Missed that post Monday: Happy New Year 2017

Welcome to the first edition of "missed that post Monday!". I regularly just don't get around to posting something important in the time or season of life that it fits, so I came up with this creative little alliteration to help me out :) It makes me feel better, and hopefully makes it seem a little less out of place.  Anyway, here it is the end of January, and I wanted to share our new year's eve fun before it's gone.

So onto the post...

We had a fun new years celebration. Nothing special, just a fun evening of being together. Although, April wasn't there for most of the night. She had a dance at church.

Our night included some nerf fun. Shooting at the shining Happy New Year sign proved to be a big hit.

Lots of bad for us food (and some good).

A glow light dance party (it has become a tradition).

And, staying up until midnight to share a glass of sparkling apple cider (or pomegranate in this case).

Making loud noises with noise makers.

It was a fun night with the boys. This is one of my favorite pictures, and the first one of the new year!

Wordless Wednesday: Chicken Pot Pie

I guess I really can make a pie LOOK like a pie.

My family was shocked and amazed when I told them this was homemade.

 Seriously, I too am amazed that it doesn't look like a big gooey mess! (which is what my pies usually look like)

That's all

B is for Bird Bingo

I didn't really mean two have to abc blog posts in a row, but it is what it is. Today was the day for the letter B.

Who doesn't love a good game of BINGO?! We have a special version of bingo from Lucy Hammett's games called bird bingo. I never knew these bingo games existed until I found this little gem at Goodwill a few years ago. It turns out there are many other versions like body bingo, science bingo, and lots more. I did notice on their website that the newer version is mostly photographs. I love that our older one has drawings, but the pictures are pretty too.

We have played this bingo a few times over the years. It's a great game for a slow school day where we just want to take a little break, or like today when it's a sick day. I don't usually have any prizes, it's all for the fun of it.

Some close ups of the game pieces. I love the "FREE" space. Isn't it so fitting for us here in America? Honestly I didn't notice that until today when I was taking pictures of it.

These are the call cards. I forgot to get a picture of the back. They have a little snippet of each bird on the back. Sometimes I read them out loud as the kids are looking on their cards.

There are 6 game cards, and each card has a different layout, and some different birds, so there aren't any double winners at the same time.

I am linking this up with:
 

A is for Aggravation

I have been really excited to start blogging through the alphabet all week, but day after day passed this week, and I couldn't think of what to blog about starting with the letter A. I was really getting worried that I wouldn't come up with anything, and that this alphabet thing would be a bust. It was really aggravating. But, that's not the reason I chose "aggravation."

Today I was really thinking hard, trying to think about what I should do, but I also wanted to play a game with the boys. Then the light finally went on. What games do we have that start with A?! I could blog about some of our favorite games if it worked out, and it did. I scanned our game shelf, and voila, aggravation popped out (kinda like that ball on the cover).

Aggravation is a classic game for me. I remember playing this when I was a kid with my grandmother. I used to love it! Well, fast forward to a few years ago where I saw it on the game shelf at the store. It didn't look quite like I remembered it, but it looked like the same concept. I wasn't thrilled with how this board was laid out, but I really wanted to have it on my game shelf. I played it with April when she was old enough to get it. Probably about 6. Now I play it with all my boys.

I pulled it out today after church for a game with the 2 little boys. The basic idea is that you have to get your marbles from base, all the way around the board, and into home without getting aggravated. There are some short cuts you can take if you roll the right numbers, so that makes it kind of fun. We have only lost a few of the colored marbles, but you know what makes a good replacement? Gumballs! We have one piece in there that is a gumball from when April played it many years ago. It's still good. The boys always like to find which one is the gumball. If it ever gets wet though we may have to replace it.

This is the crazy very un-symmetrical version we own. It bugs me, but it has worked for us for many years.

Now they have a classic version of Aggravation available! I love that they are making some of these old games look like the classics again. This version of it is exactly the one I remember playing as a girl. My grandmother had it. I may have to trade in ours for this one. I want it. It is so symmetrical, and laid out so much nicer. Maybe our missing balls are reason enough to get it??

The classic version of Aggravation. Isn't it pretty? Photo credit: Amazon

I look forward to sharing with you some of our favorite family games, or any kind of game while I blog through the alphabet! We are definitely a family that loves to play games! I also plan to get to it earlier in the week. I'll be shooting for Tuesdays, but you never know when life will interfere with that. I'm joining with:

Our weekly notebook: more snow, painting, and minecraft cookies

Life this week...

It was a week of snow and ice. Tuesday there were forecasts of snow expected from Salem to Portland. It hit Tuesday night up in Portland, and dumped a LOT of snow. By Wednesday morning
we had a fair amount, but not nearly as much. After that it never got warm enough to melt, and turned a lot of areas icy. We spent many days watching the news, and forecasts, expecting canceled events, and school closures. Not that the school closures really affect us directly, but they do affect us. They affect us because if school is out then we have neighbor kids knocking on the door wanting to play (as if the snow itself wasn't enticing enough for my kids to have a snow day). Also, April goes to an early morning seminary class, and if schools are canceled, so is that. She had one day of seminary this week. She was sick 2, and 2 were snow/ice days. Also, Michele's work was shut down on Wednesday, so we had an extra day with Daddy home. That was a fun treat. It was a weird week, fun in some ways, but really off in a lot of ways because of the snow. In any case it was just beautiful and white.

I took the little boys for a walk on Thursday morning because I just had to get out and enjoy the beauty.

 

In our homeschool this week...

Nothing exciting to report here. It was a "get the basics done" week. We did however make Minecraft cookies one day for a special project. I just love how Almost Unschoolers uses cookies for so many fun lessons and projects. I decided we needed to finally give one a try. We did her Minecraft Mosaic creeper cookies, but she also uses cookies for math lessons and so much more!

After we got all our supplies and cookies ready (she has a great tutorial about how to do this on her blog, so I won't go into the process here), we laid everything out so the kids could create.

Alex was the first to be at the table. He was very excited for this sweet fun.

Aaron decided to try a 3D version by making several layers. Pretty creative.

Aric's finished creeper.

I even made one, and ate it too! Ha!

Places we went, and people we saw...

We had the usual lessons, violin and cello. April was also happy to get back to orchestra after the winter break. She always counts the days down for going back to her orchestra rehearsals.

We saw all these fun faces for Alex's birthday party. All but 2 friends that he invited made it to the party. It was crazy fun.

We had to take April up to the imaging department at the hospital for a procedure on Friday morning, but I forgot she was supposed to have an empty tummy. Well, she got a donut from her seminary teacher, but I had to make her give it to one of her brothers, so I promised her donuts after. We stopped and got donuts on the way home. They were delicious.

What we read this week...

Well, this is something I read. I found this great little book through a craftsy class. I started a crochet class, and the gal who was teaching it, recommended this book that she wrote as she was emphasizing that it's ok to make mistakes! It's ok if you don't like the outcome! I loved that. I put the book on hold through my library, and have loved the first few pages that I have read. It really speaks to my perfectionist side that prevents me from trying to create. Good book. I love to be creative, but constantly feel like I can't make anything that looks great, so this is very encouraging for me.

Speaking of creative things...

Art we did this week...

We had an art history class down in Salem. I did it along with the older kids. It was about Picasso, and we painted a Picasso. Not as easy as it looks.

Left: April Center: Aaron, Right: Mom (me)

I think that about wraps up our week!

 

Blogging through the alphabet

One of my favorite games to play with the kids when they are bored, or we are driving in the car and they need something to keep them busy is play the abc game. So, naturally I think it is fitting that I would enjoy blogging through the alphabet too. I am going to enjoy coming up with something for each letter. I don't think I will have any particular theme, it will just be random. Maybe whatever is happening that day/week/month. It starts next week with the letter A. I'm excited!

SNOW! or snow again?!

We have had so many snow days here it is almost starting to feel like normal to see yet another storm on the forecast with a possible layer of snow. Our area isn't known for snow. We're lucky to get maybe one good snow or chance of snow in one winter.

It's getting old this winter already. Because life around here doesn't go on when it snows. Everything shuts down, and all our fun activities get cancelled. It was Alex's birthday party on Saturday, and the snow storm rolled in during his party. I was thankful that we were able to have it before it got real bad, and that everyone brought their kids, even from Salem (which is about 30 minutes away). But, church was cancelled the next day. Our co-op is already talking about whether classes will happen on Wednesday. Sigh!

Oh well, I guess. This kid is just absolutely loving it. I sure hope he doesn't get used to it, and ask "where's the snow?" next year when it doesn't come. Guess we'll have to go find it up in the mountains then.

 Are you enjoying the snow?

New Year--New Van

Our previous van served us well, but it was showing its age, a lot. Things seemed to fall apart almost daily. At least it seemed like it. They were all fixable things, for the most part. But, it was getting to the point where we were wondering about its dependability, and if we'd get stranded somewhere. I can't believe I didn't get a goodbye picture of it! (We traded it in)

Well, we finally took the plunge. We have been looking at vans for a while (at least a year). We looked at many new ones, including a brand new Pacifica. That's a nice, and spendy van with lots of bells and whistles! But, we made the more frugal decision buying the last model year at half the price. A decision we are both happy with.

Meet our new ride...

A 2016 Chrysler Town and Country...

This van sure feels more solid than our old one, and the inside is so comfy. It's an amazing difference, and I'm so thankful we have it now.

I thought this was a great way to be at the car dealer. I wish I could have hidden under a desk and watched Netflix too! Hours at the car dealer is no fun for anybody!

What kind of family car would you pick if you needed a new one right now? Or even just wanted one?
 

The Beginner's Bible (A REVIEW)

It's a new year, and time for new reviews! So, to start out this year I have a kids bible review. It's a cute little bible from Zonderkidz with beautiful 3D artwork. The pictures are really colorful and bright, but they have a softeness to them at the same time. The Beginner's Bible it is best suited for kids ages 4-8 with kids on the younger side being read to, and kids on the older side possibly reading it themselves. I had my 6-year old read some of the pages, but I read most of it as he is still on the younger side and still a very beginning reader, but this will be a great beginning book for him to practice reading Bible stories.

The book I received for this review is a hard backed very sturdy book about an inch and a half thick. The pages are thicker for little fingers. Every page has a picture at the top and some text on the bottom. Each story is referenced to where you can find it in the Bible, which is great. I love that. Also, the website for The Beginner's Bible has some great extras to go along with this book. I discovered some coloring pages, snack suggestions, games, word finds, and a lot of other neat things.

Like I said, I used this with my 6 year old, and one of the stories went along perfectly with one of his science lessons on weather. We were to read the story of Noah's ark and the flood to tie a bible story in with weather, and this book had the perfect length story for him to read with me about it. All the stories are about the right length for my busy 6 year-old. For some reason his patience is low with Bible reading/scripture reading time.

This is an example of a picture from the story, Noah's Ark.

Here is an example of a two page spread. The beginning of a story with the title in bold letters. 

Will we use this for our main bible time with him? No, this is purely a supplement for us. While I think that this book does a very good job of not straying from the actual scripture, we still find it important to read from our main scripture choice, the KJV. But, this is a very great way for him to get a general idea of a story if he isn't understanding the scriptural account, or if he just wants something fun to read. I see us mainly using this for school lessons, or for pleasure.

A craft we completed after we read Noah's Ark.

Overall, I think this is a great little Bible to have for little children. I find it a great resource for homeschooling, and teaching lessons. The stories are quick, but also get the main point across.It would be a great thing to have around for family scripture time for littles to explore and enjoy when they get restless. I hope you have gotten something helpful from this review. If you'd like to know more, there are more great reviews just click on the banner below!

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