AHOY me MATIES!!!

Our five year old's most fervent wish this year was for (you guessed it):  A Pirate Party.  I'm sure this is due in no small part to the copious amounts of "Jake and the Neverland Pirates" that my littles have been watching for the past few months.  Nevertheless.... a pirate party was the order of the day. 

 

First things first... the decorations.  I used this tutorial from GloriousTreats to sew up a sturdy bunting for the birthday girl that could later hang in Captain Emma's bedroom!

 

 

I made a template using the font Franklin Gothic Heavy in photoshop, so I could cut her name out of black, iron-on fabric (typically used for patching jeans or pants).  This was a lot more cost effective than buying each iron-on letter... and I really like the way it looks! 

 

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Next came the goodie bags!  I found a SUPER tutorial on Kitty Baby Love for sewing a drawstring bag with no exposed seams (using the french-seam method), and whipped out these little beauties from some pirate skull dotted fabric :)  Notice the odd man out sewn out of leftovers... (we just made that one the Birthday Girl's special bag!)

 

Next up were the pirate games (ARRGH!)  We read aloud the book, Pirates Go to School

 

 

 

 

 



 

and played "Pin the Patch on the Parrot" and "Sink the Boat" & "Walk the Plank" (see explanations here on PartyPlanningMom).  We also had lots of "Pirate Accessories" for the kids (AND PARENTS!) to dress up with!

 



 

Lots of pirate fun was had by all :)  

 

Of Summer & Socks

Summer has been a little late in visiting Oregon this year, and consequently mommy has still been kniting socks.  I received some lovely, multicolored sock yarn in my Ten Dollar Swap Package from mimzy2. 

I set to work on a pair of toddler socks so that I would have some easy car and vacation knitting while the hubby and I were attending the OCEANnetwork homeschooling conference here in Portland, OR. We had such a wonderful time at the conference together, and I picked up several items from the used curriuclum swap that were on my list!

These little socks were just the right complexity level for working on mindlessly while listening to the talks, and on the ride home.  By the way, I have had the WORST time trying to find a toddler sock pattern that fits my little girl's feet, and stays put.  I have finally switched over to this process to make sure those little socks are going to be able to be worn, lol!

For sizing: I measure around the widest part of their little foot; in this case I came up with 6.5 inches.  Socks feel the best when they are a little snug, so I subtract 1 inch for negative ease, which gives me 5.5 inches. Next, I check my gauge with the sock yarn/needles I want to use (normally I have a gauge of 6 st/in on size 2 needles).  After doing a little math (5.5 inches x 6 st/inch = 33 stitches) and rounding up to an even number (36 stitches) for the k2p2 ribbing that I like to use for socks, I can cast on and KNOW that someone will be able to wear these beauties :)

In this case, the someone was GOING to be little K........... but you can see how thrilled she was with the modeling session (sigh...)  Oh well :)

Favorite Homeschool Links

I'm giving a little talk to our local "Homeschool Mom's Prayer Group" on Monday on "Free (& Inexpensive) Resources on the Internet" and I thought I would share all of my hard work here as well!  This is by no means an exhaustive list.... rather, it is a collection of links and sites that I use for my own family when putting together curriculum, looking for educational games, or getting ready to make a worksheet.  I hope it is useful to you and yours as well!

Download list here

Skip Counting Freebie

     At our house, we are reviewing our skip counting by 2's and 5's... and so I made up this fun little activity for my kids. If it looks like a game... it must be fun, yes?

     I've also included a link for you to download, in case it can be of any benefit to you and yours (click on the picture to download).

Skip Counting Activity

Utter Chaos (Otherwise Entitled "Trip to the Library")

We were going to be in town today, and we are starting a unit on Hamsters (guess what the very first ever family pet is going to be?), so I diligently looked up and printed out a list of hamster books, plus a list of some magic tree house books that S has been looking for, plus a list of easy reader Hamster books. With list in hand, we arrive at said library right at opening time (all 4 kids, plus a cousin). After several trips to the restroom with aforementioned children (all parceled out, mind you, because the bathroom only holds three people, max), we are finally read to enter the inner sanctum.





We are ready.... we have "The List" of books; complete with call numbers....we have the stroller for the baby... E is hanging onto the side of the stroller.... all of the rest of the children are lined up behind us in formation....We are ready!

However, due to unforeseen circumstances, the library isles are ALMOST too small to fit the stroller through.. and by too small, I mean that the stroller will fit fine, until you meet an oversize book sticking out of a bottom shelf, and then it will stop dead. That's okay... we have "THE LIST", we are in formation....we are ready! Now E is trailing behind in line as well, because the aisles are too narrow for her to have her little hand on the stroller. We are browsing.. We are picking out the right books... We have lost brother G. We look around for brother G, and notice he now has a reference librarian in tow, and they are looking for books on Hamsters ("I asked her really politely, mom, how to find Hamster Books!!!") Unfortunately, she cannot find any books on hamsters, because they were all on "THE LIST" and are now in the bottom of the stroller. The frustrated librarian walks away, Grant rejoins the group, we look at "THE LIST" and notice that we have several additions to the bottom of the stroller, because E has put 2 and 2 together, and realized that what you do in the library is pick books at random from the shelf and place them in the bottom of the stroller ("I helping Mommy! Say Good Emma!!") Carrie casually lays "The art of Bread Baking", and "Do You Want a Puppy?" on an empty shelf, and continues her mission.

S and the cousin have begged permission to browse the children's section, G is installed at a table to browse over the prized hamster books, E is hanging onto the cart, and we are IN LINE. S and the cousin return with every Magic Tree House book they haven't read yet, plus a whole shelf of Garfield.... and we look over and give G the "SHUSH" look because he is now reading hamster facts out loud for the library's general edification "DID YOU KNOW THAT HAMSTERS CAN HAVE BABIES?!!!!!".

The two men in line behind me look horrified at our pile of books, and general amount of people, and so I graciously allow them to go first, and check out their small selection of books (they thank us profusely)... and now... we are CHECKING OUT... with THE LIST complete. However, the librarian scans the first book.. makes the "UH-OH" face, and gestures for the senior librarian. After much discussion, it is decided that I have accidentally returned a computer game case with no disk in it (Yes I know... I got the message that morning in my email). Upon reflection, they decided I cannot check out any books that day, until I return the disk. I would be happy to return, the disk... I have the disk... but the case has been returned to another library.... and that is where I am supposed to return the disk.. not here in this town. They agree with my assessment (a quick look behind me shows that the line has now grown to EIGHT PEOPLE behind me).. and we once again have to shoot G(and now S and cousin) who are now marveling together loudly about how much food a hamster can stuff in its cheeks) the SHUSH look, as they are sharing this information with people around them, because it is just SOOO COOOL!


Okay.... where were we? Oh yes... we are CHECKING OUT... and baby K (poor, patient baby K who is strapped into the stroller) is now complaining. The librarian scans the books..... and makes the "UH-OH" face once again. Apparently we have too many books checked out. How can this be? We returned all of them when we walked into the library...... but, of course, they haven't been checked in yet, and so we have too many on our account. The librarian nervously glances over my shoulder... so I do as well, and now there are FIFTEEN people in line behind me (who are being helped, one by one, by the oldest, most decrepit librarian I have ever seen.. the poor woman was overwhelmed!) She grabs the books from the check-in bin, and starts checking them in one by one (our books are of course on the bottom, because we got to the library right as it opened).


Okay.... we are CHECKING OUT... we have completed THE LIST.... the librarian stops in mid-scan... and says (I kid you not).... "What was your last name again?" I tell her... she looks horrified at the computer.. and we both realize that she has just checked out 50 books to some other random patron by accident..........(You can't make this stuff up.....) We both turn and throw a horrified look at the growing line behind me, at the ring of avidly reading little children around my cart (who have now moved onto bugs of the amazon, and are REALLY grossing out the mom behind me). We get out all of the carefully packed books I have just checked out... re-check them back in... re-check them back out (baby K is in full-voice now... I might add, and E is singing "GO TO SLEEEEEEPY LITTTLE BABY!! at a very non-sleeping volume)

BUT... the books are CHECKED OUT.. THE LIST is completed... we are all back in the car..... when a chorus of little voices comes over the backseat.... "CAN WE GO TO MCDONALDS AND PLAY ON THE TOYS?"





See you at the library next week.........