Pinterest: Friend and Foe

I look at my Pinterest page and many others' pages.  I wonder:  Do people really do this stuff?  I really like it for the "Pin It" button.  As I use Pinterest directly from other websites, I haven't bookmarked anything since I discovered this lovely site.  So I usually spend more time perusing other websites than the actual Pinterest site itself.

I definitely enjoy the sewing ideas, recipes, and kids' crafts.  I really wanted to do some kids' activities since we always seem to have a plethora of both around here: kids and activities. The activities part is not so structured.  Hmm...as I'm typing this, I'm thinking maybe the kid part isn't so structured either.

So one day when I had a few kids over after school, I decided to structure most of the play date around these activities.  Here's what went down on that Wednesday afternoon:

I found this nifty game for the sweet kindergarten girls that gathered around the table.  It was played with dice and crayons.  We focused on probability and prediction since these geniuses are way beyond number recognition.

 

 

 

The girls enjoyed it and they played it several times.

 

Meanwhile I had my beyond brilliant 2nd grade gang in the other room playing a math game.  It was to be for (again) number recognition at the preschool level, but I modified it for the kids to fish out 3 numbers and add them together.  The highest number wins the round.

 



 

 

 

The game was simply made of magnetic numbers, straws, twine, and paper clips.  They had fun, but got a little competitive...overachievers.

 

Then all the kids got together and tried that popular project, the one with the dollar store mugs and sharpies?  They had a great time creating their bowls.

 

 

 

 

I baked them for the 30 minutes at 350 as instructed. The project was a bust, luckily the kids didn't find out until after they left the household ;)  After washing the bowls out, the sharpie wore right off.  I wish the ink came out of their clothes that easily!

 

So, I'm glad I tried a few projects.  I learned that maybe there will be hits and misses, such as life. No guarantees that it will work out.  I will stick to the ideas that cost little or no money, especially when there's a gang of kids around here.

 

Although I was hoping the kids to behave like this:

 

 

Their behavior inevitably returned to this:

 



 

 

Structured or unstructured activities, I guess that's just how we roll around here :)



 

the happiest place on earth

We went on a short vacation last week; an extended weekend at Disney's Magic Kingdom. Dave and I are usually resistant to these destination vacations, but the magic of Disney won our hearts.  We had a great time with the gals and my parents.

 

 

We stayed at the Art of Animation Resort.  I loved the cheesy decor and the girls loved the Little Mermaid themed room and the swimming pool.  The best thing we did was take a break the day between our 2 day pass and spend the day at the resort.

 

 



 

We were limited with time, so we trekked to Florida for 3 days.  It was just the right amount of time for our little first-timers. The highlight of the trip was the girls having the dinner at Cinderella's Royal Table in the castle.  Thanks to my dear friend Tammy, I knew to make the reservation 6 months in advance (sheesh!)

 

 

 

Although we crossed this trip off our bucket list, I think we may return one day.

 

 

Seriously!!?? The only photo with all of us together had to be this poor quality one! Hint: if you double click the photo to enlarge it, you can see it in better quality ;) 



Hello New Year

Whew!  What an exciting whirlwind of a holiday season.  Everything from our handmade holiday projects, to our holiday activities, and visits with family and friends was a great time, though exhausting!  We are looking forward to settling in and enjoying the winter season. However, before the dust settles, we have one more small excursion first...more on that later.  Happy New Year!

My secret store

One of the high points of clothes shopping in Pennsylvania is that there is no sales tax.
Being an Asheville resident, it is ingrained in me to shop second hand and on consignment. Everyone does it! Imagine the delight I feel when I step into a charming little consignment boutique with a plethora of high end children's clothes. Although Asheville has quite a few hip stores, most of them are picked over by the time I get around to them.

Baby & Beyond has outlasted most consignment stores in the Wyoming Valley. It could be in part that the owner Nicole is awesome. She's always so welcoming and helpful. She even has the store sorted out by popular brands. This time she had Mini Boden, Gymboree, and Corky jackets on racks of its own. The rest of the store had an assortment of Lily Pulitzer, Gap, Heartstrings, Blueberry Boulevard, and many others on its racks. I also fall for everything from the great shoes to the chapter books!

The gals always get compliments on their flashy clothes. Now my secret's out. I just shop in Luzerne, PA., not anywhere fancy like I let on.
And for those of you who are old school enough to remember: You can't lose in Luzerne ;)

Busy, busy, busy...

Crafting, concerts, and parties, oh my!  We are in full swing into our holiday season, always working on something, always on the go.  The gals and I have started to learn new crafting skills and are really into our homemade Christmas this year. Although things are moving quickly, I'm glad I take the time to notice that I am (finally) healthy and my family is safe. We do have many blessings this year.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Mya's Birthday

My youngest turned 6 yesterday.

 

 

Of course the day started off typical Mya style.  She woke up very upset that her age was now counted on two hands instead of one.  She, oh so dramatically, insisted she wasn't 6. She didn't even care that her birthday was on 12/12/12!!

 

 

We planned a fun filled day.  The gals and I sneaking out of school early, and with Dave lucky enough to have time off, we were all set.  Of course, I had to make silly treats for her class (I LOVE doing little over-the-top things like this)

 

 

 

 

Upon Mya's requested, we visited the Biltmore house again.  Beautifully decorated, I may add.

 

 

 

We celebrated at Mya's favorite restaurant with our extended family and Mya's two best buds.

 

 

It was a fabulous day!