Just Another Day

On Thursday I decided to keep track of what we did for the day. I did this once before and it is nice to look back on and reflect. We did nothing incredibly amazing and nothing too horrible happened. Just ordinary. When I think about all of the kids being forced out of bed and shipped off to a classroom, an ordinary day is something to be very very thankful for.

7:15 - I woke up and tried to sneak out of my room without waking Mirek for some alone time. He always hears me open the back door to feed the chickens though. Oh well. I start the coffee and sit with him.

7:45 - The other three wake up and lumber downstairs. I make them breakfast.

8:15 - Eaden does her copywork. She chooses a poem (usually a short one) from A Garden of Verses. We rented Frozen from Redbox yesterday so I let Naia and Taven watch that in my room.

 8:35 - Math. Eaden can do her math without help from me so I wash dishes and chug some coffee. She hears the "Let it Go" song from Frozen and runs into the bedroom to sing. She returns to her math. Taven dumps his food on the ground and crushes it into the carpet. He hits Naia in the head with a gun.

 8:55 - Phonics and reading.

 9:10 - Eaden finishes her work and takes a break. I clean some more. Taven asks me to help him clean his room. I do and then I take a quick shower. Naia is still watching Frozen. When the movie is over all of the kids go out back to play.

10:15 - Eaden comes inside and we read from Paddle to the Sea. There is a lot of geography in the book so we also learn about the Great Lakes and lakes and rivers in general.

 10:30 - Eaden asks if she can read the book she checked out at the library yesterday. I say yes and make the kids chicken noodle soup.

 10:45 - I read a story to Eaden from James Herriot's Treasury for Children (Only One Woof) while she eats. After reading a couple of pages I quit because the other kids are too loud and interrupting. They all go out front to play.

11:15 - Eaden says she heard a Woodpecker outside and that she wants to draw it. Naia heads upstairs to play with her dollhouse and the boys go out back.

 11:30 - We are all out back.

 Despite having a small backyard there are still plenty of things to observe.

 The kids dumped rain water from the wagon and apparently it is now mosquito season. There were also plenty of Mosquito Hawks (Crane Flies). We would let them settle into the grass and then run through and they would all fly up together.

 Mirek was copying me and trying to take pictures of a Mockingbird with an old broken camera.

 12:00 - Back inside. Mirek is shooting a hurt Mosquito Hawk. We feed it to the chickens. We also look up Mosquito Hawks online and learn that they do not actually eat mosquitoes. In fact, the adults do not eat anything at all. Darn.

 12:10 - The kids all go upstairs and I hear a boys vs. girls fight. Taven comes down and I work on letters with him. Eaden comes down and says "now I know why boys are not allowed in our room! They make messes!" She gets the vacuum and takes it upstairs to clean her room.

12:30 - We decide to make cookies.

 Mirek helps by sticking his fingers in them.

 1:00 - I take Mirek to bed and let the kids play with shaving cream outside.

 While drinking beer and watching the kids through the kitchen window I get the idea for a car wash.

 The car wash idea is a big hit and I am able to finish the cookies, iron clothes, and clean a bit.

2:00 - Everyone comes inside and I put on Mirror Mirror (Snow White movie with Julia Roberts) that we checked out from the library the day before. The girls watched it for a short time and Taven fell asleep. I cleaned.

2:30 - Eaden wanders from the movie and I finish reading Just One Woof  to her.

2:40 - Eaden reads her own book again and Naia draws.

3:00 - We start getting ready for gymnastics. I brush hair while they watch the movie.

3:30 - Ade gets home from work.

4:00 - We leave for gymnastics.

5:00 - 9:00 - Eaden is at gymnastics and I take Naia to my parents to visit. Taven and Mirek stay home with Dad.

9:00 - We pick up Eaden from the gym and head home.

10:00 - I put the kids to bed and watch Honey Boo Boo! 

11:00 - Sleep.

A Happy Four!

St. Patrick's Day was Taven's Birthday. We have decided to not do parties. Instead, we give the kids $150 and they get to tell us what to do for the day.

First we went by Grandma's house to say hello and open presents. He had told my mom he wanted a squirrel that wags its tail and says "eek eek eek." She got him a battery powered dog that barks. She also got him a pretend power drill.

Next we went to the toy store. I didn't take pictures, but Taven picked out a butterfly habitat kit. I ordered the caterpillars in the mail and we are eagerly awaiting their arrival. He also chose a dragon figurine and a gun that shoots out balls.

Next stop...Candy store!

 And Chuck-E-Cheese. My Aunt and cousin met us there.

 Aunt Leslie bought Taven a stick horse and Texas Rangers cap gun!

 After Chuck-E we went home so I could bake Taven's birthday cake.

 

 His buddy Aidan came over and went with us to the dollar ($2.00) theater to watch Walking with Dinosaurs.

 Then back home to sing Happy Birthday. I took a video but it's pretty blurry.

 Daddy gave Taven his birthday present. A skateboard!

 He's a wild man and a natural on the skateboard! First thing this morning, he woke me up and asked if he could go out front to practice "tricks."

Happy Birthday Taven! We love you!

Pounding Clovers - A Tradition...Barf.

It seems every year, around this time, we get the urge to pound clovers. Luckily, we have a patch in our weedy backyard.

 This year we turned them into rainbows!

 And added poems.

We have no snow to melt here, but we do look forward to spring. The kids love caterpillars and butterflies, birds, flowers, and birthdays. Taven's birthday is on St. Patrick's Day itself and Eaden's is just after, on the 26th. Exciting times in the near future....

Fast forward to exciting times (Friday). It was a great day outside so we decided to go to the Arboretum. The moment we pulled in Mirek barfed all over himself in the car seat. I thought most schools were having Spring Break next week but maybe I am wrong. The Arboretum was way too crowded for me. So...the barf saved me. We went home. Mirek was playing, running around, then barf again. Then more playing, running around, and I put him to sleep. We shall see...

Gooder is not a word

Our backyard is mighty weedy.

 Which makes for good pickins.

 My terror of terrors.

 We saw a fun and easy paper weaving craft and turned it into a little lesson on kente cloth.

We watched some youtube videos on kente cloth and then listened to some classical music. I took notes on our conversation (while weaving). 

Naia - "This is a sad song."

Me - "Isn't that neat? How different songs can make you feel different ways? Or even different instruments can make you feel different ways?"

Naia and Eaden - "Yeah....Uh huh uh huh uunnnn (fake crying). This song is so sad (more fake crying then hysterical laughter)."

...Naia - "I need a gooder pencil."

Eaden - "Better pencil. Gooder is not a word."

(A new song called 'Nocturne' comes on)

Naia - "This sounds like a mean song."

Me - "Look. It is called 'Nocturne.' What do you think that means?"

Eaden - "Nocturnal"?

Me - "Yes! It probably has to do with night. It might mean night."

Eaden - "Well this song sounds mean because thieves steal in the night."

Naia - "It sounds sad now."

Me - "It kind of sounds like a love song. Like two people are dancing and kissing."

(Laughter).

Eaden - "We saw Uncle Doug and Ashley kiss!"

(Lots of laughter).

On Wednesday night Naia had her first softball game! Grandma and Grandpa came and Aunt Jamie and the cousins.

 We missed the first two games when we were at the beach house so Naia is the only one without a uniform yet.

The teams tied 8-8. Here is Naia's first ever at bat!