Snaggle Doodles

Author: Nina /

Our neighborhood has a summer book club for kids. Today was the first time they met after having read the book Snaggle Doodles. We met at the clubhouse and the kids talked about the book for a bit. The book was about a group of kids who invent something, so the mom who runs the bookclub brought a bunch of stuff/trash and the kids worked together to make their own invention. After they were done, there was a drawing to see who got to keep it and Liam won. Once he got it home he made a few adjustments and added a bit more tape to keep everything in place. And in case you are wondering...it's a robot.

Bebopping to Amazing Grace

Author: Nina /

Two weeks ago the boys had Vacation Bible School. Colm loved it. This was his first year and he was so excited to do something the "big kids" get to do. Not only that, but one of his buddies was in the same class.

Jedi Camp

Author: Nina /

If you have a boy that is over the age of four and they have any interest at all in swinging lightsabers or fighting (that was a joke, all boys that age fit that description) you NEED to send them to Jedi Camp. I will admit that I was a little worried that it was going to be mayhem and it would just be a bunch of little boys bopping each other on the heads with their lightsabers. It was not-at all. Last night we went to their performance. They have been working all week on choreographing and practicing their two battle scenes and they did it!! One of the scenes had about seven kids in it and the other had three. They got up on stage and performed their battle scenes without a glitch. Their teacher has a degree in stage battle arts (or something like that) from the University of Hawaii. He taught them defense moves and offense moves and when you put them all together you have a battle scene. See for yourself.

If She Says Organic One More Time!!!!

Author: Nina /

I love to watch Jon and Kate Plus Eight, but if she talks about organic food one more time....Ugh....She acts like her kids are going to spontaneously combust if they eat something that isn't organic. They had a handful of M and M's at their aunt's house and she got all pissy about it. Lighten up...if someone is willing to watch all of your kids for the afternoon I think you can relax a little on your eating rules and regs. Honestly, I think she keeps bringing it up so that some organic food company will sponsor them. Have you ever noticed how much camera time their Juicy Juice bottles get? Two words...product placement.


Another food-related story that made me snicker to myself. There is a mom at Colm's preschool that was yammering on and on about how she doesn't let her kids eat this, that or the other and how they always bring their own snacks to school not because they have food allergies but because she doesn't let her kids eat what they serve for snacks at the school and how the kids are totally fine with that because they understand that they don't eat certain things, yada, yada, yada. So, flash forward a week or so and the mom, preschool teacher and the child are all standing outside the classroom while the mom scolds her daughter for eating the snack they had served at school the previous day. They had eaten chocolate covered raisins that they had fashioned into ants because they were studying insects. It's not like they had served them DIng-Dongs and there was a reason behind the snack choice. I just had to snicker to myself because clearly the child does want to eat what the other children are eating at least part of the time and she has started to flex her four-year old muscles to show that she can make her own choices and she will when her eagle-eyed mother isn't there making the choices for her. Again, as mothers, we pick our battles. This mom has chosen to fight this one, but I still thought it was a little bit funny.

Garage Sales

Author: Nina /

I am not a big garage saler, as a matter of fact, I never go to garage sales, except one. I try to go to our church's garage sale each year to try and find the boys a winter coat. I can't stand to pay full price for a winter coat that they will outgrow practically before the winter is even over. So, today I went and I got Colm a winter coat, a turtleneck, two pairs of shorts and a book and I got both of the boys a pair of snowpants for a grand total of $9.75. Not bad.

Cracks Me Up

Author: Nina /


It cracks me up how much Colm loves to watch the movie Mary Poppins. Does he seem like the Mary Poppins type to you?

Silly Swimmers

Author: Nina /