Archive | April 2013

Reuse, Recycle, RESPONSIBLE

April 24-25

Just like I promised, more Dirty Jobs today… Mattress Recycler (Season 4, Episode 7) where they… recycle mattresses (and remove old abandoned boats) can be watched (with Prime) for free on Amazon HERE. Our second episode was Chinatown Garbage Collector (Season 1, Episode 4) again Amazon (Prime for free) HERE.

Nana and Baba took just Trinity and Emanuel out for the morning, once they finished their letter and word practice of course!! It is so quiet with just 3 of the kids here! Especially when the twins are busy watching their Dirty Jobs.

We have continued our discussion with a list of things you can recycle…

  1. bottles and cans
  2. paper and cardboard
  3. glass
  4. metal
  5. toilets
  6. paint
  7. old toys/teddies… repurpose OR gift
  8. wood
  9. mattresses
  10. plastic
  11. food (compost)

We have always been aware of the good you can do by passing things along and have not only been a passer but a passee. (Is that even a term??) There is no reason that a handmedown should be refused if it is useful! When we use what we or someone else already has we are making a smaller footprint and extending the life of items that would otherwise fill up our landfills.

Our Earth Week related book of the day (and the last one I have that is not a chapter book) is Earth Day from the Let’s See company. This book is by Marc Tyler Nobleman. Today, in honour of conservation we did NOT print off anything specifically for this book or do a special page. Instead, we discussed what we learned and added to our list of things you can recycle on the back of our large brown paper page.. this paper is full up of information, both sides and once we are done will be used for a craft and then recycled. The kids are so proud of how we use BOTH sides of everything (scratch paper or scrap paper we call it here… so I can write out the sentences they tell me for them to in turn copy). We certainly cannot be paper free here but we are doing our best to make each scrap count! I am still determined to make paper with the kids this summer. We just need to get together our supplies and a sunny weekend for Ken to join in!

Earth Day

Our chapter book had a list of things the kids in the story needed to do to be a part of the Green Club… 10 things to conserve and clean the earth… Out of the 10 we have one left on the list to accomplish! Pick up 10 pieces of garbage. How many do you do on the list?

  1. Use recycled items to make crafts
  2. Turn off the lights, computers, etc
  3. Turn off the water when you brush your teeth
  4. Use reusable bottles for water (we use cups in the bathroom)
  5. Pick up 10 pieces of trash (our mission!)
  6. Bike or walk to school. We count this as done as we walk to parks, walk around the house and run outside for fun!
  7. Use cloth bags at the grocery store (we also added in that when we get plastic or paper we use them for other things… I have a ball of plarn waiting for time to learn how to make something with it!)
  8. Use BOTH sides of the paper… of course!!
  9. Use cloth towels instead of paper in the kitchen
  10. Take showers over baths (or if you are going to take a LOOONG time in the tub take that bath we agreed that a bath soak would use LESS water but showers ARE faster)
We did one of our two recycled 2 L bottle crafts… one will have to wait until the weekend and ken having more time. Our first craft is towards the end of the video list… a rain gauge. Now there are all sorts of problems with it, I am curious if we will keep up our initial water level… will it give a good reading? But that’s what an experiment is all about right???

With rain gauge

The twins and I took a moment to return to our penguin roots and look at an extra book. Without Emanuel I did not want to cover the next chapter in Mr. Popper’s Penguins. Our book was I am a Penguin by Karen Durrie. The twins took turns reading the book to me… we came upon a surprising fact that we had not seen before: “I keep my feathers dry with oil from my tail.” Definitely new to us!

I am a Penguin

Reading Together

We also made our very own penguin finger puppets. You can follow our instructions HERE. Though Ken winged it with his pieces and made his own pattern. Of course we had to wait to show them off properly until the next day.

Our pieces

Assembly

Penguins!

We had another penguin book as well… My Penguin Osbert by Elizabeth Cody Kimmel. We got together and drew an amazing penguin habitat!

Habitat

We were creative all over the place… the boys continued work on their boat… the girls made block towers…

Towers in pastels

I finished my infinity scarf and made it well… infinite! You can find the pattern I used HERE. Thanks to my Facebook friend Keith for the suggestion AND all the support while I worked it out!

Sorry about the picture.. I was so excited to finish it that I took it in my pj’s

We are certainly getting our earth facts down!!! I think next year when we do Earth Day/Week we will focus some time on what the earth is actually made of and its place in the universe as well!

Of course ECHO believes SHE is the center of the universe… and who are we to say she isn’t? hehe

Click Click Goes the Shutter

In the sweater Aunty Karyn made Trinity

Sorry about the random pictures… and older ones  at that! But the weekend got away from me and I didn’t even post on Sunday!!!

Happy St. Patrick’s Day (Zander left)

Adorably lucky

One of my blue eyed boys

What did we ever do before digital???

Enjoying the view

Quinn and Little Lily

Sit and Sip

Chopstick practice

Pretty in Spring Prints

From the back

Very Audrey Hepburn

Colouring

Murder at Honeysuckle Hotel… A Book Review

This Trash to Treasure Crafting Mystery by Rose Pressey is the first in a new series. Murder at Honeysuckle Hotel focuses on Raelynn Pendleton. A recent divorcee she is attempting to fit in in a small town full of seemingly small minds for the most part. Being divorced is definitely not seen with favour. Raelynn lives in a boarding house with one small room and works at the local equivalent of a grocery store. When she unexpectedly inherits a Victorian home with the death of a regular customer and somewhat friend. With a little TLC and some trash to treasure make overs (instructions included in the story!) she is well on her way to a home and a business… a hotel!

How else can a girl with little to no experience make a living and still manage to support such a large and potentially beautiful home? (be it ever so dated… for now). With a murder in the backyard, a cranky neighbour, a town against her and a hot sheriff in her sights, Murder at Honeysuckle Hotel has Raelynn hopping! There is romance, a cozy mystery and instructions on how you too can create treasures out of trash. Definitely a fun first in a series.

But here’s the minor criticisms… I do have to admit I would have loved a bit more storyline with the sheriff. I was confused about how at one point she met him WITH her ex but at another he says he lost her TO her ex BUT there is enough going on to keep my interest. Definitely not a town I would personally want to visit or live in when you figure in how instantly the town turned against anyone new… or remotely new for that matter.

The main character is off in fantasy world every time the sheriff walks in the room (which was not frequently enough for my liking within the storyline and relationship progression). The flavour of the author is there but this is definitely not my favourite first in a series of hers. So if you can’t quite get into this one do try her other books! Her author site is right HERE. Good luck!