Geoffrey’s Birthday Party at Toys R Us on 9/26

Geoffreys Birthday Party at Toys R Us on 9/26/09

Saturday, September 26th, Noon til 3 pm at your local store.

*Fun birthday parades.
*Great Free activities
*Free Giveaways

Free or Nearly Free Ice Cream

Like ice cream? Then circle Thursday, September 24 on your calendar! On that day, Carvel Ice Cream Stores will give away free Oreo Lil' Rounders between 3-7 p.m. and Cold Stone Creamery will give away free small ice cream sundaes between 5-8 p.m. during the 8th annual World's Largest Ice Cream Social.

Flylady

I wanted to tell you all about www.flylady.net.
It is a great website and email reminder service to help you get organized, get rid of clutter and have a clean and peaceful house.
I signed up for the daily email reminders and she sends out a daily "chore" that usually takes less than 15 minutes and is a good way to get things accomplished that you don't normally think about. For example, a couple of weeks ago the chore was sweeping in front of your front door and cleaning your front door. Today the chore was cleaning off your dresser in your master bedroom.
The other things I like is her "routines" for morning and before bed to help get you organized for your day.
Hope you will check it out and let me know what you think.

America on the move YMCA Activate America Week

America on the move week with the YMCA: September 20-27, 2009

Check your local YMCA for scheduled activities.

Here are a few of the offerings that week at my local YMCA in South Lakeland:

• Sept. 19, 3:30-4:30 pm Zumbathon
• Sept. 21, 6-8 pm Family Wii Night
  
• Sept. 22, 6-9 pm Volleyball pick up games
• Sept. 22, 6:30-7:30 pm, Stress Management Presentation
• Sept. 23, 9 am-noon, Health Fair; Local vendors from our community sharing healthful info. Also, Flu shots available.
• Sept. 24, 9 am-noon, Food and Fun; A nutrition and physical activity curriculum designed to encourage children and their families to develop healthy eating habits.
• Sept. 25, 6:30-8:30 pm, Water fun for the Family
  

Family Day at the Polk Museum of Art

Saturday, September 19; 11 am until 3 pm
Family Day at the Polk Museum of Art in Lakeland
This year's theme is "green" with all sorts of fun related to being creative and environmentally conscious.
FREE

Last year, I took my boys to the Free Family Day and they still talk about all the great arts and crafts we got to do. It really is a great way to check out the museum for free and get to do some extra activities.

Some freebies and sweepstakes

• Enter to win $500 in books for your school library:Take a Healthy Bite Out of Reading!
  

• Sign up for the chance to win a years worth of craft supplies valued at $1500 for your home and your child's classroom.
  Visit The Knack(SM) - Where Kids Discover(SM) - Home and submit your entry today.
• For free germ-fighting materials such as:
  Activities to promote germ learning at home and school
  Be a germ fighter learning poster
  Customizable back to school supply list www.scholastic.com/wetones

• Help your child earn 20 free books for their classroom. visit www.scholastic.com/sunnyDWhen your child's teacher submits 20 SunnyD UPC labels Scholastic will select 20 age appropriate books for your child's classroom.

• Visit Scholastic Parents: Tips on Children's Reading, Learning, School Success, Family Life, and Activities | Scholastic.com They partnered with Smilebox to offer a unique school themed slide show that you can use to immortalize that first big day of school.

• Get a free book when you mail in 1 Zyrtec UPC. "The air out there" a storybook created by Scholastic about allergies. Visit www. scholastic.com/zyrtec for more special offers, activities, tips and valuable allergy management tools.

Thomas the train

Thomas the tank engine playdate and activities @ ToysRUs Saturday 9/12
http://www.toysrus.com/shop/index.jsp?categoryId=2274251

• Storytime every half hour
• Railway playtable time
• Coloring Fun
• Free Thomas Trading Card Holder and trading cards
  
• In store savings
  

Community Education Series at Lakeland Regional Medical Center

Community Education Series
The ABCs of Discipline
Effective Tools for ages 2-12
presented by Lucrecia Dore, M.D.
Child and Adolescent Psychiatry
Tuesday, Sept. 15 at 6pm
Lakeland Regional Medical Center Auditorium
Free and open to public
RSVP 863-687-1400

Family events this weekend

• Family Fun Workshop at the Polk Museum of Art; Make a fabric collage, Saturday, September, 5th at 10:30 am FREE
• Pioneer Florida Days Festival in Dade City at the Pioneer Florida Museum: Civil War Reenactments, Children's activities, authentic craft demonstrations, and more; Price of admission is adults $8 and kids $4 (ages 10-17) $2 (ages 5-9)
• Highland Park Church of the Nazarene Labor Day Car Show 10 am until 2 pm; No admission charges

My boys are getting older

Well, I have in my mind that because Alex and Luke have a late fall birthday and will be almost 6 when they start Kindergarten that they need to know more than the average 5 year old child. Since Jack started school last week, I started Alex and Luke's academics at home also. We have started doing sight word cards to get them recognizing words and closer to reading. (Sight words are some of the most frequently used words in the English language. Even though they number only about 200, Sight Words comprise approximately 50 to 70 percent of any given general, non-technical text. Therefore, teaching Sight Words as early as possible is considered a crucial part of elementary education. (taken from www.quiz-tree.com))
I am surprised at how quickly they are learning these words. It is fun to watch them work together and sound the words out and then it is really neat when they see these words other places and recognize them.