An 11-year old boy in California was buried alive when a sand tunnel collapsed on top of him.
The boy, who was not identified, dug two holes about 10 feet apart in the sand near Eighth Street with the help of his sister.
"They were trying to create a tunnel, the boy dug each hole diagonally about 6 feet deep," Manhattan Beach fire Battalion Chief Dave Shenbaum said.
This little guy luckily survived, but the story does emphasize the hidden dangers of digging in the sand at the beach. I think many of us often focus on the dangers of the water and forget the sand can also be treacherous.
Julien Reid is 9-years-old and lives in Canada with his Mom. His Dad lives in San Francisco. He logs a lot of flight hours between Canada and San Francisco and already considers himself a seasoned traveler.
On Julien's last trip back from San Francisco things didn't exactly go according to plan. When his delayed flight finally disembarked in Ottawa he wasn't on it. He was still back in a airport waiting room for unaccompanied minors. In all he spent about 8 hours in that little room.
He was in a "tiny, little room cramped with kids," where they played the same video on a loop all day, he said. The only food he'd been given was McDonald's, a less than satisfactory option for a vegetarian like him. He said he and the other children were yelled at "to stop being kids."
Between this story and the story about the kids who were put on the wrong connecting flight I think I will pass on entrusting my kids to the airlines.
Nicki Thomas of the Ottawa Citizen has more: http://www.ottawacitizen.com/spends+airport+limbo/3322416/story.html
Kacee Larson, a 17-year-old Iowa girl, has been in several car accidents recently, but not with other vehicles. You see, Kacee has hit 5 deer in one year. They just keep popping up in front of her as she is on her way to work, babysitting, and church. Even praying, as was suggested by her pastor's wife, didn't prevent another deer from bounding in front of her car. Her family calls her a deer magnet.
Don't be mad at Kacee. Apparently deer in Iowa are a big problem. Iowa actually has a safety campaign called "don't veer for deer." The fear is that if you veer for a deer you risk having a head on collision with another car. The campaign is believed to have significantly reduced the number of deer related fatalities.
A 15-year-old Australian fell from his families 16th-floor apartment balcony and lived. A carpark roof appears to have broken his fall and likely is what saved his life.
He smashed through the carpark roof, cladding and metal webbing before dropping another two storeys to a concrete floor.
Building manager Jason Epps-Eades said the boy's luck became even more apparent when the site of impact was viewed from above - he fell into the middle of long-run roofing, in a spot which would provide the most cushioning. He also missed all of the concrete girders holding the roof up.
The teen did suffer major broken bones, internal injuries and wounds, but his mere survival is nothing short of a miracle.
Yes, we made fondant roly polys. Why? Because all birthday cakes should be covered in bugs crustaceans.
It's birthday time at my house. My oldest is 4-years-old today. This is where I would normally let out a great big sigh, get all nostalgic, weepy, and share far to detailed stories about her birth. I will spare you. What I will tell you is that cakes are a big deal in my house. Forget the presents, it's not a birthday until you have had a piece of cake. This probably goes a long way to explain why I am so chubby.
I asked my daughter what type of cake she wanted for her party this year and she answered, "A roly poly cake of course." Yes, my little tutu wearing, flowers in her hair, girly-girl, wanted creepy crawlies on her cake. I knew she was roly poly crazy, but this kind of took it to a whole new level. I'm fine with it, and frankly glad she has so many sides to her personality. Plus I was actually starting to get a little worried I was raising a fashionista and not the socially awkward child I had always wanted. Turns out she has a socially awkward side after all.
So, what is a Mommy to do when her daughter asks for roly poly cake? Make fondant roly polys of course.
We started off our project with store bought fondant. You can find it on most craft store's cake supply aisle. This is actually only the second time we have ever worked with fondant.
Fondant is a great medium for kids (and adults). If you have never worked with it before you should give it a whirl. The material is edible and the stuff just molds and drys like clay. It is easily cut, rolled, and colored. You want to work with a bit at a time and keep the majority covered. The stuff can dry out pretty quickly. I don't know if this is how the professionals do it, but I kept a very small bowl of water around so we could lightly moisten the fondant. This was good for when it dried out too much or you want to add more details like the lips and eyes.
To color fondant just add a little food color and knead away. It's messy, but kids love squishing it up. The food coloring I used was a gel and washed off our hands pretty easily. I'm assuming results will vary depending on the food coloring you decide to use.
Once we colored our fondant we began to shape it. We rolled them into worms. Hint: to keep the fondant from sticking to your work surface you can dust it with a little flour.
Above is the roly poly my daughter made. She did the body and the face. Per her request I later assisted with with some of the finer details. We didn't have the money to invest in fancy tool so we shaped things with our hands, molded with tooth picks, cut with knives. OK, I did all the cutting. This one became Little Brother Roly Poly.
After we put them all together I gave them a little dusting with gray pearl dust. This is basically edible sparkles. It's also something you will find on the cake aisle.
Before we knew it we had created a family of 5 roly polys: Daddy, Mommy, Big Sister, Little Brother, and Baby Sister. Not bad for a couple of amateurs.
After we were done making our family we wrapped them up and stored them till it's time to decorate our cake. Our little guys are waiting till our local bakery finishes the garden and dirt patch for our roly polys to live. Wait, you didn't think I was crazy enough to attempt to make an entire cake for 40 people did you? I have 3 kids under 5 at home. I'm obviously insane, but I'm not that insane. No, we are cheating. I'm OK with that.
Now I encourage you to get out there and play. Seriously, any day is a good day for cake. Or, to make cake toppers.
Flavor Paper has a line of scratch & sniff wallpapers. It's kind of like those stickers you used to put on your school notebooks, but in giant scale. This one smells like bananas. Yum!
A roll of this unique designer wallpaper will run you about $400. That means you better make sure you and your kids really like the smell of this baby.
OK, the concept sounds super fun, but really where's my lick-able wallpaper. Snozzberry flavored of course.
Over 7000 children in Gaza participated in simultaneous basketball bouncing and set a new world record. The mass-dribbling project was organized by a UN agency that runs several summer recreation programs for the children of Gaza. Last year they broke the record for simultaneous kite flying.
Jonathan Vega was nearly blind in his left eye because of cancer and no one new it until the Vision First van came to his preschool and examined him. During the routine exam it was discovered that he had retinal blastoma, a rare and deadly form of cancer. Luckily, they caught the cancer before it had spread.
The Vision First program provides free eye exams to children in Cleveland area schools. It is funded by the Cleveland Browns.
A Florida Mom claims that a pediatrician discharged her kids from his care when she hesitated answering a question about firearms in the home. The doctor has never expressly stated why the children are no longer welcome in his office, but the Mom is convinced it's because of guns in the home. She was given 30 days to find a new pediatrician.
According to the American Academy of Pediatrics, pediatricians are urged to inform parents about the dangers of guns in and outside the home and they recommend that they incorporate questions about guns into their patient history taking and urge parents who have guns to remove them from the home.
Mommy Drives details 3 great gadgets that help parents remember they have a little one in the car.
1. The Volvo S80: This car is equipped with technology that can detect a heart beat inside a car. The ads taut the car's ability to detect an intruder, but the equipment can also notify you that a child is still in the car.
2. The Backseat Minder: This system has to be professionally installed on your cars rear doors. When you open the rear door and then turn on the ignition the device is activated. When you turn off the ignition the car will beep until you open the back door and turn the device off. If you don't turn the device off the car's horn will go off. This device runs about $200 with installation.
3. The Child Minder: This is a sensor mat and key chain. You place the sensor mat under the fabric of the car seat and the key chain on your key ring. The key chain will go off if you go 15 feet or farther from the activated sensor mat. This device runs about $90 on Amazon. The concept is great, but the reviews on this item are iffy.
I have never used any of these gadgets, but anything that helps someone remember there is a child in the car is a great gadget in my book.
An article in the New York Times is reporting that some mortgage lenders are now looking at pregnancy as a factor in determining whether you qualify for a mortgage. Now, the lender can't specifically ask you if you are pregnant, but they can ask if your employment status is going to change because of some sort of expected leave of absence. If you are on maternity leave or paternity leave the lender may treat you as if you are off the job and therefore don't have enough income to qualify for the mortgage. Some lenders are requiring you to reapply once leave has ended and you are back on the job.
“Lenders are picking and choosing what part of the Freddie and Fannie guidelines they want to use and how they will interpret them because one bad loan could put a company out of business,” said Jeffrey J. Jaye, president of the Upfront Mortgage Brokers Association, a trade group for brokers who disclose their fees upfront. For some lenders, that may mean approving a loan only after the borrower is back at work “There is no real assurance that the new mom will come back to work after she has the baby,” said Marc Savitt, president of the Mortgage Center, a brokerage in Martinsburg, W.Va.
So much for buying a house because your family growing.
In the not to distant future they may be able to test for autism or speech delays by taking a sample of your baby's vocalizations. Researchers out of the University of Kansas believe a voice analysis system called LENA can be used to pick out the voice patterns of children with autism. In the current research study the system was able to accurately separate the voice patterns of children with autism between the ages of 10 months old to 4 years old.
"We have a system that could potentially be a way to screen for autism and language delay – potentially well before diagnosis," says Warren. He emphasizes that this new algorithm or method for voice analysis is not a screening tool for autism – yet. Warren says more studies involving children who are younger and where researchers know nothing about their development still have to be conducted.
Early diagnosis is important because early intervention is believed to be a key factor in improving the language ability, IQ, and socialization of autistic children.
A 3-year old boy with autism was left asleep on a hot school bus in Pennsylvania. Justin Styer was in the parked bus for over an hour. His parents reported him missing to the school when the bus never arrived to drop him off.
“Time and time just kept going by until it was about 3:55, a good half hour after he was supposed to be home,” said Justin Styer, the boy’s father. “We really started to worry.”Justin’s parents said they called the school.”They had no idea when I called that he was even missing,” said Styer.More than an hour later the parents said they were told Justin had been found, asleep, on the bus.They said the bus had been taken back to the lot and the windows were closed.
Thankfully, little Justin appears to be fine. The doctors want him to remain inside and stay hydrated.
The Sun, a U.K. tabloid magazine, is reporting that a black couple from South London has given birth to a white baby. Both Mother and Father were shocked that their 3rd child was born with light skin, blue eyes, and blonde hair. The Ihegboro's other two children have a dark complexion, dark eyes, and dark hair.
The couple originally from Nigeria don't know of any white ancestry on either side. The baby girl is also not an albino. Genetics experts are calling the birth extraordinary.
The happy family is smitten with their new bundle of joy. They have named her Nmachi which means, "Beauty of God."
Smories is a site that provides access to free original stories for kids that are read by kids. The read works are typically unpublished stories written by both amateurs and professionals. Anyone over 16-years old is invited to submit their original children's story. The site does claim to review the stories for appropriate content before publishing them.
Smories plays on the idea that children love it when other children read them stories. I know my kids do. Now, most of the kids reading stories are from the United Kingdom. In the near future, however, the site will also be including American children.
