Chip"N"Golf Backyard Game

Keeping the kids occupied during the months of summer can be challenging.   I am always on the hunt for fun activities and games, especially those that get the kids outside in the fresh air.

Esty.com is one of my very favorite places to look for fun and creative kids toys and games.  I love the homemade feel, the higher quality product as well as supporting home based businesses. 

Right about the time that we first started our little summer break and the natives started getting restless, I headed on over to Etsy to see what I could find in the way of outdoor games.  One of the first games that I found was Chip"N"Golf Backyard Game. 

Sandy over on Etsy.com was sent us one of her Chip"N"Golf Backyard Games to try out. 
Chip"N"Golf is a simple yet fun yard game that includes 3 sturdy flag poles {these poles are 2 feet tall}, 3 plastic circles, 4 plastic golf balls, game instructions and score cards.  The only thing we needed was a golf club {which I picked up for $3 at the Goodwill}.

The kids were pretty excited to try this one out!  First, we spaced out the flag poles and placed the plastic circles around them.   Then we took turns guess how many swings it would take to get the ball into the circle around the flag poles.  We had a lot of fun and the kids really enjoyed this game. 

I felt that the flag poles were very sturdy and pretty weather proof.  I liked the fact that there were 4 golf balls included and that they were plastic - this is nice when you have little peeps playing. 

The Chip"N"Golf Backyard Game is a game that your whole family would enjoy, I know ours did!
You can purchase you own Chip"N"Golf Game at Sandy's store front.  The Chip"N"Golf Backyard Game is available for $24.00 plus $7.00 shipping {to anywhere in the US}.


Disclaimer:  We received this product, at no charge to us, in exchange for a fair and honest review.

Special Day for the Kids

Somewhere in my inbox a week or two ago I read a post about giving kids a special day each week.  Once I read this I knew I had to incorporate it into our world. 

This past week, I did just that.  On Monday morning I explained to the kids that they would each be getting a "Special Day," each week.  I then explained that they would have special privileges on that day.  Now brace yourselves for some of these privileges, I am warning you up front some of them are pretty lame.  They are however things that are important to my kids. : )

Here's the low down on their special privileges:

• Help Mom with dinner
• Sit next to Dad during dinner
• Be 1st - in the car, to get dessert, to whatever.  I told them they could also be 1st to go to sleep but they weren't real thrilled about that one.
• To go with Mom or Dad.  If one of us runs out somewhere and we decide to take a child with us then the child who's "Special Day" it is can come and can also choose one sibling to come along if they wish.
• I am debating on adding in that they can stay up from an extra 20-30 minutes to spend one on one time with Mom or Dad.  My thought is to play a quick game of Chutes & Ladders, Uno or just chat.

I imagine that we will add a few more things to this as we go along if this "Special Day" thing sticks.  We aren't the only family that try stuff for a week or two and then it's out the window, are we??

My desire is that two wonderful things will come out of the "Special Day."  First, I am hoping to add in some extra one on one time with Mom/Dad and the kids.  The other thought is that having a "Special Day" will alleviate the kids fussing over who gets to what e.v.e.r.y. s.i.n.g.l.e. d.a.y!!  Yes, I admit it, my kids fuss.

So far so good, each of our little people got their "Special Day" this week.  The kids really enjoyed being first, helping with dinner or making dinner and sitting next to their Daddy-o during dinner.  The only problem that I really had was explain to Little Bits that his "Special Day" did NOT last all week long. 

Do you do anything special like this with your kids?  I would love to hear your ideas!

The Joys of Winter Break

I love taking time out from our regularly busy schedule to RELAX!  I can't not find the exact words to express how wonderful it has been to just chill out with the family. 

We have watched oodles of holiday movies.  We have played Puppy Pursuits Game, Sandwich Stacking Game, checkers, chutes and ladders as well as and pick up sticks.  And we have even let the kids open a few of their gifts early {please pick your mouth up from the floor and let me explain}.  : )

Every few nights we have given the kids a small gift of their own or a joint gift to open.  I gotta tell you they have played with these things for HOURS!  These toys were not lost in a heep of other toys, they were thoroughly played with and thoroughly enjoyed.  Like last night for instance, the girls received a 10 in one type game that included checkers, chess, pick up sticks, mancala and tic tac toe.  We all played several games of checkers, and pick up sticks {never knew how much I loved pick up sticks!!} as well as a few rounds of tic tac toe.  We all had alot of fun.

The boys received the Imaginext Toy Story 3 Tri County Landfill {I didn't pay anything close to this Amazon price, I just wanted you all to see what it looked like}.  They played with it all evening and all morning so far, it is a blessing to see them enjoying it so much! 

The other day I declared the day to be movie/game day.  To start the morning off I pulled out four family games that I had wrapped {can you tell that we love games}.  We let the kids play hot potato to see who would get to open which game.  We watched 2 movies that day and played 3 of the 4 games {chutes and ladders, Busytown Airport, Puppy Pursuits and Sandwich Stacking}  That very evening the hubs played Puppy Pursuits with the kids for almost 2 whole hours!!

So as you can see we have really been enjoying hanging out together and thankfully we still have a few almost 2 weeks left.

Here is my winter break list of things to do, somethings have already been done:

• Game Day - each child can pick a game for all of us to play together
• Watch some holiday movies together
• Zoo Lights - we live about 30 minutes or so from the National Zoo and they decorate with lights. This was actually The Hubs idea.
• Jammie Up and Go to Watkins Park - a local park does a wonderful light display. For those of you local to us, we have found that Watkins Park is more affordable and we have enjoyed there more than Lights on the Bay.
• Make Cookies Together to Give to Friends - we did some of this but I think we are going for round 2.
• Craft Day - I want to help the girls make blankets for their baby dolls and friendship bracelets. I think I will be a rebel and pull out the finger paints for the boys.
• Drive around the neighborhood looking at lights and eating hot fudge sundaes
• Make Paper Snowflakes to hang from the playroom ceiling
• Make Fudge
• Go Iceskating on New Year's Eve
• Relax

I L-O-V-E Yardsales!!

I have been a yard sale girl for many years.  I love getting things for a bargain.  Why pay full price when I can find something for so much cheaper. 

Most Saturday mornings I am up and out the door, usually by 7 or 7:30 am.  I like to be early, but not too early.  The early bird does get the worm when it comes to yard sales.  Most of the time I go solo, sometimes Computer Girl goes with me and occasionally we all go

The Lord has majorly blessed us through yard sales.  I can not even begin to to tell you about the very nice clothes that we have got for the kids at.  I mean really NICE stuff.  I am especially thinking about all the long sleeve button up dress shirts and corduroy pants that I have found for Alpha Boy.  Yard sales are a great place to find church dresses for my girls.  Games for the kids... yard sales.  Books, books and books....you guessed it, yard sales. 

I have a general route that I drive through the neighborhoods and I normally stop even if the yard sale looks like a dud.  I have found some great things at yard sales that don't look like much.  For instance, a few months ago I was out with Computer Girl and we found a yard sale.  This guy had a small table and that was pretty much it.  BUT we stopped and I got a cast iron griddle that I have been wanting for a while.  These things are $50 new, I paid $5 for mine.  I am still excited about this one! 

In addition to my normal route I will usually check Craigslist.  Several weeks ago, I came across a yard sale that had lots of HOMESCHOOL books!  Can I tell you I loaded up on science and history readers, as well as a microscope and some math manipulative's, for like $25 total!

Yard sales that have kids books are a dime a dozen.  Yard sales that have homeschool books seem to be a rarity, but I found another one today!  I got a few grammar books, science readers and some great history books.  Most of the history read alouds that I got are about  $10-20 each, if purchased new.  I got the following books for a TOTAL of $16:

• George Washington's World by Genevieve Foster
• The World of Columbus and Sons by Genevieve Foster
• Poor Richard by James Daughtery
• Of Courage Undaunted by James Daughtery
• From Sea to Shining Sea for Children: Discovering God's Plan for America in Her First Half-Century of Independence, 1787-1837 by Peter Marshall & David Manuel
• The Light and the Glory for Children : Discovering God's Plan for America from Christopher Columbus to George Washington by by Peter Marshall & David Manuel

We are pretty set for American History next year!  Isn't that a blessing!!

So when people have asked me questions like, "Is it really worth getting up early and going to yard sales?" or "Do you find anything good?" My answer is Y-E-S!!!  Some people think that yard sales are full of junk but really there aren't.  Yard sales are full of great treasures, you just have to be willing to go find them.  I have found some amazing things at yard sales and am so thankful for them!! 

Do you have any yard sale tips?  What great things have you found lately from yard sales?

A Bit of Friday Fun!

The kids and I had a great day on Friday.  It was busy but lots of fun! 

We started our day with a trip to the dentist.  The Lil' Chef and Little Bits had dental check ups and cleanings.  Computer Girl and Alpha Boy had their appointments last week.  I am happy to report we had NO CAVITIES!  Yippee!

First time to the dentist.  He didn't like it but he didn't scream.  That's a plus, right?!

All clean!

Checking out the chompers.

After the dentist I was going to take the kids to one of our favorite local parks, but I stumbled on a new park while I was in route.  Well, it isn't a new park, but new to us.  I really loved this park.  It has all my favorite park elements - not crowded, shade and cool slides, swings and climbing equipment.  The kids really liked it too, BTW. 

This was the merry go round.  Pretty cool except for the kids kept falling off.  Of course they were having too much fun to care about that. : )

Alpha Boy had just finished using the mega phone.

The Lil' Chef just climbed up to the top and was pretending to claim the land.

Once we got home from the park, we had lunch and then went to the pool for a few hours.  I really enjoy hanging at the pool with the kids.  They are finally at the age where we can all go into the big pool together as long as I hold Little Bits.

Relaxing during rest period.

We got a silly picture in before I took the "nice" picture.



I took this picture in front of a really old tree that had very cool roots.

  

The boys were kind enough to water my legs for me.

The girls.

Playing in the pool.  Our pool has an awesome little persons pool.

Being at the pool and park wore everyone out so we came home and watched a movie until The Hubs got home.  

It was a great way to end our first week back to school.  We all had a chance to relax and recharge.

Gather the Family Review & Giveaway!

We were recently sent a copy of the video Gather the Family, from Franklin Springs Family Media.  Gather the Family is a film about gathering your family to worship.  It is about making dads feel confident and not inadequate.  It is about reminding us that this world is full of things that use up our time and that we need to purpose to carve out a special time to worship the Lord in our homes with our family each day.

I have to tell you that this film was a huge encouragement to me.  I watched it with out The Hubs, but hope to watch it together soon.  This film was full of encouragement from several fathers, including R.C. Sproul Jr, mothers (even a single mother) and children to faithfully have a family worship time.  It was a great blessing to hear some of the older children talk about how the Lord has used family worship to grow them in the Lord and bring their family closer together. 

One of the best things about this film in my opinion, is that it made family worship a very simple thing to do.  These families encourage you to worship as a family even with very small children, even if you are a single mother and even if dad isn't a professional theologian.

I read Bible with my children during the day while dad is at work.  The Hubs and I have discussed reading the Bible together as a family, but we have yet to put this into practice.  I am so thankful that Franklin Springs allowed us to review Gather the Family and I am prayerful that the Lord will use it grow our family in this area to honor Him! 

I think that every home should have this video and WATCH it.  You can purchase your own copy directly through Franklin Springs Family Media for $18.95

If you have seen this film before please comment and let me know what you thought about it and how it impacted your family.  Thanks!

Franklin Springs Family Media has offered a copy of Gather the Family to one of Y O U ! ! The giveaway will end on July 22, 2011.  Here is how you can win....

Please leave a SEPARATE COMMENT for each way that you enter and YOUR EMAIL ADDRESS!

• You must be a Follower or Subscriber of LSG to Win! Please leave me a comment and let me know how you follow.
• If you have just become a new Follower or Subscriber please tell me how you heard about this giveaway.
• Spread the Word! If you have a blog and post about this contest please come back and leave me a link to your post.
• Please visit the Franklin Springs Family Media website, let me know which of their other family friendly videos you would be interested in.
• Facebook or Twitter about this giveaway and leave me a comment to let me know about it.
• Like Franklin Springs Family Media on Facebook.

Please note that Franklin Springs Family Media provided me with a free copy of the film Gather the Family for review purposes only.  I was not in any way compensated  for my review.

Did I Mention We Got a Turtle?

Because obviously 3 dogs, 3 hermit crabs and 2 hamsters aren't enough for us, we got a TURTLE. 

We have wanted a turtle for a while.  I am included in the we, BTW.  Friends of ours had a turtle (maybe a box turtle) and every since we saw them feeding it little worms we were hooked and really wanted one. 

I looked into getting a turtle over the summer.  I found out that my county doesn't even sell turtles because of the salmonella risk.  So I just kinda dropped the subject.  Then, one day last week an ad came across my email from someone on freecycle for a turtle.  A Red Eared Slider to be exact.  The 20 gallon tank, light, filter, floating island thing and food were all included, FOR FREE. 

I emailed the lady and 3 days later we has a turtle.  His name is Bowser - isn't that the King Turtle's name from Super Mario Bro.s circa 1990?  Just sayin.  Not sure if the kids are going to change his (assuming that it's a he).  There have been some other names floating around, like Crush from Finding Nemo, Franklin and Tuck (Wonderpets) but nothing conclusive.  we are up for name suggestions if you have any.

The turtle is really cool and fairly low maintenance.  So far we know that he really likes assorted lettuce leafs, carrots, apple and celery.  When it is a little warmer I am going to send the kids out hunting for worms. 

The girls have already done some research about Red Eared Sliders (Science) and we found some cool videos on youtube (don't you just love youtube!).  Like this one, and this one.  This one is the coolest, the turtles are eating worms.  Red Eared Sliders are semi aquatic and omnivours, in case you were wondering.  : )

My Thanksgiving Menu

I wanted to share my Thanksgiving Day Menu with everyone.  Over the last few years we have found some yummy recipes and I wanted to share them with you. 

We used to all meet for the holidays at my mom and grandma's house but since they are no longer with us, my sister and I have kinda divided them up.  I usually do Thanksgiving. 

Here is what we are making:
Turkey - last year I started getting a turkey from Trader Joe's that was already brined, I had read that brined turkeys are more moist and juicy.  I have to agree, they are a WOW!  So if you can get a brined turkey I say GO FOR IT!! The way that prepare my turkey is, after I clean it up, I lift up the skin and rub my bird with a mixture of softened butter, rosemary, thyme and sage.  I also rub the top with butter, to give it a nice crispy finish.

Stuffing - I get the TJ's Cornbread Stuffing and then hook it up.  I am going to saute butter, onions, chopped carrots and celery along with some sage flavored pork sausage.  Once everything is all cooked up I am going to add it all to the stuffing mixture.  I usually do not put my stuffing in the turkey.  I actually thought this year I might try putting the stuffing the turkey because I think some people would like that.  Then, just this very morning, I turned on the Food Network and heard Alton Brown explain how all the RAW Turkey Juice drips onto the stuffing and how it is the last thing to cook and sometimes doesn't cook all the way.  So I was reminded why I DO NOT put my stuffing in my bird.  GROSS!! 

Gravy - Ok, I am going to be the first to admit that I have NOT perfected this and it is totally a learning process for me.  I think you have to be southern to really make good gravy, I think it is just something something so women are blessed with at birth.  This year i am going to try this recipe for Savory Turkey Gravy.  If you have a tried and true recipe that is fool proof, that you would like to share by all means, hook me up!

Mashed Potatoes - I have been using this recipe, Slow Cooker Mashed Potatoes, for a while now.  I LOVE THEM!!  For starters, I love how you make these up in the morning and then stick them in the crock pot.  No more mixing up mashed potatoes at the last minute.  I LOVE that this recipe calls for sour cream, cream cheese and garlic, what's not to love about these babies! 

Creamed Corn - Another fabulous recipe I found on Allrecipes in Slow Cooker Creamed Corn.  This recipe is so simple my 4 year old could do it .  I just throw everything (well, everything except the sugar, it really doesn't need it)  in a small crock pot around 11am and then I forget about it until it is time to eat.  This recipe is soooo- goood!! 


Peach Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting - I have recently found a new love, for cake!  Usually I make Pumpkin Rolls but this is truly my new love, it is to die for!  I will tell you all more about this wonderful cake soon.
My sister is making Green Bean Casserole, Sweet Potato Casserole,  Pumpkin Pies, and Baked Beans.  My Dad is going to be making Bread Pudding. 

I hope you all have a Happy Thanksgiving! 

Cookie Swap Idea

I just wanted to share an idea with you all of something that I doing with my girls this year.  I decided to throw a Cookie Swap, but not just any old cookie swap, we are doing a Mother-Daughter Cookie Swap. 

I have been to a few cookie swaps but have never held one myself.  I have wanted to do one for quite a while but never had, until now.  I just really thought it would be lots of fun to include my girls.  They can help me bake the cookies and have their friends at the swap too! 

I decided to do it on the second Saturday in December, you know, it's about the time everyone starts getting crazy about the all the shopping they need to do.  We are doing it at 10:30 in the morning and we are having a brunch.  I am going to be making a Baked French Toast, Breakfast Casserole and Cinnamon-Apple Brunch Bake (recipe coming soon).  I have asked everyone to please bring something to add to the table.  I will also provide drinks. 

Everyone has until December 1st to RSVP and once I have a totally head count I will let everyone know how many cookies to bring.  Depending on how many people are going to come we will make 6-12 cookies per family.

The other day I remembered that I had previously ordered snowman paper products to use for a holiday party that didn't happen.  So guess what, I believe I already all the plates, napkins and cups that I am going need for the party.  I am going to try to remember to order them again at the end of the season for next year.  I think I had ordered them from Oriental Trading for a super good price. 

I am really excited and hope that all goes well.  Lord willing, I would like to make this a yearly tradition.  I will of course post pictures and let you all know how it goes!

Do you all have anything special planned this holiday season?

What We've Been Up To

This was our first week back.  To be honest on day I started to get a little fussy because the kids weren't falling into line as I thought they should. THEN, the Lord really checked me.  I was reminded that we had been off school for several months and that I really needed to relax my standards.  I realized that I needed to just enjoy our schooling together.  Once I had the right mind set, it was like heavenly angels lifting a huge weight off my shoulders.  After that the week (we only school M-Th) went quite well. 

This year I decided to take everyone outside for "school pictures," I really wish I had been doing this all along but never thought too! 

The Lil' Chef now in 5th Grade.  WOW!  Where does time go!

My 2nd Grader, Computer Girl.

Alpha Boy our little Pre K'er.  Excuse the poison ivy.

Little Bits is only 2 and not schooling yet but he is still right in the middle of everything.  And besides I just love his picture face!

The Whole Class

We did our first week of MFW- Creation to Greeks.  We studied creation in Genesis Ch. 1, dinosaurs in Dinosaurs of Eden and we are planning on having a Sabbath Dinner this evening.

While I was reading the creation account in Genesis and about the dinosaurs living with Adam and Eve, the kids made a model of what I was reading.....

See, the dinosaurs (or dragons as they used to call them) really did live with people.

Not sure if the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil was really made from Mega Blocks or not.  But this is LSG's version of the Garden of Eden.

The kids also used our Usborne Dinosaur Stencil Book  to make dinosaur pictures for their history notebooks.

We made homemade butter and buttermilk.  More on this next next week, it will be exciting I promise!

My very 1st attempt at making yogurt.  At first I didn't think it had set up right, but after it was in the fridge a few hours it was great.  I added it to some fruit smoothies today, Yum-Me!!! 

We also had a hamster funeral : (  When we had came home from camping the rebel hamster that had was sick.  We had someone staying at the house watching the critters when we were gone, so I am not real sure what happened.  I tried to help her to get better and was going to take her to the vet but she died the evening before our appointment.   She is now buried outback by the cat. 

Today (Friday) we just kinda chilled and had a movie day.  I had picked up some more movies (all on sale and I had a coupon) from the Christian Bookstore for us to watch.  We watched Soldier Love Story, Mandie and the Secret Tunnel and Hachi.   They were all really great, I cried at the end of Hachi. 

That is about it.   How did your week go?

Camping with the Family Part 2

We are home now.  It is great to get away but wonderful to come back home.  Remember that rain I was talking about?  Well, we did end up getting some, but like the Hubs said considering all the rain we were "supposed" to get we made out pretty good.  I did take the advice of a friend and stopped by the Christian bookstore and loaded up on their $5 & $6 so that was helpful.  We watched Heartstrings and Little Angels, both were pretty good.  We ale also ended up renting Letters to God from a Redbox, good movie from what I saw.  I did end up falling asleep, not because the movie was boring, I was just wiped out.

My aunt lives near Ocean City so we were able to visit with her and her hubby.  We met them at a great little pizza place outside of Ocean City on Rte 50, it was called JJ's Pizza.  As we were pulling into the parking lot my husband was shocked we weren't meeting them at The Dough Roller (a very popular pizza place) and like I told him locals always know where the good food is.  I was right!  This pizza was delcious!  My Aunt and her hubby got a white pizza which had fresh basil, tomatoes and RICOTTA CHEESE.  I am definitely going to have to make that, it looked heavenly!  Got pics of my aunt but forgot to take a pic of the pizza.

We were also able to go to the Ocean City Boardwalk.  We ate dinner there, I got two bathing suit tops (love them end of the season sales!!), the kids rode rides and the girls got their EARS PIERCED!  I have been holding off on the ear piercing because I really thought they were too young .  Driving to the beach I thought it might be fun for them to get their ears pierced while we were here.  I finally concluded what's the big deal, it's just earrings.  I am really not sure that they have ever been so excited!!  Really! 

Well, enough rambling.  Wanna see some more vacation pictures?

For those of you that don't know Ocean City, MD, let me just tell ya, you can't go to Ocean City with out going to the boardwalk.  We really enjoy walking the boardwalk, riding the rides and checking out the shops.

This is the end of the boardwalk where all the rides are.  The kids started getting really excited as we pulled in to park.

 

We ran into some friends on the boardwalk.  I think they weirded Alpha Boy out, he did NOT want to take a picture with them, LOL.

Now this guy was a different story, Alpha Boy was very excited to see Spidey!

Walking on the boardwalk looking for our favorite boardwalk pizza place.

We have started a new tradition a few years ago.  This is where we go for pizza on the boardwalk.  The pizza was great but we missed having Aunt Cindy Lou and Uncle Dan with us.

Marking the ears.  Computer Girl was so thrilled, she didn't even care that pain was involved.

She was such a trooper!

Can you see the excitement?!!

The Lil' Chef wanted her ears pierced but I think she was a little nervous about the pain.  But....

In the end she did great and we had another THRILLED little girl!

After all the piercing excitement we went to ride some rides,

do a few obstacle course and

ride the merry go round.

Again and....

again.

This picture is special.  We used to vacation at the beach with my mom.  Our last vacation was the summer before she died, Lil' Chef was 5 and Computer Girl was 2 at the time and I have a fabulous picture of my mom with the girls on this very ride.   It is one of my favorite pictures because of the smile my mom has on her face, they all looked like they were having such a great time.

They played some games and...

won some prizes. 

Of course we ended up with hermit crabs.  Not that we really need another critter over here but it's just something you do.  You go to the beach and come home with a hermit crab. 

Aunt Bonnie and Me.  It was so nice to be able to see her and to catch up a little.

Aunt Bonnie and the kids

I didn't know that they had sharks at Frontier Town! 

While I was in the gift shop, the Hubs had some fun with my new camera.

 

The loved this shark.  They just thought it was sooo cool to be in the mouth of a shark.

We also had a great time at the park which was down by the pier.  It was so nice that there was so much to do right inside of Frontier Town.  I enjoyed really being able to just relax and do fun little family things instead of always rushing around.  Lord willing, I'd love to go back again nect year!

Howdy Partner!

This was part of the pier.  We walked to the end and saw tons of people catching crabs and fishing.  We were going to do a little crabbing but the rain happened again.

The End!