How Did We Get Here?

I buckled down and got some sewing done last night.

I made a stack of pillowcases last night. 10 pillowcases and 3 gift bags. Need to find the other page to cameron’s cloth book and make a couple more diapers and then I am done sewing. Why I don’t do this earlier, I’ll never know.
Finally figured out a gift for fil, girlfriend and her son. Whoonu- already had it in the gift box, a tin of sweets and some pictures framed.
Other than that, I am finished with gifts.  I’ve finished shopping and ready to wrap.  Tonight is a baking night and I need to label 50 cd’s.  Over the past few weeks, I’ve been recording our circle time at playgroup.  Dh burned it onto cds for me and they’ll be handed out to the kids at the Christmas party and potluck tomorrow.  How cool that they get to take home their own songs to sing along with.

I just got a card from my bestest buddy from Jr high.  Her boys are handsome.  Good thing they live so far away from us.  I might have a problem with Hannah if we saw them more than every few years.

I came across this advice today.  Sounds good to me.

It doesn’t really matter how much you want to accomplish today; your pace will likely be set by circumstances that are beyond your control. The best you can do is remain clear about your abilities and your limitations. If you don’t overcommit, all should work out okay. But if you take on too much, even the simplest jobs could suffer. Pace yourself, work hard, and don’t apologize for what you cannot do

One of the most dreaded fall chores is sorting through the mittens.  I despise it.  This year I thought why not make a game out of it?  It’s getting colder out and I always have to go digging for mittens for the first time for Halloween night.  So this afternoon I gathered the kiddos and gave them each a basket.  Lydia was to gather the hats, I did scarves, Hannah and Parker were to pair mittens.  All the odds got tossed and all the too small hats and mitts will be donated.

Before- I think we have way too many

Yes we do!

We lost a kid in there.

This is the face of a cheater.  Quite deliberately, while I was explaining the game, Lydia cathered an armload of hats.  She stood by her tote and said “ready, set, go” as she dropped her load into the tote.  Quite proud that she’s young enough to get away with it.

All together now.

It’s more fun with cowboy boots.

End result- 1 basket of mitts, 1 basket of hats and scarves, 1 bag to toss and 1 bag to donate.

Tomorrow’s project- coats and snowpants .  I honestly don’t know how larger families keep it all organized and everyone outfitted.

Lydia is quite enthralled with the changing of the seasons.  At first she was worried about the trees and wanted to fix them by putting their leaves back.  Now she’s excited that when the leaves are gone, we’ll get snow.

And we’ll be ready.

So with Christmas coming, I thought I’d give some reviews of games that we have.  In the past couple of years, we’ve accumulated a lot of Cranium games.  One that we recently purchased for Lydia is Cariboo.      http://www.hasbro.com/games/cranium/browse.cfm?page=&product_id=21399

 I could explain how it’s played but we don’t really play by the rules.  It’s an openended game, easily adapteed to what your child’s needs are.  It was recomended by Lydia’s Speech pathologist.  I ask her to say a word on a card (provided by the speech program) and then she gets to use the magic key to open a box.  If she finds a ball, she takes it out and puts it in the hole and when all the balls are found, the treasure chest pops open.  She loves the game so much, she’ll even play it on her own.

I just picked these ones up for Christmas gifts-

Put the puzzle together and use the game cards to search for differnt objects.  Circle the found objects with a dry erase marker.  I picked this up at Winners for $6.99.  I like that it’s a prereading game and leads them to read by using cues.  I’m not sure if it’s readily available as it’s not on the Cranium site but Amazon still carries it.

I also found Talking Tracks Monkey Safari  http://www.hasbro.com/games/cranium/browse.cfm?page=&product_id=21501

Again at Winners for $5.99.

More big hits with preschoolers- Hullaballo dvd game by Cranium.  We have the original one as well but I find it hard to hear so when I found the DVD version for $5 last year at Walmart, I told everyone I knew.  We often use it at church with an extra set.  It’s a great moving game.

I used to sell Discovery Toys and Playful Patterns is a great game for so many reasons.  https://www.discoverytoyslink.com/ecommerce/control/product?PURCHASE_STATE=STANDARD&product_id=2930  As well as Games to Grow on and Oh Rats.

http://www.amazon.com/Discovery-Toys-Games-Grow-Board/dp/B0011CY82M/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=generic&qid=1226721440&sr=1-1

http://www.epinions.com/review/Oh_Rats_Puzzle_Game/kifm-review-202E-ADC80B3-3A36E239-prod1

They’re not available from Discovery Toys anymore but if you know a consultant or check Ebay and Amazon, you might luck out.