HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!!!!!!!

Fun with FUNKINS!


BOO!!!!!

Thanks for all the great book recommendations! I've got a few on my list now. I think I'm going to go with Pillars of the Earth, by Ken Follett.

AND THE WINNER OF THE SECOND NEW YORK CITY SCHMUNSKY GIVEAWAY IS

YELLOWDOG GRANNY!!!!!!!!!!

Got recommendations?!?

OK! Long flights in small seats! I'm looking for a kick-ass book or two to read! I'm not into formula Daniel Steel type stuff and prefer fiction right now, but non-fiction is ok, if it's engrossing. I'm looking for something that will grab me and suck me right in. I'm dying to devour a book again the way I did Children of God by Mary Doria Russell. It had everything. Astounding character build-up, erudition, humor, time paradox, politics, socio-cultural anthropology, archaeology and biological anthropology, religion, and sci-fi excitement.

Anyone have some great recommendations?!?!? If you haven't left a comment yet HERE, I'll add your name to the NYC schmunsky prize giveaway if you give a recommendation!

So here are the results of Sunday's labors:

Dollhouse #2!

My own design. I love the organicy-ness of it and there's plenty of room for many little hands. I made this for the Aurora Waldorf School's auction this weekend. The rest of Lo's class worked on birch bark furniture for it! We won't be there on Saturday and I can't wait to see pictures! Huz was a HUGE help handling the mathematic calculations, assembly, and such! He came up with the idea for a natural branch post.

Pumpkins!

Dea did an amazing job on her witch and Lo picked this interesting cat inside a ghost pattern. Yesterday I bought a Funkin and I have big plans for that thing.

And...Punkin seeds. They're just about gone now.

Great TRAVEL ideas for entertaining KIDS!

*

The Cheesy NYC schmunsky giveaway winner is....ANET!!!!!!!!

A HUGE thank you to everyone for their great ideas for traveling with kids!!!!!! Here's just a few of the clever ideas we're going to try:

From ANET at Purple Squirrel: We love to play "create a creature drawing game" when we have to sit still a long time. On a pad a paper, one person starts out drawing a part of the creature. Say the head, then you pass it to the next person and they add one part to the creature, and then the next person and around and around it goes. It's fun to see what becomes of it with a bit of every-one's imagination added to it. You can do different version of this, say a cat or what ever. Tracing hands a decorating them is also fun!

Dennise at Mom in Madison: Oh, and puppets. A silk makes a great 'stage' and a few puppets (finger puppets are small enough to pack) are fun - we even take turns. One person starts the story...and each person takes over the puppet show and has to continue where the other person left off.

Lizz at red dirt mother: I could entertain kis with the barf bag for hours and I would for sure be making collages from the inflight mags. Face painting, hairbraiding, cartoon reading.
Tammy at Little Home Big Love: How about a small gift for each girl for each hour you will be on the plane? Wrap them all up in fun paper, and they can each unwrap one per hour to give them something to look forward to and keep them busy.

Seattle Mom: A cookie sheet tucked in the back of your carry on with raised sides (doesn't need to be the large size, go for the small size) holds everything on the drop down tray or better yet, you can avoid the drop down tray all together which helps the person in front of you stay sane. A tiny DVD player and NEW unseen DVDS....

Ruth at synch-ro-ni-zing: Well, my mom gave the kids several cards to be opened at intervals. So my idea to you is to have the stuff you want to take - generated from these ideas and your own - and have them marked with specific times and places on them: TO BE OPENED at _____ o'clock or in the air over _________. Also, having a map of your route can be fun (course they have those on the plane too).

Theresa from Lapazfarm Home Learning: ...a felt board and some dyed wool roving is fun to make pictures with.

Mamaofsugarpies at Oh My Sugar Pie: My husband has used the barf bags to make puppets, we usually take a variety of card games (Rat-a-tat-cat is a great one) and small toys and LOTS of snacks.

Anthromama : Coloring books, sticker books, those little magnetic scenes, funky gel pens, etc. My kids love office supplies :) For our upcoming cross-country drive (not just a plane flight: it's FIVE DAYS) I got my son (almost 6 yo) one of those metal potholder looms.

AAAAND! I scored a $40 (was $175) portable DVD player from a hippy dude through CRAIGSLIST(LOVE that place!!!) Surprise, HUZ, you get to use it on your flight to Seattle!!!

Thanks again, all!!!! We leave in 10 hours for New Jersey, Connecticut, NYC and SUN.

Random Integer Generator
Here are your random numbers:1
Timestamp: 2008-08-04 14:57:54 UTC

*Photo courtesy of Homeslice's Scott Diussa Photography