Prepared to make a wish? December 31, 2008

Are you ready to make a wish?

Well, you will have the occasion on January 3rd!!

A meteorite shower (the Quadrantids ) is going to appear! We can see it from the USA if weather permits.

Click here to read more about this news!

If you have a nice view of the western horizon, then you are for sure able to see a special celestial show tonight!

Just after the sunset, we could see Jupiter, Mercury, Venus and the crescent Moon all together in a line.

This has to be an awesome show!

Read more about this HERE!

I will not miss it for sure! and you?

listing mania! :) December 29, 2008

Yep, here we are already with these (stupid) new year’s lists!!

I have been thinking about it, and before doing my “wish/to do” list for 2009, I think it is good to write a “thank you/done” list for 2008.

Don’t you think so? I like to take a look back to the stuff I’ve done during the year, the things I am thankful for, etc.

So, I will post my “thanks” list for this ending 2008.

This year has been a year of changes for me and my family.

- I let my home in Spain to come here in Arizona for several months.

- I quit smoking.

- I ‘ve been building a relation with God and going back to my spirituality.

- I began homeschooling my daughter.

- I took the decision to go back school to earn a college degree.

and much more!! I am really thankful for having all I have, especially:

- a healthy and wonderful family, especially my daughter.

- a loving and beloved best friend hubby!

- a nice house in Spain and another one in Arizona.

- wonderful friends.

- something to eat in my plate each day.

I am also really thankful for finding a nice church here, with lovely people. So, I think that’s it, well, sure I forget a lot of things to be thankful for, but that’s a nice list and I am happy with myself when I read it!

What I would like for 2009, is :

- health for all my friends and family and myself.

- love in my life.

- I will pray to have knowledge and courage.

- I would like, well I have to, be more patient with my daughter, and I really want to be a good mother for her and a good teacher also.

- I hope I will be better and go ahead with the way I am simplifying my life, and also in my spirituality.

- I really hope I will have the opportunity to go to college and study for my degree.

- I hope I will be a better person and could help people around me become better too.

This is my list for 2009, I have a lot of faith that it will be accomplished, so see you at the end of 2009 to see what I will be thankful for!

And you, have you got a wish list? So, post it here!

Cranberry Jam December 27, 2008

Holiday season is not completely over! BUT we can already take advantage of the lower price of certain holiday items such like cranberries.

You can find right now at your store some fresh raw cranberries bags for a very good price.

I bought 6 bags of them this morning, for pennies! So I made cranberry jam! I love it!

The recipe is very simple and easy to make. Here you have:

CRANBERRY JAM

- 2 12oz bags of fresh raw cranberries

- 3 cups of sugar

- 1 cup of fresh orange juice

- juice of 1 lemon

- 1 cup water

How to:

You have to put the liquids in a big sauce pan, boil and add the sugar. Stir until well dissolved. Then add the cranberries.

Let boil during 15 minutes stirring sometimes.

With a fork process the cranberries, and let them 5 minutes more in the pan.

Then proceed sterilizing your jars and fill them with the mixture.

This recipe makes 6 “regular” jam jars.

Let cool completely before eating.

My favorite : with french toasts or crepes. Yummy!

South Mountain Park and Preserve December 27, 2008

Hello readers!

Yesterday we went to a park in South Phoenix, just 15 mns from home, and I was really amazed by it!

It is such a beautiful place! It is 2300 feet high and from there, the views of all the Valley are just breathtaking!

We saw Native American petroglyphs, as you can see in the picture!

We walked between the cactus, it was so funny.

For me, as a good frogy , it is amazing to see all these landscapes, it is like being in a John Wayne movie! I was just ready to see a cowboy coming from the other side of this mountain you know!!

Well, I highly recommend this park, which is I think the biggest in the USA of its kind.

You can visit the web HERE.

Have fun!

My best present ever! December 27, 2008

Hey, here I am again!

I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas! We had a very good one, traditional. We baked some cookies to leave to Santa with a glass of milk. He appreciated them I am sure, he left a lot of presents for everybody.

Cecilia was so excited, but not as much as I was!!

Well, we went to church the 24 , on the evening, it was very cool, there was a live nativity, with a lot of animals, and then after the service we had free cookies and hot chocolate! yummy!!

This was a happy Christmas, but I was a bit sad too because I really miss my family, and especially my older brother who lives in French Polynesia, near Tahiti (Papeete).

It has been a long time since I ‘ve seen him last. It is so far away. I always think about him, but much more on Christmas day.

But then I had my Christmas miracle! I told Santa that I wanted to see my brother for Christmas, and I did!!

My darling hubby brought me a webcam for my laptop and set up all so I could call my bro with skype and actually see him! I was the happiest girl on the earth, this was the really best gift I’ve had ever! We staid for 1 hour speaking and laughing, Cecilia could see her uncle and it was really magic being together on Christmas day!

This is for me the real meaning of Christmas, I didn’t want any material present, just to be with the people I love.

That is what it is all about, LOVE…

So I hope that you had a great Christmas day, full of LOVE!! Here you have nice pics from my brother’s place.

Lucky him!!

I love you bro!!

Merry Christmas! December 23, 2008

Today we will go to our church Christmas party! We will help from 1:00 PM til 8:00, and Cecilia will sing at 6:15.

It will be a great event, with toys to give to the children, 3 services and free dinner for everyone. I am sure we will have a lot of fun, and I hope we will add more people as members of our church.

So, I will be busy for a while and don’t know if I will have time to post so I want to wish a very merry Christmas to everybody.

May you be blessed in this day, and understand the true meaning of Christmas. May all your family and friends be blessed with you. I wish you a lot of hapiness, joy, faith, and a wonderful Christmas eve and day.

Let’s have a great time in family! If you are alone for Christmas, this can be a good time to go to church and know that if Jesus is in your heart, you will never be alone!

If you know some friend or neighbour who is alone for Christmas, maybe it is the ocasion to invite him/her to celebrate Christmas with you and your family. Christmas is a time to share and celebrate Jesus birthday with people you love but also with people in need.

I will post after Christmas to share with you our day and show some pictures! I am so excited!

MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL AND JOY TO THE WORLD!

Lapbooks for homeschooling December 23, 2008

Lapbooks are a great educational resource!

They are books that you make yourself with your children.

I really love them and use them a lot with my preschooler! I found some wonderful websites about lapbooks.

They have free templates, ideas, and more… I highly recommend them especially if you don’t know anything about lapbooks, they will be for sure very helpful.

The first one is THE HOMESCHOOL SHARE, a wonderful web for homeschooling.

And the second one is LAPBOOK LESSONS, which is also great.

I also found free Christian curriculum in PRESCHOOL POST, they have very nice stuff.

If you want some support to begin with the lapbooking or more different ideas, then I really recommend this book:

“Making books that fly, fold, wrap, hide, pop up, twist and turn: books for kids to make.”

You can find it in my store HERE for a good price and it is well worth it!

I hope this post will be useful for you and your children, even if they are not homeschooled.

Have a nice evening!

A nice song for French learners! December 22, 2008

Hey, hope you are having a wonderful sunday!

We had a lot of fun today, we first went to our hispanic service where the sermon was beautiful, and then we went to our friend’s church and there was a Christmas party with a lot of activities for children, and a concert of Christmas carols with animation for deaf persons.

We enjoyed so much!

I wanted to post about a song I found, which is very funny for your children to learn french alphabet.

Here we go:

LA CHANSON DES SCOUTS

Un jour la troupe campa A A A
La pluie se mit à tomber B B B
L’orage a tout cassé C C C
Faillit nous inonder A B C D
Le chef s’mit à crier E E E
A son adjoint Joseph F F F
Fais nous vite à manger G G G
Les scouts sont sous les bâches EFGH

Les oiseaux dans leur nid iii
Les loups dans leur logis J J J
Discutent avec fracas K K K
Avec les hirondelles i J K L

Joseph fit de la crème M M M
Et du lapin de garenne N N N
Et même du cacao O O O
Les amis quel souper ! M N O P

Soyez en convaincus Q Q Q
Que la vie au grand air R R R
Fortifie la jeunesse S S S
Entretient la santé Q R S T

Maintenant qu’il ne pleut plus U U U
Les scouts vont se sauver V V V
Le temps est au beau fixe X X X
Pas besoin qu’on les aide X Y Z

Nous n’avons rien trouvé pour W.

These are just the lyrics, so you don’t have the melody, but maybe you can just invent one! I thought this song may be useful to teach children french alphabet and pronunciation.

Hope you like it!

Museum day! December 20, 2008

We went to the museum today and it was so much fun!

We were invited by my friend and her daughter Amber, who is also 4 as Cecilia.

We had a terrific time seeing the huge dinosaurs. The girls was running everywhere and shouting and laughing.

I think they had a great time! I really liked the museum too, they have very nice stuff, a place about Mars and space, very interactive.

If you are curious, here you have the web of the museum:

ARIZONA MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY.

I will recommend it or any museum of natural history for your kids, it is a wonderful, educative, fun and non expensive resource. Very nice especially for homeschooling kids as a field trip.

You can find a museum next to you HERE.

So have fun!

Promote breastfeeding! December 19, 2008

Since 1979, the World Health Organization (WHO) recommends that exclusive breastfeeding should be continued for the first 6 months of an infant’s life.

It is so important that you breastfeed your newborn! It is free, practical, healthy for you and for your baby, always available, and such a wonderful way to build a nice relationship with your child!

If you need to be convinced of the benefits of breastfeeding, or you need help or advice to do it, then you should visit the web of this organization: WELLSTART or contact LA LECHE LEAGUE.

I really support breastfeeding mothers and encourage them, and I would love to see more often initiative like this one, in Canada. 

All public places like restaurants, bars, shops etc. can print this logo and put it on a visible wall of their business to show the world that they support breastfeeding and allows mothers to breastfeed their child there.

It was developed with La Leche League in Canada. A wonderful project!

I hope you will consider breastfeeding like the only normal and natural way to feed your baby from birth until 6 months old at least.

I breastfed mi daughter for 9 months and it was a wonderful and beautiful time, the best memories I have from her being a baby!