holidays

Flag Day Fun

June 15, 2011

flag day

Noun:

1. June 14, the anniversary of the adoption of the Stars and Stripes as the official US flag in 1777.

2. Justification for purchasing those fun patriotic outfits and crafts b/c “It’s not just for the 4th of July you can use them on Flag Day too”.

The kids enjoyed making their own American Flags out of ribbon. They will serve as a great patriotic decoration in our home through the 4th of July.

Flag Day Lasagna: inspired from Family Fun magazine

A super big shout of of thanks goes to Miss Jen for making these adorable coordinating patriotic dresses!!

Dress up Ice Cream Sandwiches by rolling them in coordinating sprinkles. Idea taken from Family Fun again. But, I skipped the popsicle sticks and let the kids dip their own. This was super easy and could be easily adapted to any holiday… hmmm black and gold Sprinkles for Steelers games anyone?

This has got to go down as my favorite flag day celebration yet… flag day with friends is definitely the way to go in my book!

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When You Care Enough to Send the Very Best

May 9, 2011

in holidays,Motherhood

Before having kids, I used to go to my local Hallmark store and browse the selection of cards. It seemed there was always SOMEONE who could benefit from a little Hallmark cheer. I love cards. LOVE them… and prior to having kids I was pretty good about buying and sending them.

Somehow though bringing 2, then 3, now 4 active kids into a card store lost its appeal… something about them reaching out of their strollers and pulling card after card onto the floor while I was trying to find that perfect card made it loose its charm.

Gone are the days I peruse the card store for fun.

Now I seem to avoid it at all costs.

Yesterday as my children eagerly accosted me with their cards, I had an epiphany. Mothers have been saying it for years, but ya know as a kid, you never fully believe them.

Hallmark no longer has the market on the very best cards.

Nothing, and I mean, N-O-T-H-I-N-G holds a candle to a hand written card from your child.

The love just oozes off of the crayon filled pages. And the presentation? Presentation really is everything… As they eagerly scrambled onto my bed each of the pushing their pictures and cards closer to my face and telling me in their excited voices all about the pictures they drew, I knew I couldn’t feel more loved and cherished. I could tell with their enthusiasm how hard they worked to make a picture for me. I knew that their cards more wore than scribbles on a page… they poured themselves into those pieces of art.

From my 3 yr old:

From my 5 yr old:

From my 7 yr old:

And while my almost 1 year old didn’t give me a card, he did crawl across my bed and onto my lap with a huge smile on his face. So, I felt the love.

Breakfast in bed and dinner out were both very nice, but my favorite part of the day was when my kids bounded into my room and smothered me with their handwritten pictures. They truly cared to give me the very best…a piece of themselves.

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How Chicken Pot Pie Sent Me Into a Sad Little State of Panic and Despair

March 15, 2011

in holidays,home school

I asked Scott to explain Pi to the kids yesterday as we ate our Chicken Pot Pie in celebration of Pi day (3/14). I knew he would do a better job than I, as I would have probably just showed them the symbol and told them it equaled 3.14

Because folks, that pretty much sums up what I know about Pi.

He however drew them a picture of a circle, taught them about diameter and then went on to tell them that you need a little (.14 to be exact) over three strings the width of a circle to make it all the way around the circle. And that special name for the exact number of strings you would need is called Pi.

In actuality I am sure our eating pie for dinner while having this discussion only served to further confuse them, but it is my goal that years from now when they learn about Pi in middle school some sort of light bulb will click in their brains and they will say, “Oh, I get it, that’s why mom always served pie to us on the 14th of March!”

And I am pretty sure I will not be the one teaching them when that light bulb goes off b/c the thought of trying to explain Pi to someone makes my head hurt and scares the bejeebers out of me.

To be honest, I had no idea that cool fact about the diameter and the distance around the circle. In fact as we went to bed last night I asked Scott, “So what is πr²? (Secretly I was kinda proud of myself for even being able to recall that mathematical sequence even though I can recall nothing about what that equation equals)

And as he went on to explain it to me, my brain got all fuzzy like it typically does when in times like these. I hear the words that are being said but no matter how much I focus on them, I am still not fully comprehending what they mean. And don’t even think of asking me to explain it back to you.

Which, of course, sent me into a kind of depressing little panic attack as I realized there is NO WAY I can home school our kids past elementary school. I always kinda thought, well perhaps if things were going well, we could think about middle school when we get to middle school. Sure, there is lots I don’t know or remember but it will be kinda fun to relearn those things with my kids. ha ha… geography and world history maybe, but math is a whole other can of worms….

And so, today, I was so grateful to have Pi behind us as we tackled counting by twos and double digit subtraction…an area I felt much more competent in.

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Who Knew?

March 14, 2011

in holidays

You know me, I love a holiday. A reason to make a fun meal or dessert, perhaps a craft or two.

This year I started getting excited about St Patty’s Day months in advance. I found an Auntie Anne Home Pretzel Kit at BJs and bought it for March 17th… Shamrock Pretzels and Mint Choc Chip Milkshakes sounds like the PERFECT St Patty’s Day lunch to me! In all of my excitement, I even asked my Father in Law 2 months ahead of time if he’d babysit for us on the evening of March 17th. I thought it would be fun for Scott and I to wear green and hit an Irish Pub in Annapolis for some live Celtic music, and some authentic cuisine.

As March 17th approached, I eagerly pulled out the circular in the paper listing all the pubs and all of their festivities.

And that’s when it hit me. We can’t go to a pub on St. Patties Day! The real St Patty’s Day isn’t just about wearing green, making Soda Bread and drinking a beer or two.

Every single event in the paper was talking about the pubs opening early (like noon) for people to pack in and party. As I read event after event, I suddenly realized…

St Patrick’s Day is a drinking holiday!

Apparently, I have been living under a leprechaun shell all my life. I mean I knew about the green beer and all and figured we’d get a Killians or Guinness or something, but crowding into a pub with hundreds of people that have been drinking since noon was not what I had in mind. Time to rethink the plans…

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Celebrations

February 27, 2011

in holidays

The time is 11:45pm. One tired hubby is doing his best to fall asleep so he can get up the next morning and go to work and provide for his family. Meanwhile his “endearing wife” keeps him awake chattering away about the fun festivities she has planned for the following week.

Because he is a good man, he kindly listens as I tell him about National Pancake Day and why it is celebrated, when I know that truthfully, he wants nothing more than to roll over and fall asleep. OK so maybe there is one thing he’d like more than that, but I can guarantee you it had nothing to do with pancake day…

In case any of you, like me, get a little too excited over totally frivolous holidays, I thought I’d share with you the fun plans we have for this week at the circus. While the circus dad patiently listened to my mid night ramblings, he couldn’t quite match my childlike enthusiasm. It really is the little things that make me giddy.

Did you know that Tuesday is National Pancake Day? IHOP is giving away free short stacks of pancakes in honor of the occasion. Rather than braving the crowds at IHOP though, I plan to serve chocolate chip pancakes for breakfast at home, and crepes for dinner. I am even considering making this recipe to make the crepes a bit more dinner like. I have a feeling the kids will opt for PB&J crepes instead though.

But the fun doesn’t stop there. Wednesday, is Read Across America Day and Dr Seuss’s birthday. We are going to have Green Eggs and Ham for dinner. We’ll also do a few Dr Seuss coloring pages and I plan to have everyone put their pjs on before dinner and after dinner we’re going to all snuggle up in the living room and read… I have visions of a few read alouds as well as a little SSR with classical music playing, pillows on the flour and perhaps some popcorn to much on…. doesn’t it sound delightful? Isn’t it obvious to see why this circus mom couldn’t sleep? I am sure it will go flawlessly without any grumbling or arguing or any other circus like antics to break the magical spell. ha-ha…. a mom can dream, can’t she?

How about you? Any fun plans for the week? Care to join me in celebrating pancake day and or Dr Seuss’ birthday?

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