Nolan's Birthday

This year due to Dh being on active duty we are doing family only birthday parties. When Nolan was asked what he wanted to do for his birthday his answer was rollar skating and Taco Bell.

 

So on Sunday night we headed to Taco Bell were I have to say the kids finished every bite of their meal. Then it was off to the skating ring were the price was right 13.00 for the whole family and this included an extra 1.00 for the younger ones to play in this big indoor playground.

 

I was very surprised with Nolan's skating he usally gives up on gross motor activities that he can't do like riding a bike or tying his shoes. But every time he fell he got right back up and tried agian for over an hour. I was so proud of him and rollar skating is on the list of things to do agian this year.

Reading to the Childern

I have gotten out of practice as the children have all grown to read on there own, but I used to read to them each night and have come to the conclusion I need to find the time to do this again.

 

What happened was Nolan found the book Mother West’s Children and said to me “ Mom remember when you read this book to us at night “ then Conner piped in “ yea mom remember when you read that book about King Arthur. “

 

That was only last year but they make me feel as if I haven’t read out loud to them in forever, but from their point of view it has been forever. So I am going to make the time to read to them at least 3 times a week and hopefully every day.

What is Pat currently reading

Our son Pat is a boy who cannot get enough to read, he switches between modern science fiction and the classics. Currently he is reading stories from the Junior Classics published in 1912, as I like to collect older books. He just finished reading a section on Arabian Nights including Ali Baba and the forty thieves, The story of Aladdin, and Sindbad the sailor.

 

He has also just finished the first 6 books of the Pendragon series. This year he has also read Gulliver’s Travels, Robinson Crusoe, and Twenty Leagues under the sea, and a bunch of stories about the Greeks.

 

His other favorite series are all the Redwall Books, each year he cannot wait for the next one to come out.

 

What we did to get him to read the classics was when he was younger he read the children’s version, then when he wanted more detail we handed a harder version of the book, until he could read and understand the unabridged version.

 

Now just to get his younger brother Nolan to read a longer chapter book with out having a panic attack. I am thinking of reading My Father’s Dragon with him, as it was one of Pat’s favorites at that age.

Hands on Spelling ideas

I thought I would share some ideas that I will use for hands on spelling, this summer to help the kids. We will be trying them out Easter week, and I have seen most of them used in my son's 2nd grade classroom.

 

1. Shaving cream - I use a placemat, and shaving cream.( placemat free, shaving cream .99 a can )

 

2. Bumpy Boards - Plastic Canvas (from the craft department), plain paper and crayon. The child writes each word out on the white paper that is on top of the plastic canvas, and then runs their finger over each letter. ( plastic canvas .25 )

 

 

3. Abc order – they have to place the words in ABC order, for those with trouble handwriting they use index cards with their words written on them.

 

4. White board – they write there words 3 x each on a white board (more fun then paper)

 

 

5. Magnetic Letters – I use a clear craft sorter divided into 25 spots, and on top write the letters in sharpie. Then I have about 5 sets of magnetic letters sorted into the container. And they use a cookie sheet from the dollar store to spell their word out on. For the older kids I sometimes use scrabble letter tiles instead. ( total cost to make 5.00 for dollar tree letter, 4.00 for 2 craft sorters, and 1.00 for a cookie sheet)

 

 

6. And lastly I made up a simple game board, and each child has a pile of there own words written on index cards, starting from the beginning and adding as time goes by. They take turns rolling the die and spelling the words from there pile. And for wrong answers they have go back one space. My Kindergarten child sometimes spells the word or I may have her read it to me instead. A great way to review words.( index cards .99, foam board 1.00, stickers 2.00, scrap paper free )

 

Except for the game these are all activities that they can do on their own and must do each activity 1x per week, I will make a check list that they can use to keep track of which ones they have done.

 

I will be using the Spelling Power book to place them on the right lists and using the lists for their words. I will modify it some by giving them 10 words per week, so over a 6 week summer learning period they should do 60 words.

 

Weekend plans

Weekend work list

 

Outdoor work:

 

Small trash pick up along edge of property (driveway, backyard)

Rake trash in large trash area.

Restack un- stacked wood

Van clean out and vacuum

Measure and plan spot for shed

Burn cardboard

 

Indoor work:

 

Dad – paint wall in living room

          Rest of carpet out and bagged

          Fix wiring in kitchen

          Change light bulb in Garage (mom can’t reach)

 

Mom- feed everyone

            Keep kitchen clean

            Supervise kids work indoors

 

Patrick – help dad with outside work

               Keep family room clean

 

Sarah- Help dad with outside work

           Keep living room and dining room clean

 

Conner – Help dad with outside work

                Keep upstairs bathroom clean.

 

Nolan – Help dad with outside work

              Keep stairs swept, and hallway clean

 

Kathryn – Help dad with outside work

                 Help mom with jobs

 

              

Fun stuff –

Saturday – Sarah All- County Chorus – concert at 3pm (Norwich)

Sunday – Church 9-12

               Puppet 12-1

               Nolan Birthday dinner 5-6pm (Taco Bell)

               Family Skate Oneonta – 6- 8:30 (family of 4 – 8.00, 1.00 for each extra) (total cost 11.00)

              Bedtime

 

And hopefully baby won’t decide to be born this weekend, as there just isn’t time to fit it in.

You know it's not going to be good when

 

Your teenage son calls your cell phone to tell you that there is a skunk in the front yard. This is at 2 in the afternoon not normal skunk behavior.

And in his next sentence he asks if he can shoot it, that was a big loud no on my part. I tell him to stay in the house and to keep every one else in the house to. I will be home in 10 min.

So I arrive home after my DR. appointment to a skunk holding my driveway and house hostage. So I have to park up at the top of the driveway and walk no waddle down the driveway to the house. DD is armed with the frebrezze spraying the windows and doors to help keep that wonderful odor out. The dog and cat want outside so that they can attack the skunk and all I really wanted was a 30 min nap.

Dear son asks again if he can shoot it, I told him when our neighbor gets home he can supervise you, but not until then. And of course yesterday was nice enough outside to play and my children and dog and cat were all stuck in the house.

Well the skunk died a natural death in my driveway, now I just need to get the nerve up to dispose of it in the nearby woods.

And I wonder why do these things never happen when DH is home.

It's not an insect Mom.

Well Nolan woke up with a spider bite on this big toe, when he showed it to me I said that it was an insect bite. So he asks what kind of insect because he had decided that he is not going to like any insect that bites him. Well I replied it was a spider, a little hungry at getting woken up at night, but after one bite decided you did not taste as good as a fly.

 

That resulted in a whole lecture from Nolan that spider's have eight legs and insects have six. So he was not bite by an insect but a spider, and mom spiders are not insects. And the look on his face was like mom don't you know anything.

The new kitchen is done!

Well the contractor came last night and installed the last piece of countertop. So here are the finished pictures.

 

Dh has to finish painting when he comes home this weekend.

 

 

I did add a small tin for mail, and some birdhouse and chicken decoration.

 

 

The island top just finishes it off so nicely and there are plugs under the island so I can plug in crockpots for big dinners.

 

What a week !

Well this time a year I usally avoid the Mcdonald's Play place as to the number of germs there. Well Saturday my friend took my childern for that I could have a day to myself to rest, with the baby due in 5 weeks and dh gone on active duty. They went rollar skating, lunch at Mc Donald's, and then the free science museum at the local collage.

 

Then on Sunday after church we went to Lowe's and I treated them to McDonald's, were the three youngest played in a very croweded play place.

 

Monday morning Nolan was sick to his tummy and Conner had a fever. Tuesday was met with Nolan still sick and Conner a little better. But a phone call to come pick him up from class and he slept the rest of the day. And today was met with Conner climbing in my bed at 4 am hot, and then Kathryn throwing up in my bed at 4:30.

 

Conner did go back to class today and Kathryn stayed home. I hope tomorrow is back to normal.

 

Pat is outside right now clearing a spot for the dumpster that will be coming on Friday, the dumpster is 22 ft long and 8 ft wide and 4 feet tall. I will be having fun over the next 3 months filling that dumpster with not only the contents of the old kitchen but a major clean out of the garage and house.

 

This weekend looks to be busy to, with the contractor coming to install the last piece of countertop, and Nolan going to his gifted science program on Saturday too.

 

And I still have to pick up the badges my troop earned before Monday night.

Please help me judge

The kids are always building lego's and wanting me to judge, which always result in you love him more problems. So this thime I said I would post them on my blog and others could help me judge.

 

Photo #1

 

 

This is a jet with side magents for digging for lode stones.

 

Photo # 2

 

 

This is a picture of giant bunny, in front of a secert tomb.

 

Picture # 3

 

 

This a picture of dragon training, the man is training the new dragon, while the big dragon in back helps.

 

Thank you for your help in judging these new creations of theirs.

Pat's Guitar

 

Our son Pat received an electric guitar for Christmas, and has been practicing playing it. So far he has taught himself a Chris Rice song and some others.

 

 Today we found out that his yet to be born brother really likes Another One Bites the Dust, as every time he played the song Aidan began to move. I had to ask him to stop and play something else as the stretching was hurting me.

 

 

Sarah's new glasses

Miss Sarah is the first of our childern to get full time glasses, she had me drive through the beginning of a snow storm to pick them up. So that today when she went to see the play Cats she would see everything.

 

 I had felt a little guilty about her glasses as she had an eye exam in August and everything was ok, well in November she began to complain about not being able to see as well. So I had waited until now to take her in, and yes her eyes had changed alot. I found out that when they hit the teenage years, there eyes can change very quickly.