Rockin' Thru History

At our recent Homeschool Group meeting we had the pleasure of meeting and listening to the teacher, musician, songwriter and homeschooling dad: Damien Drago! We were treated to a live performance of his Rockin' Thru History songs.

picture credit: Rockin Thru History

His current songs are all inspired by The Revolutionary War. The songs start off with Powder Your Wig (just the name makes me giggle) and the last song is Five Fantastic Fabulous Founding Fathers. Each song is fun and educational.

The reason he created each of these special songs was to teach kids about History in a interesting way!

He has a great website called Rockin Thru History. On his website you can listen and purchase his songs. There are lyrics for his songs, resources and even more material you will find very helpful.

At our live performance we were treated to some of his new songs, which he is currently working on. These new songs are inspired by the Civil War. So be on the lookout for even more fun and  make sure you take some time to check Damien Drago out at www.rockinthruhistory.com.

This post is linked up to:

found at Hip Homeschool Moms.

The Bad Carrot

by: Pants

 

Hops-A-Lot and Mr. Bug saw the Bad Carrot. Hops-A-Lot wanted to eat the Bad Carrot and Mr. Bug said, "No, Hops-A-Lot, don't eat the Bad Carrot!". But Mr. Bug was too late. Hops-A-Lot ate the Bad Carrot and when he ate the Bad Carrot something happened. It made him spit out carrots! Everybody liked him because they weren't bad like the Bad Carrot. Everybody cheered for Hops-A-Lot. Hops-A-Lot got first place in the spitting carrots contest and everybody liked his trophy. He put the trophy in his room.

 

The End

 

 



Smiles

Summer Memories!

I didn't get a lot of time to blog this Summer, so I am catching up now! I wanted to share some of the fun we had this summer with you.

The girls had an awesome time at Vacation Bible School at the beginning of the Summer.

They did a lot of swimming.

We went to a baseball game with our friends and Pie Pie got a foul ball!

We finally got to go on a family vacation to the beach.
This is Pants's first visit to the ocean!

We had a lot of fun relaxing and enjoying our break from school!
We hope you had a fun Summer too!
Smiles,
Nikki!



Our Turkey Hill Experience

It seems as if I have been working on this post forever! I'm not even sure when I started it, but it is getting published today!
Daddy had an unexpected day off, so we decided to visit The Turkey Hill Experience. It was a great trip. I had promised the girls we would go and they were very excited!

When you get there you are invited to make your own ice cream flavors. We did the experience on their computers, but you can also visit their Taste Lab and actually make your own ice cream. Pie Pie made a very yummy flavor.

They even got to design the package for their ice cream.

 

Pants made one too! She had to put her favorite color in her ice cream. Pink! Which is actually a bit purple.

Here are the girls working on the computers to make their very own ice cream.

They are both definitely nuts!

Before you leave don't forget to get your free ice cream!

Pie Pie had Dutch Chocolate, Pants had Party Cake, Daddy had Peanut Butter Cup and I had Maple Walnut.

Yummy!

This was a very delicious Field Trip!

Around the World-Australia


For our 200th post I am going to take you on a trip to Australia! Not for real, but you can pretend like we did! Sit back and enjoy our journey to the Land Down Under!
We have been studying American History and Geography for the past couple of years, so we are ready for the World! I'm not sure how we are going to go about studying all of the continents, but we started with Australia. It is Pie Pie's favorite and small one, so it worked out quite well.

source
 

I bought each of the girls an artist notebook which has in it, wonderful blank pages. The girls can draw, write or paste pictures in them. They will be our Geography and History workbooks for the year.

I started out by looking up Australia on the Internet. I found a great and free lapbook at Homeschool Share. Then I went to the library and looked up videos and DVDs. Some of the DVDs we found were:

 Families of Australia,

The Barrier Reef and Northeast Australia,

and Australia-Destination.

 We really enjoyed the Families of Australia because the girls got to see how kids lived in a different part of the world.
We found a lot of wonderful books at our local library too.

The books we used in our study were:

 Wonderful Animals of Australia by National Geographic,

Look What Came from Australia by Ken Davis,

Endangered Animals of Australia by Marie Allgor,

 Welcome to My Country: Australia by Peter North and Susan McKay,

 Koalas by Susan Louise Kra,

 Emus by Julie Murray,

and Foods of Australia by Barbara Sheen.

The girls also drew lots of pictures of animals in their notebooks of all of their favorite animals in Australia!

We finished up our study with an Australian feast!

We started our meal with Damper. This is a bread usually made over a fire. Bread is not one of my specialties. It was very sticky so I added a lot of flour which made the bread kind of dry. I'm sure it would taste better if you are a better bread maker than me. It was pretty good if it was warmed with lots of butter.

  

For our main meal we made Toad in the Hole. This is a meal with sausages in a bread, egg, and milk mixture. They use lamb sausages, but we used regular ones. It was okay. We added some cheese to the top to make it more tasty. We love cheese!

For dessert we had Lamingtons. These were definitely the highlight of the meal. These are very easy to make, but very messy! All you need is cake, chocolate and coconut. 

 

All of these recipes can be found in Foods of Australia by Barbara Sheen. 

Our next continent is Africa. I have no idea how we are going to break that up to make it easier to learn about. I have a little time to figure that out because we are doing a Science Unit next.  Tornadoes!
I hope you enjoyed our trip to Australia!
There is lots more Princess fun to come here on our blog!

Guest Post and Bear Haven Boutique Giveaway! -Giveaway is now Over-

Welcome to another fun guest post in our countdown to the 200th post! I would like to introduce you to a friend of mine who owns a very fun boutique with all kinds of unique toys and gifts! She is also a very creative party planner. Let's all give a warm welcome to Lesa!

 

 

My name is Lesa. I own Bear Haven Boutique and am the author of the blog Bear Haven Mama's Tales.



My business started six years ago when I was looking for something to do to make a little extra money and stay home with the children. I love children, so the idea of helping parents plan birthday parties as well as providing the entertainment for kids sounded like a good fit!

 

Over the years, I have learned what works and what doesn’t for me as well as my customers. I have recently added a full line of toys and other gifts to my website. I also carry party kits, invitations, and stuffable animals for parties and gifts. My philosophy for my products is to provide my customers quality products as well as party favors that will not only be budget friendly but also will not end up in a landfill when the party is over.

 

My website provides my customers an easy way to shop and comes complete with a gift registry and wish list to make gift buying and party planning easier. In addition, there is a section on my blog that provides detailed party plans for popular children’s party themes.



If you are looking for custom party planning, I do that as well. I provide in-person service to Eastern Pennsylvania, and I provide custom party kits to the rest of the US and Canada. For more information, please visit my website Bear Haven Boutique or email me at mybearhaven@gmail.com.

My friend would also like to giveaway a $25.00 gift certificate to shop at her boutique!
All you have to do is visit her boutique and leave a comment on this post about what you would like to spend the gift certificate on if you win. You must also leave your email so I can let you know when you win!
I know my girls would love any of the stuffed animals and I love any product by Melissa and Doug! This givaway will start now, July 24th, and end on Monday August 5th. 

Memories From Gettysburg

At the end of our last school year we finished our study about the Civil War. I found out that this year was the 150th anniversary of Gettysburg. I thought it would be a great time to go for a visit. We purchased tickets to visit the Blue Grey Alliance reenactment of some of the battles. It was an interesting trip. We really enjoyed into the woods where they had a huge Union camp. It is much cooler in the shade. We never figured out where the Confederates were located, we didn't actually try that hard to find them.

 

 

 Here are some of our memories from Gettysburg.

 

1. People from Texas have more fun! A man from Texas struck up a conversation with us on the bus while we were waiting to get to the parking lot to the battle area. They have much higher speed limits there, I did not know that.

 

 

2. Be careful where you go in the Union Camp to take pictures. Someone may be sleeping and blending in perfectly with his surroundings. Surprise!

 

 

 

3. The battlefield is very far away.

 

 

4. The people wearing the clothes from the Civil War time period are probably hotter than me.

 

 

5. If you cough too much there is a good chance you may throw up.

 

 

6. For the rest of Pants's life she will remember that "Gettysburg is freakin' Hot!". No, we really don't approve of that language, but it was funny at the time!

 

 

7. I have no need or desire to ever visit there again.

 

 

Overall, I am glad we went. We got to spend time together as a family and we all received a little more knowledge about that time in history. 

 

This is post 198 in our countdown to 200!

Giveaways very soon!



I'm a Smiley Star!

I have recently noticed that many people hesitate to take a compliment. I would like to change that in my own way. I would like to start something new on my blog called Smiley Star!. I want all of my friends and family to think about something you have done that makes you a Smiley Star!. It can be pretty much anything that someone would compliment you for doing.

I am going to kick this idea off by sharing my Smiley Star!. About a week ago, in an effort to be named Best Mom Ever by my daughter Pie Pie, we had her best friend stay over for a week! I am definitely tooting my own horn here and asking for a round of applause! We love Pie Pie's friend, she is a pleasure to have around! When you are used to your own two girls and add another girl to the mix it can get interesting. We had a lot of fun!

 

The girls played games,

 

 

went swimming,

 

 

made creatures with Sculpy clay,

 

 

got a visit from the yarn monster,

 

 

learned a little about music,

 

 

went to Pants' dress rehearsal,

 

 

and even got a visit from Santa!

 

 

Well there you have it, my week with three girls!

I would love if you would share you your Smiley Star! stories with me.

You can email me at boobooprincesses@yahoo.com or find me on Facebook.

 

We are counting down to our 200th post!

This is post 197!

Giveaways coming soon!



Guest Blogger: Katie Moore

 Come celebrate with us!
We are counting down to our 200th post.
This is post 196!

We will have guest posts and giveaways! Tell your friends, they will not want to miss out on the fun!

I am kicking off the celebration with a guest post from a new friend, her name is Katie Moore. She is a fellow Mommy who likes to blog.

 Let's give Katie a BIG Boo Boo Princess welcome!

 

Natural Living during Pregnancy and Motherhood

When I learned that I was finally expecting my first child, my excitement was almost overwhelming. I couldn’t wait to be a mom! The other overwhelming change can be all of the new health information that you become aware of as you realize that everything you do affects this little baby growing in you. To give my baby the best start to her life, I wanted to take health, wellness and natural living to a whole new level.

Even though I'd always been a healthy eater and had abstained from smoking, excessive drinking and other risky behaviors, I knew my lifestyle had serious room for improvement. My diet was my first concern. Although I'd always loaded up on fruits, veggies, whole grains, and other nutritious foods, I knew that I had to be extra cautious while I was carrying a baby. Per my OB/GYN's instructions, I began taking a daily prenatal vitamin and filling my diet with foods high in folic acid, calcium, iron and other essential nutrients. Combined, these vitamins and minerals can prevent birth defects, build healthy bones and lead to all-around healthy growth for a developing fetus. They also provided benefits for me, as well, including increased immunity and energy and the prevention of bone loss.

To keep my blood glucose in check, I cut out processed sugar and harmful high fructose corn syrup. I traded my daily soda for freshly-squeezed juice or water with fruit, and I calmed my pregnancy sweet tooth with high-fiber breakfast cereals and naturally-sweet apples and berries. Also, in order to prevent high blood pressure, which is increasingly common among pregnant women, I cut out salt and processed foods that are high in sodium. To my surprise, I felt absolutely wonderful. I'd always heard horror stories about the first trimester of pregnancy, but I felt strong and energetic, yet calm and content.

A big part of living naturally involves the products we use every day. As a mother-to-be, I was concerned about all the chemicals in products like cosmetics and household cleaners, so I started researching natural cleaning products and beauty products. I began cleaning my house with products made from ingredients like lemon juice, vinegar, baking soda and sea salt, which provided the cleaning power without the risks of harmful chemicals. I felt much better knowing I was avoiding dangerous side effects to my baby and myself, and my house had never been cleaner!

At first, I was skeptical when it came to natural cosmetics. Looking good has always been important to me, and I was uneasy about giving up my makeup, hair dye and other beauty tools. However, I found that all-natural, organic cosmetics were available, and that they worked just as well as my old products for around the same price. These products were also soothing to my skin. They didn't cause breakouts and irritation like my old cosmetics, no matter how often I used them or how long I left them on my skin. The makeup impressed me so much that I decided to switch to all-natural deodorant, shampoo, conditioner and body wash as well. Again, they worked just as well without any of the potentially-harmful ingredients.

There are so many options and choices to make during pregnancy to prepare for motherhood. I always turned to my doctor for the best information—everything from cloth diapers to cord blood banking was discussed—and felt as prepared and energetic as I could ever be for delivery. After my baby was born, I continued my all-natural lifestyle. Now that I have a toddler, I'm more cautious than ever about what's lying around the house. However, I know I'm doing all I can to protect my health and my baby's. Living a natural life gives me the peace of mind every mother deserves, and I plan on doing it for the rest of my life.

To learn more information about the products Katie uses, stop by  Moore from Katie!

Katie Moore has written and submitted this article. Katie is an active blogger who discusses the topics of, motherhood, children, fitness, health and all other things Mommy. She enjoys writing, blogging, and meeting new people! To connect with Katie contact her via her blog, Moore From Katie or her twitter, @moorekm26

If you or someone you know would like to participate in the celebration, either with a giveaway or a post, just let me know! 

My email is boobooprincesses@yahoo.com.

Smiles

What have we been doing?

 

We got all of our homeschool paperwork done for the year! Pie Pie has been officially promoted to 4th grade. Pants will be starting Kindergaten in the Fall too.

We have been attending a lot of birthday parties! Never a problem, friends and fun in the same place.

 

 The girls are enjoying the slide with their cousin at a really fun birthday party!

 

 

 Hanging out!

 

 

Learning all about the different reptiles at a Reptile Show.

 

 

 

Playing Pirates!

Watch out for Cannon Fire.

 

 

Where is the treasure?

 

 

We'll find it!

 

 

Finding insects too.

 

 

  What have you been doing this Summer so far!

Smiles,

Nikki!