Snowed In

My favorite four year old had a great idea this morning:

"Hey, Mom! I know what we could do for breakfast! We could have a picnic! Inside! In our jammies! With peanut butter and honey sandwiches!"

Of course we can!

Where Did Fall Go?

I think I'm about one season behind. All summer I kept thinking to myself, "Why is it so hot? It's only spring!" I'm grateful I didn't say that out loud to anyone because then I realized what an idiot I am. Then even though fall is my favorite season I just didn't get all that excited because I didn't actually believe summer was coming to an end. I completely missed enjoying autumn because I was in denial. So finally after the blizzard of the century over the past two days I realized there is no denying it is finally winter. So how fitting is it that I am posting my favorite fall time harvest pictures? Quite fitting in my opinion.

The girls and I love riding in the beet truck with my Mom every October. We always have a blast and her treat stash never fails to please. Thanks Mom!

Exploring in the Land of Me

I found out about Land of Me while reading Made By Joel (which by the way is a cool blog). The girls and I got hooked on it after they offered the first chapter as a free download.

Can I just tell you how much I love it?

Each of the six chapters has a creative theme: Shape, Size and Color, The World Outside, Making Things, Rhythm and Dance, Songs and Rhymes, and Story Time. It reminds me of those "choose your adventure" books I used to read as a kid. I would read them over and over to get all the different story lines. In the Land of Me you choose certain elements of the story/character/creation/song depending on which chapter you're in and it is so much fun to sit back and watch your creation come to life. Each time the girls and I explore the Land of Me we find new things we hadn't noticed before. Ellie gets so excited to see what she can create in each

chapter. In the upper right-hand corner there are questions and facts to promote discussions and we've had a lot of fun and interesting talks about what's going on on screen. Also, along with each chapter is a menu of activities to print out and do on your own. There is also a blog that has fun activities and projects to do with your kids. The possibilities are seemingly endless.

I love the illustrations, the music, the creativity, the characters, the voices, everything about the Land of Me. It is worth every penny I have spent. The first chapter is free and each one after that is around $11 or you can get all six chapters for just under $50. I know it sounds like a lot but I bought them one at a time over a course of about four months so it wasn't too bad.

Just a sidenote: The Made in Me company who created the Land of Me is based in the United Kingdom so if you decide you want to buy any or all of the chapters with your credit card, I highly recommend calling your credit card company first to let them know you'll be making an overseas purchase or they may suspect credit card fraud and they may put a freeze on your account until they speak to you. I'm just saying.

Here are some screen shots I took while the girls and I were playing the other day. There are a lot but I couldn't pick a favorite and I want you to get good idea of what this program is like. I recommend you downloading at least the first chapter to see for yourself. I promise you won't be disappointed.

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The home screen. We were playing in the evening, hence the darkness and fireflies. If you play in the daytime, the home screen shows daytime.

Chapter One activities

Land of Me map

Making things!

The world outside

Songs and rhymes

Rhythm and dance

Story time with Granny Olive

I am hoping they will come out with more chapters or another interactive game or anything. I love everything they have come up with so far!

edited to add: I just found out they just came out with the Land of Me on CD-ROM. Cool huh?

What's a Nerd?

Ellie: Mom, how do dinosaurs throw up?

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Ellie: What itches cats?

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Ellie: Is the sky squishy?

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Ellie: Will you turn on the warm conditioner? I'm freezing cold.

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Ellie: Grandma, can I brush my teeth in your bathroom?

Rob's Mom: Sure. Here's your toothbrush, you can go to town.

Ellie: Oh no, my mom doesn't want to go anywhere tonight.

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Ellie: Mom, what's a nerd?

Me: What do you mean? (I wasn't sure if she was asking about the candy or a type of person)

Ellie: On tv someone said, "You're getting on my nerds."

I giggle and send her downstairs to ask Rob so he can have a good laugh too.

Ellie: (later that day) Mom, you're getting on my nerds.

The Hunting Party

Sometimes it's hard for us to find time to hang out together as a family. I know it will only get worse the older our kids get so I really shouldn't complain. But it's kind of fun to get creative in finding ways to be together. For example, in the late summer Rob would go out on the desert in the evenings to look for elk to prepare for archery season. Since he is such an awesome husband and father, he would invite us to go with him. And because we would normally get back way after their bedtime, we would get the girls in their jammies and head out on the desert. I'm sure the girls and I scared away more elk than we saw but we had so much fun together and Ellie got really good at spotting elk and antelope.

Our favorite Ellie quote from our hunting expeditions:

Do elks like cheerios?

Ellie in her "little kid hunting pants" - her words, not mine :)

New Favorite

The girls and I can't get enough of this song. I love everything about it :)

Ellie + Grandma + The Cabin = Awesome Weekend!

Rob's mom took just me and the girls to the cabin a little while ago and we had so much fun!
We stopped at Bear World on the way there and saw elk, bison, moose, black bears, and grizzly bears. Ellie loved the petting zoo and wanted to go on the rides over and over. Piper kept pointing out the window yelling, "What's that?" over and over. They loved it. Over the weekend we went hiking, ate ice cream in West, got giant suckers at the candy store, spent lots of time at the book store, caught guppies, and drank hot chocolate.

Pictures and a video to prove it :)

Untitled from Monica Hemsley on Vimeo.

I love Ellie's reaction to one of the animals - I can't remember what it was.