altered.  I LOVE these little books and have altered some for each of my kids now - I asked Laurence if he had used his and he says he uses it a lot as a little diary!  :)

You can get a pack of 4 for $1 at the dollar store on Wye by Safeway.

I also love altering the bigger composition books.  You can get them at Staples for $4 each but to be honest I prefer the ones from Dollarama at $1 each!  They seem to be stronger and the pages don't fall out!!!  :)

silly....

Is it silly to get excited about sitting in Starbucks and chatting with my hubby over something yummy???  I'm so looking forward to heading out this evening to run a few errands - and we plan to drop in to Starbucks for coffee and a few minutes together :)

Lloyd was supposed to be out tonight but has changed it until tomorrow night - but we had our date night on Monday instead - so tonight is our normal date night - coffee together will be nice.

Lloyd tells me he's going in late tomorrow so he can have coffee with me in the morning - because he will be home late :)

The house smells yummy - I've had meatballs in the crockpot all day - in a yummy tomato sauce with peppers, baby corn, carrots and peas.  I'm cooking wholewheat spaghetti to go with it.  I'll probably put some salad with it.  What are you all having for dinner?

Tomorrow is Thanksgiving in the USA.  I'm writing a gratitude list to blog about tomorrow - so have a think of a few things you'd put on YOUR gratitude list - and share it with us tomorrow!!!

Rhonda!!

You can read about the reuse centre on my homeschooling blog - hope that helps!  You're the second person to ask me about the reuse centre today!!  I hope everyone likes it - it is probably one of those places where some days they have LOTS of great stuff and other days not so great - but we loved it and I was thrilled to get soooo much stuff for just $4 AND feel environmentally friendly :)

My hump day.....

I am in a very mellow - stay-at-home mood right now.  We have the fire on and after finishing up their school work this morning, Abby and Sam are cuddled up by the fire with popcorn, watching Santa Buddies.  Sam hasn't seen it yet.

I just had my breakfast (yep at mid day lol) of toast made from Lloyds AMAZING home made multigrain bread.  He now uses multigrain flour with flax seed, rye and cracked wheat.  It's YUMMY!!!  He makes it every two or three days :)

I need him to learn to make bagels because the kids eat a lot of bagels - although they LOVE the bread too...

Mmmmm mini marshmallows and chocolate chips.  I needed something sweet and a hand full of those two together was just enough :)

I need to go and refill the bird feeders and put another load of laundry in.  After the movie the kids want to build sugar cube houses.  I really should wash some windows but I think I may procrastinate over that a little longer.

Lloyd and I are going out for coffee tonight as I saw something yesterday I wanted to get but couldn't because I had a certain 7 year old with me ;)

I plan to decorate a couple more notebooks this afternoon as I have an idea for things to write in them!!  I bought a few packs for Susannah to alter and decorate for gifts for her friends too.  I made Laurence , Abby and Sam one each recently and they love them :)  I hope I'm inspiring more love of paper and notebooks and lists and writing in my kids!!!

Lloyds Grandad sadly died last Christmas, and it has taken a long time for his apartment to sell in England, but finally it has - which will mean closure for all those involved.  I know it's been very stressful for R and J in the UK who have been dealing with all the financial and legal aspects - as well as fixing up the apartment and dealing with realtors.  Lloyd has big business plans for his share of the money, but I do hope he will get himself something small to remember his Grandad by - something he can have here at the house.  I suggested a picture/ painting - of a theme that reminds him of his Grandad - horses or chickens or something.  R and J have had a stressful year all round, and so I hope now they can relax a little.

Sundays still seem a little odd without Lloyds regular call to his Grandad! :(

Christophers school was on the breakfast news this morning.  Lorraine was there all morning talking about the theatre arts they teach there as well as the academic side of the school - and they gave displays from the upcoming school production of 'White Christmas' as well as dance classes.

They were talking about how his school is now the top performing arts school in the country - and in the top 5 for North America!!!  It also is an IB school with a fabulous academics program!  It really is a great school!!!!  :)  So glad we got him in there!!  Chris is participating in two debate / speech events in upcoming weeks - he is taking part in the mock legislature where he will act as an MP and debate issues in the Legislature.  It's a two day event.

He is also taking part in a speech competition held at another school where he can either recite poetry or improv or something similar......I hope he does well.  He has more voluntary work lined up too.  He will graduate next year - or rather he could, but he is planning on staying in school and taking extra classes so that he is 18 when he heads to college - although we have talked about him taking a year off to travel.  I'd like him to do that for sure!!  Maybe go and do voluntary work somewhere - see the world, and THEN settle down to film school or whatever he wants to do.  I think that would give him a great base to build on!

We'll see I guess!!

Laurence has been career focused at school recently too.  He spent a day at work with Lloyd, and learned a lot about himself.  He also attended a big career fair in the city last week.  He THINKS he would like to either be an architect or an airline pilot.  He has been learning what those careers require and seeing if he would be up to the job.  His school work is going really well this year and all his grades are up.  I don't think he will have any problem going in to whichever career he chooses.  We haven't decided on a high school for him yet, but will go to all the open houses in the new year and decide then.

Susannah was chosen as the lead in her school play for Christmas.  She plays a CTV news reader!!  She is also in the choir and often sings solos, so she is very busy learning her lines!!

 Her report wasn't as FABULOUS as always - it said "Susannah talks too much in class and often distracts others"!!  I had to stop myself from laughing because I swear it was a total duplicate of almost ALL my reports when I was a child.  I was always being told off for talking too much and distracting others ;)

Funny thing is, all her previous reports have said "Susannah is too quiet"  or "Susannah needs to speak up"   hahahaha so now she IS ;)  Not quite the way they wanted but......  ;)

School was just a social event for me at her age lol - I was just interested in seeing my friends....I still did ok though and I have do doubt Susannah will be the same ;)

Ok, the movie is finishing....I'd better get the craft/ activity ready for Sam and Abby so they can make these sugar cube houses!!!  I foresee a big sticky mess to clean up later....and the need for a walk with the dogs to burn off some sugar highs ;)  No doubt plenty will get eaten as they build ;)

Get dirty!!!







Over the years I have had several friends who obsess over cleaning and keeping their homes sterile - and more importantly, keeping their children clean and sterile!!  I have always noticed that these families tend to be the ones who are always sick!!!!

I had a friend in the UK who used to disinfect everything!!!  The British equivelant of lysol wipes was always in her hands and she was constantly cleaning down door handles and the like.  Both her kids had asthma - and on top of THAT, they were just always sick - stomach flu, coughs and colds etc etc.

I've always believed that it is important for normal (ie no underlying MAJOR health reason to protect them) kids to build up a healthy immune system.  That, mixed with a healthy diet and adequate exercise and fresh air is soooo important in my opinion.

My home is clean - I focus on the bathrooms and kitchen daily, but I'd rather be doing things with my kids and letting them get messy and creative, than wiping down surfaces with lysol and worrying needlessly about germs.

Todays blog post on Free Range Kids is about results from a study in the US proving that keeping kids in a germ free environment is NOT good for them!  Kids need to come in to contact with those bugs from a very early age so they can build up strong and healthy immune systems.
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