SNOW DAY!!!!

We are having our first real snowday today! Very exciting for sure! So far, we have watched the original Grinch movie, Charlie Brown Christmas, and are starting in on Ichabod and Mr Toad as I type. Of course he has also spent the morning stamping, playing with Lego's, making a "movie" with his Little People Nativity, and building his new lego kit from the Lego City Advent calendar.

Busy Busy Busy!

I personally am exhausted (long night...see yesterday's comments if interested in an update but all is fine!) and have just laid here on the couch all morning watching the flurry of activity!

We do have big plans for the afternoon however! We are making a button wreath from our Advent activities list. (yesterday's activity...good thing I saved it huh?) He has also decided to make puppets with the cutout nativity people. (todays activity!)
http://sjbacb.blogspot.com/2009/11/advent-calendar.html (LAZY LINKAGE TODAY!) Oh yeah, and FINALLY finish decorating the tree!

We are likely to have another snow day tomorrow, they are predicting 2 inches an hour all night. So I think I will gather up the supplies for gift making and try to get some of that knocked out if we are home again. Also, tomorrow should be a bit better for outdoor fun so for sure we will be heading out to enjoy the snow.

Enjoy your families!
Shannon

Celebrate Snow!!!

Well, if you live where it snows there is just nothing you can do about it...so you might as well at least pretend to enjoy it! Here are a few ideas of fun things to do with the kids on a snow day!

• Paper Snowflake patterns (ht-Craft Jr. )
• Wooden/button snowflake
• Sock Snow People
• Snowmen
• Faux Snow!
• Salty snowman picture
• and...wow...build an igloo!

Our Fall so far...

We have been very busy this past month and a half. Here are a few highlights!



Here is Josh with one of his Columbus Day projects. He created the Nina, Pinta and Santa Maria out of an egg carton, play dough, toothpicks, and paper for sails. I have yet to come up with a quality read aloud for young children about Columbus. They are either misleading or just way too complex. Any suggestions for next year??








Here is Josh at our Camp reunion canoeing with me and Andrew. We had a great time and the weather was wonderful.













We also continued with our preschool work. We have been spending less time in our preschool room and more time at the dining room table. Josh seems to be drawn to doing work in workbooks and worksheets right now. I am planning to come up with a few new items to put on the shelves to see if we can renew interest in Montessori but if not I have no problem with just following the child!

Oh yeah...here he is using the cards from Jo. He loved these and even made them into a book when he had finished this counting game.


We have 2 giant trees in our front yard so we have enjoyed many fun Fall days jumping in the leaves!












We also made our annual trek to the Pumpkin Patch. We try to always get a picture of Joshua next to this scarecrow sign. This one turned out especially cute! We did a corn maze and checked out the farm animals but we went to a local grocery to buy our pumpkin because I just cannot pay $20 for a pumpkin. We ended up spending $6 for 2 local grown, one fancy and one regular.

And finally, here is Joshua in his Harry Potter costume on Halloween. We went trick or treating this year which was a first. Because of Joshua's restrictive diet, we just traded Josh his candy for the more nutritious treats we had waiting at home. He was thrilled since not only is he unable to eat much of the dyed candy but he also strongly dislikes (read totally hates!) Chocolate! We had a fun time since it was a beautiful night...very strange for Michigan. It is usually raining, sometimes even snowing on Halloween.

Thanks for visiting!

Shannon

Butterflies and Sunshine!

What a lovely day! 70's and beautiful! We really lucked out because today was our annual visit to the butterfly garden. http://www.meijergardens.org/index.php

We had a ton of fun. And...I would like to share our day with you so...

Here is the enclosure that they keep the chrysalis in until the butterflies hatch. If you look close you can see several butterflies inside drying their wings.

My favorite Blue Morpho butterfly!

Outside of the building is a rather large children's garden. Which includes a beaver dam area (see pic of Josh hugging the Beaver on the left, Josh's Fave of the day!) Then on the right we have Joshy dancing around in the raised sand box, which is right next to a large sand area.

The garden also includes a climbing structure, a game cabin, many trails, a Great Lakes water play area, and the giant Trojan horse statue. So fun! We are thinking of purchasing a membership but are trying to decide if we will use it enough to warrant the price.

All in all, a great day! Hope your enjoying your spring as well!

Shannon

Weekend Fun!

We had a fun weekend despite the weather! We are all truly getting sick of COLD temps and SNOW!

However, we had a neat opportunity to take the little man to a production of Peter and the Wolf performed by the local symphony and ballet company. It was geared to 3-6 year olds and was really fabulous. The conductor was great with the kids and explained a ton. I really loved how the different parts of the orchestra were wearing different color t-shirts. It really showed the children the differences in the instruments etc... And to top it all off, the tickets were only $5 a piece, so it was very affordable. There is another production next month we would like to catch, this time The Three Bears!

We also had a fun game night! Josh received a cool game for Christmas that I have been saving. It is called Rivers, Roads and Rails and was very fun! We actually lost track of time and forgot to get dinner ready! link here! The game is for 5 and up but Josh really did fine. We were very impressed with how much better he has gotten at taking turns.

Sunday we headed to the lake shore for a family birthday party. Nice to see everyone but those gatherings can be hard with a 3 yo in tow! He gets sooo excited. Not to mention the whole no food dye thing is almost impossible with birthday cake! It worked out okay, I just scrapped off the 4 or 5 different colors! I really have never seen such a colorful cake! I laughed right out loud when I saw it!

So hard to know how to handle it. If you let people know, they go out of their way and make unnecessary sacrifices. But not telling makes it hard too. Hmmmm! And they all thought my no red meat was a challenge! We just appreciate that they care!

Hope you had a nice weekend too!

Shannon

Is life in Michigan so very different?

A “Michigander” friend sent me these. You may have seen them before, but in case you haven’t…..


1. If you consider it a sport to gather your food by drilling through 18 inches of ice and sitting there all day hoping that the food will swim by, you might live in Michigan .
Never have been Ice fishing but know many who do!

2. If you're proud that your region makes the national news 96 nights each year because Pellston is the coldest spot in the nation, you might live in Michigan .
Proud? Not really, just happy we live nowhere near Pellston!

3. If your local Dairy Queen is closed from November through March, you might live in Michigan .
So true! All our ice cream places close from Nov. to March!

4. If you instinctively walk like a penguin for five months out of the year, you might live in Michigan .
Five months is under estimating! We can easily have snow on & off from Nov. to April.

5. If someone in a store offers you assistance, and they don't work there, you might live in Michigan .
This is a Michigan thing? Why? Are people not kind in other states? That can not be true! By the way, I do this all the time myself!

6. If your dad's suntan stops at a line curving around the middle of his forehead, (or at the top of his ankles) you might live in Michigan .
Ugh...So true, so true!

7. If you have worn shorts and a coat at the same time, you might live in Michigan .
Not since college, but yep, done that!

8. If your town has an equal number of bars and churches, you might live in Michigan .
Have not counted, but likely. Once again though, is this different in other states?

9. If you have had a lengthy telephone conversation with someone who dialed a wrong number, you might live in Michigan .
I do not get this one!

Part 2 - You know you're a true MICHIGANDER when . . .

1. "Vacation" means going up north on I-75
Two years ago...to the UP!

2. You measure distance in hours.
2 hours to Detroit!

3. You know several people who have hit a deer more than once.
We hit a couple once, several years ago. Sooo scary!

4. You often switch from "heat" to "A/C" in the same day.
Ever heard the saying, "If you do not like the weather just wait 15 minutes." They were talking about MI!

5. You can drive 65 mph through 2 feet of snow during a raging blizzard, without flinching.
A bit of an exaggeration! It IS scary, but yeah, I could do it...and have!

6. You see people wearing camouflage at social events (including weddings).
Sooo embarrassing!

7. You install security lights on your house and garage and leave both unlocked.
Not anymore, but definitely growing up it was like that!

8. You carry jumper cables in your car and your girlfriend knows how to use them.
Uh Huh!

9. You design your kid's Halloween costume to fit over a snowsuit.
It also works to buy it big. This year was not too cold but it rained! Dressed Josh in long underwear under his costume!

10. D riving is better in the winter because the potholes are filled with snow.
So not funny because is totally true! I have a t-shirt that says "Welcome to Michigan" and has a picture of a traffic barrel.

11. You know all 4 seasons: almost winter, winter, still winter and road construction.
See above

12. You can identify a southern or eastern accent.
Can't everyone?

13. Your idea of creative landscaping is a statue of a deer next to your blue spruce.
Not us but you do see these alot!

14. You were unaware that there is a legal drinking age.
Aware, but there is an awful lot of underage drinking. Not everywhere though?

15. Down South to you means Ohio .
It is South!

16. A brat is something you eat.
Like a hot dog, but bigger. Sausage like.

17. Your neighbor throws a party to celebrate his new pole barn.
Many farms still in MI!

18. You go out to fish fry every Friday.
Did not know this was an exclusive MI thing?!

19. Your 4Th of July picnic was moved indoors due to frost.
I do remember a 4Th when I was an early teen when it hailed!

20. You have more miles on your snow blower than your car.

21. You find 0 degrees "a little chilly."

22. You drink pop and bake with soda.
People on the Detroit side of the state often call it soda. We actually do too!

23. Your doctor tells you to drink Vernor's and you know it's not medicine.
Never heard of a DR doing this.

24. You can actually drink Vernor's without coughing.
Can't everyone...it is just ginger ale.

25. You know what a Yooper is.
Person from the Upper Peninsula.

26. You think owning a Honda is UN-American.
Whatever...I drive a Subaru. Gotta have 4 wheel drive with all our snow and pot holes!

27. You know that UP is a place, not a direction.
See # 25.

28. You know it's possible to live in a thumb.
Or any other part of your hand.

29. You understand that when visiting Detroit, the best thing to wear is a Kevlar vest.
They are really trying to clean up Detroit. It is much better! Cleaner and safer!

30. You actually understand these jokes, and you forward them to all your Michigan friends.
I get most of them but I honestly can not imagine that these are Michigan exclusive things. What do you think?

Shannon
Born and raised, lived all my life, in Michigan!