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Seven Quick Takes

16 August 2013

Linking up with Jennifer.


1. Remember my story about the cop last week? Lie and say you do. Thank you. Anyway, on our way home from Mass yesterday morning I saw some flashing lights in the rear view mirror and felt my heart sink to my stomach as one does when they get pulled over. We were on our street so I knew it wasn't for speeding and that shiiiiit yes, it was probably because our tags expired in July and yesterday was August 15th. Correct. Well! It was the same cop from last week and once he saw the kids in the back (Julia and Bash did not blink once! Traumatized for all eternity by the siren!) and realized it was me he didn't even make me pull out my Kansas license (tsk! get your life in order, Grace) before he just smiled and told me to have a nice day. I think I love him. The most platonic of loves but he is a dear.

2. Another day another mention of the weather. It's been chilly in the mornings and the evenings and I was sitting under a tree at a park this afternoon with the kids in a long sleeve shirt and WAS COLD and shivering. But you know once these temps roll around and we start thawing out next spring ... I'll be sweating up a tropical storm.


To answer the question that everyone is asking ... this is not me.

(do you think it's the same girl though? I found them/her on Pinterest ... I'm undecided)

3. Out of the blue I've gotten a few emails asking about an old post that lists all of the Franciscan University alum bloggers. It's is woefulllllllly in need of an update so if you're not on there and you'd like to be ... if you want to send me an email with the subject line "fus blog" and a paragraph describing your blog and the name of your blog hyperlinked I'll pop it in there. And if you'd rather not be associated with me ... I understand. Oh! And if you're a current student ... you count too!!

4. I'm curious if anyone has any flashcard recommendations? I'm in the market for basic number and letter (I mean .... not that there are complex letters or numbers but you KNOW what I mean ... right?) flashcards with maybe a little picture like an apple with the A ... does that make sense? I have this crazy theory that if Julia could learn her letters (right now every single letter is "J" because the world revolves around her) maybe she and Bash would fighttothedeath less. Just let me dream big here. Thanks.

5. In case you are ever tempted to make puppy chow with Lucky Charms let me be an experienced naysayer and yell at you not to do it. My standards are low for culinary ventures involving peanut butter and chocolate but ... just suck it up, go the store, and get the generic Chex.

6. I'm sure you've heard by now but the fact that Friday Night Lights is big screen bound makes me happier than the minutes leading up to a season premier of the Bachelor/ette. Which is a feat. I'm not sure I've ever hit up opening night of any movie ever but this might require that I do such a thing ... even if Simon is working and I have to go alone. No shame.

7. And now I'm off to put on my helmet, elbow + knee pads for a fun little evening game of hospital roulette. Will Simon be free to see us? Or will something come up when we pull into the parking lot? You never know and that's half the fun. Hope you have a similarly great night planned.

Wait. I can't throw up a post without a photo of a Patton. Here is Theo showing off his newly not mastered milestone ...


(he was fine and smiling because the playground is padded .... God bless St. Louis)



byebye.

40 comments:

  1. I don't even remember how I found your blog a few weeks ago but all I can say is I'm ridiculously glad because I'm SO platonically in love with you and your fam! I'm always super pumped to see your blog pop up in my Feedly with an update. Such a breath of fresh air from my Manhattan cubicle ;)

    XOXO,
    J.

    PS. I never knew being Catholic could be so fun!
    PPS. I'm Catholic :)

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  2. Check the Target dollar bins for flashcards. We've gotten a couple of sets from there (Sesame Street ones). They just put some of that stuff out for back-to-school season. Oh, and a dollar store would be another place. I found some good stuff there awhile ago... now I know where teachers get all their things!

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  3. Did you bleach Theo's hair? It used to not be so blond, right?

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  4. I think I love that cop too. I finally renewed my drivers license late last month. It expired in May.

    Love those last pics of Theo!

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  5. OMG Grace....I am a Friday Night Lights fanatic and have successfully gotten both my husband and my BFF--both of whom used to SCOFF at me for watching it when it was actually on TV and would not listen to me at ALL when I tried to tell them how incredibly good it is--likewise obsessed via all five seasons on DVD. Yes I have made them both say many many times that yes I was right all along and yes they should have listened to me. Anyway! I DID NOT KNOW IT IS BOUND FOR THE SILVER SCREEN (again). Are you serious?? Must go look into this now.

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  6. I will move to Kansas to watch the Friday Night Lights movie with you. Some might say I could just visit and see but I feel like drastic measures need to be taken.
    #kansastexasforever

    #toomuch?

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  7. This isn't a flashcard rec but you should check out the Letter Factory DVD by Leapfrog. My two boys both knew letters and their sounds by...I wanna say 18 months or so? It's like magic.

    http://www.amazon.com/LeapFrog-Letter-Factory-Ginny-Westcott/dp/B001TKUXUC/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1376686743&sr=8-1&keywords=letter+factory

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  8. Dwell Studio Wall Alphabet cards- on Amazon. They are very good looking and can double as decor!
    These are beyond cute (and free!): http://www.mrprintables.com/printable-number-flash-cards.html
    That's all I've got for today. :)

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  9. Does Julia like puzzles? That's how my oldest learned his letters, with a Melissa and Doug alphabet puzzle. We never had much success with flashcards. He thought they were boring.

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  10. http://www.amazon.com/Nerdy-Baby-Flashcards-Young-Scientists/dp/B001OM9BEE/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1376690071&sr=8-2&keywords=ABC+for+geeks

    Pricey but fun!
    Good luck tonight, hope the L&D ladies spring Simon early.

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  11. I don't think my comment posted but if it did, sorry!

    Not to one up you, but I just renewed our plates today for one vehicle that expired in June and another in July. Oops. Thank God the lady didn't even say anything about it! I also haven't gotten a TN license yet even though we have lived here almost 4 years.... it expires in two weeks, so I should probably get on that. (I did the same thing in Colorado- kept my Indiana license until two months before we moved. Apparently I suck but really, who wants to go to the DMV and spend half their life waiting for a new horrible picture? Please photo Gods- let this license have a better picture than my 5 days post-partum CO one...swollen as an elephant.)

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  12. Flashcards always end up all over the floor for us - I've had a lot of luck with Leapfrog Fridge Phonics, any Leapfrog streaming on Netflix, and Super Why. AND those things involve zero effort on your part, aside from expenditure. Not that I'm saying shut the kids in a room and make them learn by themselves, but sometimes it's nice to have an activity that you know they're actually learning from, right?

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  13. These are the best: http://www.amazon.com/Carson-Dellosa-Publishing-Ladybug-Alphabet-Learning/dp/B001GXDQFQ

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  14. We moved 2 weeks after my husband renewed his GA drivers license. He refused to renew in AL (the state we've now been living in for 4+years) until the day his old license expired. Luckily, he drives like a granny, so no worries of him being pulled over.

    PS. Loved seeing the FUBU's again! Still laughing about it because I guess not that much funny stuff happens around here!?

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  15. Check the website teacherspayteachers. You can do a search and find a ton of good stuff!!!

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  16. I found these flash cards at Barnes and Noble that my boys seem to really like. They are called eeBoo, they have all different kinds of packs. They even have a "good manners" pack that I bought because somehow I thought paper cards would be able to get through to my WWE toddlers...stilllll working on that :)

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  17. Theo! He made me laugh out loud. What a cutie.

    I'm confused about the FNL movie. I thought FNL was originally a movie? And the TV show came after? So is this new movie a remake? I'm currently working through season 1 with my husband at the rate of 1-2 episodes per night :-P

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  18. You made my weekend with the news about FNL! Also, get thee to the target dollar spot. Millions (ok, like 5) different sets of flashcards their for a buck. We picked up the ABCs and animals today.

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  19. Just grabbed number, letter and animal (no, that's a hippo, Peter, not a lobster) for Target dollar section. Also, my kids both learned their letters with this book: http://www.amazon.com/Is-Altar-Bible/dp/1568544588/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1376697938&sr=8-1&keywords=a+is+for+altar+b+is+for+bible. Looks kinda lame but strangely they love it.

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  20. #2- I've been surprised at how cold are mornings are, and then when I check the temperature, I notice that it's only in the low 50's, which isn't THAT cold. The pictures of the woma(e)n are dead on!

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  21. Not quite a flashcard rec, but there's a Dora ABCs game that's available for the iPhone/iPod/iPad for $4.99 that covers all the letters, letter sounds, and letter tracing if Julia still likes Dora the Explorer. It's actually not too bad when it comes to covering the basics of ABCs.

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  22. We have the Fisher-Price brand ABC flashcards from Dollar Tree, which are pretty good. But my son has probably learned more letters from his alphabet puzzle, also from Dollar Tree. As he's putting in the letters, he likes to name them all (or ask what it is when he doesn't know).

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  23. The Mr. and I saw the original FNL on our first-ever date (also a blind date). That was 2005. Then it became a show. And now it's becoming a movie again!? Color me confused. But I do love me some Kyle Chandler.

    We found our letter and number flashcards in the dollar spot at Target. It's the bomb.

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  24. Skip the flashcards and order the LeapFrog Letter Factory DVD. It's 30 mins and my then 2-year-old learned all her letters AND their sounds from watching it maybe 4 times. Alphabet puzzles have helped reinforce what she learned there.

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  25. That cop must be the sweetest man in the world. I have never, ever been tempted to make puppy chow with Lucky Charms, but thank you for warning future me, just in case. Now, rice crispies, cheerios, cornflakes or Wheaties, those I could try out!

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  26. Alphabet puzzles are where it's at, the one Easton uses has a correlating picture under each letter. Homeboy knows his whole alphabet at 2.5. Is he potty trained or capable of eating a more complex diet of cheese and bread product..no. But he sings a mean ABCs.

    (I'm not sure how well the puzzle would work for just Julia with bash around, so maybe the DVD suggestions would work for both? He won't get his younger brother hands on her special toy type thing...maybe that's just my kids..)

    Oh that Theo!

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  27. My boys learned their letters from a killer combo of grasshopperapps.com photo touch abc app and Super Why. Pretty sure the app is free by the way.

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  28. A comment in which I reveal what kind of parent I am: My mom (a teacher) gave me cute Eric Carle animal alphabet flash cards. My little guy gave me a few sessions of "are you kidding me?" before I gave up and decided he wasn't ready yet (he was probably just barely 2). Fast forward to a month or two later when I was reading a book and my son pointed out the biggest letter on the page with a gleeful, "W!" "Uhh...yes, that is a W...what's this letter...and this one?" Yep, while I was ignoring Blake to cook dinner, do laundry, etc., my little guy had been zoning out to the app Endless Alphabet and the DVD The Letter Factory. That kid learned all his letters without any help from me! So anyway, those are my two cents. Wait, here's a third: love the pictures of Theo soooooooo much. Equal parts hilarious and adorable.

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  29. I am so jealous of your weather. We are melting miserably here in the oppressive heat. Every day I wake up and think "at least it's one day closer to the end of summer."

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  30. FNL was filmed just a few minutes from our house. Super de duper excited to hear it's coming back to the big screen!

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  31. I think I love that police officer too.

    For flashcards, check Target's dollar section (aka the best place on earth). They almost always have some.

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  32. i don't have any flashcard suggestions, but along the same vein, my sisters and sisters-in-laws have all used the same book to teach their kids to read - teach your child to read in 100 easy lessons by Siegfried Engelmann (and a couple of others, but i mention him because - how can you not trust someone to know what they're talking about when their name is siegfried?).

    good luck!

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  33. I will be right there with you on opening night of the movie. Seriously, could that show be any better?

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  34. The problem I have found with flashcards and littles is that the kids lose them. My kids love Richard Scarry's Best Word Book Ever. It has letters in the front cover, numbers in the back cover and everything possible in between (colors, shapes, household objects,a train page, etc). My kids have all taught themselves their letters with this book and I always bring it along when we go somewhere and I need the youngest to sit quietly.

    http://www.diapers.com/p/best-word-book-ever-71497?site=CA&utm_source=cse&utm_medium=cpc_D&utm_term=RH-200&utm_campaign=pricegrabber&CA_6C15C=1556306947

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  35. I like the Endless Alphabet app too. And I think it's free. I have 4 kids (the oldest is only 5), and flash cards are a disaster. They get bent and spread around the house. I also second the alphabet puzzles and DVDs.

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  36. Hahaha my little boy is having trouble with sitting up, too. Mostly because he refuses to do it. I can rarely get him into a sitting position because he stiffens his body and only wants to stand or lie down. (He doesn't stand on his own though.) But when I can get him to sit, it's only for a couple of minutes. That was so nice of that cop though! :)

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  37. That police man is the greatest man in the world! ...And lucky charms for puppy chow?! You could have been the next big thing on Pinterest. There are a million variations of that recipe on there that get pinned over and over again and sadly, not one of them is as good as the original.

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  38. buy Leapfrog's Letter Factory DVD. It'll teach her letters and letter sounds. It taught my kids their letters while I drank coffee :)

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  39. FNL to the big screen (again)?!?!?!??! WHOO HOOO!!!!!

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