Adventures in Babysitting: Lord of the Rings Edition

So last week marked my last week in babysitting.

I think.

And I'd completely run out of ideas as to what I should do with the girls to keep them busy.

Again, leave it to my fantastic boyfriend to supply funness.

We did a Lord of the Rings themed night. The girls each made their own "One Ring" out of clay.

They decorated their own Hobbit swords to defend against the Nazgul and the Orcs while we listened to music from the soundtrack.

I looked up a recipe for "Lembas Bread" (homemade sugar cookies) and made some for my little Hobbitses.

Once their rings baked and dried they painted them in golds and coppers and glittery colors.

With the paint drying on their rings of power I made them some Mead (cream soda and vanilla ice cream) to drink while they watched The Fellowship of the Ring.

The movie was a little bit scary for them. And it was too long to actually watch the whole thing before my sister got home from work. But they had fun. And it kept them busy and entertained.

Stacking the Shelves #1

Thanks to Tynga from Tynga's Reviews for hosting Stacking the Shelves every week.

I say every week, but this is my first StS post so... anyways.

I've been kind of out of touch with book blogging the last couple of months. I know I've apologized for it before.. but I've been kind of out of touch with reading. And I'm not sure why. But I'm back. And I'm working on getting back in the swing of things so thanks for being patient with me.

Like I said in my last post, I've been babysitting my nieces for the last few weeks. The other day we went to Michael's (the craft store) for the makings for our Harry Potter themed day. Much to my surprise, I also snagged 4 books there. All for just $1. Of course I couldn't pass them up, especially being the books that they were.

I'm desperately trying to get my girls and my nieces to live reading so I couldn't help myself.

Heidi by Johanna Spyri

Johanna Spyri's classic story of a young orphan sent to live with her grumpy grandfather in the Swiss Alps is retold in it's entirety in this beautifully bound hardcover edition. Heidi has charmed and intrigued readers since it's original publication in 1880. Much more than a children's story, the narrative is also a lesson on the precarious nature of freedom, a luxury too often taken for granted. Heidi almost loses her liberty as she is ripped away from the tranquility of the mountains to tend to a sick cousin in the city. Happily, all's well that ends well, and the reader is left with only warm, fuzzy thoughts.

Little Women by Louisa May Alcott

In picturesque nineteenth-century New England, tomboyish Jo, beautiful Meg, fragile Beth, and romantic Amy come of age while their father is off to war.

Black Beauty by Anna Sewell

 A horse is a horse of course unless of course the horse is Black Beauty. Animal-loving children have been devoted to Black Beauty throughout this century, and no doubt will continue through the next.
Although Anna Sewell's classic paints a clear picture of turn-of-the-century London, its message is universal and timeless: animals will serve humans well if they are treated with consideration and kindness.
Black Beauty tells the story of the horse's own long and varied life, from a well-born colt in a pleasant meadow to an elegant carriage horse for a gentleman to a painfully overworked cab horse.
Throughout, Sewell rails - in a gentle, 19th-century way - against animal maltreatment. Young readers will follow Black Beauty's fortunes, good and bad, with gentle masters as well as cruel. Children can easily make the leap from horse-human relationships to human-human relationships, and begin to understand how their own consideration of others may be a benefit to all.

The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain

 Intended at first as a simple story of a boy's adventures in the Mississippi Valley-a sequel to Tom Sawyer-the book grew and matured under Twain's hand into a work of immeasurable richness and complexity. More than a century after its publication, the critical debate over the symbolic significance of Huck's and Jim's voyage is still fresh, and it remains a major work that can be enjoyed at many levels: as an incomparable adventure story and as a classic of American humor.

What did you all get this week?

Adventures in Babysitting: Harry Potter Edition

So I've been babysitting my nieces for the last few weeks. My sister's German au pair (and my friend ::sad face::) left to go home and she had no one else to watch them. So... cue my entrance. I must say, I am the greatest auntie in the world. We've been to an insect zoo, a civil war museum, the pet store, the SPCA, the movies to watch Ice Age 4, the pool... they've played with snakes and brought home frogs from church.

Unfortunately, I'd packed all of my awesome into the last couple of weeks and as of yesterday, I'd run out of things to do. Or at least, that's what I thought. Thanks to ideas from my wonderful boyfriend however, I quickly came up with rainy day funness and so more awesomeness ensued.

First we went to the craft store for clay and poster board and crayons, etc. Then to Walmart for Cream Soda, Butterscotch pudding, and some Powerade Zeros for myself.

We got home and I went to work drawing up posters with a name of each one of the Tri-Wizard Tournament contestants. So four posters total. I put a number with each name and had the girls pick a number randomly and then gave them the poster that corresponded with said number. Then they got to work decorating their "cheerleading" posters.

While they did that I got to work on my own project (this is where the polymer clay comes in). I'd always wanted to try making something out of clay... so I attempted a little Severus Snape and a little Quidditch Broom. Results were not wonderful, but they weren't bad for my first try.

See? Not horrible. But like I said... not wonderful either. I'm sure if I keep trying I'll get better. Who knows.

The girls finished up their posters and I moved on to phase 2 of their Harry Potter night. Butterbeer. I poured about 2-3 cups of Cream Soda into the blender, added a ton of ice and two Butterscotch Pudding cups, and turned it on high for a minute et voila. Frozen Butterbeer. Yum. Got Goblet of Fire into the DVD player, passed out the Butterbeer and had the girls sit down with their posters. And there they've been ever since.

Hooray for Harry Potter. I may not be able to get them to actually read the books, but at least I can get them to watch the movies and enjoy those.

Cheers!