A quote from big-sis. We’ve been sick for the last two weeks here. First the kids, then the parents, now even the grandparents have the scourge…which has meant that the two very energetic girls have had little to do but play with each other. Little-sis wants to play mermaids constantly and I think big-sis has had enough.

We’ve also been hit hard around here by all the recalls. The funny thing is for big-sis’ birthday this year all the moms called to see what to get her. Everyone was wondering what to do because of all the lead recalls. So, she got lots of arts and craft stuff, including Aquadots. So the husband and I had a fun night crawling around on all fours making sure we had them all up. The girls aren’t likely to swallow anything, but we have two infant cousins that will be here in the next few weeks and we’d rather not have anyone in the hospital. It’s gotten really hard to find stuff you can trust for kids toys. Because of that we’re trying to do mostly books/homemade for gifts this year.

The girl’s four year old cousin is so upset she actually learned to spell C-H-I-N-A and if she sees it tosses anything and everything with it on the bottom. Fortunately here the girls haven’t freaked quite that much, but little-sis refuses to watch any Dora after we had to toss a bunch of Dora stuff. Dora the Explorer is dead to us.

A few days ago I posted a link to the how-to for the family memory game I made the girls last spring. Caryn asked for directions of how to play, so here goes.

Memory Directions

• Shuffle the cards
• Lay all the cards face down in a big grid
• Taking turns each person flips over two cards. If they match they keep the pair. If not they put the cards back in the original position.
• The next person takes their turn.
• When all the cards are picked up the person with the most pairs wins.

Variation: You can also let a person keep flipping over cards as long as they are finding pairs. I find with the little kids they do not like this as much.

We’re finally getting some chilly weather here. Lots of hope for snow this winter. Last year, after the move back from Florida we got about 3 flakes, so my little flakes really do not remember what snow looks like.

We’re starting to work on our Christmas list. Last spring I made the girls a Family Memory game. I think we might duplicate this for their cousin in Williamsburg. The girls have love this, and it’s been a fun way to remember everyone.

We’re also starting to think about teacher gifts. This is a hard one for me personally. I teach, and the last thing I want is to saddle someone else with a bunch of “apple-crap”. I am also on a public schoolteacher’s budget, and like the idea of hand made.

So we’ve been working on a hot chocolate recipe, and think we’ve hit the final formulation. Little-sis likes to play Top Chef when we do our taste testing which is pretty funny. The plan is to put this in small cellophane bags and put this in a holiday mug.

Hot Chocolate:

• 1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1 1/2 cup powdered sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon Cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon ground ginger

Mix all the ingredients in a bowl. Put in small jars or gift bags.

For the tag:

Mix 2 teaspoons with 1 cup of hot milk. Stir and enjoy.

Our family is scattered all over the place. We have family in Tokyo, Chicago, L.A., Florida, Dallas, New York, not to mention Iraq and Afghanistan. I wanted a way for the girls to remember every one, so we made a family themed memory game.

It’s easy to build, plus the game helps build logical and spatial skills.

Materials:

• 12 pairs of small photos
• 3 sheets of matching scrapbook paper
• clear contact paper
• glue stick
• Corner rounder paper punch

Directions:

1. Gather your photos. The easiest way I found was to upload the photos to a photo service like Flickr.com, then order wallet prints. This gives you 4 x prints of each photo.
2. Cut out two of each photo.

   

3. Glue the pairs of photos to the back of the scrapbook paper.

   

4. Cut the photos out of the paper along the edge.
5. Use a paper punch to round all the corners.

   

6. Cut two pieces of contact paper large enough to hold about 4 - 6 cards. Remove the back cover and lay the contact paper on your surface sticky side up. Place the cards photo side down on the paper leaving at least a half inch in between the cards.
7. Remove the backing off the second piece of contact paper and place it sticky side down over the cards on the first sheet. Make sure all the edges of the cards are covered.
8. Use a spoon to burnish the cards, especially the edges.
9. Use a pair of scissors to trim the contact paper about 1/8th an inch from the edge of each card.

Not enough people take math seriously. This is a pet peeve of mine…I do teach math and computer science, occupational hazard.

The truth is math equals opportunity. The more math kids master, the more opportunity thay will have later in life, no matter what thet decide to do.

Here’s a simple project to help kids build basic math skills. The bracelet sticks to one-digit numbers, and the key-chain uses two digit numbers.

Materials:

• Prepainted Wooden Beads square
• White wooden beads
• Beading elastic
• Paint pen type

Directions:

1. As you work hold the beads so that the holes are on the right and left sides.
2. Using the paint pen put a + on four sides of a square bead.
3. Do this again with the = sign.
4. Label the numbers on the beads as listed below
5. To make the:
   1. Bracelet: String the beads on the elastic with a square bead, then a round bead. Make sure the number beads go on in the right order. Add enough blank beads to fit yout child’s wrist.

Look at this over at Crafster…too clever! It’s an entertainment center turned into a kitchen for kids to play in. I love this idea! We’ve talked about doing this with the pre-fab kitchen cabinets from the hardware store, but this is much better.

I think my favorite part is that they wallpapered!