ridiculous garden

Any one else bugged by Blogger lately? I hit the return key and nothing happens.  And some other annoying things are making it difficult to move photos around.  GRrrr...

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Garden in full working order. 

One day the kiddos kept pulling carrots out and coming into the house to wash them off.  Someday I will tell them of how nice of a mom I was that I didn't yell at them for digging in my garden, and for getting mud all over the bathroom.  I kept thinking, "they are eating carrots and having a good time.  Please keep your upset feelings in check, good mom:)"

Here's another annoying thing, why are my photos randomly sideways?  I didn't take the picture vertical, it's not vertical on the computer, but somehow when I upload it, it's rotated!  WHY?!

Anyway, this is my favorite way to use some of the piles of cherry tomatoes that we get every other year from our garden.  This recipe, with chicken, NOT shrimp.  My neighbor gave it to me a couple years ago and I love making it in the summer.  Why not in the winter?  not sure:)

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Me:"That's ridiculous!"
Greg (quoting a show on TV):"No, it's re-donk-ulous!"
Parker (after just playing Donkey Kong for the first time):"NO, it's re-DONKEY KONG-ulous!"  
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Parker (while handing me the nail clippers like this):"They are in nail-clipping mode."
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Me:"Did you drink all your milk?"
Mimi:"I byed more at the fridge."

Zoo and Pops

 

 We headed to the zoo again, this time with 1st cousins and 2nd cousins! 

Here's Yoda eating a frozen, store-bought taquito (something like a small taco--hence the name).   Why? 

Well, he learned quickly about popsicles.  Soon he was pointing to the freezer and requesting one after another after another.  Finally, we ran out.  He wasn't happy and didn't believe me that there wasn't any more "POPS!" in the freezer.  I lifted him up so he could see for himself that they were gone.  

**But all was not lost.**  

There was a bag of frozen taquitos that seemed similar enough to satisfy him.  

He ate a bunch of it before abandoning it in the living room.  A lot easier it clean up then a popsicle.

Summer So Far: Take Two

 Yoda is completely obsessed with trucks and tools.  And both those things are in his limited vocabulary. 

 Carrots in our garden! 

We surprised Parker with a 1/2-birthday celebration.  Since his real birthday is so close to Christmas, I feel kinda bad.  He's mostly a good sport about it, but recently he asked if his birthday would ever be far away from Christmas.  I asked him why and he said because he'd like to have a new toy some other time of year.  I really don't buy toys for no reason, so he doesn't get much stuff during the year.  So one Saturday we went out for his favorite breakfast--Pancakes, and made a list on the top of the place-mat of what he might like to do.  We surprised ourselves with many things on the list.  He chose to spend some of his 1/2-birthday money at the toy store, and spend some more at an arcade. 

Quiet Book Post

It's taken me some time, but here it is...
Here's my old post about quietbooks.  Here's the blog that initially inspired me to get to work.  And here and here are the 2 blogs that reminded me to post what I've done. 

One of the cover pages, my play-on-words with Facebook. 

Old school telephone
The dial spins and the handset is magnetic.
The Clock
It's hands also spin and I'm thinking of adding some time flash-cards to make it more fun for older kiddos.

 

Tic-Tac-Toe
The pieces store in the back of the game board, it's like a pocket.
The zoo
This one was inspired by Mimi's love of animals and the fabric I found that made this page very easy.  The fabric was covered in animals & blue squares.  I just cut them out and sewed up the sides to make mini-finger-puppets.  They also store in the back of the zoo, like a pocket.

Jack-O-Lantern
I made a bunch of eyes, noses and mouths that can be changed around to make a silly pumpkin face.  Again, the pumpkin serves as pocket for loose parts.
Snaps 
I found this super-small, preemie shirt at the 2nd-hand store and thought it would be much easier then sewing on a bunch of snaps. So when Mimi started trying to put a doll in the shirt, it made me think we need a dress up page...

Kite
Just a ribbon to learn how to tie a bow. 
Mailbox
I saw this on one of the MANY quiet book sites and HAD to make one.  The kiddos love this page, and it's fun to find old letters from the past weeks in the mailbox.

Ice Cream
Velcro the small-to-big sized scoops of ice cream.  Of course my crazy kiddos put them on upside-down just for fun.
Apple Tree
Snap off the apples and collect them in the basket.  Mimi:"But apples don't snap onto trees!  Twist and pull!  Twist and pull!  That's how you get apples off a tree!"

Weave a tower
Simple idea and easy to make, but TOUGH for those little hands to maneuver--yeah for fine motor skills!  
Rocket to the stars!
The rocket zips up and down on the ribbon.

Math

I wanted a page that was just for Parker, but Mimi gets a kick out of it too.  Again, the blue felt serves as a pocket for all the numbers. 

Road

This is supposed to have a Matchbox car in the garage, but of course it's missing most of the time.

Dino Count

Also inspired by Mimi, she loves Dinosaurs!  As the Dino's move from one side to the other, the child is supposed to count them out.  I think I'd like to add more to this page, like, say the numbers...

Button Flowers

This is a classic quietbook page.  But I liked the idea of having the flowers be different kinds of flowers, instead of all being daises for example.  So I made an Iris, Tulip, Daisy (of course), Poppy, and a Rose.  The thread and felt are so similar, so you can't see the sweet, little petals, but up close the flowers are more defined.  I just used spare buttons.  This is one of my favorite pages.  

While researching ideas for this book I came across so many variations on the same ideas.  I was amazed at how many button flower pages, old school telephones, roads, and apple trees there are out there.  It makes me think there must have been some original pattern used by a bunch of craft-ers some years ago.  And then over time, as children remembered their quietbooks from their youth, they recreated them, but used new ideas mixed with the old ones.  Why else would all the phones be rotary?  There wasn't a single cell phone found in the dozens of quietbooks I've seen.  Felt and rick-rack were almost always used.  This cannot be a coincidence.  If anyone has any answers/clues please share!  Or if anyone has some more ideas, let me know.  I'd also like to hear any other quietbook memories that are out there.  

I have about 50 more ideas so I want to make more.  I'll let you know how it goes.  Summer just doesn't get me motivated to do almost anything.  But here are some ideas (some classic, some new, some I gleaned from other peoples' blogs, and some I've morphed into my own ideas from many other ideas, I can't take full credit for anything really--except maybe my clever cover page.)

• Peek-a-boo
• Buckle
• Superhero page
• Snowman
• Leaves on a tree
• Fishing pole
• Dress ups
• Garden
• Clothesline
• Dog house

And so much more!

Hottest Day in Decades

How did you spend it?

Did you go to Cub Scout Day Camp?  ALL DAY LONG?  Did you get heat exhaustion?  Did you get so sick you could barely see straight?  And then on the way home throw up in the car in front of 2 cub scouts?  Umm, that's WHILE driving!  Then continue to throw up in the bushes and freak out your 3 children?

No?  Just me?  Huh. 

When I turned around from taking this picture...

this is what I saw...

and in my head, I heard this:

HAN
Boba Fett?! Boba Fett?! Where?

Mimi's changing smile

 

Before all the drama...

After the first tooth was gone...

the next day...2 teeth gone!

And a few days later!  3 teeth missing!


Mimi:"NOW I can stick out SO much of my tongue!"

She stops people on the street to tell them about her missing teeth. 

Summer so far: take one

It's only the beginning of July and I feel like we have had quite a summer already.

The garden is doing better this year.

We went to the zoo with Greg's sister and her kiddos.  (Parker took the picture.)

Greg took the kiddos to the science center to play on some trucks. Yoda was in awe. 

The bad news is Greg didn't pass his latest exam (see all those posed-sad faces?  Actually Yoda's is a sincere-sad face), but the good news is he's been working hard on other parts of the progress.  Wish him luck!

4th of July Parade

Mimi, Yoda, and I (Parker) went to a Parade. Mimi went on a float. I walked. Yoda went in Greg's backpack.











Posted by Parker

Some quotes

Happy Fourth of July! I'll post some pictures of the parade very soon.
But in the mean time...
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Me, on our way to swimming lessons:"Parker, please tell Mimi it's time to go, and that she needs shorts, a shirt, and fresh underpants."

Parker returns without Mimi:"I said what she needed to do and she just said 'fresh under dance!'"
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On our way to Ballet class...
Mimi talking about her leotard:"Why is this like shirty-pants?"

This is the only picture I have of Mimi in her ballet outfit as of yet.  Fishing! 
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While helping Mimi out of the van I often wrap my arms around her, lift her up and then set her on the ground--but she calls this "HUG DOWN"