Search Results for: blog the treehouse

My Saturday Yard Sale Bargains

Yesterday was a good day for yard sale bargains for me. Our township was doing its annual yard sale day. Anyone in the town can register their yard sale, which was printed on a detailed map. That means that there were more than 30 different yard sales happening within just a few miles of our home. Because of yard sale day, many people in the town saw it as an opportunity to really clean out their houses for the first time since last year. This means that there are plenty of rock bottom bargains and a lot of interesting finds. … Continue reading →

Game Review: Dream Chronicles

If you enjoy playing casual games, such as Diner Dash, Farmville, Bejeweled, Mystery Case Files or Plants versus Zombies, then I think you are going to like Dream Chronicals, especially if you are looking to step up to something with a little more adventure. A cross between hidden object and adventure game, Dream Chronicles attempts to bridge the gap between the casual game and the traditional game. It does a decent job with this goal, and the pros outweigh the cons. In Dream Chronicles, you are Faye, a woman who wakes up one day to find her husband missing and … Continue reading →

Calendars for a Cause

It’s true that these days I can’t live without my cell phone / personal assistant. All of my appointments are in there safe and sound, unless of course I drop my phone in a puddle, which I have been known to do. So I also have my good, old-fashioned wall calendar hanging in the kitchen for those times when my phone is dead or missing. Everyone should have one. But, instead of buying one of those cartoon calendars or one loaded with pictures of Brad Pitt, I prefer ones that raise money for children with special needs. There are plenty … Continue reading →

What’s on Your Child’s Christmas Gift List?

The Salvation Army’s red kettles have been out since before Halloween, the bell ringers got to work last Friday and some guy is selling Christmas trees across the street from our church. I guess that means I should be done with my holiday shopping, right? A year ago this week I was in desperation mode trying to track down a bunch of motorized rodents—-a.k.a. Zhu Zhu Pets-—to put under the Christmas tree for my kindergartener. This year Zhu Zhus are passe and Zoobles are all the rage. For the blissfully unaware, Zoobles are brightly colored creatures that fold into balls … Continue reading →

Going for Walks

Posted on by

We’ve lived in our house for nearly four years. The property contains an acre of land. The small community and large lot are what drew us to this location. The housing development is quiet and our neighbors are nice. Our toddler daughter Jessie loves to go outside and run around the large backyard. She has plenty of room to run. Unfortunately, she likes to run to the neighbors’ houses. The neighbors who have children have very interesting things in their yards. These things are particularly interesting to our toddler. She is especially obsessed with the battery-operated John Deere ride-on truck … Continue reading →

Creating a Forest Kindergarten

Posted on by

It’s been a busy week at our house. Last week, our preschool teacher let me know about a former colleague who was interested in starting a forest kindergarten. A forest kindergarten or Waldkinder is a concept that comes from Europe and is becoming increasingly popular in North America. Basically, children head outdoors in the morning and don’t come back until afternoon. They bring equipment to investigate natural places, they build forts, they even help build fires and cook over them. It’s a different sort of way to spend your kindergarten year, far from the pressures of the academic classroom. The … Continue reading →

Creating a Multifunctional Potting Shed

Posted on by

We built a playhouse over the weekend. However, I could just as easily call it a potting shed. It looks a little ramshackle, but it’s quite sturdy. We created it out of two bifold doors cut in half, four posts, some scavenged two by fours, and a lot of roofing planks that I had in the basement, just like any good playhouse. Since our back garden is mere meters in length, the playhouse will double as a potting shed and an avenue for my building-related whimsies. Granted, it is a rather deluxe and spacious potting shed, measuring all of 3.5 … Continue reading →

Corbin Dunn’s Treetop Living

A while back, I told the story of activist Julia “Butterfly” Hill. Hill lived in a tree she named Luna for just days shy of two years in 1997-98. She was in the 180 foot Redwood tree because she was trying to save it from being cut down. Hill’s tree sitting eventually saved Luna. Corbin Dunn also likes treetop living, but his was a little more luxurious than Hill’s. Dunn and his friend Chris Howland, built a tree house when they were 14. When Dunn came home from college, he would stay in the tree house. Dunn realized the old … Continue reading →

Summer Travel: American Girl Fun and All-American Flower Display

If you have an American Girl fan in your home you might consider heading to Cincinnati’s Museum Center at Union Terminal this weekend. That’s where hundreds of tween admirers of the American Girl franchise (from dolls to clothes, books to movies) will be gathering today and tomorrow. “Kit’s World Tour” serves as the kick-off to next weekend’s nationwide release of the new big screen feature “Kit Kittredge: An American Girl.” The film is based on the books about a 10-year-old budding journalist in Depression-era Cincinnati. Admission to the event is $10 per person and includes Kit-related activities such as climbing … Continue reading →

Summer Reading Programs

Kids are out of school and getting them to read is a challenge every parent struggles with. Studies have shown that they can lose two months of knowledge over the summer if they don’t engage their brains in something other than fun. Parents don’t have to fight this battle alone. Several businesses and websites have stepped up to offer summer reading programs to kids where they can earn cool prizes and rewards. If you haven’t read Valorie Delp’s Blog, All About BookAdventure.org., you should check it out. She discusses the advantages of using this website to encourage homeschooled children to … Continue reading →