Thinking, Playing, Reading

Thinking:

“Moms and dads, I want to let you in on a secret. You don’t need permission from your children’s coaches, teachers, youth ministers, scout leaders, etc, etc, etc, to have a family life.  All those people have to ask YOU permission to borrow your kids.  NOT the other way around.”  Greg Popcak

The rest of the essay here.

I needed to read this after a busy soccer season-three boys playing, two in a more intense club league (something I say I would never do again after two of our older kids participated and here I am, how did that happen? A weak deranged moment of insanity?), and still have very mixed feelings about it all.  I go back and forth between-

-this is absolutely insanely crazy with the emphasis on crazy and insane.

-it’s organized, coaching is superb (no yelling!), kids are nice, and boys like it. 

I lean toward the first most often, especially with the older one where some travel is involved.

Playing:

Some good deals at Amazon on some of our favorite toys!

Rainbow Loom Bands with Metal Hook-50% off-$8.17

Learning Resources Jumbo Jungle Animals-59% off!!!-$12.19

Patrick loved loved loved these, and now Janey does also.  They are light and big and chunky.  Janey and I just spent an hour building “cages” for these with magna blocks (these-Magna-Tiles® Solid Colors 100 Piece Set-best toy ever)and then crashing them out after peeking in on them.

Snap Circuits Jr. SC-100 Electronics Discovery Kit-40% off-$20.99

and this one also:

Elenco Circuit Maker 200 Sound Plus Electronics Discovery Kit-44% off-$22.39

Both have five star ratings, so it’s not just my kids who enjoy them.

Reading:

I’ve finished my nanny book and absolutely LOVED it but I want to denote an entire post to it-so much wisdom and sweetness in it.

A Spoonful of Sugar: A Nanny’s Story

What Janey and I are reading from the library:

Creaky Old House: A Topsy-Turvy Tale of a Real Fixer-Upper

Anyone who has ever lived in an older house will laugh at this book!  I loved it-one little screw goes missing in this family’s front door knob, and when they can’t find the right replacement, the project snowballs from replacing the door knob, then the door, then moving the wall, and the staircase, to having to resort of rebuilding the entire house.  Thank goodness one of the littlest members of the family finds a solution.