WW: One of My New Favorite Things

NerdDad got me this cool 10 inch chef's knife for Christmas. So far I am loving it!!! I will post a full review after another week or 2 of using it!

And the Music Plays On

I hope this holiday season is finding all of you well. Between Hanukkah, Christmas, and all the holiday illnesses life is a bit nutty over here. But in the midst of it all we have music! But not just music lessons but music that works around our schedule!

My kiddos learned even more about the actual piano this month. What do you know about the term piano forte? My kids now know (and no I am not going to tell you, just watch the lessons;)! The kids love the cards that they got to decorate to place on the keyboard. The keyboard is big enough that everyone gets to make Dodi's house and the train station to place all at the same time. The kids are continuing to work on their timing and rhythm with the songs that are in the lessons. We have been working on Twinkle Twinkle a lot along with Dodi's Song.

One of the funnest things of having 4 kids that are all doing this together is watching them work together. The older 2(6 and 8) love playing the finger matching games with the little ones (4 and 2)and also doing the songs with them. The older 2 start singing and clapping, then the 2 little ones join in. You can hear them encourage each other to try a spot in the song again or to try it another way. It is adorable and joyful in and of itself.

Well I hope you all have a Happy Hanukkah and Merry Christmas! I will see you on the next step of our journey next month!

(KinderBach provided me with a subscription in order to write these columns but I received no other compensation. All thoughts and opinions are all mine: good, bad and ugly!)

Frugal Homeschooler: Science

The Exploratorium has put up a great site based on the science of cooking! It has eggs, pickling, and all kinds of food on it. They look at all the components and reactions. It even has activities and recipes. Go check it out! Who says science has to be pricey or hard?

Curious George: A Very Monkey Christmas Giveaway!!!

Curious George is huge in our house. And I don't just mean for the 2 year old, all of them 8-2 love watching Curious George on PBS (ok, me too). So was so excited that they are doing a Christmas special this year!!!

From the Press Release

A VERY MONKEY CHRISTMAS, the charming new movie from PBS Kids featuring Curious George is making its broadcast premiere on public television stations nationwide on Wednesday, November 25. A VERY MONKEY CHRISTMAS will air on PBS Kids throughout the holiday season. Additional airings are scheduled for November 29, December 6, 18, 19, 20 and Christmas Day, December 25 (check local listings for exact air dates and times). You can also catch Curious George Monday through Friday on PBS Kids (check local listings).

So you can only imagine how excited we are were when we received a copy of the soundtrack to review. The kids loved it. Of course they were excited to have their own special Christmas cd because Christmas music is huge here in the NerdFamily. We all loved the upbeat music that was so catchy for the kids to sing to. The favorite here is Our Christmas Monkey. To see all 4 kids dancing through the living room brings joy to the season!

Win it!

How would you like to win your own copy of Curious George's Very Monkey Christmas soundtrack? Well, I have 1 to giveaway!

To enter:

* Just leave a comment telling me your favorite Christmas Song!
* A random winner will be selected and notified on December 16th.
* The winner will then have 3 days to claim their prize.

To earn extra entries, you may do one or all of the following. Each one counts as an extra ticket but you must leave a separate comment for each one.

* Subscribe to my feed (if you already do, that counts).
* Mention this giveaway on your blog with a link back here.
* Subscribe to my Twitter and then Tweet about this!
* You can tweet everyday for an additional entry, just make sure to leave a comment for each time!

If you want to see more giveaways pop over to Making Money Keeping Money to see more giveaways on Contesting Monday

This post was written as part of a program for Family Review Network and Denon Records, who provided the product for review and giveaway. I was not compensated in any way except for the complimentary product.