Summer's End: Epic Dental Fail

I had plans today. Good plans. Due to a number of things last night I didn't get to sleep till 3am and so consequently Gary, who planned to work from home today, got up and took care of the kids this morning while simultaneously trying to work till I woke up at 11. After lunch and feeding the baby it was time to go to the dentist.... At 2:45 I was ready to hand the kids off to Gary whose appointments would be complete and have my visit and be home in an hour or so. However, when I got there Gary still hadn't even been seen. So here we are with our circus of four children in a very boring waiting room.... NOTHING to do at all (they got bored of the toys in the diaper bag very quickly) and then to sit around waiting for the dentist and then sent back to the waiting room for hours to wait for the hygienist. Gary and I kept trading kids back and forth. When Gary finally saw the hygienist he said, "oh you got kids." Gary explained that he wouldn't have them if ...

Gary left at about 4 with all the kids. They had been really good all considered but Gary got a glimpse into my world and felt like a circus freak.
I was still waiting.
I knew they were running well behind as Gary wasn't called back till an hour and a half after his scheduled appointment. So I was trying not to get pissy and impatient. But after running out of Tatting thread and my ipod battery dying I had little patience left. Knowing full well that Gary was likely going crazy at home with the chillins. "My appointment was over two hours ago, is there any chance of being seen today?"
"oh he called you back. He had your chart." "When?"
"About 45 minutes ago, we figured you went home with the rest of your family."
... What?! You just figured, you didn't come into the waiting room to find out, or call a phone number that I spent my beloved time filling out on the chart? Or raise your voice or try again or anything, you just figured.
Brilliant.
"I was here the whole time, I haven't gone anywhere. Does he have a soft voice or something? I was waiting, I was listening." I heard everyone else be called back.
So he took me after his "5:30" apt. I got home at 7 pm to a very hungry baby, frazzled husband making dinner and bored/hyper children.

But my teeth feel awesome.

So today what did we do? All of my cool plans aside;
Spin on the dental chairs for fun.

Summer's end: Diamante

Today Olea had a friend over for a few hours and to keep Zurich and Nev away from them we made more Monsters at Zurich's request. I burned myself worse than I ever have with a hot glue gun today. Let's put that down in the record books... After Olea's friend left Olea wanted to make another one too. (She got to) But that wasn't today's project. By this time Nev had enjoyed her puppet and put herself down for a nap. I figured that was probably best for today's project.

Writing poetry.

I chose a format: Diamante poem

I had the kids play with Cooties to keep their wiggles busy and then I asked the kids some questions. First I asked them what they wanted their poem to be about. What change they wanted to happen in their poem and then I asked them to describe different things to me. I used their responses to fill in the blanks so to speak. We did Zurich's first because I thought his would be hardest... Not so. He answered the questions I asked and Olea kept over thinking it. It worked out though, and Zurich's disclaimer is that his sister poisoned his mind that his tree poem should have fairies in it.

Here is a little sound blip from my questioning in our poem creation. They had to say the word in direct response to a question about their poem for it to be used. I did rearrange some of the words to help the flow, but they are the kid's work. Listening to them I wonder how I last through the day.... :)
Here is a sound bite from the creation of Olea's poem:

http://blip.tv/file/get/CorettiConfetti-FoundPoetry237.m4a

and Zurich's: http://blip.tv/file/get/CorettiConfetti-FoundPoetry237.m4a

After their poems were written I let each of them type up as much of it as they wanted and then I finished typing the rest for them.

I read Zurich his poem and he picked a font and a color and then using google images he picked some pictures to go around his poem. I was impressed as he sat on my lap humming and hawing over the right images as he was very focused on the subject of his poem. Olea too had very definite ideas of the images and the way she wanted it to look.

When they each were satisfied we printed their poems out to hang on their magnet boards in their rooms after showing them to Daddy, of course.

The kids wanted to share all the monster puppets they have made.

A stumbling block...

It's hard getting to church on time. I am sure there are lots of super people out there that this isn't an issue for (because when ever I get to church there are plenty of people already in their seats), but it is for me. It seems no matter what I do, how early I wake up or what I prepare the night before there is always something that prevents us from getting there on time, even though we are shooting for 15 minutes early.

Today, we were set, things were good, we were set to go... And then we get to the top of the driveway and there is this across the road... Our only out on our dead end street.

That's a pretty big stumbling block.

The trees here are huge. The branch here was about 1.5 feet in diameter. The branches delicately opened our mailbox and were all around it but it was generally unscathed. It was apparently a county tree but on our across the street neighbor's property. Our neighbor could tell we needed out as we were all fancy ready for church so she offered us a route through her property that went through to the next street. We were late. But we were there. :)

When we got home from church I was all excited because the road was clear, but then not because the county had dumped all the tree toppings on our property. (that's a nice way of saying, "all the huge leafy branches")

Thing is I knew at 5am this morning that a tree was down. It is a sound and shake that I have learned since moving here 4 months ago... but we couldn't see it in the dark of night and when Gary circled the house this morning and didn't see a tree down on the property we figured it was a neighbor's and not and issue to us.

Silly rabbit, trix are for kids.

Summer's End: Monsters

We had some fleece squares that were fringed and supposed to be for a blanket for Giddy. However, we haven't gotten around to it and he certainly doesn't NEED a blanket and they were just the right size for today's plan. Plus the colors were awesome. I sewed some funky glove reminiscent shapes. The sewing is stellar due to Zurich sitting on my lap and Nev changing the dials and various fingers headed for the needles.

I heated up the hot glue gun in a distant land and dumped out the wiggle eyes and let the kids decide what they wanted.

Zurich wanted a mustache and sharp teeth. So I started cutting their requests from felt. I hot glued the accessories on. Olea got the sharpies out and drew some clothes and a nose on hers. Nev rearranged lots of eyes and laughed a lot over the strip of eyes. Then she stole Olea's lips so I cut her a pair.

I read them a monster book we had picked up at the library: "Leonardo the Terrible Monster" by Mo Williams

They had a great time giggling over my reading of his big attempt to scare the Tuna Salad out of someone. They wanted to lay in wait to scare their Dad but by the time he got around to coming home we had moved on to dinner and getting ready for pictures.

( and for those who noticed that Nev is wearing the same clothes as yesterday, for what it is worth she has worn five different outfits between those pictures and these today...)

Summer's end: Magnetic Poetry

Apparently I am some pretty fierce competition for Gary's attention... For Olea.

So this morning she was saying everything to get under my skin. Things that were rude, critical, and disrespectful. Gary delivered a hefty chore load for the day.

"Whiiiiii?" the whine began.

She went out to rake without issue... But some hours later she still was out there and not done. Her and Zurich were mostly playing. Here's a secret: as much raking as there is, it needs to be done but the major goal is to get the kids outside. So the fact that they were playing isn't a bad thing. It just would have been better if they finished their job first then played. Either way, it was time for lunch and about to start raining, so I went out to let them know and Olea hurried to finish filling the last barrel.

The funny thing is we all have the same problem that Olea does. We procrastinate jobs that we don't like. Or draw the misery out for hours... Which she did with her next jobs.

Eventually I was tired of waiting and so I took the younger kids to the laundry room for their beating. Just kidding. The laundry room has the most metal and we needed a large metal space to play Magnetic Poetry. For the younger kids we used the letter set that has pictures of the beginning sounds of a letter on one side and the letter on the other side. Olea came in to see what she was missing out on, and then expedited her efforts to finish her job. Nev enjoyed naming the pictures and Zurich would try to guess the letter the picture started with. Olea then joined us and she worked with the word magnets.

I got the sets while I was in high school and realized I haven't brought them out for a very long time.

How it's Made

How it's Made (http://science.discovery.com/tv/how-its-made/)
is one of the kids' favorite shows, it's cool, we all like it. If you don't know what it is, seriously, go watch an episode. It is fascinating and mesmerizing. I mean seriously, who hasn't wondered how a shovel is made, or why the old fashioned chewing gum is pink?

There is one drawback...
VERY long explanations from my kids on anything from what a conveyer belt is to why she wants to be covered up at night.

While driving home one day I heard Olea and Zurich talking in the back seat. Olea was telling Zurich something and he was interjecting with his ideas about robot arms (there was an episode on such a thing). Olea was trying to get him to be quiet so she could hear herself and finally she gets around to saying that "it goes from one conveyer belt to another WITHOUT a robot arm." Stupidly, I pipe up, "Do you know what a conveyer belt is?"

For the next 7 minutes I am lectured by my 7 year old on what a conveyer belt is and the many ways it can be used. If I had wanted to interject, I couldn't have; I don't think she even stopped to breathe.

I hear them often playing, "how it's made" and I delight in it because the cogs are turning.

So the other day on the way back from the library I should not have been surprised to hear Zurich shout at me from the back of the van, "Hey, Mom, look! It's How it's Made guys!" But I was, and I still think him clever.

And it makes me laugh as I reminisce that 4 years ago when we moved to our first house my oldest, who was 3 at the time, used the word "builders" the same way Zurich uses "how it's made guys." They use it like "builders" was used in the movie City of Ember. Like an unknown entity, but also an unstoppable force.

Summer's end: Milk Jug

Today we were going to have family pictures but it just got rescheduled so I guess it's okay that I let the kids play with sharpies again.

Olea's cousin sent her some post mail a bit ago and included in it was a craft idea that can be found here: http://alphamom.com/family-fun/crafts/milk-jug-decorative-window-crafts/

Ours are much less fancy than the ones shown there. But fun none-the-less.

Today was a repurposed, reuse day. It also falls under craft.

So today after breakfast I rinsed out our empty milk jug and set it to dry. I had been saving a few but they went out with the recycling on Monday. But it was fine because one ended up being plenty for us.

Zurich asked for hot chocolate while I was feeding the baby and had been asking about every 5 minutes so I entertained that desire first.
Why not? right?

As described in the link we cut, colored, punched and I decided to make mobiles with them too. We had 3 empty macrame hooks on the porch and everything. I used the metal rings I bought a long time ago for tatting (and haven't gotten around to). The kids picked their string color (once again, tatting stash). They colored their shapes and I punched holes and tied it all together.

The mobiles are fun and kinda make some fun noise in the breeze on the porch.

The three of them strung on the porch.

And the extra ones as window ornaments.

Summer's end: Post office

Today as planned we went to the library. The kids got to pick the books they earned for summer reading some movies and books.

Then we went to the post office to mail their post cards. The kids were so excited to be able to go in with me and they got a special treat. The postal worker could tell this was the kids' project and so she tried to find stamps that they could put on their post cards but no luck. So she invited them behind the counter which was fascinating in and of itself, but then she let them run their post cards through the postage meter. COOL! Zurich called it a "mail robot." They each got a turn to do a couple.

I never explained my plan to the kids but this morning Olea asked, "So what fun thing are we going to do today?" and rather than answering, "I don't know," or "we'll see," I had a good answer for her. And then she asked, "and what job are we going to do together?" Okay, I can go with that, "Your bathroom really needs cleaned."
She was still excited about the job after we got home, fed the baby and had lunch. The bathroom is done, except for Olea's self imposed finishing touches. I hope to get her help to clean up the kitchen after dinner since we are having YW at our house.

Summer's end: Postcards

So how did today go?

We got olea's room generally picked up and since I had helped her do that she was in a much more helpful mood and swept the floor etc and i had the kitchen table cleaned off. By 2pm I put Nev down for a nap and got out the post cards and sharpies. Trying to keep Zurich from drawing on the address area was a bit of stress. But we had a good time. We used some pre-made post cards and then zurich drew some giraffes on 5.5x4.5 rectangles of heavy card stock.

His giraffes looked like upper female anatomy, and he did it generally the same every time. Zurich had drawn one on our "untellaga" newsprint under paper and it was perfect size so when Gary got home I held it up to corresponding anatomy and told him Zurich had drawn it. His eyes got big and his mouth dropped open. I laughed and explained that contrary to what it looked like, it was a sweet unassuming giraffe.

Nev didn't stay down for her nap and so she joined us  in coloring.I was too busy capping pens and stopping sharpie colored arguments while holding Giddy to get a picture of her. But some of her cousins will be privileged to receive an artistic rendition from her.... And some will get offensive giraffes.

Olea wrote notes on some and just colored on others. Zurich dictated some notes for his postcards. Nev named her works of art and I was impressed with her color recognition since we played her version of Chinese checkers two weeks ago. Apparently she learned more than just white.

Tomorrow we will go to the post office to buy stamps and mail their post cards and they will all get to come in to do this rather than sitting in the car with the AC running while I run in to our sweet post office. It's little and hotter than the van. Then we will go to the library.

Mail

Today was a good mail day.

The end of summer...

This morning all energetic and annoyed with the fact that the kids were watching tv I had an idea.

I thought maybe if I planned to do something engaging each day with the kids that fell into one of 6 categories that we might have more harmony and keep our brains active. These areas came to mind: craft, color, math/science, reading, writing, physical. I figure it's cool if they overlap. Some items that came to mind: rainbow cake, clocks, oral story telling, poetry writing, goo, number games, sets, puzzles, Lino printing, toothpick structures.

We generally do projects but it's stressful because they are thrown together in the heap of things. Or I get to spend time with one child but not another. Having a nursing baby takes a lot of time and it seems like when any task is completed its time to feed again and the kids are found still wanting. They need time with me too. So I wanted to set a precedence an expectation, an excitement, something to look forward to, a reason .... to get dressed (Olea has a problem with this recently).

I have ages 7, 3.5 and 2 (Giddy will be left out...) so I need to pick activities that can engage all of them for a while, and be modified in the process for each child's skill level.

Here is the goal: do one organized (premeditated the night before) activity each weekday, it can take as little as 15 mins to 2 hours. But it's me and the kids doing something fun and creative together. Take a picture. Have the kids journal once a week about what they like, what are grateful for. For Nev, this will be scribbling in a notebook and that is fine. Zurich I hope will draw pictures.

I'm no dummy though. I'm starting simple and moving forward flexible. Today we will write postcards to some of their cousins. How much does a post card cost these days? 29 cents. It falls under writing.

The idea is more for my sanity and simplification. Call it lame, or wonder why this has to be a goal, or judge me, or whatever. I don't care. I'm posting it so I have it written down. So I have something to commit to. Because maybe just maybe the kids will have a drive to get up and help out more often if we are engaged in something together more often.

Circus

Let's call last week the kid's vacation. I mean seriously, they got to stay in a hotel, be in the car for over two hours (demonstrates that it was far away), go to an aquarium, send a vacation postcard,

get a souvenir, ride a trolley, check out a view, go on a tour, eat at restaurants, meet up with a fun person, play at the beach, watch some sunsets, stay up past their bedtime,

go to a circus, eat cotton candy, etc.

At the circus we had pretty good seats.

It was so fun to watch Nev's face as she saw bizarre acts for the first time.

It was a pretty good circus. The ribbon acrobat was neat to Nev and she stopped watching to try her own poses on the floor in front of us. She soaked up the audiences reaction to the performer as her own. As gross as it was we couldn't get her to stop and as floors go it wasn't horrid. It made me laugh though.

Zurich after seeing some grotesque backbends by a young male acrobat dressed like a hobo posing on a coat rack who also did the splits tried to do the splits himself. The baby flexibility has clearly left him. He also told me, "he is a mailman." I don't get the connection.

Aside from the fact that the kids wanted to take in some of the extra activities that were supremely overpriced and the budget had already been spent on concessions it was a good evening. I am really hoping to find some decently priced pony rides for Zurich in the near future.

We stopped off at a grocery store to get some of these on the way home.

Way better than cotton candy.