7QT: Car Trip Tricks and DIY Renovations

1. First things first. Someone is making me this Banana Split Icebox Cake for my birthday. Or Mother's Day. Or both. Even though they're only 3 days apart.

No Image of Banana Split Cake Until I Take a Photo Myself. Copyrights etc.

Or maybe Easter. Meg, can I make this for Easter?

My mother used to make this, way back when. It was heavenly.

2. Heads Up!

The April What We're Reading Wednesday link-up will go live this Wednesday on April 1st. No joke.

I'm going to be road-tripping it to D.C. with my brood and I look forward to reading your posts all the way there.

3.

 Remember when the older gentleman behind me at mass told me I have a blessing and a challenge?

While we are on this 12 hour journey, I have shoved a few tricks up my proverbial sleeves to entertain my *ahem* challenge.

Wikki Stix Rainbow Pak like play-doh, but cleaner, and good for mid-air use, or for making letters on a piece of cardboard.

Little Cuties Activity Tin. Magnets. Cutie pets. Lots of teeny tiny pieces to keep little hands occupied.

Magnetic MightyMind. Jill loves Mighty Mind. Plus, the box says it "makes kids smarter!" My set is not magnetic, but I can retrofit it with MightyMind Magnetic Design Tray & Tile Magnets.

24 Creative Plastic Stencils from Highlights and a sketchbook.

Crayola Color Wonder Travel Tote No mess. Nuff said.

You could call these my five favorites, so I'm linking up with Jenna @ Call Her Happy.

4. You know there will be some movie watching in the car.

To see my Holy Week movie picks, go here and here.

5. But I myself am a bookish person and so I have stocked up on audio books of a historical nature.

Ben Hur (Radio Theatre) abridged and performed by Focus on the Family's Radio Theater because Holy Week.

The rest of my choices are all U.S.A./D.C. related.

Betsy Ross: The American Flag and Life in a Young America by Ryan Randolph. It's only an hour. I think even Jill can handle that.

Hana's Suitcase - A True Story by Karen Levine because the Holocaust Museum is on my to-do list.

Lincoln: A Photobiography by Russell Freedman - which we've already started listening too. You'd think you'd need to see the photos, but you don't. In any case, I have the book too for reference.

The Notorious Benedict Arnold: A True Story of Adventure, Heroism & Treachery by Steve Sheinkin - see my review here.

Chasing Lincoln's Killer by James L. Swanson because Ford's Theater is in D.C.

Did you know that Laura Hillenbrand edited her epic story of Louie Zamperini? Unbroken (The Young Adult Adaptation): An Olympian's Journey from Airman to Castaway to Captive is abridged for younger, sensitive readers (such as myself ;)).

I found these comments from an Amazon reviewer encouraging:

As a middle school librarian, I wanted to share this unbelievable, inspirational tale, but the more graphic & violent scenes in the adult version were disturbing and overwhelming.
Laura Hillenbrand has taken out some of those more graphically violent parts of her adult version, but still communicated the depravity and inhumane treatment of Allied POW's by the Japanese.

Edmund is especially excited about Unbroken (The Young Adult Adaptation): An Olympian's Journey from Airman to Castaway to Captive because he and Peter saw the movie.

6. Challenger Jill will play games on my phone too. Thank you Jesus.

She uses cheap-o noise blocker AUVIO® Kid's Headphones that have been surprisingly durable.

I won't deny that she plays Disney Princess Palace Pets and the free Princess Maker Dress Up game, but mostly she plays Starfall.

She's done Starfall ABCs so much, she knows all the letters and sounds. She also loves Starfall Learn To Read, Starfall Numbers and Starfall FREE which is nursery rhymes and fairy tales, seasons, shapes,colors, etc.

I did pay $35 for unlimited access to all of the Starfall content. It has been worth every peaceful penny.

7. Lots of beautiful changes around here.

Remember this hideous china cabinet?

Peter made it beautiful with leftover wall paint and new hardware and we had the room painted. Lighter and brighter, baby!

Then, I made some DIY Pottery Barn-esque white cotton drapes using twin flat sheets, curtain ring with clips and and extra-long special-order oil-rubbed bronze curtain rod.

We hung the rod high and wide so that when the curtains are open, not on square inch of sunlight is blocked. Also, it makes the room look huge. Cathedral like.  Not bad for an afternoon's work.

I have read about people transforming their front hall closets. With eight, sometimes nine people in the house, not counting guests, my coat closet is at capacity.

I convinced Patrick to build me this (even though he said it's my worst idea ever), upon which we will hang many hooks.  Squee!

Linking up with Kelly for 7 Quick Takes.

Have a blessed Easter with much candy!

Not just for Pre-Schoolers Busy Time Giveaway!

Maria at Math Mammoth asked me if I'd like to check out her daughters' activity packs designed with pre-schoolers in mind.

Heck Yes!  Anything to keep Jill occupied for a few minutes is more precious than jewels to me.

Abigail and Hannah Miller have designed hundreds of pages of coloring sheets, dot-to-dots, mazes, spot-the-twin, word searches, and more.

Many of the activities are beyond Jill's abilities. However, because these are documents saved on my computer, I can print what is age-appropriate now, and save the rest for later, perhaps during the school year, or even next summer.

Some of the activity sheets are very advanced.  In "Medium to Hard Dot-to-Dots," some of the images use Roman numerals or skip counting.  In Star Polygons, you can learn how to make a dodecagram star!

I confess.  I printed up some of the sheets for Edmund.  C'mon.  Anything that says "Ax Maze" was made for him.

The mazes and word searches could come in handy on a road trip, or a rainy day.

The coloring pages range from extremely detailed images of dinosaurs and other animals to very simplistic drawings of kittens, or ponies, or mothers baking with children.  Sometimes, it's refreshing to have something to color that's not a licensed image from television.

You can purchase your own bundle of 14 activity books via Currclick right here.

You can also download FREE dot-to-dot pages right here.  This site does a better job explaining the variety and skill levels of the various pages.

Then check out some of the other activity e-books over here, where you can print up some of the other activities such as Copy the Pictures, Mazes, Coloring, etc.

Or you could enter to win one of three bundles right here with this Rafflecopter drawing below!  Winners will be chosen and announced on Sunday, June 22nd (which is also Baby Thornton 6.0s official due date).

Full disclosure:  I received an Activities bundle to review and some credit at one of my favorite homeschooling stores, Math Mammoth, in exchange for my review and giveaway.  I was a Math Mammoth fan long before this though.  I can't recommend Math Mammoth enough for skill building or just review work.  I first heard about Math Mammoth from Cathy Duffy's book 101 Top Picks for Homeschool Curriculum.

I'll be choosing 3 winners, and you can bet that if I don't get these winners announced Sunday evening, it's because I'm real busy making a new birthday.  I know you'll understand.

a Rafflecopter giveaway