Memorial Day Weekend the second time around

Memorial Day weekend marks the 1 year anniversary of this blog. I don't always update regularly of have much to say, but, let me tell you that it is really cool to be able to look back a year ago and see little snip-its of our family. Here is the K-B's a year ago: Memorial Day Weekend 2009, James seems so little here, Shane just lost his first tooth.

We had another great Memorial Day weekend this year! We got a lot of cleaning done, had friends over for a bonfire, hung out at Jimmy and Margie's, and enjoyed the extra day to just hang out.

9 months pregnant

I thought I would post a few 9 month belly shots before the new baby comes. Their are 11 days left until my due date.

Recently, I had the opportunity to review an eBook that is made available by The Old Schoolhouse They have a new I when I Grow Up I Want To Be..... series.

This eBook was great for my family and my kids’ ages extend beyond the recommended 4-10, my eldest is 11 and he enjoyed listening and learning at the same time. My kids really enjoyed learning and discussing the history of firefighters. My 8 year old also enjoyed it and I think appreciated the fact there are pictures for him as he is more or a visual type learner. The worksheets add a nice touch as I didn’t need to think of questions for them or come up with a something on my own. My 2 and 5 year old sat with us coloring the coloring sheets that came along with the download. Another nice touch is that there is a definition call out for the harder words at the bottom of the page. Some of the pages have hyperlinks on them for additional information if you want to dig a little deeper or get another picture of what they are talking about. At 30+ pages of reading it isn’t like we needed to break this up between 2 sessions and I don’t think it was long enough to put them to sleep.

This download only takes a minute at most and you get everything with it, you don’t have to supplement anything as it has items like coloring sheets, a word find, handwriting, copy work, memory verse, math, American Sign Language, science activities and a Quiz. We only did a few of them, but it was nice to have all of the options. They also supply you with the answer sheets to all of the worksheets.

If I would have to list out the pros and cons I would have to say:

Pros-
· Easy to download, you don’t have to wait for it in the mail

· Very complete as in giving your child an idea about the career of a firefighter (what a typical day looks like, about the firehouse, history of firefighting, their salary, and even about fire dogs)

· Fairly inexpensive right around $9.00. That gets you the complete book plus the works sheets and other suggested activities (I know a lot of other places will make you buy the book and activities separately)

· There are definitions at the bottom of each page for the harder words and that

· You can get even more out of the book through the hyperlinks throughout the text.

Cons-
· Even though it is a pretty inexpensive purchase, it did only take us about a day to go through it. So with that being said this is a program that I would not incorporate into our day more than once every 2 weeks or it would start to get a bit expensive.


All in all I think that Old Schoolhouse did a nice job with this new series of eBooks! Here is a link to their site if you would like to get a copy for yourself http://www.theoldschoolhousestore.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=191_275&products_id=10533 .

One more thing I forgot to add is that they have a bunch more careers in the I Want To Be… series, some of them include farmer, doctor, chef, pilot and many more .

Other offers from this vendor are the complete series of The When I Grow Up, I Want to Be. This series is a fun, interactive way to help you guide your children to better understand the world around them and learn about the many professions that people are involved in and love.
The exceptional WannaBe Series™ E-Books are NOT typical “kids” books! You’ll find no fluff here! What you will find is an excellent, complete unit study perfect for multi-ages, one that the whole family will be excited to dig into!
4-10 Age range

Huge sale

I wanted to let any moms, dads, grandmas, grandpas, etc.... about an upcoming kids consignment sale in Maple Grove this week. Just Between Friends is a great way to buy quality children and maternity clothes and equipment. They have so many things there. Check out their website to see for yourself to see what it's all about http://twincities.jbfsale.com/ .

Spring

I know I'm a little late with "spring" but we have just been so busy and outside all the time that there is no time to be on the computer anymore. Well, here are some snippets of our spring:

Justin & Vanessa at grandpa Dan's on the day before her 5th birthday
Vanessa Rose Kittelson-Burke
James and Vanessa at grandpa Dan's
Vanessa playing base ball
Grandpa and Grandma with Vanessa at French park
Vanessa and James on the Chevy truck
Tyler riding the Doddle Bug. The boys new toy!

Vanessa up in a tree at grandmas house
James on his horse
Justin and James on the Doddle Bug
James coloring Easter eggs.
Vanessa coloring eggs
James on the tramp with a static hair
Nana bunny on Easter
Here is almost all the "cousins"
grandpa Pat. James and Erika

K-B kids!!

Here we have the three boys before haircutsJames getting a haircut K-B boys after their haircuts!

Our Princess

Vanessa recently turned 5. Time has gone by way too fast. This year we celebrated her birthday by staying the night at a hotel (we finally used a gift certificate we've had) the Friday before her birthday. Then on Saturday, we took a trip to the Mall Of America to visit the American Girl Doll store. Vanessa has been wanting to go there for a long time. She had $60 saved up to spend on what she thought before she got there it was for a bed for her doll. But, of course when she got in the store she wanted a doll. So we put our money together and she walked out with a new American Girl Doll for her birthday. Then off to grandpa Dan's for more birthday celebrations! We had a BBQ over there and she opened some presents. Finally, on Sunday which was her actual birthday, we started the day by going to church, then we met up with grandma and grandpa for lunch a Don Pablo's. After that we headed over to French park then over to grandma's for cupcakes.