A Day at the Apple Farm

We shook up our annual apple picking tradition by going to a different orchard this year. The main reason for the change was the opportunity to try out a corn maze. It was hot in that open field and it's a good thing that it didn't take us long because the natives got restless quickly. They also had some really cool stuff at the p[layground, inclusing the tepee and the bouncing tubes. But all in all, I think we'll be back at our beautiful, cool mountaintop orchard next year.

Stuff I'm printing today

1. Crayola's Nature Walk activity page - my kids are going to take this to do at their Gran's for a seasonal little science/art/writing activity
2. Crayola's Autumn Leaves coloring page - I'm going to have the kids color these with their crayola :^) markers and then cut them out and make a border over the deck doors
3. There are other fall Crayola activity pages here.
4. Wondertime's Autumn Adventure cutting pages for Rose
5. Halloween bookmarks from Jan Brett to enjoy this month.

Scavenger Hunts

Can you tell that I'm an all or nothing sort of person. I break my blog silence, and now I can't shut up!

After some political posts - did you call your senators yet?! - here's some fun for you and your kids.

Wondertime has posted some great scavenger hunts, and links to even more. My favorite is the "Get the Green" scavenger hunt. So print and go have a green afternoon tomorrow.

Romancing your husband - Dates

Some people say that to have a healthy marriage you should have date nights. I wouldn't go that far. Many couples throughout history did just fine without "date nights." But they probably still carved time for each other. To take a walk, to talk, to plan, to dream.

How does this romance your husband? Well I can't speak for everyone, but my husband looks forward to our date nights even more than I do. When I'm away from the kids, I am more relaxed and carefree, and I can focus just on him. he can really relax and unwind too. We feel young again. We can do the things that we enjoy without interruption. And I don't have to tell you how date nights with your husband will usually end, especially if the kids aren't home.

Our date nights are easy. We're very blessed to live near Brian's parents, and they enjoy having our kids sleep over one night a week. Obviously this doesn't always happen due to illness and other factors, and sometimes we have work that must be done or a meeting to attend, but usually we have a date.

Now I am very cheap. Having a free babysitter has already eliminated a huge expense, but we still do cheap stuff. A typical date night will find us at Hardees with a buy one get one free thickburger coupon and a shared soda. Then we head home to a DVD rented from the $.99 vending machine in the grocery store or a missed season of a favorite TV show. That was about all that we could do most of the winter because of Brian's health. As his health continues to be in a much-improved state most of the time, we look forward to revisiting some of our older date ideas.

1. Free outdoor summer concerts, from downtown jazz, to university bands, to bluegrass at someone's home
2. Heading downtown for ice cream cones and a walk through the park
3. Many cities, including ours, have free Shakespeare plays in the park
4. Meeting up with friends for an iced coffee (you can get them for free on May 15 at Dunkin' Donuts)
5. Going to the lake for a picnic to watch the sun set
6. Completing a fun project at home
7. Shopping for a special item, such as patio furniture, or a new outfit.
8. Art museum concerts or lectures
9. Tandem biking
10. Roller blading (I really just put this on here for you, because Brian really doesn't care for it, but he used to do it with me. )
11. Reading a book or poetry to each other
12. World music or open mic night at the coffeehouse, another shows documentaries and indie movies

How do I find all of these things?

1. Many cities have free publications that list local events, newspapers do as well. Post any concert schedules you find inside a cupboard door for easy reference.
2. Go to your own visitors center and pick up materials - you'll find plenty of things in your area for dates, family nights, and day trips.
3. Order your own state's visitor guide
4. Bookmark all of your city's websites, as well as all local towns and other nearby cities, and write any events in your date book. We have a town that has weekly jazz concerts, a state park that has bluegrass concerts, a science center that has folk concerts, a city that has weekly concerts on three different nights within 30 minutes of us - and that's just the short list! Don't forget to bookmark recreation district websites, state park sites, and historical sites.
5. Keep tabs on your favorite stores. Whole Foods, for example, often has musicians, cooking demonstrations, and wine tastings. Ten Thousand Villages has cultural events.
   

No babysitter? Try working out a babysitting swap with another couple that you know well. Same night every week, one week you keep their kids, the next they keep yours. Or try working out a deal with a college student - free food and use of the washer and dryer might lower your overall cost. Or maybe a free art or music lesson.

Need some ideas? I love these books:

1. The little black book of Dating ideas
2. The Dating Handbook: 2002 Things To Do On a Date

One of our favorite weekend "getaways" ever was a conglomerate of ideas from lots of books. We were newlyweds and pretty broke (but gas was really cheap!). Friday night we covered all of the electronics in the house and turned all of the clocks around and put the watches away. We slept in with a plan to go to Denny's whenever we wanted to eat since they serve breakfast all day, then we went to see a movie because there were several good ones playing, so we knew that we could choose one regardless of the time of our arrival.

Later we played "spy" following a random car at a distance, and when we lost track of it, we just made random turns to see where we would end up. We ended up not far from another city, so we headed to their mall for a ride on the carousel. It was a crazy, very relaxing weekend.

Cinco de Mayo

Don't laugh, but it just occurred to me today that cinco means five, so Cinco de Mayo means Fifth of May.

I really have never thought much about the holiday. Brian likes it because it gives him an excuse to go out and eat Mexican at lunch, and he loves Mexican food. He also works for a very cool company that loves to celebrate about as much as I do. His top boss is taking, I think, the entire office out for a Mexican lunch (and I don't even know if anyone in the office is of Mexican descent.)

Anyway. Here's some stuff for a last minute celebration of Cinco de Mayo:

1. First read the Wikipedia explanation of this holiday so that we can all be smart together and actually know why this is a holiday. Or have your kids do this informative reading and comprehension activity.
2. Choose a meal plan from Kraft foods, make these taco nachos or Mexican pizza, get some take-out, make tacos, or buy some seven layer dip at Walmart.
3. If you don't have everything you need, why not visit a local Mexican grocery?
4. Read Meet Josefina or some other book about Americans with a Mexican heritage. Or just read a book or two about Mexico. I like this one. And Learning Pages has one for free this month. (Not a member? It's free and their stuff is really cool.)
5. Make this Mexican flag pinata
6. Do the Mexican Hat Dance; we have it on a Music for Little Mozart's CD
7. How 'bout some printables? Learning pages has this fun picture with questions to answer. Apples 4 the Teacher has lots of coloring pages. Family Fun has cute streamers .
8. And finally, crafts. DTLK has a printable Hot Pepper craft. Kinderart tells you how to make a paper bag poncho.

graphic by Celeste’s Holiday Graphic Collection

New Websites

It's always fun to find new kids websites. Angelina Ballerina has a new website! My girls, especially Rose, are big fans. That site led me to:

PBS Kids Sprout - they have the cutest website. Rosie just came down with a fever of nearly 102, and fell asleep watching Noddy video clips.

There are lots of healthy kids recipes, with names and designs based on favorite characters:

• Freeze Dance Pops
• Barney's Purple Hummus Dip
• Brussel's Mini-Quiches
• Jay Jay's Chicken Salad Plane
• Banjo's Banana Splits

And after you've tried them out, you can upload a picture of your kids making or eating them. My kids are gonna love that! You can also upload photos for various parts of the Gallery. And there are pages of video clips of sign language words from The Good-Night Show.

There are also pages of simple (and I mean really simple) crafts. No, you might not think they're beautiful, and they might not make good Mother's Day gifts, but they'll keep your kids occupied with simple household materials and lots of creativity. Some favorites:

• Bottle Cap Ladybugs
• Sponge Sailboat
• String Telephone
• Picture Puzzle

• Name Art

And finally back at those creative, veggie loaded, kid-friendly recipes, I clicked a link to:

KidsHealth where there are even more great recipes with sections of recipes for kids with cystic fibrosis, diabetes, celiac disease, and that are vegetarian. as well as educational games and experiments, information on childhood illnesses and accidents from kids' or parents' perspectives, a whole sections of "How the Body Works" videos that Ethan might totally love (though the one I watched seemed a bit slow-moving) The teens section of the site has some good stuff, but also lots of information you would expect from a public school type setting in regard to private matters. There's also a "Growing Up" section that you may want your kids to avoid before turning them loose on the site, on the other hand, it could be helpful if you are needing to discuss puberty and related issues.

Have fun exploring these new sites or just enjoying the links that I found. See you later!

Outside fun

Playtime outdoors is spring and summer at its best. I want my kids to be out and active as much as possible. As the weather continues to warm and schools let out, I've compiled a list of outdoor activities to encourage or suggest when a little variety or suggestion is needed:

1. Pitch the play tent with or without the rest of the tunnel syste
2. Sprinkler
3. Slip 'n Slide
4. Washable finger paint
5. Picnic
6. Charades
7. Baby, if you love me, smile
8. Wagons
9. Giant bubble wands (available at the Dollar Tree)
10. Sidewalk Chalk
11. Make and tend their own small gardens
12. Card games
13. Freeze tag
14. Ball tag
15. Duck,duck, goose
16. Red light, Green light
17. Simon Says
18. Follow the Leader
19. Hopscotch
20. Ride bikes
21. Ride scooters
22. Roller skate
23. Jump rope (and teach the rhymes)
24. Wash the cars, toys, playhouse...
25. Make a toad abode
26. Plant trees from the random seedlings
27. Make rubbings
28. Water guns
29. Pass football (nerf)
30. Play catch
31. Sit and spin
32. Walkie talkies
33. Light sabres

And a few more that require mostly inexpensive purchases:

1. A big ball - the 40" Bigens play ball sounds lie a good possibility, but I can't find one
2. Hula hoops
3. Spray bottle painting with food colored water
4. Chalkboard paint on one side of the shed
5. Two inexpensive tea sets, one for sand and mud, one for real lemonade and cookies
6. Croquet - Brian thinks I'm nuts for imagining that it will be used for something other than pounding each other
7. A clothesline to facilitate hanging a sheet for painting, puppet shows, etc.
8. Chinese jump rope
9. Badminton
10. Stilts - empty paint cans? seems like no one uses those big coffee tins anymore
11. Stomp rockets
12. A cheap pool to put at the bottom of the sliding board for a water slide
13. A tire swing?
14. And maybe even a sand and water table - something like this?

I like to find cheap toys at yard sales that can be left outside. We have a castle toy and a set of megabloks out there for years that are still doing great, as well as various dump trucks, a sturdy bug box, toddler ride-ons, and playground balls, among other things.

Ethan, is, of course, clambering for a treehouse and zipline, but both require a bit more of the "handyman factor", which I pretty much totally lack. We're all hoping and praying that daddy keeps feeling better and better - then the possibilities could be endless. :^)

Spring photo shoot

Last Friday, we handed the kids a camera a set out to find signs of spring. We had lots of fun, but I think our walk down an azalea, dogwood, and wisteria filled residential street last year actually offered more in spring flower shooting opportunity. We'll go back to that next year.

Happy Arbor Day!

The Superbowl for kids

I originally posted this last year, and thought I'd put it back up.

1. Chocolatey Football Bites from Kraft Kitchens
2. Football coloring pages from DLTK
3. Football games online at the NFL kids site
4. Superbowl countdown at the official superbowl website.
5. Devotional at Annie's Superbowl page.
6. Make-your-own quarterback action figure at Funorama
7. Superbowl Scavenger Hunt from Illuminations
8. Cream cheese and chili dip from Hormel

Budget American Girl fun

Okay, I seem to be on a roll here so why stop? This might make a good stocking stuffer, or just a fun project. I've loved American Girl dolls since they started. Last year, we read the Felicity series together after my kids watched the movie and loved it. Then we read the Kirsten series. Last night we finally saw the Samantha movie and loved that too. We initially made paper dolls of Felicity and Elisabeth for Anna Kate to use with out toy horse collection, and we've added to them. Just mount the pictures of the dolls you like on thin cardbaord, such as a cereal box, cut them out , then laminate them. They are played with often at our house!

these are just a few - the others, having been played with recently, are scattered.

They wanted to play in the sprinkler...

...but settled for a day at the beach. 3 swimsuits, one bathtub, and a few beach towles needed. Sand not required.

Flag Day for Kids

1. Rules for flying the flag and great Americans sharing their thoughts on the flag at the Presidential Prayer Team for Kids website.
2. A candy flag at the Idea Box.
3. A flag to color at Crayola.
4. A craft stick flag craft at Enchanted Learning.
5. Printable flags and skads of other Flag Day ideas at Child Fun.
6. There are several Flag Day worksheets as well as Father's Day sheets in the new Joyous June set of worsksheets at Learning Pages.com. Sign up for access - it's free!
7. The All American Flag Mold, or, if you don't have a mold, Uncle Sam's Red, White, And Blue Parfaits from Kraft Foods.
8. American flag iron-ons from hp.
   

We try to have a Kid's Day party each summer. So far we've had a Pirate and Island Princess Party and a Cowboy and Indians party. This year we're having a Flag Day party. We'll make a flag craft then decorate bikes and wagons and make homemade instruments (or use what we already have) for a parade to Sousa marches. We'll have few all-American games including hot potato (with a flag, of course). We'll learn and sing "You're a Grand Old Flag," then read some flag books while enjoying hot dogs on a stick, the flag mold, and watermelon star pops. After lunch, we'll turn on the sprinkler and jump in the pools for some water fun. Maybe the Cool-Off Game or water balloons too.

You want games?

Family Fun has a list of 99 summer games and more!

Letterboxing

Have you heard of this? Do any of you do it?

I recently read a magazine article (Nick Jr. or Family Fun probably) and it sounded very fun. I like hobbies with minimal expense that the whole family can enjoy and this seems to fit the bill. It seems that you create a rubber stamp for yourself or your family and have a journal for stamping in. People hide letterboxes with their stamp and journal in places like national and local parks and leave clues for finding it. When you find the box, you stamp their book with your stamp and your book with theirs and rehide it. It's modern day treasure hunting, and we've got several hidden near us!

Check out LetterboxingNorthAmerica for more information.

Summer Movies

Don't forget tot take advantage of the free summer movies offer by most large cinemas. It's a fun, cool (air-conditioned!), and usually FREE way to spend a summer morning and catch up on family movies you haven't seen or want to see again. We actually avoid renting new children's movies so that we can see them for free on the big screen first.

Here's the link for regal cinemas:
http://www.uatc.com/freefamilyflicks/index2.jsp

Five things to do this weekend

1. Attend a spring or strawberry festival. There are a few to choose from around here.
2. Make these strawberry sparkles for a special treat.
3. Paint a picture of a strawberry with strawberry scented paint.
4. Plant a sunflower house
5. Plan an end of school party.

Splashing in the Rain

All of the kids seem to be so much better that I might even pronounce them "well." Brian's the hold-out with still very much pain, and he's caught the kid's eye infection. But I got his antibiotic eye drops today and I've ordered one of the best arsenals I know of - Melaleuca's Vitality pack vitamins and their immunity booster, and more FibroMalic from iHerb. Hopefully we'll have them in by week's end and get back on track.

Due to the passed-around eye infections, I finally barred them from going outside for the past two days (mostly,at least) to get a break from the pollen, and they are driving me nuts with their energy. I was finally ready to take on the strawberry patch or park tomorrow, only to find rain in the forecast for the next few days. It's raining now, and I'm sure that the strawberry patch will be a mud hole, but I'm dying for fresh berries and time is running out. Then I read this article at thegreenhour.org. So inspirational! The children love to run in the rain, their colds are cleared up, and the pollen will be washed away. I'm going to get out the rain coats and let them have fun and maybe if it's not raining all day, we'll pick strawberries in the mud too. -But only if I can figure out a way to keep my cleaned van clean.

Back to thegreenhour.org. This was my first visit, but it looks like a wonderful site. The NWF tends to be a liberal organization, but their children's publications (Animal Baby, Your Big Backyard, Ranger Rick) are wonderful and this new site was launched for, in their own words:

"The National Wildlife Federation recommends that parents give their kids a "Green Hour" every day, a time for unstructured play and interaction with the natural world. This can take place in a garden, a backyard, the park down the street, or any place that provides safe and accessible green spaces where children can learn and play.

To give parents and caregivers the information, tools, and inspiration to get their kids -- and themselves -- outside, NWF has created GREENHOUR.ORG, a website rich in family-friendly content and which hosts a supportive virtual community where families can learn, explore, and share their outdoor experiences and backyard adventures. "

Extra dolls and stuffed animals?

My kids were begging to take dolls and teddy bears outside a few months ago. I don't like those things going outside because they come back in dirty or get left out there and get ruined. But they wanted to play with some of them outside.

I realized that I had some extras I was planning on getting rid of in the attic. We seem to always get so many for Christmas and birthdays and in between. I'm sure you all do the same thing, sorting through and taking out ones that are similar or not played with often. Well, now I let them take dolls and bears, and stuffed pillows like that outside. They pick them up and store them in a cloth laundry bag inside the playhouse on the deck. If they're dirty, I periodically wash them in hot water. If they're hopeless, I can throw them out without feeling badly, because they were headed out anyway.

Now the kids are happy to have dolls and animals to play with outside. And I'm happy that they're not ruining the toys that they sleep with at night.

Childhood games

This was inspired by one of Lindsey's readers asking for "thingless" games for her kids to play, but I'm expanding my list to include simple things that most people have, like chalk, a ball, or a tree. I'll keep adding to it from time to time. Add your favorites too.

1. The Farmer in the Dell
2. Freeze tag
3. Pantomimes - my kids love to play this with us!
4. Concentration - pat one leg, then the other, then snap each finger in a 1,2,3,4,rhythm. Then begin the game by assigning a number to each player. as the first person snaps she says her number (1), then another person's number (3) in her rhythym. Play continues without breaking the beat by missing your number or not saying someone else's. Whoever breaks the rhythm is out. Last kid snapping wins.
5. Hand clapping games like "Oh Playmate, Come out and Play With Me" and "Hot Cross Buns" and "A Sailor Went to Sea, Sea, Sea"
6. Kick the can
7. Four square
8. Jacks - we'd get brushburns on the side of our hands from playimg on the sidewalk
9. Hopscotch
10. Climbing trees
11. Catching lightning bugs
12. Blowing bubbles
13. Ball tag