Good times on Valentine's

The Hubs and I went to Boyce-Thompson Arboretum on Valentine's Day. Yep, that's also where we went with my family on Thanksgiving. Good thing we took a lot of pictures then, because Saturday we ran out of battery. Other than that, it was a lovely day.


This time we noticed they do have some things for kids - like a bamboo maze and a "match the birds" flannelgraph game in the Smith Interpretive Center. (We should discuss flannelgraphs soon, don't you think?) So put that on the list of fun places to take the fam.

P.S. More photos at the Boyce Thompson Arboretum Photo Gallery.


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Photos by me , taken before I realized the camera was about to go on strike for the day.

What to do with chewed up cups

Kids gnawing on their sippy cups again?

Don't toss them! (The sippy cups, I mean.) (But don't toss the kids either!)

I saw a great tip on Parent Hacks: Turn chewed-up sippy cups into kitchen dispenser bottles.

Simple, yet brilliant!

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Photo by me.

All kinds of fun Valentine's Day stuff!

I couldn't decide on one Valentine's theme, so here' s a mish-mash of stuff I thought you'd enjoy.

Cute Valentine's Day craft inspiration (via the Craftzine blog):

• Creature Comforts: Free Printable Valentine Teabag Wrappers + Tags
• HOW TO - Make Felt Hearts with Hidden Messages
• Download and Print Vintage Betsy McCall Paper Dolls
  

Money4Moms: Doing Valentine’s Day on a Budget


This week's love series from Holy Experience:

• Scandalous Love
• Love Bits
• Love Dare

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Images: Betsy McCall paper dolls - February 1955

Birthday wishes for a past president

Happy birthday, Mr. Lincoln!

You'd be 200 years old today, and I can't imagine what kind of shape you'd be in. Probably pretty baffled at what you saw around you - cars, Lincoln logs, iPods, your very own (very large) monument and a tiny image of your very large monument on the back of a coin we routinely drop and don't bother to pick up. Well, these days we might pick it up.

These are strange times we're living in. There's a lot we could discuss about people being less than honest, Abe, and about happenings in your home state and what's new at your old job.


But what I really wanna know is this: What would you think if I told you people anywhere in the world could download and print off illustrations of you for their kids to color in with crayons? Would that just mess with your head? Do you even know what "download" means? So much to catch you up on!

Well, let's move on to a more familiar topic: books. There's been all kinds of books written about you - even for kids. I know, you used to have to walk uphill in the snow to borrow a book. I don't think you even wanna know how easy it is for us to get books now.

I'm not sure that everything in those books is accurate - but, at your age, you're probably not sure anymore either. That's okay. I know that somewhere between the myths and misrememberings, you did some genuinely great things.

Honestly, we have a lot to thank you for.

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P.S. Happy birthday, also, to my Uncle John. He's not quite as old as Lincoln. But he's much more internet savvy! ;)

Photos by ~MVI~.

Breaking the mold

Photos by me. | More WW here.

Link to your faves!

MomDot had a great idea yesterday - asking readers to link to one post from their blog. That inspired me to do something similar.

Here's what I'd like to hear from you:

• What is one post (not from your own blog) that you enjoyed reading?
• What is one post from your blog you'd like to share?

Since it's a two-part question, I decided not to do a Mr. Linky. But feel free link to the posts you'd recommend in the comments.

Kids' party cutbacks send pachyderms packing

Even elephants are having trouble finding work these days.

With all the economic turmoil going on right now, parents who used to throw the elaborate let's-rent-a-whole-circus birthday parties for their children (who sometimes were too young to remember it later on anyway) are cutting back.


"Kids' Parties Take a Pay Cut" (from MomLogic) quoted one mother as saying, "No matter what's going on in the economy, I don't want my children to think that they can't have something as basic as a birthday party."

Really? I'm all for celebrating life's milestones; however, since when are birthday parties "basic" in the same sense as food, shelter, clothing and - perhaps this is where the confusion really stems from - love?

Maybe when we get things sorted into the right categories, we'll be on the way to sorting out the rest of this economic mess too.

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Photos by D'Arcy Norman.