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Book Review: Arizona Way Out West & Wacky

For those mamas, grandparents, educators and/or homeschoolers from Arizona...this post is for you!

I was given a copy of the new AZ WOWW history and activity book for kids last month and have thoroughly enjoyed reading it with Nathalia.  Although the book is targeted towards grade-school children there were still many activities and stories in the book that were very entertaining for her (at age 3.5) and educational.  In fact, I will admit that Arizona history is not my forte since I'm not from this neck of the woods (er...desert) so it's been quite an interesting read for me, too!



Arizona Way Out West & Wacky (AZ WOWW) was designated as an official Arizona Centennial Legacy Project and is full of humorous, gross, interesting and "wacky" stories and facts about Arizona.  The book is around 100 pages and has over 60 fun activities including word searches, crossword puzzles, coloring pages (Natty's favorite), games, recipes and crafts!

One of the wacky facts that Natty thought was *hi-la-ri-ous* was this one about the Grand Canyon:
"The deepest point of the Grand Canyon is 6,000 feet.  The average female teacher is 5 feet, 4 inches tall.  That means it would take about 1,125 teachers standing on each other's heads to go from the bottom to the top!"
She laughed...a lot...and then we looked through some of the pictures I had taken when we visited the Grand Canyon a few years ago when she was a baby.  She was able to look through the photos and color a picture of the canyon in the book while I read her the rest of that chapter.



Another chapter that we look forward to is one about the early pioneers and how they canned and stored their food to keep it fresh.  Natty saw the picture and remembered how we had canned apple butter last month and how she has seen Grandma can salsa for us when she visits.  Another memory that will help her understand these little bits of history.  Also, we're definitely making the recipe for Dutch-oven green chile cornbread in that chapter for sure!

Overall this book has been a great educational tool and will definitely be used by our family for years to come as a fun way to teach our girls about Arizona's history.  If you're thinking of taking a look for yourself and getting this book for your children, then just visit www.azwoww.com for more info.

BUT, if you want to try to win a free copy (who doesn't love free stuff?!?!) then visit their facebook page today and enter their new sweeps!  Details below:

AZWOWW wants you to have fun counting down to the Centennial! From now through the official Arizona Centennial date – February 12, 2012 – AZWOWW will be running a contest to help you enjoy all that Arizonahas to offer! They’ll be giving away 25 copies of AZWOWW, offering gift cards to local restaurants and adding in some fun for tourists and visitors to our great state as well – including a free pass to the Grand Canyon State Park! After entering yourself, be sure to share the link with your friends. 

Visit AZ WOWW on Facebook to enter!

Starting Traditions: Our New Thankful Journal

It's November 1st...already!  I can't believe it.  This year I am trying to slow down during the Holiday Season and focus on what really matters most as well as starting family traditions with our girls that will help instill a spirit of giving and thankfulness during these busy months ahead.  

One of the first new traditions we are starting this year is our Family Thankful Journal.  A few weeks ago Andy Lopez (coach of the U of A baseball team) spoke at our church about how the Israelites in the Old Testament would collect stones and pile them in certain places to remember what the Lord had done there.  They would do this so that future generations wouldn't forget. 



“We will not hide them from our descendants; we will tell the next generation the praiseworthy deeds of the LORD, his power, and the wonders he has done.” - Psalm 78:4 
He told us about how his family had started a Thankful Journal years ago as a way to remember God's answer to prayer in their lives.  That same day I saw a promotion on InkGarden.com for a free custom journal so I snatched it up!  


I added some cute pics of the girls to the front to make it the cutest journal EVER ;-)

We added Psalm 78:4 to the inside cover, too.

We're about 11 months behind in this year's journal, but there have been so many answers to prayer this year that I don't think I'll have a hard time remembering...so I look forward to sitting down as a family this month and jotting down each one of them as reminder of God's hand in our lives.  In fact, I'll probably start with this one:

February 28, 2011:  We are thankful that daddy is still alive after a horrible car accident that doctors and rescue workers all agree should have taken his life.

Do you have a family tradition that you would like to share with other busy mamas? Simply send the idea with your bio to: thebusymomboutique{at}gmail.com. I would love to hear from you!

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