Going on an Adventure With Carole

My boys love History, Geography and adventure!  There are days they exhaust me with their constant need to tell me everything they know about those subjects, honestly.  But let's face it- there is much worse knowledge to have and when they can get it by reading amazing books from Carole P. Roman, this mom is happy!  We have been blessed to review Carole's books before but for this review we were blessed with the books If You Were Me and Lived In...Peru, If You Were Me and Lived In... Brazil and If You Were Me and Lived In...Scotland from the Carole P. Roman Books and Collections.


 

Carole recommends her culturally based book for ages 4-9ish, but I would most definitely extend that age range.  My son is 10 and at a higher reading level and loves these books and their format.  While the reading level and stories may be at that 4-9 age range, the information is most definitely not and can be enjoyed by a much wider target audience.

Traditions, vocabulary, geography, and more are presented in each book and at the end of the story you will find a pronunciation guide that gives not only the pronunciation, but also definition of unfamiliar or location-specific words.  Your child will learn the words for "mom"and "dad" in each country, visit famous places, see what foods are popular, and even see what kind of celebrations take place there.

We were so excited to add these to our growing collection-

If You Were Me and Lived In...Peru- 

My son, Colby, chose Peru because of its location in South America.  Because he was born in Guatemala, he loves learning about nearby countries and seeing people who look similar to him.  Although all of the pictures are drawings, they are colorful and the skintones of the local people are realistic.  In this 25 page book we learned that the capital of Peru is Lima, that the currency is called Nuevos Soles, and a little about the ancient city Machu Picchu. Colby's favorite part of the book was about the celebration Carnival in which people celebrate in the streets with squirt guns, water balloons, and even buckets of water to pour on people.  Go figure!

If You Were Me and Lived In... Brazil-

We chose Brazil for the same reason, it's located in South America.  I will tell you though, because the people in Brazil speak Portuguese, the vocabulary in this 26 page book was harder for us to pronounce! Thank goodness for the pronunciation guide, although I am pretty sure we are still messing up a few words.  In this book we learned that a country can actually decide to move its capital city, as Brazil has done, as well as about the Amazon Rain Forest and the Brazilian Grand Prix.  We decided we would like to try their dessert, called Brigaderos, since it involves butter, milk, sugar and cocoa powder!

If You Were Me and Lived in...Scotland-

This one we asked for in honor of Colby's two older sisters who traveled to Scotland this past summer.  It was so fun to read about places they had been able to visit and things they had taken pictures of for us such as the capital of Edinburgh and the famous dish Haggis, made of meat and spices cooked in a sheep's stomach.  And yes, my daughters actually ate some!

And did you know that the unicorn is the official animal of Scotland?  Who knew?

Whether you enjoy exploring the world from the safety of your own home, or just love finding books you can read together as a family, I have no doubt you will love adding  Carole P. Roman Books and Collections to your home.  There are many to choose from- have fun!

   

Our Last Monday Menu

Yes, I will still be cooking, but this is the last week I will post our menu for the week.  Next week I will be rolling out the first of our Menu Masterlists and a Menu and Shopping Printable to help you with your planning.  With these tools, I hope menu planning will be made easier and maybe even a bit more enjoyable for you!


So here goes-

Monday- Out to eat

Tuesday- Hamburgers

Wednesday- Ham and Scallop Casserole

Thursday- Orange and Balsamic Chicken

Friday- Shortcut Chicken Manicotti

Saturday- Southwest Chicken Chowder

Sunday- Easter Meal

What does your Easter meal look like?  We will be having ham, mashed potato casserole. green bean casserole. deviled eggs and rolls. 

Blessings,

Gift Cards For The Win

Seriously, friends, gift cards are the bomb diggety.  (Yep, I am from that generation of slang!)

One of the things I talked about in a post about Living Deliberately was to have a more regular date night with my husband.  Let me tell you why that is often a challenge-

• His schedule
• My schedule
• We are old and tired
• We follow a budget

Seriously, that is my story and I am sticking to it.  The story, that is, but not the bad habit of not going on dates.  THAT I am determined to change.

Quite honestly, the biggest deterrent for our date night is the money.  It is not necessarily that we don't have the money to go out, it is that we are Dave Ramsey wannabes and dates fall under the entertainment category.  As do meals with our kids, including our almost weekly Sunday meal out with friends.  Having a limited amount budgeted means we pick and choose, and honestly kids and friends often trump husband and wife.

Still with me?

Here is where the gift cards part comes in.

Thanks to my mom and her Christmas gift to my hubby, we are using gift cards to go out.  It may seem like a little thing to you, but it is BIG for us.  Again, not that we couldn't do it otherwise, but just the fact that we feel like we do not have to deprive others to have fun ourselves.   It just makes it more fun and less of a guilty pleasure.

I know, I know, it is probably just me but work with me here.

Gifts cards make going out to eat fun.

For naysayers who say gift cards are the lazy mans' gift, don't you listen to them.

They are the bomb diggety!

Happy Date Night, friends!

Blessings,

Zirrly 3D Bead Fun

I haven't gotten the chance to do too many reviews this year that involved fun with the boys, so this Homeschool Review Crew review was a special treat!  What makes it more fun is that Super Beads from Zirrly is not just a homeschool product- it is a KID product, and a neat one at that!

Yes, we got to play with the Super Beads 3D Car and Truck kit.  I mean, what boy doesn't like cars and trucks?!

So what are Zirrly Super Beads?
Remember the days of ironing a bunch of little beads together to make neat designs on trays?  Well, those little beads are actually called Perler Beads, and when put together they can create some fun things.  The problem we found in the past was that those projects required the heat of a HOT iron to fuse them together.  A hot iron.  With a kids' project.  See the problem?  I am sure that somewhere it seemed like a good idea on paper, but the reality of it was it was dangerous for kids to do alone.

Enter Zirrly Super beads.  These are the same concept of design fun, but involve fusing the beads together with WATER.  Yes, you read that correctly- WATER!  How cool is that?  Just spritz the beads once you have them set in place, and wait 20-30 minutes for them to "set" and dry.

What comes in each kit?
Each of the specific projects kits, like the Jungle Animals, Birds and Jewelry Set, come with beads to complete the project (and extras), several work boards and the design(s) templates, a design tools, a spray bottle and a tray to help keep things contained.  And instructions, of course.  You can also just purchase a bag of 4500 beads of all colors.

Our Experience-
Colby, age 10, and I started the Super Beads 3D Car and Truck together.  We opened each colored bead packet and put them in the tray for safe keeping.  

He then put the design templates behind each tray and laid out the beads. 

Once the beads were laid out, he sprayed them with water.  Here is one place we struggled a bit.  The instructions do not indicate how much or how little water to use.  By trial and error he figured that out, but a couple of times had to go back and respray a section to fuse it better.

Once the beads are set properly you simply remove your project from the project boards.  For the 3D designs, now the hard part begins.  With a series of pegs that you put beads on, you attach the different flat designs together to create the 3D effect.  It can be a bit tricky with one set of little hands.

Luckily for us, my 16 was around and intrigued and was able to help sort out a few bits of confusion.  Mom stepped away and the boys finished on their own!

 

Note that we started with the truck, which we did decide was the harder of the two vehicles to put together.  Once we did that one, Colby was able to complete the car with minimal help.  

Pros and cons-
One of the neat things about these Super Beads is that they are more flexible than the original Perler beads.  When you pull them off the trays they tend to be softer and more pliable and therefore less likely to break, which is a huge advantage when you are dealing with the 3D sets.  

Of course, I also love that they are safer to use.  The 3D sets are recommended for kids 10 and up because of the complexity, but even at that age I would be hesitant to set a child loose with a hot iron so using this water method is perfect.  

Since these types of projects are often used in groups like school clubs or VBS, this allows for an easier and safer set up!

It is also nice that if a bead comes off all you have to do is spray it with water and stick it right back on.  Easy fix!

The only con I have for Zurrly Super Beads is the instructions.  Like many similar projects, the directions are all pictures.  Let's just say this momma struggled with that a bit.  I will say however, the boys seemed to understand them better- probably from lots of building experiences that come with pages of pictured instructions.  While I do not think this would affect the flat designs, since the 3D sets are a bit more complicated the adult in me would have loved to have seen a few words in the instructions. 

Overall, we loved using Zirrly Super Beads and would highly recommend them.  Think summer fun, VBS, or even birthday party activities.  The possibilities are endless and the choices for sets are plentiful!  Have some fun with your kids this summer!

Monday Menu and A New Plan

Happy Monday and welcome back to Monday Menu!  If all goes according to plan, I will have two more weeks of menus for you before I unveil my Menu Masterlists!  I have been busy compiling complete lists of meals for you so that with a quick glace at a category (beef, chicken, pork, soups, etc.) you can very quickly put together a menu plan to suit YOU!

I also hope to be able to share with you a printable of my new Menu/shopping list to help you out with that planning!

Until then, and after a crazy busy Spring Break week, it is back to normal- well, as normal as this house gets.

Monday- Egg Rolls

Tuesday- Tacos

Wednesday- Angela's Stove Top Chicken

Thursday- Chicken Noodle Casserole

Friday- Italian Stuffed Shells

Saturday- Bacon and Eggs

Sunday- Veggie Beef Noodle Soup


Blessings,