Before They Know It

Guest written by our friend Gladys Fuentes

Before our kids started school, I never realized how much the schools actually relied on the internet for communication. I just assumed teachers now communicated with parents the way they did when I was at school—they just sent notes home. Little did I know that the more popular way today was to send e-mails or use a school website!

To help keep us in the loop with what is happening every day with the boys, we are going to get.wild blue Exede. While teachers do send still notes home, they also send e-mail updates to parents about tests, homework and grades.

Plus the school website is a helpful reference. On the calendar they show all of the teacher workdays and vacations as well as important state testing dates and fun events like field day. No more missing an important date or not being aware of what is going on.

While we as parents appreciate it, I wonder if the kids do. Now we know what they’ve been up to at school before they can get home to tell us about it!

Kids are my Life

Guest post written by my buddy Lavern Small

My kids are my life but boy are all their activities tiring me out. My daughter is still in really into ballet even at her age and my son’s all about football which would be fine if he wasn’t the star of his team. I think there’s something to be said for taking your time to relax after a long day at work and I never have that chance because I’m always running them from one thing to another. I recently got a bunch of directv channels hoping I could relax more often and hang out at home with my husband and the dogs but no, as it turns out my son was trying out for soccer last week on a whim and he made the team. Between that and all the sports my daughter is interested in, too, it looks like I’m never going to have time to take up a hobby until they both graduate and go off to college. I guess that’s not the worst thing but boy am I exhausted!

Our Wonderful Family Outting to the Zoo!

When our kids were young, a trip to the zoo, any zoo, was the highlight of our summer. They liked it so much that we always tried for one last visit in the fall beforethe weather got too cold. My guest poster today, brought back some of those fond memories to me. Maybe it's time to gather up the grandkids and head for the closest zoo, before it gets too cold this year.


I appreciate the guest post, Rodrigo Coffey

This past Saturday my husband and I took our son and daughter to the local zoo to visit all of the animals and go on a couple of rides. The morning before was hectic I had to bathe the kids, make coffee and breakfast, pick out outfits and pack lunch for everyone. After the morning rush I got the kids out of the house into the van and then went back to set the ADT HOME SECURITY.

It was a 45 minute drive but well worth it for all of us. The zoo was amazing, the kids got to pat goats, cows and deer. Then they got to see a bunch of exotic animals like llamas, tigers, lions, alligators and massive snakes!! I am not a big fan of snakes but the kids and my husband got a picture taken of it around there neck. I almost had a heartache when I saw it.

Before we left we went and saw the new butterfly exhibit that was opened just a week ago. The exhibit was amazing, there were butterflies floating around us everywhere, one landed on my daughter! If anyone is looking for a family trip to take I highly recommend the Pittsburgh Zoo!

My 6-year granddaughter was recently invited to a birthday party by one of her first grade class-mates, and the party was to be held at Splash, our local swimming pool.

Her older sister and a neighborhood friend, although not taking part in the birthday celebration, came along to swim in another section of the pool for the afternoon.

Splash isn't an ordinary swimming pool. It is a state-of-the art pool equipped with a wave-making machine that does a great job of mimicking a trip to the ocean. The wave machine is turned on every few minutes during a swim session and the kids who are mostly decked out in life jackets are swept, via a few fairly big waves, to one side of the pool. The pool has a number of clear plastic inner tubes that the kids can ride on if they wish.

As you might guess, Splash is wildly popular, not just in the local area, but throughout the state, and we often have visitors from out of the area. But, I digress. Back to the skort.

Elizabeth, my grandaughter, loved her afternoon of swimming, and was sadly disappointed when I pulled her aside and said it was time to go. Then, after two or three, "just one more" trips down the slide, I convinced her to head for the dressing room with me to exchange her dripping suit for some dry clothes.

While Elizabeth was busily squeezing water out of her braids with her towel, I delved into her swim bag and began to lay out her street clothing on a nearby bench. T-shirt, panties, flip-flops, and... hmmm. What was this strange looking thing? I tried to remember what she had been wearing when we came in. Oh, yes. She had come prepared, already dressed in her swimsuit.

I held the strange garment up. Oh, it was a dress, but the top was stuck down inside the skirt. I pulled the top up, and straightened the garment to be sure the armholes were where she could easily slip the dress over her head.

Over her head? Oh no. Where was the hole for her head? I must have missed something. I turned the dress inside out, and then outside in. No hole for the head. I broke the news to Elizabeth.

Hands on hips, and an exasperated look on her face, she enlightened me. "Grandma, that's not a dress. It's a skort!"

"Skort?" this college degree holding grandma asked. "What in the world is a skort?"

Taking the garment in her hands, Elizabeth patiently explained that a skort is a skirt with shorts built in under it. She shoved what I had thought was the top of a dress back down inside the skirt, gave it a little shake to make everything fall into place and slipped it on over the panties she had already donned. Slipping a T-shirt over her head and flip-flops onto her bare feet, she declared herself ready to go.

The other two girls were already finished dressing and waiting for Elizabeth and me by the dressing room door.

Later, with the three of them tucked into their seatbelts in the back seat, I overheard Elizabeth say in what was intended to be a whisper, "You know what? Grandma doesn't even know what a skort is!"

"You're kidding! Didn't she go to college?" one of the others replied. Then, unable to contain themselves, all three broke out in raucous laughter.

"What's so funny?" I asked, pretending I hadn't heard their muted conversation. "Oh nothing," came a rapid reply, "Nothing important anyway," accompanied by a lot more giggles and then an eerie silence the rest of the way home.

Poor children. Not only had they discovered they had an "unhip" grandma, but now, because their friend knew about it, the news would spread like wildfire around the whole neighborhood.

When I got home, I lost no time in heading for Google and found, to my dismay, that skorts were all over the place. Even Hello Kitty made them. How had that bit of information escaped me for the last several years when I had been buying Hello Kitty items for practically every kind of gift-giving occasion that came along?

Feeling further over the hill than I had thought I was, I wandered into the living room and asked my husband if he knew what a skort was. His reply was, "Huh? What are you talking about?"

For some odd reason, his reply made me feel better about myself, knowing that at least one other person in the world shared my ignorance. Time enough to educate myself on skorts, later I decided as I headed for the cookie jar.

Balloon Volleyball, Anyone?

Today I spent an hour with my two granddaughters, 6 and 9. Usually, when I know I will be spending time with them, I plan an outing, or take some craft items so we can do something fun together, but today was different. The girls had a day off from school and their mother was called away, unexpectedly so I was pressed into service with very little notice.

When I arrived, the girls both greeted me with, "Hi, Grandma. What are we going to do today?" They looked disappointed when I didn't have the usual project in my bag but then the younger one said, "Don't worry, Grandma. We'll play balloons."

She rushed off to her room and brought back two ordinary looking balloons, and I had to wonder how we would fill an hour with just two balloons, but the girls soon had them blown up and started batting them around the room. Grandma sat on the living room sofa and watched, batting a balloon now and then that got close enough for her to reach without exerting herself too much.

For the rest of the time we were together, we took turns inventing games to play with the balloons. You would be surprised what busy little minds can come up with.They made up one game where they put a chair in the middle of the room and everyone had to see how many times they could bat a balloon over the chair and hit the wall on the other side without it (the balloon) hitting the floor first. Since the chair was quite a distance from the wall, they had to hit the balloon pretty hard to make sure it made it all the way to the wall.

Another game required each person to see how long they could keep their balloon in the air using their hands, feet, and even their heads. Grandma timed the girls, using the second hand on her watch.

My favorite--for the girls, not for me--was to play individual games of handball against the wall. Each girl would bat her balloon against the wall as fast as she could and try to keep it from landing on the floor. They were out of breath after a few minutes of this, and more than ready for a rest. I would highly recommend this one to help kids keep in shape during the winter months when outdoor play is limited. (I knew I couldn't compete with them, but I plan to try this one myself at home when I am sure no one is watching.)

The fourth game, invented by Grandma, I'm proud to say, ended up to be their favorite. It was called Cleaning House. The girls stood across the room from each other and batted a balloon back and forth between them. Each time one of the girls missed and allowed the balloon to touch the floor, she had to pick up a toy, a sock, a book, or anything that wasn't in its proper place and put it away. (Grandma continued the game with the remaining girl from her comfortable seat on the couch until the missing girl returned to the room.) You wouldn't believe how spiffy the room looked by the time their mother returned, and the girls were laughing so hard, we had trouble convincing her that they were cleaning the house.

If you need to entertain some little ones for an hour or two, tuck a couple of balloons in your purse. Balloon games are not only entertaining, but also extremely inexpensive.

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Use Plastic Drinking Straws for Art Projects

Plastic drinking straws have been around for a long time and, although used primarily for drinking, have also been converted to a number of other uses. One popular use is to incorporate the straws into art projects.

An eye-catching mobile for a child’s room can be made by cutting out a circle of colored cardboard and using a hole-punch to make holes around the outside edge of the circle. Then, using a needle threaded with sturdy thread or yarn, run a 4-6 inch piece of thread through the top of each plastic straw you wish to include in your mobile. Poke one end of the thread from each straw through one of the circles in the piece of cardboard and tie securely to the other end. Using different colored straws and cutting each one to a different length with scissors, makes the mobile even more interesting. Attach the mobile to the ceiling with another piece of thread stapled to the center of the cardboard circle. A fan in the room will enhance movement of the mobile.

A great “kids” project using plastic straws is mystery painting. Give each child a large piece of paper and drop a few drops of thin, watery paint on it. Let them use a plastic straw to blow the paint gently across the paper to create mystery designs. After the designs dry, have each child tell the others about his or her own painting.

Plastic straws work very well for making strong center holes for hand made beads. Simply cut a few thin plastic straws into the lengths you want your finished beads to be. Then mold your clay or bead material around the straw piece. When your beads are dry and painted, they will be easy to string using the uniform-sized hole provided by the plastic straw sections.

Green plastic straws make wonderful stems for a variety of paper flowers, and paper pinwheels look good mounted on any color of straw. Three-dimensional art can be created by cutting pieces of various colored plastic straws and gluing them to a drawing. Blue straws for the sky, green ones for grass, etc.

Next time you go shopping, pick up a pack or two of inexpensive colored plastic drinking straws and have fun with your kids by turning the colorful straws into unique art projects to brighten up every room of your home.

Are You Feeling Financially Squeezed By Christmas This Year?

Is money for Christmas gifts more than a little scarce at your house this year? If so, you are definitely not alone. Thousands upon thousands of parents are wondering whether or not they will be able to afford even one of the items on their kids’ ambitious Christmas “want” lists let alone the whole bunch.

As a parent, I know how hard it is to go from being able to get a number of gifts for each child to a year when I wasn’t sure I could give them even one. If you are in that spot right now, there are a number of things you can do.

First of all, let the kids in on the news that times are tough. Don’t be afraid to tell them that money is harder to come by this year, and that they need to lower their expectations a bit.. It might even be a good time to remind them of the true meaning of Christmas, and how sad it is that Christmas has come to the point where many people only think of it as a time for getting lots of gifts for themselves. Kids are pretty resilient and will come through with flying colors when they understand there is a real need for it.

Do tell them that you will try to see that they each have one nice gift under the tree, and try very hard to do that if it is at all possible.

To fill in after that, how about taking stock of what you already have around the house.

If you mothers are like me, you probably have stacks of unused yardage in your sewing area. How about making an imaginative pillow cover or some new drapes for the kids’ rooms? Even small scraps of yardage can be used to make new clothes for Barbie, or other types of dolls kids already own. Both boys and girls might appreciate a lap quilt for watching TV, or a batch of their favorite cookies packed into a unique but inexpensive container picked up at the Dollar Store. For that matter, use some of that unused yardage to cover a paper box to make a container for the cookies, and save your dollar.

Try digging around in their closets; you will be surprised at what turns up. Toys with dead batteries will seem like new after you replace the batteries and shine the toy up a bit.

Toys that the kids once loved before they became unusable can usually be repaired. The other day I read about a book on how to repair an Xbox 360 in less than an hour or your money back. I couldn’t help wondering how many inactive Xboxes are gathering dust on some kid’s closet shelf when they could be repaired and give their owners many more hours of pleasure. (If your kid is one of those people, here is a link where you can find out how to get that repair book for yourself— Click Here! and it’s downloadable, so you would have plenty of time to get it done before Christmas.)

If you do have just a little cash to spare, try spending it on craft materials instead of on individual gifts. This could result in great memory-making moments as the whole family gathers around to work on crafts as a group.

When there are older children as well as very small ones, getting the older ones to help make gifts for the younger ones is a great activity. (Actually that could work in reverse, also if you choose easier crafts and let the younger ones make gifts for the older ones.) Use Google online to find free craft ideas for making gifts out of items found around the house. Here’s just one to help get you started: http://www.allfreecrafts.com/christmas/index.shtml#kids

A trip to the dollar store can make a great gift and not cost a lot. I’ll admit that older children might not be thrilled with a trip to the dollar store, but most kids under ten will love it if you give them even as little as one or two dollars and then make a special trip for them to spend their money at the dollar store. Most of them will consider dozens of items before finally making their purchases so be prepared to spend considerable time in the store.

There are hundreds of other things you could do or give to your kids that won’t take a lot of cash. The important thing is to let them know ahead of time that there won’t be as much money as usual to spend this Christmas so they will have time to get used to the idea ahead of time. They might even surprise you and come up with some excellent suggestions of their own.