May. 12, 2008

Busy Weekend

N's first T-ball game was Sat at 10.  Well, we thought it was at 10.  It was really at 10:30.  At least we weren't late.    What a cutie!  At one point he had his drawstring in his mouth.    Yeah, the attention span of a 6 yo.... He enjoyed himself, which is good.  It was a beautiful morning.  Also good.  And even better, the two littles behaved perfectly.  The game ended at 11:30, which gave us a half hour to get home, eat and get D to his game at 12:30.  Luckily, I didn't have to get there until 1, which allowed B to get in a half hour nap.  D was the starting pitcher. The trains can get pretty annoying.... About 3 come by every game.  D was also catcher that game.  I love this picture.  He looks so professional.  The ball got by him and the guy on second ran to third, but, D quickly got the ball and threw him out.  Yippee!  D also got his first hit of the year.  And it's not that he can't hit.  He's just too picky.  He usually walks.  In three games he struck out, grounded out and got a hit.  The rest were all walks.  Probably about 9 of them. The littles entertained themselves well. At one point they had a dirt/rock mountain with crayons and pencils sticking in them.  That was when they were attracting other children.  Once they started reading, the other children left to go play at the play ground.  On Sunday, I had my grandma and MIL over for dinner.  My mom of course was there since she lives with us.    We had a yummy polish dinner which I have been craving for some time now.  Hubby tried teaching the kids to treat me special, but, unfortunately, they are slow learners.    Maybe someday they will love me... Here is my grandma with her great grandkids.  I was hoping to make it the ultimate mother's day and have the baby, but no such luck.    And that wraps it up, folks!

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May. 9, 2008

Bird Excitement

D was taking out the recycling and was startled by this: There was our red-breasted grosbeak just sitting in our driveway.  The poor thing.  But isn't he beautiful?  It isn't everyday one gets to pet a bird.  Hubby did some calling around and the verdict was, he was stunned.  They said he probably ran into a window and is now stunned, and could stay stunned for up to 2 hours!  So we watched him.  Two hours went by, and he was still there.  We found a local wildlife person (I can't remember her official title) and we were going to bring the bird over to her figuring something must be wrong with it.  But when hubby went to pick it up, it flew away a few feet.  But then he let him pick it up.  So we were kinda confused as to what to do.  A few minutes later, hubby went to pick him up again.  This time he flew to the bush by the bird feeder.  So we called the guy who was with the wildlife person (are you following?) and he said if the bird can fly and perch, it's ok.  The bird probably just has a really bad concussion.   The bird sat in the tree for a few more hours before he finally flew away.  While the bird was in the bush, a second male grosbeak came to the feeder.  That was pretty exciting considering we thought we only had one [pair], and we had never even seen a grosbeak before this year.  And even more exciting, I looked out the front window and saw what I believe to be a brown thrasher. That's not my picture.  The bird flew away to fast to get one.  But I am pretty positive this is the bird.  We are seeing so many new birds this year!

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May. 6, 2008

A Good Reason To Homeschool

A kid on D's baseball team's sister is dating the kid who lives across the street from us.  (did you follow that one?)  They are 12.  12!  And they are in Christian school.  Not public.  And the 8 year old boy across the street always teases his twin sister whenever she talks to D.  He yells, "Is that your boooyfriend!?"  And D just doesn't get it.  "Why would he say that?"  My kids are sheltered, and I love it!

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May. 5, 2008

Bird Pages

I recently printed out a bird coloring book.  We have been studying birds for over a year now, but it's something that I just can't stop doing.    It's just too fun.  Even hubby recently started getting a little excited over the birds we see in the yard.  Last year we learned about birds in general - migration, flight, nesting, things like that.  This year we are learning about specific birds that we see around here.  Anyway, the kids each did a page.  There are too many for them to each do the same one.  I don't want them to start hating birds!  Here is the first page that N did: D did a Cardinal.  We are going to put our pages together as a field guide of our backyard birds.  We then read out of Handbook of Nature study about the birds.  Today, they started copying a poem about their birds.  Now, they are not only learning science, they are practicing their handwriting and learning about poems. Here is N writing his poem:

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May. 5, 2008

Nature Box

A while back I bought a bin to turn into a writing bin.  I thought it was an awesome idea.  I never got farther than putting in paper.  Now that it is spring, we all have the Nature Bug and the writing bin is now the nature bin.  The boys already had nature journals (with... umm... two entries.... ), so I decided now was the time to really get into them.  I wanted to make it as self guided as possible.  When the baby comes, I need it to be easy for me to give them something to do.  So I started working on a nature notebook.  In the very front of my notebook I have a sheet of my ideas.  I don't have that many, so I had to search the internet for some.  I came across THIS blog.  She hosts a Green Hour Challenge every week.  I printed out all of the challenges and added them to front of my notebook.  Here are my categories so far:  Drawing paper - Where I keep blank paper N's writing paper - different sheets of paper with big spaces for writing. Some have spots for drawing or pasting items. D's writing paper - different sheets of paper with small spaces for writing.  Some have spots for drawing or pasting items.  Some are nature journal pages with spots to fill in the weather and location. Trees - Guide on how to draw trees, sheets of paper for drawing trees in different seasons, leaf rubbing papers. Birds - Feeder bird coloring book, bird drawing sheets. Flowers - Flower drawing sheets. Masters - All the masters so the kids don't run out of paper and then I can't remember where I found the sheets!  Here are some sites I printed from: http://www.homeschoolhelperonline.com/notebooking.htm http://www.squidoo.com/cmnaturestudy#module3416732 http://www.birds.cornell.edu/schoolyard/T_Resouces/color_book.html I tend to just follow links around and then not remember where I was. In the nature box I put the nature binder, their nature journals, our animal and insect drawing books, and magnifying glasses.  I would still like to put in a box of colored pencils for quick access when they need them.

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Apr. 30, 2008

Room Set Up

Today was the day we were to close on our new house and begin moving in.  Sniff, sniff...  Instead we spent the day cleaning our bedroom and making room for the new baby.  We moved furniture, cleaned and set up the pack and play.   I must say, we made one big mess.  I don't know that we will ever be ready for the baby.  We definitely are not first timers who set everything up in the first trimester.    We have learned, however, that all the baby needs is me.  All I expect to be doing is nursing and rocking, so who needs all the other things to get in the way?  Hubby will have plenty of time to set up all the other things during his three weeks paternity leave.     I guess I'll go, I keep losing my train of thought....  Man, I still have such a long way to go!  These last few weeks are going slower than the first 8 months!

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Apr. 29, 2008

Chores

My two older boys each have their own chore chart.  They have for years.  They are required to get up, do their chores, eat breakfast, and then do school.  These have been the rules for years.  You would think they had it down pat.  Nope.  Not. at. all.  I know all about the whole tomato staking idea, and I knew that I should some how be doing it.  I just couldn't figure out how.  There are four of them, and they always seem to be going in a different direction.  How can I possibly follow around the two oldest, who have chores in different parts of the house and outside, while still watching the two youngest who destroy things as they walk?  I knew that I couldn't take them with me.  That would cause much more mess.  I knew I couldn't leave them alone, because that would defeat the whole tomato staking idea.  Yesterday, I was in the bedroom with the three youngest helping them clean.  D was doing school.  He needed help, so he came to me, I helped him, and when I looked up, the other children were gone!  Just like that.  Without me noticing.  Now I know why things don't work.  I'm scatterbrained, and they are smart.  They know when to take off.  I have been stressing for quite some time on how to make life work.  This morning, I finally figured something out.  Since I have to make sure the older two are doing their chores - correctly - and not lying about doing them, and not playing while they are supposed to be doing them, I will be sending them off, one at a time, one chore at a time.  I rounded up all the kids to the front room.  I gave the two little ones something to play with.  I grabbed the chore charts and went down the list.  First, N, go brush your teeth.  D, you sit on the couch.  Ok, N's back, N sit on the couch, D go sweep.  D's back, N go do.....  And so on.  Of course, this took all morning and I didn't get to eat breakfast until 11, then I had to put dinner in the crock pot and make them lunch.  And now I have to do school with them.  These are going to be long, tiring days.  I hope that this will teach them to stay focused.  But, I'm not counting on it.  I hope that I'll eventually be able to send them off together, or give them their charts back so they can be responsible for them, but I doubt it.  Right now, I see me doing this, well, until they move out.  Then their wives can take over.  And they can blame me for not teaching them responsibility.  But then they will have boys and they will apologize to me.    And, for the record, the two youngest have chores as well.  I told Princess C to take her dolls off of her bed so she could make it.  I thought I could run to the bathroom while she did that.  Nope.  Wrong.  When I got back (30 seconds later) she not only had her dolls off, she also had her sheet and blankets off.  So, moral of the story, in order to be a good mom, you need to be hooked up to an IV and catheter.

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Apr. 29, 2008

Can't Pass This Up

Apr. 28, 2008

Morton Arboretum

Here are a few pictures from our field trip to the Morton Arboretum.   They have giant bugs there now.  We were there one day too early, so we didn't get to be "bug detectives", but we were still able to walk around the lake and read the signs.  It is such a pretty place.  And the kids just love it.  They have a maze and a ton of different things for the kids to climb on.  There is also a lot of water play.  Toddler B does not like water play.  Can you tell? Surprisingly, he walked with hubby on the rocks.  And here I am with the 5 kids.  I'm in the middle of telling B to look at daddy.  It obviously didn't work.

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Apr. 23, 2008

An Abiga and a Book

Abiga is the official book reader in the house.  As soon as she sits down, Toddler B is running over saying, "Read book a me."  (Yes, I wrote it right).  Tonight, just like most nights, Abiga responded by saying, "No.  I have too much work to do."  "Read book a me".  "Ok, but just one."  - in her most firm voice. Notice the giant stack of books?  Yeah, she didn't read "just one".  The kids came like bees to honey.

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