Excavating the Apple Mummy

Making mummies is not one of my usual fall activities for fun, but it made quite the splash for my family earlier this year.

Although my daughter's class learned about Egyptian mummies in mid-winter, I thought it was appropriate to share as Halloween approaches. It's a simple science project that's easy enough for curious kindergarteners and first-graders. My 4 year old even enjoyed the daily excavation of the mummy for his sister's homework:

How to make your "mummy:"

Slice one apple in half, and place in a bowl, covering it in salt (1-2 lbs.). You can check the apple daily to see its progress toward "mummification" as the water is drawn from the fruit. Here's how it checked out after a week:

Easy bird feeder "cookies"

Our Daisy Girl Scout troop has been working on the 5 Flowers, 4 Stories, 3 Cheers for Animals patch series this year, and the other leaders and I are always on the lookout for creative ways for the girls to express them selves, while staying frugal and not creating a lot of excess for parents to store!


The robin is one of the animals we've talked about this year. Most of our work around this has centered around the suggested activity of building a "bird nest" and papier mache bird, which the girls have loved. But finding something that translates into taking action, especially in the dead of winter, is challenging.


I found this activity on education.com. Technically it's for "Christmas Cookies" for the birds - but you could easily make it using any shape or cookie cutter - or even cut circles with the lip of a cup. We beta-tested it at home with a first-grader and preschooler, and the project took less than 15 minutes with clean-up. (Plan accordingly with the size of your group!)

Supplies needed are bread (they recommend slightly stale, and I agree - ours was too soft to hang), peanut butter or shortening, birdseed, sunflower seeds and/or raisins, cups or cookie cutters, straws (1 per three girls), knives to spread peanut butter with (1 per 2-3 girls) and yarn or twist-ties from garbage bags.

Simply put, you cut out bread into shapes, poke a hole in it with the straw, slather it with peanut butter and cover with birdseed. (We used raisins and sunflower seeds.) Setting these up on cookie sheets made for easy clean up!

To finish it, we used trash bag ties (which had been in my drawer for years) pulled through the hole. We're letting it dry before we attempt to hang it outdoors, so you may want to consider sending the projects home on scrap pieces of cardboard so projects don't break en route.

Messy, but fun!

Looking for more Girl Scout ideas? Visit my new scout leader resource site, Use Resources Wisely. 

Organizing kids' clothes: A way to Excel at it

Garage sales, hand-me-downs, resale and other sources for kids' clothes have gotten us through the last few years. The challenge is keeping tabs on my finds.

Whether it's my daughter tearing apart diaper-size boxes of clothing in her closet out of boredom or my accidentally stockpiling 20 (yes, 20) short-sleeve T-shirts in a size for my son, remembering what you've acquired can be a challenge.

My solution? It's a simple one: Creating a spreadsheet to track numbers.

I track each kids' clothing pieces by size and type, and I have it uploaded so that family members who are Christmas shopping or hitting sales to splurge know what we have. My hope is it keeps us from wasting money and space, and freeing us from having more than we really need.

Want to start this simply? Create an Excel or Google Docs spreadsheet with a column for size and a row for each clothing type. For example:

uniform shirts
uniform skorts or pants
sweater
sweatshirt
fall/winter weight PJ's
spring/summer weight PJ's
jeans
yoga/dance pants
t-shirts (long-sleeve and short-sleeve)
sweat pants/athletic pants
winter coat
swimsuit

I could expand this to include shoes I've picked up (such as at clearance or soccer cleats from garage sales), but those for now are much easier remembered.

I update the spreadsheets after purchases, and reprint the well-folded sheets as needed. It's an easy reference at a garage sale and has kept me from at least one unneeded purchase.

Super Undies cloth overnight training pants review

Cloth overnight pull-ups: Were they our answer for our bedwetting preschool boy? Absolutely.

Fed up with traditional pull-ups that leaked through each night (even with buying the overnight varieties), three months ago I decided to check out whether cloth alternatives were out there. We'd had success with cloth diapers, and even in a working home, found it was a manageable and more financially friendly option for us.

The challenge was finding a pull-up alternative. After some research, I checked out Super Undies, which was a little more expensive than some other varieties but sold definite "overnight" varieties. I ended up purchasing three cloth overnight pull-ups and what they call "soaker pods" through the company.

Three months into it, I've more than made my money back, and I have a more confident boy. He happily wears his "super boy undies" and "potty pads" (when I know he's had a lot to drink at night) each evening, without complaint. I really believe that having the cloth on has made him more aware at night - and we're having more and more incidents of "dry" mornings!

I love the fact that I don't have to do a bedding change each morning, that the Super Undies washable and dryable (though I've more than broken the rule on no fabric softener!), that my kid is comfortable using them and putting them on without mom having to help.

Yes, the cost gave me pause at first; but if you do some research, you may be able to find "seconds" (often returns, which they can't resell at full price). And if you factor in the cost of disposables - and of washing and rewashing laundry - it was well worth the investment. While I'm hoping to be through the bedwetting phase before he outgrows these, I'd comfortably reorder the next size if needed!

Disclaimer: I received no discount, payment or any other renumeration for my Super Undies, though I did my cloth seconds.

Hot dog! The holidays are coming!

Christmas lists in my household are remarkably short. I've always been impressed that my children have yet to come up with long wish lists of gift ideas.

Recently my sister, ever the planner, asked for our Christmas lists for the kids. My daughter struggled and then said nail polish. (Maybe there's an eco-friendly version?)

My son? Well, that's a different story. He requested:

• a hot dog pan


• a "quacker" to turn the hot dogs


• a hot dog grill


• and, as if it needed to be said, hot dogs.

The lesson? Feed that boy first!

Aunt B? I'll send a list of needs soon!

Funky sheep and burping monkeys: And how was your weekend?

This weekend, we took the rare road trip to Evansville, Indiana, to see my parents. It's a rare treat for my children, as my remote-loving father has his gadgets far too close to the ground and my mother's scrapbook room is packed with tempting toys for the children to attempt art with. (In other words, it's far easier on them to keep the kids on our turf and for them to come visit.)


What to do when it's too warm to get outside much and you have excited children? Sometimes, you bite the bullet and run them off.

Saturday, after reading my lament at the Green Phone Booth that the kids wouldn't go marketing that weekend, my mother had stumbled onto a few "market" ideas. We found a Saturday morning market in Newburgh (by reading the paper), hit a farm stand (air-conditioned building, horray!) and a fourth-generation orchard that tempted me with rows of boxes of peaches, the last of the season.


But the greatest memories for my kids weren't food-related at all. No, it was jumping on grandpa's spare bed, not to mention the funky sheep and burping monkeys.


Be careful what you tell your kids.


We hit the Mesker Park Zoo, one of the oldest zoos in the country, early Sunday morning. As all kids are at that age, it's see the animal, and what's next? Until we saw a sign for the burping monkeys.

Yes, apparently as part of their socialization, belching means friendship. I started laughing about it, and of course, that is what they remember. Not the cheetahs they wanted to see for two hours. The burping monkeys.

The same goes for our stop home. We stopped at Lincoln's boyhood home, which the kids had grabbed a sheet about at the visitors station. (Incidentally, they have kids' days every other weekend in the summer.) My 3 year old was ticked that Lincoln was nowhere to be seen, but finally settled into going to see his house and the living farm. Not impressed by that. My 6 year old loved the attempts to carve wood pegs (which I'm sure impressed her woodworking grandfather!). But then, I heard these words: "Let's go see the funky sheep."

Funky? I have no idea what prompted that particular adjective.

Yep, you can try to teach your kids history, try to teach them about animals, try to teach them about eating local, and they'll just remember about burping monkeys and funky sheep!

Cloth pull-up connundrum

Cloth diapers were officially retired in my home a year ago. We were down to naptime/nighttime accidents, and I thought, surely it won't be long now.

As the cloth diapers were outgrown, they weren't replaced with larger sizes. But the reality is no two children are alike, and my first child's potty training successes weren't perfectly replicated in her brother.

A few weeks ago, I conceded defeat. Not that I think my child won't get through bedwetting, but that he will do it on his own time. And after loads of loads of morning washing of bedding and PJs, I figured something had to be done. I could continue to invest in overnight pullups, with modest success, or I could try a new tactic.

Cloth diapers worked well with my wetter, wasn't there a "big boy" option?

The reality is, while the web world may be abuzz about cloth diapers, there isn't much of a peep when it comes to its older pull-up cousin. It's like we don't discuss the challenges of bedwetting, even among preschoolers who may still be in daytime pull-up land. While you can find a few "potty-training" cloth pull-up options, cloth pull-ups are typically larger versions of cloth diapers in look and functionality (side snaps, etc.) And as we're keen to prove we can keep up with the 10 year olds on the block, that just wasn't going to cut it. Nevermind that the closest thing to a nighttime cloth pull-up option was just layering in more bulky inserts into a cloth diaper, creating extra bulk, an issue as we approach summer.

Yes, we're in a cloth pull-up connundrum. I searched off and on for a few weeks for any cloth overnight pull-up on the internet. Most options were on small mom vendors and most cloth pull-ups were designed for day (or non-heavy bedwetter) use, but I was able to finally find few overnight cloth pull-up choices to check out. (Happy Heinys and Super Undies were on the short list.)

After researching options on a few mom sites, I settled on a purchase of some overnight Super Undies. (Truthfully the deciding factor was after contacting the business and finding out they had some returned items, which saved us on our purchase.) And the other day, a box was waiting at our front door. Addressed to the little guy, who's always wanting the brown truck to deliver a box to him. We opened it up, and looked at the picture of the cool "big kid" who was in pull ups and a "super" cape and talked about his new cloth pull-ups. While he didn't get why the kid wanted to wear his cape, he proudly put the overnight pull-ups on that night, talking about his "Batman" pull-ups. (Whatever works.) And he slept soundly, really soundly that night, a far improvement from the accident-prone evening the night before from a disposable product sample that failed.

Was the cost of cloth pull-ups worth it? Time will tell. While overnight cloth pull-ups did cost more than my cloth diapers, they weren't considerably higher than the price of the all-in-ones I bought before. Given that you can easily spend $30 a month on overnight pull-ups/diaper solutions for preschoolers if you're not catching sales or couponing, I figure I'll make up the difference quickly. And if it saves me from a few loads of laundry or extra bags of trash. all the better!

Harvesting Hermie

We made a suprising discovery when I came back from our trip.

Upon checking our garden for peas to harvest, we found a friend or two. Nestled on our carrot leaves were two caterpillars.

"It's Hermie! It's HEERRRMIEEEE!" screeched my 3 year old. "Sissy, it's HERRRMRIIIEEE!!!"

Luckily the kids had gotten bug boxes for Easter, which meant my food containers weren't at stake this season. So we rustled up some carrot leaves, gathered the two caterpillars and brought them inside.

Those poor things are lucky to be alive.

In the last few days, they've been dropped. Bounced around by the kids at day care. Nearly starved to death as some of the leaves withered when we forgot to take the box home.

Still this morning, after replacing with fresh carrot leaves, I checked on the caterpillars a bit later. The larger of the two had managed to move the door and escape to the box's handle.

Maybe we should rename our Hermie Houdini.

Hunter's Honey Farm

Honeybees and Daisies. It's a good mix.

Today, our Daisy Girl Scout troop visited Hunter's Honey Farm in Martinsville, Ind., a drive but one well worth it. The 100-year-old honey farm had a Girl Scout day, where the Daisies could visit, see the bees in action, see how the honey gets from the comb to the table, make their own honey bear and create their own beeswax candle.

The girls were amazed to watch bees in action, see tiny bees emerge from the hive and see a young bee lick - yes, lick, fresh honey off a mom's finger. (I didn't realize bees ate honey as well as produce it.)

They learned that smoke staves off the honeybees, that the "boy bees" don't sting people, and that honey has lots of health benefits. I'm interested in testing out the theory that local honey can actually help people with allergies, any idea that sounds much better than giving my allergy-prone child a shot of Claritin every day.

It was a great afternoon, and the activities were able to entertain both my 3 year old and a friend's younger children, who have all had the chance now to make their own honey bears (a source of pride for my little guy) and candles (which were amazingly easy to make.) The honey farm offers these tours and activities on a regular basis, and the price is no worse than an afternoon at the movie or Children's Museum. They have some seasonal activities as well, like a forestry tour and a beehive tour as well.

Mother's Day Seed Cards - A Preschool-Friendly Project

Mother's Day is fast approaching, and I wanted to do something fun for the grandmothers this year. Being hours away limits my options, however.

Remembering that last year, my daughter wanted to buy her grandmothers flowers, I stumbled on an easy solution that's simple to mail and easy to make: simple watering can seed cards. This 10-minute project was a great solution for my preschooler and kindergartener to help with, as well.

I found a watering can template at Family Fun magazine and printed on some cardstock, let the children color them and then cut out the cans and slots at the top and bottom of the can. There, I inserted a small package of flower bulbs that could be planted in our region through June.

Simple to make, easy to ship, and the grandmas get flowers after all!

We also did a variation of this for the teacher appreciation week next week, which my kindergartener insisted on signing herself.

Linked to Motivation Mondays at alifeinbalance.net.

Parenting efficiency?

Efficiency as a parent?

I had to chuckle this morning reading Sweet Eventide's column on her rough adjustment to life as a working mom. Is there such a thing as efficiency as a parent?

Yes I know there are super moms out there, like my former coworker, a single mom, who juggled four kids, a job and nursing school. But chaos lately seems to rule my life.

Take the other morning, so typical of my week.

My daughter wakes me up around 6 a.m. by snuggling in my bed. A few minutes later she goes back to hers. I eventually get up.

By 6:45, I've showered, dressed and asked her to get her uniform on.

By 7, I've done diaper duty, dressed the toddler and have gently reminded my daughter that while the Barbies are now dressed, she needs to be too.

By 7:15, I have a toddler begging for breakfast and am praying for patience over my daughter, who's figured out how to get a shirt on but that's all. I order her to get dressed (which she mostly does) and head downstairs for breakfast negotiations. Negotiations fail. I get a confirmation of what the toddler wants to eat, only to have him get upset when he doesn't get the same cereal as his sister. (Nevermind that he finished off the other box.) I try to remember my own breakfast while I fix breakfasts, get refills on milk and fix a lunch despite my daughter's insistence that this week she should have an additional day of hot lunch beyond the Mondays already promised.

By 7:45, I realize I've lost my morning, despite best attempts. We scramble upstairs, attempt to locate where the Elmo toothbrush has snuck off to now, let my toddler spit into the toilet, then race back downstairs.

There, I realize that our systems have once again broken down. My daughter has no socks on. One or both kids failed to put their shoes on the shoe tray last night. The backpacks have been relocated from their spot. Somehow we make it to school on time, and I just thank God for those days I don't have to be there at a specific time.

Evenings, however, are more relaxed. We benefit from the down time offered by after-school care or the daddy-daughter time on his days out of class, but the toddler is ready to eat by the time he hits the car door on his way home. Thankfully, we've worked out a meal system to feed the beast by the time he gets home. Evenings are filled with long walks, homework (yes, even the toddler gets "homework," coloring on the backs of old school papers), story time, library visits and the occasional Thomas movie. Now that the garden is largely to bed for the season, that's one thing off the worry list.

Bedtimes, like for most parents, are a challenge, and I admit there are more days than not where we're exhausted by the time little ones are asleep! (By then, my husband is in bed as well - the result of a 4 a.m. work schedule.)

Those quiet hours (or hour) is usually spent with laundry or other "quiet" chores, but more often that not it means catching up on a growing workload.

Weekends are treasures. And while I don't offer people exciting news of travels or big nights out at the start of my Monday, I get 48 hours to savor my family without the burden of schedules. And at this age, a little less adherence to the clock is just what they need.

I admit I envy those parents who work from home (and can just pop in a load of laundry while they're working) or are at home full-time (and are exempt from the harriedness of getting young kids to and from daycare and mealtime madness at the end of the day).

But for now, our chaos works. Would I like to streamline it and remove the daily headaches? Of course! But that's what makes us real.

More fun with less

The Conscious Shopper posted the other day about having more fun and less stuff. And there's a lot of truth to that ideal.

You have less stuff, there's less time cleaning, and more time to play.

You have less stuff, there's more room for the imagination to grow.

You have less stuff, there's more appreciation of what you have.

The challenge is getting your kids to play along.

My kids have toys. Not huge amounts of toys, but there are days it feels like it. And they don't quite understand why their friends have more electronics, more dress-ups, more Barbie accessories, more movies than they do. I try to explain it's fun to play with different things at different friends' houses, but sometimes my oldest doesn't quite get it.

The idea of sharing our blessings, too, is a tough lesson to swallow. Lately I've been back on my cleaning-out kick, and we've been rustling out baby towels to toys. But any seldom-touched toy becomes "special" in a moment's instance the minute that the idea of sharing with another child comes up. Heck, we have two Chutes and Ladders games, both given as gifts, and we're having problems getting one out of the house to give to an underpriviledged child.

But at the end of the day, despite our clutter, we can - and do - have more fun with less. At the end of the day, there are but a few treasured toys that are played with each day. At the end of the day, it's those trips to go hiking or get the rare ice cream or go to a local festival that are remembered, not the days spent shopping or watching movies.

At the end of the day, we can have more fun with less. And it's just up to us as parents to sell it.

Fancy Nancy party on a budget - and no one cares

Fancy Nancy birthday parties - they're a budget-buster waiting to happen.

Yes, you can do your Fancy Nancy party all swagged out. And believe me, it's tempting. If you've read her stories, they're replete with boas, bows, sparkly things, tutus and accessories gallore. Truthfully, a call to excess.

But we kicked up the creativity and with a little help from the second-hand shop, had a Fancy Nancy tea party where the guests were crying about leaving three hours later. Here's how we did it:

Invest in fine china. Or not so fine. It doesn't matter whether your dishes match or not. We went to Goodwill and bought tea cups, china plates, cordial glasses for mini parfait glasses, and linens, all at a price likely cheaper than disposable plates with curly-headed girls on them. Tres fancy. (The best part? No worries about it being broken, and they've been "returned" to Goodwill as freshly washed donations.)

Design it for dress-ups. Let's be honest. Every little girl's fancy dress gets worn once or twice and handed down to someone else. And we had more Sunday dresses than we knew what to do with (even with donating quite a few of them already). So we purposely hung on to a half-dozen or so, laid them out in my daughter's room, and let the girls who didn't come tea-party ready dress up if they desired.

Have a "fancy" feast. Our "tea sandwiches" were nothing more than flower-shaped peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. The girls also enjoyed mini fruit kebabs on toothpicks, jelly roll sandwiches and cut vegetables and dip. Dessert was cupcakes and a make-your-parfait bar. A simple menu tweaked to be fancy enough for five year olds.

Tap into those creative juices. Let your guests design something fancy, as opposed to just giving them a bag of lip glosses and plastic clip-on earrings. Preschool and early school-age girls are into doing their hair already, and so we bought plain headbands and jewel stickers for them to make their own fancy headbands. It kept them busy for a few minutes, and it gave them something fun and mildly useful to take home.

Watch the waste. Yes, I sprung for boas at the craft store, but realized that those 6-foot boas really could be cut in half for each girl. (Cheaper, and safer too.) And we opted to cut a craft I'd considered, simply because I forgot to prep it. (But really, did we need paper butterfly placemats? It wasn't missed.)

Let the good times roll. Sometimes, the best things are unplanned. I really regret the fact I didn't get photos of the girls, in their fancy dresses, when they ran outside for an impromptu game of soccer.

Was the party a success? I think so. My daughter thinks so. Worse, she's already put in a request for next year: a "Mamma Mia" party.

Fancy Nancy party prep: Gearing up for the big day

Fancy Nancy tea party. It's all we have talked about in our home for weeks. What to make. What to do. How to decorate. And today, the big day arrives.

And we're ready, or close to it. Our dining room will be fabulously decorated by my soon-to-be 5 year old, who was given free rein at Goodwill to do her best. So she shopped. And shopped. And shopped last Saturday.

She bought tea cups. And china plates. And pink cloth napkins. And a flowery tablecloth. And a tea pot. And cobalt-blue votive candle holders. And cordial glasses for her parfaits. And a stem of silk yellow flowers, shooting me a look of "This is non-negotiable."

I chuckle at her decisions and wonder to myself how in the world is this going to look. But I realize in the end, it's her party. And she has a definite idea of where it's going!

Paying for parties: Now I get it

Shelling out two, three hundred dollars or more to celebrate your child's birthday was something I didn't get.

Until I had kids.

Somehow, the existence of the plural - that second child - and the realities of how quickly they could rip up your home made that party place concept all make sense. We don't want people in our homes, because we're terrified for people to see them. And, frankly, parties take work. The planning, the shopping, the cooking...and frankly, as a society, we're a want-it-now people, and we want to skip to the good stuff.

But here's the deal. The process can be just as fun as the main event. Take Christmas. I for one, love the preparations, the waiting, the expectations. And frankly, the unwrapping of gifts is only a few minutes of the entire season. I feel the same this year for my daughter.

For weeks we've talked about the Fancy Nancy tea party extraordinairre. And while page after page of Web sites share over-the-top ways to swag up your daughters, from swag bags overflowing with gifts and makeovers to fanciful, flowing tulle everywhere, we're taking a lower-key tone to the affair. But to her, it doesn't matter. At the end of the day, she's having a tea party with her friends. And the company is what counts.

Greener giving and the preschooler: Is it possible?

This weekend marks the first of a series of birthday parties my oldest is invited to. And each party, while an excuse for a play date, brings the problem of present shopping.

In our family, smart shopping is the way we do things. We watch prices. We watch the plastic and the pieces. We pay attention to our kids' likes and dislikes. We try to buy responsibly. I confess that even Santa shopped a few times at the kids resale shop this year. But what happens when your kid is presenting the present? Do the rules change?

What do you do when your child, with all the love in her heart, announces she wants to wrap up her Care Bear for her friend because "she just loves blue"? Tell her no, that some people don't want hand-me-down gifts? Present the gift, but quietly explain to the mom the reason why her daughter's getting a used toy? Steer her to something different, like a nice book?

I'll leave it to you all: What would you do? I'm open to any ideas on how to approach this.