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Countdown to Fall Break (and a giveaway)

A Flashback: FALL 2008 Junior is more likely kick, rather than sit, on a pumpkin these days 🙂

Updated 10/23/10: This giveaway is now closed and the winner is Shelby! Thanks for playing, Shelby look for an email from me.

Five is apparently the age where you start understanding that a break from school is an anticipated event. Sunday night I was talking to MaM and she figured it out — “So I go to school for two days and then there’s FIVE at home days? That’s awesome!” And she’s been counting down ever since.

We’ve got some fun things planned — a visit to the Children’s Museum, a visit to Conner Prairie for the Headless Horseman, and a quick getaway to Brown County and the Columbus Children’s Museum. We’re even hoping to squeeze in a trip to a pumpkin patch (this week’s Savvy deal), and then there’s Trunk or Treat at church on Sunday. Phew. Should be fun!

In the spirit of all that is fall, I had the chance to preview a Taking the Scary Out of Halloween Kit by children’s author, Joy Berry. It’s a fun kit that includes glow sticks (one that’s a necklace! with a whistle!),  a fun projection flashlight and book about Halloween. The kids have had a great time with the flashlight (are mine the only ones who are constantly playing in the dark bathroom? what? they are?), and the book is a good one. It’s filled with safety tips and also some good manners lessons that can make Trick or Treating go more smoothly. The book also has fun stickers and Halloween activities.

Want to win a Halloween Safety Kit of your own? Leave a comment here, telling me your fall break plans or a costume idea or whatever you feel is seasonally appropriate  and I’ll randomly choose a winner sometime on Friday!

Happy Fall Break, Everyone!

(Disclosure: Joy Berry Books sent me a Halloween Safety Kit to review. Note: the first flashlight was jostled and broken during shipping, but its replacement arrived undamaged and worked great!)

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Drive Thru Weekends

Fall is what I like to call our “Travel Season”. With a billion birthdays, a few holidays and Fall Break from school, we find ourselves driving all over the place on fall weekends.  And while I try to plan snacks for the car rides, inevitably, we make a lot of fast food stops this time of year too. It’s not always meal time, but when you pass the only small town for 60 miles, you stop at 2pm if that’s what time you’re passing through.

Enter Wendy’s new Pick Two for $4.99 campaign. I wrote about their all-new salads last month. Now they’ve made a smaller portion (still loaded with good things) and added an option where you can add a menu item (Jr. Bacon Cheeseburger, rich and meaty chili, oven-cooked Baked Potato, grilled or spicy homestyle chicken Go Wrap, Dasani bottled water, small Frosty or other small beverage). So I can appeal to my healthy side (salad!  for this post, I chose Apple Pecan Chicken — SO GOOD) and my decadent side (Frosty!) in one simple order. I like simple.

Of course, you could go totally “good” and get either chili or a baked potato and have yourself a fine lunch with good variety.

But in the effort of full-disclosure, I’ll admit it: I always choose the Frosty.

(Disclosure: I was a sent a Wendy’s gift card to try these new salad/menu combinations. No one told me to get the Frosty, I decided to do that all on my own.)

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In the Blink of an Eye: From Strollers to First Grade

This weekend I rounded up all of the parts for our mega-infant travel system: the car seat, the two bases, the stroller (with a clock and thermometer), all the head rests, and the cold weather boot. Yes, our travel system came with a little piece of material that you can wrap around the bottom of the  car seat in cold weather, to keep baby’s feet warm. *SIGH* I loved that travel system. (It took me three hours to choose it. You can read about it in this very long post, scroll down till you get to “Stroller Shopping”)

The travel system is heading to Chicago, where it will welcome my newest niece or nephew home next spring, which is very exciting! Junior has had his fill of being “the baby” on BgK’s side of the family, so it’s definitely time! (Right now, he’s the youngest of 10 grandkids on that side)

Anyway, it’s clear we’ve moved on from infants in our home — we occasionally use our umbrella stroller, but mostly Junior runs wherever we venture. The infant toys are packed away, and the house is littered in small toy cars and cool girl toys like the Littlest Pet Shop. Oh, and I’m shopping for A FIRST GRADE CLASSROOM FOR MY GIRL.

Due to recent life events, we need to find a school for MaM for next year, not 7th grade like we thought. I’ve been to one, and Monday I visit another. If this one doesn’t seem to fit the bill, I’ll have to extend my search. Because she’s been in Montessori for the past three years, I’ve been wondering how she would a)assess in a more traditional setting b)respond to more traditional instruction.

Enter the Kaplan Test Drive Program. As a Kaplan Test Drive Mom, MaM and I will have access to their online tutoring programs for the next 8 weeks. While I’m confident that MaM doesn’t need remediation, per se, I’m very curious to see how she’ll do using this program. Every school I’ve checked into touts technology as a component, and I wonder how she’ll use those learning tools. I wonder how she’ll do following simple oral directions without manipulatives (a major component of all Montessori instruction), I wonder how she’ll applying what she’s learned with Montessori materials to other experiences.

The Kaplan Test Drive program should give me that feed back and more. It’s a personalized program that moves at the child’s pace, going through a math and reading curriculum. MaM’s done the pre-tests and enjoys doing the activities. She’s also enjoying earning points that she can use on actual prizes. I hope that by the end of the program I can get a good sense of what she knows and what skills she may need to practice more.

You know, because she’s heading to first grade next year.

(Disclosure: this is the first of two posts sponsored by The Kaplan Test Drive Mom program and Mom Central. I am receiving access to the Kaplan Tutoring site and a gift card in exchange for this review. All pangs of cutting the apron strings are my own.)