A Wednesday Morning List:
1) We are on Spring Break over here and
IT
IS
HEAVENLY.
I have not driven anywhere since Sunday, so my gas tank is taking a break. I have caught up on some organizing, as futile as THAT may be.
I’ve thought about exercising, but the actual exercising did not suit my fancy.
I started completely ripping apart my homeschool plan in an attempt to come up with a new one that will rock my world. But I am sure it won’t.
I even got to talk on the phone to a live friend for over an hour while three kids played and one kid ran around naked.
Name THAT kid. Go ahead. It’s not tricky.
Spring Break. It should happen every day!
2) We have had a lovely time visiting with Auntie Datenutloaf. And no, Datenutloaf is not her name for reals. Or realz, if you are ueber hip. When she comments on this very blog that you are reading, she signs her name as Datenutloaf. Therefore and henceforth, that is what I call her.
Auntie caught up all my Awana’s patches and told me not to feel badly about them being so hard because she said they were the most annoying things in the world to try and sew onto a vest.
She caught up on my mending.
She taught me how to make my own patches out of old jeans.
She taught me how to patch my boys’ jeans when they are brand new so the knees last longer.
She has empowered me, and apparently, she has inspired my girls. They are enjoying their week without school and decided to try and make clothes for their dolls.
The girls had a secret convo and it was decided that Daisy Mae would be the one to come and ask me for permission. This was all Sweet Pea’s doing because she is the oldest and oft abuses her power.
Daisy Mae (nervous and fidgeting): Do you, like, um, have any, like, clothes that we can, you know, cut up, and, like, um, maybe, um, make doll clothes out of? Um? Please?
Me: You don’t have a sewing machine.
DM (short for Daisy Mae . . . keep up, people!): I know. We don’t care.
Me: Go downstairs to the camping clothes and you can pick out two things each to cut up.
DM: Seriously?
Me: Yes.
DM: SERIOUSLY?
Me: Seriously.
DM shouting to Sweet Pea: SHE SAID YES! MOM ACTUALLY SAID YES!
No. I am not a mean mom who always says “NO.” Why do you ask?
Daisy Mae made a skirt.
The astute reader might proclaim: “But, Taylor! That looks like she just cut the sleeve off of an old shirt and is passing it off as a skirt, when, in fact, it is merely a sleeve!”
True, readers. True. But have you met her mother?
Let’s go easy on the child. She has a rough road ahead of her.
Sweet Pea got little more detailed than Daisy Mae.
Brought a tear to my eye.
3) Little Dude is always playing in the loft. He feels the need to get out all of his cars and trucks and line them up daily. Why? We cannot be certain. But it is his purpose in life and he takes it quite seriously. Since Little Dude is in the loft, he is the first to spot if any visitors arrive at our humble abode.
And whenever UPS comes, he shouts in a sassy, sing-song voice for all the world to hear:
“Mailboy! The Mailboy is here everyone! Woo-Hoo!”
Its odd.
4) You might recall, dear readers, that Handsome Dude had a little mishap with his leg earlier this year. You might also recall that he REFUSED to take a shower, because, apparently, showers are evil. So for WEEKS, I had many tribulations trying to clean the boy with the giant leg injury.
Well. Since the boy has turned F-I-V-E, he has declared baths for babies and he now showers daily.
?
He gets out of the shower, dresses himself, “combs” his hair, and “brushes” his teeth. Then he gets out the vacuum and does a few lines in the living room, for good measure I suppose, then asks if he can ride his bike.
All because he is F-I-V-E now.
5) Since I am feeling all inspired in the homeschool department, I decided to do a little mini-lesson with the boys. The dudes have been interested in clouds and weather lately, so I decided to do a little project with them that I saw on Pinterest.
Oh! Have I mentioned Pinterest before? Remind me to tell you about it sometime.
So, this gal says that you take a glass, fill it with water. Then you put shaving cream on the top for clouds. You tell the children that when clouds get really heavy, they rain. Then you put in a few drops of blue food coloring and the children see rain.
Since I am Susie Fantastic and all, I had everything on hand and decided to do this inspiring project.
And we waited. And waited. And waited. Finally, it was naptime and I told the boys that it might rain after naps.
But, no. It did not. The boys remained vigilant, however, and kept checking to see if it had rained yet. During dinner, they brought it to the table. At the end of dinner, about 6 hours after we started this project, the clouds rained, or more accurately, dumped an enormous amount of blue dye into the water all at once.
Little Dude: Oh! I see! So after it rains, the world turns blue!?
Preschool Homeschool: Fail.
Alright! I’m off to enjoy another day of FREEDOM!
Tootles!
I don’t think that’s a homeschool fail–I think that’s gonna be hilarious later when he goes to college and screams that the world turns blue after a big rain (ala The Waterboy “Momma says that alligators are angry because they have all them teeth and no toothbrush.”)
My 5 year old has declared that when he turns 6 he will no longer be scared of things. He has also told us that 6 year olds ride roller coasters and has been asking us to take him on one for his birthday. There must be something magical that happens on birthdays that makes them all of the sudden be able to do things they normally wouldn’t.
Enjoy spring break!!
See? Told you five year olds are awesome. Even boys.
Every time I see one of the homeschool lessons on Pinterest I am ueber glad I don’t have to try them.
Coincidentally, we’ve been looking at the water cycle too.
Check out this page:
http://www.kidzone.ws/water/index.html and in particular activity 4:
http://www.kidzone.ws/water/cactivity4.htm
We adapted the activity slightly, by holding a glass of cold water in kettle steam, watching the steam condense on the outside of the glass forming a ‘cloud’. I just explained that if we held it there long enough it would start to drip, forming ‘rain’. Kids have great imaginations – it’s a shame to do all the work for them!!!
The Kidzone website has LOTS of really useful stuff on it for home edders! AND I think they’re Christians! Enjoy!
p.s. your girls are gorgeous!
I think the Mailboy proclaiming Little Dude is friends with my Little Man who cannot let a car park anywhere near our house without yelling at the top of his lungs “CAR”! Now whilst ‘Little Man’ is 16 he is 10 years developmentally delayed which gives us a 6 year old in a very big body (nearly 6 feet of 6 year old is quite entertaining sometimes; don’t judge me – I am in fact a super hero and indeed can find humor in raising special needs children – if we don’t laugh, we cry). So yesterday Little Man came charging into the house yelling about “yellow demolition flags” – He said “The last time I saw one of those flags the next day our house was gone” – He went through hurricanes Charlie and Rita and their homes were damaged in both – apparently when the cleanup crew came through they used yellow flags to identify which houses (trailer homes) were to be removed due to unsafe conditions… so the appearance of the little yellow flags sent him into alert mode… In fact the little yellow flags used here are to identify gas lines, and they are getting ready to regravel the”Potawatomi Trail of Death”
( http://www.potawatomi-tda.org/ ) which is across the street from our humble abode, meaning they had to mark all the gas lines so nobody blows anything up… Ahhh the sweet innocence of young children – brings a smile to my face and a tear to my eye.
Go HD! I love reading about that boy, he reminds me a lot of my younger brother. The girls are darling. I think I was about their age when I started getting into crafting. They’ll have tons of fun. Enjoy the rest of your spring break!
Hi Taylor! *enthusiastic waving*
Wondering y I’m sewing and mending 4 u and you’re home making ueber cute doll clothes, cutting up perfectly good camping clothes when I have boxes and boxes of fabric scraps? miss you all already. love your home. girls, would you like some doll clothes fabric?
I love the science experiment. That is just one awesome story.
Love your humor, Taylor. Very much. 🙂
oh, hey! Good work for spring break!
Congratulations on the five year old wonder boy. So exciting that he is taking on new responsibilities with his advanced age. 🙂
We did “rain in a jar,” also. but easier.
boiling water in a jar. metal lid upside down on top of jar. ice cubes in lid.
condensation on lid makes ‘raindrops’, explain warm moist air hitting cool air mass, you’re done. kids liked it….
have fun this week!