Recent Run

Mr. Snippity recently finished his first half-marathon. He finished in about 2 hours 22 minutes.

Here are his cheerleaders! We anticipated his locations and cheered for him in 3 places along the route, plus once when we passed him in the car.

Fun stuff!

mouse

I was a little late getting up this morning. Something about staying up late trying to beat my husband at the bejeweled blitz game on facebook might be one reason...

Anyway, I got the kiddos out the door to the school bus, and I went straight for the computer (to check my email~not facebook). I was a little bleary-eyed at first, but quickly noticed my mouse was not working. This happens from time to time, because we have a wireless mouse, and we have to recharge the batteries sometimes. I went to check the batteries, and realized the mouse was really a bar of soap. Real, soap! Complete with lines drawn to resemble the real mouse buttons. My wonderful son is responsible for the soap moouse...but the bad part is I cannot find the real mouse! I am so glad I have access to a laptop, so I can get my naptime facebook fix!

Tasty treat

Our church's youth recently participated in a progressive dinner. I helped out making some appetizers. This was part of my contribution:

It is fruit kebabs! I used cantaloupe, fresh pineapple, kiwi and grapes. I used a sturdy plastic coffee stirrer for the stick...and red delicious apples halved as the base. I served them with a yogurt peanut butter dip.

Game or no game?

I'm hanging out at home, listening to my oldest whine and complain because I wouldn't let her go to a football game. She even posted it as a status on her facebook.

A little history:

• She is in 8th grade, but plays in the high school marching band. We go to all their home games, plus competitions and we participate in fund raisers.
• She plays Parks & recreation soccer...meets 2 or 3 times a week.
• Her middle school has a football game tonight against their rival school.
• She has a soccer game at 7:30, so she would have to leave the football game early.
• She has no money of her own.
• The friend she was going to ride with was going to be late going to the game.
• She threw a temper tantrum earlier when I politely requested her to pick up some stuff in her room.
• more, but not going into details

Therefore..NO game...and I am ruining her life. This teenage thing is lovely.

Reading Corner Flannel Board

I made a neat thing in my playroom recently. I call it a Reading Corner Flannel Board. I had been intending to paint a tree in this corner for quite a while. Well, I made a few changes and now it is a multipurpose tree!

There are a few small shelves behind the center tree section for storage of flannel board story pieces. Also, two small shelves in the trunk are perfect for highlighting a specific story or theme material. Now, I need to create or buy some stories to use!

My local child care resource is going to use this idea in their next provider newsletter. One of provider friends told them about it.

Blog Jam

I keep coming up with ideas that I should blog...but I am not at a computer. Then, when I have computer time, I keep forgetting what it was! Sorry. There is a lot going on for me right now, and I don't always like to share the serious stuff...I want fun & happy to shine through on the blog, and not weigh anyone down with the difficulties of day-to-day life. I figure you all have enough of your own.

So, in my attempt to keep it light, and to let you laugh at me, I'll tell you about something I did recently.

I went to Walmart. Woo hoo, I can hear the excitement now! hahah! I did go...a couple of weeks ago. I was out of many pantry staples, and I also needed some fabric for a craft project. We have no other place to get the fabric locally...so I went. I was kind of trying to hurry, as shopping on Saturdays gets a little crazy due to the influx of vacationing families in our area. I bought a huge container of grape jam. I love jam because it spreads so easily. Went home, unpacked, and got on with my day.

The following week, I went to make pb&j for lunches. I realized I bought jelly instead. Now I have this five thousand serving size jar of jelly. It just is not the same. When all I wanted was jam :)

Any suggestions on how to use it up quick? I am too frugal to just get rid of it!

4 stars

For my non-facebook followers :) I am so excited to announce that my child care has recieved on increase on the state scales...to a four star childcare home. It has been two years since I licensed my home. I have been doing childcare for seven years so far (september 2002). I started out as a legally-operating non-licensed home. I kept 2 children plus my family. Then I had another baby. And somehow, I ended up with a child in my care who was going to have a baby brother. And I had no legal spaces. So, I jumped on the paperwork bandwagon. I wish I had gone ahead and gotten a license at the beginning, since it really hasn't been as terrible as I thought it would be. Anyway, when you start out, you can only have one star for the first six months. Then I started taking early childhood college classes. After that, more paperwork, and I got a 3 star license. I recently had the consulant come visit again, did the paperwork, and have the extra star. There are only 5 stars available, and I am not eligible to get the fifth star until I have the famil child care home rating assessment completed. This is a pretty intensive undertaking, so I am not planning on having it done soon...but eventually.