For many of us, prairie dogs are cute little animals we visit at the zoo. This is not the case for New Mexico residents where the animals have taken over the entire field of a middle school. At Hayes Middle School in Northeast Albuquerque the animals have been busy creating holes you both can and cannot see.
It is estimated that there about 60 prairie dogs out in the field. A prairie dog rescue group has been attempting to relocate the animals.
Ruffles and Stuff has a fabulous post that teaches you how to turn your child's too small tights into adorable knee-high socks. This is the type of post that makes you scratch your head and say why didn't I think of that. She gives you the three simple steps to make them as well as some embellishment suggestions. Now you will have to excuse me, I think I need to go rummage through some stored boxes.
Sadly, this blogger is no longer posting. Lucky for us some of her fantastic creations and suggestions are still living in cyberspace.
Those of us who have small bedrooms know what a task it is to fit all the baby furniture into a room. By the time you are done packing everything in there is hardly any room to walk.
Meet Nina's house created by Dutch designer Dave Keune. This is a multifunctional piece of nursery furniture. It combines a crib, playpen, changing station , and dresser. Plus it looks like a cute little house. I'm a sucker for things that look like cute little houses.
The baby just turned one. The whole experience has got me thinking about how crazy I have become. I mean I have always been a little bit nuts, but I think having children has really driven me over the edge.
Below is a list of crazy things I have done while partying with a one-year-old. In my defense, the 4-year-old and 2-year-old encouraged me to do it!
1. I have wrapped presents for them. Yes, I wrapped presents for a 1-year-old child that has no concept what a present is or how to open it. The only thing they are remotely interested in doing is eating the paper.
2. I have sugared them up before bed time. I broke the cardinal rule and sugared up my own kids before bed. I know there are some studies out there that claim sugar really does nothing to children, but I, for one, think they are lying. Those studies must have been sponsored by the sugar industry. Anyone who has a given a kid sugary sweets before bed will tell you that sugar does make them crazy.
3. I encouraged them to smear food all over themselves just so I could get a picture. I basically beg and plead with the babies to mush up the cake. I even give them their own birthday cakes just for this special task. OK, I didn't actually pay for the additional cake. The bakery I go to throws in the baby cake for free. Apparently lots of us are crazy and want to teach our children to mush up cake with their fingers.
The outcome is that all the usual screaming, "we are not animals please use your utensils", goes right out the window on the first birthday. I can't very well encourage the baby to Hulk-smash her mini-birthday cake and yell at my other kids for using their fingers.
4. I let them try chocolate. I don't wait to introduce chocolate like a sane or rational person would. The minute the pediatrician gives me the OK I provide the addictive stuff to them. I'm the enabler. Worse still, I take pictures of them covered in chocolate fudge and ice cream cake. These are the pictures that will horrify them at their wedding. People will wonder, what is that strange brown sticky stuff all over the baby. It's cake people, it's just cake.
5. I have dressed them up in silly outfits that boldly state their age. No, of course I don't announce to the world how old I am on every birthday, but that didn't stop me from plastering a big "one" on the baby's chest. I'm pretty sure payback is coming in the form of a t-shirt that says, "I'm not 50. I'm $49.95." I am also pretty sure I know who will make it for them. Husbands are such traitors.
6. I thrown parties for them. I throw parties for pint sized little beings who hate strangers. By strangers I mean anyone who doesn't actually live with us. My babies consider every one suspect for at least an hour. Sometimes they hate you for longer.
7. I have tried to make them wear silly hats. I should clarify that I haven't just tried to make them wear silly hats. I have spent hours burning my fingers with a hot glue gun trying to make the most perfect 1st birthday hat ever. That birthday hat lasted about .2 seconds after which the baby ripped it from her head and chucked it on the floor.
8. I placed flaming objects before them. OK, it's really more like taunting them with lit candles. You hold these beautiful flickering lights just out of their reach and continuously hold their arms down and yell at them not to touch because they are dangerous.
9. I have danced and made silly faces while surrounded by at least 20 people. I normally make a fool out of myself on accident. This happens much more often then I would like to admit. On birthday day, however, I do it on purpose. I'll sing any silly song or make any face to get the birthday baby to smile and I don't care how many people are around.
10. I have given them toys to help them learn to walk. This is by far the craziest thing I have ever done. I have given my wonderfully sweet non-walking babies training devices to help them learn to run from me. In a few months time they will use these skills to run from me in malls and grocery stores.
Kids, and heck adults too, should be encouraged to dream big. Dreaming big has cured diseases and built wonderfully complicated structures. It has also encouraged some people to take matters into their own hands to try to make the world a little bit of a better place.
I would like to introduce you to Dallas Clayton, a Los Angeles-based children's book author who not only created an An Awesome Book, but also dared to share big dreams. His goal is simple, but wonderful: Promote children's literacy by encouraging children to dream big. An Awesome book is Dallas' first foray in Children's literature. It is a self-published book sold primarily through the internet and his foundation. With every book sold one book is given away free.
Below is a little interview we conducted with Dallas based on his current book.
Tiffany: How did you get into children's literature?
Dallas: After my son was born I knew I wanted to write a book for him while he was still young enough to appreciate and enjoy it so I set out to write a kids book a day. "An Awesome Book" was the first one I finished. I had never written a kids book before. I didn't really know anything about the world. But like most things I just figured... this looks like fun! So I drew some pictures (never done that before either) and I made some copies and put the book online, and things just sort of took off. The first pressing sold out in about a week, and from there it's just been a real whirlwind. I don't even know how many pressings I'm on right now, I've lost count...Swept up in an amazingly wonderful career.
*For the simple version of this story you can watch this :
Tiffany: What was the inspiration for An Awesome Book?
Dallas: My son would always tell me about these dreams he had of magical creatures and fantastic places, but then in contrast a lot of my adult friends when talking about their dreams, their hopes and goals, would say things like "I've been dreaming about buying that sofa." The idea behind an awesome book is inspiring kids and adults to dream a little bigger by remembering how much more fantastical all of their hopes and aspirations can be.
Tiffany: What's your work flow method? Do you do the art first or the text first?
Dallas: Like I said, before I wrote "An Awesome Book" I'd never really drawn anything before so drawing is something I'm still figuring out. I like to approach things from a thematic place. All the best kids books (and in my opinion the best artwork in general) answer larger themes rather than just following a direct action or character. So I like to start with a theme everyone can relate to and just build from there. Dreaming, for instance - that's something everyone can relate to no matter how old, or where they live, or what race, or how much money they have. So once I had that, the rest is just putting sprinkles on the cake.
Tiffany: How long did it take you to write the book?
Dallas: It took me about 30 minutes to write and 6 months to illustrate. Drawing takes forever. Sheesh. I hope it gets quicker as I get better at it. Hat's off to Michelangelo!
Tiffany: What are you hoping people take away from the book?
Dallas: I'm hoping that for a small moment of their day they can have a little break and think about all the amazing possibilities life has to offer. I'm hoping they will be inspired to do fantastic things, solve large problems, make life better for everyone around them. Pretty much just 100% awesomeness.
Tiffany: What are your plans for the future? Any new books on the horizon?
Dallas: Yes, since the book came out my life has been non-stop. Lots of touring, reading, writing, drawing, international translations - tons of giving away books to kids with the foundation I started Very Awesome World. I wrote and illustrated five books this year as well, the first of which- a follow up to An Awesome Book - is coming out in October. I kind of just wake up every morning with a new invitation to go somewhere amazing or do something fun in my inbox and just go from there.
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Now I dare you to dream big. If you would like to win a copy of An Awesome book you will need to answer the following question: What fantastic dreams do you have for your child (or children you know). Leave your answer in the comment section. Three winners will be chosen at random.
Update 8/25/2010: Thank you everyone for sharing your wonderful dreams. The three winners have been chosen and will be contacted via e-mail.
Davis Smith can now add published author to his list of accomplishments and he's only 9-years old.
The book is about an 8 year old boy who loves holidays, but always finds himself in the middle of a holiday disaster. New Year's is the first in a planned series. Davis' cousin, Serena Lins, provided the illustrations for the book.
Davis suffers from Asperger's, an autism spectrum disorder, and has decided to donate 10% of the proceeds towards autism research.
A Mississippi boy was sent home from school because he has a slight mohawk. The teacher viewed the hairstyle as a distraction from the learning process.
His mother said that her son should not be singled out, much less sent home, but they said he was told not to return to the school until he got a new haircut.
The boy's Mother has pink, purple, and other various color streaks in her hair. She claims it is unfair to judge a person based on their hairstyle.
An elementary school in Rhode Island has given recess the boot. The school will instead require students to take a physical education class designed by the YMCA.
Pennsylvania schools are considering charging students to play sports. Public schools are facing massive budget cuts and are looking for ways to off-set the cost of some of their programs. The pay-to-play program would essentially charge students a fee of $25 and up, per year, to play a sport. The worry, however, is that disadvantaged kids will be most hurt by this program.
A Mother allegedly slapped her crying 13-month old baby across the face during a flight to New Mexico. A flight attendant took temporary custody of the child.
The flight attendant did return the child to its parents before the plane landed. Police then took the child into their custody at the gate and performed a welfare check. After police questioned the couple, the flight attendant and other witnesses, the child was returned the parents. The parents were not cited for the incident.
A new study presented at the American Sociological Association's annual meeting suggests that teen sex doesn't necessarily harm grades or academic achievement. The key is the teens need to be in love.
The authors say students who have sex only with romantic partners have generally similar academic outcomes as students who abstain from sex.
But students who describe their sexual activity in terms of "hook-ups," "friends with benefits" or "bed buddies" are more likely to suffer a negative impact on their education.
The authors of the study are using it to raise doubts about the validity of abstinence-only programs.
I wonder if my girlfriend who had a kid at 16 and gave up a college scholarship would agree with the findings here? She was clearly in love at the time.
It was once believed that only children were doomed to a life of social awkwardness. Not true says one study out of Ohio State University. Only children actually do just fine by the time they hit high school.
“What it suggested is by the time students are in adolescence, if there was a benefit to having siblings when you were younger, having time to have other interactions – boy scouts, sports, youth groups – those things might compensate for not having a sibling so that by the time they reach adolescence the negative effect was not there,” Bobbitt-Zeher told LiveScience.
Therefore, if you want a socially awkward child you are going to have to come up with another way.
Hello Neatoramanauts and welcome to our third Decipher The Doodle Contest. This doodle was created by my 4-year old daughter. I dare you to delve into the mind of this pint-sized artist and tell me what her doodle means.
We will award 2 prizes. One for the most correct answer and one for the funniest but ultimately wrong answer. Please leave your guess in the comment section. One guess per comment, but you are welcome to enter as many as you would like. Important: Please choose your own prize from the NeatoShop. You can pick any one item in stock, $25 or less. Write your item selection along with your guess, or you forfeit the prize, mmkay? Good luck!
Update: The contest is now over. Congratulations to our winners. The winner for most correct answer is kantoboy. The winner for funniest is manders for this entry:
Yeah, so my dad was carrying our dog and few house plants out to the yard to do their "business" when an alien came up and using his blue light special thingy majig, it knocked out all dad's teeth except one which sent fido and the plants flying into the air and turning one plant into an evil heat seeking device. My dad was pretty happy about though.....
The real answer is: A picture of the artist, her brother, and their cat. They are taking care of the garden. The cat is on top of the slide. The kids only have one tooth because they are in the process of loosing their baby teeth (she is obsessed with losing her baby teeth). The rectangle is her brother's favorite blanket. The green wavy stuff is grass.
Thanks everyone for playing! We hope you had fun! Please remember when you play to put your prize choice in the comment section as well.
Artist Christopher Monro Delorenzo has designed keyboard stickers for your computer. The pictures correspond to the letter on the computer keyboard. For example, the "W" key has a picture of a walrus.
Forget the preschool crowd, I think my Dad would benefit from this. When he was writing his dissertation he once yelled at my Mom that the keyboard was broken. Supposedly the "Q" had gone missing. My Mom calmly walked over and clicked the "Q." My Dad ended up dictating his dissertation to my Mom. If only he had this little sticker on his keyboard my Mom would have been saved from carpal tunnel.
Schools are back in session in Chicago. Many local teachers are urging the school district to cancel classes when there is excessive heat, because several Chicago schools do not have air conditioning. So far administrators are resisting the call to cancel school and are instead providing fans and bottled water.
