-1- Honey for a Child’s Heart
Booklists are my jam. I scour blogs and lists looking for diamonds that my family will treasure. We’ve found some family favorites that way (I’m looking at you, The Seven Silly Eaters). Many of my favorite blogs have recommended Honey For a Child’s Heart by Gladys Hunt because of the extensive book lists it contains. I inter-library loaned it (why doesn’t every library have this book!?!?) and haven’t been able to put it down since it arrived.
Honey (we’re on a first name basis, me and Honey) contains good commentary on literature, reading, and cultivating a love of reading in children– but mostly I just looked at the lists. I am so excited to go through the lovely, lovely titles Hunt recommends.
If you love books as much as I do– check out Honey. If you hate reading but want your kids to enjoy it– check out Honey. If you have older kids, there’s a teen version. If you want to get into reading grownup books, there’s a lady version. I did read the lady version, and made a book list for myself. Squee!
I’m not going to say that Honey can solve all your problems, but it might.
-2- Spelling Songs
Okay, so there are conceivably some problems Honey might not solve. One of them is getting kids to remember important info like phone numbers and addresses. Bonnie over at a Knotted Life posted some of the songs she uses to help her kids remember such things. I’m adding these songs to Moe’s ERA curriculum for the year.
We’ve been chant-spelling our long and somewhat complicated name for years. If you’d like to make name spelling soooooooo much easier, check out this resource for finding the song to go with the # of letters you’re working with.
-3- We got the beet
We’ve had raspberries, lettuce, and green beans out of our garden. Some generous friends have blessed us with extras from their gardens as well, since they know we <3 produce.
Because of this generosity, we just came into some beets! David wants to make borscht. I’ve like to modify this recipe for beet sorbet. We have enough for a few experiments, so bring on the borscht.
FYI: We will gladly accept any garden extras that need a good home. Except cucumbers.
-4- Naked Pillows on the Prairie
Moe has been kidnapping all the pillowcases in the house in order to make “packs.” The kids watched some Little House on the Prairie this week, and in one of the episodes Pa uses what looks like a pillowcase to release a raccoon in to the wild.
Thus Moe has been marching around with packs full of who-knows-what over his shoulder this week. Perhaps he has a future in raccoon capturing or hoboeing? #lifeskills
-5- Penguin Flush Flush
The children reported that the potty was broken. In this house, “broken” can mean a lot of things. Perhaps the little chain came off the arm in the tank. Perhaps someone tried to flush an entire roll of toilet paper (still on the roll). Perhaps somebody needs a little more fiber. All these are realities.
But- – as David wrestled the toilet, it was apparent that none of these were the issue. Eventually, Elle mentioned casually that Bea flushed a puzzle piece. The penguin piece. As in the giant wooden baby puzzle piece with a knob that Bea received as a birthday gift the day before.
Yes folks, the penguin in this exact puzzle went for a ride that ended in tragedy. Toilet tragedy. I don’t think Bea acted alone. She can make the splash, but she she can’t make the flush. The investigation is ongoing.
RIP, little penguin. So sad you were only with us for two days before falling victim to random acts of flushing.
This whole situation has led to the propagation of two official rules that shouldn’t have had to be written:
1. Do not put anything other than you-know-what and toilet paper into the potty.
2. If the potty isn’t working, for Pete’s sake and the love of all that is holy, please don’t keep using it like some sort of penguin clogged port-a-potty.
-6- A Giant Cave
I got facebook. (What, like the social media site that has been around for over 10 years? This is news?) Yes. It is. Seriously– it’s like eating a steak after years of proudly proclaiming that you’re vegan. To be fair, I’ve been more of a pescatarian than a vegan as far as facebook goes, but you get the idea.
I like keeping track of my favorite blogs through bloglovin, but it seems that most people prefer facebook for such things. So I caved. Bring on the steak!
Except, here’s the thing. Guys – – I am afraid of social media. More specifically, I’m afraid of doing social media badly. I don’t want to be annoying, I want to be useful. I want to share articles that inspire and memes that make me laugh.
With all this in mind, I’m committing to a facebook test run. If it can be a source of community without being a major time drain– I’ll stick with it. This is where I ask you to like my lonely page, I suppose. We’ll see how long this steak thing lasts…
-7- Mud Therapy
We went to a creek with some co-op friends. The kids played in the mud for hours.
There was a steepish slope to get down to the creek, which was muddy from the recent rain. Let’s just say I ended up muddy, too.
Buckets, shovels, and mud were enjoyed by all.
What a perfect way to spend the last days of summer.
You can find all the other quick takes for the week here.
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Love your blog! My daughter wore that exact onesie yesterday!
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Thanks! Our babies have adorable taste, apparently. 🙂
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We got the beet as a title is awesome. And brilliant. Beyond that, I’m so longing to grow a garden over here but this spring got away from us real quick so next year, I’m doing it. Sorry about the penguin and I’m kind of proud of you that you’ve stayed away from Facebook for so long! Haha! Not that I think it’s bad but it can get overwhelming and, at times, annoying. But using it to keep people updated on your blog is a great idea for you and them!
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Our garden is a “survival of the fittest” garden, which is a fancy way of saying that we mostly ignore it and see what happens. Gardening is easy when it’s all just an experiment. Maybe that will work for you next year!
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Family life. The toilet troubles never end.
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This is truth. The worst for me was probably fishing the (practically full) roll of toilet paper out of the toilet. Egh.
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What fun to have a creek co-op! I’ll have to check out those spelling ideas and your toilet troubles–well, pretty hilarious (and of course, arrrrggggh!, but also hilarious)
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Oooh! I have heard of Honey for a Child’s Heart. It keeps popping up as a recommendation on Amazon. But I did not know that it has book lists!! Now I have to get it. Thanks!
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If you love it half as much as I did, it will be well worth the cost. 🙂
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Mmmm…I love roast beets and I’ve been meaning to try beet soup.
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I’m hoping to start some beet chili today! 🙂
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Ha, #5! So many rules that should never need to be explicitly spelled out, suddenly do when you have children!
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Stop painting the baby! If it’s not food, don’t put it in your mouth! I feel like much of my day is making unusual proclamations…
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