Sing, Sing a Song Saturday

I started doing what I call Sing, Sing a Song Saturday.  I'm going to post one song on Saturdays that the boys or I like. 

The song may be part of a movie, a kid's video or just a song we like. It may or may not include words. I'll try and include why we like it and/or the history of the song/singer.

This band called Monsters Calling Home made a music video in their Honda. The song is called Fight to Keep. They didn't have a whole lot of money to film it anywhere else.

They thought they were pitching a song in front of a panel for Honda.

Watch their incredible story unfold, and then meet the band who got the surprise of a lifetime. This is just a really fun story...

Here's another song of theirs called Growing Up:

Just in case you didn't get enough...this is called Only One (Black Keys Cover).

Something Old - String Holder

We have this really old string holder. It came from my my Great Aunts and Uncle, which would be the boy's Great Great Aunts and Uncle.

They used this type of string holder because they used to not have twisty ties like they do today. The spool sits inside the face and comes out her mouth. I saw one other similar at an antique shop once selling for $500. I don't think ours is worth much because the owners before us dropped it, broke it, or opened a door into it.


It still is cool. I love that it's hanging in our kitchen. I tell the boys she's eating spaghetti. Sometimes I forget that string is in her mouth. I'll need a piece of string, and I'm looking all over the house for it. String should always be accessible in our house.

WW: Isaak's Art {Linky}

Grandpa Spiehs helped Isaak put his 4 year old vision together. They went for walks to collect stuff that most people would find as trash. Then Grandpa helped Isaak screw, nail, glue and cut to put things on wood.

Isaak's always liked collage. In fact if there's an empty box in our house, Isaak takes it over. He cuts up string and paper, glues, uses marker on a plain old box.

Here's his little construction:

The white cap unscrews to reveal little rocks and acorns. Here they are:

These are leaves that Asian Beatles attacked:

Another cap with part of an acorn:

Oh and by the way this project is Gluten Free!

A pop bottle cap. Definitely junk they found. My parents do not drink soda.

I'm not sure what the plastic is. There is sticks under it though. Isaak has to pick up sticks everywhere we go.

You Can Follow Me Here:

I joined Pinterest. If you follow me, I'll follow back. :)

If you have a moment enter my Bumble Ride CD Giveaway. 

Design and Drill Tool Kit and Geo Safari Jr. Talking Microscope

Isaak's been creating these artistic master pieces with Grandpa. One will be shown with my WW later today. They are boards with found objects attached.

This weekend when we were in the car Isaak randomly said, "Mommy I just want to screw everything in this world." I know he didn't know how bad that sounded. He was so innocent and happy about what he had said.

On Go Graham Go! a Design and Drill Tool Kit and Geo Safari Jr. Talking Microscope are being given away. Isaak would love this toy!

Another funny is that Isaak now thinks he knows how to spell. Mica spells pretty good. I think that's where Isaak is getting, "I know how to spell that." He said, "Mom I know that today starts with 2." I said, "No it starts with a T." Let's just say that he was pretty adamant that "Today" starts with 2.

Annie

Last night we corrupted our kids! They watched Annie, while eating dinner.

I had it on VHS from when we were little. Can you believe our VHS | DVD player still works? It's older than Mica is. Well Annie got stuck in it. VERY stuck. So much so that Daddy had to tear it apart to get it out. Now we don't know if we should put a VHS tape inside the thing or not?

By the way Annie was Daddy's choice. I just had to throw that in there. I think I'm the one that got him to like musicals.

Yesterday when I was running errands, there Annie was. $5 on DVD at Target. :)

We had an Annie night. The kids were totally into it. Now I know why they don't like kids watching TV and eating at the same time. The eating part is so slow.

Salmon, asparagus and pasta with olive oil and Parmesan cheese was our dinner.

Isaak lost interest a ways into it. Mica was zoned. I caught him smiling during the singing, dancing parts.

Do you want to know another thing to get right now while shopping? School supplies!

Mica lost his folder already from school. He lost it at school or at home, but it's lost. I found a Lego folder for so cheap! I also picked up 2 Scullcandy backpacks for $13 each! They were originally $50! They are very good quality. My idea is to pick up iron on characters to put on them. Then I can change out the iron on character as their interests change. Hopefully they will last for some time. I also got another thermos because Isaak will be in school next year. All on clearance!

Open House

Mica had an open house for hi school on Thursday night. Talk about rush, rush. Drive 2 1/2 hours to go to a funeral, drive 2 1/2 hours to come home, eat dinner and go to an open house.

Isaak's expression just about summed up how we all felt:

The stinker made a mess with his food and markers. Isaak fell asleep 10 minutes before getting back into town (figures).

It was so important to go to Mica's open house though. I loved walking in his room and seeing this:

It was a classroom full of paper bag kids. Mica even tried to duplicate his Warrior Poet shirt he had on that day. The words and shield were on the bag. He even remembered the ears! Usually we have to remind him to put ears on his people.

There was also multiple Curious Georges on the board to:

It says: "I would take curious George around the world. We would go to Antarctica. Curious George and I would also go to North Pole." He left out "the" North Pole. I never know if Curious should be capital or not? It's not his name, but it's a show. This is why I could never home school.

They also created characters out of shapes:

It says: "My snowman is a funny, nice and pretty snowman. his name is hero and he stands in the snow." We did tell Mica that "His" and "Hero" should be capital. I also told him that I loved the snowman's outfit! Daddy said, "I think I should wait to tell him what yellow snow means."

Mica has really good handwriting. I love his little details in things!

Help Del Monte Fresh Produce Name Their Monkey For A Chance to Win A Year Supply of Bananas

Del Monte Fresh Produce is introducing a new adorable monkey, which you will see on the Del Monte Fresh Produce website, Facebook page, and in banana packaging. He will give banana lovers tasty banana recipes, tips for staying healthy, and much more. He's cute, furry, fun and a tad mischievous. His favorite food is bananas. He's constantly jumping, swinging and running around to stay in tip top shape.

There's just one problem – this monkey needs a name. 

Help Del Monte Fresh Produce name him for a chance to win an entire year supply of Del Monte Fresh Produce bananas (the Grand Prize*) or one of 100 stuffed monkeys that will be given away randomly to Del Monte Fresh Produce Facebook fans.

To enter, go to https://www.facebook.com/DelMonteFreshProduce and click on the "Name Me. Win Me" box. This will redirect you to a page to enter your name and email in order to vote on one of five possible names. If you are already a fan of Del Monte Fresh Produce on Facebook, you must still enter to vote. If you are not currently a fan, you must "Like" Del Monte Fresh Produce to enter.

Now quit monkeying around and go to https://www.facebook.com/DelMonteFreshProduce to enter today!

•The grand Prize of a year supply of bananas will consist of 52 coupons for $2.00 each (equivalent to one bunch of bananas). That's one bunch of bananas per week for an entire year. Coupons cannot be redeemed for cash.

Disclaimer: I will receive coupons for 2 free bunches of bananas for posting this. Thank you Del Monte.

What Happened on Thursday

On Wednesday many of us (my cousins, siblings and I) couldn't go to my Grandma's wake. There was a Fall Festival going on in the area. No hotel rooms were there. We all showed up on Thursday for the funeral. It was great to see everyone. I loved that so many people were there for my Grandma! The church was pretty full. My grandparents haven't live in that small town for 4 years.

It was good to hear stories about how wonderful she was.

Below: Me and my Grandparents when I was in college many moons ago. I made them that paper quilt. It was all made out of homemade paper.

Mica had a mountain of questions. In the church I gave Mica and Isaak little sketchbooks I get for free from Blick Art Supplies. Mica always asks, "What should I draw?" I told him, "Why don't you draw Great Grandma Kent." I handed him the bulletin that had her picture on it. He happily drew a picture of her and added Domino's to the front (which she liked to play) and an image of himself on the side with a bubble coming out of his mouth saying, "You are my friend." He later ripped it out to give it to Great Grandpa Kent. Mica's a charmer, but he also is very blunt. The day ended with him saying, "This is all we came here for?" I think with all that driving, he thought we were going to stay in a hotel.  

I have to say that the boys were very good during the day!

While Thursday was in the works we, Aunt Terra and Uncle Tyson were waiting for a VERY IMPORTANT phone call! During a routine ultrasound they found a few Wilm's Tumors on Emerson's kidneys. If just one kidney has a tumor they do surgery. Both kidneys have tumors on them. Chemo is the only way to treat them. Only one pediatrician oncologist would see him. Because he has Trisomy 18, the others wouldn't see him at all.

Little Emerson in his play area.

In order for Emerson to be treated their family had to go to an Ethics meeting at the hospital on Wednesday night. It's sort of like going before a jury. They had to present what Emerson can do, had doctors that have fought for him on their side. Little Emerson now has a resume. Assisted Emerson can sit, walk along furniture, and rock back and forth for crawling. Alone he can roll over, all over. Then the jury of doctors had to decide what they were going to do. Only it took them until Thursday to decide. Talk about leaving them/us hanging!

Well they got the call during the funeral (Terra's phone was on vibrate) that Emerson will get the treatment.

He'll get a biopsy, a scan to see if anything has spread and chemo all at the end of this month.

He'll be getting his chemo during flu and cold season. :( He gets sick a lot anyhow. :(

We're all rooting for the little man!

We're talking about how to help with our other nephews. I'm seeing in the future some slumber parties at my house. If you have any kid friendly crafts for two 4 year olds and two 7 year olds, send them my way. We collected pine cones over the weekend. I figured that we can do something with them. I tried looking for acorns, but it wasn't happening. Two parks didn't have any. Life in the Lost World reminded me about Newspaper Hats. We'll do that to!

I wish I could help with taking the boys too and from school. We have issues with that even with our own children. I'm hoping some people are able to help! For now I'm not signing my kids up for one more sporting event for awhile. Family Gym and open swim night will have to do this winter. Mica will still do jujitsu. Swimming lessons and tumbling will pan out until the end of their session, but after that our kids are getting a break from that stuff.