The Angel Forever

The wishful spring thinking list

Posted on April 16, 2010 12:00 am by TheAngelForever

Spring has sprung and my mind has been wandering lately about things that I would like. Not sure why this seems to happen now, instead of in December when I am being quizzed about birthday and Chanukah presents. I guess it just means that I see more items between December and the spring that make my mind race.

Here is a list of a few more realistic items that I would like. I say realistic because I will not put the Disney Alaskan Cruise on this list. Nor will I add in being a member of Disney Vacation Club (DVC). This girl will continue to dream about those for now. Another wish that will remain empty is a treadmill. I know I would use it, that is not the question. My issue is where to put it in our small house, Please add bigger house in another school district to my larger wish list. A treadmill or elliptical machine would fit in the upstairs room, but we really want to start utilizing that space for a play room/work area now that the boys are older.

So here is my list:

Swing set – Would love to have something in our yard for the boys to use. Sure, there are a lot of parks close by, but having something at home would be amazing. Before this could happen a tree or two (with berries) would need to be removed from our yard.
New Laptop – My laptop is on borrowed time. It is almost 5 years old and the letters are worn off (stickers have not helped either). Plus, the fan makes a horrid noise from time to time.
iPod Touch – I think it would be a great tool to have when out and about since we do not have iPhones or Blackberry phones. Of course, I would love a Blackberry, but the added $30 a month per phone is a bit much at this point.
Bike – When growing up, I loved to ride my bike. My bike is still at my parent’s house, but I do not think I would like it now. It was the 90’s style with ram horn handles and I am not into that these days. It may be great for TechyDad and I to get bikes for our anniversary to get out and exercise more as a family.
Season Passes for Six Flags – We had them last year and used them 3-4 times which paid for the expense. The boys love going to Wiggles World and it truly is fun for the entire family.
Membership to Weight Watchers – Pure lazy behavior here. I need to get back on track. I have had success with the online plan, but it is a little more than we can afford right now thanks to home repairs that are needed and saving for nursery school in the fall.

So my Aloha Friday question for you today:

What is on your practical wish list and why? Do you have any suggestions on bikes for TechyDad and I to get? We do not want to spend a fortune, but do want something that will last and give us enjoyment.

Please be sure to check out my National Geographic Little Kids and Human Nature – Reach Out. Stay tuned because more will be coming next week.

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Thanks to Kailani at An Island Life for starting this fun for Friday. Please be sure to head over to her blog to say hello and sign the MckLinky there if you are participating.

Aloha #95

Categories:
Aloha Friday dreams looking back me moments

Home Farming with some help from Triscuit

Posted on April 15, 2010 10:05 am by TheAngelForever

Six years ago this April, we bought our house and moved in by July. The following year, TechyDad wanted to start planting flowers and possibly some vegetables. Over the years, he and our oldest son, NHL, have attempted growing many different items. Each year, our biggest nemesis has been the neighborhood "wild" bunny family. These furry pests have destroyed many items over the years.

After the first attempt at putting them into the ground did not work, the boys tried to put them into pots that were off the ground. This did better, but there were still problems. Last year, our plants were in large pots on our front patio. Finally, we had items that were successful. We had a bumper crop if jalapeno peppers, a lot of mint, several cucumbers and a handful of tomatoes.

With Earth Day coming next week, we will probably try to plant some items this coming weekend. Our 2010 home farm will likely be grown inside our covered porch. This will allow it to have plenty of light, but protect our plants from bunnies, birds and hail.

During the Spring and Summer, we always support our local Farmers Market and love the local and fresh produce. Still, there is just something extra delicious about items picked from our own garden. In addition to the savings, our children have also learned valuable science and life lessons from growing our own plants and vegetables.

Thanks to Mom Central, I recently found out about a Home Farming campaign that Triscuit is working on. I received one of the four million boxes of specially marked Triscuit boxes that contains seeds to help start our own Home Farm.

Here is more about the program:

In an attempt to help Americans celebrate the values of simple goodness found on farms and encourage the growing of fresh herbs and vegetables at home no matter where you live, Triscuit has launched the Home Farming Movement in collaboration with the non-profit organization Urban Framing. Together, Triscuit and Urban Farming plan to create 50 community-based home farms across the country in 2010 in order to connect communities through growing food together.

To help get this fantastic program off the ground, Triscuit is putting plantable herbs seed cards in four million boxes of Triscuit crackers to be grown on home farms in backyards and balconies. With Earth Day right around the corner, this spring proves ideal for incorporating home growing values into your family’s life. Head to the Triscuit Home Farming Movement Web site, www.triscuit.com/homefarming, for more information on how you can start your own home farm or get involved in the Movement.

So will you be joining in on the Home Farming movement this year? If you are what do you hope to plant this year in your garden?

I know that we will be planting the basil that was included on our Triscuit box along with tomatoes, cucumbers, zucchini and other items that we find. With any luck we will have more nutritious and delicious items to eat right after we pick them. Happy planting!

Disclosure: I wrote this review while participating in a blog tour campaign by Mom Central on behalf of Trisciut and receive the product necessary to facilitate my candid review. In addition, I received a gift card to thank me for taking the time to participate.

Categories:
Blog Tour food glorious food house looking back nhl photos Product review summer TechyDad

Pine Cone Olympics

Posted on April 14, 2010 12:00 am by TheAngelForever

Categories:
brothers exercise fun jsl nhl weather weekend Wordless Wednesday

My belated birthday dinner – four months later

Posted on April 13, 2010 10:46 am by TheAngelForever

Being a December baby, I am used to the snow altering plans for my birthday celebrations. The white nasty stuff put a damper on things this past year. It is hard to believe that, four months ago, we had almost two feet of snow dumped on us – happy birthday to me!

Of course, the snow was just the start of the fun on that very cold and snowy December day. (Please note the extreme sarcasm here) While outside shoveling with my hubby, six year old NHL was hit near his eye with a shovel. I was inside the house baking my own cake when I heard screams and then saw a lot of red all over my child. A quick trip to the ER, glue and take out Chinese food rounded out the day.

TechyDad and I were supposed to go out for dinner at Hana Japanese restaurant, but it never happened. Things kept popping up and we pushed it off. Fast forward to Saturday when hubby and I left the kids with Nana and Papa and went out to dinner. We went to Hana and had an amazing dinner.

I had hibachi steak, while TechyDad opted for the hibachi salmon. We both started off with a bowl of miso soup. Everything was absolutely delicious. I made sure to save half of my meal for a lunch because I wanted to get something after dinner. Last year, we never made it to the local soft serve ice cream place. We packed up from dinner and went over. Both of us had the following:

That would be a mint and chocolate swirl cone. I swear, it tasted like a Thin Mint Girl Scout Cookie on a cone . . . it was amazing! When we were done with this, we went to Toys R Us for a kid free look around. JSL’s birthday is in a month, so we needed ideas without two kids telling what "I want" to everything they see.

All in all, my belated birthday dinner out was delightful. I told JL that I really liked the spring deal and not having to worry about driving to the celebration in snow and ice. Who knew a birthday outing could be so care free?! Thank you again to Mom and Dad for watching the kids, I know they had a blast with both of you.

So, do you go out to dinner for your birthday? What did you have for dinner on your last special day?

Categories:
birthday food glorious food jl looking back me moments photos TechyDad weekend yummy

National Geographic Little Kids (Review/Giveaway)

Posted on April 12, 2010 12:00 am by TheAngelForever

Admit it, we all love getting things in the mail. Adults may not like the bills, but most other items are welcome, especially magazines to read for pleasure. Kids today are lucky, there are a lot more magazines specifically geared to children. NHL, now six, has had magazine subscriptions to several different publications. JSL, almost three, was still a little too young for most of them.

Recently, I was asked by Family Review Network to review National Geographic Little Kids magazine. I had heard about it, but had never actually seen it at stores. The concept intrigued me since it is made for children ages three to six. I figured this was a great opportunity to see how kids on both ends of the age spectrum liked the new magazine.

About National Geographic Little Kids:

Aimed at preschoolers ages 3 to 6 and their parents, National Geographic Little Kids is the magazine for young explorers, packed with teaching tools to help parents inspire a love of learning in their children. The Association of Educational Publishers chose National Geographic Little Kids for its highest award, the Golden Lamp, in 2008 and named the magazine Periodical of the Year in 2008 and 2009. National Geographic Little Kids also won a Parents’ Choice Gold Award for 2008, 2009 and 2010.

Filled with lively photographs and engaging stories to develop prereading and early reading skills, plus interactive picture games and puzzles to teach logic and counting, each 24-page issue contains fresh and imaginative instruction tools. There are captivating animal stories, answers to questions on kids’ favorite topics, features on different cultures to inspire a sense of understanding about the world, plus interactive experiments to introduce simple science. Each issue also includes a set of six wild animal cards.

National Geographic Little Kids is a perfectly sized magazine for little hands, at approximately 6 1/2” by 7”. National Geographic Little Kids is available by subscription for $15 a year (six issues; international subscription cost varies) and on newsstands for $3.99 a copy. Explore online at littlekids.nationalgeographic.com.

What we thought:

NHL immediately took the National Geographic Little Kids and went to the couch to read them. We received the current issue (seen above) and three past magazines to review.

He immediately dove into the January/February 2010 issue with Lion Cubs on the cover. NHL adores lions and wanted to get inside to see what he could learn. As I watched him reading, he had no trouble with the words. He could quickly read from cover to cover and tell me about the photos and items inside. He had fun trying to tell what the items were on the Naming "What in the World Are These?" activity page. When he got to the pages on the lions, he was mesmerized with the photos of the lion cubs. True to National Geographic, the photos are stunning and surrounded by just the right amount of print for this age group. Next, NHL did the Little Lions Maze and named all of the other animals in the picture.

As a parent and teacher, I really liked how National Geogrpahic Little Kids puts a little of everything into these magazines. There is a Geography section filled with maps, vocabulary and pronunciations of foreign words (like Phane in Botswana). If this is not included, a Culture section is given with similar items for children to learn some new words.

For my younger son, JSL, there was a matching game. When JSL heard what his big brother was doing, he jumped in and was able to do a nice introductory matching game with mittens. There were also rhyme time pages as well as sorting out which item in a photo is different than the others and how are they the same. Great early learning skills for an almost three year old.

An activity page with a craft item is also included. The items that are needed are clearly labeled and photos of children with finished projects as well. The boys are both eager to try some of the ones included in the National Geographic Kids.

As a Science geek, I loved the Science Experiment pages. Past issues had Drawing With the Sun, Spinning Eggs, Balloon Trick and my personal favorite Dancing Raisins. When NHL was looking at the January/February 2010 issue, the Dancing Raisins immediately caught my eye. I actually did this experiment in my classroom with older elementary students. It was presented in a developmentally appropriate way to teach 3-6 year olds the wonder of buoyancy. Kuddos to National Geographic for making science fun!

Over all, we really enjoyed National Geographic Little Kids. I do feel that the magazine in general is probably a little too young for my first grade son. He enjoyed the photos, but often wanted more than the text offered to him (good thing they have National Geographic Kids for his age). I do believe that we may ask someone in our family to get JSL a subscription to National Geographic Little Kids for his birthday (this May). Although parts will be over his head, the general feel of the magazine will offer a lot of great subjects to him for exploration. Of course, mommy will be just as excited to see it come in the mail.

If you are interested in subscribing to National Geographic Little Kids, they have given a special URL with information about it. Please click here for details.

Giveaway:

Thanks to National Geographic Kids, one lucky reader will win a copy of the current National Geogrpahic Little Kids magazine.

Rules for Giveaway:

MAIN RULE – Answer the following questions: If you could pick an animal to feature on National Geogrpahic Little Kids, which animal would it be and why?
1 Bonus Entry – Head over to National Geographic Little Kids website and tell me an activity, recipe, or experiment that you would like to try and why.
1 Bonus Entry – Tweet about the giveaway on Twitter. Be sure to include @TheAngelForever and National Geographic Little Kids Giveaway in the Tweet. Please leave a direct link to your Tweet in a separate comment for each daily entry. Example Tweet (feel free to use): Chance to win copy of the latest National Geographic Little Kids magazine from @TheAngelForever http://bit.ly/d0JpVk Stop by to enter
1 Bonus Entry – Subscribe to my RSS feed (or let me know if you already are) in a separate comment.
1 Bonus Entry – Leave a comment on any of my non-giveaway posts from the month of March/April. Be sure to leave a comment here to let me know which one. This Bonus entry may be done only twice per person.
1 Bonus Entry – Enter any of my other current giveaways (keep checking back – more being added all the time). Be sure to leave a comment here to let me know which one.
3 Bonus Entries – Add my blog button to your website and leave a link with the location. Be sure to give yourself 3 comments for credit.
5 Bonus Entries – Write a post on your blog linking to my blog about the giveaway. Be sure to leave 5 comments about this to get credit for all of your extra entries

To enter, please follow the rules above within the comment section. Contest starts today April 12th and ends at 10:59 EST on April 25, 2010. You do not have to be a blogger to enter, but must leave a valid e-mail address for me to contact you for mailing address once the giveaway is over. I will select the winner using random.org and contact you via e-mail. You will have 48 hours to claim the prize. If there is no response, another winner will be selected. Open to U.S. residents only.

Disclosure: This post was written for Family Review Network as part of a program for National Geographic, who supplied the magazines for review and giveaway. No other compensations was given. The opinions expressed in the review are my own feelings about the product.