I couldn't sleep last night....finally fell asleep some time after 1:30am....up at 5am.....night was not long enough. I could list all the things that don't happen when Mom doesn't sleep, but instead today I'll celebrate what did happen.
*Three different sets of kids to school on time-with all their stuff.
*Healthy meals prepared and served on time-even cooked up the turkey carcass for lunch time turkey noodles.
*Diapers changed, naps and bottles given.
*School work corrected.
*History read aloud.
*Didn't loose my temper.
*Hand wash dishes washed.
*One load of laundry done.
*Bed made.
*Check deposited.
*Traded hand massages with Alex.
*USDA paper work done.
*Counter mess straightened.
*345 questions answered (approximate #)
And now I think I'll go to bed.
Monday, November 22, 2010
Thursday, November 18, 2010
Snake Tongues
Me: Jared, get me out the bread knife....that's the really long bumpy one...
Jared: You mean the one with the snake tongue?
Yep, that's the one.....
Funny how kids see things differently than adults!
Wednesday, November 17, 2010
Concerts
With his room nice and clean, Noah has had time for his musical activities.
This week he has practiced keyboard, guitar and trumpet in his "bandroom".
With Tom off to McMinnville for the evening to take the big kids to activities,
I was treated to concerts by Noah.
First try at posting videos.....
If you were able to view these, you should be impressed with my computer skills.
If you couldn't see them, I'll have to try again another time!
Toys and the Great Room Cleanout
Friday, when we had no school and only one daycare extra, the kids and I held a special event that I dubbed "THE GREAT ROOM CLEAN OUT". The kids were not as excited as I was to get this job out of the way, but now that it is done, they are enjoying their clear, clean rooms. We ended up having to take a truck load of garbage to the dump....I couldn't believe how much trash was hidden in their rooms! We also took a load to Goodwill, and I have another load in the back of the van ready to go.
Part of the reason they were willing to get rid of so much stuff is that we are mean parents. We told them before we cleaned that they have way too much stuff, and we won't be buying any toys for Christmas -because they already have enough-and instead we are just getting them canned food. That might be a small stretch of the truth....we really aren't buying toys, but we have stayed away from the grocery store for our shopping.
But who needs toys anyway....they hardly use the toys in their rooms anyway, mostly playing Foosball, riding bikes or playing with our kitten....I think the kitten is the favorite toy right now, which works out well because the kitten's favorite toys are the round foods that the kids spill on the floor. She loves when they drop Kix or Grapes!
Part of the reason they were willing to get rid of so much stuff is that we are mean parents. We told them before we cleaned that they have way too much stuff, and we won't be buying any toys for Christmas -because they already have enough-and instead we are just getting them canned food. That might be a small stretch of the truth....we really aren't buying toys, but we have stayed away from the grocery store for our shopping.
But who needs toys anyway....they hardly use the toys in their rooms anyway, mostly playing Foosball, riding bikes or playing with our kitten....I think the kitten is the favorite toy right now, which works out well because the kitten's favorite toys are the round foods that the kids spill on the floor. She loves when they drop Kix or Grapes!
Monday, November 15, 2010
Notice to my children:
I am not your brain.
If you have not yet read the problem, don't ask me for help.
If I have walked you through 27 identical problems (and you have shown me that you understand), I will no longer answer how to do it.
Do not insist, "but this HAS to be the right answer!" I have the answer key and I know how to do the problem. I also have a calculator that will back me up.
Do not expect me to tell you the answer.
I expect you to use YOUR brain to figure things out....do not rely on me to solve every problem.
If I give you an assignment, I trust that you will schedule your time wisely...do not expect minute by minute reminders to get it done on time.
Help involves more than one person working together. If your brain is not turned on, I cannot help; I can only do it for you. This option is not available at this time.
When I am giving you directions, and you are not listening, it is not my problem that you don't know what to do. I do not talk because I enjoy the sound of my voice....the words are actually coming out of my mouth for a reason.
You have a chore list....it is your reminder, not me.
Contrary to popular belief, I do not read minds. Don't stand there looking at me blankly and assume that I should be telling you what to do. I don't know why you are there!
Any single sentence containing the words it, stuff, that, and thing, cannot be answered intelligently....I do not know what you are talking about.
God gave YOU a perfectly good brain of your own. Use it!
If you have not yet read the problem, don't ask me for help.
If I have walked you through 27 identical problems (and you have shown me that you understand), I will no longer answer how to do it.
Do not insist, "but this HAS to be the right answer!" I have the answer key and I know how to do the problem. I also have a calculator that will back me up.
Do not expect me to tell you the answer.
I expect you to use YOUR brain to figure things out....do not rely on me to solve every problem.
If I give you an assignment, I trust that you will schedule your time wisely...do not expect minute by minute reminders to get it done on time.
Help involves more than one person working together. If your brain is not turned on, I cannot help; I can only do it for you. This option is not available at this time.
When I am giving you directions, and you are not listening, it is not my problem that you don't know what to do. I do not talk because I enjoy the sound of my voice....the words are actually coming out of my mouth for a reason.
You have a chore list....it is your reminder, not me.
Contrary to popular belief, I do not read minds. Don't stand there looking at me blankly and assume that I should be telling you what to do. I don't know why you are there!
Any single sentence containing the words it, stuff, that, and thing, cannot be answered intelligently....I do not know what you are talking about.
God gave YOU a perfectly good brain of your own. Use it!
Tuesday, November 9, 2010
Mondays
Someday, I might miss our crazy Mondays....but it might be a while before I get to that point. Rush, rush, rush is what we do....although, football is now over, so it slowed down a smidgen. It seems like everything we do happens on Mondays. We start off the morning with getting my overnight daycare kids dressed and off to school by 8:00 (although the last two Mondays they haven't been here). Then most Mondays I take and pick up another daycare child from preschool at 9:00 and 11:30. Faith has to be at band by 11:10, so some time before that we have to get all of our together school work done. Faith then gets picked up at 12:00. Then all the kids have to leave by 3:30 for McMinnville--boys to karate lesson and Faith dropped off at Grandma's who will drop her off at ballet at 6:00. The boys are back at 5:00 in time to eat dinner, then off to Cub Scouts by 6:00 with Noah--along with Cody and Jared who are den chiefs....then run them home at 7:00 so Cody and Jared can go across the street to Boy Scouts, and I can then take Alex to Cub Scouts.....Come back with Alex at 8:00, in time to go pick up Faith from ballet in McMinnville. Did I mention that in the mix of all that there is always between 2 and 6 daycare kids here as well? And if we have any appointments to make, we try to schedule them on Mondays because it's Tom's day off. Luckily Tom has Mondays off, so we can split up all that running around....and luckily the rest of the week isn't as crazy!
Saturday, November 6, 2010
Gizmo
kids hauling her around, remembers to use the litter box, and rewards petting with purrs. The kids have been building Gizmo all sorts of Duplo cat houses/playgrounds. They started out building cat jails, but I vetoed that plan. The one in the picture here, has a door at the bottom--which she goes in willingly. Then the kids hold a wiggling string over the top and she pops up to grab it, "Just like Santa popping up out of a chimney!" It never gets old....they do it over and over and over until they get called away to do something else.
Friday, November 5, 2010
The Cutest Trick-or-Treaters in Sheridan
As usual, we headed to Goodwill at the beginning of October to find our costumes.
Faith the Witch....but she kept smiling and couldn't give a scary face
Jared the Skeleton
Cody Uncle Sam....
which very few people identified....most guessed Abraham Lincoln or George Washington....
come on people really?
Alex the Deviled Egg....
most people had a hard time figuring out this costume as well, but laughed when they did get it....
thanks to Family Fun magazine for this idea
Noah the Ultimate Super Hero....
Superman costume, Iron Man mask, and (not pictured) Batman cape....
A little odd, but he was delighted with it
Tuesday, November 2, 2010
What we are learning.
I planned this post weeks ago, and even took the pictures for it, but then the whole dead computer thing happened and well, you know.....
History:
Oregon History....we are reading lots of library books for this study. I do have a text book, but I'm mostly using it as the framework and checking out books to read about the subjects. So far we've read about the geological features of Oregon, early Native Americans, and are beginning explorers.
World History.....we are studying our way through history from the beginning using the same series as last year. Right now we are reading about Ancient Israel and Greece. The kids really like the Greek god stories.
Geography:
We are doing a trip around the world with daily geography trails questions for the kids to look up in their atlas and weekly mapping activities.
Math:
The three big kids are using Life of Fred....which is the funniest math series ever written. It is about a 5 year old who teaches college math, and all the problems he encounters while being 5 in a grown up world. Along the way the kids learn math concepts with real life examples. Faith is also doing a geometry course in which she draws patterns with geometric formulas. The boys are all working their way through the Primary Math series and all the kids do IXL on the computer for math review.
Science:
The boys are studying Botany...yesterday we dissected tulips. Faith is doing general science. She was a little bummed to outgrow our together science, but needed something that would stretch her thinking a little more.
English:
All of the kids have their own grammar workbook. Alex and Noah are learning cursive and the four oldest are studying Greek and Latin root words. Roots is probably their favorite subject. We only work on it a few minutes, three times a week, and they always want more. The boys all have spelling as well, but it seems like either you are born able to spell or not. I have two that can and three that can't....they can pass the spelling tests, but it doesn't carry over to other writing. Hopefully with repetition at least some spelling will stick. If not there is always spell check for those of us born without the spelling gene! Faith, Cody and Jared are also doing a writing program. It is hard for them for different reasons: Faith because she tries to put too much description into each sentence and loses the reader. Cody because he hates the physical act of writing, although it is getting slowly easier for him. Jared because he wants to describe every thing with about ten adjectives (nice, good, really, fine.....) and I make him come up with more interesting ones.
Spanish:
They are all working their way through Rosetta Stone as I am definitely unable to teach this subject.
Literature:
They each have to read at least 15 minutes each day from a classic book. Right now the list is: Faith-Little Women, Jared-The Black Stallion, Cody-Gone Away Lake, Alex-Greek Gods and Myths, and Noah-Five Children and It. Noah is by far the most voracious reader. I cannot keep up with him. I have to order the books several at a time from the library to keep him supplied. And, he remembers what he reads. We were in a store and we saw a book that neither of us had heard of, and Noah says "I think I've read a book by that same author before." And he had!
Typing:
The three big kids are doing a typing course on the computer. Jared and Faith are getting quite good at it.
Music:
We try to sing either an old hymn or classic patriotic song each day, and three of the kids take band up at the school. Faith plays the flute, and dabbles at the clarinet. Jared plays the trombone and last night was elected as his boy scout troop's bugler, so wants to learn some bugle calls. Cody plays the saxophone. Jared and Cody started band last year under duress by parental proclamation, but by the end of the first week they loved it and wanted to continue this year.
Faith is also choosing a few activities from a unit study called "Far Above Rubies" based on Proverbs 31. She is currently making a booklet about different gems.
Cody is studying the periodic table....for fun.....and is sharing all sorts of interesting facts about it with me. He wanted to do that as our science for the year, but none of the others are interested, so he is doing it on his own.
And of course they all are learning life skills.....cooking, cleaning, yard maintenance etc.....
History:
Oregon History....we are reading lots of library books for this study. I do have a text book, but I'm mostly using it as the framework and checking out books to read about the subjects. So far we've read about the geological features of Oregon, early Native Americans, and are beginning explorers.
World History.....we are studying our way through history from the beginning using the same series as last year. Right now we are reading about Ancient Israel and Greece. The kids really like the Greek god stories.
Geography:
We are doing a trip around the world with daily geography trails questions for the kids to look up in their atlas and weekly mapping activities.
Math:
The three big kids are using Life of Fred....which is the funniest math series ever written. It is about a 5 year old who teaches college math, and all the problems he encounters while being 5 in a grown up world. Along the way the kids learn math concepts with real life examples. Faith is also doing a geometry course in which she draws patterns with geometric formulas. The boys are all working their way through the Primary Math series and all the kids do IXL on the computer for math review.
The boys are studying Botany...yesterday we dissected tulips. Faith is doing general science. She was a little bummed to outgrow our together science, but needed something that would stretch her thinking a little more.
English:
All of the kids have their own grammar workbook. Alex and Noah are learning cursive and the four oldest are studying Greek and Latin root words. Roots is probably their favorite subject. We only work on it a few minutes, three times a week, and they always want more. The boys all have spelling as well, but it seems like either you are born able to spell or not. I have two that can and three that can't....they can pass the spelling tests, but it doesn't carry over to other writing. Hopefully with repetition at least some spelling will stick. If not there is always spell check for those of us born without the spelling gene! Faith, Cody and Jared are also doing a writing program. It is hard for them for different reasons: Faith because she tries to put too much description into each sentence and loses the reader. Cody because he hates the physical act of writing, although it is getting slowly easier for him. Jared because he wants to describe every thing with about ten adjectives (nice, good, really, fine.....) and I make him come up with more interesting ones.
They are all working their way through Rosetta Stone as I am definitely unable to teach this subject.
Literature:
They each have to read at least 15 minutes each day from a classic book. Right now the list is: Faith-Little Women, Jared-The Black Stallion, Cody-Gone Away Lake, Alex-Greek Gods and Myths, and Noah-Five Children and It. Noah is by far the most voracious reader. I cannot keep up with him. I have to order the books several at a time from the library to keep him supplied. And, he remembers what he reads. We were in a store and we saw a book that neither of us had heard of, and Noah says "I think I've read a book by that same author before." And he had!
The three big kids are doing a typing course on the computer. Jared and Faith are getting quite good at it.
Music:
We try to sing either an old hymn or classic patriotic song each day, and three of the kids take band up at the school. Faith plays the flute, and dabbles at the clarinet. Jared plays the trombone and last night was elected as his boy scout troop's bugler, so wants to learn some bugle calls. Cody plays the saxophone. Jared and Cody started band last year under duress by parental proclamation, but by the end of the first week they loved it and wanted to continue this year.
Cody is studying the periodic table....for fun.....and is sharing all sorts of interesting facts about it with me. He wanted to do that as our science for the year, but none of the others are interested, so he is doing it on his own.
And of course they all are learning life skills.....cooking, cleaning, yard maintenance etc.....
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