Today's Goodness

Today's box of veggies and fruits were delivered just a few minutes ago; I didn't take a picture this time, but what we received was:

5 sweet potaotes
2 broccoli crowns
1 container (pint) yellow cherry tomatoes
1 head of romaine lettuce
6 zucchini
1 container blueberries
6 gala apples
1 mango (organic from Florida)
1 bunch of bananas

They always give me great recipes to go with the deliveries, today's recipes that were included are:

Blueberry Coffee Cake Muffins (Amy, that ones for you!!)
Risotto with Corn, Zucchini and Green Pepper
Sweet Potato Black Bean Enchiladas

I'm eager to try the enchilada's... and maybe I'll cheat bigtime and make those muffins! I may substitute the sour creme for fat free and use skim milk, and try them with 1/2 white and 1/2 wheat flour... Wheat flour is much more dense, so it's seems to work better when I bake if I mix it with a bit of white flour. If anyone has a good suggestion on how to cook with wheat only, I'm all ears!! I usually portion it out.... I make my pancakes w/ buckwheat flour and they definately require special attention!!

Wordless Wednesday - hangin around

Jump Start review & giveaway

When I was contacted with the opportunity to review JumpStart, honestly, I was a little hesitant. We really encourage learning through play for our youngest, but it’s unrealistic for me to say or think that my 3yo has no interest in a computer or video game. Technology, mainly video games, can be consuming, and it’s just not something we use as a form of entertainment for long periods of time. With both parents working from home right now, we do our best to schedule our time(s) on the computer around naps and bedtimes for kids, both kids are aware and know what a computer is!! The little guy (3 years old) also sees his big brother play games on Xbox and often feels like he wants to give it a try. He was a little excited when I told him mommy had a “game” on the computer for him to try.

Our main focus was the area geared toward 3-5 year olds. At first, I noticed a few setbacks with delay on mouse communication with the computer and wondered if it was my laptop, so I installed it on my desktop and it worked fine. So it must be a lag with the mouse pad on a laptop. Otherwise, controlling the game was a breeze. Making the avatar/character was fun for my 3yo and it required little help once I showed him how to point and click. Then, once in Story Land, my 3 year old was excited to hear familiar songs in the Theatre! He also enjoyed planting flowers all through Story Land.

I how the program Incorporated memory games, puzzles, and sorting sizes (big to small) as this goes along with things we’re learning at home with hands on activities through play, so when we were able to access those areas of the game it was 2nd nature and seemed familiar fun for our 3year old! As far as how often we’d use this program, I’d say maybe 1-3 times a week for 15 minutes at a time would be plenty for our little guy. He seems satisfied with the game being a special treat and I like that it goes hand in hand with things he’s learning through play at home and in the community.

There’s a Fun for Parents link that takes you to the Jump Start blog, I was so excited to see fun art project ideas, and experiments to do with the kids. Both of my kids will enjoy these types of activities and I like having a ‘rainy day’ option available to me!! If it’s messy outside we can learn how to get a hardboiled egg in a glass bottle OR we can get ideas for family game night and even learn how to make cuisine critters!! One other thing I noticed is that Jump Start is soon to release Jump Start for the Wii!

A big thanks to Jump Start for my membership and review; it’s been fun for me and the kids to work our way through the entire site of learning and activities - even our soon to be 6th grader enjoyed navigating through the site. The site has vibrant colors, clear speaking voices, easy directions to follow, and offers a wide variety of skills and learning tools. Overall, I’d say it was well received at my house!!

Jump Start has offered a 3 month free membership giveaway to one person who comments on this review. The comment will be picked at random by using a random number generator, so if you’re interested in winning a 3 month subscription go to Jump Start and take a look around then come back here and leave a comment about why you think JumpStart would be fun for your house! You can also earn additional entries by: grabbing my button, and/or you can tweet about this giveaway, be sure to add @bassackwardsmom in your tweet so your entry will count! Contest ends 06.17.09. Official giveaway rules can be found here.

another year

Today is my dad's birthday! I was so excited to be part of a birthday surprise!! A room was filled with friends, family, co-workers, and church friends - all to celebrate my dad. Amazing.

As I sat and watched a room of people talk about, appreciate, love and celebrate my dad's 65 years I couldn't have been more proud that he's my dad, and he's still here for me to celebrate with. MY dad has outlived HIS dad's age. My grandpa died when he was 64. So to be honest, given our family history (especially with men) of heart disease, I don't believe my dad ever thought he'd live to see 65.

With another year behind him, another birthday celebrated, we have another reason to be grateful that we have been blessed with all these memories and these times together. I hope there are many more to come...

Happy Birthday Dad!

What greater thing is there for human souls than to feel that they are joined for life - to be with each other in silent unspeakable memories.

~George Eliot

we had a blast...

... after friends and family left, we hung out and waited on the big fireworks to begin. We sat on the patio and enjoyed 4 different big shows from around the neighborhood... big E and I talked alot about the history of July 4, and what it means. He was very educated in the subject, even told me a few things that I didn't remember!! I was proud that he understood the meaning, but at the same time - they're kids and we totally enjoyed the beautiful firework displays. Little J really enjoyed the screaming ones... it was funny hearing him describe those each time they went up.

Overall, we had a wonderful evening filled with family and friends... right there in our little backyard!

On this day...

(this is a photo of a dear friend of mine during his tour in Iraq)

while we celebrate with friends and/or family... let us not forget why we have our freedom. Let us also not forget those who still fight for it everyday.

You can visit HERE and learn how to send your support to any soldier overseas, any time. There's also a quick and easy online option HERE to send thanks...

My friend, who's pictured above, is someone I've known for 12 years - we've worked together for some time. He re-enlisted to active duty with the Army Reserve, after having served his "time" already, specifically for the opportunity to go to Iraq and stand by his fellow soldiers and fight for what this country stands for. He spent several months there, and while there, his days were often brightened by boxes of goodies that were sent to him by many people that knew him and worked with him back home.... I was glad to find an online resource that allows people to reach out to a soldier, even anonymously. The simplest of things meant so much to my friend...

You can also visit HERE to send a free handmade card to any soldier -APO required.

critters

We've had lots of critters lately, a big black snake, black widow spider(s), and this little fellow keeps hanging out at the front of the house...

... I wanted to take lots of pictures of him, but I moved one inch and he took off like lightening!