Choosing the best child care for one’s children is an important aspect of being a parent. There are some good child care facilities and some that aren’t so good. A good babysitter should have training in babysitter safety. The American Red Cross offers an American Red Cross Babysitter Class that would be excellent for those in child care.

When our kids were little and growing up, we never had to leave them at a babysitter. I’m thankful that my parents were able to help keep each of our children when they were little.  Our grandchildren go to an excellent preschool that has well-trained and loving staff members. They have cameras in the classrooms but not because they’ve ever had any problems. The cameras reassure parents that their children have the best of care. As you can see, it’s important for parents to research and do their homework. Then they can choose the best child care available for their children.

My mother-in-law is an avid bird watcher.  When we’re visiting her during the summer, we sit outside and watch the birds at the bird feeders and in the woods behind her house.  During the winter, we sit in her living room and look out the sliding glass doors at the birds eating bird feed on her patio table and the bird feeders.  She also has a heated bird bath which the birds love (and even a small fox), and it’s fun to watch the activity in the bird bath.

In order to see the birds better while sitting inside, binoculars come in very handy! I’m not sure what brand my mother-in-law has, but I don’t think they’re ncstar binoculars.  If you know anyone who is an avid bird watcher, they probably have binoculars, too.   If they don’t then that might be a good gift idea!

Our daughter, Christi, loves the children’s clothing & items annual resale event out where they live.  It’s held at a convention center and is a very popular event.  She has to price all of her things she wants to sell and enter them into the computer beforehand.  Then at the time of the event, every item has been tagged and can be scanned with a barcode scanner.  I don’t know if they use a Symbol LS2208 or what type of scanner they use, but I do know that it makes this huge event run much smoother.  Check-out time is greatly reduced, and each person selling items is more assured of getting the money they are due to get.

I don’t need the safest fat burners, but I will need to exercise more this next week.  Our son came home from college for the weekend, and we’ve been having brownies.  Not just plain brownies mind you, but brownies topped with cooked fudge frosting, a large scoop of Dreyer’s Slow Churned Rich and Creamy Vanilla Yogurt (low-fat with actual yogurt cultures) and then strawberries on top.  At least the strawberries are healthy and the yogurt is somewhat healthy!

When our son was little, we enjoyed hanging out in our backyard as a family.  We had the typical swingset, however a wooden swing set would have been really nice.   Little Tyke toys were also a part of our backyard toy supply.  My favorite part was one of those heavy plastic swimming pools that was probably six feet long, four feet wide and one foot deep.  Our daughter, Christi, and I would get in the pool and splash around, too.  I had several potted flowering plants plus Crepe Myrtle trees and Cana Lilies in the backyard, so it was like being in our own little mini-tropical area.  We had a lot of fun playing, relaxing, and enjoying our backyard together.