MAIMOM
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Posts posted by MAIMOM
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Some of our favorites were the glow sticks from the dollar store. I think they come 6 for a $1. You can make necklaces and crowns with them or wind threm through your shoe laces...I saved these for last as they were always a favorite.
Gummie Bears!!!! My kids would sort them according to color and then eat them. One trip my 4 year old pulled on tight and said "look mom boobs" --- ah the memories..lol
Ring pops take a while to eat and I only give them as a treat so they were a hit.
chap stick is a great one
I would put it in my carry on so I could pull out a new item as needed. The kids has a little backpack they had snacks and favorite toys in but when those were no longer keeping their interest I had things I pulled out for them. Lace cards worked well too.
Have fun on your trip!
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I did not lknow I missed you until I saw the violin! Glad to see you
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Today I saw mini candy canes at the grocery store...like 40 for $1.79. I bought some and taped 24 to a piece of ribbon...a candy cane advent ribbon! The kids were so excited I had to laugh...a simple and inexpensive idea that got lots of praise!
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I have a new but unwrapped Ungame I would be happy to find a new hoem for. It is a conversation type game that helps you communicate and get to know others. I will look to see what else I may have.
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Guild Wars 2 is really perfect for us. They fixed all the stuff the bugged us with WoW. It's very casual gamer friendly, but it still feels epic. They have events where everyone can join in and help, get loot, xp, titles, etc. They way they built it, it creates a friendly player atmosphere. There is no dps meter, no mods, no kill stealing. You do damage, you get xp for it. There are no pure healer classes, you are responsible for keeping yourself alive. There are many ways to heal and like Borderlands (which I didn't play, but dh did) once your health gets low enough you go down and have 4 abilities you can use. You can heal yourself back up or if something around you dies you get a second wind and are back in play. The dailies are for doing normal things like events, gathering 10 items. Speaking of gathering, you can gather anything as long as you have the tools and the nodes are there for everyone. Every node is individually instanced, so no node stealing. There's a separate bank that automatically stores all of your gathering materials. There's only one questline and it's for your class. Everything else is sort of an mini event that may or may not be repeatable. The best part it you get automatically downscaled to match the zone you are in. So dh and ds can play with slow poke me and still get xp and items that match their true level, yep their true level, not the level of the zone.
I could go on and on. It's definitely worth looking into.
I agree about GW2....it is worth looking into. My hubby was playing Tera which I hated so I told him I was going to play GW2 with our old guild from GW1. He reluctantly came to GW2 to play with me. He LOVES it and has thanked me : )
It is a great player friendly game and we love the no monthly fee aspect! The 5 of us enjoy playing together.
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My DD was in PS and the teacher had talked so much about testing that DD was totally stressed. I talked with her about what a test is.
In my opinion a test is simply a showing of what you know. I would focus on that with her. Remind her that the test is her opportunity to show what she knows. She has been working really hard for many years, she has applied herself and she knows the material. Now is her time to show it. The only time she needs to worry is when she has not studied. Ask' Have you studied? Do you know the material? OK then take a breath and trust the hard work you have done. You have worked hard to discipline your mind, now at test time your mind will work hard for you. You can do it!" Yeah, I know its prep talk but she will need to prep talk herslef and you can model that for her. You and DH are on a great track, affirming her and letting her know you love her and are proud of her. She can do this, you know she can because you have seen her hard work.
If you pray then cover this topic in prayer too. Its amazing what wisdom will come to you. "If any man lacks wisdom let him ask of God who gives liberally" That is a promise I have hung onto in parenting. Its amazing how many times inspiration to say just the right thing will come after asking for help/wisdom>
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We had DIsh, switched to Direct tv and then switched back to Dish. I think it comes down to preference....kind of like the difference in coke and pepsi....they are both cola but people usually have a preference for one over the other. I love the family pack on Dish. It only costs me 20 a month plus 5 for the DVR. I love the DVR we never watch commercials. It depends on how much tv and what channels you want. We are more a gaming family (DH never watches TV) so the family package has plenty of channels for us.
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I was recently sent a link to a blog that lists free books called inspired reads. It may be helpful
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LOL You are not alone. We played Wow for about a year but went back to Guild wars when GW2 came out. I still miss some aspects of Wow but we are loving GW2. We play with all 3 kids! I love listening to the kids and DH talking and leveling. My folks think we are crazy but it has been fun family time for us. We do like that GW2 does not have a monthy fee.....X 5 gets expensive.
Glad you are enjoying WOW!
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Santa is brining me an Ipad for Christmas. I have rememberd someone posting about an app they use to keep track of hours. Can you tell me what it is?
Also what are other apps you have found fun, helpful or educational?
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I was thinking about this game for my kids for Christmas because I've seen so many of you like it. My little ones are 6, 7, 8 and 11. Would you get the Settlers of Catan junior or the regular game?
We found we did not really like Settlers all that much. It seemed to take a long time. We do however LOVE The other game by the same company......Carcassonne! It is a fabulous game and the best part is it can be very simple in play.... pick a tile and build either a road or a castle turn over or it can be complex for older kids as they claim fields....strategy involved this way. We have played it with 4 yr olds to great granmas in their 80's. We combined two sets so we can play with 8 - 10 when the family is all togehter. It has been a favorite for 10 years now.
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Yes, yes, yes!
Signed,
A pirate and Victorian house Mom
We have told our kids we will never get rid of their Playmobil----the sets will live here for the grandchildren to play with.
Told my kids the same thing. My soon to be 127 yr old wants more playmobile for Christmas this year! He loves it still. I find him setting it up and planning battles to this day.
Have you seen the playmobile advent claendars? They are only about 20 and are wonderful. My kids have enjoyed getting them each year for the past 12 years. They especially love the animals. I agree the people and animals get the most play at our house. I went though the bin of people and animals last week sorting them into bags to store....my DD came in behind me and started setting up a scene. Still going strong in our house!
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I hope you find some that work for your girls. My DD (just turned 11) has never been a big reader but she became interested in the sisters grimm series and read them all this summer. She just started the Dragonspell book 2 days ago and has finished 146 pages so far. I am so happy she has found something she enjoys reading. I have read the books I recommended and found them to be enjoyable as well.
Another sereis is the 7sleeper series by Gilbert Morris. He is a Christain author and that series is a lot of fun...more fantasy fiction which keeps you guessing. My husband and I read and bought them before we had kids...they are so good.
The Rangers Apprentice series is a great read a loud book series. The Maximum Ride series is also good but you might want to give it a year for them to get older....not that the content is older just some of the char are older and once my kids started getting older they did not want to read about characters that were younger then they are.
Merry Christmas to your family
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The series 39 clues to comes to mind when I think of a series with a lot of facts. The series has a sister/brother and their nanny that travel the globe unravelling clues. I loved the fact that the book about music had them travel to Beethovens home country and gave a lot of information about his life. It is a book series that your girls could swap out also. The sister is 12 and her brother is 10? so both characters are around your girls ages.
Another series my 11 yr old has enjoyed is The sisters grim. It is about two sisters that are taken in by their grandmother after their parnets disappear. They find out there are part of a family that works to record the events of everafters....or fairy tale characters that actually exist. I too enjoyed the authors twisting together or all fairy tale and traditional fictional stories. ( it is not related to Grimm the TV sereis at all. )
My 11 yr old was just given the book dragonspell by her older brother to read. She is enjoying the start of this series also. It is about a girl that raises dragons. There are several in the series and it is a fun read for kids.
My oldest son loves to read facts over fiction...He really enjoyed all the Ripley's believe it or not series. Another book I found on his shelf is titles Cool STuff and how it works...its from DK books.It tells how matches, lightbulbs, watches and ipod and many more work.
Hopefully you will get many more ideas to choose from. There are just so many good books out there for kids these days. I know Ifind most of my reading time to be centered on reading to keep an idea of what my olders are reading.
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re the pillowcase idea.
i gave our younger two blank recipe books and we spent many delightful hours copying their favourite recipes.
so sorry about the layoff : (. there is rarely a good time for it, but this is one of the hard times...
ann
I have made them special pillowcases in the past. One year was a Christmas themed one, another year i just picked out either their favorite color fabric or character.I have also made colored, scented playdough sets for each. Real easy and inexpensive.
r.
I just made some pillow cases for my kids I looked on Youtube and found directions for making them in a tube. I was excited by how easy they were to make. My kids were excited by them (my MIL sent fabric last year for me to do this...a little procrastinating on my part)
Here is the link
We also started a recipe collection for my DD. She loves writing them down for when she has her own kitchen. The last time I bought some recipe cards from Michaels from the $1 bins. They were cute.
My kids loved home made play dough when they were little. LOVED It.
There were some awesome ideas on the Christmas on a budget thread. Made me wish my DC were little again.
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I have leftover rotisserie chicken....I want to make chicken and noodles (casserole is fine too) for tonight's dinner - assuming I can stomach it. I'd prefer something not too complicated/messy, but yummy trumps all :)
Thanks!
This is a recipe that is a cheater recipe but oh so yummy. I was sick one day and a friend whipped it up and brought it over. Since then it has been in my pantry ready for a sick friend or a mom does not want to cook night.
I use Mrs. Grass Home style chicken noodle soup mix. Looks like this http://www.wylers.com/Gdetails/mg_products.aspx.
If I am going really easy I just add a cooked breast of chicken or left overs and a half bag of egg noodles. For sick friends I keep a can of Sams canned chicken in the pantry.
When I am feeling like making it more homemade. I will add my own celery and carrots sliced up to the broth to boil. For my family of 5 big people I use two packages of soup mix and a whole bag of egg noodles with 2 pieces of chicken boiled and shredded in.
I am telling you this is the next best thing to homemade.! Delicious!
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Can you find things at garage sales, rummage sales, and used book/CD/DVD/video game stores?
Have you checked eBay for anything yet? I remember when my ds was into Calvin and Hobbes, I bought him a big lot of the books on eBay for an incredibly low price -- and they looked like brand new.
I know a lot of people who find great stuff on CraigsList, particularly toys, but I have never looked for gifts on Craigslist, so I don't have any amazing bargains to brag about.
One last idea -- can you make some cool stocking stuffers for your kids?
Last year my sons kept talking about dads old xbox and how he missed those games. I found an old xbox on ebay for really inexpensive and got him the games he wanted for udner $5 each. He loved that gift. I was worried he would not appreciate it as a 16 yr old...it was not the latest xbox 360 his buddies were getting after all. He was so excited. My husband made a scavenger hunt for him and then we wrapped each game and he opened one a day for a few days.....It was great!
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We are also selling old toys and electronics in order to get new ones from Santa. They are all excited about helping "Santa" raise money.
I have done the same thing. I was just wondering about a post on here of things for sale. I know they have a for sale section. Do you think we could list our kids legos or is that for curriculum only? I can list on Ebay but some times by the time I take the time to type it out and then pay the fees I have to charge more than if I did not have to go through them. I would much rather just sell it straight and know I was blessing another family.
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I haven't seen any suggestions for felt play food. I recently made a bunch of this for our Spirit Play religious education program at church and it was surprisingly easy. A yard of felt can be had around here for $2-3 (if you use the 40-50% off coupons for the craft store) and a bag of stuffing is also cheap. If my daughter were younger, I'd definitely do a few sets for her. Google "felt food instructions" or the like. Felt is remarkably forgiving to work with and a simple blanket stitch is about all you need. A few French knots do come in handy as well.
There are directions out there for "slice-able" felt food, felt playsets, etc. Here's one link to get you started http://whilewearingheels.blogspot.com/2011/11/i-heart-fake-food-felt-corn-tutorial.html. I modified this by simply cutting out a "corn" shape of yellow felt, sewing a few rows of the kernels onto it, then sewing a plain yellow felt back on it and stuffing. By cutting the leaves longer (I didn't quilt them) and making them join at the top, it was easy and came out well.
For my daughter, my husband made a Tardis ipod charging case http://technabob.com/blog/2012/02/17/tardis-charging-station/ and I'm considering whether I can make her a Tardis hat and scarf on the sly.
Do you know if they are the size that would work with American girl dolls? My daughter is interested in some doll food but it is expensive. I would love to make some for her to enjoy.
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I have NO idea what our budget is going to be, but it is small. Here is what we're going to try this year!
We're going to choose categories of gifts and then get each child one item in that category.
For example, "Favorite Snacks" or munchies is one category and we know what each child loves. Ds18 is a huge Skittles fan so he will get a big bag of those. Dd17 loves Haribo gummy bears....etc. We have a GREAT candy store near us that has every candy under the sun.
Every year our kids love that we wrap gifts for each person in ONE kind of wrapping paper and they just search for packages in "their" paper. So this year we're going to change it up (without telling them) and wrap each category of gifts in the same paper. With names on them, of course, but for some reason my kids get a kick out of finding their gifts. We could do a scavenger hunt with clues for some of them, too! My kids would eat that up, even the teens. LOL
Another category might be Music and we can do either CDs (we still use a stereo and CD player sometimes) or iTunes gift cards, etc. My kids all like very different music styles, which is fun! Actually, we could do a "DOWNLOAD" category and "give" each child a downloaded movie, show, music, video game or even software that I can find for a really good deal! Then just give the clue to what it is in a little wrapped box or something.
One category could be Hobby and I know what I'm doing for my middle dd: Get her the needed ingredients to make 2-3 new dessert recipes (all chocolate baked good, btw, LOL) so that she can bake on her own. My other dd likes to knit and always loves new yarn.
All of these items are NOT expensive and then I go a little nuts with candy and goodies in the stockings because we do not usually buy candy at any time of year other than Halloween! lol
We celebrate Advent, so that is something fun we do all month long, too!
These are such cute ideas! Thank you for sharing. I am inspired.
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And the list gets longer when the kids grow up. Oldest dd is married and now has three children. Those four extra people really add up...and we still have three more kids- if they all get married and have a couple of kids, our shopping is going to take forever.
So we have four kids, our parents, one son in law, three grandchildren, and each other. Dh buys for his sister and her husband and I usually send something small to my two sisters.
Last year my grandma made some really fun and colorful pillow cases for the grandkids and kids. We all LOVED them! Simple and fairly inexpensive.
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I have enjoyed using Christian liberty press history for 4th grade. It was written to the student and we both enjoyed reading it. I would think the 3rd grade would be fun too. I just looked and the book is only 165 pages so that is not too much to get through in a year. The link is herehttp://www.homeschools.org/viewCurriculum/grade3/grade3History.html#History3
I highly recommend the 4th grade history for next year if you are not opposed to a Christian perspective. It covered from the Mayflower through president Regan. I looked forward to reading with my DD as it kept me interested also. I also figured out we did not have to do history or science every day.....that was a novel idea to me : )
As others have stated it is ok to focus on reading for this year...stages of life change the baby will grow and you will be able to focus more at a later time.
I have no recommendation for 3rd grade science. You have some good ideas here from others. I guess I would encourage you to give yourself grace during this year. Education is a journey with 12 years to finish it. Many subjects are just introduced in these early years and later unpackaged in more depth. Enjoy books and videos. You Dc is learning all the time. My kids learned a lot of history and science from unexpected places like Magic school bus books and videos from the creation museum.
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You could always try again another time. They may have sold out of items and be in need of what you have by then. All they can say is no thank you.
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My kids have discovered making soap. They are so excited to pick out the aroma for friends and family...just an idea for later. you have some awesome wood gift ideas. I love the earring holder idea.
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