Otterhop Guides

The beginning of each new school year brings new adventures and routines. As the first day of school approaches we find ourselves anxious and excited about all the possibilities. This includes the making of the school lunch or "brown baggin' it" if you will.

Why bring a lunch?:
The Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine (PCRM), a group committed to making changes in school lunch programs, has an informative site

Tomorrow, August 21, 2008 marks the beginning of the rhythmic gymnastics portion of the Summer Olympic Games in Beijing. Some refer to it as the "joke sport" of the Olympics. However, rhythmic gymnastics is quite entertaining and beautiful to watch pairing tiny gymnasts with all sorts of funky equipment. It's also fun for your little ones to try. It requires full body movement which helps develop those gross motor skills.

Ah, the tea party. It seems every girl is born with a teapot in hand, and as soon as our daughter was old enough to hold a cup she made the tea party part of her daily ritual--sandwiched between fairy frolicking and baby rocking. And tea parties aren't just for girls. In fact, our 8 year-old son proudly proclaims that he has participated in tea parties since he was 2 years old. And he still joins in on the occasional party. Tea parties are so much more than fancy hats, stuffed animals and drinking "tea."

Tea parties actually teach some really basic, yet important skills.

I know that kite flying is synonymous with spring but as my wiser counterpart pointed out to me "Any time there's wind is a good time for kites." In fact summertime for our family usually contains many o' kite flying sessions at the beach.

I blame Hal Iggulden and his "Dangerous Book For Boys" for my obsession over things we did way back before the almighty Wii, back when we only had sticks and rocks to play with, back when injuries came from go-kart spills and invisible ink burns and not from accidental releasing of a Wii Nunchuck. Don't get me wrong. I have a serious addiction to Rock Band but still these things we did when we were kids were really cool too.

I've recently been playing around with freezer paper. Yup...not just of butchers and grannies to wrap meat in anymore. Apparently, freezer paper makes the best, cheap iron on stencils for fabrics. In my desperation to salvage my daughter's favorite H&M $7 teapot dress and after having my curiosity peaked and being inspired by all the wonderful things people are doing with freezer paper I thought I quite possibly could pull a freezer paper stencil off.