Simplify the Season w/ Julie

http://www.organizewithjulie.blogspot.com/

But, that's not ... candy.

My sweet little boy is candy crazy. We have had to take all candy from the house to check his ravenous sweet tooth. So, needless to say, he has been looking forward to Halloween with a bright and happy heart.

Near us in a new store, Whole Foods, which has been a lot of fun to visit and shop in. We have found that is slightly more costly, mostly because we buy things we wouldn't normally find at our normal grocery store. They are savy enough to offer community programs which included a fall festival and trick or treat event. Unfortunately, in the style of an organic, healthy and eco-sensitive store, their treats were not the same items as my candy monster considers as treats.


The poor little boy looked at a box he was given, looked up adn asked the employee what it was. She smiled and brightly replied that a box of organic raisins. Shocked at this blasphemy, my little boy asked again what it was. Just in case she had actually said "candy". But no, my children were exposed to a new Halloween experience, Organic, Gluten Free, Organic Nutient Enhanced Water, Apple Sauce and Whole Grain treats. Good thing for my little sweet toothed boy he is in for the traditional house to house joyful sugar fest tonight.

It Won't Be Like This For Long ...

There is a song that starts with the refrain "It Won't Be Like This for Long". It laments how fast time flies as a parent. Most parents can relate to that, and I am not immune to the longing in that ballad. Tonight, of all things, my youngest wet the bed and was sleeping right through it. I noticed and walked him carefully to the potty, took off his wet clothes, then searched out a clean pair and placed him back into a dry bed. The entire time his eyes were closed and he just leaned into me. Even this time, the night time potty training gone awry is fleeting and special. His sleepy trust of Mommy to tend to him is so precious. Tomorrow I will have to remember and press this into the pages of my heart.

Thank you, Lord for these times with my children. Thank you for the love I have for them, and the they readily give in return.

Fall - no way - not with temps in the 90's!

We are braving through the heat. In an inspired move, we vacationed up in Michigan! I really hadn't been anywhere outside Detroit except to visit Jackson, about an hour west of Motor City. How Fantastic it is! We made sure to visit some varied locations, but you just have to stop in each direction by hitting a massive lake! A Great Lake! We went to an adorable town, Holland complete with reproduction Dutch Villages, gardens and an authentic Windmill. We took our first look at Lake Michigan from the shores of Holland State Park. We took a picture in front of the "most photographed lighthouse" in the state, Big Red. We visited Elisabeth Park, in Trenton, a little jewel directly on the Detroit River. Driving North, we crossed the Mackinac Bridge, entered the UP (Michigan's Upper Peninsula) and headed up to the Soo Locks in Sault Ste. Marie. We watched two boats going through the lock system and stopped in the museum before devouring some fudge on the main street. There isn't a fee, but there is a security check. We took pictures at the Mac Bridge heading south along the western shore until we hit Petoskey. I was determined to find Petoskey stones, the state stones that are commonly found in the bay. We stayed in a hotel right across from the bay and first thing the next morning, we found our stones at East Park. Traveling a little farther southwest, we hit the Sleeping Bear Dunes.Our pace was like that of a kid running down a boardwalk full bore, then hitting deep soft sand. You can't help but to slow to a stop noting the change. The Dune Climb was tall, and all three kids went up, up, up. We even continued over some more of these amazing perched dunes, looking back over incredibly blue lakes glistening below. I hadn't even noticed these interior lakes on our way in. It was so very quiet, aside from the wind. We fell in love with that place. But it was time to head down, sliding and running when you could and I am sure a lot of sand gets moved around, in addition to the migration of the dunes, from little footfalls. We headed back south and it was almost a tangible different the moment we were back in lower Michigan again. The trees were mostly the same, and the restaurants too. Something was different, still beautiful, but maybe a little less wild. We hit our last landmark the day before we left, The Parlour for ice cream. Tin Roof Sundae, Baby!

Days of Rain

Usually we don't brave the crowds at Lowes for their craft time. However, we have had more than a week of rain (yes, a week, in Florida), and we need the activity. Since we will have a playdate today, we will be joined by a friend and it should be very entertaining. Since little hammers are involved, I will be taking my Tylenol before attempting it. The kits are cute enough, and the children love to hammer. We usually end up having to rehammer them at home, which is a-okay with the kiddos!

Our other activities have been pretty common, cleaning, neat websites, reading (well reading wasn't that mundane), puddle stomping in rain coats and shopping. One movie we watched was Bedtime Stories. They thoroughly enjoyed it. There may have been some adult themes, but it was handled in a thoughtful, albeit brief manner. Both of the older kids (8 and 5) loved it and the parents found it a fun movie as well. The youngest at almost 3 wasn't as thrilled except when they were showing the Guinea pig with the big eyes. Nostalgic ... especially with the music, 80's rock, I believe.

Well, it is starting to drizzle again. Not common for Florida, by the way, all this rain, but it is GREAT for the plants. Off to the hardware store!

Websites for Learning

Why say Learning? Not Education? Because it sounds fun!

I was looking through a book with links to various sites and found some of theirs and extras too!
http://www.aplusmath.com/www.aplusmath.com is great for fashcards and simple math games that back up the flashcard work.

http://mywonderfulworld.org/ - Geography initialtive from National Geographic for National Geography Week Awareness. My kids loved seaching for treasure, the pyramids and other map led adventures.

http://www.learner.org/# - Teacher resources and teacher professional development programming across the curriculum -Annenberg Media resources can be accessed for FREE at Learner.org

http://illuminations.nctm.org/LessonsList.aspx?grade=1&standard=2&aa=1 - Math Lesson Site with Solid Design and pleasing layout

http://www.thinkquest.org/competition/website/evaluation.html Thinkquest has a competition for building a learning website hosted by Oracle Thinkquest Foundation. There are also posted websites that were submitted from students that can be used to assist in teaching a variety of subjects.

http://www.usps.com/about/welcome.htm?from=home_header&page=aboutuspsandnews Information on the US Postral Service - Look into the Who We Are sections for history, photos and link to the Postal Museum at the Smithsonian

http://www.hurricanehunters.com/ - The Hurricane Hunters have a CyberFlight (at the top of the page) as well as a very nice and informative website. There are descriptions of what each of the crew do, specs on the aircraft and of course meteorology information.

http://www.artjunction.org/index.php - Art Juntion, a collaborative art space for teachers and students -

http://www.origami.as/home.html Origami Art and instructions - basics and information on symbols

http://www.mcm.edu/academic/galileo/ars/arshtml/arstoc.html -The Art of Renaissance
Science:

http://www.olejarz.com/arted/perspective/ - Drawing from One Point Perspective online lesson

Beautiful Day

After a rough start, this day has been a wonderful one. We were awakened by the carpool call notifying us they were running late. That set us in action in a hurry. Poor little boy, rushed through everything, pushed along, eating in less time than it took to brush his teeth. He still was smiling from beginning to end, joyful at the prospect of hours of play with his friends.

The rest of the household prepared for lessons and a foray back into gardening. Since my first set of seedlings has long since pushed off the protective clear plastic top, this is very necessary for our veggies. We are trying to decide how to best lay out the garden to minimize weeding and watering. So far, my darling little girl suggested a robot that weeded for me and my son volunteered to do the work himself. My sweet husband has a system of weed mat and paths. When his system runs awry, he himself labors for me.

A new and exciting addition is a trellis for the peas and other climbers. After watching the Gardening Girl online, we were inspired by her systems. He used an old design of his with metal piping with chicken wire, that bends over at the top to maximize the growing space for the height challenged (which to my husband means you are under 6 feet).

Spring has Arrived

Our dogwood is in bloom, and it looks quite lovely this year. The Carolina Jessamin is a fluffy yellow-gold mass above our rose arbor. And as our garden beds are empty, this is surely the beginning of spring. The heat is in the high 70's, and I imagine we will be complaining about the temperature before long, but for now the kids love to play outside without bundling up.

With the time change yesterday, the children (especially the 2 year old) wasn't convinced it was time for bed. "Wake up time, mommy", was the reason. Last year I was better at this and had started adjusting for the time change about a month in advance.

The wind chimes, sparkling lights and soft leaves call me back outdoors to play.