Give me a break, it's summer

I just need to face it that I'm not going to blog every day in the summer.  I think mainly because there's really not much to say.  We play, we read, we do lots of arts and crafts, we play music, we go to the library, we go to the park, we go for walks, we dig in the sandbox, we go to tennis and violin, it's just wash, rinse, and repeat.  So, to keep from boring my three faithful readers, I'm going to try to just post when we do something out of the ordinary.  We definitely had an out of the ordinary day today, even though, it was just good plain fun!  Sweet Webb and Amanda came to play with us and between those four kids we tore this house up!!  They had a blast, though.  I always know Ford's had a good time when he talks for the rest of the day about how his best friend is whoever we just played with.  So, right now, Webb is Ford's best friend!  Ruby and Webb always have a great time...they both love being stubborn and doing what they want to do, that's what 2 year olds are good at.  Unfortunately Rachel is beyond toddler play and was bored most of the time and sat around listening to all of the things Amanda and I were talking about.  She and I had a long talk about an important life skill is to find something to do to keep yourself entertained if you don't want to do what everybody else is doing.  This afternoon she and I made a basket of things she can do all by herself that she enjoys doing and she stashed it in her closet.  Now she can go in her closet by herself and do those things if she wants to be alone or she can pull that basket out at nap time/rest time when she gets bored.  I'm sure after a week or so we'll have to rotate some of the contents, but this ought to work for a little while.  The craziest part of today is that NO ONE took a nap!!!  Ruby was just not going to do it, so we went on several errands including the library where they picked up a show to watch and are enjoying that right now since they were actually really good this afternoon.  As soon as it's over, it's off to bed for us!!  It's hysterical that Ruby picked out a Blue's Clues at the library.  I didn't think Rachel would want to watch it because it's a little young for her, but since it was about Blue's new Baby Brother she was excited to watch.  I see lots of drooping eyelids, so I'm hoping it will be an easy bed time tonight, but we'll see what happens...

Summer's really starting up now

So it's officially summer and our summer "schedule" is starting up this week.  Rachel starts tennis lessons tomorrow.  She goes MTW mornings for 6 weeks.  Then she starts back to violin for the summer (8 lessons) on Tuesdays.  Story time is on Wednesdays in the summer.  Sometimes we don't really like all the crowds of people that show up in summer, but we'll try it out and see???  That's all we really have as far as planned activities.  We are just counting down the days to a trip to the beach (YAY!!) in July.  Ford and Ruby have never been to the beach in the summer.  We usually go in the spring and fall, so this will be a whole new experience.  I think we'll need a lot more sunscreen this time around! (and a lot less clothes!)
Rachel is almost finished with her math lesson on +8s and then we're going to take a little break from math as far as the book goes.  She has two more books to go in the first Bob Book collection and is so excited to get through that and start the second collection.  She is really doing awesome with her reading!
Ruby and I sat on the floor and looked at letters together today.  It baffles her to identify letters when they're out of order.  She gets a little more than half right, but once we put them in order, she knew every single one!  Gotta start somewhere!
Ford is fixated on stickers these days.  He will sit for long periods of time at the table and decorate papers (that have to go on the wall) with whatever stickers you can find.  I feel like this is a good motor skill activity for him...he has to be super careful with those excavators when he peels them off the sheet!
We went on a little walk today, saw it rain twice, stopped by the library, went to the bank, took a paintbrush to Allen, read a lot of books, did some drawing, played Legos, rested, ate two snacks and three meals.  Just a regular old summer day around here.  I saw my friend, Julie, the other day when she was in town and she asked me, "What do you all day without a TV?"  I never really thought about it, but I guess this is what we do!

Awesome dinner

We had a great dinner tonight and as we were eating it, Allen realized that it was just over $10 so it would make a good post to share with you all.  It was pretty easy, too.  We had turkey burgers (with cheese, but no bun), sweet potato fries, and strawberries.  The box of Buterball turkey burgers was $6.98 for six 1/4 lb. burgers, we used 3 sweet potatoes that cost about $2, and the strawberries were $1.50.  We also used a few cheese slices, so add that in and I'd say our total cost for five people was $11, plus we had some burger left over.
I put the burgers on our griddle because our grill is out of gas and cooked them from frozen 10 minutes on each side, plus a couple of minutes to melt the cheese.
I washed and cut up the strawberries.
The sweet potatoes were the only thing that really took any work, but here is the super easy recipe:

Peel and wash the sweet potatoes.
Cut into rectangles (or whatever shape you like).
Put in a large bowl, cover with olive oil and stir.
Throw on some salt and pepper and stir.
Pour the sweet potatoes out onto a baking sheets (with sides preferably).
Put in the oven at 350 for 45 minutes or until they are as done as you like.  I prefer mine crunchy, so sometimes I leave mine in a little longer.
**If you want to make them even sweeter potatoes, sprinkle on brown sugar and cinnamon instead of salt and pepper.

There you have it, we all ate for just over $2 a person and the kids loved every bite!

Small things that show big gains

Today Rachel picked up one of her fairy books (these are chapter books for ages 8-9 or so) and was able to read several sentences on her own without any help!  Also today, I gave her notes to play on the piano to "You Are My Sunshine" including a D-sharp and a G with her left hand.  She mastered it in minutes.

Today I caught Ford sitting at the table beside his big Thomas book and looking at the book to write out "THOMAS" because he wanted to know how to spell Thomas.  Yesterday he sat at the table by himself and told me he was going to write every number he knew.  Sure enough, he wrote 1-20 on a piece of paper.

Today Ruby told me her belly hurt and I asked her if she needed to potty.  She said yes, we went straight to the bathroom and she pooped on the potty.  Then, after putting her down for a nap, she ran into the living room and said, "I need to go pee pee!" and she really did.

Seriously, in my world these are HUGE!!!!

Party Day

I try to write mostly about our "school work" on this blog, but sometimes our school day is taken over by something else, like a little boy turning 4!!  We weren't real sure what we were in for today because Ford, true to his Gemini sign, is pretty wishy-washy about making plans.  He knew he wanted Cinnamon Rolls for breakfast, so we had that ready to fix this morning.  After breakfast I told him about a children's museum we could go to and he was all in.  I reminded him that he had mentioned going to the train museum but that it was most likely going to rain and we wouldn't be able to stay long there (just didn't want him to cry at bed time that we didn't make it to see the trains!).  He said he was fine with the other place and it turned out to be a big hit!  We left the house at 8:30 and didn't come home until noon.  He was able to build with blocks that were bigger than him, climb up in this crazy net/hammock thing, play in a doughnut shop, work his way through the animal alphabet, dig for shark's teeth in a sand bucket, and all kinds of crazy things.  It was a really awesome morning.  Then, while Ruby and I napped, Papa took Rachel and Ford (and his new bike) out for a bike ride and then to the library.  We played some more Legos and did some coloring after that and then went back outside to ride bikes and dig in the sand.  When the rain started coming, though, we headed inside to watch Ford's favorite, Blue Mountain Mystery.  Then it was off to supper.  All he wanted for supper was chocolate chip pizza, but he discovered pepperoni AND hamburger pizza, so he tried that first.  He and Papa charmed the waitress into ordering up a chocolate chip pizza for the buffet, so he was a super happy 4 year old.  Then when she found out it was his birthday, she sent home a slice of cheesecake for him which didn't last long at all.  I could still barf thinking about all the junk we ate today.  Oh, and did I mention he also had a side of Cookies and Cream ice cream with his cheesecake?  Tomorrow we're eating lettuce and celery all day, but you only turn four once, right?

What's Cooking at Summer School

We tried to have a little bit more order to our day today because vacation days throw us for a loop!  Rachel did some reading this morning and watched a new math lesson.  Ruby practiced forming all of her letters with the wooden pieces and had a great time.  Ford had his own kind of work to do...yesterday was his birthday party and he's been doing nothing but inventing stories with all of his new Legos!!  After working and playing indoors and getting our chores done, we had a little snack and then headed outside.  We started in the front yard and I raked up some more debris from last week's storm while Ford played with his new outdoor Thomas and the girls gathered all kinds of things for Fairy Stew and a new Fairy House.  Then I played with Ford while Rachel played teacher and taught Ruby all about leaves.  Then we made our way to the back yard and played sandbox kitchen.  Everybody made their own cakes and even put four candles in them to sing to Ford.  Ford played with his new digger and gave the girls more dirt when their cakes were running low.  We had the best time getting dirty and playing.  If the rain will stay away, I feel sure we'll be back outside this afternoon to make more cakes.  We came inside and cleaned up after about an hour in the sandbox and then did a little bit of art work.  We used the left over styrofoam plates from yesterday's party and drew on them with Sharpies.  These kids love using Sharpies, I think it's because they know they're not supposed to touch them, so when they get a chance to, they take full advantage of it!  Then we cleaned up, ate lunch, and now are resting.  It's been a great morning!

The Zoo

I have probably mentioned this before, but my parents gave me a Zoo Membership for my birthday which means we can go to the zoo free of charge any time for a whole year.  It also includes free trips to aquariums and half off at certain museums...a pretty awesome deal!  We went for our second trip to the zoo today and we just love it.  I have been so impressed with these little people I take care of who can walk from one end of the zoo to the other on their own two feet!!  There are lots of strollers and wagons at the zoo, but Ingram School Kids love to walk!  Well, until they get tired, but the promise of ice cream usually keeps them moving!!  Last time we went we started on the Africa side and made our way slowly through those animals and had to rush through the North America side before everyone melted down.  Today we started on North America and saw the Polar Bear who has returned.  We were hoping for a little more excitement, but he just kept swimming the same lap over and over in his pool...looked like a little anxiety problem at a new home if you ask me.  Next summer he's supposed to get his friends back, so I hope he feels better before then.  Rachel, Ford, and Ruby were all excited to go to the Honey Bees today, too, because last time we went they hadn't located the queen yet.  Today we were able to see the Queen and we even saw her lay an egg!  The animals at the zoo are awesome:  everything from giraffes and zebras to otters and grizzly bears, but our favorite places today were the playground (mainly because we had it all to ourselves) and this outdoor kids play area.  The girls loved it because it had a kitchen where you could make mud pies or mud birthday cakes :)  Ford was getting tired, but he did like the stumps that he could play on like drums.  We had a little picnic in this area before checking on the polar bear one more time (still swimming) and then going home.  The kids loved being able to spend the day with their Papa before he starts doing his odd summer jobs next week.  It was truly our little mini-vacation.  The weather was perfect today, too, not too hot so we didn't have a bunch of complaining about being sweaty!  I'm sure we will go back to the zoo again soon and spend more time on the side with elephants and gorillas instead of tortoises and ocelots.  We decided today that every time we go back we'll just switch sides to give all of the animals equal attention :)

Looking Back

I was looking back at our old blog and realizing just how fast these kids grow!!  I spent so much time writing about Rachel eating solid food and Ford sleeping in his crib.  Now we're talking about math, reading, Daisy Scouts, Legos...wild!  Five years can seem like an eternity and then it can seem like nothing.  Time is really strange.  It's just weird to think what our life will be like five more years from now...Rachel will be TEN!!  and we'll have four kids!  That is so crazy!!  Hopefully we'll be living in the country in a house we've built, but it does feel like we've been saying that forever!  The best thing about looking back today, though, was seeing how far we've come as parents.  We've said from the beginning that we just want to do what's best for our children and I really truly think we've stuck to that.  Every day that my children are happy and healthy I feel like I've done my job.  We definitely have horrible days, but on the whole I feel like we are a happy family and we are living the life we were meant to live.  I just hope we remember to take time to enjoy this time together because before you know it these kids will be grown and on their own.  It really does fly by.

Where We're Headed this summer

We are almost on cruise control for the summer.  Allen finished up work today and will be around a lot more, so there should be lots of P.E.!! and maybe a little Science and Social Studies here and there???
I want to finish up one more math lesson with Rachel in her Math-U-See book.  She needs to do the Plus 8s and then she will be ready for her first big unit test.  I think after that, we'll take a little break from math (at least from doing it more than a couple of days a week to review).  I don't really want to start anything else new there for a few weeks, just to give her a break.  I don't want to stop her reading progress because my goodness! she is zooming through these Bob books.  I definitely think we will make it through at least two boxes, if not all three, by the end of July.  For Fall, I am going to order her the Handwriting Without Tears for 1st grade and for Ford get the preschool book again (we tried it once, but he wasn't ready, he is TOTALLY ready now!).  Ruby likes using the wood pieces to make letters, so I think when we do handwriting in the Fall, she can do that while everyone else is working in the book.  I also want to order the Primer for Ford for Math-U-See as well as his own set of blocks.  The program works with only one set of blocks, so they could share, but I think it will just be better to have two sets and it makes the clock easier, too!  He's excited to start doing things that Rachel has already learned.  I think for the rest of the summer, he's going to focus on drawing his trains and writing his letters.  He's been doing some crazy art work lately where he'll just draw boxes and start putting numbers in them or sit down and try to write all of the letters in the alphabet.  He's extremely interested in writing now which he was not before, so we'll just keep practicing!  Ruby's starting to use her right hand less and less, so I think by the end of the summer, we'll know for sure that she's a Lefty...no need to fight it, it is what it is.
I feel sure that we will make a few zoo trips this summer (maybe one this week?), we have an awesome week lined up at the beach with Amanda, Chris, and Webb in July, and we still have to celebrate a 4 year-old boy and a 33 year-old Papa over the next few weeks as well as Father's Day.  Summer will come and go before we can blink.  I know I will be ready for that cool weather and a schedule again by the time August rolls around, so I'm just going to sit back and enjoy while I can.

Not much to report

The rain has been keeping us all inside these last few days and I'm about out of creative art projects without going and buying new materials.  We had a lot of fun today being crazy and playing and dancing.  Rachel completed all of her reading and math this morning in no time.  She and I made flashcards of all of the words she has been reading in the Bob books and she loves to sit by herself and read them out loud.  She is really zooming through this reading and I am so proud of her.  I love how she wants to show everyone her chart and wants to tell everyone how much she can read now.  I feel like I need to make a bigger deal out of it and give her some sort of reward, but really, I think her reward is that she loves being able to read books on her own during nap time.  Maybe a trip to the book store would be fun, though...
We had a play date with Kristin and Wyatt and Vanessa the boys today.  It was wild as usual but nobody broke any bones or anything!  Just a regular old Friday that ended with pizza :)

That Was Fun!

We actually did something today where Ford and Rachel both said, "That was fun, Mama." when we were done.  They are hardly ever on the same page when it comes to activities any more, but today was a hit (we won't talk about Ruby, she had fun when she was allowed to be at the table...)
We read Fancy Nancy: Aspiring Artist for about the 657th time yesterday and I love how she does a different type of art every day in the story.  I'm always a little nervous about working with scissors, but I thought I'd be brave today and try to do the art like she does when she's inspired by a postcard with work by Henri Matisse.  So, Rachel and Ruby tried to make butterflies out of little pieces of scrap paper and Ford (surprise!) tried a train.  They actually did a really good job.  I drew the butterflies for the girls (Ruby couldn't draw it and Rachel wanted perfection.)  Ford drew his own train.  Then we got out Rachel's scrap bag from art classes with Ms. Lisa and found all kinds of great colors of paper to use.  Rachel and Ford wanted to cut some of their own pieces.  I tried to manage that while managing a 2 year-old who didn't want to listen, but she finally was able to glue pieces to her paper.  After everyone finished one piece, I removed Ruby from the table so that Rachel and Ford could just cut with scissors.  They love cutting and we need to do it more often, but I'm always worried we're going to end up with more than just paper getting cut.  I guess the more we do it, the better we get.  I was even going to let Ruby try cutting a little today but she just couldn't listen, so I told her we'd have to try it again some time when she could be a better listener (poor kid won't cut until she's 20!).  We've had a pretty great day.  That activity took us a good hour because they were so focused. Ruby and Rachel and I made a second piece of art with sand and waves that is pretty cute.  Ford just kept on cutting.  Ford built a train with Kapla blocks while the girls chased each other around the house.  We managed to get some reading in (Rachel is on the 5th Bob book already!).  This afternoon we have a violin lesson.  The biggest news of all, though, is that Ruby put herself to sleep for nap time!!!  I told her I wasn't going to sit with her today because I had things to do and she needed to start being a big girl.  She fought it but after about 15 minutes, Ford got up to go to the bathroom and I peeked in and saw her laying there asleep.  One day, we'll start working on bed time, too...

Early Accomplishments

It's 9:15...in the morning...and here's what we've already done today:
eaten breakfast
gotten everybody to the potty
brushed all teeth
gotten everyone dressed
Rachel's read 3 Bob books
Rachel did a math review
Rachel did some work in her "Kindergarten workbook"
Ford has drawn 3 landscapes and 4 trains
Ruby has done at least 10 puzzles
Ford and Rachel have built Kapla block structures
We've all done an obstacle course with Kapla blocks
We read an entire Fairy book (Thea the Thursday Fairy)
We've read a Thomas story
*bonus...I dried my hair!*
We've discussed boy vs. girl...what will the baby be
We've had a discussion about patience!
Ruby has made a new necklace
had a snack
gotten oranges peeled for lunch
gathered our library books to go sign up for summer reading in a little while
Oh, yeah, and worked on growing a baby...
I'm exhausted!!

Reading and Whining

The big news of the day around here is that Rachel and I have started her "Summer of Learning to Read" today.  We bought the three Bob Collections of books to learn how to read and I told her we would get through them all by the end of the summer.  There are 50 very short and simple books that introduce sounds and sight words.  At the rate she's going, she'll have them finished by June, but I don't want to get too far ahead of ourselves.  I made her a chart and for each book I want her to be able to read it 4 times without any mistakes.  She gets a sticker each time she reads it through without a mistake and then after 4 times, she's done with that book.  She read books 1 and 2 without any mistakes already today.  They get harder, but it's nice to start off with excitement!
The problem, though, is that if I don't provide something for Rachel to do every single second of the day she whines that she's bored or hungry or doesn't know what to do.  Reading and math together take about 20 minutes for her and then we have the entire day ahead of us.  I'm guessing this is a first child problem because she's always been entertained?  Ford and Ruby have no problem entertaining themselves for short amounts of time.  Ford will draw or play trains or build with block or Legos.  Ruby will color or do  puzzles or make necklaces.  They never ask me what they can do next, they just find something and do it.  So, my other project with Rachel this summer is going to be to force her to entertain herself for small amounts of time.  Now that Ruby can handle coloring better, I'm going to leave out paper and colored pencils where anybody can get to it at any time (if the walls get colored, we'll have to put it up, but luckily...knock on wood...that hasn't happened).  We're not quite ready to leave the Play-Doh out but it's pretty easily accessible if someone wants to play.  I just need her to not rely on me to tell her every single thing she needs to do.  She has a horrible habit of when she needs to pick something, like a book, turning to me and saying, "Which one do you think I would like?"  I keep telling her that when she has the chance to make her own choice, she needs to do it and not wait for me to decide for her.  I guess after the independent streak from 2-4, kids get tired of trying to do everything the way they want to do it and now expect someone to tell them what to do!