Sunday, October 31, 2010
Halloween 2010
Ron Weasley came to visit The Ninja and Sleeping Beauty by the Flower Garden for Graduation!
Saturday, October 30, 2010
Camp Whitmer
Last Saturday we invited eight 8-year-old boys to "Camp Whitmer".
After a pick-up soccer scrimmage...
We lined up the boys in order of birthdays. It's always funny to me how long that takes kids to figure this out!
Everyone got their camp bandanas.
Next, we made compasses and found our bearings around the house. Making compasses was a total hit and so easy! They had to find their own leaves, magnatize a needle by swiping it in one direction over a magnet. (We used the letter magnets from our leapfrog refrigerator game.) Fill a paper plate with enough water in it to float the leaf. Rest the needle in the leaf and it will swing around to North. The boys really enjoyed it!
The littlest girl just watched and smiled.
We had an egg toss. Yes, real raw eggs. We live on the edge.
After the eggs, they had a scavenger hunt that we found hysterical. One group worked well together reading the clues and thinking before running. The other, well, they were really good at running.
Michael went over some fire safety before we gave the boys sharp sticks and let them roast hot dogs. Just so you're aware: a large group of 7 and 8 year old boys roasting hot dogs will have a lot of conversation about wieners. They think they're funny. Me, not so much.
We were still making banana boats (bananas, chocolate chips, and mini-marshmallows) and putting them in the fire when the parents started arriving! We had more activities planned; I had my guitar ready with camp songs, as well as another game or two. Chase really had a great time and it was fun to see him with his friends. Camp Whitmer may open again for another party!
After a pick-up soccer scrimmage...
We lined up the boys in order of birthdays. It's always funny to me how long that takes kids to figure this out!
Everyone got their camp bandanas.
Next, we made compasses and found our bearings around the house. Making compasses was a total hit and so easy! They had to find their own leaves, magnatize a needle by swiping it in one direction over a magnet. (We used the letter magnets from our leapfrog refrigerator game.) Fill a paper plate with enough water in it to float the leaf. Rest the needle in the leaf and it will swing around to North. The boys really enjoyed it!
The littlest girl just watched and smiled.
We had an egg toss. Yes, real raw eggs. We live on the edge.
After the eggs, they had a scavenger hunt that we found hysterical. One group worked well together reading the clues and thinking before running. The other, well, they were really good at running.
Michael went over some fire safety before we gave the boys sharp sticks and let them roast hot dogs. Just so you're aware: a large group of 7 and 8 year old boys roasting hot dogs will have a lot of conversation about wieners. They think they're funny. Me, not so much.
We were still making banana boats (bananas, chocolate chips, and mini-marshmallows) and putting them in the fire when the parents started arriving! We had more activities planned; I had my guitar ready with camp songs, as well as another game or two. Chase really had a great time and it was fun to see him with his friends. Camp Whitmer may open again for another party!
Friday, October 29, 2010
Friday Funnies
My oldest daughter: A middle child with a big heart. Well, and she's a cartoon character.
Here's what she had to say this week.
"Mama, my feet are so excited. They're SOOOO excited for dance class. My feet, they just love a-dancin'!"
"Mama, I'm out of zucchini pie yogurt!" (key lime pie)
"I'm going to be Sleeping Beauty, so you can't kill me."
"It's kinda like God gave Adam and Eve that one rule, but this is just a Central Christian rule."
Playing a game in the van:
Me: Stuart, spell "duck".
Stuart: D-U-C-K
Me: Sabrina, what rhymes with duck?
Sabrina: F***
Oh, yes she did.
Here's what she had to say this week.
"Mama, my feet are so excited. They're SOOOO excited for dance class. My feet, they just love a-dancin'!"
"Mama, I'm out of zucchini pie yogurt!" (key lime pie)
"I'm going to be Sleeping Beauty, so you can't kill me."
"It's kinda like God gave Adam and Eve that one rule, but this is just a Central Christian rule."
Playing a game in the van:
Me: Stuart, spell "duck".
Stuart: D-U-C-K
Me: Sabrina, what rhymes with duck?
Sabrina: F***
Oh, yes she did.
Monday, October 25, 2010
Not Me! Monday
Oh yes, it's Monday! I know I have been quite remiss in regularly posting my lack of activity on Not Me! Monday. Even though MckMama isn't participating, Not Me! Monday today is my gift to the tens of you who read my blog!
I DID NOT become over-the-top excited to buy a new iPod Nano! My mom and dad gave me birthday & Christmas money to head to the Apple store! It's pink and beautiful and I LOV-EE it! It plays the radio beside my iTunes library, has a pedometer, and NO games. Why is no games wonderful? Because then my boys don't care about my iPod. No more answering the question, "Can I play games on your iPod?"
We DID NOT have 10 eight year old boys at our house to celebrate Chase's birthday! We DID NOT give them sharp needles to make compasses. We DID NOT let them toss raw eggs to each other. We DID NOT let them loose in the dark. Or with sharp sticks. We especially DID NOT have them near fire to roast hot dogs.
I DID NOT do 8 loads of laundry on Friday and precede to leave them in baskets around the house. Nope, not me! I'm NOT still staring at those baskets. I also HAVE NOT added to those baskets more clean laundry. I always finish what I st...
This was NOT my oldest daughter this afternoon. She always wears actual clothes out of the house.
Happy Monday!
I DID NOT become over-the-top excited to buy a new iPod Nano! My mom and dad gave me birthday & Christmas money to head to the Apple store! It's pink and beautiful and I LOV-EE it! It plays the radio beside my iTunes library, has a pedometer, and NO games. Why is no games wonderful? Because then my boys don't care about my iPod. No more answering the question, "Can I play games on your iPod?"
We DID NOT have 10 eight year old boys at our house to celebrate Chase's birthday! We DID NOT give them sharp needles to make compasses. We DID NOT let them toss raw eggs to each other. We DID NOT let them loose in the dark. Or with sharp sticks. We especially DID NOT have them near fire to roast hot dogs.
I DID NOT do 8 loads of laundry on Friday and precede to leave them in baskets around the house. Nope, not me! I'm NOT still staring at those baskets. I also HAVE NOT added to those baskets more clean laundry. I always finish what I st...
This was NOT my oldest daughter this afternoon. She always wears actual clothes out of the house.
Happy Monday!
Monday, October 11, 2010
The Chase Man
Eight. Really, he's eight? I'd like to be in denial that he's reached this sage age. (I did outlaw fractional ages this year. He was still 7 on Sunday, no matter what he said!) It helps that he is small for his age. I can pretend he's still a little boy.
He's been an old man for 8 years, but an old man who has an unquenchable desire for information and knowledge. He would sit for hours being read to.
I think the only thing that rivals his love for knowledge is love of food! (I'm kidding, sort of)
His bright eyes and sweet smile always something that warm my heart.
Age 3
Age 4
Age 5
Age 6
Age 7
He's wicked smart and so wants to please. His sense of humor and boisterous nature are well, growing. He definitely has a joie de vivre.
Happy Birthday, my first born!
He's been an old man for 8 years, but an old man who has an unquenchable desire for information and knowledge. He would sit for hours being read to.
I think the only thing that rivals his love for knowledge is love of food! (I'm kidding, sort of)
His bright eyes and sweet smile always something that warm my heart.
Age 3
Age 4
Age 5
Age 6
Age 7
He's wicked smart and so wants to please. His sense of humor and boisterous nature are well, growing. He definitely has a joie de vivre.
Happy Birthday, my first born!
Saturday, October 9, 2010
Beat the ground in a light fantastic round
My middle kids have been dancing for two years now. They absolutely love their dance classes; I absolutely love The Studio. We had been to another studio, but now we've found a home at The Studio. Kim & Amanda are a mother & daughter duo that love kids and love dance. They are fabulous dancers with great stories—Kim's grandma taught her how to juggle and walk on her hands! As teachers they walk the fine line of excellence without undue pressure.
Sabrina takes tap class right now. We may add ballet after the boys' soccer is over.
Watching patiently and watching her friend.
Concentration
I don't think our children will become professional dancers, but I do know they are learning how to control and move their bodies, how to follow directions, and how to move to music. These are life skills that they're learning in addition to simply loving to dance!
Sabrina takes tap class right now. We may add ballet after the boys' soccer is over.
Watching patiently and watching her friend.
Her turn!
Concentration
Stuart is in the Boys' Tap and Tumble class (I only got pictures of tap this day)
With the "Big Guy" assistant teacher. It's always amazing to me how a group of boys changes when a guy is teaching!
I don't think our children will become professional dancers, but I do know they are learning how to control and move their bodies, how to follow directions, and how to move to music. These are life skills that they're learning in addition to simply loving to dance!
Friday, October 8, 2010
Annalise's words
Annalise can say these words:
Mama (her first word! The only one of the four to say it first!)
Dada
banana
night night
Chase
shoe
cup
Friday Funnies
A few weeks ago we had to put our cat down (this is not the funny bit). He was old (12 1/2 years) and his diabetes was not getting better. We discovered his diabetes b/c he was suffering from "inappropriate urination," but he was also struggling with stairs and grooming himself.
On Monday on the way to soccer practice, Chase & his friend Clay were talking about Clay's cat. I overheard the following story (Warning, don't drink anything while reading this!)
Chase: Our cat died. See he had diabetes which means you have to pee a lot. He started peeing in the house, which he's never done because we trained him not to do that.
Clay: When did you train him to do that?
Chase: Last summer. Anyway, he had so much pee inside him, it filled him up and his ball fell off and he died.
Clay: What's a ball?
Chase: You know, those things that hang down by your penis.
Clay: Oh. Ouch.
Chase: I know. So he died.
On Monday on the way to soccer practice, Chase & his friend Clay were talking about Clay's cat. I overheard the following story (Warning, don't drink anything while reading this!)
Chase: Our cat died. See he had diabetes which means you have to pee a lot. He started peeing in the house, which he's never done because we trained him not to do that.
Clay: When did you train him to do that?
Chase: Last summer. Anyway, he had so much pee inside him, it filled him up and his ball fell off and he died.
Clay: What's a ball?
Chase: You know, those things that hang down by your penis.
Clay: Oh. Ouch.
Chase: I know. So he died.
Thursday, October 7, 2010
Chase's Soccer
I finally got to watch Chase play soccer! His first two games we were in Prague, so I was estatic to get to watch Chase for my first game!
Chase lead the warm-ups!
(His push-up form was actually really great, but in the shot, he was starting to get up)
Game Time!
Chase is focused. (The other CCS kids in the yellow are playing for the other team because they were short players. Rather than forfeit, we traded players every quarter. How great is that?)
His fan section
Chase may be small, but he's scrappy.
The Post Game Snack!
Wednesday, October 6, 2010
Weapon in the Clothing War
I have a four year old future fashion diva in my house.
We have avoided a lot of power struggles with a few strategies
1. The 2-3 choice option. "Would you like to wear this or this today?"
2. Choosing clothes the night before.
Choosing clothes at night has become more difficult now that Annalise is awake during nighttime routine. So now we choose clothes for the week over the weekend and hang them in the closet with these!
I made them in (gasp!) Microsoft Word—sadly the only program on my computer I can create anything in!
I cut them out, took them to FedEx Kinkos (my new favorite place!) and had them laminated them for $2!
We choose clothes, socks, shorts, whatever goes with the outfit. We hang the tags on the outfits in her closet.
She feels in control every morning when she puts on the outfit. This is what avoids the conflict!
As a teachery side note, she is sounding out the initial sounds of the words and remembering the order of the days of the week.
So until we go to school uniforms (please!) this is my secret weapon in the clothing war.
(This is not an original idea. I've seen this on a blog a few years ago, but I can't remember where. She was a mom blogger/graphic designer with a way better design than mine! Feel free to use my mediocre designs.)
We have avoided a lot of power struggles with a few strategies
1. The 2-3 choice option. "Would you like to wear this or this today?"
2. Choosing clothes the night before.
Choosing clothes at night has become more difficult now that Annalise is awake during nighttime routine. So now we choose clothes for the week over the weekend and hang them in the closet with these!
I made them in (gasp!) Microsoft Word—sadly the only program on my computer I can create anything in!
I cut them out, took them to FedEx Kinkos (my new favorite place!) and had them laminated them for $2!
We choose clothes, socks, shorts, whatever goes with the outfit. We hang the tags on the outfits in her closet.
She feels in control every morning when she puts on the outfit. This is what avoids the conflict!
As a teachery side note, she is sounding out the initial sounds of the words and remembering the order of the days of the week.
So until we go to school uniforms (please!) this is my secret weapon in the clothing war.
(This is not an original idea. I've seen this on a blog a few years ago, but I can't remember where. She was a mom blogger/graphic designer with a way better design than mine! Feel free to use my mediocre designs.)
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