Lego Rock Band November 16, 2009

We played Lego Rock Band for a little bit at a birthday party on Saturday. It seemed worth getting. Unlike “Guitar Hero” and earlier versions of “Rock Band”, this version has a “Super Easy” level. As far as singing is concerned, this means that you can get 100% pretty easily just by making noise at approximately the right times…no pitch or perfect timing necessary. For drums and guitar, the timing counts, but not what color you hit.

The result? Both kids love it and can play. There is no getting boo’d off the stage.
And… ummmm… it’s Lego

My son is pretty much monopolizing the microphone…

G-Ro November 15, 2009

After making a change purse out of corduroy for a friend’s birthday, I found myself really liking working with that fabric. I had been promising my son a similar one and started doodling some new designs. I had seen wallets with zipper mouths before and thought I would try for a monster. My son decided on all of the features and their colors and my daughter generously donated her old purple pants for the fabric.

Meet G-Ro!
He is big enough to hold a Pokemon deck and has a pocket in the back to hold damage counters and coins. He has rings in his hands to add a handle or a strap.

Playground Fun November 13, 2009

We went to the Community Center for the homeschool swim with a bunch of other families today. My kids were a bit too cold to stay in the water long and I thought the day might be a bust, but when we walked outside the weather was beautiful. The kids decided they wanted to play at the playground and the other families joined us. We wound up staying until dinnertime…

Toys and Games November 12, 2009

Having people over on Fridays has been good for my housekeeping skills
It has also reminded me to start rotating our toys a bit more to bring out stuff for the kids to play with.

Gears.
My daughter made a tall box first and then took it apart to build a music player with different songs located on the tips of each gear. That, of course, led to her singing and dancing My son built a multi-level gear contraption. The lower level gears all connected and turned.

Tinker Toys came back.

2 Magnetic Playsets.
One has an outerspace theme and the other is just random bits of metal to build with.

Legos got to stay!

On the computer, my son played Crayon Physics Deluxe.

The Pool is Open! November 10, 2009

What does that mean for us?

It means that our homeschool swim is back on! And the kids’ swim lessons! And I am taking water aerobics Yay for our community center!

On Friday, 3 other families joined us for the homeschool swim and playing before and after at our house.

On Saturday, swim lessons:

Mondays and Wednesdays are water aerobics. I have gone twice now and love it. The kids came the last time and swam with J. while I was in class.

Ollie’s and Bookmarks November 9, 2009

My daughter went with me to Sam’s Club the other night because we are now the proud owners of a full size freezer in the garage (and that of course means- we can buy in bulk!). On the way to Sam’s Club, however, I was tempted by the Ollie’s next door. I have only been in there once before on the advice of my MIL and SIL. It is fantastic for books!

My daughter and I found a bunch of new books and a neat paper doll set for her. For my son, we found a new Garfield book.

He loves it! He loves books in general now. He has been reading like crazy and reading longer books which allow him to use a bookmark when he stops to save his place. He has been using one his cousins made for him at Christmas.

My daughter has taken notice of how much he likes it and decided she would make bookmarks for some of our friends. For some reason she has decided she must make Christmas present this week and is all over coming up with ideas.

She started off with three bookmarks and gave them to me to laminate. Unfortunately, I didn’t realize that I had left magnetic backing in the machine, so we now have three magnetic bookmarks, LOL!

She went on to make many more including a giant squid for her brother who wanted his magnetic as well and a bunch of others which got plain plastic coatings…

A special one for me:

Some for a friend who loves weapons:

Here is the paper doll set she got. Instead of tabs for the clothing, they are actually made of vinyl clings (like Colorforms). Hers is a Holly Hobby set.

Blocks and More Blocks and Marble Runs November 8, 2009

We have been getting out the unit blocks more often lately as we have had younger kids over and it is one of the things I think are pretty child-proof in our house full of marbles and Legos, LOL.

This week, we added our “Sac Noir” blocks to them to build even more fun stuff.

Here is a house my daughter built.

My son built with them and his Lego creations:

We have also had out the marble runs this week. My son has enjoyed building really tall structures as have some of his friends.

Another Spikey Ball November 3, 2009

The first spikey ball I made has been a kid toy in our house since I finished it about a month ago. When friends come over, they have been enjoying it too. Off-hand, one off my friends mentioned she would like it if I could make one for her son who happens to be having a birthday in 2 weeks. I like it when I know what to make. It is so much easier than searching patterns and trying to pick colors! So I jumped on it and decided to make one for him with a variegated yarn from my stash.

This time, I followed the directions for connecting the spikes as I worked (instead of the insane method I made up last time of stitching them together after). I also made the spikes a bit smaller by taking out three rounds of the pattern. I worked the spikes in spirals to avoid the seam line from joining as well.

Here is my new spikey ball:

Lego November 2, 2009

Need I say more?
The kids got to work first thing in the morning building the big sets…

Updated with further pictures
The Republic Cruiser:

With the top up:

The AT-TE:

Birthday Party at our Place November 1, 2009

We had family over for my son’s birthday party today. He had a fantastic time and really enjoyed seeing everyone It was especially nice to have his cousins over again. It has been too long!

I think everyone loved the cake my MIL made- a triple layer cake with whipped chocolate frosting.

My MIL brought my daughter some bat feely-boppers, which were super cool because they matched her bat costume (black and purple).

Home Again October 31, 2009

When we got home tonight, my son put together both of the new Lego sets he got and then moved on to the new DS game. My daughter sorted candy, LOL…

Trick or Treat October 31, 2009

Our friends hooked us up for trick or treating in their neighborhood and also hosted a birthday party for my son tonight. My son was thrilled to see everyone and had a great time begging for candy!

Here are some pictures:

My Son is 8! October 31, 2009

My, how time flies…

He loves, loves , loves having his birthday also be Halloween

Last night he got an early present from his sister- 2 African Water Frogs with special gravel, bamboo, and rocks for their habitat. She picked out the purple gravel because it is his favorite color.

Today he woke up to presents from J. and I which included the Lego set he has been asking about for months, some Pokemon cards, “Jabba’s Math Game Galaxy” for the PC, and “Sugar” from my last post.

The kids immediately set to work on the Lego set and then took a break for awhile to decorate cupcakes.

Meet Sugar October 30, 2009

She is the new stufftie I made for my son. He has been asking for a new stuffed animal for his birthday. After half-making a squirrel, then a gnome, I decided on making the cat from a really cute book a friend got me for my birthday.

I left off the whiskers and think she looks pretty good the way she is…

Swimming Fail October 30, 2009

Swimming at our local pool was supposed to start back up today, but unfortunately when we showed up we learned that the pool’s heater had just broken and been repaired and the pool was only up to about 70 degrees. The other famillies agreed to play at our house instead. Thankfully, the weather cooperated with us and we were able to go on a walk, play on the climbing dome, jump in a leaf pile, and other stuff. I didn’t get any pictures from the walk, but the girls got to explore one of the city’s excavators, sitting inside the cab and inside the shovel.

Back at the house, my daughter brewed potions with a new friend.

Favorite Things October 29, 2009

My son was asking me what my favorite Pokemon were tonight. When I started to tell him, he said “Hold On, I am going to make a list” and ran to his room. Then he asked me for a notebook so he could take notes. He wrote very carefully. Then my daughter came in and he made a list of her favorite things- me, J., her brother, Tom, and “bed” because he didn’t have much space left on the line and needed a short word, LOL.

She decided to jump in on the favorites stuff too and made pictures and cards for the rest of us. Here is my pile full of love. Everything came in a big envelope that she wrote our phone number on, so I have covered that bit up.

Monkeys and Bananas October 28, 2009

My daughter really wanted to make a new game tonight based on a tiny monkey figurine inside a plastic ball (from a toy vending machine). She decided that bananas should be used for scoring points, dice would be used for moving, and cards would be used for some tricky banana stealing action. J. helped her make the cards and she figured out the rest. When she was ready, we played. I won by 2 bananas!

More Outside Play and a Temporary Pet October 28, 2009

The kids have been continuing to enjoy the nice bits of weather and have also decided on another temporary pet, a grasshopper that we found while raking leaves.

His name is Grassy.

Updated to add: We let Grassy go a few days later into a pile of brush on the driveway. Apparently he told my daughter that he would be safe there for the winter.

More TMBG October 27, 2009

My son picked out “The Greedy Triangle ” for one of our books before bed last night. It is a cute book about a triangle who is dissatisfied with his role in the world and keeps asking for more sides and angles. The book is good by itself, but last night it led me to singing about “Triangle Man” and then searching for this song from my past…

We went to bed singing and making up our versions like “Dad Man” and “Toilet Man”. Good Times

Today, we will be searching out videos for their greatest hits.

As a side note- I originally picked up “The Greedy Triangle” after checking out a bunch of “living math” books listed on a great website, LivingMath.net, where storybooks are listed and linked to the math topics they cover.

Kratt’s Creatures October 27, 2009

The kids loved the Kratt’s Creatures game so much last night that I needed to make a second login so they could play at the same time!

The game is pretty cool. You get to search for different animals all around the world and learn about their habitats too. You can answer quiz questions and try out various skills (like echolocation) to earn video clips about the animals. You are also on a mission to match up certain clues with the animals they relate to in categories like eggs, skulls, sounds, babies, markings, and tracks.

I was amazed at how easily my son knew which animals all the skulls belonged to. What I thought was a crocodile jaw, he recognized immediately as a dolphin’s. He also pointed out the rodent skulls, which he figured out from our owl pellet lab. The chimp skull he said looked almost like a human skull. The squat skull looked like a wombat’s.

Both kids knew a bunch about the other categories as well. I liked the way the game tied things together. They knew the largest egg belonged to an ostrich and also knew they had to look in Africa to find it. They found the baby koala’s mom and headed right to Australia. The anaconda was an easy trip to S. America.

The game also has a place to hear jokes and view new videos about animals, as well as a place to try out your own video editing with their clips, screen frames, and more.