Pretend play kits

Kids love pretend play and often the more elaborate the better.  Once when I was looking for a site to print out some play money for my children, I came across this very cute pretend play kits available for printing - restaurant, store and library.  Of course you can use this as an inspiration to create your own kits.  Enjoy!!!
Pretend Play Kits

Kindergarten the old fashioned way

Here are two kindergarten curriculum books from the olden days for some ideas on how and what to teach the little ones. Adapt to your own needs as always.
Kindergarten at Home

The nursery lesson book

Some Really Neat Crafts

I don't remember if I already posted this one but this site has really great crafts made from stuff you probably already have in your house.
looledo.com

Parenting Helps and inspirations

Here are a few links for parenting inspiration and practical suggestions to navigate our often uneven and unchartered  terrain.

The first one is a great blog for jewish moms by Chana Weisberg -http://www.jewishmoms.wordpress.com/

This one I just discovered today and it has lots of articles with lots of good practical ideas for many areas of parenting -http://www.simplekids.net/

Today

It's night here.  There is a special sweetness to the house full of sleeping children.  The night light casts its' shadow over their slumbering features.  I look around at the remains of today.  The supper table that still needs to be cleared.  The toys that still need to be picked up,  the projects and games and dreams in progress all around me.  My body is tired but my brain keeps on going, abuzz with plans and ideas and hopes for tomorrow. Then there is the daily if not hourly analysis of everything that transpires within these four walls.  Today this one was sick, that one was tired, this one needed  more stimulation and that one more down time.  This one was acting out, clearly something is bothering him, but he is not the type to be able to verbalize what the problem is.  He can't understand why I can't read his mind to get all the information I might need.  He wants my help, but it's my job to figure out how and what to do.  Today, I nursed and cuddled, kissed and admonished, shopped for supplies, advised on projects, read stories, cooked.  Today I yelled in frustration.  Today I prayed for wisdom and patience to do the right thing, to help everyone in the way they need to be helped, to love them the way they deserve to be loved.  Today I could feel again how hard it is to fit everything in, but also how much more fits in than I could imagine on a regular basis.   They are all growing up and we are also growing up, each in our own way, in a myriad different ways.  We all exist on so many planes all at once, each day so multifaceted. We feel like we are on a treadmill running from one thing to the next.  And yet...  Today was fast but it was also slow.  It was painful at times but also beautiful beyond compare, it was simple and it was complex all in the same day, all at the same time. It was precious even with all the mistakes and the failures and faux pas because life is precious and every minute is a tremedous gift.  It's amazing when one begins to appreciate the cosmic significance of every moment, of every chain of moments, of a life that can be woven from all these glorious glorious moments, even today.  Today, when I wasn't necessarily at my all time best, didn't feel like I was my ideal dream parent or person, for that matter, didn't get everything done.  So thank G-d for today!!!

For Quilling Inspiration

Here is a link for lots of beautiful examples of quilling and other paper art inspiration.
http://allthingspaper-annmartin.blogspot.com/

Craft D'jour: Pretty Lights

Here is an easy and pretty project to make- Pretty lights. It would make a nice night light or a decoration.
Pretty lights