trev reads a whole book. by himself. for the first time.it was his idea. just found him in his room, reading.
i tried my best not to be mama-excited.
Friday, July 31, 2009
july thirty-one: summertime still rolls
trev reads a whole book. by himself. for the first time.it was his idea. just found him in his room, reading.
i tried my best not to be mama-excited.
Thursday, July 30, 2009
july 30: gettin' jiggy
Madd started out her day with library Dora videos.
Imagine that.
Trev began his with Ice Age, and then we sat down with Math Blaster for an hour or so.
Madd moved onto Clifford, and Mama just moved on. (Trying to make up for so much playin'.)
The day was full of busy-ness.
Business busy-ness. :)
Played with puzzelts
and bug nets
watched Dinotopia
we played JS World (2nd Grade)
we bought and downloaded JS Third Grade for Trev,
learned that carbon makes both pencil leads and diamonds
hung out with Daddy
Maddie has played various preschool cd's
we've made peanutbutter cookies
Maddie found a feather and asked what it was to make sure... it was really soft - much like Annabelle's hair...
so we looked at it under the microscope
-had no idea that feathers were barbed-
and then had to look at Annabelle's hair
and then Maddie and Trev's hair just to make it complete.
Now Madd's playing Arthur
and Trev's back to Ice Age.
Not terribly fancy.
Just busy. : )
Imagine that.
Trev began his with Ice Age, and then we sat down with Math Blaster for an hour or so.
Madd moved onto Clifford, and Mama just moved on. (Trying to make up for so much playin'.)
The day was full of busy-ness.
Business busy-ness. :)
Played with puzzelts
and bug nets
watched Dinotopia
we played JS World (2nd Grade)
we bought and downloaded JS Third Grade for Trev,
learned that carbon makes both pencil leads and diamonds
hung out with Daddy
Maddie has played various preschool cd's
we've made peanutbutter cookies
Maddie found a feather and asked what it was to make sure... it was really soft - much like Annabelle's hair...
so we looked at it under the microscope
-had no idea that feathers were barbed-
and then had to look at Annabelle's hair
and then Maddie and Trev's hair just to make it complete.
Now Madd's playing Arthur
and Trev's back to Ice Age.
Not terribly fancy.
Just busy. : )
Wednesday, July 29, 2009
july twenty-nine: 87 degrees of Perfect
After breaking her fast first with a bit of cereal on the patio, Madeleine led me to the raspberry bush. Berries are few right now, but in about a week we'll have our second crop.
And she took me to the yellow plum tree for a tasty something.
And then to the vegetable garden to check out pumpkins. Which her Mama wouldn't let her pick. And to visit the squash.
And then she pilfered a sweet pepper, and it it was in her mouth in less than two seconds from being picked. You have to love that.
She ate the whole thing, too.
We checked on tomatoes...
and finally went to the front yard to see how the blackberries are doing.
We sampled a couple that were soft, but whooee! too sour, still. We'll give them a week, we decided.
Time to
wake up Trev
pour a first glass of iced tea
watch the Peep video of the day (never mind that they can view all of them on youtube... this is still very exciting business around here)
and then play Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs.
Forgot to tell that he finished it a couple of days ago. Which is pretty nice... that will cut down our (always hard to take) wailing level quite a bit! (He still plays, it's just that since he's accomplished everything, he knows how to do it, and doesn't get so frustrated. phew.)
"Was there water during the Ice Age?"
Plum eating.
Lots and lots of plum eating.
I'm just thrilled someone likes them.
Baby bees.
I think peppermint might just have the tiniest flower on the planet.
Cuteness.
So much cuteness.
What can I say? I'm a mama in love.
Business.
and stories while lounging on the back patio
and play here.
Let me just say that this rope gets so much action. I don't think there is a day that goes by that this rope isn't loved at least a little.
The bottom of the loop is a foot off the ground-- a great height for hineys, tummies, or a foot, and too low to be tempting for little heads. Well, plus for the first month after we hung it up last year all babes (including visitors) were watched verra closely.
More business.
While I watched Madd play with this bucket of sticky foam things I picked up the other day,
I started looking at the various shapes and sizes, and had a thought that they would make excellent fodder for a story.
So I wrote a quick story on the fly... you can see the details here.
When it was done, I asked Trev what he thought, as he was quiet and still.
He gave a shy smile, and said, "That was excellent."
:) Can't ask for better than that, now can you?`
Puzzelts. A whole stack of 'em, of course.
Evidently the creativity is just flowing today, as Maddie next came out with an icecream cone packed full of sliced banana. Which was sliced by Herself.
One must make do when the freezer is devoid of any sort of icecream, don't you know.
Uh-- must 'a been Good Enough-- because she went back for seconds.
The second surprise (and evidence) of Maddie playing today with Me and My Camera...
cheeky monkey.
There was music making on various metals and glass.
And swimmin' pool play.
At which time Maddie comes up with "Mooooom-- Trevy is using violence!"
"He's using violence? And you want him to use his words with you?" Now there's a first. Usually rough-and-tumble is the only thing that works with Little Sister. She blithely ignores pleas and Reasoning.
"Yeah!"
"Well...." said her Mama, "...go tell him!"
And she did.
Wow!, I say. Amazing.
I'm not so twitterpated today that I think it will stick, mind you... but still. Impressive.
"Mom! When are are you coming into the pool with us?"
"Uh....... count to thirty!".....
Oh my goodness. 7:29? Already???
What's for dinner?
Mama gets a wicked, super-uber, delicious idea....
"Wanna walk over to the library, and then get Wasatch (local pizza) for dinner?"
Which is conveniently Right Next Door.
Now why not?
You know what they said.
So we did.
With whip in hand to fend off rogue dinosaurs,
a wagon to cart books,
and eager feet
we dashed off.
Had to hurry and get there 'afore the library closed.
Maddie evidently thought I had forgotten our last few lost dvd's and the poor state of my teeth from all the grinding, as was evident by her plentiful dvd selection.
With a liberal allowance,
we set for next door to order and await our pie.
And eventually made it back home.
Now, honestly.
When given a choice between a clean house, and living a day like today...
what does a damn clean floor matter?
That's my story, and I'm sticking to it.
Er... literally.
And she took me to the yellow plum tree for a tasty something.
And then to the vegetable garden to check out pumpkins. Which her Mama wouldn't let her pick. And to visit the squash.
And then she pilfered a sweet pepper, and it it was in her mouth in less than two seconds from being picked. You have to love that.
She ate the whole thing, too.We checked on tomatoes...
and finally went to the front yard to see how the blackberries are doing.
We sampled a couple that were soft, but whooee! too sour, still. We'll give them a week, we decided.Time to
wake up Trev
pour a first glass of iced tea
watch the Peep video of the day (never mind that they can view all of them on youtube... this is still very exciting business around here)
and then play Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs.
Forgot to tell that he finished it a couple of days ago. Which is pretty nice... that will cut down our (always hard to take) wailing level quite a bit! (He still plays, it's just that since he's accomplished everything, he knows how to do it, and doesn't get so frustrated. phew.)
"Was there water during the Ice Age?"
Plum eating.
Lots and lots of plum eating.
I'm just thrilled someone likes them.
Baby bees.
I think peppermint might just have the tiniest flower on the planet.Cuteness.
So much cuteness.What can I say? I'm a mama in love.
Business.
and stories while lounging on the back patio
and play here.
Let me just say that this rope gets so much action. I don't think there is a day that goes by that this rope isn't loved at least a little.The bottom of the loop is a foot off the ground-- a great height for hineys, tummies, or a foot, and too low to be tempting for little heads. Well, plus for the first month after we hung it up last year all babes (including visitors) were watched verra closely.
More business.
While I watched Madd play with this bucket of sticky foam things I picked up the other day,
I started looking at the various shapes and sizes, and had a thought that they would make excellent fodder for a story.So I wrote a quick story on the fly... you can see the details here.
When it was done, I asked Trev what he thought, as he was quiet and still.
He gave a shy smile, and said, "That was excellent."
:) Can't ask for better than that, now can you?`Puzzelts. A whole stack of 'em, of course.
Evidently the creativity is just flowing today, as Maddie next came out with an icecream cone packed full of sliced banana. Which was sliced by Herself.
One must make do when the freezer is devoid of any sort of icecream, don't you know.
Uh-- must 'a been Good Enough-- because she went back for seconds.
The second surprise (and evidence) of Maddie playing today with Me and My Camera...cheeky monkey.
There was music making on various metals and glass.
And swimmin' pool play.
At which time Maddie comes up with "Mooooom-- Trevy is using violence!"
"He's using violence? And you want him to use his words with you?" Now there's a first. Usually rough-and-tumble is the only thing that works with Little Sister. She blithely ignores pleas and Reasoning.
"Yeah!"
"Well...." said her Mama, "...go tell him!"
And she did.
Wow!, I say. Amazing.
I'm not so twitterpated today that I think it will stick, mind you... but still. Impressive.
"Mom! When are are you coming into the pool with us?"
"Uh....... count to thirty!".....Oh my goodness. 7:29? Already???
What's for dinner?
Mama gets a wicked, super-uber, delicious idea....
"Wanna walk over to the library, and then get Wasatch (local pizza) for dinner?"
Which is conveniently Right Next Door.
Now why not?
You know what they said.
So we did.
With whip in hand to fend off rogue dinosaurs,
a wagon to cart books,
and eager feet
we dashed off.
Had to hurry and get there 'afore the library closed.
Maddie evidently thought I had forgotten our last few lost dvd's and the poor state of my teeth from all the grinding, as was evident by her plentiful dvd selection.
With a liberal allowance,
we set for next door to order and await our pie.
And eventually made it back home.
Now, honestly.
When given a choice between a clean house, and living a day like today...
what does a damn clean floor matter?
That's my story, and I'm sticking to it.
Er... literally.
Foamy Tales
So upon watching Madeleine create a masterpiece with foam stickers, and after investigating into the bucket to see what sorts of things were in there (as I was seeing many more shapes than what the outside of thebucket foretold) I got an idea for a quick bit of fun.
I grabbed a pencil, and set to work.
Now keep in mind this was on the fly, and I didn't put a lot of thought into it... I created the story in about ninety seconds. :)
But who cares? My children loved it in the end, all the same.
It went like this:
"There once was a _______ (noun #1).
Who lived in a village of ______ (structure, place, or noun).
The _____ (noun #1) lived next door to a _______ (noun #2).
They were fine friends!
One day, _____(noun #1) said to _____(noun #2), 'Why don't we go to the _______ (noun or place) today?'
'Oooooh, a fine idea!' said ______(noun #2).
On their journey, they met a ________(noun) with three ______(noun) on his head!
'Oh, my!' said the two friends.
'However did that happen?'
'Well, it's a long story. One day, I went for a walk, to look for a ________ (different noun).......'
After acquainting Trev with several of the things that came from the bucket,
I told him that they'd have to choose what I needed for the story.
They would also have to name what it was they were using (using imagination as they will-- for example, a half-circle could be an arc, igloo, rainbow, etc).
Our story ended up being this:
There once was a [snowflake].
Who lived in a village of [igloos].
The [snowflake] lived next door to a [hammer].
They were great friends!
One day, [Snowflake] said to [Hammer], "Why don't we go to the [stars] today?"
"Ohooh, a fine idea!", said [Hammer].
On their journey, they met a [arrow] with three [hands] on his head!
"Oh, my!", said the friends. "However did that happen?"
"Well, it's a long story. One day, I went for a walk, to look for a [spiky cloud]......"
It certainly isn't going to win us any awards for literary creativity, but this was a very fun way to spend a few minutes using imagination and ingenuity.
Happy Noun-ing to you. : )
I grabbed a pencil, and set to work.
Now keep in mind this was on the fly, and I didn't put a lot of thought into it... I created the story in about ninety seconds. :)
But who cares? My children loved it in the end, all the same.
It went like this:
"There once was a _______ (noun #1).
Who lived in a village of ______ (structure, place, or noun).
The _____ (noun #1) lived next door to a _______ (noun #2).
They were fine friends!
One day, _____(noun #1) said to _____(noun #2), 'Why don't we go to the _______ (noun or place) today?'
'Oooooh, a fine idea!' said ______(noun #2).
On their journey, they met a ________(noun) with three ______(noun) on his head!
'Oh, my!' said the two friends.
'However did that happen?'
'Well, it's a long story. One day, I went for a walk, to look for a ________ (different noun).......'
After acquainting Trev with several of the things that came from the bucket,
I told him that they'd have to choose what I needed for the story.
They would also have to name what it was they were using (using imagination as they will-- for example, a half-circle could be an arc, igloo, rainbow, etc).
Our story ended up being this:
There once was a [snowflake].
Who lived in a village of [igloos].
The [snowflake] lived next door to a [hammer].
They were great friends!
One day, [Snowflake] said to [Hammer], "Why don't we go to the [stars] today?"
"Ohooh, a fine idea!", said [Hammer].
On their journey, they met a [arrow] with three [hands] on his head!
"Oh, my!", said the friends. "However did that happen?"
"Well, it's a long story. One day, I went for a walk, to look for a [spiky cloud]......"
It certainly isn't going to win us any awards for literary creativity, but this was a very fun way to spend a few minutes using imagination and ingenuity.
Happy Noun-ing to you. : )
july 28: walkin' softly
After lazing the morning away myself with reading and nodding off ("What!?" she appeals defensively), and after being reminded the other (re-organizing) day of such treasures on our shelves as Captains Courageous and King Solomon's Mines, I grabbed a few books and called Trev.
"What do you want to read next?" I asked.
I read him the descriptions on the back of each... he wasn't very enthusiastic with any of my offerings. Hmmmm...
"Hey! What about this!? Let's read this."
It was Because of Winn-Dixie.
The plan was to read at least a chapter a day-- if we don't read every day then we lose our interest in the story.
So...
We read the whole book.
All 180 pages, I think it was.
A fine story, that Winn-Dixie.
And a great way to spend an afternoon.
During the very end of the story, Daddy came home and it was time for us to race off to our historic farm-- Mama had a photography class to attend offered by a Pro in our Urban Homesteaders group.
Again, not a bad way to pass the time.
\
What can I say?
Life is good.
"What do you want to read next?" I asked.
I read him the descriptions on the back of each... he wasn't very enthusiastic with any of my offerings. Hmmmm...
"Hey! What about this!? Let's read this."
It was Because of Winn-Dixie.
The plan was to read at least a chapter a day-- if we don't read every day then we lose our interest in the story.
So...
We read the whole book.
All 180 pages, I think it was.
A fine story, that Winn-Dixie.
And a great way to spend an afternoon.
During the very end of the story, Daddy came home and it was time for us to race off to our historic farm-- Mama had a photography class to attend offered by a Pro in our Urban Homesteaders group.
Again, not a bad way to pass the time.
\
What can I say?Life is good.
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