Summer Blues or the "Mom, I'm bored!"

Summer is coming! Which means our children will be on summer break and inevitably they will come to you saying that they are bored!

Here is a list of 13 free or low cost things that you can do with your children to help combate the summer boredom blues:

1. play board games together
   
   
2. go for nature walks--we have several area parks with nature trails.
   
   
3. bake goodies
   
   
4. visit grandparents(or if they are too far away, visit to a nursing home or senior assisted living center)--my parents live twenty minutes from us and they live in on an acre of land, which is great for exploring!
   
   
5. pretend we are at the movies---stick in a movie and do up some popcorn.
   
   
6. play hide n' seek
   
   
7. read books together--don't forget to find those different summer reading programs like at the public library or at your local bookstore like Barnes & Nobles.
   
   
8. brush up on the Math facts by quizzing each other. It always seems that my kids do a "data dump" when it comes to Math facts so we play the game who can get the most facts right in 2 minutes. :)
   
   
9. if we do any traveling, I like to make up a backpack full of goodies for them to do on the trip. I use some of the many ideas over at Mom's Minivan as well to fill the pack.
   
   
10. do a craft project together.
    
    
11. when stuck inside due to the weather, using our imagination to play games from tea parties to hide n' seek to I spy. An article of ideas to have fun indoors.
    
    
12. create an obstacle course or water park or a carnival in your backyard and together with your kids have a fun afternoon playing at the "park".
    
    
13. work in the garden.
    
    
    

These are just a few things that you can do to help keep the "Mom, I'm bored!" saying at bay. There is also a few more suggestions here!

I am always looking for more ideas! I would love to hear what are some things that you do with your kids to keep the boredom at bay??

This post is linked at:

• 3 Moms Thursday Thirteen at Happy to be at Home!
• Frugal Friday at Life as Mom!

National Turn Off TV Week--April 20-26

Next week is National Turn Off TV Week, how about turning off the TV for the whole week and engaging in one or all of these thirteen activities with your kids!?!

1. Put a puzzle together.
   
   
2. Plant flowers, herbs or a garden.
   
   
3. Read aloud a book.
   
   
4. Visit your local public museum.
   
   
5. Go to the local public park.
   
   
6. Take a nature hike.  Collect different items and make a collage.
   
   
7. Go bowling.
   
   
8. Visit the local bookstore.  Barnes & Nobles has events planned...go here to find a list.
   
   
9. Play a board game together.
   
   
10. Make a craft together. 
    
    
11. Bake cookies together.
    
    
12. Go camping or have a campout in your backyard.
    
    
13. Visit the library.

Did you know???

Number of 30-second commercials seen in a year by an average child: 20,000

Number of minutes per week that parents spend in meaningful conversation with their children: 38.5

Number of minutes per week that the average child watches television: 1,680

Percentage of children ages 6-17 who have TV's in their bedrooms: 50

Percentage of day care centers that use TV during a typical day: 70

Hours per year the average American youth spends in school: 900 hours

Hours per year the average American youth watches television: 1500

Percentage of Americans that regularly watch television while eating dinner: 66

source

This post is linked at:

• Thursday Thirteen at Happy to be at Home

**bringing post up to the top for those looking for ideas for the week!***

Thursday Thirteen--Hinky Pinkies

In honor of National Poetry Month, I thought it would be fun to give you 13 Hinky-Pinkies to figure out.   Highlight the area past the equal sign(=) to find the answer to each one. 

1. a hilarious rabbit = funny bunny
   
   
2. a small violin = little fiddle
   
   
3. a hard molasses mocha = toffee coffee
   
   
4. a happy Tinkerbell = merry fairy
   
   
5. a lawful bird = legal eagle
   
   
6. a stomach full of jam = jelly belly
   
   
7. a weird ape = funky monkey
   
   
8. a young cat in love = smitten kitten 
   
   
9. a tired flower = lazy daisy
   
   
10. a more intelligent boxer = brighter fighter
    
    
11. a fruit that needs a shave = hairy berry
    
    
12. an airplane at a greater elevation than the others = higher flier
    
    
13. a lot of farm land = plural rural

Take some time to figure these out!  Leave me a comment as to how many you knew!  The answers are in yellow, so highlight over the area just past the equal sign (=) to see the two words that make up the hinky pinkie!

For more lists, head over to Happy to be at Home!!

Thursday Thirteen--Freezing Meals

After talking about fixing and freezing individual meals for the elderly, I decided to give you thirteen guidelines to think about when putting together freezer meals.

1. Don't thaw frozen raw meat and then re-freeze it without cooking it thoroughly first.   This is why when I get purchase my meat in bulk, I take the time to cook or divide it into meal size portions. 
   
   
2. Hard boiled eggs tend to get rubbery after thawing.  If you are going to freeze them, chop them into very fine pieces and they should be okay.
   
   
3. Cornstarch-thickened sauces, cheese sauces, and gravies made with milk tend to separate when being reheated after freezing if they are frozen by themselves. However, if they are mixed with other ingredients they are fine. 
   
   
4. Don't freeze raw vegetables(except for diced onions, green pepper and celery) unless they have been blanched. Blanching is a short period of cooking that seals in color, texture, vitamins and flavor.   I like to just buy already frozen vegetables to stir into my recipes after the recipe has cooled and is ready for the freezer. 
   
   
5. Cured meats like ham or bacon should be eaten within a month of freezing.  After that they seem to lose color and flavor. 
   
   
6. Be aware that some seasonings change in intensity and flavor when frozen. Salt, green pepper and celery seem to lose some of their flavoring while black pepper, cloves, bay leaves, onions, sage, and artificial vanilla become more intense in flavor. 
   
   
7. Deep fried foods will not stay crispy after thawing and re-heating. 
   
   
8. Egg and milk substitutes freeze well in most recipes. 
   
   
9. Fully cooked pasta, dry beans and rice tend to turn mushy when frozen in liquids or sauces. Undercook them by half the time if you plan on stirring them into a sauce or broth before freezing.
   
   
10. Salad vegetables like lettuce, cucumbers, tomatoes, and radishes don't freeze well.  Actually they freeze well it is the thawing of them that does them more harm!
    
    
11. When freezing a new recipe, only freeze one meal to see if it freezes well. You will not be saving yourself time or money if you freeze a meal that doesn't thaw and reheat well enough to be liked by your family. 
    
    
12. Don't put hot foods into freezer bags....completely cool the foods first!
    
    
13. In the event of a power outage, don't throw the food out because the food may still be safe to use. Without power, a full upright or chest freezer will keep everything frozen for 2 days. A half full freezer will keep food frozen for 1 day. However, anything over 6 hours it would be best to put blocks or bags of ice in the freezer until power is restored. 
    
    

For more lists, head over to Happy to be at Home.

Thursday Thirteen---Fruits

The last time I participated with this meme, I talked about the 13 veggies that I was going to work at adding into my diet despite what my family thinks of them.  Just to update on that part of things, it is going well...not as well I would like but I am making an effort to eat more veggies in my diet!

I thought since I did the veggies it would not be complete if I didn't do 13 fruits!  So this week, I am going to share 13 fruits that I enjoy eating. Living in the Midwest, it is difficult to get tasty fruit because a lot of it has to be shipped in.  I love the summer time in the Midwest because that means I can get LOTS of tasty in season fruits that can be combined to make a big delicious fruit salad!

Without further ado....13 fruits!(in no particular order)

1. Apples
   
   
2. Pineapples
   
   
3. Cantaloupes
   
   
4. Strawberries
   
   
5. Raspberries
   
   
6. Peaches
   
   
7. Pears
   
   
8. Grapes
   
   
9. Watermelon
   
   
10. Cherries
    
    
11. Blueberries
    
    
12. Plums
    
    
13. Blackberries
    

You are probably wondering where the oranges and bananas are on that list!?!?  I can not eat these fruits when they are fresh because oranges give me lots of cankers in my mouth and bananas give me massive heartburn. I still kind of eat these fruits by drinking orange juice, eating a fruit salad, and eating banana muffins.  Sometimes for bananas I will even pick up a jar of baby food bananas and eat them instead of fresh bananas. 

For more Thursday Thirteen lists, head over to Happy to be at Home. 

Thursday Thirteen--Vegetables

This past Monday, my hubby and I had an InBody Assessment done. Hubby's work has afflilation with the local YMCA so one of the trainers came into hubby's work to do the assessment in one of the conference rooms. The assessment was just a simple taking of shoes and socks off and hanging on to the device and waiting for the results. The results being our weight, skeletal muscle mass, body fat mass, water content, BMI, percentage of fat to muscle, and muscle strength. Basically we found out how much weight/fat we need to lose in order to be in good health. We also found out how many calories we burn just resting to help us know how many calories we need to consume in order to lose the extra weight.

And what does this have do with anything??? Well I thought for my Thursday Thirteen list, I would list the vegetables that I enjoy eating. Hopefully listing them will help to inspire me to eat them on a more regular basis, EVEN if my family despises them! (My family is full of picky eaters!)

So without further ado....My list of vegetables that I enjoy consuming(in no particular order!)...

1. Broccoli
   
   
2. Spinach(cooked & fresh)
   
   
3. Lettuce
   
   
4. Carrots
   
   
5. Cucumbers(despite the fact they give me heartburn!)
   
   
6. Squash(zucchini, summer, and butternut are my favorites!)
   
   
7. Asparagus
   
   
8. Green Beans
   
   
9. Corn(especially fresh off the cob!)
   
   
10. Green Peas
    
    
11. Okra(not the most healthy as I like it fried in bacon grease!)
    
    
12. Tomatoes(I know they are actually a fruit--but I see them as a veggie!)
    
    
13. Potatoes
    

While I will eat the listed vegetables there are others(like brussel sprouts & rhubarb) that I will not eat! And just in case if you are wondering...I have tried my "dislike veggies" before several different ways and just didn't acquire a liking to them.

For more lists, head over to Thursday Thirteen over Happy to Be at Home.

Thursday Thirteen--States

"I have lived in Michigan my entire life."  With saying that statement, one might think that I have never travelled outside of its borders, like what I did for our last family vacation.  But that is not the case, I have travelled to many of the fifty states and even taken the time to sit in front of their capitol buildings. 

For a few summer vacations as a teen, my family would do a family vacation.  Our goal for the vacations was to visit states that we had not visited the year before and to go through the capital city to find and see the capitol building.   

So for today's list of thirteen, I am going to share 13 of the states along with the capital cities that I have visited.

1. Lincoln, Nebraska
   
   
2. Jefferson City, Missouri
   
   
3. Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
   
   
4. Sacramento, California
   
   
5. Phoenix, Arizona
   
   
6. Denver, Colorado
   
   
7. Harrisburg, Pennsylvania
   
   
8. Nashville, Tennessee
   
   
9. Boston, Massachusetts
   
   
10. Monteplier, Vermont
    
    
11. Concord, New Hampshire
    
    
12. Hartford, Connecticut
    
    
13. Lansing, Michigan
    
    

Well there is thirteen, however, I could list TEN more(if you include our nation's capitol building)!!

My family did a lot of travelling around the country!  We financed our trips with collecting pop cans and bottles from alongside the roads so that we could cash them in to redeem Michigan's 10 cent deposit that is on those cans and bottles. 

For more lists of thirteen, head over to Happy to be at Home.

Thursday Thirteen---Read Aloud Book List

One thing that I enjoy about homeschooling is being able to snuggle up on the couch with my kids and a good read aloud book!

It is so much fun listening to them as they interject what they think might happen next.  OR they beg me to keep reading even though we need to move to doing something else. 

This week I am going to share my kids' favorites read aloud books!

1. The Day that Jimmy's Boa Ate the Wash
   
   
2. If You Give A Mouse A Cookie
   
   
3. Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel
   
   
4. Paddington Bear Series
   
   
5. Amelia Bedelia Series (yes even my boys loved this series!)
   
   
6. Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle
   
   
7. Mr. Popper's Penguins
   
   
8. The Boxcar Children
   
   
9. The Sign of the Beaver
   
   
10. Charlotte's Web
    
    
11. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
    
    
12. The Indian in the Cupboard
    
    
13. Carry On, Mr. Bowditch
    
    

There are more that I could add to this list!! Do you have any favorite read aloud books? If so, I would love to know so we can add them to our list if we haven't already read them! 

For more lists of thirteen, head over to Happy to be at Home.

Thursday Thirteen

Do you ever get tired of saying the same things over and over?  Some days I wished that I just tape recorded all my sayings so that I just had to push a button and save my voice.  Don't get me wrong I love my children dearly and I never tire of telling them everyday! I also love training them up in the Lord!  BUT still sometimes saying those same things over and over and over again gets a little nerve-wracking.

So here is a list of 13 sayings that are seemingly spoken from my lips everyday:

1. "What are you to be doing right now?"
   
   
2. "Stay focused!"
   
   
3. "Worry about yourself!"
   
   
4. "You are not the parent!"
   
   
5. "Clean your plate!"
   
   
6. "Get dressed!"
   
   
7. "No climbing up on the counter!" (tell tale sign of having a 2 yo in the house!)
   
   
8. "Finish your work!"
   
   
9. "Keep your hands to yourself!" (sometimes all that wrestling can drive a mother batty!)
   
   
10. "Pay attention to what you are doing!"
    
    
11. "Stop tapping your fingers!"
    
    
12. "Be quiet! You don't have to continously talk/jabber!"
    
    
13. "Go outside or find something to do!"

As you can imagine with having five children, this is just the tip of the iceberg for me! 

So do you have phrases that you would just like to record rather than have to say every day?

For more lists, head over to Happy to be at Home!

Thursday Thirteen

This week's list is another fun list!  However, instead of doing more junk food, I thought I would be more diet friendly and talk about homeschooling!  

So here is my list of thirteen ways you can tell you are a homeschool family...

You might be a homeschool family if:

1. Going to the grocery store is considered both a "field trip" and a "math lesson" because they get out during regular school hours and are doing math by adding up the cost of the groceries as you go along.
   
   
2. Your school uniform is your PJ's.
   
   
3. You have to clear the breakfast dishes before you can start school.
   
   
4. You can't make it through the grocery produce department without asking your preschooler the name and color of every vegetable.
   
   
5. You exclaim that the unknown dish in the fridge isn't because you need to clean, but because of science experiments! 
   
   
6. You live in a one-house schoolroom. 
   
   
7. Your children start coming up with curriculum ideas of their own: "Mom, can I make myself a Robin Hood hat for language arts?"
   
   
8. You find yourself evaluating the aerobic value of vacuuming so you can log it under physical education. 
   
   
9. Talking out loud to yourself is a parent/teacher conference. 
   
   
10. The teacher gets to kiss the principal in the faculty lounge and no one gossips.
    
    
11. Your neighbors think you are insane.
    
    
12. Discipline for "cutting up in class" may include vacuuming or dishwashing.
    
    
13. You get to change more than diapers; you get to change their minds.

So there you have it!!  Can you add anything to the list??

For more lists, head over to Happy to be at Home!!

Thursday Thirteen

I am going to have some fun with my list of 13 things this week!! Before I write any more I am cautioning those readers of mine that are dieting...you might not want to read any further less you be tempted!  

This week my list is about chocolate!  I like chocolate, however it just isn't any old chocolate!  It has to be milk chocolate! I do not like dark chocolate!  Matter of fact, I do not even like putting semi sweet chocolate chips in my homemade chocolate chip cookies!!  I would rather use milk chocolate chips.  Here are my top 13 chocolates of choice starting with my least favorite....

13. Baby Ruth Bar

12. Nestle Crunch

11. Milk Duds

10. Whoppers

9.  3 Musketeers  

8.  Rolos

7.  Kit Kat Bar

6. Twix Bar

5. Hershey's Milk Chocolate Bar

4. Snickers 

3. Milky Way

2. M&Ms

1. Reeses' Peanut butter Cups

For more lists of 13, head over to Happy to be at Home! Today they have a list of Super Bowl links!!

All about "H"

This week for my 13 Things Thursday, I am going to share some of the highlights of what my kindergartener and I have done for "H week". If you are new to my blog, I have been going through the alphabet with my daughter for kindergarten. We are doing a letter each week. Without further ado....

1. We learned about Hearts. We listened to each other's heart. We drew and cut out hearts. We learned about being happy and how that helps our heart. 
   
   
   
   
2. We learned about houses. We built a fort with blankets and pretended it was a house. We also learned that animals have homes too.  
   
   
3. We learned about heat!  Heat is a good thing to have in a house when the temperature outside is below zero degrees!
   
   
4. We learned about heaven.  Heaven is a place that we will be going to someday!  As my daughter said, "Heaven is Jesus' home right now but I'll live there someday."
   
   
5. Our Bible lesson was about Hannah.
   
   
6. We learned about staying healthy.  We did exercises to make our heart go faster.  We learned about healthy foods. 
   
   
7. We learned about hiberation. This was a big word for a kindergartener so we talked about how it is what some animals do in the winter.  My daughter's first reaction when I told her the meaning of hiberation was...."Can we watch Over the Hedge? The bear on there was hiberating when RJ took his food!"
   
   
   
   
8. We did lots of different things with our hands!  We did hand painting (fingerpainting). We did handprints. We talked about how God created everyone's hand prints different.  I found this handprint ice cream cone for one of our crafts this week. 
   
   
9. We had fun playing with our hair!  How many hair accessories can we fit in our hair?!
   
   
10. We watched hippos swim in the water at the National Geographic's Creature Feature!
    
    
11. We ate hamburgers, hotdogs, and ham slices. We could have had honey this week but she doesn't like the taste!
    
    
12. We read the story of The Little Red Hen.
    
    
13. We sang the Hokey Pokey while wearing fancy hats!

Head over to Happy To Be at Home for more Thursday Thirteen lists!

Thursday Thirteen New Recipes(to me!)

The 3 Moms over at Happy To be at Home are now hosting the Thursday Thirteen.  While I have never participated in this blog carnival, I have read many other blogs who have participated and I have enjoyed reading their lists. So I thought today I would join in the fun and list 13 recipes(in no particular order) that are new to me that I would like to try over the several months!

1. Kate's Chocolate Chip Coffee Cake
   
   
2. Gretchen's Cheeseburger Soup
   
   
3. Andrea's Homemade Noodles
   
   
4. Melinda's Chicken Alfredo Pizza
   
   
5. If Only I had Super Powers' Chunky Choc. Peanut Butter Bars
   
   
6. FishMama's Yummy Raspberry Muffins
   
   
7. SH's Whole Wheat Peach Muffins
   
   
8. Ranae's Funnel Cakes
   
   
9. Laura's Breakfast Cookies Yes! I am probably the last one in the blogosphere that hasn't made these cookies! LOL!
   
   
10. Amish Baked Oatmeal
    
    
11. 2am Feeding Bars
    
    
12. Erin's Texas Cowboy's Pie
    
    
13. Lynn's Waffles
    

Hopefully now making a list of the recipes will inspire me to actually make them rather than procrastinating and fearing that the family will not enjoy them!

For other's Thursday Thirteen lists, head over to Happy To be At Home!