The Noah: Seven

Yes, he gets a definite article before his name.  He's unmistakable!

The Noah turned 7 on St. Patrick's Day.  These pictures I took back in February are a pretty good impression of him.

Once upon a time we nicknamed him the Loud Lemon.  It's appropriate.  He's so expressive and wears his emotions on his face all the time.

The Noah is 7 and moving up to the second grade has been good for him.  His report card last week showed him at grade level for second grade and he really enjoys this teacher as well.  It's the same teacher Cory had for second grade.  He still misses his first grade teacher and friends though.  He's so outgoing he had made plenty in just the 4 months he was in that class.

Fun story, I've really had more time to consistently volunteer this year now that the girls are in preschool and last week when I showed up they were talking about Alaska and glaciers.  So I was able to pull up this blog post about our trip last summer and Noah was the star of all the photos while I explained to his classmates about the glacier and how it worked.

Nana and Papa brought him a scooter for his birthday.  He was immediately trying to pop wheelies with it.  And then rode through the mud puddles.  This one loves the outdoors and doing all the things.  He played soccer last fall for the first time and was one of the more aggressive kids on the team.  It helped of course that he was almost a head taller than most of the rest of his team and a lot of kids on the other teams too!

With Cory being three years older he often feels like he doesn't get to do the same things because he is younger.  It's hard to wait when you want to try all the cool things that your older brother gets to do.  So in a few things he gets to do things early (like skiing!), but other things he has to wait.  It's hard being the middle child.  I'm hoping to get a weekend with just he and I in a month when Cory goes to a camp and the girls go with my parents.

Noah's good buddy from school last year and Awana came for his birthday dinner.  Noah couldn't open the box with his present in it... so he tried to use his teeth.  He was successful.

More nerf bullets for his Zombie nerf gun.  Boys!

The saying on his shirt is rather appropriate, "Wild is my middle name" courtesy of our trip to Alaska last summer.  And the birthday boy requested ice cream sundaes for dessert rather than cake.  We are nothing if not unconventional in our family!

Overall Noah is a caring and compassionate boy.  He hates it when anyone is sad or hurt in a movie and cries for them.  He's old enough to understand a little of what's going on in the world and cares about the people we hear about on the news in the car.

I love you Noah!  Never lose your love for people and you'll go far in life!

Alaska: Life and Anniversaries

Who knew going to Alaska meant I would get to meet up with a ton of old friends I hadn't seen in years.

Amber and I were housemates in the "casita" 15 years ago when we went to Portantorchas together in Costa Rica.  It was fun having breakfast and catching up on where she is now.

Thursdays are homeschool day at Dahlia's house and between the 4 families we had 20 kids there!  It was high school history so all the big kids were downstairs and of course babies don't do Legos, but all the middle group of kids were here.  How do you catch kids?  Apparently put out a big pile of Legos!

Cory found a book with ideas and created this zip line for some Lego guys.  Later there was even fishing line strung between the porch railing and the cabin down below and/or the garage farther down!

I really really couldn't get enough of this view.

Too bad one of the few days we had nice weather was a school day because most days the view looked more like this.

I failed to realize that Alaska summer ends at the first of August so when we arrived they had had weeks of lovely weather and then it rained half the time we were there.  Whoops!  Will plan better next time (and oh yes, there will be a next time!)

Friday the 29th is our anniversary so the kids stayed at the house while Brian and I drove in to Anchorage for the afternoon.  Or I should say evening since it was almost 6pm when we found a parking space, but the light was still throwing me off so badly it felt like mid-afternoon!

Dessert first at the Cake Studio on 4th St.  If you ever get to Anchorage I highly recommend it! This was my vanilla mousse chocolate bomb.  Then some cool art (it's a special trip tradition) from the Sevigny Studio next door, and finally dinner at the Glacier Brewhouse.

There was a very long wait unless we wanted to sit in the bar.  Sometimes it pays to be out without children!  I had fresh halibut and Brian had steak.  Once in a long while a very fancy dinner tastes amazing!  Usually we decide we could have made it better at home for less, but not this time!

After dinner we went down to the "waterfront", if the mud flats can be called that!

The train from Fairbanks was pulling in when we hit the Coastal Trail.  My parents have ridden this a couple times and the colors are so different than the trains we have around here that it was fun to see.

Just for fun we sat and waited for sunset and watched the planes come in.  The airport is off to the left, south of downtown.  I really couldn't believe how incredibly flat the whole bay and valley around Anchorage are.

Unfortunately this is all the sunset we got and below the spot where you can see it, it completely disappeared behind the clouds and didn't give us anymore colors.  But I did notice waaaay off in the distance that you could see a snow covered mountain range.  I thought my eyes were playing tricks on me until I used my zoom lens and could actually see defined ridges.  Too bad we never did get a clear enough day to see Denali.

On the way home we saw a moose on the side of the freeway, but thankfully it didn't decide to cross!  And then we got home at dusk... or 11:30pm!

Awana Awards Night!

We ended our Awana club early this year due to spring sports and some of the leaders coaching and being in the local play.

The girls were so proud of their ribbons for finishing their first Cubbies books.  They love teacher Krista there in front of them too.

Noah finished his entire first Sparks book and reviewed it and was getting started on the "extra credit" book.

Cory didn't finish his book for T&T, but according to the director the books were really hard so no kids finished them and they are actually revamping the curriculum next year.  He also got a late start due to soccer season and missing the first 6 weeks or so in the fall.

My Awana crew! 

Daddy is a leader so Mommy got a free evening once week about half the time this year.  They all love it!

No More Plastic Junk!

Tomorrow is April 1st. No, this isn't some kind of April Fools joke, what it means is we've survived "birthday month" and Easter, as well as the plague that visited our house and left me down for the count for 10 days right in the middle of it all!

So today with the sun shining and the windows open I'm doing a good spring cleaning and there are so.many.little.plastic.toys in my house!  We had the girl's birthday party at McDonald's (because they love it and you're only 4 once) and every kid came home with a little plastic bag full of McDonald's branded junk.  I have four kids, which means I had 4 bags full of junk.

And after church last Sunday they all got some more plastic junk.  Bracelets in plastic Easter eggs and giant cheap plastic sunglasses.  I feel like every time I turn around there is more plastic junk in my house and when I throw it away I feel bad because I'm just filling up the landfill.  Also, my kids apparently are mini hoarders.  Oy!

I've seen a lot of my friends posting about spring break for the past month, but ours actually isn't until next week and I'm super excited that it's supposed to hit 70 degrees this weekend and we will be OUTSIDE!  Those of you who had spring break while it was still snowing, I'm so sorry!

I love sending my kids outside (and being outside with them), but sometimes you need a bit of down time inside too.  And while my kids love video games, I don't love letting them play for hours on end.

The alternative?  Quality toys that will stand the test of time. 

Most of you know what we have a giant pile of Lego's that provides hours of entertainment.  The kids can all play nicely together (for the most part) and these are the antithesis of cheap plastic junk.  Now they do manage to get spread around the house, but at least when I pick them up they aren't going into the trash!

Each of my boys got a new Lego kit for his birthday, but honestly, they don't need many more.  Just a few specialized pieces here and there (the new Minecraft sets are pretty awesome!).  But they absolutely love getting new kits to put together.

So, when you don't need more Lego's and you don't want to contribute to the landfills, consider a subscription to Pley*.  They have all the latest Lego sets plus tons more options including robotic toys and quality preschool toys.

For about the price of one small Lego set a month you can rent as many toys as you want.  You're only limited by shipping times.  Consider it an investment in your sanity, especially if you have Spring Break still coming up!

"The Fine Print"
You are not charged if a few pieces get lost out of a Lego set. Each set is sanitized between subscribers. There are toy options for all ages, boys and girls, including babies.  New toys are constantly being added so check back often!


*This is a sponsored post and there are affiliate links where I will make a small percentage if you sign up.  All opinions are my own.

Wordless Wednesday: Neighborhood Biker Gang

Look out world, Nana's neighborhood is in for some terrorizing this summer!

Toys and Consumerism

When I'm out shopping (or shopping online) I often run across things I know my kids would love.  Sometimes I buy them and stash them "for later".  As I've been cleaning up around my house this winter I've consolidated all those for later items and discovered I have a whole box full of toys for the kids, especially for the girls, that I don't know when I'm going to give them to them!

Starting tomorrow it's birthday month AND Easter so I have opportunity for present giving, but I actually already have specific birthday presents for the girls.  We do small Easter baskets with chocolate and usually a small toy and I had something in mind to get for those, but now I realize I don't really need to buy anything, yet I still want to. 

We don't typically give our kids new toys just whenever except for once-in-a-very-rare-occasion.  We want them to value new things as special and also consider waiting for birthdays/Christmas or saving up their chore money to buy it themselves.  But finding all these toys I've stockpiled is making me realize that I'm the one who's bought into the "gotta have it" mentality.  Oops.  Apparently it's hard for me to pass up a good deal.  Especially when it's something I know they would enjoy.

The other thing that makes this a problem is that we also like to give some toys and some experiences.  Things like passes for a day at the local waterslides in the summer make lifetime memories.  I know all these "remember when" posts on Facebook about toys from the 80's take us all back and remind us of the toys we had, but without that how many of us would actually remember most of our toys?  I know I remember just a few things and perhaps that's because my mom saved those few toys so I would run across them every few years in the attic and now my girls play with them at her house.

I'm not saying all toys are bad, far from it!  They can be creative and entertaining, especially on cold rainy days when you don't want to play outside. However not all toys are created equal. You know there are some that inspire hours of creative play while others are played with a few times and then just sit in the toy box until they are discarded.  What a waste.

What if there was a way to try out new toys and not worry about whether your kids like them?  Pley* might be that solution for you.  It's a toy rental program that lets you choose from a wide variety of handpicked toys that are always kid pleasers.  They've recently added a bunch of new toys beyond the great supply of Legos that they already stock.  The biggest category is for preschool toys, but they've even added some robotic toys for older kids and dress up outfits for 18 inch dolls like American Girl.

Kids absolutely love to get things in the mail and what a fun idea to pick out something new every couple of weeks (especially in the winter!) without breaking the bank or contributing to an overload of toys in the house.  Pley lets you try as many toys (or Lego sets) in a month as you want on a one at a time basis for one low fee.  Make a new Lego set and then send it back instead of adding it to the giant collection of Legos that most of us have already. *wink* It's almost a toy and an experience all wrapped up in one!

Gift certificates are also available and make great gifts for relatives that might not know exactly what to get for special occasions. 

Do you have a good balance of toys at your house? How would you feel about trying a toy rental service?  Would this help kids learn to appreciate their toys more?

*This is a sponsored post and there are affiliate links where I will make a small percentage if you sign up.  All opinions are my own.

(Not So) Wordless Wednesday: Spring!

I sent my good camera in to be repaired over Christmas and got it back a month ago, but never got around to putting it back together. I always regret that. I adore the photos it takes when it's in good working condition.

On a day when it's 50 degrees outside and your little girls have been begging to blow bubbles, you blow bubbles.

Sometimes at each other!

And when you have random giant bamboo sticks in your yard (from a coworker!) they apparently become your broomstick! Thanks Princess Sophia...

We won't talk about the dog poop that apparently has been accumulating in our yard all winter and was found by all 4 pairs of shoes... No, we don't have a dog.

I've been saying we won't be hiking on February 20th this year like we did last year, but if this weather keeps up it won't be far off.  You can't see there are still a few piles of snow in our yard (unheard of for this time of year), but it was so nice to be outside, I even pulled a few weeds.

Toys, Clutter, and Mental Space

Do you ever look around at all the toys cluttering your house and wonder why your kids are still asking you for ideas on what to play with?  I've been chatting with some friends and feel like even though we are on the very conservative end of toy ownership we still have WAY more toys in our homes than we did as kids.  The good old days, right?

I'm also on a de-cluttering binge with as much free time as I can find lately.  Did you know clutter has been researched and found to have detrimental affects on your psychological well being?  It's more pronounced for women, which might explain a few things.

So, since I still love to get fun things for my kids now and then, and because Christmas was last month and "birthday month" is March around here there is much toy organizing to be had.

As my kids grow it's fairly easy to say goodbye and garage sale, consign, or donate toys that no longer match their developmental levels.  The trick is to know your kids!  Will they wail and not allow any toys to leave their room?  If so, consider a toy purge while they are visiting friends.  I find that since we pass on our outgrown clothes to younger cousins my kids understand that it's okay to get rid of outgrown toys too.

Consider asking your kids what they would like to do with their toys, whether to donate directly or sell and save up for new toys or experiences knowing that the used toys won't bring much.  I would also recommend that they donate some of the proceeds if possible.  But you know what's right foryour own family, these are just some ideas to help you get started!

Now, if your kids like collectible toys like Legos I don't recommend getting rid of them, they are SO creative, but honestly, after my kids build their newest set it gets taken apart and becomes part of the giant pile we have on a sheet in the middle of the floor.  They do NOT need more Legos for free play!
 
I know I enjoy building things and I know some of the fun in getting a new Lego set is following the directions and seeing the creation come alive.  But you then don't want to just leave it all put together forever and it adds to your giant disorganized Lego collection.

Would you consider renting Lego sets?  Pley* makes it super easy with their monthly subscription service!

For $20 to $25 a month (depending on how long you want to commit for) you pick out the sets you want and they are shipped to your door!  Play, return, get a new set.  There's no limit, other than shipping time, on how many sets you can get in a month.  And there's no fee for a few lost pieces either.  Pley understands that we are families and sometimes the dog eats one or it gets lost forever in the black hole under the couch!  They also sanitize each set between customers.

What do you think? Would this cut down on clutter in your house AND keep your kids entertained?

PS. Pley offers many other toys besides Legos!  They're taking a survey to see which new categories customers would like to rent.


*This is a sponsored post and there are affiliate links where I will make a small percentage if you sign up.  All opinions are my own.

Make Time for Pley

*This is a sponsored post, I have been compensated for my time to bring this information to you.  There are also affiliate links, through which, if you make a purchase I will make a small amount.

Toys

• Do your kids have so many toys you wish you could sometimes just get rid of them and yet they're still bored? 
•  Do you have a toy rotation system?  
• Do you spend more on toys just so they will have something new?

I could answer yes to all of the above and it drives me crazy!  New is always more interesting, but also more expensive and ultimately pretty wasteful.  So in the last month I've heard of a new company called Pley that I'm pretty excited about.

What is Pley? 

Pley is a toy rental company with over 400 educational toys, a vast majority of them building toys like Lego sets, K'nex, and others.  They even have Duplos for smaller hands.

For a set fee (about the price of one average size Lego set every month) you get unlimited rentals and so many sets to choose from!  Shipping both to you and back is included and there's no limit on how many sets you can get in a month. Well, other than shipping speed.

I know my boys have plenty of Legos to create with on their own (see above), but they love to get new sets.  Yet, once the set is made it is taken apart, the directions lost, and it's never created the same again.  This would allow them to build all kinds of new sets without breaking my toy budget.  And yes, Pley understands that Lego pieces are small and a few might get lost and you aren't charged for them.

New toys for the kids, less mess for me to worry about, and no need for me to find a place to store them. I like the sound of it!

Bonus, if you're worried about sharing germs, especially in the winter months (ick!) all toys are sanitized before they are sent out to new families to play with.

Grandmas and Grandpas, Aunts and Uncles, Pley also offers gift subscriptions and even gift certificates so parents can start the subscription when they need it rather than right at Christmas or a birthday when there are new toys already.

What do you think? Would this kind of service be useful to you?

Blue Lizard Sunscreen = Awesome!

The color changing cap has major kid appeal

I received a sample of Blue Lizard sunscreen in a box from Influenster.  All opinions are my own.

For Father's Day weekend we went up to a fun cabin on a lake.  Which meant we spent the better part of the weekend on the lake and out in the sun.  It was the perfect opportunity to try out a couple of new sunscreens I had this summer.

The hands down winner was Blue Lizard Sensitive Sunscreen.  It's a barrier sunscreen with zinc and titanium dioxides, the kind I prefer to use on my kids because there are no toxic chemicals in it.

The first thing I noticed was that it wasn't nearly as greasy as some of the other barrier sunscreens and it spread easily without leaving my kids looking like ghosts.

Another cool feature is, depending on which size you get, either the cap or the whole bottle turns from white/clear to blue in the presence of UV rays.  Perfect for when you're wondering if you really need to put on sunscreen.  One of the days we were at the lake it was fairly cloudy so the cap changed slowly, but it did still change.  Less exposure to the UV rays, but they were still obviously there.  Layer up!

I typically don't use this kind of sunscreen on myself, we're still using up some of the more chemical laden stuff we had from a couple years ago, but this Blue Lizard one was so much less greasy that I did use it on myself and ended up feeling about the same as usual.  Now that impressed me!

Blue Lizard is an Australian company and as my husband says, the Aussies know what it's about when it comes to sun so they make products that work.  I'm happy to report, there were no sunburns that weekend!

Kid quotes

Joy likes to go to the "I-berry" to get books

Hope calls lipstick "sticky lips"

Hope singing the Patty Cake song says "and throw it in the oven with baby and me". Oops!

Noah: I like one of the firstondary colors.

Me: Oh, you mean primary?

Noah: Yes, red.

We have a picture book of our cousins from South Africa and on the first page they say Sanibonani, which is Hello, I think in a Swazi dialect.  Hope likes to go around saying it.  It's a fun word!

Having steak for dinner.  You can tell this is not a common occurrence around here because Joy kept asking what we were having and calling it chicken.  When I finally convinced her it was beef she said, "I like this beaver, Mommy!" and could not be convinced to pronounce it "beef".

According to Joy when we go swimming we wear "lice jackets". *shudder*

Also while swimming Cory told me he'd learned how to do a "hamspring". 

Kid Quotes

One of the girls wailing about her shoes, "They're all brinkled!"

Talking about how much Cory had grown Noah says, "We need to put bricks on your head!"

When Joy smells something she wants to know what it is she says "What's that in my nose?"

In an attempt to delay bedtime my oldest child comes out of his room, "Mom, one of my nostrils feels like it's plugged."  Answer: you have a cold child, go blow your nose!

Wordless Wednesday: Biker Crew

The neighbor Mark encouraging the kids to ride...

Cory got a flat tire and Hope was very interested in helping fix it!

"Wrench!"

Now we know what tires look like on the inside!

The Lost Month

So... I realize I've been posting only books and Tea sales this month and that's not normal, but neither is being sick for most of a month.  I finally feel like I don't quite have a sleep deficit this week and actually have some energy, but wow that was a long month...

In the meantime... right before all the sickness we went to the Disney Live show my parents got for the kids.

Princesses and Pirates, right up our alley, no?

I wish I had a picture of just how wide Joy's eyes got when she saw Princess Sophia come out on stage.  She turned to me and said "My Princess!" in almost this stage whisper!

The first half of the show was all about Princess Sophia and Noah was a bit bored, but after intermission...

The Pirates came out!  I have to admit that we've watched Jake quite a bit so the music was familiar and it's also just a bit more catchy so Joy was dancing in front of her seat almost the whole time.  So cute!

They even had arial pirates just like in the show, I was quite impressed!

At the end of that half the volcano "explodes" gold doubloons, yes, we collected quite a few pieces of gold tissue paper to bring home after the show!

A very fun show for the kids and really well done!

Then my poor child broke her leg the very next day and it kind of all went downhill from there.  The kids and I all got sick and on top of our cough/cold we all had strep throat and the three little ones got ear infections too!

The only silver lining in being sick meant that we didn't much feel like getting out of the house so it didn't seem to impact Joy as much, not being about to walk around.  She did pretty well scooting around the house after about 3 days, but was also good at not standing on it.

Sister cuddles on the floor!

She was pretty happy to get the okay to walk on it this week.  Who knew you could dance in a cast?  Apparently it automatically puts you on your tip toes in perfect form!

We did also have the Grand Prix races at Awana last week.  Noah made a "shark" car and it was very awesome although Cubbies don't get to officially race.

Cory made a Minecraft car, very flat with a painted on sword.  He came in second place of all Sparkies again this year!

And finally last Friday we got out in this VERY early Spring weather we're having and went for a hike with some friends!  Hooray for getting back to "normal"! 

Now, let the birthdays commence...