St. Patrick's Day Traditions

My husband and I decided to start a St. Patrick's Day tradition about three years ago.  We wanted a tradition that is special to our family and won't interfere with other family traditions and plans.  His ancestry is:  Greek, Dutch, and Indonesian.  My ancestry is mostly Scotch-Irish, though my family just celebrates American holidays and traditions.

That first year, we decided to cut out green leprechaun footprints and make a trail through the house from the front door, though the living room, over the kitchen table, through the kitchen, and out the back door.  We sprinkled confetti and glitter over the trail of footprints.  Our leprechauns also leave a treat for the kids, usually a green candy and a juice.  The kids were 2 and 4 at the time, so we did this while they took a nap and they woke up to the leprechaun trail.

I almost forgot that it was St. Patrick's Day today!  The kids are next door at a birthday party right now, so I decided to make the leprechaun trail.  Since I almost forgot and I don't know how soon they'll be back, I used glittery shamrock table decorations and confetti.  I can't wait until they come home and find the leprechaun trail!

Do you have any special St. Patrick's Day traditions?

Thanks for reading!

 ~Vanessa

Clothing Swap Update

The kids and I had the opportunity last weekend to help out with their school's first Clothing Swap.  It was a great opportunity to go through my clothes and the kids' clothes.  I had gone through our clothes at the beginning of the school year, so there were only a few things that the kids had outgrown or I had missed.  I filled up a garbage bag with women's clothes, however.  I had gotten rid of the clothes that I wouldn't wear again due to the style.  I am tall and not at all into short shirts.  I had inherited clothes from my mother-in-law and one of my dad's friends.  They were all really nice, but I am nearly a foot taller than these ladies, so I donated these clothes.

I was there to donate my time and give back to their school (and my old one, as well) and my community.  I actually felt guilty taking a few items.  It was a rainy morning, so there wasn't a big turnout.  The leftover items were going to a local thrift store, so they really wanted to give as many items away for free as they could.  I got a few things for the kids.  I found one shirt that I liked, but I accidentally left it there.  Oh well.  I got a couple of items for my young half-sisters, also.

I hope that they try this again and I will be sure to save my kids' hand-me-downs.  I don't have friends with kids that are older than mine, so I never get a chance to get hand-me-downs.  I used to give my son's hand-me-downs to a neighbor boy that is three years older than him.  However, that boy is now nearly as tall as him and a little chubbier than mine, so they are in the same size of clothes.  I typically give my daughter's hand-me-downs to a local clothing bank.

Thanks for reading!

 ~Vanessa

Clothing Swap

My son's teacher is organizing the first annual clothing swap at the kids' elementary school.  I think that this is a great cause and we donated the items that the kids and I outgrew or just didn't wear any more.  I went through the kids' clothes at the beginning of the school year and donated their clothes that were too small at that time.  My daughter and I will be helping out and volunteering at this event.

I typically donate clothes to the local St. Vincent de Paul's clothing bank.  I like the idea of my kids' hand-me-downs going to someone that can really use it and getting them for free.  The problem with clothing banks, though, is that clothes can sit there for a long time if no one is in need of that size of clothes.  I like that about this clothing swap, though.  My kids are in Kindergarten and and second grade, so I'm sure that there will be kids their size that will get use out of their hand-me-downs.

I don't really have any friends with kids that are older (and bigger around) than my kids, so we don't get to be recipients of hand-me-downs.  The few kids in our neighborhood that are bigger than my kids have large families, so there is little that makes it long enough to become a hand-me-down.  I used to give my son's hand-me-downs to a neighbor boy that is three years younger than him, but that kid is about his size now.

The only thing that I would change about this clothing swap is where the leftover clothing will be donated.  I'd rather they go to a clothing bank, but they will be donated to a thrift store, instead.  I still think that this is a great idea and will benefit children that really need it.

Thanks for reading!

 ~ Vanessa

Wrapping Cookie Boxes

My daughter decided that she wanted to wrap the boxes of Girl Scout cookies that were ordered through the pre-sale.  We decided to wrap them in ribbon to present them to her customers.  We mixed up the ribbons.  Some were spring colors and some were Seahawks colors.  After all, they did win the Superbowl :)

I attached a thank you note and curled the ribbon at the end.  I'm pretty happy with how they turned out.

Thanks for reading!

 ~Vanessa

First Science Night for Girl Scouts

I usually plan a craft night for the last meeting of the month for Girl Scouts, but I decided to try out a science night, instead for this month.  We had also made Valentine's SWAPs earlier in the month, so I wanted to do something different.

Before the meeting, I went outside and gathered natural water pollutants (dirt, grass, leaves, and acorns), put them in a Mason jar, and filled the rest of the jar up with water.  I put a second empty jar next to it and draped a washcloth in between them to show water filtration.  Sure enough, it actually worked!  There were only a few drops of water, though, so if I ever do that again in the future, I'll start an hour or two before the meeting.  Magnifying glasses would be a fun addition, too.  I'll have to show them the picture to show them that it really worked.

We may explore how to purify water another time, as I would not want to drink the filtered dirty water.

While that was starting to filter, we explored water molecules.  My son had brought home Scientist in a Bag, which consisted of several books with experiments.  For the water molecules exploration, I had three jars, one with cold water, one with warm water, and one with hot water.  I added a little purple food coloring (since purple is my daughter's favorite color) to each jar.  The cold water jar's dye clumped together at the top.  The warm water jar's dye clung to the sides more.  The hot water jar's dye quickly separated and spread throughout the jar.  I further explained water molecule's movement by having them move around inside of a hula hoop.  When only one girl was inside the hula hoop, there was lots of room for movement and energy for heat, but not so much when all 5 girls were inside the hula hoop.

Lastly, we planted carrot seeds inside an empty Gatorade jug that I had.  They helped fill the jug, examined the seeds, and planted them.  Again, I'm really wanting magnifying glasses now.

Thanks for reading!

 ~Vanessa

Getting Ready for the Blue and Gold Banquet

Tomorrow is my son's B&G Banquet.  I really like how they make it fairly potluck-style.  His den is responsible for desserts, so the hubby came up with an idea of brownies with M&Ms inside and M&Ms and sprinkles on top.  I was also asked to make two of the table centerpieces.  This year's theme is the Olympics.  I went with red, white, and blue balloon weights surrounded by a gold garland.  They kinda remind me of sparklers, so I like how they turned out.

Thanks for reading!

 ~ Vanessa

Wolf Cub Scout Requirement 4E

My son's Den Leader modified this requirement, as he wanted proof of it, so he had everyone just keep track of the boys' chores for a month.  I am usually pretty creative and use a ruler to draw out a chart on bright construction paper.  This time, I decided to be a little more tech-savy and use Excel to keep track and chart his chores for the month.  I'm a big fan of Excel, especially when I get to play around with color schemes.  However, for this particular project, I am printing it off at the library, where the printer is black and white, so my primary objective with the data is legibility, instead of various shades of gray with hard to read words.  So, this isn't my prettiest work, but it's functional.

How did you keep track of your son's progress for this?

 ~ Vanessa