Who's your daddy?

Some kids are about to start kindergarten. 

When I had daycare kids that age, I thought it was a good idea to review their parents' names. You know, just in case. 

The conversations often went like this:

Me: "What's your daddy's name?"

Little one: "Daddy."

Me:  "I mean his name."

Little one: "Daddy."

Me: "OK. You know your grandma is your daddy's mom, right?"

Little one: "Yes."

Me: "Well your grandma didn't name her newborn baby, Daddy."

Little one: "Yes she did."

When a conversation gets to this point with a preschooler, you just have to give them the facts and revisit the topic another time.

And so I'm thinking it wouldn't be a bad idea for young children everywhere to be reminded their parents' names.

Phone numbers, too.

Have a lovely day!

Friendship bracelets for end of summer

It's the end of summer. 

Do you have a houseful of bored nocturnals milling around looking for something to do? 

Perhaps you also have some barefoot neighbor kids thrown in the mix, too?

Celebrate their summer alliance with friendship bracelets. All you need is some yarn. And maybe a few beads.

Tape three stands of yarn to the table and space the strands.

Then begin braiding.

Add a bead or two if you want to be fancy.

Then, just tie the two ends together to make a bracelet! 

If the strands are really long, you can drape it on the arm, then twist and double over. (you know, like when a necklace is too long). This makes a thicker bracelet. 

The end of summer is such a bittersweet season.

Have a lovely day!




This post shared on:
Artsy-Fartsy Mama

The party is when?

You know how it is.

Maybe you forgot a get-together. Or one of the kids neglected to tell you about the school BBQ and you're supposed to bring a dish to share.

Keep this recipe in your back pocket and the ingredients on hand. You never know when a party will sneak up on you!

AMBROSIA - QUICK AS A WINK!

Ingredients:

3 cans of chunk pineapple
3 cans of Mandarin oranges
1 jar of Maraschino cherries
Couple handfuls of mini marshmallows
16 oz (two normal tubs) whipped cream
Optional: shredded coconut, pecans, walnuts

Instructions:

Drain the fruit
Mix all ingredients, except whipped cream, in a pretty bowl
Gently stir in the whipped cream

Then, cover the bowl and hop in the car!

Have a lovely day!

A is for animals

When I had an in-home daycare, we focused on one letter of the alphabet per week.

I made this memory game using our pets' photos. (A is for animals!). It took no time at all to put this game together.

Since we have lots of photos of Mr. Cool, Little Weirdo and Kitty Baby, I just found one picture of each of them. Then I printed two copies of each photo.

Depending on the ages of the kids playing, you may want to "laminate" the photos. I cheat-laminate by covering fronts and backs with packing tape; and I definitely needed to laminate these photos, because the players of the game were all three and younger!

To play: flip all the photos over so the pictures are hidden. Then, as in the classic game, Memory, just flip one photo at a time while trying to find its match.

You can add photos of other animals like lions, giraffes, fish, etc. Keep the game simple with only four or six photos or add a lot more to create a challenge for older kids.

Have a lovely day!



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Mad in Crafts
Flour Me with Love

Blue jean organizers

I had quite a collection of blue jeans with holey knees. It was time to re-purpose a few of them!

I grabbed a curtain rod and glued some red ribbon to it.

Then I cut the jeans at approximately the same lengths. 

The curtain rod was threaded through the belt loops of the jeans. 

Finally, I tied the curtain rod to shelf brackets.

The pockets come in handy for storing odds and ends.

Here is how the whole thing looks:

The parts of the jeans I cut off are still being stored. 

Isn't denim great? You never know when even the smallest bit of it will come in handy.

Have a lovely day!
 








Shared on these sites:
Handy Man, Crafty Woman
Life with the Crust Cut Off

D is for daycare

I'm going to post my menus, activities and paperwork from when I had a daycare.

Who knows--might be of use to somebody.

I'll post the exact menus I used. I won't jazz them up for this blog or anything. It's all real life here.

Theme: the letter "A." (I'll post activities separately.)


Monday:
Breakfast: Oatmeal with baked apple pieces
Snack: zucchini bread or bananas
Lunch: turkey, sweet potatoes, Mandarin oranges and bread
Snack: yogurt
Supper: Hot dogs or brats, baked beans, chips and marshmallows. (cookout)

Tuesday:
Breakfast: bagels and banana
Snack: graham crackers and pears
Lunch: ravioli, green beans and peaches
Snack: vanilla pudding
Supper: Tater tot casserole or Boca burgers

Wednesday:
Breakfast: English muffin and peaches
Snack: Cheerios and peas
Lunch: ham, cheese, mashed potatoes, applesauce, bagel
Snack: cheese crackers
Supper: frozen pizza and a salad

Thursday:
Thanksgiving Holiday

Friday:
Breakfast: Cheerios and Mandarin oranges
Snack: peas and cheese
Lunch: ham, cooked carrots, applesauce and bread
Snack: animal crackers
Supper: Thanksgiving leftovers

Notes (please read):

The kids in my care ranged from 1 1/2 to 3 years old. No matter what is being served, please make sure to cut foods into small pieces so little ones don't choke! I always erred on the side of too small. I worry. Can't help it. 

The meats I used are lunch meat unless otherwise noted.

Also, run every food by the parents before getting into a menu routine. Of course you need to know about allergies, but if the baby hasn't had blueberries yet, for example, you don't want to serve them. 

Also, you probably want the kids to try new foods at home (in case of issues). Same goes with medications. Don't give the first dose. Let baby's mom do that. :)

Missouri didn't require me to be licensed, so my meal plans don't follow any specific nutritional guidelines. Of course, I tried to keep things healthy, though!

My meals plans also include suppers for my family which *may* include some convenience foods. 

Hey. Cut me some slack, Jack. It's not easy to run a daycare, have a family AND cook everything from scratch!

OK...one more note I'm adding since this posted: I think I will back-date the upcoming daycare posts and put them all under the "daycare" tab above. This is so that the daycare topic doesn't take forever to accumulate and so that the topic of daycare won't hog my content stream. My readers can just go to the tab if they're interested.

Yes, that's what I'll do. Thanks for being patient while I sorted it all out.

Hope you find this useful!

Toy box for big kids

It all started with the Rubik's cube I found before the yard sale. I thought how fun it would be to keep it in the living room so people could pick it up and noodle around with it.

Then I thought of other things big kids (and grown ups) might like to play with. 

Here is what's in the box:

1. Three ball pit balls to juggle or play catch with. I allow ball throwing in the house and I'm proud of it.
2. The black bag behind the balls contains plastic cups to stack.
   
3. I'm hoping a rousing game of Mancala might break out soon.
   
4. Who doesn't like an Etch a Sketch?
5. Ball on a string. Catch it in the cup!
6. A wooden puzzle.
7. Silly Putty.
8. A yellow egg-shaped rattle for shaking a beat.
9. And, of course, a deck of cards.

Hey look! 

One of the kids wants to play!

Have a lovely day!
  




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Pursuit of Functional Home
Snoopy's Dog Blog
Frugally Sustainable 

You wouldn't be so trusting, either

Babs has really been through it. Unfortunately, her story is not unusual.

Before Mr. Cool and Little Weirdo were born, we had a yellow Labrador named Yeager. Yeager was the nemesis of many people and dolls. I was heartbroken when Yeager destroyed my childhood Raggedy Ann doll. The carnage was sickening.

Then there were others.

Yeager had a thing for doll hands. See what I mean:

No one was safe from Yeager's rampages.

Yeager bit right through the heart-shaped "I Love You" necklace on this sweetie:

 And then this:

Some of Yeager's victims are forgiving souls and continue to smile sweetly.

Babs, though, experienced a growing hatred of dogs. And the world. She started listening to music with inappropriate lyrics and took up spitting. 

I told the kids they couldn't hang around her anymore.

Babs told Mr. Cool he should be ashamed to be a dog:

So he became ashamed:

Just one more victim of Yeager's spree of violence.

This was shared on:

Snoopy's Dog Blog 
Found the Marbles

The yard sale

Yeah.

So we had a yard sale.

We were short on tables, as yard sale hostesses usually are. I felt pretty smart about turning some tubs into more surface space. We just covered them with $1 tablecloths.

We offered a box of silly little goodies...free for the taking.

I know what you're wondering. And the answer is $15. 

Then we boxed most of it up for donation at the end of the day.

Here are more photos:

The free box is at the bottom of the above photo.

Storage tubs offer a big tabletop. Aren't we resourceful?

Colorful large items near the street. They didn't really attract anyone.

The Lingerie Department.

Clothespins attempt to keep hangers from slamming to the middle.

Baby stuff.

My house is still a mess.

Have you had a successful yard sale? Or a more humble one like ours?

Baked apples in caramel sauce

The other night, the family was clamoring for something sweet.

I tried this on a whim and it went over well.

You should try it!

Baked apples in caramel sauce

Prepare the apples:
Peel and slice 2 apples. I used green ones.
Put apple slices in a microwave-safe bowl.
Stir in 1 Tablespoon sugar.
Shake the cinnamon jar once over the top. Not too much.
Microwave about 1 1/2 minutes on high. 
Test with a fork. Microwave longer if desired.

Prepare the caramel sauce:
1 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup milk
4 Tablespoons butter
Pinch of salt
1/4 teaspoon maple flavoring (or 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract)

Mix together the brown sugar, milk, butter and salt.
Heat the mixture over medium-low heat for about 6 minutes. 
Add maple flavoring.
Heat another few minutes until desired thickness or until your patience runs out.
Remove from heat and allow to cool slightly.

Drizzle some caramel sauce over the apples. 

Top with whipped cream if you have some and if you are in the mood.

There will probably be some extra caramel sauce. And that's juuuuust fine.  :)

Have a lovely day.
 

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Robyn's View -- Foodie Friends Friday 

Marianna Rose is not the problem

I was at the grocery store the other day. You know how you can hear shoppers in the other aisles talking? You might not see them. But you hear them.

On this occasion, I overheard a mother talking to her toddler. 

Or her dog.

"Marianna Rose, sit."

"Marianna Rose, stop that."

"Marianna Rose, that is NOT the way to get what you want."

"Marianna Rose, stop making that face."

I didn't hear a peep from Marianna Rose. I didn't hear scuffling. Marianna Rose seemed to be a most compliant child.

I was tempted to find Marianna Rose's mother and say:

"Lady, YOU are the one who needs to sit and stop that. The way you are acting is not the way to get what you want."

"And, by the way, your face is probably stuck that way."

But I didn't.

I hope Marianna Rose is one strong-willed kid. 

Or imaginary.

Cool kids still ruin my life

As I was experiencing a rare moment of housecleaning motivation, I grabbed the carpet shampoo from the laundry room shelf.

Imagine my surprise when I read this on the label:

"Safe For All Popular Machines." 

I never considered my steam cleaner cool or popular. He seemed average. Kept to himself, a solid B student. He always had to be carried up the stairs for chores, because he wasn't ambitious enough on his own.

I thought this was typical.

I asked him, "Honey, are you popular?" 

He mumbled something.

"I know you are hot and steamy," I said, "but are you popular?"

It became obvious to both of us. This was going to be a make-over day.

From seeing the kids around the neighborhood, I knew a thing or two about "popular."
So, I bought my baby a backpack and headphones. His hat and scarf were mismatched on purpose. I caved and handed over my car keys.

The journey had begun. 

Concert t-shirts were always fashionable when I was kid. 

We agreed on Rush (of course).

Look! Some interest from another kid.

Maybe this guy will tell his friends and my kid will become popular, I thought. 

We added bongos. 

It worked!

Yet, I wondered how much more effort was necessary. 

How popular does a steam cleaner need to be? Scholars and philosophers have been chasing the answer to that question for ages. I never gave it much thought, but this day my carpets were really dirty.

We pressed on.

The winter hat was replaced with a ball cap. A backwards ball cap. 

Dang.

Even I became intimidated by my steam cleaner's hipness. 

When asked about his feelings, he said, "talk to the cleaning bristles, woman." I think he also may have mentioned something about shizzles. 

Had I created a back-talking monster? I couldn't resist testing the matter:

"You can't make me wear this stupid hat. You never understood me. I HATE YOU!" screamed my steam cleaner. 

It was then that I realized...

Divas don't clean carpets.

This post was shared on:
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Adventures of a DIY Mom

Is that a royal "we?"

Is that a royal "we?" -- A sassy kid may have snapped this comeback at his mother after she suggested "we" clean the garage or perform some other undesirable chore. 

Also known as a Victorian "we," the royal "we" is sometimes used by high-ranking or majestic folks as they refer to their single selves in plural form.

"We don't care for bubble bath without gold flakes," said the prince. 

Pretty high brow stuff.

I don't worry about my kids mouthing off like that. It's not because they are so well-disciplined. They've just never heard the expression. 

I mourn the death of such sayings and feel that "we" have an obligation to bring them back!

I know what you're thinking...go ahead, say it...

"What? You got a mouse in your pocket?"

Swoon.