F is for Flag and Family Here's what you need for this project: - cardstock (red, white and blue) - star stickers (white or silver work best) - pictures of family members (or you can draw them if you don't have pictures) - glue
Click here for free printable Upper Case Letter templates.
F is for Feathers and Family Here's what you need for this project: - cardstock - feathers - pictures of family members (or you can draw them if you don't have pictures) - glue
Click here for free printable Lower Case Letter templates. Sight Words This week's Sight Words are: - funny - for Handwriting
Books
Here are some library books we reserved to go along with our theme:
I love this time of year! I've researched the holiday events around St. Louis but this list is not complete. Some popular St. Louis locations have not yet posted their holiday events online so be sure to check back. If you have any events to add, please leave them in the Comments section. Also be sure to check the website links for accurate dates and times of operation.
Christmas in Historic St. Charles November 28 – December 21 on Historic Main Street Wednesdays & Fridays @ 6:30-9pm, Saturdays @ 11am-9pm & Sundays @ 12-5pm
- Annie: December 2-7 - Mannheim Steamroller Christmas: December 9-10 - Straight No Chaser: December 11 - A Christmas Carol: December 12-14 - A Christmas Story, The Musical: December 16 – January 4
It is very hard for me to try out new pumpkin recipes because I LOVE my pumpkin bread so much. But I saw a picture of these Pumpkin Chocolate Chip bars from two peas & their pod and couldn't resist trying them. While I still rank my pumpkin bread #1, these bars are nice for a change! Ingredients: 2 cups all-purpose flour 1 tablespoon pumpkin-pie spice 1 teaspoon baking soda 3/4 teaspoon salt 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature 1 1/4 cups granulated sugar 1 large egg 2 teaspoons vanilla extract 1 cup canned pumpkin puree (not pumpkin pie filling) 1 package (12 ounces) semisweet chocolate chips Instructions: 1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 9-by-13-inch baking pan and set aside. 2. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, pumpkin pie spice, baking soda, and salt; set aside. 3. With a stand or electric mixer, cream butter and sugar on medium-high speed until smooth. 4. Beat in egg and vanilla until combined. 5. Add pumpkin puree and mix well. The mixture will look somewhat curdled. 6. Reduce speed to low, and mix in dry ingredients until just combined. 7. Fold in chocolate chips. I used semisweet mini chocolate chips. 8. Spread batter evenly in prepared pan. 9. Bake bars for 30-35 minutes or until edges begin to pull away from sides of pan and a toothpick inserted in center comes out with just a few moist crumbs attached. 10. Cool bars completely in pan. Cut into squares and serve.
This would also be great warmed with some vanilla ice cream!!!
E is for Elephant Here's what you need for this project: - card stock (dark and light purple) - elephant template (see below)
- googly eyes
- glue
Click here for free printable Upper Case Letter templates. E is for Egg Here's what you need for this project: - card stock (yellow, white and green) - brad fastener - glue
Of course Sidney wanted to decorate her egg with stickers!
Click here for free printable Lower Case Letter templates. Sight Words This week's Sight Word is: - eat Handwriting
Books Here are some library books we reserved to go along with our theme:
Thanks to Shepard Smith, we now know that we don't have to be afraid of ebola. Thanks Shepard! Your firm, authoritative and slightly condescending tone has set me at ease!
I don't know about you but I don't like to be told how to think and feel. Ebola scares me. And the government's lack of preparation and control over this issue pisses me off frankly. So when the director of the CDC says that "it's going to get worse before it gets better", I feel the need to take action to protect my family. I spent the better part of last week going through our Emergency Survival Kit and purchasing supplies. I have four lists: 1) Detailed Disaster Supply Kit - This is our main supply kit that we keep at home. 2) 72 Hour Kit - This kit contains supplies in backpacks that will get us by for 72 hours. If we cannot stay in our home, we can carry / wheel our supplies to another location. 3) Emergency Car Kit - In case an emergency occurs when we are away from home, we have supply kits in all our cars.
4) Pandemic Disease Kit- I keep this supply kit with our main supply kit (#1 above) in a separate bag. In addition to a lot of the medicine and food expiring (it tasted terrible!), we did not have sufficient water supply. Previously we had been storing water in three of these Aqua-Tainers that I bought at Walmart for $18 each:
Each Aqua-Tainer holds 7 gallons of water. Typically, a person consumes 3/4 gallons of water/liquids a day. In an emergency situation, it is recommended that you store at least 1 gallon of water per person per day. Children, nursing mothers and sick people may need more. It is also recommended that you store a 2 week supply for each member of your family. So my family of 5 would need at least 70 gallons of water (5 gallons per day x 14 days) for a 2 week supply. Our 3 Aqua-Tainers only held 21 gallons of water, which would only last us about 4 days! We were having problems at our house one day and they had to shut off our water. I don't know if you have ever been stuck in a house with 3 kids and no water before, but it was tough. You can't use the toilets, wash your hands, brush your teeth, rinse dirty dishes, wash clothes, etc. Now, every time I have the water running in the sink or let the girls play in the shower or bath tub I'm very aware of the luxury of having clean running water. So we decided to buy this Augason Farms Emergency Water Storage Tank that holds 55 gallons of water. It cost $150 (including shipping).
This, combined with our 3 Aqua-Tainers, will provide 2 weeks of water for our family. I know it seems costly and excessive. We debated it for quite a while. We are not Doomsday Preppers (although I'd feel a lot safer if someone in my immediate family was!!!). We just feel that it is our responsibility to protect our family in a crisis situation. The lists I created above include supplies that I felt my family needed. Your family may require less (or more). To create the lists, I did a bunch of online research and read two online manuals by FEMA: 1. Are You Ready? 2. Basic Preparedness FEMA also has guides for specific types of emergencies and disasters that affect specific geographic areas (click here for more info). I have a Pinterest board with helpful articles and blog posts that I have found related to survival kits. Click here if you'd like to see my board.
The best case scenario is that all this preparation is a big waste of time and money. But I will rest better at night knowing that we are prepared.
