Chores for Charity

During the month of November, Z's school asked each child to do chores around the house to earn money to go and buy canned goods for the food pantry.  Z took this job very seriously and worked hard to earn money and felt a lot of pride as he went to the grocery store to pick out the food to donate.

This school project inspired me to continue it into December but this time I thought it might be nice for Z to pick a charity to work towards.  I gave him three choices....a charity to help people have clean water, a charity that would give a needy family a farm animal to help nourish them or a charity to help families build a house.  He chose to earn money to help buy a family an animal and is currently working toward a share of a cow (his choice).  This picture was taken a while ago and he is currently up to $11.  He has a ways to go until he gets to his $50 goal but Christmas is not the deadline for us.  He will work until he accomplishes his goal and then he will go online to make his donation to Heifer International.

I hope that this project will be the kick off of to the new piggy bank system that I want to start with him.  I want him to start placing his money into three categories....save, spend and share.  Right now all his money just sits in his piggy bank until something he REALLY wants comes up and then he spends it all :)  We will take it all one step at a time, after all he is only five.

Our Thankful Turkey

We will pack away the Halloween decorations later today and I know this will really upset Z.  The month of November is a favorite for me (love Thanksgiving and the anticipation for December) and I wanted to give Z something fun to look forward to this month.  I was thinking of doing a Thankful Countdown or something like that until I found the perfect project on Pinterest.

Are you on Pinterest??  I am a bit addicted at the moment and many I know don't understand its value.  All I can say is that if you are a creative soul or are looking for some ideas for a project (home, kids, recipe etc.), you can find it on Pinterest :)

Anyhoo...back to the Thanksgiving project, we decided to make a Thankful Turkey.  We sent many of our favorite people letters in the mail which included a paper feather.  Here is what the letter said,

This Thanksgiving, Z and Lil' C want to know what the special people in their lives are thankful for.  Please write something you are thankful for on the enclosed feather (please be creative and don’t put Z and Lil' C) and mail it back to the our family.  They will take the feathers and attach them to their big paper turkey and hang it at their Thankgiving Table to remind them of all of you on this special day.  We wish you and your family a very Happy Thanksgiving. 
PS  Sorry we did not enclose postage for you to send your feather back but we hope that you will mail it back anyway ;)

We are making our Turkey body today and we will attach the feathers as they come back.  I too am looking forward to see what people have to say and think it will be a great lesson for Z and Lil' C.  I also think they will love getting all that mail :)  That is one of the best parts of December (all the mail) and so it will be fun to get lots of good mail in November too.  The project cost about $10 and I know it will be worth every penny :)

We sent out over 60 feathers and Z is hoping to get at least 58 of them back.  So if you receive a feather in the mail over the next few days, please fill it out and send it back.  We look forward to including you in our Thanksgiving feast :)

S and J's Oktoberfest!

This past weekend S and I were not only fortunate enough to have a date night (first in months) but we also enjoyed our own version of Oktoberfest.  For the last few weeks we collected 4 seasonal beers.  It was 5 but once we found out that Pumpkinhead was a malt beverage (no wonder it always tasted like soda to me), it got booted from the competition. 

So the competitors we had were:  Sam Adam's Octoberfest, Blue Moon's Harvest Pumpkin Ale, UFO Pumpkin and Wolaver's Organic Pumpkin Ale.

Last week I covered the labels in white paper, covered the caps and peeled off the upper labels.  Before we began I removed the caps and numbered the bottles.  I was really happy that I had this week to forget my labeling....I totally forgot which was which :)

So on a rating scale of 1-5 (5 being the best), we rated the smell, initial taste and the after taste.  My winners are shown below in order.  S had Wolaver's and Blue Moon tied for first but the rest of his order was the same.   I was so bummed that my favorite of the four came in last!!!  I guess I only like the UFO for it's Jack-o-Lantern label :(  S was really bummed that Octoberfest was so blah...we thought we really loved it.

The winner had a delicious pumpkin spice smell, had a delicious initial taste and the only issue was a bit of a bitter after taste.  Over all though it was delicious, Good Job Otter Creek in VT!  Massachusetts your two beers finished last and I am very disappointed ;)  Colorado you did very well with your Harvest Moon. 

My Winner!!

This was super fun way to spend the afternoon (or at least 30 minutes of it) and we plan to do it again with winter brews.  What were the kids doing??  Well watching Curious George of course ;)

Summer Reflection

I can't believe the summer is coming to an end....it feels like it just started. Maybe that is because summer didn't start in New England until the last week of July and only lasted a month!!! No I am not bitter :).

This has been a fun and jam packed summer, filled with many "Adventures". I have tried so hard to make it special for Z and I think I succeeded. So it is time to revisit my Summer Adventure List that I created in May and see how I did ;)

So here is our Summer Adventure list :)

Adventures With Z
1. Space Adventure--trip to the Planetarium--Did this one with Daddy!
2. Fish Adventure--trip to the local Fish Ladder--Did this one twice :)
3. "Moo" Adventure--a visit to the local farm--Never made it to the farm :(
4. Wet and Wild Adventure--a visit to a splash park--Z loved this!
5. Periwinkle Adventure--tide pooling--Maybe next year, my big belly kept me from this one.
6. Curious George Adventure--a trip to the zoo--A great day
7. Sun and Sand Adventure--a trip to the lake to build castles and swim--Fun day with Neene
8. Movie Adventure--a trip to see the latest Kidtoon Film--we saw the last one of the season
9. "Play Ball" Adventure--a trip to see our local AA baseball team--this was with the grandparents.

Family Adventures
1. Fantasy Weekend Adventure--a trip to the local children's Amusement Park and a ride on Thomas the Train :)--This was a BLAST!!!
2. Ocean Adventure--a trip to our favorite beach for a picnic--Did this three times :)
3. Fish are Yummy Adventure--a pilgrimage to our favorite spot for clam cakes and CHOWDAH!--Yup :)
4. "Ahoy There Matey" Adventure--a boat trip with a cannon blast--not this year :(
5. Putt Putt Adventure--a game of mini golf--Z got two legit holes in one on this adventure!
6. Quack, Quack Adventure--a trip to the Boston Public Garden to follow the path of Jack, Kack, Lack, Mack, Nack, Ouack, Pack and Quack--not this year :( 7. Oooh, Aahh Adventure--a trip to see Fireworks--this would have been too scary for Z
8. "Fore" Adventure--a trip to the driving range--not yet, still time though.
9. "Farmer Z" Adventure--Z would like his own carrot garden like Curious George--his carrots are growing well :)
10. Lazy Days of Summer Adventure--3 weeks at the lake :)--The BEST!!

Home Improvement Adventures
1. Finally finish Master Bathroom (we are soooo close)--YUP!!!
2. New flooring in our Kitchen and Dining room to fix the damage of our indoor flood--Nope :(
3. Work on our new front landscape--YUP!!!
4. Building our new laundry room in the basement--Not yet
5. Remodel downstairs bath-Number 4 must be done first
6. Get Nursery ready-Almost!!
7. Paint front of house and deck--Nope :(

And as for my Summer License Plate Game....I saw 39 out of 50 states this summer (including two Alaska plates) :) Not too bad considering I never left New England!

Summer Photos

Our New Landscape :)


A Trip to the Splash Pad


An "Adventure" to the Children's Museum


My Birthday Party :)


My Birthday "Adventure" to the Beach


Another "Adventure" with Friends




The top to the baby's quilt and Z loving his quilt


A Beach Outing with Mimi and Grandpa

A summer Campfire at the Farm

Z's garden has green beans!!!

Z enjoying the "fruits" of his labor (tomatoes and green beans)

A fun "Adventure" with friends to a playground and wading pool