2012 Summer Reading Programs

May 22, 2012 By Leave a Comment

Keep your kids reading during the summertime with these local and national summer reading programs.

Kid’s Summer Reading Club at West Florida Public Libraries – Dream Big Read! – From June 4th to July 14th, register at any West Florida Library to participate in free games, programs and prizes. There are story times, special programs, and more.

Kid’s Summer Reading Club at Santa Rosa County Library - Dream Big Read! – Register online beginning June 1. See a video about the program. There are story times, special programs, and more.

Barnes and Noble Summer Reading – I haven’t been able to find the updated 2012 information online. I will try to stop by this week to pick up all the details. See last year’s summer reading information.

Chuck E Cheese Reading Rewards Calendar - Read every day for two weeks and get 10 free tokens. Food purchase required. This is a national program. Call our local program to check for participation.

iVillage PBS Kids Summer Reading Community Challenge - Sign up to receive daily emails beginning June 18th with literacy building tips and activities from experts at PBS Kids and Scholastic. You can also get book suggestions, discounts, free downloads of PBS shows, and a daily chance to win prizes.

Filed Under: Family Activities at Home, Things to Do, Things to do Under $5

Swimsuits for Easter

April 6, 2012 By Leave a Comment

Easter is on Sunday and if you celebrate, were you like me? I, er…I mean the Easter Bunny, was running around trying to find those last minute basket fillers without breaking the bank.

We always get each child a new swimsuit for the bunny to bring.  Even though my children are only 5 and 7, they are already wondering what kind of swimsuit the Easter Bunny will be bringing them. By the time Easter rolls around in Pensacola, we have gotten out last year’s swimsuits and worn them a few times already. We know they aren’t going to last into the summer.  Some years, we get dressed up in our new swimsuits and head out to the beach to spend Easter Sunday together building castles in the sand.

This year, each child is getting a new swimsuit, a cover-up for Little S and a rash guard for Big S, a movie, a LEGO minifigure (the new ones for 2012 have been released!), a Skylander (which is currently the favorite video game of the household). The kids love getting new items for the beach and I don’t end up buying them a bunch of junk they don’t need.

In addition to the gifts, I always add some of their favorite candies like Jolly Rancher Jelly Beans, Hershey’s Kisses, and Reese’s Peanut Butter Eggs (our favorite!). Big S gets a box of blue Peeps and Little S gets a box of pink Peeps. I always sneak a bag of Cadbury Mini-Eggs. I may or may not have already gone through more than one bag of these.

Do you have any Easter basket traditions in your family?

If you are still trying to throw together some Easter activities or recipes, stop by Hershey’s Bunny Trail.

*Thank you to Hershey’s for the lovely Easter basket with a few of our favorite candies. We have already replenished the bags of candy because they were gone practically as soon as they were delivered!

 

Filed Under: Family Activities at Home

What should you do with all that Halloween candy?

November 1, 2011 By Leave a Comment

It is November 1st so that means it is time to start talking turkey!  I am going to put away all of the Halloween decorations today.  The kids have gone through all of their candy, picked their favorites, and traded the ones that they wanted to give away.  However, between the Downtown Trick or Treat, trick or treating around the neighborhood, treats from friends, school and more, we are innundated with candy.  There is no way we could possibly eat all of this nor should we!  What do you do with your leftover Halloween candy?

Donate it to the USO Northwest Florida.  They have list of candies and other items from 2010.

Check with your children’s school.  The teachers sometimes use treats as rewards or during parties.

Take it to a dentist or orthodontist participating in the Halloween Candy Buyback Programs.  Bring your unopened candy to Shehee and Callahan (1007 Airport Blvd) from November 1 to the 4th.  Everyone who donates candy will receive a free firefly light-up toothbrush and goody bag.  Everyone who donates at least a pound of candy will earn a chance to win prizes.  The candy will be donated to the local USO and will benefit local military.

Donate to Operation Shoebox.  They will go through the candy and ship it to the troops.  According to their website, their mailing address is: Operation Shoebox; 8360 E Highway 25; Belleview, FL 34420.

Do you know of any other locations that are accepting extra Halloween candy?

 

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Summer Craft – Dinosaur in a Cave

June 8, 2011 By Leave a Comment

Big S had to read an arts and craft book for his library summer reading challenge this week.  He chose Crafts for Kids Who Are Wild about Dinosaurs by Kathy Ross.  Yesterday morning, the kids were reading the book and wanting to try a craft.  Of course, not being prepared with lots of craft supplies I chose Dinosaur in a Cave on page 31.  We modified the directions because we were missing a few supplies.  Aren’t they great dinosaur scenes?

Dinosaur in the Ocean!

Supplies:

  • construction paper in many colors
  • glue
  • scissors
  • markers or crayons

Directions:

  1. Trace your hand on construction paper.  This is the dinosaur.  The thumb is the face and the rest are the legs.
  2. Cut out your dinosaur.
  3. Glue your dinosaur on another piece of paper.
  4. Color a scene for the dinosaur.  We colored a volcano scene, a forest scene, and a water scene.  Little S drew her dinosaur in Hawaii!

Dinosaur in the sky!

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Hurricane Season Begins Today. Are You Ready?

June 1, 2011 By Leave a Comment

Today is June 1st.  Not only does it mean that school is almost over, but it also means that Hurricane Season is upon us!  It is time to replenish your hurricane supply!  Even though we haven’t had a major hurricane in awhile, we still need to be prepared just in case.  I usually purchase our hurricane supplies and when hurricane season comes and goes, we work our way through the supplies so nothing goes to waste and we don’t waste money.  Here are a few tips from one of my previous posts: 

From the Archives:  Are You Ready for Hurricane Season?

If you have small children, it is important to have them help you prepare.  This will alleviate some of the stress if a hurricane does head into the Gulf.  Here are a few links to help you prepare:

Make sure that you have all of the basic neccessities.  These include things like bottled water for a week for each person in the household, non-perishable food for every member, non electric can opener, etc.  You can find an example of a list of the things you should have here.  You might have heard the saying that the “First 72 Are On You” but do you know what that means?  It means to be prepared.  Have at least 72 hours worth of supplies.  Response to a disaster could be earlier, but you need to be ready to handle the first 72 hours on your own. 

Here are some of the things that we make sure we have outside of the necessities.  These are not must haves, but we like to have these items around.

  • paper goods
  • propane camp stove and plenty of mini propane tanks (this is good to have around when you want to do something other than grill out!)
  • battery operated fans
  • fun flashlights for each of the kids – this year we are going to let the kids pick out their own to put in the kits
  • new books and toys that can be brought out when the initial excitement of no power wears off
  • a storm radio/tv – We watched an entire marathon of Hell’s Kitchen for a week because we were able to get that one channel on our hand crank/battery operated storm radio/tv

Once you have all your supplies, as a family you can pack them up in a container or put them in a cabinet designated the Hurricane Cabinet.  Do you have any additions to this list of things that are not really necessary but make us more comfortable?  Comment below!

The Pensacola News Journal ran their annual hurricane guide this week.  If you missed it, you can find it on their site.  The guide includes preparation information, evacuation routes, recovery, and more.

Filed Under: Family Activities at Home

Planting a Garden (when you have never planted one before!)

April 11, 2011 By 4 Comments

I can’t keep plants alive.  I can’t even keep the ones alive that don’t need any loving care so when my husband suggested we start a garden this year, I laughed at him.  Even though my first reaction was to laugh, he seemed so excited about doing this together as a family, how was I to say no?  I figured that even if nothing grew, it would be a great family activity. 

How on earth do we get started?  We have never done this before so of course I turned to the Internet for help!  I did some quick research on Burpee Seeds to see what was good to plant right now and I also got some information from this post my sister wrote about planning a garden.  Two weekends ago, we loaded up the car and drove to Lowe’s and picked up a few supplies.  Here is what we left with:

  • 2 2×8′s cut in half
  • four bags of soil
  • one bag of compost
  • seed packets
  • three small plants (two strawberry and one pepper)
  • a couple of pots for flowers and herbs

When we got home, it was time to get to work!  Daddy J built the box with 2 2×8′s cut in half, making the box 4×4.  We filled the box with soil and compost.  For a 4×4 box, we used all four bags of soil and the whole bag of compost.  We probably could have used another bag of soil.  We let the kids map out the garden and plant the seeds under our supervision and with our help. 

Gardening with Kids Hint: When planning a garden with your kids, be sure to purchase a few seedlings to plant.  This will ensure that your children have some plants to keep an eye on when your seeds begin sprouting.

Make sure you take the plant out of the container it came in!

A week later, we couldn’t believe our eyes as all of our plants started to grow.  We have watched with amazement as our seeds turned into plants!  It only took about a week to get to the what is pictured below.  During that week, the kids have watered the garden and kept a close eye on it. 

Gardening with Kids Hint: Buy a couple of cheap spray bottles to fill with water.  This will make it easy for your kids to water the garden without drowning the plants.  It will also extend the amount of time they can spend watering the plants.  My children would water the plants all day if we would let them!

Our plants are doing so well that we actually need to move a few because they are so close to each other! 

We aren’t quite sure what to do next, but we will keep you updated as our garden grows!

Are you an avid gardener?  Have you been thinking about starting a garden but don’t know where to begin?  Leave us a comment with your gardening experience and advice (I need plenty of it!).

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