Homeschool Convention and Children: The Power of the Busy Bag

We only went to a few workshops this convention. Most were at times which didn't suit our family, or the topic was not used to our homeschool curriculum. So in the end, I created a lot of little baggies of activities for my children to play with for nothing, but I will share the ones that worked amazingly well for my family.

I always keep what are called "busy bags" in my purse for waiting room times when we go to the doctor. My mother used to have a zippered pouch with all sorts of tiny charms inside. I loved waiting rooms, because that was the only time I was allowed to play with those special toys. In fact, last year my mother offered me the pouch and I was so excited to own those tiny toys.

Apparently, I've passed my love of itty bitty toys to my son. He is crazy for little animals. Specifically those animal toobs by the Safari company. So while packing up for the convention, I made sure we had some little animals, because I knew if he had a handful, he will sit for hours and play relatively quietly. (The only time he gets loud is if there happens to be a particularly intense battle.

He was most excited about the Safari Good Luck Minis Fantasy Fun Pack.

I'm not sure what's light the fire in the boy's heart over dragons lately, but he is all about dragons.

I also wanted to make something a little educational, so I took photos of a few of his mini dinosaurs. I then printed and laminated the pictures and cut them in half, so they were a puzzle.

Here he is putting the puzzles together and then matching the dinosaur toy to the puzzle. He was using this toob pack by the way: Safari LTD Dinos Toob

I had so much fun making these cards, I think I'm going to make more of them for him. However, first things first, I really to sort through the toys. I haven't had the time to sort through their toy box in forever and I'm pretty sure 80% of their toys currently live under the couch. *sigh*

PS. There is a chipmunk who has found our bird feeder and he is adorable!!

 (Please ignore the junky state of my deck. It's a mess. I'm not even bothered by it. I've got enough to clean up in the house.)

Another Sock Day!

Haha! This blog is seriously going to end up just being socks isn't it.

My dear friend, Katie, sent me the sweetest box of assorted birthday gifts. Some of those gifts were the coolest socks I've ever seen.

These were the first things I pulled from the box and I was very confused at first as to what they were. The Salmon socks are so cutely folded, I thought they were some sort of screen cleaners or something. Isn't the strawberry shortcake so cute! I love the little layers.

Wanna see how they look unfolded?

Shabam!

Also there were these adorable Kokeshi Doll-styled socks. I was sad to open them, because they're so adorable (and yes, I did indeed keep the little cardboard dolls from inside. Too cute! Can't throw away!)

But I'm so glad I opened them. Look at those Daruma socks! Gah! I'm a nut for Daruma dolls.

I feel so wealthy in socks lately! I don't think I've owned this many pairs of pretty socks ever in my entire life. I can't wait to wear them! I think I need a few extra pairs of feet. haha!

Packing for Young Children

Our family recently went to a local Home School convention and I'm going to toot my own horn on how well my children handled things, thanks to their mama's planning. I hope these down-to-earth tips may help other mom's of littles who struggle with traveling with their children.

Today, I wanted to address packing. I hate packing. It takes me days to pack myself for any destination, because I'm terrified I'll forget something and goodness knows I can't ever stop at a store to replace the one thing I forgot. Yeah, I get a little crazy.

So! To calm my crazies, I have a simple solution to packing, at least when my children are concerned.

First, I pack their clothing on wash day. The clothes come out of the drier, are matched into outfits, and folded right there. Everything is fresh and planned out.

Secondly, gallon zip bags! Each outfit, complete with underpants, socks, and accessories (if necessary), is put into a zip bag. I did put pajamas from both children into the same baggie, but that's because I was running out of baggies.

Here they are! Three outfits per child and one bag with pajamas. Now are you ready for the brilliant part?

When you put the clothing back in your suitcase, don't put them back into the zip bag. Instead, toss them back in your suitcase! The clean clothing that wasn't worn can stay nice and clean in their bags. When you get home, pull out the zip bags to put the clean clothing away, and toss the rest in the hamper. Easy peasy! 

Another bonus to the zip bags is on the off chance something liquid opens (once my foundation exploded in our suitcase) the clothing stays nice and clean.

My Daughter's "friend," Inky Dink

(She enjoys being a girl)

My daughter loves pink. LOVES pink. Everything must be pink. She will throw a fit if she does not receive something pink. Pink is the answer to everything. Before we were hit with the news The Dude was being laid off, she'd convinced me to let her have a wall painted pink in her bedroom.

This past week, I've discovered she's made her first imaginary friend. Her name is Inky Dink. She loves pink too and lives in Bun's pink house, in the woods, where they have to drive to in her pink car. (Please understand she doesn't own any of these things, but apparently Bun has created this elaborate world where she does have a pink car and house in the woods somewhere.)

I love children's minds and listening to the stories they make up. I remember when I would play for hours making up stories with my toys.

This week, I'm going to be a little in and out. We're going to a homeschool convention and I need to get packed and prepared. While I'm more of a loosey goosey traveler, The Dude is type-A all the way, so itineraries must be planned out in advance and submitted for approval. (I joke.)

It's my goal to make a few posts about what we do to keep our children occupied and us sane. We shall see. Right now I've got to run and get things together for packing. Ahhhhh!!!!

Feature: June Gilbank, aka Planet June

(Links in this post are affiliate link, which means I may make a tiny amount of money if you make a purchase by clicking through. I am not being compensated for a favorable review, I just really like talking about books.) 

If you've ever wanted to learn how to crochet, but weren't lucky enough to have a family member teach you, then let me introduce you to June Gilbank. She is an amazingly talented artist and one of the greatest teachers currently online.

She runs a fantastic site, Planet June, where people can learn crochet basics with clear illustrations and videos as well as find some adorable patterns.

Reaching over to my pattern shelf, I have two books by June. The first is Crochet (Idiot's Guides).

I crochet mostly on what I half-remember from what my mother taught me when I was a child, so adding this reference to my book shelf has been invaluable. It gives all the basics, clearly explained and illustrated in full-color photographs. There are also some lovely patterns included to test your new found skills. 

The Complete Idiot's Guide to Amigurumi (Complete Idiot's Guides (Lifestyle Paperback)) is awesome for anyone who is looking to crochet their own amigurumi designs. The book explains how to transform a vision into crocheted doll. Some of this information you can find on the Planet June website, but I like to have a hard copy on hand while I'm working. There are also some cute patterns!

Now you have the biggest leg up to becoming an amigurumi superstar! Go forth and make your tiny crocheted army!

Free Classics for your Kindle!

Are you a fan of classic books?
I am!

I'm always excited to read a classic book. When I was a teenager, I was reading classic books instead of the teen literature. When I started working at a bookstore, I bought up all the classics I felt I'd missed out on reading because I was assigned other books, while lucky people were reading The Great Gatsby. (Ps. I highly recommend if you read this as a teen, re-read this as an adult! Such a different story!)

I admit! I've got an addiction! It's an addiction to classic books!

Lately, I've discovered Amazon offers Kindle versions of some classic books for free! You heard me, FREE!

Below are just a small handful, but I've already added them to my Kindle App (which is free to use from Apple and Android users.)

The Federalist Papers 

 

Walden

  

Don Quixote

 

Grimm's Fairy Tales

  

The Wonderful Wizard of Oz (Oz Series Book 1)

Book Review: Leave Me Alone!

(Links in this post are affiliate link, which means I may make a tiny amount of money if you make a purchase by clicking through. I am not being compensated for a favorable review, I just really like talking about books.) 
   

Today's book review is on Vera Brosgol's  Leave Me Alone! This is a visual delight. Her illustrations of children remind me of the children of Gyo Fujikawa's A to Z Picture Book and her other books. The illustrations of this book are a true treat.

This is the story of a loving grandmother with a job to do, knit sweaters for her grandchildren, except as you can see from the picture below, she's not getting the time to get her job done.

To escape her interruptions, she proceeds to go farther and farther away, being troubled by bears, mountain goats, and moon aliens, until finally she is completely and utterly alone. She finishes her work, but she realizes she is alone. This realization is told through illustrations, which an older child will easily grasp, but mine need it spelled out to them. 

As I've said, this story was a little above my children's heads (4 and 2 years old), but the story is one which will make the older and adult reader smile. As a knitter, I've had moments where I've hollered, "Leave me alone!" more than once and it always seems to be when I'm working hard to make a gift for my child. Ahh! Irony!

I'd recommend this for an older child, adult knitter or picture book collector, but I'm not sure I'd recommend this title for the younger audience. Personally, I love this book, I just don't think it's my children's favorite.