Enjoying the Chaos

A Day at the Park The weather has been so wonderful this week, and my allergies have finally gone. I decided it would be a perfect day to pack our lunch and head to the park for a play date with some friends. (You can meet them over at  http://goodfarm.blogspot.com/  ) We arrived at the park a few minutes early and my kids ran over to enjoy the Pirate Ship! Within seconds they were on the high seas having the adventure of their lives!! Little Jam even remembered his pirate hat from home so he would look the part!!! What a great day! We arrived home to find that the Swallowtail Caterpillar that Boo found in our parsley had formed it's pupa. Here's a link I found on youtube to a time-elapsed video of a swallowtail. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k3jbzq-_7bU

You know it's going to be a good (long) day when it's nine in the morning and you.. 1. Have already worked for 4 hours 2. Got a load of laundry on the line, 3. Emptied the dishwasher 4. Stopped 3 fights with the kids. Phew!

We made this recipe when it was originally featured in the Family Fun Magazine!  The kids absolutely loved it!! I was really easy to make and satisfied the craving we had for 'Take Out'!! I copied the actual recipe from the Family Fun website they have an excellent article on food from around the world!! Check it out and try something new!! http://familyfun.go.com/recipes/japanese-chicken-and-egg-rice-bowl-920817/   Serves 4 Hands-on time: 30 minutes Total time: 30 minutes This flavor-packed meal is a cinch to make when you use  Crunchy Baked Chicken Cutlets  that you've already prepared. Ingredients 2 cups white rice 1 tablespoon vegetable oil 4 chopped scallions 1 cup chicken broth 1/2 cup shredded carrots 2 cups baby spinach 2 tablespoons sugar 1/4 cup soy sauce 4  chicken cutlets , cut into strips 5 large beaten eggs Instructions Cook the rice (for a total of 4 cups of cooked rice). Meanwhile, in a large skillet, heat the ve...

I just found this really cute idea for 'Conference Socks' a cool tradition for General Conference!! I am definitely going to have to do this one!! Head over to her blog to read the amazing poem she wrote to print off with the socks!! http://ptskjohnson.blogspot.com/2011/09/conference-socks.html

I was introduced to a fantastic free online service this week called 'librivox' for those of you who LOVE audio books this is a wonderful place to hang out, or even volunteer!!  http://librivox.org/ Here's a snip from their website... About Listening to LibriVox LibriVox audiobooks are free ( * ). You may use them for whatever purpose you like. Click here for information about our  public domain license . Click here to  hear some samples  of LibriVox recordings. There are several options for listening. The first step is to get the audio files (mp3 or ogg vorbis) into your own computer. There are two main ways to do this: Click back to their website for the rest of their instructions http://librivox.org/about-listening-to-librivox/ OR volunteer Volunteering for LibriVox LibriVox volunteers read and record chapters of books in the  public domain  (books no longer under copyright), and make them available for free on the Internet. Practical...

  Review Time Time 4 learning is an online Preschool - 8th grade curriculum that can be used as a supplemental or entire curriculum for language arts, math, science and social studies.  Lessons correlate to standards in all 50 states. It is also AD-FREE!! The kids can access the grade above and below their current grade. I never actually spent a lot of time in the parents area as my main goal was to watch how my three little ones responded to the program.  We tested preschool, 3rd, and 5th grades. We were using this along side our regular 'free' Charlotte Mason curriculum. Little Jam (DS 2) was  probably to young for this program, it didn't really keep his attention.  Boo (DD 8) played on it quite a bit. She found an area about Family History that she especially enjoyed! Jam (DS 10) Went to the site a couple of times (drawn in by the recess computer games!) We worked on some maths together and it explained concepts really well!  ...

I mentioned last month that I thought it would be a great idea to 'walk to school' Well the kids were all very excited about it. So on our first day I took a few pictures to share. Boo couldn't help looking for flowers!

Although our State fair is over and done. I have never got around to talking about all the fun we had. We went on opening day, it turned out to be a great choice as it was $2.00 each to get in! A great saving off the regular price. We found a great bus full of experiments for the kids to try! Little Jam really enjoyed the petting zoo! It was a fantastic day!!