Play it Again, Momma: Fun Family Game Nights

Our family loves to play board games and after we had children, we began to play them a lot more. We are usually home more in the evening, so we pop some popcorn and catch up on our television shows while we play.

I try to get our board games at our local thrift store because it is a great way for me to try them out without making a huge investment. Sometimes I buy games and we discover that it isn't something we would want to play over and over again. When they cost us only $1.50, it makes it much easier to donate it back and try something else out.

You might be able to do this without even making a small investment by checking with your local library. Our library actually has games and toys that you can rent for your children. We were able to try some games out for our son and found that he either didn't like them or they were way too advanced by just checking them out for a week. We were able to return them and then try them at a later date with him, when they were more age-appropriate.

Starting your own game collection does not have to be expensive. If you don't have somewhere that you can buy them secondhand, ask for these as a family Christmas gift or ask for them for your children as birthday gifts. Some of the best childhood games are Candyland, Chutes & Ladders, Memory, Hungry Hungry Hippos, Life, and Clue.

Games are a great way to bond with your family and are a inexpensive "date night" with your spouse. We try and devote (at least) one night a week towards playing a game together and enjoy playing these games on the weekend.

These are a few of our favorite games:

1. Rummikub: This is a game that my husband loved to play when he was growing up, and now he has me addicted to it too! The game is intended for ages eight and up and can be played with two or more players. With rules similar to gin rummy, Rummikub is a classic tile game that's guaranteed to get at least a million kid-hours of use in any family. Players take 14 numbered tiles and try to get rid of them as fast as possible by creating runs (for example, 7-8-9) and sets (7-7-7). The link provided is for their deluxe edition (which we do not have). This deluxe edition is cleverly designed so that the four plastic tile racks fit together to form a carrying case for the game.

2. Scrabble- What is not to love about this game? Intended for two players or more and recommended for ages eight to ninety-nine, you can play this game for years with your children. The game has been improved with a swivel board (less stretching required!), raised holders to rest the tiles into, and a bag to store all of the tiles. This is one of my personal favorites and we play this a lot in our house. Don't forget to purchase a copy of the Scrabble Dictionary and store it with your game board. Take some time to study some words and really beat your opponents! Want to see what Scrabble obsession looks like? Rent the movie, "Word Wars." It is all about the Scrabble championships that are held and people who attempt to make a living from this sport.

3. Upwords- Along the same vein, this is another fabulous word puzzle game, but with a twist. You build words just like Scrabble, but you can build up and up (five letters high) to change words into new words. The more you stack, the more points you earn. I think it is more challenging than Scrabble, but the scoring is much easier to do. This game is for two players or more and recommended for ages eight and up. This game can be a powerful tool when your children are beginning to read because it can help teach them how to change words using different letters. Consider it a cheap version of "Hooked on Phonics" and a game that they can enjoy for years after they have learned to read!

4. Skipbo- This was my favorite game growing up and my sister & I would play this for hours and hours. Created by the makers of UNO, this card game is a delight for anyone of all ages. The game is a sequencing game of skill and strategy intended for two players or more and ages seven and up. Players create sequential stacks with cards on the board, the first player to use all the cards in their stack wins. The deluxe edition has a board with placeholders for all of the stacks of cards and score sheets to keep tabs of the winners. I love this game because it is easy to still have conversations while playing, making it a great game to socialize with other couples.

5. Yahtzee- A classic game of dice that has been around since 1956 and is still played in millions of homes today. You can play alone (which I don't think would be as much fun) or with more players. The ultimate in this game is to actually get Yahtzee or five of a kind. This game is so much fun and also a great teaching tool for children. Children can learn basic addition and subtraction, as well as sequential ordering.

6. Monopoly- I had never played this game until high school, and I can honestly say that my husband is always the winner, which is why we don't play it as much! This game is a great teaching tool in money-management and in buying real estate. We have a couple of different versions of this game, but my favorite is the Dot Com Monopoly, which we purchased when Dot Coms were ruling the world. Few of the companies on the board exist anymore, which makes for interesting conversation and fond memories before the dot com bomb hit for computer nerds and geeks alike!

We have many more games in our collection and the last time I hit the thrift store, I picked up another stack of new ones. Our collection keeps growing and we hope to have a game collection that our kids will enjoy someday with their friends. In a day of technological bliss, game nights now seem "retro." Why play on a board when you can just grab your game system or play a computer game online? I hope that board games will last the test of time because they can be an essential part of family bonding and creating a family night to remember!

What are your favorite games? Any games that I should be adding to our collection?

A Family Day at the Pumpkin Patch

Our family decided to take a trip over to the pumpkin patch this weekend together. We decided to visit Amazing Acres in Edwardsburg, Michigan because we had heard so many great things about it. As soon as we pulled up and I saw the truly amazing varieties of pumpkins and gourds they had to offer, I just knew we made the right choice.

I loved that they had tons of wagons available so you could load your purchases right up into your car. The cobwebs gathering on a few of them just spoke of Halloween to me!

Can you see my favorite pumpkins peeking their heads out at me? I just loved all of these little pumpkins sitting in rows. I couldn't resist getting inside to takes some shots of them sitting in on the ledge. Pumpkins have to be one of the greatest subjects for photography, don't you think?

The first thing we had to do was take a hayride with the kids. For our family of four, the cost was $16 for a hayride and to visit the petting zoo.

They clang this old bell each hour to let you know that the ride is getting ready to start. We hurried over to make it for the very first ride of the day!



We were excited because our ride was the first one leaving so we got to stop and give the horses breakfast. The gentleman who gave us the ride turned and told us a little bit about each horse. "This horse is two years old and she likes to bite." To which Ethan loudly replied, "Just like our Emily." Everyone turned to our family and the guy asked who Emily was. "My sister," he said with a little grin. I guess we have a little pony in our family.

The hayride pulled right up to the pumpkin patch where the kids could choose a pumpkin for one dollar. We were told if anyone picked a cell phone out of the patch, they would receive the biggest pumpkin in the whole place. Unfortunately, we weren't able to find the poor guy's phone, but as frugal as I am, you can bet that I sure tried!

Some had an easier time finding their perfect pumpkin.

Others had to think and contemplate much longer before settling on the pumpkin of their dreams.

After our hayride, the kids loved spending time in the troughs filled with corn. Emily left with about four corn cobs in her diaper after they practiced making snow angels and jumping and swimming in the kernels.

We also couldn't resist seeing all the beautiful animals and the creative places they lived.

This little storefront was just for the bunnies!

All in all, we had an amazing day at the pumpkin patch, that I don't think our family will soon forget!

** If you want to see the whole set of pictures, you can see our Pumpkin Patch photos over at Flickr! Enjoy! **


Do you do have any special Fall family traditions? What is your favorite thing to do in the Fall as a family?

Notebook Experiments: Can I Craft Some Bath Toys?

Experiment: Can I Craft Some Bath Toys?

Experiment Taken From: Notebook Entry 06.26.08

Materials Needed: Please see plumpudding for the full instructions on this task. I hit our local dollar store and picked up a ten pack of craft foam to use for this project. The craft foam is thin enough that you can cut these with plain old scissors or you could break out your zig-zag scissors from your scrapbooking materials.


Results: I am not very good at free-hand drawing so I went ahead and looked for a template where I could stencil some really cute shapes out of my foam. I found this handy template from the Martha Stewart website and whipped up several fishes, flowers, and hearts for the kids. These were very easy to trace and took only a few minutes to whip up. My husband also put together some that he drew for the kids.

The kids absolutely loved these and didn't want to get out of the bathtub. I also saved a few sheets of foam for the kids to do finger-painting on. I am planning to use these foam sheets with some of our homemade pudding paints (with only enough water to make a finger-paint consistency instead of a water paint consistency) and then I will just rinse the sheets off when they are done so that they can make brand new creations!

I would recommend making sure to soak the foam before you begin sticking it on walls. The pink color did bleed onto the walls and left a pink shade that is going to take some serious scrubbing to get out. None of the other colors caused this problem, but giving them a good soaking first should prevent this problem.


Conclusion: One package of foam can keep my children entertained for many baths and I can't wait to whip up some more of these for them to play with. I am thinking that these would make excellent stocking stuffers this year and you can't beat the price! Thanks plumpudding for your creative idea!
********************

I am so excited to open our Notebook Experiments up to everyone and I hope that you will be able to participate this week or in weeks to come! I will be posting this each Thursday so please mark your calendars if you plan to participate. You can post your entries at any time throughout the week and then leave your entry in the links below.

We have this handy banner that you are more than welcome to use, but it is not a requirement! It is just something you can add to add a little sparkle to your entry.

Rules for Participation:

1. Choose anything from any of our notebook entries (past or present) to do with your family. We have hundreds of bookmarked links of crafts, ways to save money, and organizing ideas.
2. Complete an experiment from the notebook and share about it on your blog or website. We would love to see pictures of what you accomplished or a detailed description of how your projects turned out. Please include a link to this entry, a link to the original posting of the entry (at the original crafster's blog), and (to help us relocate the project) the date or link of the notebook entry where you found it. You can use the same formatting as our entries or you can just include that information in your post in your own unique way!
3. Post a link below. Please include your name or blog name & a fast description of your project. Example- MomAdvice (WHO bread)

I can't wait to see what you create and what you find inspiring!

An Olympics Family Night

We could not let the Olympics pass by without a fun family night surrounding it! Ethan is really into the Olympics this year (thanks to our Wii & the Mario Olympic Games) so I really wanted to do something fun & memorable for the kids.

For our dinner we made the infamous Chicken Lo Mein. We eat this about every other week, but it is a huge hit with the kids every single time and makes fabulous leftovers for lunch. I made a big batch of white rice (cooked as directed but I subbed the water with chicken broth) and bought a package of egg rolls (on special at Aldi for $1.99). I also asked the kids if they would like to try some tea and they both were excited about that so I made some of that too. It was a great excuse to use my little teapot that my grandfather bought for me and these Asian-inspired tea cups that I found at Goodwill.


The kids thought that these cups were really cool because they didn't have any handles on them. They had never tried egg rolls or tea before and I am happy to report that they both loved them. Emily called it chocolate and had the best time stirring it with her little spoon. My husband also had never tried egg rolls and loved them too! The dinner was a real hit!

Dad was in charge of the remote and we watched the Olympic games while we ate our dinner. There are times when having a television in the kitchen really pays off. Ethan kept saying, "Go, America! Go, America!" He also made predictions on how Michael Phelps was going to do ("Michael Phelps won't win because China is going to win, mom!")
While we cleaned up from dinner, Ethan worked on a picture of what the Olympics looked like to him. This is the 100 meter race. I love his fans cheering in the top corner of this page. We made this into a card for our new teacher.

After our fancy dinner and coloring, we worked on learning about origami. I found this cool origami website and we printed out several easy origami activities to do. Ethan colored them and then Dad showed him how to fold them into interesting things.

Ethan was so excited about learning origami that he wanted to know what else he could learn about from China. "I want to do something else from China," he said. My husband had him doing all sorts of Asian things- drinking water, taking a bath, putting on pajamas. You can't say we don't have a sense of humor in this house!

Do your children enjoy the Olympics? Do you have a fun way that you are teaching your children about the culture or a cool way of celebrating this event in your family?

At the Car Wash: Part II

This summer, the kids really loved getting to wash their own cars, but my neglected car was in need of a car wash too. Isn't that why we have kids though? Might as well put these able-bodied children to work, that's what I say!

Emily worked on the car with an old baby washcloth and Ethan used daddy's official car scrubber.

I loved their looks of total concentration. They took their task very seriously and Emily kept wanting to show us how yucky the water was. I am the same way though when I scrub our floors. I just have to have other people witness the gross factor- you just can't experience that alone.

I don't know if I should mention this every single time, but I do feed this kid. These shorts are 3T and falling off of him still. I see pictures like these and feel like I should make a disclaimer- this kid eats me under the table. Oh, to have that metabolism!


Where in the world is their supervisor though? Oh, I think I found him sitting on the step watching the kids work. I don't think we should ever claim to be parenting experts!

He had to break out the big guns though and show the kids how to clean the roof of the car. They thought this part was hilarious.

What's a car wash though without a little water play afterwards? Ethan thought this part was definitely the best. Best of all, I have a clean car AND two exhausted workers to prove that this was a family event worth repeating!

A Day at the AirZoo Museum

Instead of my usual Notebook Experiment, yesterday we decided to head over to the AirZoo Museum in Kalamazoo, Michigan. I haven't been to this museum since they participated in the National Museum Day campaign (this will link to the current year & you can mark your calendars for September 27th) with the Smithsonian Museum because they had never participated again. It is a great zoo, but EXPENSIVE! They will be participating in the free day this year though so be sure to head over there then to save some cash! It is worth the drive- i promise! Since we vetoed a family vacation in favor of staycations and occasional day trips out of town, we were able to budget it in for a day trip before Ethan starts school.

We decided to head there with another family because it helps us both to split the cost on gas. We ordered our tickets online, which gave us a savings of fifteen percent if bought three days in advance, and we packed a lunch to eat on the lawn outside the museum. We saved where we could so we could really enjoy this day!

This museum is truly amazing though and boasts the world's largest indoor mural, which encompasses the entire open space that they have built. It is difficult space to really take pictures in, to truly showcase how cool it looks, because it is very dark in the space. Hopefully, I was able to capture it enough though that you can see just how neat it is.

First, this was pretty much Emily the entire trip. See her fingers in her ears? If we said, "Say CHEESE, Emily!" she would rip this bloodcurdling scream unlike any other child I have ever heard. Yeah, good times! Basically, she is two and she wants us to deal with it! Her TWO is what Ethan's THREE was- difficult. I love her like mad though!

This is what the museum looks like. Those hot air balloons are actually rides and they have little planes that the kids can ride on too. These rides are great for younger visitors and the museum was practically empty the day we went so the kids just ran and climbed back on the rides about four times, while we sat on the bench sharing a snack with the younger children. For older kids, they have flight simulators that you can try out and a 4-D theater where you feel like you are watching flight scenes from WWII. The kids did not like the movie theater, but they loved the rides.

This is Emily on the balloon ride. I felt like my stomach was doing a zillion flip flops and she was ecstatic the whole entire time. She cried when the rides ended because they were so much fun!

If you know of a good setting to use on your camera in the dark with a moving amusement park ride, please let me know! These were the best shots of the bunch!

Behind the mural, is an area for smaller kids to play with lots of toys and the best part of all.... tons of rides for tots. The rides were the kind that average about $5 each at the mall. All you had to do was press the start button twice and you could ride them for free.


Here is our silly shot! We had a great time at the AirZoo and our son has been pretending he is a pilot ever since!

Dad's Day Out & Mom's Day In

We have been trying to accomplish all of the great things off of our summertime list this summer and we had a major event to accomplish... a trip to Chicago's Field Museum. Last week, they offered a free admission day so we made plans to make our trip that day.

When I say we though, I mean my husband & Ethan. The guys wanted to do this trip alone without any girls ruining all their fun so they headed their together for a full day of fun in the prehistoric world. They took the South Shore train to their destination and enjoyed a guy's day together.

When Ethan walked in and saw Sue the amazing T-Rex he said, "I have been waiting my whole life for this moment." Ryan sent me updates via text message about all the fun they were having and he took tons of pictures of all of Ethan's favorite moments from the museum.

Meanwhile, Emily & I had a wonderful girl's day. We played outside, I sat at her mini-picnic bench and shared a peanut butter & jelly sandwich with her, we snuggled, we laughed, and we went to my mom's birthday dinner celebration. We sent dad messages about what we were up to and...well, we couldn't stop smiling. Every once in awhile, Emily would look at me and say, "Where did Ethan go?" and I would remind her that he & daddy had a special day together.

When my husband got home we both remarked that we need to do that more often. We both felt a bond with each child deepen during that day and it was great to be able to devote our undivided attention to each of them.

Do you do dates with your children? How do you manage to make quality time for each child individually? I would love to get some ideas for things we could do with the kids in the future!

Sponge Ball Bullseye

My once-a-year Martha Moment is here! These sponge balls are courtesy of Martha Stewart Kids Magazine (and a double inspiration from Betz White who was featured in one of my notebook entries).

I hit the Dollar Tree and got two packages of sponges to make our creations. I followed the instructions and cut two sponges into fours and then stacked the two sponges on top of one another with alternating colors. If you buy two packages, you will have enough alternating colors to make six sponges with different colors in each. Then, simply tie the sponges off with a long piece of floss and knot it a few times to keep it in place.


Here is my plastic ice bucket filled with these sponges. The colors are so beautiful that I wanted to spend an afternoon photographing this pail of sponges. Do we stop there and let the kids play with them like this though? NO!

You could say that I am even more inventive than Martha this time! Now take an old drop cloth or sheet and use painter's tape, a permanent marker, or paint to make your bullseye. Squares are much easier with the painter's tape so we have a nice square bullseye for the kids.

Now hang your game up on the clothesline (or wherever else you can find). We weighed the bottom of the sheet down with clothespins. This sheet is also folded in half to give it a little more weight. Of course, when the wind starts blowing, give the kids extra points if they can still hit it.

Not challenging enough? Have one of your kids stand in front and block it.

For some reason, that was one roadblock too many for this toddler.

You can also grab two at a time or a whole handful of them. Make it more challenging by backing the kids up further from the mark. Our point system was 10, 20, and 30 points depending on the size of the square they hit. (PS- I promise I feed my children, they just have extremely high metabolism)

An afternoon of water fun cost us $2 in sponges, but this is a game that I hope we can play many more times together.

The Summertime List & Summertime Games

We are enjoying a summer full of fun activities, thanks to our summertime list!

Here is what we have accomplished so far:

Made homemade slushies
Ran through the sprinklers
Went to the zoo (Ft Wayne and/or Potowatomi Zoo)
Went to playgroup(s)
Went to VBS
Made homemade play dough
Made Magic Milkshakes
Went to Grandma's house to play
Watched the Car's movie and ate Jimmy John's
Went to Krispy Kreme and watched them make donuts
Had a picnic in the backyard

We still have some more things to do, but we have really been enjoying checking things off of our list. It has been a real family event with everyone pitching in to make sure that we do all of these special things.

With the completion of our patio, we have been enjoying lots of time in our own backyard. I did make a little investment in some family games for us to play outside.

We bought this Franklin 5 Game Set at Target for $14.99, which was about the price you would pay for a nice new board game. This set came in a carrying case and it has a net that you can put up and play games like badminton (our favorite), volleyball, frisbee, horseshoes, and lawn tennis (plastic rackets with a foamy ball to bounce over the net).

This has been such a fun investment because my husband and I can play this on our own or we can toss the Frisbee with the kids. The net is height adjustable and so you can lower it for the wee people in the family. We have also included the kids in the games by parking little lawn chairs for them and making them the judges (which they LOVE).

It isn't the best quality set I have owned, but I am sure we can get $14.99 of games out of it. It has been a great way to spend our evenings and it keeps us active this summer.

The other game we bought was the Eddie Bauer Bean Bag Toss set, available at Target for $49.99 (it is on sale this week, but not available on their website). Yes, this was A LOT to pay for a game, but it is just beautiful and we plan to use it for many years. We both couldn't believe how well it was made and it comes with a case so you can take it with you places. We plan to take this to the grandparent's houses (that don't have a lot of kid toys) or for get togethers with friends who don't have children yet. The kids love playing with it and dropping the bean bags into the nets. We can get pretty competitive with it, but it is a complete blast and will be fun to get out when we are entertaining in the summer.

If you wanted to be more thrifty with a bean bag toss, you could make your own too. Polliwog's Cakewalk has a wonderful tutorial for making some monster bean bags that you could craft up with the kids. I think these would be fun to do with the pails in a row (a la Bozo the Clown Show for my friends who grew up on that kind of entertainment) and do a bean bag toss with them like that too!

Do you have any games that you play with your family in the warmer weather? How do you keep the kids entertained?

Summertime Planning

I was really inspired by Whatever's summer list and vowed that we were going to do that this summer for our family. We headed over to the Dollar Tree and picked up a piece of poster board for $.50 and a fresh new Sharpie marker for $1. On the way home, we talked about all of the things that we wanted to do this summer and we both got really excited about all of our fun plans.

Ethan made the list with us and this is what we came up with:

Go to the beach (St Joe and/or New Buffalo)
Go to the dinosaur museum (the Field Museum)
Play Mario Kart with mommy
Make homemade slushies
Run through the sprinklers
Go to the zoo (Ft Wayne and/or Potowatomi Zoo)
Go to playgroup(s)
Go to VBS
Go to the dollar movie
Sleepover with our cousin
Have an Earth Hour family night
Make homemade pizza
Eat at the food court at the mall
Make homemade play dough
Go to St Louis
Go to Granny's house to play
Make Magic Milkshakes
Go to Grandma's house to play
Go to the park
Get our first library card
Go to the water park
Make banana pops
Wash the cars with daddy
Get out the rainy day suitcase
Watch the Car's movie and eat Jimmy John's
Have an ice cream sundae night
Buy presents for the homeless shelter and deliver them
Go to Krispy Kreme and watch them make donuts
Have a picnic in the backyard
Go to the AirZoo Museum

Ethan drew a picture of his family in the summertime to go along with our list and we hung it in our kitchen for the summer.

I love that the majority of the activities he picked didn't cost money and that the ones that he did pick that cost something could be special things that we could look forward to together. Since we have no big vacation plans, this looks like a really great round-up of activities to keep us busy this summer.

It is kind of funny though... I think my husband & I are just as excited as he is!

Kentucky Derby Bunco

Good cheap fun...that's what Bunco is! I blogged about our fabulous wedding party and my retro housewife themed Bunco that turned out to be a blast. This month's Bunco theme was the Kentucky Derby so we all donned our fabulous hats and our high heels for a fun time.

I had to borrow a hat from girlfriend so here are some pictures before I got my hat on. Ethan & Emily think it so cool when mommy dresses up for these events so they wanted to get some pictures with me before I left. The kids kept touching my dress and smelling me....hmm...I wonder what they are trying to tell me?


Just call me Sandra Lee, as I was running short on time with a ton of appointments and events going on that day. I found a Suddenly Salad in my pantry and used up what was left in our fridge to make my dish. This is their classic pasta salad flavor with a few of my own additions- romaine hearts, tomatoes, sliced black olives, and narrow slivers of pepperoni to dust the top. Despite it being convenience food (bought deeply discounted, of course!), I thought it turned out really good.

This was our lovely hostess, my friend Jessica. Jessica is also the one who taught me how to knit so I especially love her right now! She has been to the real Kentucky Derby so she wanted us all to have a taste of the food that we would eat there. She served us Kentucky Hot Browns, Cheesy Grits, Derby Pie, Mint Juleps & Mimosas. We all agreed that the food was great, but the Mint Juleps were extremely um...refreshing, but tasted horrible.

Here we all are with our hats on! We are all wearing our very best summer dresses and it is about fifty degrees outside. We all wished we were in Kentucky for this shot, but we were enjoying some derby fun in Indiana!

Gotta love a good Bunco theme and this one was GREAT!

Water & Chalk

Two old margarine tubs filled with water and one package of paint brushes from the dollar store.

Mommy's yoga mat becomes a soft cushion for the kids to rest their bottoms on while playing on the pavement. Don't forget the sidewalk chalk so they can make even more cool pavement creations!

Ethan paints a rainbow with water and Emily just loves to paint around herself.

Emily's painting usually ends up looking like this.

Ethan layers chalk and water to make beautiful hearts for mommy.

Then we make our own little hopscotch game, but that is too boring for a boy.

Ethan calls this, "EXTREME hopscotch." He even says the word EXTREME in an EXTREME way. The rules are, you jump on number one and then hop 40,000 steps to get to number two and then you have to hop 40,000 more steps to get to the third number. These went all the way down our driveway to the very end. He wanted me to jump it, but that sounded too extreme for mommy, but perfect for an energetic little boy.

Water and chalk provide hours of enjoyment on sunny days. This is how a frugal family spends their day together and I wouldn't have it any other way!

Knit for a Cause

I am so enjoying learning how to knit and it has been a wonderful outlet for me in the evenings. I have been practicing and learning each day. Progressively, I am getting a little better, but I am no speed demon and certainly am still in the learning stages.

My mother-in-law gave me a big stack of knitting magazines to help inspire me and my knitting projects. As I was flipping through them, I noticed all of the great charities that were listed that take knitting donations. I had not thought of how learning this skill could benefit others, but now I am thinking about this hobby in a new way. If I can learn how to knit, I can benefit someone else.

Our church has a knitting club and I am a little too embarrassed to go at such an early stage, but it might benefit me to sit with some experienced knitters and let them teach me a thing or two. I have also been calling my poor mother-in-law often to brag about figuring out how to purl, how to cast off, and my daily progression on my scarf. She is so sweet to talk to me and encourage me that I am doing well or just to offer moral support when it takes simple things, like learning to purl, an entire day. Talk about slow!

I wanted to provide some links to organizations that take knitting donations. Please list any organizations that you have worked with/for and if you have had any experience knitting for charity.

These lists provide some added motivation for learning this new skill- what a gift it would be to share my handmade efforts with others.

Cubs for Kids

Interweave Knits Charity Knitting List

The Duulan Project

Newborns in Need

Threads of Love - find a chapter in your area!

SusanB's Charity Page

Headhuggers Chemo Hats

Bev's Afghanistan Project Page

"Ray of Hope" UK Charity Knitting

Special Knitting Forces

Stitches from the Heart

Project Linus Baby Blankets

The Daily Knitter Charity Knitting

Red Scarf Project - Norma Knits Blog with info

Guideposts Sweater Project

Afghans for Afghans

Knitting for Veterans

Warm Woolies - Knitting for Orphans and Poverty Stricken Children

Retro Housewife Bunco

This month, I got to host our Bunco group, and I was so excited about my retro housewife theme. The best part about this theme was that I could display my apron collection and I could make all my friends wear aprons too.

The downfall with entertaining is that my home is a smaller space. It just means that I have to be a little more purposeful with clearing the home of clutter and finding more inventive ways to display and share all of our good food, but I did my best.

I cleared all of the shoes and coats from our entryway and replaced them with a handful of my favorite aprons from my collection. A couple of the girls said that they didn't have an apron (I know, *gasp*) so I thought they could borrow one of mine from one of our hooks when they walked in. It also helped to tie in the theme!
I love to look for benches for my house because it makes great instant seating in any room. Even an old and ugly bench can be recovered and made to look more modern with a new fabric or coat of paint. I pulled my benches into a seating arrangement that I thought would make it easy for groups to sit together and would make it easier for people to chat. These are also narrow enough that they make good seating for homes with smaller spaces.

We had a delicious retro supper prepared. I made my favorite Sloppy Joe recipe and I got mini-kaiser rolls to make it easier to eat while we played. These were served with tater tots and Rice Krispie treats for dessert. I could prepare everything ahead of time and just had to throw the tater tots in the oven before everyone arrived. I planned to serve slushies, but everyone brought a beverage to share instead so this made it easier for me.

I love to serve our food on cake stands and the covered ones are great for keeping bread from drying out and they help to create a display. If you are short on space, elevating the food can make more room for lower dishes to rest. If you don't have cake stands, you can use an inverted bowl and rest a plate on top to create a cute cake stand. Hunt at the thrift stores and you can find elegant china plates and cups or bowls to create cute little cake stands.

Coolers can get in the way when you are trying to entertain and can be difficult to hunt for just the right drink. I plugged one side of our double sink and filled it with ice. I tucked the drinks inside of there and then took a ribbon and looped a bottle opener through the ribbon and around the spout. It made it much easier to drain (just have to unplug the sink) and it also saved on space in my fridge and freezer.

What retro housewife would ever serve her guests dinner on paper plates? We kept our party green and wallet-friendly by using cloth napkins and my favorite white dishes to serve on. I had seven guests so it only equaled one fast load of dishes and everything was cleaned.

Isn't this scorekeeper so handsome? Ethan got home from grandma and grandpa's and was immediately intrigued by what all these crazy women were doing. He was so good to help keep score and even got to throw dice a few times with us.


Thank you to all my Bunco Babes who allowed me to live out one of my little fantasies. It was so fun to have a retro night with all of you!