Willa-dog is having surgery today. A very expensive surgery to repair a torn cruciate ligament in her left hind leg. We have no idea how it happened. She'd been to the vet only two week ago for her "senior wellness exam" (she's ten years old) and the vet told us she was overweight. She also ended up on a stronger medication to help her arthritis. Scott and I think that she was feeling more energetic and mobile on the arthritis medication and maybe took a set of stairs too enthusiastically. Her excess weight, coupled with her build--broad body and short legs--probably caused her knee to blow out.

There's no avoiding the surgery; believe me, if there were, we would have found it. Pets can be expensive, there's no question about it. But what you get in exchange for opening you home and heart to them is just immeasurable, I think. They give so much and ask so very little in return. Pets teach children compassion, empathy, and responsibility. They can also provide sad but important lessons on the life and death cycle, and on the grief and healing process as well. Adopting a pet from an animal shelter (the only way to go, in my opinion), can teach children about the power of altruism and provide you as parent with the opportunity to teach your children valuable lessons about responsibility pet-ownership and commitment. You can start small, too--no need to jump right into bringing a puppy home, if you're not equipped as a family for that level of commitment. But even owning a single fish can help children learn about the natural world, and teach them early lessons on being responsible for another creature.

Our house has been taken over by card games. Specifically Go Fish and War. Now as I discovered card game rules are regional. My husband and I are a bi-national couple, he hails from Texas and I am Canadian. Not only do we sing "Head and Shoulders, Knees and Toes" to a different tune we also have different rules when it comes to games. After sorting through that we also realized we see playing with a 5 year old in two very different wasy.

I go easy. He plays hard.

So which is the best way?

As it turns out my son is a self proclaimed "Go Fish Master" and he's not lying, he has a knack for always drawing the card he needs.  I wonder though did that confidence he has comes from playing me as he learned the rules, me encouraging him, celebrating his wins and not taking advantage of seeing his cards from time to time when he dropped them or let it slip what he had in his hand.

After a few wins I played for real, but still like a mom. Maybe that isn't fair all moms aren't the same but in our house that means I play against him fairly with the intent to win but I also cheerlead as I play.

Then after that prep course he took on his dad. Not only did my husband take advantage of any slip ups he didn't get the same reaction from our son as I did when I was winning. He giggled and laughed and trash talked with his dad no matter who was winning, but I got tears when I zoomed ahead in one of our first games. Although he is now much better about me winning, he doesn't take it as well as when his dad beats him.

I don't know how you handle games whether it's a board game, cards or even a family game of tag but what we learned was we each do it differently but the end result is a child who adapts to his environment and in this case opponent.

This activity was actually inspired by my son listing words that start with the letters in his name on the way to school last week. What I like about this is that so often ( at least at my house) when I ask my son what he is thankful for I get " Milkshakes, Mom and Dad and my sister...oh and Star Wars." An activity like this gives kids pause to think up something they are thankful for that begins with a specific letter.

You will need some paper and markers. That's it although we used foam letter stickers for the name to make it stand out and two colors of paper glued together for a prettier display.

Most early readers and spellers will need help , so be there to help sound out and spell or write words for them.

For many years I have done some varriation of a Thankful Tree. This year with two kids at such different levels of ability and interest I cam up with this tree that they could both contribute to in their own ways.

You will need some craft paper, crayons, markers, tape to keep it on the wall, and some paper leaves and tape.

Start by drawing the outline of a tree.

Have your child who is too little to write or verbally contribute things they are thankful for color it to their hearts content . This is why I didn't cut the tree out carefully, so there is room for big scribbles.

Now invite your older child to do some writing ( they can color too of course!). Write things you are thankful for on the branches.

I did some too.

Tape the stems on and bend the laves to cover the words.  We like covering them then trying to remember what we are thankful for. We alays end up thinking up something new. Then have fun over the next few weeks adding more leaves, and coloring more. Ours has been up a week or so and it's getting full!

You are probably familiar with musical chairs, the game where you scramble for a coveted seat as the music stops knowing there will be one fewer seat available each time. Well games like that are generally torture to play with preschoolers or toddlers like my daughter for good reason, it's no fun.

This is in the same genre, but with more learning and less feeling left out.

You will need some painter's tape and hula hoops although you could just have the kids touch thr letter to be "safe".

Make some letters out of the tape on your floor.

Place the hoops around them.

Put on some music- have your kids dance dance dance like crazy until the music stops and you call out a letter.

If they touch the letter they are safe.

My daughter is not letter savy yet but understood she needed to get in a hoop when the music stopped. My son guided her to the correct letter after she ended up on the H and she was not so appreciative.

Best part about using tape is if the game is going well you can switch up the letters into new ones just by peeling and re-sticking the tape.

Fun, exercise and letter recognition all in one!

Having worked with preschoolers both in camp settings and as preschool teacher I am often shocked by the things parents hate like playdough! Ok maybe I shouldn't be too shocked because I loathe bubbles but still playdough has been such a fixture in my life that I think all these little tips and tricks are obvious and not worth sharing until I hear a mom at church or a playdate say " Oh wow I never thought of that!"  So here goes... my tips for playdough.

1. If the thought of making your own is overwhelming don't do it. Unless your child has a gluten allergy or sensitivity just get the regular old stuff! It's cheap, it comes in a container and the smell might just bring back happy childhood memories.

2. If your blood pressure starts creeping up and your eye starts to twitch when people mix the colors of playdough just buy all one color. Part of the fun is mixing the colors but if that is too much just go with one color.

3. You do not need to buy all the special play dough tools. My kids use cookie cutters usually from the dollar spot at Target, popsicle sticks ( they make great knives and sculptures) straws, and my favorite Mr. Potato Head pieces. We even have outlet covers with eyes, drawn on them for them to use.

4. Stay away from carpet. Untill all the playdough is accounted for do not go near that shag!

5. I always keep a small ball of playdough in my hand while we play so as bits fall I just use that ball to pick it up off the floor, then when it's clean up time I do a quick look, and we are golden.

6. Use old clean cutting board as a play area. This is my favorite tip for more than one kid, it gives them their own space, and I can still sit down next to them to chat and have that breakfast that got cold while I ran after them. It also makes clean up easy peasy.

Halloween was fun at our house and today we used our candy for learning!

You will need some paper, markers, and of course your candy!

Write out some answers for your little ones to answer.  Ours included :

How much candy do you have?

How many suckers?

How many candies are square?

How many have the letter m in the wraper ?

My son loved this and it gave him a chance to play with his candy even though I only let him eat 2 when we were done.

The fall is my favorite time for year and one of the reasons is going to the pumpkin patch. We are blessed to live in a stunning corner of the world and our local pumpkin patch is beyond picturesque. Ours has a corn maze, tractor rides and of course lots and lots of pumpkins. But choosing just the right pumpkin isn't all you can do at the patch. There are tons of lessons in and around those vines and pumpkins.

Shapes - send your little ones off to find an oval pumpkin, a circular one and my favorite a " Funny shaped one! "

Colors - How many different color pumpkins can they find?

Size - Find the biggest, the smallest and the "perfect" sized pumpkin.

Count - now depending on your patch this might be too big a task but you can count the ones you walk past, count just the white ones, or even just the oval ones!

Most importantly have fun and learn wherever you go!

We love going outside and discivering nature. My almost 5 year old son and I have been having fun learning all about the animals in our new yard. Something we have started is the 5 nature questions, guesses and reseach . For each animal we find I ask my son these 5 questions, then we use the internet to find out the answers we aren't sure of.

1, What kind of animal is it?

2, Do you think it's male or female? Why?

3. What does it eat?

4. What eats it?

5. Where does it live?

When discussing the question above about that frog ( that we found in our hydrenga) I told my son that people sometimes eat frogs and he said very seriously in a whisper " I don't think I would like to eat our frogs, let's not try that new food!"

This is a great and easy way to introduce reasearch to young kids, while learning a few new things too!

I love simple games with elements of novelty in them. We do color hunts often in our house usually when I hear " Mom can I watch a show...?"  I start with " How many green things can you find in this room, go!" or something like that. This takes the good old color hunt to a new level using post it notes to match colors. 

You will need some colored post it notes and a room full of colorful things. 

Give your child some post it notes, set a time limit and see all the matches that can be made. 

Ask your child to take you on a tour of their findings!