Weekly Wrapup: 10/28/2011

This week was a whirlwind of activities getting ready for Halloween, Mommy's first catering event and the housewarming party.  In between, we started learning about telling time, months of the year and days of the month. 

We broke out one of the wonderful activities from SimplyFun called Tibbar's Big Board.  It has the days of the months at the top, the months of the year on one side,  a big clock in the middle, weather dials and the days of the week. 

Days of the week were not new actually due to taking vitamins every day from my pillbox.  Momma always sounds out the day of the week and asks me which days starts with a sound.  Like Friday, which letter does FFFFFFFFFFFFFFriday start with?   Sometimes, it is annoying to be honest!

When she brought out the board, I became fascinated by the clock.  So that is what I concentrated on this week.  Every, oh five minutes or so, I would ask what time it was.  Momma would point out the time on the digital clock.  I asked where do the hands go?   So for 10:15, it was little hand on the 10 and big hand on the 3.  I am still not sure I get the whole count by 5 for the minutes.  I mean really who came up with that ..... it's a 3 on the clock therefore shouldn't it be 10:3.  Oh well, maybe someday I will figure it out.     On the other hand, I was pretty good with the month.  I mean hey October is the only month that starts with O.  WOohoo!

Other things we did this week, included Momma looking at cookbooks all the time and throwing out suggestions for things to make for the housewarming.  Not sure what all the fuss is about but we no longer have completely blank walls in some of the front rooms.  And Momma is frantic about cleaning. Okay that is true most of the time!  Shoes don't belong in the living room (why not?; Daddy's are), or if you are done playing with it, put it away.  Why?  I might wanna play with it again soon.

Halloween parties galore this week!  Lots of candy at the Trunk or Treat at Hampton United Methodist on Wednesday.  I got a purple spider ring to match my outfit.  I am hoping next year Mommy and Daddy will decorate their trunk!

On Saturday, we watched the OU game and I continued to learn how to cheer for them.  BOOMER .................... SOONER.  And I guess we won!   Anyway, later that evening we went to a Halloween Carnival at a local school.  As you can see, I loved playing golf!

Happy Halloween and speak with you next Monday which I am told will be in November! 

Wordless Wednesday: SimplyFun

Today's wordless wednesday post comes from one of our consultancies:  SimplyFun.  What is it?  Wonderful and award winning games for the whole family.   Family game night, here we come!



Boost your elementals by connecting
matching tiles, and avoid tiles that will weaken them

Test your nutrition IQ with Foodle!

Pick your monster and
 collect all their missing
shapes by reaching into the bag.



Can you see your pattern
 on the board? If not, add a peg or
make a Hue Turn to get the pattern
you need to score your card!

Award Winners:



Earn. Save. Buy a bike!

Come one, come all to see the amazing Handy game!
With your teammates,
hold balls between your fingers while more
and more balls are added to the "hand tree."

Fill the sails of your ship with wind as you navigate
your way to the valuable jewels of a Lost Civilization!



Let your child's creativity flourish as
 they exercise their imagination with hands-on fun!
 Featuring 88 full-color felt pieces and three story scenes

It's that time of the year..............

And most of us finish the sentence with "Back to school" but I think about all the birthdays, holidays and gift giving I have to do in the fall and winter. 

Yes I am one of those that tries to have most of the gifts bought for Christmas long before Black Friday arrives.  Even though I love (cough cough -- oh wait 6 -8 hours of shopping without a little one tagging along -- I should be jumping for joy) getting up and shopping at 4am to get the best deals, I am usually looking for clothes at that time.  All the family items, couple gifts and daughter gifts are pretty much completed.  As for birthdays and anniversaries, I am sick of shopping by the time October gets done.

Why you ask?  Well, my wedding anniversary is September 2, Daughter's birthday is September 18, my birthday (LOL Bill does do his own shopping most of the time) is September 25 and Bill's birthday is October 6.  Along with friends birthdays on September 12, 14, 27 and October 3, 6, 9, that is a lot of shopping for one month!

Hence my post today........ it is SimplyFun's Birthday for the whole month of August.  We have great deals and one can find gifts for the whole family to enjoy on game night, family get togethers and long cold winter nights. There are quite a few on my wishlist that I will be purchasing by the end of the month!  You can join me at our Family Game Night Party to purchase some great gifts for your family and friends too.  Wouldn't it be nice to have some of your Christmas bought now -- no long lines, waiting till the last moment and at great savings too!

My Family Wishlist:

• Any of the puzzles since Jea can put them faster than I can get them out of the box. 
• More Eye to Eye:  The original Eye to Eye is always a hit at our gatherings.  SimplyFun also has junior Eye to Eye which I think we will soon be purchasing as well.
• The Family Game Night Value Pack looks interesting as we only have three of the six games.  And at $145 for all of them, the savings is wonderful.  I could always gift one of the ones we already own to others. HMMMMM might be the way to go.
• Includes:
• Take Your Pick II
• Bringing Down the House
• Who Gets The Cheese
• Head of the Herd
• Walk the Dogs
• Eye to Eye
• Tibbar & Friends Value Set:  This is a great set for Jea.  And they will be great items to have in our preschool for fun ways to learn! 
• Includes:
• Everyday Big Board
• Big Box of Words
• What Comes Next? ABC's & 123's
• Digger's Garden Match
• Pop Belly
• Tibbar's Tangrams

Take a peek and let us know which ones would be on your list!

An article that got me to thinking!

Earlier this week, I was reading one of the blog entries from the SimplyFun Home Office, http://blogs.simplyfun.com/playtimes/2010/09/19/did-you-know/.  The survey results are also in.   It sparked my interest and I decided to share it here.

In my house, the TV is on from just about the time we get up to the time we go to bed.  In fact, I am the guilty party not my daughter!  I like the noise it provides.  It's not that we (read here I) can't spend hours with the TV off, it is more that we just don't turn it off enough!     I have great intentions but do not always follow through with them. 

TV is not our only downfall.  Bill and I use laptops all day long and many, many evenings.  Jea is learning that behavior from us. The article brought home just how much we watch tv, play on the computer or I check my email on my phone. 

The article mentioned above has renewed my resolve to spend more time with my daughter without a tv or computer on.  One of the easiest things I have done the last few days is to leave my laptop in the office in the evenings till Jea goes to bed.  This gives us time to share our day, play with her playdough or put puzzles together.  While we have not always turned off the TV during this time, it is a great improvement for our time before bed.