Pennies from Heaven.....Do you believe??

Pennies from Heaven.....Do you believe??

I don’t know about you, but I always read the pennies from heaven stories in the Dear Abby columns, and think really? It must just be a coincidence that these pennies just appear and people are grasping for meaning. The other day was no exception. There was yet another pennies from heaven letter. After I closed the paper I thought…I just can’t believe angels would leave pennies for people to find.  Wouldn't they show a more meaningful sign? Then I went on with the rest of my day.

After the kids were tucked in bed that night I went to the kitchen for a glass of water before I put on my favorite TV show. On my way to the living room I saw a penny on the kitchen table. I thought it was funny seeing as how I had cleaned the table after dinner, but I figured the kids must have put it there at some point, so I picked it up went to the living room and placed it in our giant Pepsi jar bank that we are currently saving for our trip to Disney. (I had to think of something clever to get the kids to stop asking me WHEN we were going to Disney, so we told them when they filled up the jar they could go, evil I know).  

Later that night I got back up to head to the kitchen. On my way back I noticed a penny in the exact same spot the last one was in. I know there was only one penny there the first time I was sure of it. Never the less I picked it up, shrugged it off and went back to the living room.

The next morning I was getting ready for work and picked up my day planner to see what was going to be going on in the next few days. My day planner is my LIFELINE because my memory is GONE! I write every event, practice, school function down or else I would never make it anywhere. The day planner has NEVER been used to store money. As I opened it up a penny fell out on my lap. I finally decided something had to be going on. So I immediately looked straight up and said…

“Ok, I might believe in pennies from heaven now, but I defiantly don’t believe in $100 bills from heaven”

Unfortunately my mind tricks have not worked on these smart angels and I have no $100 bills yet… it was worth a try though lol

So I guess now I kind of believe in pennies from heaven, but I wish I knew who was sending them. Or maybe I have 3 someone’s, either way it gives me something to think about. I guess I now realize all signs from God don't have to be outlandish and crazy, the little things are just as important, maybe even more so.

Do you have a pennies from heaven story?

For those of you who don’t know the lore: They say when an angel misses you, they toss a penny down from heaven.

 

Homemade Gak Slime

I found this recipe online on how to make homemade gak slime! - Yes it's easier to buy it but a lot more fun to make it!

Materials:

Elmer’s Glue® (8 oz bottle of Elmer’s Glue-All)

Borax (a powdered soap found in the grocery store)

Large mixing bowl

Plastic cup (8 oz size)

Spoon

Measuring cup

Food coloring

Water

Zipper-lock bag (or plastic container) to store it in

Warm Water

This recipe is based on using a brand new 8 oz bottle of Elmer’s Glue. Empty the entire bottle of glue into a mixing bowl. Fill the empty bottle with warm water and shake. Pour the glue-water mixture into the mixing bowl and use the spoon to mix well.

Add a drop or two of food coloring.

Measure 1/2 cup of warm water into the plastic cup and add a teaspoon of Borax powder to the water. Stir the solution – don’t worry if all of the powder dissolves. This Borax solution is the secret linking agent that causes the Elmer’s Glue molecules to turn into slime.

While stirring the glue in the mixing bowl, slowly add a little of the Borax solution. Immediately you’ll feel the long strands of molecules starting to connect. Keep adding the Borax solution to the glue mixture (don’t stop mixing) until you get a perfect batch of gak. You probably wont use all the borax solution unless you want really stiff gak.

When you’re finished playing with your gak, seal it up in a zipper-lock bag or plastic container.

Playdough Geography

You can find the pdf of this project at:
http://www.hasbro.com/playdoh/en_US/discover/teachers/pdf/7F53D612-D56F-E112-497CE221E79B18F7.pdf?soc=fbk_doh_pds_0412_007

Purpose: Students are introduced to the term
continent. Students learn the names and locations of the seven
continents.

Objectives:
• Students learn the term continent.
• Students name and locate the seven continents.
• Students identify the continent they live on.
• Students use PLAY-DOH compound for a “hands-on”
activity to form the shapes of the continents in the location they belong.

Curriculum Areas:
•
Social Studies
•
Geography
•
Visual Arts
•
Mapping Skills
•
Math
•
Continents
·
Science
·
Language Arts
·
Fine Arts

Grade Levels
•
Pre K
•
K
•
1
•
2
•

Supplies Needed:
• PLAY-DOH compound (seven colors, enough for each
student to form continents)
• Large map of the continents (can be found at mapsofworld.com
website)
• Student copy of a map outline of the continents
Directions:
1.
Using the large map, show students the continents.
Point to each continent and have the students count them. Tell them that the
lands of the world are divided into 7 continents. Have them repeat each
continent’s name after you as you point to the continent.

2.
Point to
North America (or your continent) and tell the students that we live on the
continent of North America. Ask: “What continent do we live on?”

3.
Pass out the continent map outline. Explain that
the students will be getting a different color of PLAY-DOH compound for each
continent and they will mold the PLAY-DOH compound to the shape of the
continent. You may need to model this.

4.
Pass out the PLAY-DOH color for North America.
Have all students shape their PLAY-DOH compound on the North American outline.
Ask: “What continent do we live on?”

5.
Next, pass out PLAY-DOH compound for each of the
other continents; one at a time so that you can say the name and help the
students recognize each continent. Then have students mold the PLAY-DOH
compound onto each continent.

6.
Give each
student a bit of PLAY-DOH compound to make a small boat. Tell them that they
are going to cruise around the continents and say each name as the cruise by.

7.
Close the
lesson by having the students pretend with their boat to cruise the ocean to
each continent they molded and say the continent’s name. Review each day.

Extensions:
• Sing a song using a familiar tune that includes all of
the names of the continents. Point to the continents as you sing.

• Search the web for facts and pictures of each
continent.

Moon Phases - Fun with the kids

Science is Yummy Mom!

I found this awesome project on pinterest. Teach Moon phases with Oreo Cookies! I thought I would take it a step farther and teach them the definitions of the moon phases and also look up what the moon was doing right now!

#1 - Oreo Cookies (use Popsicle stick or butter knife to scrape off the frosting. (Of course we let the kids & mommy eat it) ;)

#2 - Found a cute Moon Phases Worksheet at(http://ww

w.education.com/worksheet/article/learning-moon-phases/)

We colored the sun to show how it lights up the moon depending on what stage the moon is in. It helped them to better match the oreos to the phases. If you want to expl

ain the phases of the moon her are their definitions.

New Moon - The side of the moon facing the Earth is not illuminated. Additionally, the moon is up throughout the day, and down throughout the night. For these reasons we cannot see the moon during this phase.

Waxing Crescent/Crescent - During this phase, part of the Moon is beginning to show. This lunar sliver can be seen each evening for a few minutes just after sunset. We say that the Moon is "waxing" because each night a little bit more is visible for a little bit longer.

First Quarter/Half During first quarter, 1/2 of the moon is visible for the
first half of the evening, and then goes down, leaving the sky very dark.

Waxing Gibbous/Three Quarters - When most of the Moon is visible we say it is a Gibbous Moon. Observers can see all but a little sliver of the moon. During this phase, the Moon remains in the sky most of the night.

Full Moon - When we can observe the entire face of the moon, we call it a Full Moon. A full moon will rise just as the evening begins, and will set about the time morning is ushered in.


Waning Gibbous/Three Quarters - Like the Waxing Gibbous Moon, during this phase, we can see all but a sliver of the Moon. The difference is that instead of seeing more of the Moon each night, we begin to see less and less of the Moon each night. This is what the word "waning" means.


Last Quarter/Half - During a Last Quarter Moon we can see exactly 1/2 of the Moon's lighted surface.

Waning Crescent/Crescent - Finally, during a Waning Crescent Moon, observers on Earth can only see a small sliver of the Moon, and only just before morning. Each night less of the Moon is visible for less time.

#3 After we had fun "learning" we looked up how the moon is suppose to look tonight.

(www.moonconnection.com)

#4 - And the best part is after we got to eat our "Moon Oreos" with some Milky Way Juice (aka Vanilla Almond Milk)

Three Day Trip to Boston

Day One 5-21-09





We left Malone around 9:30 am. It was a very long car ride and after driving around Boston for a half hour we finally found our hotel, http://www.hotel140.com/ . We got to the hotel, got checked in and went to our room. Only to discover that they gave us only one double bed. Stef, Scott and I were not about to sleep on top of each other so I went back down and inquired. They told us the rooms were all sold out and that the company that booked our trip was suppose to tell us there was only one double bed room available for us. At first they told us there was no roll away, then came back and said they had one left. They said they wouldn't charge us for it... we'll see when we check out. It's an ok hotel. Its really close to Boston Commons. We've all decided that the city isn't as loud as we had thought it might be. We ordered in pizza tonight. After the long drive and getting lost for a while we decided it would be better to get a good nights sleep before we ventured out to see the city.





Day Two 5-22-09





So this morning was our first full day in Boston after arriving last night. We got up around 7 am, you'd think we would have slept in, but being use to getting up for work and with the kids we just couldn't seem to sleep in. Anyways we headed out of the Hotel around 8:45 am. The Old Town Trolley Tours http://www.trolleytours.com/ , didn't start running until 9am. We started off at the Trinity Church. It was beautiful!! It defiantly wasn't worth $6 each to get in though. You got to see just the church, and there was no guided tour, no oral history about it. Basically you just pay them to walk in. If I would have known that I would have went to Mass, because at Mass times it is free to get in of course lol.





Then we headed to our trolley stop, or at least we tried. We ended up walking around Boston for an hour and a half. The trolley company was great, I have absolutely no complaints about them except for the fact that since we bought the tickets in advance online (better price) we didn't' have a updated map. And the one we downloaded was hard to read. So we finally found our way to the trolley tour store and got on. That's when the fun started. We ended up going to the New England Aquarium http://www.neaq.org/ , which is when I really started missing the kids. I knew Luke would have loved all of the animals. My favorite of course were the sea turtles.





We also say the outside of the original Cheers. We visited the State House, Old North Church, Fenway Park and Paul Reveres House http://www.paulreverehouse.org/. We learned that Samuel Adams beer doesn't have a picture of Sam Adams on it but Paul Revere, they told us it was because Sam Adams was so ugly, lol but I'm not sure of the real reason. I also learned that Paul Revere had two wives, and had eight children with each. At anyone time there was no more than 5-9 kids in the house. This house was so small I couldn't imagine a family of four wouldn't feel cramped there. I know people were smaller back then but they weren't dwarfs.





We had lunch at the Aquarium overlooking the water. I was the only one that had chowder! I don't know how anyone could go to Boston and not have chowder. What a bunch of weirdo's they are!! Can't wait to get out and see the town again tomorrow, and tomorrow night we get to see Uncle Benny!!!





Day Three 5-23-09



Today we visited the USS Constitution. It was an amazing ship. I defiantly would recommend that you check it out if you ever come to Boston. http://www.ussconstitutionmuseum.org/ . I wish Scott's Grandfather had been around, even though he was in the Army and not the Navy I'm pretty sure he would have enjoyed the tour. I'm not a big war buff but I really loved hearing the history of the ship.



We headed to the Old State House as well today. Not as impressed with that. There is no ventilation in the building and so it was extremely stuff and smelled. Stef toured it, but Scott and I opted out.



We had lunch at the Boston Hard Rock Cafe. We had an awesome waiter and as always the food was excellent. That makes only a total of three Hard Rocks I've visited, Orlando, New Orleans, and Boston. Any suggestions on which one we should hit up next?



We went into Cheers although we didn't have anything to eat. Very cramped in there, we visited the gift shop. Then headed over the the Prudential Center Mall. I finally found the Yankee Candles I have been waiting for since College. They brought back Vineyard!! The best scented candle ever!! I was so excited I had to buy some. Wasn't in the budget but oh well!!



We went to dinner with my friend Ben who lives down here. We went The Cheesecake Factory! It was a great meal, and it was great catching up with him, wish he didn't live so far away like a lot of my friends, but all in all it was a great trip. Although I will be glad to get home and see my babies!!

Dove # 2.. and Random Life Stuff

So it's been just over two weeks since I've tried the Dove Antiperspirant. So far it is working great! My arms feel amazingly smooth! I defiantly recommend it.

In other news we are heading to Boston this weekend without the kiddies. It will be our first vacation without them. They probably won't even miss us since Grandma & Papa spoil them rotten all the time. But I know I'll miss them. We desperately need a vacation even if it is just a long weekend.

Not much else going on around here. Hope everyone has a wonderful Memorial Day Weekend!!

Dove

So not much new going on with the family. We saw Xmen - Wolverine this weekend. It was really good. I hate how they leave it wide open at the end, but of course that's what they always do with movies like that.

So this weekend Dove sent me a free sample of their new Dove Visibly Smooth anti-perspirant. They claim in a matter of weeks you will notice that your underarms are smoother and hair will be less visible. I've been using it for three days so far. I can defiantly feel the smoothness, but I will give it a few more weeks to see and give it a full review. If anyone wants to try it they sent me a stack of a $2.00 off coupons. Let me know and I'll send you some.

Tomorrow is Cinco De Mayo. One of my favorite "holidays". Of course we are having a Taco feast! I could live on Taco's. :)

Guess that's all that's new for now. Check back soon...