Readathon 2012 - The Lion and the Mouse

A few days ago I stumbled across a great website called MeMeTales This site has a dual purpose. It allows aspiring writers to publish their own stories(for kids) and it also brings innovative books to children in an engaging platform.  MeMeTales has both free ebooks and ebooks you can purchase.  You can have the books read aloud to your child, printed off, or if your child is reading, they can read the book without the audio.

For the summer, MeMeTales is partnering with PBSKids, Harper Collins, Orca Books, Little Pickle Press, and others to bring you some great ebooks.  There are aps for your iPhone, Kindle Fire, iPad, and computer that allow you to download the books and set your little one up with hours of reading fun.  For the month of June, if you sign up with MemeTales you get 20 free ebooks that can either be read aloud or that can be read silently. After reading or listening to each book, your child earns sticker rewards that you can print out and glue onto their certificate.

Jungle animals singing don't wake the lion

If you want to participate, here is a link that takes you to the how to participate page.

Each week has different theme with activities to go along with theme.  Week 1 is animals. This makes me super excited as C loves all things animals and the books are simple enough that both A and C can do animal based activities together and reenact some of the books.

The book we listened to today was The Lion and the Mouse by Lavanya R.N.  We listened to the book  this morning and I LOVED it. It is the traditional tale of the mouse helping the lion, but the illustrations, the slightly Indian twist to the story line, and the audio made the book really come alive. C gasped in the scary parts, laughed when the lion roared and laughed, and cheered at the end when the lion got free of the net.  He also danced to the musical part. Really, listen to this book. It's fab.

"Squeek, squeek"

I figured that I wanted him to really remember this book - it has a great message after all. We grabbed his animal toys, his holey blanket, and reenacted the story line. Of course since he is just coming on 3 years old, it wasn't exactly like the book, but the mouse made squeaky noises, the lion roared(and snored), and he freed the lion.  After which, he made the mouse pounce and wrestle the lion - but hey - it was his reenactment!

Saving the lion from the net.

I can see us playing lion and mouse for many days in the future.

Thanks MeMeTales for great books and letting my children's imaginations grow because you started this service. we are hooked and will keep reading all Summer :)

Thursday Thanksfulness

It's the little things, right?  Last year, our neighbor's Mango tree was EXPLODING with mangos. This year, it looks like there won't be any :( On our way to town, we found:

Life is good when you can grab a free range Mango and rescue it from getting run over. It was literally laying in the middle of the road. So as any good Crucian would do, I sent A to cross the street and grab it up before a car could squash it.  It is perfect. It is one of the prettiest mangos I have seen in a LLLOONNGG time.

C has been jonesing for a Garbage truck since Christmas. Every night(no, really, EVERY night) before he goes to sleep he asks if HOHO(Santa) will bring him a garbage truck. I know Santa can work miracles, but I am not sure he knows where to find a garbage truck. I have looked because I thought that maybe we'd take over HOHO's job and get C one for his birthday, but haven't been able to find on on internet land.  Well, what to my wondering eyes should appear at the St. Croix Animal Shelter Flea Market today, than a big orange Garbage truck! So, thank you, thank you, thank you to whomever dropped that guy off and boy am I glad and thankful that I can stop looking now :)

Be thankful. It's the little stuff that counts.

Altoon Lagoon play date

 The other day another home schooling mom and I were talking about how we wanted our kids to get out and do MORE exercise.  Don’t get me wrong; both of our children are active. A swims 4-5 days a week, plays in the bush, participates in all the kids biking, running, swimming races, etc; but I just don’t feel that she gets out there and is active enough.  Apparently, my friend feels the same so we decided that we would get together once a week and let the kids, bike, run, or whatever as long as they were outside and DOING.  During this time, we get visit and C has a friend over to play.  We decided to meet at Altoona Lagoon because it is between both our homes, it is flat, and where they hold most of the kids’ races.

Altoona Lagoon is another one of our undiscovered St. Croix areas for many reasons.  There is a whole fishing community of old time Crucians who grew up swimming in the inlet to the lagoon, jumping off the bridges, fishing, and generally having a good time there.  It is a great place for walking, running, biking, limin’, and generally just enjoying the views of Christiansted from a different angle. Altoona Lagoon also has a GREAT playground and fun exploring beach for little ones.

Our day started early with us in the car, the trike in the trunk, and the bike(new big 26” bike) racked on the back of the red SUV. Water, and snacks were packed in the reusable shopping bag, and I had had at least 2 cups of tea by 7:30! We were set. Once at Altoona, and unloaded – I really do think we are related to Gypsys since we cannot seem to go anywhere without the entire contents of the house and the kitchen sink ---- Oh wait! It’s because I’m a Mom not related to Gyspsys!!!  ANYWAY…. A got con her bike and as soon as her friend showed up away they went. The two kids did about 10 loops, which I think translates to just about 2 miles! Then they took a break to go explore the beach, whereupon they stuck their heads together and decided that they needed to go fishing! Crazy kids!

The two kids, my wonderful mom friend and her equally wonderful hubby walked down with C to the inlet by the bridge. Once I got there, which was about 15 minutes later – I had to re-rack the bike, put stuff away, etc. I found both kids wading through the inlet, with fishing nets in hand, HUGE self satisfied grins on their faces and COMPLETELY, soaking wet.  During the course of the day, they caught Lizardfish, Coral Banded shrimp, regular shrimp, and Blue Crabs. We saw Blue Herons, a Great Snowy Egret, fishermen coming in with their catch and then it happened… the kids spotted a Lionfish! Turns out there wasn’t 1 Lionfish, but 3.  They were hiding in the Mangroves.  My friend’s hubby shucked down to his shorts and got in the water and caught 2 of the three. At first we though maybe we could eat them, but they were too little. What actually scared us was that the Lionfish were in the Mangroves, which are breeding grounds for other fish, and we all know Lionfish eat EVERYTHING so they were in the worst place possible for our native fish. Not, that having Lionfish anywhere in the Caribbean is good, but in a breeding ground it’s like an A bomb ready to go off at any moment. 

Photo by Jill Updyke.

One of the things I really liked about this day, was that both kids ended up wading around in only their shorts and never even batted an eye. They are the same age, and look exactly the same chest wise and for them it was super natural and not embarrassing to be that way. I love that our island still allows our kids to be kids and doesn’t make them aware of the opposite sex until later.  We are able to keep our children innocent of the societal pressures that other children face elsewhere in the world. 

We decided that the kids had such a good time – even C, that we are going to make this a weekly occurrence. We hope to go kayaking into the Lagoon next week. I’ll keep you updated J Sorry for the lack of personal photos but we were so busy having a good time that I didn’t think of taking pictures until the end.

I’ll leave you with a word from our kids: "Lionfish.. they taste like Chicken."

Friday Joys

The older kids always play some form of organized game.

Today is Friday.... what does that mean for us here? Well, since it is PE Day that means we get to go run around with a bunch of other homeschooled kids  and get sweaty - oh yes, sweaty! It is December after all, and the sun is shinning, there isn't a cloud in sight, and it's about 83 out - oh?! That isn't normal for December you say? Well, happily for us and sadly for you, it's our December. You see we live on a little slice of Paradise where it never gets below 62, and we don't have to worry about digging the car out of snow and putting on a gazillion layers like most of you do.  It also means that between June and November we are on high alert for hurricanes and it is awfully hot - run around naked type of hot.

Playing with sticks and cut grass.

Anyway.. back to what Friday means to us.  It means PE Day with the "guys" as C calls them, have a friend over to play with after PE, and bake, and craft, and just have fun day.  Every other week we start our weekend early and it's GREAT!  A gets to play with friends, C gets to play with friends, and Mommy gets to play with friends :)   Then we all go home and relax or do chores, or in our case today, bake a cake.

I did say sweaty right?

A has a friend over and C is busying doing 2 year old stuff while I am in the kitchen baking a baby shower cake.  It is a relaxing way to slide into the weekend. No pressures to get stuff done, no worries if we don't finish our work for the day. Well, except for getting the cake done, a triple layer dark and white chocolate masterpiece for a baby shower this weekend.  It's my first paid for by someone else cake and I am working my heart out on it.  If all goes as planned, this will be the first of many, if not - hey it was fun!

This weekend is spectacularly busy for us, horseback riding for A tomorrow morning, then a friend over, then later that night our church's Advent festival where the kids are going to craft, eat, and sing their hearts out, then Christmas is Spoken Here at the Botanical Gardens on Sunday.  So this Friday is truly needed, it is a perfect day for the start of a perfect weekend full of activities.

Gotta Love Fridays!