Favorite Book of the Week

This week Favorite Book Friday has been moved to Saturday (sorry out there – I’ll take swimming with the kiddos over blogging any day.

Learning at home is not just for homeschoolers – when it is so fun and interesting that you find yourself discussing math before bed it is a very good thing. This week its “Probably Pistachio” by Stuart J Murphy. This is part of the “MathStart” series which I highly recommend in total.

This is a level two book, which I think is for ages 7-8, but I think the age range should be much broader. With fun pictures and an interesting story about a little boy even my 2 year old sat and listened. All three of my kids loved it and my 5 year old daughter learned a new concept along the way (probability in case you hadn’t guessed.)

Nothing goes right for Jack all day long. He can’t find his favorite sneakers, he spills milk on his math homework, and worst of all, he gets tuna fish for lunch. Will things ever get better?

Readers will learn how to tell when something is certain, more likely, less likely, or impossible as Jack keeps hoping his streak of bad luck will break. Maybe, just maybe, pistachio ice cream for dessert will do the trick. But will it happen? Considering how Jack’s day has been going, PROBABLY NOT!

Begining Scrapbookers – Lakeside Layout

It is so hot that I wish I was up at the Lake. Which made me think of my layout about the Lake. We spent a wonderful day at the lake about a month ago and I had so many pictures I wanted to use but I didn’t really want to make two pages. I have three kids so a lot of my pages have six pictures on them – that’s all I can seem to get on a page without doing a collage or something of that sort.

Remember, scrapbooking is about preserving memories not about being fancy for impressing people with $15 worth of stuff on your page. You can make a perfectly nice page that looks like what it is – mommy remembering – for very little money and no special skills whatsoever.

This page started out as this sketch. I wanted to use the background to say as much about the lake as the pictures so I used the light blue wave that I bought in a kit for a little over $2.00 in Wal-Mart’s scrapbook department. and then I overlaid it on a piece of darker blue cardstock and traced it so it wasn’t quite lined up and outlined both with a sparkly gen pen. Then I drew some freehand mountain shapes and cut them out, and a green row of trees that I made like you would paper dolls. The letters were cut out of sad printed paper that I downloaded from Epson’s page for digital scrapbookers.

When I was finished there was no room for journaling – and I think that is the most important part (otherwise just get a photo album and save yourself the time, right?) So I cut out a large tree shape from the rest of the sheet of green cardstock (again freehand) and wrote the journaling there – it lives in the page protector behind the layout.

When is too much?, Pt. 4 Definitely too much.

Yesterday, J1 (the seven year old) came over to play. My daughter is already starting to complain about how often they come over and how we never go over there anymore. “They just play with our stuff – not us.” she pouts.

Well, she may not have to worry about it anymore. While they were outside playing in the (fenced in) backyard unsupervised for a few minutes  they decided to start throwing landscaping rocks (the little tiny white ones) over the fence. What they didn’t know was that our neighbor keeps his spare tuck in his side yard which is on the other side of our fence. He was not at all happy and said so over the fence when I went back out to be with the kids.

Every single on of my kids got a lecture on not doing something bad just because someone else does it. (Fittingly, we had studied the story of Adam and Eve that morning – which led to an interesting dinner discussion when one asked what would have happened if Adam had told Eve that he was not going to share the fruit.) And every, single one of them got a time out (even the two year old) and J1 got sent home – AGAIN – this time I didn’t call his mom but sent him home with a note.

Dear J,

The children were caught throwing rocks over the fence. All of my children are in time-out so J has to come home,

Me

If calling her to come get her kids when they are disobeying caused the last to-do a note is probably infinitely worse.  Having someone tell you your kids are being bad is unpleasant and embarrassing but it is part of being a mom. I don’t understand why she can’t handle it. It happened to me – my kids were bad. Did I blame the neighbor?  No.  I addressed the behavior and when their time-out was over I marched them over there to apologize in person – that’s what normal people do.

all she is getting with her “non-stifling” nonsense is a family of kids who are the worst behaved on the cul-de-sac and who are getting increasingly too old for bad behavior to be overlooked.

P.S

None of the J’s came over today.

Inspiration for other New Scrapbookers

Its the 4th of July and we will all be taking a ton of pics, I’m sure. So for those of us who are new to scrapbooking or those of us who are just too busy to make ultra-fancy pages here is some inspiration. This is my page from 2005. I really like how simple it is and yet how fun and festive the bright colors. (Actually, I hated the paper at first – it came in a pack with others I liked on clearance and Michael’s – but I think it looks good paired with the solid red.)

Mothering challenge – teaching what you don’t know.

There is one thing that every mother regardless of parenting style tries to teach her children – patience. We all say, “Mommy can’t help you right this second, or You have to wait your turn, or Try and be a little patient honey.” Some of us succeed and some of us fail.

But it is good for all of us to remember how hard a life lesson it is. I was reminded last night. I checked my blog after the kids got put to bed at 6:00 (earlier than usual – and as it turned out way too early but that’s another story) and I had 99 hits. I was told that most people did something special to commemorate their 100th hit so earlier that day I had written one (which was surprisingly hard) and I just wanted to post it so I wouldn’t forget. I kept checking and checking throughout the evening as I did other things becoming increasingly impatient the whole time.

I ate dinner – still 99.

I homeschooled my nightowl – still 99.

I read a chapter of my husbands book into a recorder for him – still 99.

I read some of my favorite blogs – still 99.

I dealt with my almost 4 year old who had just gotten up from a nice “nap” – still 99.

I got ready for bed – still 99.

I was just as wiggly and antsy as any child and I would have nagged and whined like they do if there was anyone listening. I am glad that I had a glimpse back at a major childhood challenge – especially since today is a holiday that does not start until dark. There will be a lot of impatient little ones in my house today – and one mommy who understands.

4th of July PreK-K Unit Study

Being that tomorrow is the 4th of July I thought I would put together an Independence Day unit study. Yeah, I probably should have thought of this last week but better late than never, right?

My kiddos are 5 and younger so the activities are for that age group. This is all new to me. I am generally a school-at-home teacher but I am getting bored and thought this would be fun. We’ll see how it goes

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Here is what I think we will be doing:

July 4th Activity Book

3D Star Craft

Color By Word American Flag

The Star Spangled Banner

Little Kids Can Do Chores Too, Pt. 1

Yes, moms little kids not only can do chores – they want to. Embrace the age of little helpers so that when they reach the age of being little gripers instead they are already in the habit of doing jobs.

Don’t worry doing some work around the house will not rob them of their childhoods it will however instill in them a stronger sense of family as everyone gathers around to clean up the shared environment.

As long as they are super easy and fun the kids will be able to help out without being overwhelmed or spending too much of their day doing it. And you will gain more time with them because believe it or not the job will go faster with the help of the little ones (after a period of adjustment).

Job #1 – putting away laundry.

Too hard for preschoolers you say? No way! Just get a wash bin from the diswashing supply isle of Wal-Mart or whatever, paint or decorate it so that it is not just a white bin. (in each kid’s color if you organize your stuff that way which I do and highly recommend)

Then you organize their drawers so that each part of the drawer is clearly separated i.e. one part of undies, one for socks, one for jammies, etc. So that as he picks up each item of clothes he knows exactly where to put it.

Voila! Clothes that have been put away by a 5 year old – her drawer was chosen because it looks better than the 3 or 2 year olds – but they do it too.

No, they’re not twins.

I knew it was coming – ever since I was pregnant with #3 people have warned me that kids only 16 months apart would be mistaken for twins. But I still don’t like it.

It has happened on and off since they were born. Actually, since I usual travel with four kids who were all born within three years people will occasionally ask if they are two sets of twins. And while I wonder what prompts people to comment about another person’s family I don’t really mind too much.

But this summer it seems wherever we go there is someone who thinks my boys are twins and its starting to get on my nerves. A) I don’t think they look any more alike than any other brothers, B) almost 4 year old and 2 1/2 year olds are in different worlds developmentally – you’d think it would show, and C) each of my guys is so special and unique as an individual that I don’t want them to be blobbed together as “the twins”. (this is why I am so glad I never had twins)

I wonder if mothers of real twins are driven crazy by people asking if they are twins or mistaking their kids for one another? Maybe you just get used to it.

Do they look like twins to you?

P.S. Sorry its cropped so tight, but I would hate for some mom to put pics of my kid online in a bathing suit so I cropped everyone else out.

When is too much?, Pt 3

This has gone well into the realm of too much.

Today when we got back from swim class guess who were waiting – yep, the J’s. The five and three year old were barefoot and the seven year old was wandering off considering crossing the street that is perpendicular to the cul-de-sac, as usual so when they asked if they could play I said sure but they had to go get shoes on first. Well, a few minutes later just the five year old came over – with shoes. But he said that we could not play at his house, only out in front of his house and that he could only play at our for a little while. – Ok

A little while later the seven year old came over looking for the five year old – he had to go. About a second later the horn honks. As it turns out the five year old was not supposed to go anywhere because he had a dr. appt. this morning. And the mother had gone to every house in the cul-de-sac knocking on doors looking for him.

I don’t know if I should start refusing to let them play over here at all – it has just gotten to crazy for me.

When Is Too Much? Pt. 2

For those of you who have read the first part I will skip to today (if you have no idea what I am talking about it is in the sidebar).

So about five days have passed since I called Mrs. J and so far they have not come over at all. Yesterday when we came home from shopping I saw a bunch of kids playing in the cul-de-sac and let my kids join them until dinner. The J’s were there playing with another neighbor’s kids, using all their stuff, and I am almost glad to say not listening one bit to M and M’s mother (well, at least its not just me).

Tonight we saw them again and they were invited to play over here for a little bit. Well, they said that they were not allowed to play at our house without asking their mother for permission first.

This bothers me for two reasons. One, I am now the bad guy. The issue isn’t that her kids are disobedient and disrespectful of adults its that I had a problem – even though I made it perfectly clear that they were more than welcome here if they wanted to do what they were asked. Two, since they have to ask permission now that means that they didn’t have to ask this whole time. They were just wandering across the street to go into someone else’s house without their mother even knowing where they were or how long they planned on being gone.

I guess its all for the best anyway – my kids are young and impressionable so I suppose its just as well that we will be on more casual terms with the J family from now on.