Sunday, June 22, 2008

Fun day for all

On the 12th of June I stared taking both boys to D's PE class. They play nicely together there and it is a lot of fun to watch.

They raced back and forth many, many times.


When class was over we stopped at the park that is on the way to our house. We spent a few hours there and ended up meeting up with a few of our friends from our homeschool group.

Tuesday, June 10, 2008

FWCC PE and other things we did today

Today was suppose to be PE for both of the boys but we only went to D's. This has been happening a lot recently, mostly because we go to D's thinking it will be fun and it isn't so much. By the time it is time for J's class I'm thinking this isn't going to be fun and what is the point of driving over there to watch him be upset or eat candy (yes, the instructor gets them to do things in class by promising candy at the end).

This morning I dropped D off in class and I headed up to the track above his class. I do this so I can watch but not be too close. Most of the time he notices me in the first lap or two. So, to give you an idea of what I thought the class would be let me share the write up in the catelog to register for the class...

For ages 3-6. Run, jump, play and learn with a variety of activities, sports, and games that will help burn energy and improve basic motor skills. Class is free to passholders, $80+tax per child for non-passholders. Come join in on the fun! Register early as classes will fill up quickly.


This is what I signed up for...the older kid class reads exactly the same with the exeption of the ages. Today in D's class what did we do? They had what I like to call "open gym"...this is the preschool age indoor gym type thing we pay for here in WA. Well, this one doesn't have all the cool toys and it isn't suppose to be an indoor open tot gym. Today they ran the upstairs track 3 times (12.65 laps equals a mile), rode trikes, and did 3 races. This class is an hour long class, just in case you were wondering.


You might wonder what I want from this class. This is what I'm going for...orgainized games with a group of children. I don't think that is too much to ask...the children are even provide all you have to do is orginize game to play! Or cheese out and make up a relay race or ostical course where they have to work together on some level (staying in the same order or taking turns or something easy). But that doesn't seem to be what this is all about so we will be quitting these "PE classes" and doing our own thing.




On another note...we came home made pictures for Moogie and Papa. They will be back soon and the boys have missed them a lot. Since we started framing the boys' artwork they are trying much harder to produce very nice piece instead of just scribling or whatever. It is nice to see them take their time and put effort into things.


Oh...I guess I should say that we were listening to music also...that would explain the look on D's face.


After we were all finished with the pictures J was off to play with Lego and D wanted to get out the play dough we made a few days back. I can't believe how long he can sit there and play all by himself, well for the most part...he does require someone pretend to eat his "cooking" from time to time.




Don't worry he never brings me things with eyes on them to "taste"...lol!

Friday, June 6, 2008

Library Day

Today we didn't do much; we did manage to make it to storytime. We have been trying for awhile now but I keep forgetting. D just loves it! In the past he has really enjoyed it but he seemed to like it more today than he has in the past.

I think we will hang around the house most of this weekend and I'm hoping to finally get around to mixing the boys' songs we recorded awhile back. Maybe I didn't post about that...we were going to try and do a song a week but that was a bit much. We could have done the lyrics and recorded everything but not mixed it so it sounds good.

We ended up having the kids do the lyrics and all the recordings but now we have to sit and work with them to get it to what they want. Each of the boys played all the insturments, wrote the song and sung. With any luck we will have them up for listening...viewing pleasure by Monday.

Well off to check the boys!

Thursday, June 5, 2008

Making Play Dough

I have been telling the children that we could make play dough sometime soon. I really don't like the smell of the store bought play dough so I make it. We have done so for years now...ever since I took J to a preschool playgroup when he was 2yrs old and they gave us the recipe (included at the bottom of this post). Here are the kids already to make the play dough.



I tried to get pictures of both of the boys helping but they were quicker than I or the camera but here is D putting in the salt. J did the flour but he was too quick for me.


To make the process go quicker I mix the water, oil and food coloring together. This picture was taken as soon as I finished putting in all 50 drops of the food coloring. As I took the picture the food coloring broke throught the oil leaving....


this behind....

I really wish I had the video going instead because it would have been a really cool video to have. We tried the next time or two to get it recorded but we missed everytime. I thought some of you might want to see what it looks like when it is being cooked. Oh look, it matches the wall.


J was having such a wonderful time kneeding the dough. D wanted to help but kept talking about it being too "hot" which is funny seeing as he can deal with hotter things than J can.



When we were all done the kids when to watch some afternoon TV and I let the play dough sit for about an hour to cool completely (or so...not sure it is cooling now). When it is done cooling I plan to take it downstairs and let the kids play with it while I hang the school posters up in the school area (I will take pics too since it is all painted now too).

Homemade Play Dough
What you will need:
*1/2 cup of salt
*1 cup water
*50 drops food coloring
*1 cup wheat flour (makes it darker...if use all purpose flour use 100 drops of food coloring)
*2 teaspoons cream of tartar
*1 tablespoon oil
*double boiler pan (or something to pretend...I use two pans)
*plastic spoon (just needs to be very stiff)
*wax paper
*container to put it when done (ziplock bags work great!)

What to do:
1. put all the dry ingredients in the top part of the double boiler
2. add the oil, water and food coloring
3. cook and stir until the mixture comes awaya from the sides of the pan
4. scrape dough out onto wax paper
5. kneading for about 5 mins
6. put in container or play

Keeps a very long time if in air tight container and is ok to eat (not recommended).

Pictures of Aqua Doodle and Painting

In recent blog posts I have talked about Aqua Doodle and painting that I'm now allowing the kids to do upstairs. Here are a few pictures showing off some of the stuff they have been doing.

Here is J and D doing Aqua Doodle at the kitchen table. They spend hours doing this; they cover it and then let it dry just enough to do it again.



Here are J's paintings from 6/3/08



Here are D's paintings from 6/3/08



And here is what we are doing with all the art they are producing these days.


Going Crazy

Ok...we have had the same Advisory Teacher all school year and she still doesn't seem to remember who my child is. I find this just mind boggling...I think she is the only person I have every had contact with that can't remember J.

She gets an email from him every week telling her what he has been up to and whatnot. To which she is to respond showing she has paid attention to what the child wrote. Over the past 36 weeks this has happened maybe once or twice. Most of the time she either writes something that is totally canned (and nothing to do with what J wrote to her) or about a different student (which for some reason she thinks is J).

We happen to know the family we are confused with and niether family sees how she could confuse us. Our family is 4 people and thiers is 5; we only have boys and they have 2 boys and a girl (one boy and the girl are enrolled and have the same teacher as J). It has been so bad that the teacher has given me test results for the other mom's son. When she started telling me the results I was confused then she said "and your daughter" that is when I knew she wasn't talking about my child (only J is enrolled at the moment; D is too young).

The other mother and myself have said something to the teacher a few times but it happens over and over again. About 5 months ago I stop letting J read the emails from the teacher for he was not happy with her lack of interest. Today we did our last weekly contact and the response once again showed she doesn't remember from one week to the next. J has told her for about 2 to 3 weeks now that he is on summer break and is doing little summer projects only.

Her response today was "I imagine that school is almost over for you! That is really a good big brother to teach little brother how to spell his name. The best of learning takes place when you teach someone else!This summer is coming fast, J. So I hope that you have a lot of fun and relaxing coming your way soon.Thank you for being such a super student!" Where as the response is very nice; it still shows that she doesn't remember he is already on summer break.

Oh well, it is summer now and I only have a few more reports to do for the year and then get ready for next...no big. Off to have fun with the kids...or go crazy...we will see!

Monday, June 2, 2008

Our wonderful day

This morning we got up about 7:30am and the children ate breakfast. After breakfast we got dressed and came back out to the kitchen to do AquaDoddle while I did the dishes. The boys love this! I can't believe how entertaining water can be.

After about an hour of AquaDoddle we watched Clifford and then it was back to Aqua Doddle for a bit more. When they headed to D's room to play with blocks and cars then off to J's room for alittle read; back to D's for some more blocks and cars. Then it was time for mom to start painting the new "school area" so we could move everything into there (see this post for more on the changes).

As I painted the laundry room/school area, the boys played in the playroom. They did all kinds of things together and apart. The whole time I was painting, about 2 hours, they were forced to stay in the playroom area only (or the bathroom if they need..oh right...tell more in a moment). Having them within eye sight seems to be the easiest way to control the arguing that happens (they are doing this a lot).

As I finished up the painting they went upstairs and J made them lunch. When they where finished it was time to get ready for park day with our homeschool group. We got ready and headed out to the park. It was alittle cold but a very nice day out. After the park it was off to the grocery store and the bread store. I had wanted to get a bread knive but it turned out the knive wasn't like I thought it was so we got bread instead.

We also stopped into Sees Candies for the first time ever. It was interesting and good. We ended up buying some since we get a discount (E's work). The boys were so happy; when we walked in they gave all three of us a free piece of candy. It was very good!

Off to home to see dad!!! We got home and the boys headed out the backdoor to play in the yard with a snack in hand. I have to say it was a really good day today!