Cleaning up Mom’s iPhone Apps

Alexander and I spent some time this afternoon “cleaning up” the shared iPhone and iPod Touch applications we have installed on our family iTunes account. One of the biggest jobs was reducing the number of applications on mom’s iPhone. She is not very interested in games and mainly uses her iPhone for phone calls, texting, and the calendar. We removed about 40 applications from her iPhone tonight.

"Cleaning up" Mom's iPhone apps

We were able to get her down to just three screens, which is a big simplification and improvement over what she had previously. One disadvantage of using the same iTunes account for two iPhones and an iPod Touch is that whenever someone installs a new application and syncs back to the computer, the next time others sync that application is installed by default on their device. So, unless you “uncheck” applications which are not wanted, you end up getting lots of additional applications when others in the family are adding them to their mobile device.

Mom's iPhone - Screen 1

Most of the apps on this second page are actually for our 6 year old, Rachel. The first two programs, Brushes and Sketchbook, are drawing programs we just bought for her today using an iTunes gift card Santa brought in her stocking.

Mom's iPhone - Screen 2

Mom's iPhone - Screen 3

I’ve updated our full list of now “pruned” iPhone and iPod Touch applications this evening. (We got this list down to 164 tonight.) Getting mom down to just 48 apps is pretty good!

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Fun playing in our record Oklahoma City snowfall

We shared a live webcast over Ustream yesterday on Christmas Eve of our front yard, as a record-breaking 14 inches of snow fell on Edmond and Oklahoma City! We recorded two segments during the day. The “Peaceful Christmas” Pandora channel was streaming as the audio channel for these webcasts.

18.5 minutes: Playing in the snow during the day

2.5 minutes: Playing in the Christmas Eve Snow at Night (with our camcorder’s “Night Shot” feature enabled)

Today we enjoyed a bit of sledding and more playing in the snow in our front yard. This was an image of PURE delight on Rachel’s face as we got ready for another sled run together!

Christmas 2009 - 097

If you’re wanting to order a hat like mine in this photo, I’m sorry to disappoint you, but this was a custom creation I made several years ago when we lived in Lubbock using a stocking cap and a puppet. 🙂

Christmas 2009 - 117

Here is the Flickr slideshow of all the images we took on granddaddy’s camera yesterday and today. His Sony camera ROCKS. Someday we’ll get a camera that takes images this good! We’re fortunate he’s willing to share with us now!

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Cooking Holiday Sausage Balls (Int’l Cooking Show)

Sarah recorded episode #3 of “The International Cooking Show” today, demonstrating how to cook holiday sausage balls. Her sister, Rachel, joined in this episode which runs 7.5 minutes.

Background music for this video is “Malt Shop Bop” from Incompetech Royalty Free Music.

We used the same recipe for these that we’ve used since 2007.

Ingredients:

3 cups Bisquick
1 pound uncooked Jimmy Dean pork sausage
4 cups shredded cheddar cheese
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1/2 cup milk
1/2 tsp. dried rosemary leaves
1/2 tsp parsley flakes
Steps:

Cook the sausage in a pan, breaking it up into small pieces.
Combine all ingredients in a large bowl “meatloaf style.”
Form mixture into small balls, and place them evenly on a greased cookie sheet.
Bake for about 15 minutes at 350 degrees F.
Share and eat!

Please create your own cooking videos and add them to The International Cooking Show project wiki!

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Lego Stickers

I love legos, especially minfigures. My friends and I traded good ones for better ones. It was great. Some times I wish I could make my own lego figures, I thought I would make one and put it on a sticker. I tried to make a outline for one but could never get it right. Then while searching google for legos I found this picture:

lego sticker template

It was a picture on flickr that also was in a group called LEGO Stickers and Decals. I found lots that I like and plan on making. I was then compelled to make my own. This is the one I made:

appleIt’s pretty  good and I like it. I also found this guy who prints strait onto a lego brick so you can send in a design to him and he uses special equipment to put it on the lego. The name is CJ Graphics.

Signing the Declaration of Indepandence

In my social studies class we got to sign the Declaration of Indepandence! You get to pick what type of writing you want. You can choose Colonist,American or Patriot. You can choose black and white or color. It will give some background info. too. Also you will need a printer for this activity. I think this will get the students involved in history and it is a very cool activity to do in class.

Here is the address for this site.