Super Spy Identification Cards

Well, 6 months later, I finally got around to making the spy I.D. cards for my daughter's friends that I had planned to make last year after her Super Spy Training Party.  Maren and Joshua were playing spies this morning and couldn't remember their spy names from her party, so we found the paper we had written them on, and I was feeling bad that I never made the cards (or had her write thank you notes - oops.  December is a busy month . . . )  So this morning I went a little crazy and made cards for all the partygoers.

Do you ever get a picture in your head of what something should look like and then spend way too long trying to get it to look just right?  Yeah.  That's what happened to me.  I generally try not to spend a lot of time on things that might be going in the trash after a short while, but I just couldn't help myself.  I couldn't find anything online that looked like what I wanted and so I had to invent it myself, and it took way too long.  I used a business card template on Pages and modified it to fit my needs.  I found images of a barcode and fingerprint on the web and used them to make it look a bit more official.

The front of the card has the agents real name, code name, and Super Spy Strength.  Maren had fun coming up with spy strengths for her friends.  Some Spy Strengths she thought of were laser beam avoidance, disguise design, voice disguise specialist,  silent sneaking, and equipment specialist.  The back says: Agent has been trained at the Super Spy Advanced Training Camp, November 2010.  This license authorizes agent in all covert operations.  Agent's ID is to be kept secret at all times.  Use code name in all communications.  I ran the cards through the laminator.

My kids really like theirs, and hopefully they'll keep them for awhile, because I'll be mad if they don't.

update 10/2012:

I've had several requests for the template for these. I made these cards in Pages, but have tried to converting it to Word so it's easier to share.  I'm not sure how well this will work, but if you want a copy to edit, try clicking here for the front and here for the back.

Table Manners

My kids have awful table manners.  It's probably my fault, because sometimes I can't help but laugh when they're being silly, but it has gotten pretty bad.  They often are so silly that things get knocked over and there is a big mess on the floor afterward.  We decided we had better start training them better so they can find spouses someday.

To help encourage a change in behavior, we made a sticker chart.  I love sticker charts.  We might have a few too many sticker charts, but I think they really help kids see progress and stick to goals.  For each child we have a page with 96 squares on it.  When they fill up the sticker chart, showing they have good manners, they will get to go out to dinner with mom and dad.

At every meal, I put 2 stickers in front of each child.  When they have bad manners, I take a sticker away.  If they've lost both stickers and still have bad manners, they get asked to leave the table and sent to their room.  If it's dinner and I'm exhausted, they might get sent to bed also.  When they're done eating their meal, they clear their dishes and put their stickers on the chart.  If they forget this last step and leave the table without putting up their stickers, I just put them back with the other stickers and they don't get to put them on their chart.

I also put up a list of manners we are focusing on, and a list of things we don't do at the table, since they seem to respond to "don't touch anyone" more than "keep your hands to yourself".  Sometimes I just have to give up positivity for results.  We keep adding things to the "don't" side, and may need to add some paper there at the bottom.  The kids like adding things to our list of "don'ts" and think it's funny.  Our rules are more strict right now than I would like to be, but until they have the basics of manners down, there's no room for leniency.  I especially struggle with the "no singing at the table" rule, since I'm a fan of spontaneous singing, so we may revoke that one in the future.  Also on the don't side are things like judge others manners, wave utensils around in the air, burp loudly, complain, and lick the table.  Don't they sound like pleasant eaters?  Don't you want to invite us over for dinner?

You can probably tell from the picture which one of my children I struggle with the most.  One night Joshua started acting up right after the prayer, making burping noises as loud as he could.  I didn't want to have him leave the table since he hadn't even had a bite to eat yet, but he wouldn't stop after he had lost both stickers, so he got sent to his room and he was done.  As he was walking away from the table, my 4 year old asked if he could be done too, and I told him he needed to eat more first.  Joshua leaned over to him as he passed by and whispered "Just pretend to burp a lot and you get to leave".  So, yeah, the plan is flawed, but it has also been helping a lot.  That night I gave Maren dessert just to make Joshua realize there are benefits to eating your dinner.

Keeping the Toddler Busy

Dinner preparation time is the hardest time of the day around here.  The kids are tired and hungry and my well of patience is dry.  Nathan (20 months) is especially whiny and clingy at this time and I need something to keep him off my leg while I'm trying to get dinner together.  Usually, he gets put in the pack 'n' play and I just have to ignore the screaming.  But sometimes I feel like being a better mom and I let him play with the pom-poms, measuring cups, spoons, and some pans right by me in the kitchen so I can keep an eye on him.  He loves it.  Sometimes the pom-poms are scattered everywhere and take a while to pick up, which is why he doesn't get to do this every day, and doing it every day would make it less exciting to him.  He loves scooping the pom-poms into the muffin tins and pouring them back into the bowl.  It gives me at least 30 free minutes to make dinner.

aren't those curls cute?
so sad I had to cut them

I remember when I just had one baby to occupy my time, and I got to spend many hours playing with my baby, and reading books to my baby, and sitting in the baby's room reading a book to myself while watching my baby play by herself on the floor. Those were the good old days.  These days I am way to distracted to watch my baby at all times, unfortunately, and all too often I realize too late that he has run off and is getting into mischief, such as:

drawing on the floor and walls

throwing things in the trash (toys, shoes, plates, etc  . . )

eating things out of the trash
(he enjoyed the coffee flavored chocolate I threw away)

playing the piano

stacking cans in the pantry

having a tea party with Maren's "American Girl" dolls

and many more prohibited activities (think climbing up on things too high and too precariously balanced for me to think of anything but getting him down safely, hence no pictures).  

I will miss having a baby/toddler around when he grows up, since he is my last baby, but I will not miss having to constantly keep an eye on him.

What We're Reading

It's Children's Book Week this week, and I've been really wanting to do some fun book activities with the kids, but we've been sick and busy with other things.  However, we did go to the bookstore on Monday and pick out a new book for each child, so that was fun. And we've been reading reading reading.  I thought I would share what my kids have been reading, because I like to see what other kids are reading and get ideas for my kids, and thought maybe you would to.  So here goes:


Maren (age 8):


"The Boys Start the War" by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor - This is the book Maren chose from the bookstore, and I made sure she understood that while it was funny to read about the pranks they pulled in the book, it was definitely not okay to do any to her brothers.  She loved this book and looks forward to reading the sequels.  


"The Sisters 8" by Lauren Baratz-Logsted - this is a new series she thinks is really fun.  7 books are currently published. 


"The Candy Shop War" by Brandon Mull - she loved this and keeps telling me to read it.  If only I had time. 


Joshua (age 6):


"Unicorns Don't Give Sleigh Rides (adventures of the Bailey School Kids)" by Debbie Dadey - This was the book he chose. I don't know if he's actually read it yet.  


"The Great Ice Battle (Secrets of Droon)" by Tony Abbot 


Christopher (age 4):


"The Night Pirates" by Peter Harris - You know how kids get obsessed with a certain book occasionally and want it over and over and over again.  Yup.  We've been reading this one a lot. 


"Gallop" by Rufus Butler Seder - His book from the bookstore. 


Nathan (age 20 months)
Nathan is actually very picky about what books we read to him, and will push the book away and say "no" until we pull out the one he wants.  These are the books we can usually count on him not pushing away.


"That's Not My Train" by Fiona Watt


"Hush Little Baby" by Sylvia Long


"Ready Set Go! by Nina Laden - He loves this one and says "Go!  Go!" over and over again


"Colors (slide 'n' seek)" by Chuck Murphy

Teacher Thank You Gift 2011

I'm not really a cheesy person.  Not usually.  But for some reason, I always feel like I have to do something cutesy for teacher appreciation gifts.  Maybe it's because they're rather small gifts, and somehow the "cuteness" factor makes it seem like a better gift.  Or maybe I'm just giving in to peer pressure to be corny,  looking at all the other ideas around the blogging world.  For whatever reason, this is what I've come up with for this year.  (And if you're one of Christopher's preschool teachers, act surprised when he hands them out next week)

Since we had many teachers we wanted to give them away too, I tried to think of something that was not too expensive but I would have enjoyed getting if I were a teacher. (Even though we homeschool, Christopher still has like 8 teachers at preschool, and then we have all those music teachers and such we'd like to say thankyou to.)  So I chose one of my most favoritest candies, Sunkist Fruit Gems.  Have you ever had these before? I love them.   Plus, they have 25% of your daily vitamin C needs in just one fruit gem, so they're pretty much health food, right?  I bought the individually wrapped ones in a 2 lb. bag from Amazon. There were about 90 of them in the bag.

I tried to think of a cheesy saying to go with them, and this is what I came up with. "Thanks for a fruitful year. You are a gem." Unless the teachers know they are called fruit gems, they might not get that last part, but oh well.  They're teachers. They're smart. They'll figure it out.

Other fruit sayings you could use might include:
"You are a grape teacher! Thanks a bunch!"
"Thank you berry much!"
"You and teaching make a great pear!"
"Orange you glad the year is over and you can pass me off to another teacher?"

As you can see, there are so many possibilities.  I put about 7 candies in a bag, made a paper treat holder, and added a tag at the top.  I made the tag using some clipart I bought online.  I googled "cute fruit clipart" and found some for $1.00 on a website called lilly bimble.  I thought it was worth it since I would've spent more on ribbon or stickers.  I try to use up old scrapbook paper for projects such as this (I gave scrapbooking up years ago) so I used whatever green paper I had around.  I'm sure you crafty people out there could make a much cuter package.

So there you go.  Cheesy teacher gifts.

Teacher Gifts from Last Year

And More Teacher Gift Ideas

Paper Treat Holders with Window

These are really easy treat holders to make if you want to give out something a little fancier than a plastic bag. 

First, I cut 12x12 pieces of cardstock into three 4x12 pieces.  Next, to mark where I needed to fold the paper, I gently scored the paper with my paper cutter, being careful to must make a light line and not cut too far through.  You could also just mark with a pencil.

Make one line at 4 1/2 inches

Another at 6 inches

Flip it around and make one at the other end at 1 1/2 inches

Fold along the lines

I used a square punch from stampin' up to make the window.
Punch a square on the 4 1/2 inch side

Flip it around and punch another one from the other side
to make a rectangular window

Fill a bag with treats.  I used Wilton treat bags that are 4 inches wide, but you could
also just use a sandwich bag, folding and taping in the sides 

Fold the paper around the bag and staple
(You could also punch holes and tie with a cute ribbon

Add whatever tag or embellishments you like.
Sometimes I add a cut out at the bottom by the window and that looks cute too.  

Our trip to Albania

My parents have been serving as missionaries for our church in Albania for almost 3 years now, and they invited us to come visit them before they come home in July. We decided to take just our oldest two kiddos with us, thinking they would travel the best.  We had a great time, and I thought I'd share some things we learned on our trip.

Playing Angry Birds in the Vienna Airport

 iPads are the traveling parent's best friend.  Seriously.  Didn't really need to pack anything else for the trip.  Books, movies, games - the iPad has it all. Well, except for candy.  

Moooooove it cows!

There are many hazards to watch out for on Albanian roads, which are usually windy and bumpy outside the city.  Many people don’t feel traffic laws apply to them, and pedestrians walk across whenever they like.  Other road distractions include missing man-hole covers, donkeys pulling carts, sheep, goats, cows, animals being slaughtered along the side of the road, and men relieving themselves. 

Most toilets in Albania are of the Turkish variety.  I don’t know how the ladies do it.  We were very careful to not drink too much water on long trips and would search hotels and gas stations for usable toilets.  Jason took this picture after Maren had to use one because she could not wait any longer.  Jason thought it was funny.  Maren was mortified.  

Maren with a few of her admirers

Albanians love children.  Maren and Joshua received many pats on the head, and pinches and kisses on the cheeks, as well as free cookies and candy bars.  Albanians also love foreigners.  We were well treated wherever we went.  Once while playing at a little park, Maren was surrounded by a bunch of 7th graders who wanted to practice their english by talking with her.  Afterwards, they all wanted to take a picture with her.  I think Maren was a bit embarrassed, but ultimately enjoyed the attention.  

starting a new trend or just too tired to notice?

Jet lag is hard to deal with on such a short trip.  Maren got up one morning and apparently was too tired to pay attention while dressing.  On the way back, Joshua could not stay awake and fell asleep instantly wherever we were - baggage claim, shuttle bus, etc. . .

Other than perhaps the rosemary potatoes, traditional Albanian fare is probably not worth trying.  Jason felt adventurous and tried the Tavë dheu, which he later found out was some type of liver dish.  Not very good.  

Treasure is in the eye of the beholder.  In addition to the pockets full of rocks that the kids would bring back to the misssion home after each excursion, they also found other keepsakes to remind them of their trip.  I like looking at Maren’s collection, which includes a rock from “blue eye” natural spring, a snail shell, a doily from underneath the hot chocolate we had at the french cafe in Tirana, a tiny plastic fork from their copycat mcdonald’s (they don’t like eating french fries with their hands), hollow eggs they decorated with grandma, an expandable straw from a juice box which she thought was really cool, a mosaic rock from Butrint, and some albanian money (lek).  

castle at gjirokastra

There are a lot of ruins in Albania which are very neat to tour around.  The kids really enjoyed it. Unfortunately, the ruins are not protected and there is a lot of trash everywhere.  Also, they aren’t quite safe.  There is nothing to prevent you from climbing up walls or hanging out windows over steep cliffs.  But since there aren’t people around making sure you stay on a prescribed path, you can do lots of exploring.  Grandma and Grandpa happened to have flashlights in the car, and so the kids had fun going through dark tunnels and investigating hidden rooms and wondering what they used to be used for so long ago.  I tried my best to not to worry to much but I did get nervous several times.

NOT FUNNY MAREN!!

And in case you are interested, here are some more pictures from the trip, in no particular order, and without adequate descriptions. 

Maren, with Greece in the background

at the "Mother Albania" monument, where the prayer to
dedicate the country for missionary work was given

It's hard to see, but Maren is performing on the stage for us
at Butrint, which was such an amazing place, full of history.  I wish we had
read more about it before we went there.  

There are hundreds of thousands of these bunkers in Albania

Albania Fried Chicken. Who knew?

13th century Byzantine church in the citadel at Berat

exploring the castle at gjirokastra, where the last paragraph in the guidebook says
"visitors are warned that entering the castle is at their own risk" and warns
to beware of "many dark passages, loose stones, and sheer cliffs."
Maybe they should put that at the front of the guidebook.
I'm glad we didn't take the toddler.