Kids Book Corner

  • Goose Girl
  • Mrs. Frisby and The Rats of NIMH
  • Peter and The Shadow Thieves
  • Peter and The Star Catchers
  • Simon Bloom, The Gravity Keeper
  • Stella Brite and The Dark Matter Myster
  • The Island of The Blue Dolphins
  • The Phantom Toll Booth
  • The School Library Journal
  • The Sisters Grimm
  • Tuck Everlasting

Labels

Monday, May 17, 2010

Daddy is Great, Gives Us Chocolate Cake


Mommy is Great <<<<<-----------

Eve asked to frost the cake I had in the refrigerator and I said for her to have at it! She asked me to help her frost it. I showed her the scoop and plop method, which gives you a lot of frosting to move around. She had no problems after that demonstration.

Noah demonstrates his Puss in Boots imitation from Shrek 2:




If you are unfamiliar with the title's reference check out this sketch by Bill Cosby. Michael and I love it:



Smiles!

Wednesday, May 12, 2010

Johnny Cakes and Homework Passes...


Noahism


As I waited with Noah and Eve for their school bus I asked Noah if he was sure he had all of his school work ready for the day. With Michael being sick helping everyone with homework was put on the back burner for the evening. He recalled that he hadn't finished his spelling homework.

me: "So, Noah did you get all of your homework done?"

Noah: "Oh...I forgot to do my pioneer spelling words, but it's okay I have a homework pass."

me: "So, because you didn't plan properly you are just going to fall back and turn in the homework pass?"

Noah: "Yeah, that's how I roll!"

I went to school a bit later to help the kids mix some corn muffin mix and blueberry muffin mix in preparation for Pioneer Day. I related this story to Noah's teacher who replied, "Dude, that's what they're for." She totally gets Noah, which is so comforting.

This story reminds me of an earlier argument between Noah and Rachel. At some point, over breakfast, I brought up that I was going to school to help Noah's class with the Pioneer Day baking. Rachel and Sabrina reminisced about the tasty corn muffins. Noah interjected, "They are called Johnny Cakes."
Rachel testily replied, "They are still corn muffins." Noah repeated his first statement. Which made me imagine out loud what it might be like when Noah is older and pulled over by a police officer:

Noah: "I was actually going 67 miles an hour, which would be exactly 12 miles over the speed limit."

Officer: "Thank you for that information, sir. I will duly note that on your ticket, which should cost you about $200.00 more. If you continue talking we can discuss this down at the jail."

Noah: "It should be called a Correction Facility."

If you have met Noah you are aware this scenario might actually occur.

Smiles!

Tuesday, May 11, 2010

(Cake) Pop Goes the World




Michael and I are nursery leaders in our ward. We have 12 kids, usually, and they consist of kids who are potty training. I have taken on the duty of helping the little ones go potty and I come up with the art project ideas. Michael helps with crowd control, funny faces, singing in key, and making the art projects actually work. I have a fingerprint tile Aaron did back in 2002 and it hangs in the kitchen. I decided I wanted to have the kids in nursery make them for Mother's Day gifts a week in advance. I grabbed my
1.Ed Emberley's Complete Funprint Drawing Book

2. white 4.5 x 4.5 white tiles from Lowe's
3. acrylic paint
4. black Sharpie
5. wet wipes
6. Acrylic spray sealer
7. apron
8. 3x5 cards (to write down the page number and animal/animals the kids wanted)
9. and two additional people to help (Thanks, Deborah P., and Brother Howick)
10. felt for the backing
11. ribbon for hanging
12. liquid nails for interiors

Here is what the kids stamped with their fingers, then Michael sketched in what they wanted. I sealed them, cut the felt and glued the ribbon and felt to the back. It was a team effort.



I had the "brilliant" idea to use some paper bags and some construction paper to make puppets that looked like the moms for an additional Mother's Day craft. Michael cut out red construction paper lips and black paper became hair, along with yellow, and off white. The off white paper was colored brown by the kids. We had a few kids dissolve into sobs as they had to wait for lips to be glued, or the crayon they wanted. Michael rolls his eyes and perseveres with my impromptu ideas. He had to console one particular child because we didn't have purple construction paper for lips. He gets next week off, but I can't promise that after that I won't have another harebrained craft idea to pursue. Oh yeah...Father's Day is coming up. Toss any ideas my way.


::::::::::::Teacher Appreciation Week:
One of my favorite websites is Bakerella.com. Her cake pops are a total hoot. I decided to make the apple version for teacher gifts at the kids' elementary school

(This template is by 3 Paper Peonies)



Eve helped me make smiley faces for my mother-in-law, Sydney.
(This template is by Christine Newman)

Must go. Peace out, my friends!

Thursday, May 06, 2010

Thursday



Surreal Moment of the Day:

I tried to open my front door by pressing the door open button on my key ring. It only took a split second for that Duh moment to pass, but I may want to check into getting a sonic screwdiver.



These pages are from an event in February:
One of the moms made a comment that our troop is the F Troop of Girl Scouts. I had a good laugh at that one. Our girls love to put on skits and they call themselves the Drama Queens. We are a diverse and quirky bunch. I have a great time with them.





My Flick Pick of the Day:

A blast from the, not too distant, past is the hilarious movie Jimmy Neutron. There are so many things to enjoy with this movie. Sheen and Carl are the best, mostly clueless, friends of Jimmy Neutron the boy genius. The evil aliens voiced by Patrick Stewart and Martin Short keep me laughing with their pomposity (is that a new word?). Jimmy and his friends build spaceships to reclaim their abducted parents when they realize they do, indeed, miss them. The sound track is fun to sing and dance to even if your kids try to physically restrain you from doing both (yes, that happened to me only this morning!). So, if you are looking for a fun family flick for Friday (oohhh, that was cool) try this one:



So much time and so little to do!

Monday, May 03, 2010

Lordy, Lordy...Yes I'm 40!




A big thank you to my mom and Jim for inviting some awesome friends to partake in some tasty Mexican food, yummy cake and some good natured ribbing. I stole this photo from Jim's blog because I love my friend, Althea's, laugh. Hey, if any of you fly Delta she is one of the best flight attendants around. Another friend, Elizabeth, just moved back to Georgia and is working at Emory so look for great stuff there...but I hope you won't need the services. Suzanne and Jason are great neighbors to my mom and friends. Lani and Guy...thanks for the cool pinwheel (it is in the front yard) and Eve has claimed the balloons. Carol...thanks for the cute card! Charlene...thanks for driving Lani and me places when we were kids. Thank you mom and Jim for the cool presents and always helping with my kiddos. To my dear husband who went shopping with me for my 5th smoothie maker...you are a patient man! It was a truly fun day!


A torrential downpour to start the week. MMMmmm the smell of runoff in the morning!


Need an inexpensive adventure...try the library:




:::::::::::::::
Autonomatonophobia is the fear of ventriloquists' dummies, animatronic creatures or wax statues -- anything that falsely represents a sentient being.

I actually think ventriliquism is pretty cool, but that is as long as the ventriliquist and dummy are on television. I really liked Willie Tyler and Lester in the early 70s so my mom was so cool to get me a Lester doll. Lester stared at me all the time, so I put him in my toy box. I wasn't sure if that was good enough, so I put my bag full of Barbies on top of that. Still I wasn't sure if he might get out and kill me, so I wedged my Barbie airplane and any other firm items on top of the toy box just to be sure. I eventually donated Lester to someone with more sense. Some unknown person mind you, but probably with more sense. I also feared my wicker chair, the space under my bed and leaving my closet open. Rachel finds it amusing that I would hit my bed after a dead run and a leap to make sure nothing could grab me a night. I know I'm not alone in these fears because I saw Poltergeist and who ever wrote the script for that listened to my nightmares, or had the same ones. Clowns are evil, people! Do I realize these are unfounded...yes...do I still get creeped out...yes!
One of my favorite Twilight Zone episodes is with Tele Savalas and Talking Tina:




http://whatafind-antiques-collectibles.blogspot.com/2009/01/eg-goldberger-willie-tyler-lester.html

So long Lester...I hope you are safely resting in a place far, far away!