Power Tools Unplugged

I didn't think that we would participate in the Unplugged project this week. We had a very busy week, capped by an all-day meeting on Saturday. On Sunday morning we went to mass, then religious education, where I attempt to teach 21 kindergarteners about God's love. Satisfying, but very tiring.

By Sunday afternoon, I was wiped. I laid down for a nap when the Agents did, but slept far longer than they ever do. And I woke up to this:
Mr warillever had been working on the mudroom project, but had stopped to teach the kids how to use his Dremel. The kids appreciated the time -- look at Agent 002's tribute to his Papa:
And no, I do not loan out my child-watching, pancake-cooking, house-remodeling man, but I might be tempted to rent him out for the right price.......

The Things They Carried (to Town Meeting)

The kids attended town meeting with us this morning.

To keep them entertained, they were each allowed to fill a backpack with quiet toys and books.

Agent 002 chose a Transformer, his stuffed Grover, and five My Little Ponies.

Agent 004 chose F's "baby" (yes, the same one she declared dead on Tuesday), a blanket, a plastic baby bottle, and a baggie of flubber.

I brought along the town report, water bottles, carrot sticks, apples, lollipops, and a thermos of coffee.

Fortunately the meeting only lasted three and a half hours this year.

100 Things About Me

There is a tradition in the blogging world to write a "100 Things" list as your hundredth post. I have far surpassed 100 posts, but have never listed more than 8 things about myself.

1. Mr warillever and I have been married for nearly 8 years.
2. No, I was not a child bride,
3. but mr warillever says that I was a "mere child" when we met.
4. I was 17; he was 18.
5. That was freshman year in college.
6. Yes, we were that sick couple that dated all through college
7. and were engaged senior year.
8. We got married a year later
9. at the Catholic church on campus
10. even though neither of us lived in the immediate area anymore.
11. I was in Massachusetts, mr warillever was in Vermont,
12. and the church was in New Hampshire.
13. Right between us, actually.
14. I was a full-time volunteer the year after college
15. working with the immigrant community in my home town.
16. I then joined mr warillever as a Social Studies teacher
17. which was a great thing to do,
18. but was never going to be my career.
19. We left a few years later for graduate school,
20. and spent three glorious years in the midwest.
21. That is when I started this blog.
22. We bought our first house,
    
23. tended our first garden,
24. and wound up with a cat.
25. I worked in a library,
26. which I enjoyed very much
27. and I went to library school part-time.
28. So I have a Masters degree,
29. which I received in Mother's Day 2005
30. which was somewhat sad because I was not yet a mother
31. but was very very impatiently waiting to be one.
32. We finally got to meet Agent 002 just three weeks later
33. with mr warillever's graduation,
34. the sale of a house,
35. the purchase of a house,
    
36. and a cross-country move in between.
37. Yes, it felt that crazy even then.
38. I know this because I blogged about it.
39. Which is why I keep this blog up,
40. and why I resurrected it after a long break.
41. Actually it was this post that brought me back to blogging.
42. I had forgotten that Agent 002 used to do that.
    
43. This is the closest thing we have to a baby book,
44. because I am not one of those crafty scrapbookers,
45. and I don't even print out pictures of the kids
46. even though I have a digital camera addiction.
47. I took 643 pictures last month.
48. I am aware that this might be considered disturbing,
49. but I am okay with that
50. because all four of them are at their cutest stage ever right now
51. and I need to record it for posterity.
    
52. Of course I thought the same thing 6 months ago.....
53. Even on the days they drive me crazy (especially on the days they drive me crazy)
54. I love these kids so much.
55. I love watching them learn,
56. I love watching them create,
57. I love watching them come closer to God.
58. And I love being a part of their growth.
59. Even physically part of their growth, since I am the one that feeds them.
    
60. Feeding my family makes me happy.
61. It is the truest combination of art and love and science.
62. My favorite dinner is Cincinnati Chili;
63. it is one of the few beef dishes that I cook regularly. (recipe)
64. I eat mine 5-way.
    
65. I have never eaten it at Skyline,
66. but I have ordered it at Steak n Shake.
67. I have never actually "ordered their name" at Steak n Shake,
68. which is because I don't like steak (or hamburgers).
    
69. Despite my distaste for beef, I cook it at least once every two weeks,
70. but usually hide the beef in a sauce (Cincinnati chili)
    
71. or under vegetables (beef stir fry).
    
72. I also cook fish at least once every two weeks,
73. but my frugal grocery habits don't allow me to buy fresh fish very often.
74. I stock up on canned salmon and tuna when they are on sale,
75. and have established quite a repertoire with those two staples.
76. My favorite is salmon burgers with Swiss cheese and Dijon mustard on homemade buns.
77. I make bread nearly every day.
78. Sean the First inspired me to try baking my own bread.
79. He once let me try a homemade bagel.
80. I have never tried making bagels,
    
81. but I do make pretzels with the kids.
82. I like pretzels
    
83. and bagels.
    
84. I'm a salty snack person,
85. not a sweets-eater,
86. but I do like black jellybeans
87. and bread pudding.
88. Nevertheless, I make make desserts frequently
89. becuase mr warillever loves to eat them,
90. and becuase I love to cook with the kids,
91. but I don't have the patience to have them cook dinner with me.
92. Some of my best memories are from baking for holidays with my mother and sisters.
93. There is something special about the smell of soda bread and simmering vegetables.
94. I am the youngest of five children,
95. although our son is the oldest of my parents' six grandchildren.
96. We live within an hour of my parents
    
97. and all of my siblings
98. which is incredibly valuable to me,
99. and the major reason we moved to this area.
100. I am grateful to have friends who will read through a list like this.
     

Three is Such a Cheerful Number

Agent 004 to a distraught younger cousin whose doll had gone missing:

That is sad. Dolly is probably dead.

To that same younger cousin, upon trying a new food:

Ham is very good. It is chopped up pigs. You like piggies.

To an older brother with a scary dream.

The monsters in your dream won't eat you. Only real monsters eat kids. Did you see a real monster?

The Agents are Reading

We're not talking Dostoevsky here, or even Seuss, but the agents are reading books.

Agent 002 brought home a little flip-book from school to practice on -- I See a Butterfly.

This just happened to be the same day that Agent 004 made it through In My Hat from Hubbard's Cupboard, and homemade productions called The Cat That Sat on the Hat and Jan is a Cat.

Wowsers.

WFMW: No-Spill Batter

Welcome to Wednesday at reprehriestless warillever, when I give you the little tips that "work for me." To find more handy-dandy tips, visit Rocks in my Dryer for Shannon's weekly WFMW carnival.

Today we have a cooking tip from mr warillever. Yes, you read that right -- a cooking tip from my blessed and wonderful but hopelessly culinary-impaired husband.

Mr warillever makes pancakes nearly every Sunday. He mixes the pancake batter in a 4-cup Pyrex measuring cup, then pours the batter from the spout into the warm frying pan.

No mess, no dribble, and no ladle to put down between batches.

A splendid hack, and one that I have taken on with gusto. I now mix batters, sauces, and dressings in my liquid measuring cups, then pour without a mess.

Works for me!

Jonah and the Giant Fish in the Great Foil Sea

These collages were completed during my internet diet last fall, but they fit well with this week's Unplug Your Kids "shiny" theme.

Jonah and the Fish, according to young children:

After disobeying God, Jonah is caught in a storm at sea. Agent 004 artfully symbolized the storm by wrinkling her foil (or at least I would like to believe that is why the foil is so crinkled).

Jonah is swallowed by a large fish covered in glue: (Cousin F's work)

The fish delivers Jonah to the shore, and then the fish all live happily ever after. Look at those fish smile: (Agent 002's work)

Haiku: Kindness

"Do unto others"
is a very simple rule,
but hard to follow.

Why Can't I be a Comma?

Or a question mark? Or even an ellipses?

You Are a Colon

You are very orderly and fact driven. You aren't concerned much with theories or dreams... only what's true or untrue. You are brilliant and incredibly learned. Anything you know is well researched. You like to make lists and sort through things step by step. You aren't subject to whim or emotions. Your friends see you as a constant source of knowledge and advice. (But they are a little sick of you being right all of the time!) You excel in: Leadership positions You get along best with: The Semi-Colon

What Punctuation Mark Are You?

HT: Happy Catholic

Boogie Woogie

The whole quarto was grooving to some jam band* favorites.
Look for the little foot tapping to the beat on the right edge of the frame.

*Yes, I both own live-recorded jam band CDs, and let my kids dance to the instrumentals.

Thank you, Internets!

Thank you for all of your advice about digital file storage.

I have already started backing up my files onto CDs. Those of you who suggested DVDs may have misunderstood what I meant when I said that my laptop is "elderly." My poor old computer does not know what a DVD is, and would probably set it on fire if I asked it to "burn" one.

Speaking of fire, the librarian in me decided to burn a second set which will be stored off-site in case my house burns down. Well that and so my father will have access to my photos. Have I mentioned that the digital camera addiction is a hereditary trait? My father pushed off his retirement for three months so that he could purchase a Sony Mavica.

I thought (briefly) about storing my photos online, but decided against it for a variety of reasons. The biggest reasons is that I wouldn't have instant access to the photos like they were on my hard drive. Thus, I will buy sime thumb drives for active use of the photos. Once I do that, I will delete the files from my computer so that the poor thing can function once again.

WFMW: Help me Find Some Space

It is a backwards "Works for Me Wednesday," in which I get the opportunity to ask your advice. Please help me, pretty please?

No, not space away from my children (although that would be nice sometimes), but on my computer.

You see, I have an elderly laptop with only 18GB hard-drive. I also have a digital camera addiction. Blame it on record snowfalls and some really cute kids, but I took 643 pictures in February alone.

I have defragmented, done a "disk cleanup," and deleted duplicate files. And we are still at 97% capacity. There is17.44GB stored on the computer.

Short of buying a new computer or external drive, what can I do? What do the rest of you camera hounds do with your pics?

More Questions: Who can view pictures on online storage sites like Shutterfly or Picasa? I would be a little skeeved if total strangers could see pictures of my kids taking a bubble bath.... Can I somehow ban strangers while giving Grandma permission?

Big Brother

Agent 002 pulls Agent 004 to the library.

Rebirth of Haiku

Photo by xparxy.

Although I am not a poet, I am still willing to scribble a few lines now and again. This is my entry for "change" at the new haiku blog One Single Impression.

Singing our Lives Away

The "unplugged" theme this week is music.

I haven't done much with music except to have it constantly available. Although I frequently rotate toys out to cold storage,* there is always a basket of musical instruments for the kids to play with. The Agents are well aware that even though screaming is prohibited in the house, I always allow loud music. This frequently results in a four-child heavy metal band screaming gibberish at the top of their lungs. All in good fun, right?

I also sing all day. To keep myself from screaming in frustration, I have set many of the standard household commands to music. For instance, when one of the children squirms at dinner, I substitute that child's name for "John" in the song "Sit Down John" from the musical 1776 (obviously skipping the blasphemous phrase in the original). To keep the military discipline up, our clean-up song is set to the tune of a reveille bugle call:

It's time to clean up
It's time to clean up
It's time to clean up the t-oys

It's time to clean up
It's time to clean up
It's time to clean up the t-oys

Each of the children has a theme song. P started to recognize his (which is sung to the tune of "Copa Cabana") by the time he was 5 or 6 months old. Agent 004 loves hers because it has choreographed kissing throughout. F's song is an ever-changing version of "Frere Jacques." Agent 002's is my favorite: it is an original tune with "I love you" in both English and Russian. He frequently requests it when we snuggle.

Here is a snippet of the song that allows me to blog. Sing along to the tune of The Muppet Show theme song:

It's time to go to bed now.
It's time to get some sleep.
It's time to lay your head down.
Its time to get some rest now.
At the *** house today.

Why do we always do this?
As if you didn't know.
It's kind of like a torture
To have to make you go.

It's time to go to bed now.
It's time to get some sleep.
It's time to lay your head down.
Its time to get some rest now.
At the *** house today.

*cold storage = our three-season porch

So Small

The world is so big, and Agent 004 is so small.

Construction

This week's obsession has been construction. We started the week off right with cracker structures for breakfast on Monday.It took the Agents two days to build this train station out of cardboard. The vestibule (based loosely on Washington DC's Union Station) is built of interlocking toilet paper tubes.* I love the detail that went into this project. You can not see it very well in this picture, but there is a train in the tunnel and people are waiting on the platform.

*We read about "TP tube tower blocks" in Steven Caney's Ultimate Building Book. Cut four equidistant slits on one end of each tube. To connect the blocks, hook the unslit end of one tube over a tab on the block below it. With practice, you can make rigid panels, slanted walls, or huge towers out of the tubes.

Here is Agent 002's wooden block house just before demolition. The wrecking balls have been a big hit all week.
As you would expect, we also read many books about construction. Agent 002 selected the books and checked them out on his very own library card. Here are quick reviews of our favorites.

	Steven Caney's Ultimate Building Book by Steven Caney Not a story book (or even a book that small children would like to page through), this is a valuable resource for a parent or older child. It is full of creative ideas like "TP tower blocks" and "cake blocks and frosting mortar." It also provides technical explanation of why certain structures are stronger or more efficient as well as the history of many of the materials.
	Underground by David Macaulay Again, this is not a story book, and the vocabulary is far beyond a preschooler's comprehension. Nonetheless, this is Agent 002's favorite book because of the detailed illustrations. He was fascinated to learn about the infrastructure of a city and all of the goings-on below the surface.
	Up Goes the Skyscraper by Gail Gibbons A step-by step description of how a skyscraper is built. The book is approachable for small children but does not oversimplify the process.
	A Day in the Life of a Builder by Linda Hayward Like the title implies, this books follows a builder throughout the day as he supervises the construction of five homes. It is cute, simple, and introduces the business and customer service sides of construction.
	Construction Zone by Tana Hoban A picture book, Construction Zone provides an action shot and a close up of various pieces of construction machinery. The only words are the labels on each page, although there are verbal descriptions of each machine at the end of the book.

Alphabet Jar

You remember the pretty jar we made last week?I found a use for it. Alphabet storage. A novel container makes the simplest game fun, even for a guy who is quickly approaching 6 years old.

Why I Need a Mudroom

Hanging the coats to dry
after playing in the snow.

WFMW: Happier Children Through Sensory Play

Once again, it is Wednesday, the day in which I pass on a priceless gem of knowledge that "work for me." Like most other great tips, this one is not original, but rather an adaptation of something I learned from other moms. To join in on the tip-giving madness, check out Works for Me Wednesday at Rocks in My Dryer.

How do I keep four small children happy all day?

With God's grace and a whole lot of sensory play.

You have probably heard about the benefits of sensory play -- it is calming, organizing, and a really interesting way to discover new things. In our house, sensory play takes many forms. Currently most popular are cooking, pillow crashing, play-do, fingerpaint, shaving cream, and rice.

Lots of rice. In fact, a wading pool of rice located in the corner of our art room. We keep buckets, shovels, egg cartons, empty spice bottles, coffee cans, and (on occasion) pine cones or branches. For added interest we color the rice with food coloring and rubbing alcohol.

Rice play is open-ended. Baby P likes to pour rice into buckets and kick his legs back and forth to make noise. Agent 004 and Cousin F pretend to cook. Agent 002 builds roads with his plastic construction tractors. All four kids would spend the bulk of their day in there if they had the chance, but the room has a door and they are only allowed in with direct adult supervision.

A word of warning: this is a "Works for me Wednesday" tip that may not work for you. If you are a neat freak or if your vacuum cleaner is underpowered, a large sensory pool would probably drive you over the edge. The rice gets everywhere --on the floor, in the kids' hair, and even inside of the baby's diaper. As a result the mess does spread somewhat to other parts of the house. We have decided that the benefit far outweighs the cost, but I thought that it was only fair to warn you of the downside. Remember, however, that even small children can learn how to use a dustpan and broom (see Monday's picture for evidence).

The ABCs of Decoupage and Clean Cars

Decoupage. All the cool kids are doing it!

The unplugged theme this week is "letters."

We focused a lot on letters last year, and even compiled a book of everything we did. I have backed off a bit on actively teaching letters because both of the Agents know them well, but Cousin F is not quite ready for any formal instruction yet.

We did have two activities this week, however, that fit well with the Unplugged theme. The first was an alphabet decoupage. Following the directions here, we covered a super-sized animal cracker jar with construction paper scraps and letters*.

Some additional tips:

1. If any of the pieces overlap the corner of your object, make sure that there is at least one full inch on each side of the corner. We have several spots where a piece of paper barely overlaps a corner and has popped up
2. Make sure to cover every square inch of the object with paper. The glue peels off of bare plastic.
3. If you are using construction paper, be aware that the color may bleed a bit.
   

*The letters are from Hubbard's Cupboard. It is a PDF with a full page of each capital and lowercase letter in various fonts and styles. It uses a lot of paper, but I have only printed the set once, and we have been using them for various purposes for two years. It is great for letter recognition activities because he gets them used to the many ways that a single letter may look.

The second activity was a shaving cream car wash.


I put a mound of shaving cream in the middle of the art table,and let the kids play in it with wooden alphabet blocks and toy cars. They soon took a sheet of cardboard from the supply shelf to form a roof for their car wash

At Agent 002's request, I cut a hole in the cardboard so that we could spray shaving cream through the roof to further replicate an automated car wash.

We extended the activity by scrubbing the cars with a toothbrush and rinsing the toys off in a bowl of water.

The fun lasted for about forty minutes, and clean up was very easy.

Post edited 3/1/08 to restore the photos I accidentally deleted from Blogger.

After the Craft

I frequently post pictures of our completed crafts. What I don't usually show is what the floor looks like after those activities. Here is a shot of the Agents sweeping up after making their body flip book: This is what the kitchen looked like after building cracker houses this morning. Note the table cloth pulled back so that my creative geniuses did not smear peanut butter mortar all over it. The toys strewn all over the floor is what Baby P accomplished while we "worked."

Kendra of Preschoolers and Peace posted a challenge to share the reality of life as a busy homeschooling household. Any other takers? I'd love to see your messes :)

Cat Napping

I never got in a nap yesterday,

but Janice did.
Lucky cat!

Five Little Duck Books

This past week, we learned about ducks. It all started because Agent 004 is fascinated by the song "5 Little Ducks."

Five little ducks
Went out one day
Over the hill and far away
Mother duck said
"Quack, quack, quack, quack."
But only four little ducks came back.

The verses continue with four little ducks going out, then three, then two, then one, until finally, in a surprise (wink, wink) ending, all five little ducks come back.

I made up a set of movable pieces for our new felt board. Agent 004 had a grand old time moving them along with the lyrics. It is great to see that she knows her numerals and is able to subtract one to figure out how many ducks come back each day.

We read a nonfiction book about ducks -- DK's Watch me Grow: Duckling -- as well as about 20 story books.



Of those, here were our 5 favorites.

	Duck on a Bike by David Shannon A stunningly illustrated book, Duck on a Bike is the tale of a farm duck's adventure on two wheels. The kids asked me to read this book again and again.
	Make Way for Ducklings by Robert McCloskey The classic 1941 tale of what happens when the ducks cross the road. It has a rare combination of complex vocabulary and rhythmic text, and the monochromatic illustrations draw the children in.
	Chibi by Julia Takaya and Barbara Brenner A true-life version of Make Way for Ducklings, set in Tokyo. The book is lengthy -- 62 pages -- and has some content that may be upsetting to very small children. My 3 year old enjoyed pronouncing the Japanese words that are sprinkled through the text.
	Have You Seen my Duckling? by Nancy Tafuri A Caldecott Honor Book, Have You Seen my Duckling? is beautifully illustrated. The story is told in pictures and small children love to find the missing duck on each page. The story easy lends itself to counting activities and interactive reading.
	Curious George and the Dump Truck illustrated in the style of H.A. Rey by Vipah Interactive George's curiosity gets him in a bit of trouble, but a fortuitous turn of events makes the ducks happy.

Internet, You are Going to Hate Me for This

I am exhausted.

Eyes drooping as I pour my third cup of coffee.

Agent 002 had a bad dream last night. Something about a monster opening his door or an astronaut staring at him or monkeys playing basketball -- the story has changed a few times. He came into our room at 1am. I brought him to the bathroom, got him a drink, and carried him back to his bedroom. Five minutes later, mr warillever responded to his screams by checking behind each door for any wayward creatures. Five minutes later... five minutes later... five minutes later... We finally (at 2am) had him sleep in our bed which, as you all know, is not restful for anybody. Shannon very aptly calls sleeping with a distraught child "sleeping with an octopus." I gave up entirely at 5:15, and let him search Google images for pictures of spaceships for the rest of the night while I snoozed with my head on the kitchen counter.

The thing that is killing me is that I am just not used to this. The kids are excellent sleepers, and both of them have slept straight through the night as long as we've known them. Except for a few cold nights when Agent 004 whimpers for more blankets, we almost never need to get up with either of them before dawn.

All of the mothers of newborns are probably throwing tomatoes at their computer monitors by now, but I think I may just take a nap with the little guys this afternoon... See you when I wake up :)

Brush Those Pearly Whites

g

Now that he has three teeth, P insists on joining the others for a good tooth-brushing.
The last time I posted a picture like this, P wasn't even born yet ;)

WFMW: One Stop Planning

I have always been a bit of a do-it-yourselfer when it comes to organizational systems. I have never found a commercial product that has all of the features I want in a size or price that I am comfortable with.

In college I photocopied a grid with my weekly class and work schedule drawn in, penciled in meetings as they were scheduled, and then planned homework and my social life around those parameters. I could see my entire week at a glance and know just where I needed to be when. I used some variation of this system for ten years. It was simple and flexible, but thorough. It really worked for me.

Then I became a stay-at-home mom, day care provider, and owner of a very high maintenance home. I had things to be done, but no set schedule -- my time-based organizational system fell apart. With all of the constant (blessed) interruptions, I could not keep track of all of the things I needed to remember and do. I could not remember what on earth I needed at the store, or when I had last vacuumed the playroom. With the help of Flylady, I got daily routines going, but still needed to make the system my own. This January, I finally sat down and made a planner that fits my life. The sheet has a box for everything I need in a week -- appointments, menu plans, preschool plans, shopping lists, and ongoing projects. I also have a checklist of all of the tasks I complete once per week. I even found room to record the kid's milestones and what books we have read together.

I print off a month's worth of sheets, pop them into a soft-covered binder, and keep it in the kitchen cabinet above the computer. The binder rolls up small enough to fit in my coat pocket, which allows me to bring it along to the grocery store and doctor's office even when my hands are busy. Here is what it looks like in use.
That is what works for me. To see what tips others have come up with, visit Rocks in My Dryer.

The Care and Feeding of a Baby Monster

Caring for a baby monster is a great responsibility,
but Agent 002 is up to the task.

Where Have All the Poems Gone?

I once told you that I "fancied myself a poet."

I am not a poet.

Forcing a poem onto paper is like forcing a toddler's hand into a winter glove -- all of the right parts may exist, but they just wiggle too much to fit.

My thoughts are formed in sentences, not rhythmic lines. Not always in complete sentences, but always structured. More like speech than poetry. Not quite an academic treatise, but never with a musical melody.

I have the soul of a poet trapped in a conformist brain. Bear with me.

So this is What 100 Looks Like

At the Races

The Unplugged theme this week is "fabric."

Pillow cases are made out of fabric, right?

Here is a video of the agents having a sack race. It looks like Agent 004 will take it all, but then Agent 002 comes out of nowhere to win the race.

For more Unplugged projects (that may actually be projects), visit Unplug Your Kids.

Awwwww....

Agent 004: Mommy, I love you.
Mama: I love you too, Honey.
Agent 004: But I don't love pirates.

St. Valentine's Day

Valentine's Day. Like Halloween with the begging. Like Easter without the fasting. Candy and kisses for no reason other than giving them.

I am all for this holiday.

We had heart-shaped pizza and red velvet cupcakes* for dinner, followed by chocolates from a heart-shaped box.

...and the best treat of all? My mother was over the house earlier this afternoon, and took the kids to her house for a sleep-over. Mr. warillever will be home in a half hour. Let me get off of the computer.

*I made the cupcakes from scratch, but next year will probably follow Jenny's lead and work from a cake mix. But I will still let P lick the frosting from the bowl:

Fancy Treats

Agent 002's Kindergarten class is having a "tea party" this afternoon. I volunteered fruit skewers, otherwise known as grapes on a stick.

Don't I feel all domesticated now?

Valentines and Priorities

Sorry for the silence.

Due to the weather, my husband has been working from home quite a bit. Somehow his job takes precedence over my blog. What gives with that? :)

No posts for today either -- I'll be spending the morning making Valentine's treats for a "high tea" later in the day. Fruit skewers and Red Velvet cupcakes. Wish me luck!

WFMW: Creamy Hot Chocolate On the Go

It is Wednesday, so there should be a session of "Works for Me Wednesday" over at Rocks in my Dryer, but since Shannon is in Africa doing great things, Melanie is hosting WFMW at her blog this week. Here is my hot tip:

We live in hot chocolate country, or rather, we live in a hot chocolate climate. We have had 79 inches of snow thus far this winter, and expect another 6 to 10 inches tonight.

When we venture out for an outdoor adventure, we make sure to bring along a child-friendly warm beverage in our handy-dandy thermos.

The problem is, we like our hot chocolate smooth and creamy, but pouring milk in cools the chocolate, which is unacceptable when the thermos will be outdoors for a while before we drink it. My solution: powdered milk. I pour it in at a 1:2 ratio to the hot chocolate mix, fill the thermos half-full with hot water, shake, then fill it up.

Creamy, but stays warm even after 3 hours outside in single-digit temps.

Amazed at my ingenuity? I knew you would be :)

Lenten Linkage

• Preschooling moms will appreciate Ironic Catholic's interpretation of the Dr. Seauss classic Green Eggs and Ham:

I am Sam
I am Sam
Sam I am

(The narrative opens with a direct reference to YHWH, "I am who am". Sam is symbolically connected to the Ultimate Good using three syllables per three lines, an indirect trinitarian reference. As Sam will be found to be the instigator of temptation, this triplet announces Sam as an anti-Christ figure, and sets up the dark nature of the book. Henceforth, he shall be referred to as Sam/Satan.)

(read the whole "Twisted Lenten Drama" at Ironic Catholic)

• Becky responds to Mary about non-Catholics "doing" Lent. They both initially see Lenten devotions as empty ritual, but are coming to understand the power of ritual, discipline and symbolic suffering in bringing us closer to Christ. Becky closes her post with a very interesting question:

Is a religious habit a bad thing? Initially my thought is that as long as it isn't just a habit or ritual and something done with seriousness and observation and reflection to better my relationship with God, it couldn't be wrong. It could be beneficial.

I have been using this question to frame my prayer-time for the past few days. My thoughts are far too complex to reduce to a blog comment, but I will try to have a post-length formulation of my answer soon.

Cut and Paste Flip Book

Here is our "Unplugged" project.

Stealing an idea directly from Amber, we made made flip-book people using an old three-ring binder.

After 3-hole punching cereal box sides, I cut them into three strips. Each child was assigned a body part (heads, bodies, and legs), then glued them onto the cardboard strips.

Easy to do, easy to use, and very fun. The best kind of low-tech fun!

Beware, loyal readers! Next week's them is "fabric."

The Cast of Characters

The Main Characters:

• Agent 002 -- our son, born in 2002.
• Agent 004 -- our daughter, born in 2004.
• Cousin F -- my Goddaughter and niece, cousin to the Agents, born in 2005. Spends her weekdays at our home.
  
• Cousin P -- my nephew, cousin to the Agents, born in 2007. Spends his weekdays at our home.
• Janice -- the cat
  
• mr warillever -- my blessed husband, also known as "Papa"
• Mama -- that's me!

The Supporting Staff:

• Grammy -- my mother; Grandmother to the Agents, F, P, Aa and M.
• Grampy -- my father; Grandfather to he Agents, F, P, Aa and M.
• Grandma -- mr warillever's mother; Grandmother to the Agents as well as Cousins E, C, T, B, A, Mm and D.
• The Uncles -- my brothers Jimbo* and Jethro; mr warillever's brothers On, 7, and Ichabod; and our sisters' husbands -- three Ms and a D.
  
• The Aunts -- my sisters M and Kak, as well as Uncle On's wife K.
  
• The Ants -- mr warillever's sisters E and P.
• Cousins -- in order they are E, C, T, B, A, Aa, Mm, M, F, D, and P
  

*Jimbo has also been called JR on this blog

Mortality

Our luncheon conversation about mortality on this Ash Wednesday:

Agent 002: When I die, will my skin fall off like the dinosaurs in the museum?
Mama: Yes.
Agent 002: I won't have any skin?
Mama: No. It will decay.
Agent 002: But I will still have hard bones?
Mama: Yes.
Agent 002: Will my eyes decay?
Mama: Yes.
Agent 002: And my heart and my muscles?
Mama: Yes. They will all decay.
Agent 002: Does Jesus send every person a note?
Mama: Huh?
Agent 002: A note to say that I will die and can go to heaven. Does Jesus send them in the mail?
Mama: Every living thing dies. Jesus doesn't need to send notes about it.
Agent 002: But how do you know that people can go to heaven with Jesus?
Mama: There are no notes, but God wrote a book about it -- the Bible.
Cousin F: In the living room?
Mama: Yes, our Bible is in the living room.

WFMW: Online Shopping

It is Wednesday once again, when I reach deep into my mommy bag of tricks to tell you what Works for Me. Shannon has a special themed edition this week -- "What are your favorite on-line shopping sources? Where do you go for on-line bargains? Or for on-line window shopping?"

I have found that the easiest way to save money is to avoid shopping.

Really. What works for me is to shop as little as possible. One store may be cheaper than another on one or two items, but I know that I will spend more money overall if I go to both. So I go to one, and buy only what I need.

I rarely shop online, because that brings the store into my home. I just don't need that sort of temptation in my life.

...but I just can't resist passing on my favorite gem of a store: Montessori N'Such. A friend suggested it for some preschool supplies I needed. I found those, plus most of the toys I needed for Christmas presents. Fun, educational, and reasonably priced -- what could be better?