Happy Family Times #25--Founders' Day

Oh, I just visited all the wonderful posts shared last week for Happy Family Times. Wow, there were so many great, inspiring ideas. I know I have some great plans in my head now. If you have done something with your family this week and posted about it, please share it with us below. Kelly at Happy Whimsical Hearts and I are collecting them in hopes to inspire all of us to do more with our families!

This week our town held its annual Founders' Day. It is a day where the streets in the center of town are closed and every non-profit group, some businesses and some crafters and vendors take over and sell, giveaway and entertain. It is a fun day. Part of the street is full of blow-up games like bouncy houses, one side street is filled with food (mostly donated from local restaurants for school groups to raise funds). Then all around town hall and the library are crafts and vendors as well as all the community groups. The Friends of the Public Library often hold a book sale and the library bathrooms are open for the day. Overall it is a fun day but it can be hot and tiring. We park at a friend's house and walk a short distance to get there. Hazel loves it and remembered it from last year.

Hazel enjoyed making an apple basket craft at the Lakeshore Learning table, a bracelet with the help of a girl scout, a wooden race car at the Home Depot (with lots of help from Daddy). She also got to see Elmo. We entered lots of free raffles and got lots of hand-outs including bubble stuff, lots of reusable bags, pens, pencils, a plastic sand castle, and it goes on. We stopped at a local church for some ice cream. Then on our way to the car we stopped at the Iron Works where they had an iron pour and some old fashion toys including the stilts you see Hazel trying with Daddy's help.

The iron pour was really interesting. First you are given a hard sand mold that you can carve a design into. They do tell you all letters and numbers need to be backwards and so do words. Then you bring it over to them and they spray it with graphite. Then they get the fire going nice and hot. They are burning what they called coke which is a processed fuel (for more info check out here). The sparks and then some of the metal came out the side of the burner. They said this meant it was almost time to pour. Then they knocked out the cooled lava to get the liquid to pour into cement buckets and then they put them into smaller more controlled buckets to pour into all the molds. Then after some cooling has taken place they spray them with water to cool them further. After that they will knock the molds off the platform and placed more in their spots. At this point we went home and came back to get Hazel's metal sculpture. It was fun. She was not all that into it since it was hard and a long process. Next year she might enjoy it more.



Now it is your turn to share how your family has spent some quality time lately.

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Ok, now for our PARTY!! Please share your FUN Family Times!!

Teaching about Hunger--Young Children

As you know I have joined the group, Moms Fight Hunger, for National Hunger Month. Our goal is to help end childhood hunger. I have been struggling with ideas to make a difference and for ways to explain hunger to Hazel. Today I'm going to share with you a few of my solutions with more to come each week.

One thought I have had is about nutrition. I feel so lucky that I can buy my daughter and my family nutritious food. Often I even am lucky enough to buy organic produce and organic dairy products. It troubles me that the food that is best for you is also very expensive. A friend from middle and high school who currently lives in Germany commented on how expensive it is to buy good, nutritious food in the United States when she was here visiting. That is troubling, because for the people without as much money, it means they are often deciding between quality and quantity. Is it better to get a small amount of more nutritious food or enough food to fill you? I'm glad that is a question I have not had to personally decide on. 

My Plans and What You Can Do This Week:
This week I planned with the local library's children's librarian to hold a story hour well actually three (for different ages) about food and hunger (depending on age group) and ask each child to bring in a can (or more) of food for our local food pantry. Now the local librarian knows me and about my blog and is always helpful when choosing books for the Virtual Book Club for Kids and any other topic I can come up with. She already knew I was participating in Moms Fighting Hunger and was more than happy to help. We planned the story hours for the first week in October, so we will have plenty of time to advertise it and get the needed food. I also talked to the local newspaper editor this weekend about the possibility of doing it and he is on board to cover it for us.

What can you do to help? How about donating some canned food or boxed food to your local food pantry.

Helping Children Understand There Are Hungry People in the World:

Then I was telling Hazel a story the other day. Now some of the traditional fairy tales scare Hazel. For example, in Hansel and Gretel she becomes afraid of the witch. Well before I had Hazel I had entered a dollhouse competition and made a gingerbread dollhouse and changed the story of Hansel and Gretel a bit for my entry. I had made the witch a nice old woman who had lost her family due to a house fire. She went off the woods to live since all the people in the village stared at her and talked about her. They called her the witch. The only way she knew to make a house was to bake a gingerbread house so that is what she did. When Hansel and Gretel arrive she invites them in and feeds them and teach them to make gingerbread houses. 

Source

Well I took this version and tweaked it a bit and told Hazel a story. You can download the story (it is two pages) at the following links.

Page 1                               Page 2

After reading the story to your child, have the conversation about helping others and that there are people hungry in the world and for that matter in your own town. Remember 1 in 5 kids are hungry!! We can put a stop to it if we all help!

What We Can Do Next Week:
September 17-22nd is Dine Out for No Kid Hungry Week. Please go check out what the offers are at your local restaurants and make plans to have dinner out with your family and/or friends. The more the better!! And tell all of your friends about it!! We need everyone so we can end hunger!!

Here is a flyer to hang around and advertise the week. You can also make your own to have the specific restaurants in your area listed as well.

National Hispanic Heritage Month Begins Saturday

Did you know that National Hispanic Heritage Month begins Saturday? It runs from September 15 to October 15th. President Lyndon Johnson put into place National Hispanic Heritage Week and President Ronald Reagan expanded it to a month. (Source) My friend, Daria, reminded me and asked if I would like to make some of her musical instruments in honor of the month. I, of course, jumped on it. If you have not already checked out Daria's webpage you should, but especially check out her Monthly Song Page so you can enter her great giveaways for a pair of handmade maracas and/or a basket of castanets. Everything we made today came from her tutorials which you can find links to on her Monthly Song Page. Everything was made with recycled ingredients for the most part or at least things we had hanging around the house.

Hazel had a great time making the instruments, decorating them and playing with them! The pictures above are of her making and decorating them. We will start with the most well known instrument we made--maracas! Daria does a great job of explaining maracas including a bit of history. We used a small water bottle (we only had one in our recycling bin), two empty bubble containers (with the wands inside still), toilet paper rolls, beads, and electrical tape (red) and then Hazel decorated them with paint. Hazel loved putting the beads into the different containers. I taped the toilet paper rolls to the containers and then she decorated away. We actually have some maracas from the store so I included a picture of them as well so you could see the similarities and differences!

Next we made the guiro. This is actually easy to make and is somewhat similar to the maracas. We used an empty water bottle with ridges. We put some beads in it as well. Hazel also painted it a bit, but I don't recommend this since the paint flaked off immediately when we played it. Again, Daria does a good job explaining the guiro and a bit of it history. I think this is my favorite one we made!

The last instrument me made today is a cajita. Cajita means little box. It literally is a small box with an attached lid. To play it you hit it with a wooden stick on the inside, outside, wherever. I had picked up a couple of wooden boxes on clearance at the Christmas Tree Shop when we visited my parents last week. (Daria suggests a cigar box.) I pulled out the smallest one and gave it to Hazel. She added some paint so she could add her own touch (or at least that is the reason she told me she wanted to paint it). Then she played it with a pencil as well. Again, Daria does a great job explaining about a cajita, so please check out what she says.

After playing it a couple of times she decided she wanted to use the box for Ducky's diaper cream. She thought it was the perfect size for it. Oh, well. 

Since the cajita is from Peru, I thought I would share a children's book for you about life in Peru, Tonight Is Carnaval by Arthur Dorros. All of the illustrations are pictures of arpilleras sewn by the Club de Madras Virgen del Carmen of Lima, Peru. They are beautiful!!

The story is told by a young boy about his family getting ready for the Carnaval, which is three days away. First the work must be done. He goes into details about the work including farming, taking care of the llamas, sheering the alpacas and turning it into yarn and then taking their potatoes to the market in the village. After the market the Carnaval will begin. If you do not know, Carnaval is a celebration just before Lent. In the Andes it is celebrated for three days and nights with music (from a local band which the story teller gets to play in this year), dancing and feasting. 

Stay tune for more Hispanic Heritage Sharing the next month!! Next week Monday will not be multicultural due to the Virtual Book Club for Kids, but I will share something with you later in the week.

Muffins, Muffins--Using up bananas and pumpkin

Today we had some overripe bananas and some canned pumpkin my mother sent home with me. We decided to make two kinds of muffins. This would be perfect for anyone having a party or a bake sale. We also used a large carrot and a large zucchini grated up.

Banana Muffins & Pumpkin Muffins
2 cups whole wheat flour
1/2 cup almond meal (if making for bake sale may want to use flour instead due to allergies)
1 cup oatmeal
1 cup flax seed meal
4 teaspoons baking powder
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1 teaspoon nutmeg
dashes of ground cloves
2 eggs
1/2 - 1 cup of canned pumpkin
2-3 overripe bananas mashed or pureed
1 large carrot & 1 large zucchini pureed together
2 Tablespoons olive oil
1 3/4 cups milk (I use non-fat)
1 cup applesauce (unsweetened)
1/2 - 1 cup sliced almonds or chopped nuts (optional)

To make both at once, you will need four mixing bowls. In the two largest ones add half of each of the dry ingredients (1 c flour, 1/4 c almond meal, 1/2 c oatmeal, 1/2 c flax seed meal, 2 t baking powder, 1 t cinnamon, 1/2 t nutmeg, dash or two of ground cloves) and mix. Set both bowls aside. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

In next two bowls beat an egg in each. Then add the pumpkin to one and the banana to the other. Add half of the carrot-zucchini mixture to each bowl and 1 Tablespoon of oil and 1/2 cup of applesauce to each. I found the pumpkin was a bit dry and needed 1 cup of milk and the banana only needed 3/4 cup of milk. Mix this all together. Then add each bowl to one of the dry ingredient bowls and mix. You can mix in the almonds or nuts if you are using them.

Spray 24 muffin cups with cooking spray (paper liners often stick since there is not much oil in these recipes, so if you want liners use foil ones). Scoop each batter into 12 of them. We made 12 of each.

Bake for 20 to 25 minutes and let cool. Enjoy!!

Sharing Saturday #36

This morning I had to go for a routine fasting blood test. So I was awoken and knew I couldn't eat anything for a couple of hours. I always hate going for these blood tests because I always feel so hungry. However then I remember the poor children in the United States (and around the world) who are often hungry. The most recent statistic says it is one in five in the US that are not fed enough. Imagine having to try to focus, function and learn without enough food. I find it so hard. This month I'm joining other bloggers and moms to help fight hunger. I posted about it here (and will post more in the future) and you can click the button to the right or below for more information or to join us!

Ok, now on to Sharing Saturday. Last week was an amazing week and there are so many wonderful ideas shared!! I hope you will take some time to visit a few more and leave some comment love. Here are a few of my favorites!!

From Little Wonders Days: Beach Friendship Bracelets

In the United States we celebrated Labor Day on Monday. This is our unofficial end of summer and often the start of the school year. I am not completely ready to let go over summer so here are some summer features. (I also added a few of the must-see ones to this list, so please check them out!)

1) From Learning Ideas - Grades K-8: Fish Word Search and Activities

2) From Sunny Day Today Mama: Picnic Party Nature Walk Favor Bags (LOVE this!! She shared 3 posts on this party and all of them could be here!)

3) From One Creative Mommy: Felt Popsicles

4) From Waldorf by Me: Summer Nature Table

5) From Little Wonders' Days: Summer Vacation Memory Jars

6) From Tippytoe Crafts: Handprint Palm Trees

7) From Hey Mommy, Chocolate Milk: Painting with Pokeweed and Pine Needles

8) From Earning My Cape: Toddler Flip Flop Makeover (So cute!!)

9) From Like Mama ~ Like Daughter: Nana's Beach Party

10) From Nestled Under Rainbows: Prayer Flags

11) From We Made That: Magic Tree (Oh, so neat!!)

12) From Pam's Party Planning & Practical Tips: Kara's Wishing Stars

But since it is the start of school here are some school-related features.

1) From A Happy Song: First Day Of School Blackboard

2) From Art Mama Says: Chicka Chicka Boom Boom Alphabet Tree

3) From One Creative Mommy: Be Happy Friend Maker

4) From Earning My Cape: Homeschool vs. Traditional School (A great reminder that we each have to choose what is best for our children and family!)

5) From A Happy Song: Chain Letters

6) From Pinkoddy: Can I have a P Please

7) From Brenna Phillips: Water and Penny Experiment

8) From 2 Big, 2 Little: Painted Fingernail Counting

9) From Toastie Studios: Mini Ribbon Paper Clips

10) From Keitha's Chaos: First Day of 1st Grade (Love some of these traditions!)

11) Not Pictured: From Life on the Gravelly Road: The Letter F

Thank you to everyone who shared last week!! I hope you will join us and share again!! If you are featured here, please feel free to grab a featured button to display proudly on your blog.

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From Your Hostess: My first Waldorf Doll and she if finally dressed!

 

Now for This Week's Party   

A Few Simple Guidelines:
1)  Please follow both hosts via GFC (or one of the other ways that work for you).  

Hosts are Crafty Moms Share and Mama Mia's Heart2Heart. A reminder: Mia is taking a blogging break. Hopefully she will be back soon to host again!!

2)  Link any kid-friendly, child-centered post. Please no etsy shops or giveaways, etc.  Remember to link to your actual post.

3) Post the button on your sidebar or somewhere on your blog to help spread the word.

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Disclaimer: By sharing here, you are giving Crafty Moms Share and Mama Mia's Heart2Heart permission to use your photos for features and to pin your craft at Pinterest. 

All right everyone...This is a PARTY!! Have Fun!!