Composting!

Shayleigh's been doing a great job tending to her garden. Now that we've been eating a lot of vegetables from the garden, we've been starting to compost the scraps and the ones that didn't survive. Shayleigh was interested in what composting was, so we looked it up on Grammy's Ipad.

We can do this!

She read about Composting for Kids. It's a neat little slideshow that explained what composting is, how she can help, what to put in the bin, and what not to put in the bin. She is already huge on recycling (it's one of her "chores" to put the day's recycling in the bins outside), so this was easy for her to understand the importance and want to be involved.

So off to get our composting bin. We got this one at Target. It has a step lid opening and removable basket. I think we got it for around $15!

Ready to see what's inside?

Gross!

Really pretty excited.

You coming?

It's by the edge of the property.

Our FREE bin. They were giving these away at the Fair last year.

Grass clippings were already in there.

The bin is just the right height.

Dump!

Do not throw in plastic bags! There are biodegradable bags for composting pails- Biobags, but we haven't found them in the stores here. So for now, we use old Target bags and then rinse them out and recycle them in the bins outside the grocery store.

She did her part!

I'm liking that as Shay is getting older, she is wanting to take on more responsibility. And she is learning how to take care of the Earth.

What happens if you give a fake dog a bath?

So, if you don't have one of these Leapster 2 things, you are missing out. I know there is a newer one, but for me, this L2 has been a lifesaver. It really helped ease the 13 hour drive we took down to Georgia a couple years ago- with headphones of course. Without headphones my head spins with Dora singing Chocolate, Chocolate, Chocolate over again (and I much prefer the Spanish version.) If you have said Dora game, you know what I am talking about. Anyways, even though we've had the games forever, she is just starting to get really into Pet Pals.

What is Pet Pals? To be honest, I don't really know. Maybe this guy knows:

Yep, Pop is excited!

He's taking notes.

What I do know is that there are dogs, and Shay has to take care of them. She has challenges in order to get points. Shay was on a mission to get to "Guardian" level. She sure was determined. She played over and over again. I even found her one morning still in bed playing.

See the determination?

This is her dog.

She barely acknowledged I was in the room.

Am I worried about her being addicted? No. After she finally reached "Guardian, " she found out that one of her duties was to give the dog a bath. So she turned the game off. I asked her later what had happened and she said, "Mom, I don't want to give the dog a bath." I don't know why.

It's only been a few days. We'll see how long that dog stays stinky.

How did I know she would be an early reader?

It all started at 4 months!

Sure the book is upside down. But I've since learned that she CAN actually read upside down.

Cake Mix Cookies

We bought some 4th of July cake mix for the 4th, but Pop Pop had a colonoscopy on the 5th and couldn't eat anything the day before, nor could he eat anything the 3rd with red dye. So we didn't make the cake that weekend. Well life gets in the way and we forgot all about it. Yesterday we had a hankering for cupcakes, but then discovered we didn't have any liners. What to do? What to do? So we decided to make Cake Mix Cookies. It's really simple.

Ready?

 You need Cake mix, 2 eggs, and 1/2 cup oil. Really, that's all you need.!

Or if you only have one egg (oops), you can use egg replacement powder, which luckily we had!

Adding mix.

We crack eggs in a separate bowl, that way if shells get in there, they are not all in the mix.

Nice job, Shay!

Vegetable Oil.

Stirring.

Sprinkles!

Rolling into balls.

Looking good.

Then smoosh them a little.

Bake 350 degrees for 10 minutes. Makes 36 cookies.

Add frosting if desired!

Gotta have BLUE frosting on these!

And how were they?

Awesome!

Shayleigh, how does your garden grow?

Things are growing over here! She's been patiently waiting for bunches of fresh veggies! Here's the progress so far:

Grammy's garden (l), Shay's garden (r)

Grammy's garden is growing nearly as tall as Shay!

Lotsa Green!

Closer look.

Cherry Tomatoes!

Tending or Harvesting?

Score!

Lookie!

Yummy!

Scrambed States of America!

Sometime last year on one of our weekly library visits, Shay came across The Scrambled States of America by Laurie Keller. Wow! To say this book has been a life changer is an understatement. She lives and breathes this book. The library also has a video we watched numerous times on the computer. For Christmas and her birthday, she got The Scrambled States of America Talent Show and The Scrambled States Game. She can tell you which character says what in the book, their personalities, etc. These "characters" have really cemented what we studied this past year in our United States Curriculum "Across the States".  Recently, she's been REALLY into the game. And I must say, I only barely let her win. She is getting faster and faster at responding.

LOVE THIS GAME!

The Game set up for 2 people.

Each player gets 5 State cards and a map.

There can be as many as 4 players, but we play it with 2. Each one of us gets 5 cards, which are placed facing up in front of each player as well as a map. In the middle are 2 decks. The blue deck contains the other states and the red deck contains the game cards. These have things written on them like "Capital starts with S or T" or "Nickname contains the name of a plant or animal" and each player needs to look at the cards in front of them and see if they have a state that matches what the game cards say. The first person to yell out their state gets to keep that state card in a pile and gets another state from the blue deck.

Capital starts with S or T.

Topeka! Kansas!

Each card has the state name, capital, and nickname.

This game keeps going until the blue deck is exhausted. At the end of the game, the person with the most states in their keep pile wins. I'd say she wins 80% of the time. I give her extra time to find a card if she needs to. Sometimes I can't win the hand because let's say it asks for a capital with A or B, and I don't have a state that does, obviously I can't win that round. There are a few variations on the game, which we will move on to once she's mastered this level.

I'm the winner!

 We seriously have played this game every day. Pretty soon, I'm not going to have to let her win.