Living Room Campout

Jeremy was out of town one night for a church retreat, so I decided to do something different with the kids...we had a living room campout! We started with your typical campout dinner--hot dogs. Then we made a campfire...you can't eat smores and have a campout without a fire, now can you? We made this fire with the kids' handprints, much like you make handprint turkeys, and glued them to some paper logs.


Next was time for smores! We couldn't decide which was more authentic--eating them by our campfire

or eating them next to a real--albeit tiny--fire, which Reid used to keep them toasty.

After that, Reid said we needed to get in the tent and tell scary stories and make scary faces. Of course, our scary stories and faces both ended up being funny stories and faces, but it still had the same effect.

Blair

Reid


We laid out our sleeping bags and then took our flashlights on a bear hunt to find all the animal friends we wanted to sleep with. The forest ended up being home to more than just bears: we found dogs, bunnies, giraffes, frogs, and ducks too! After watching a few cartoons from our sleeping bags, it was off to dreamland under the stars (aka ceiling fan).

Good night!

So shiny! So red!

It's been so long since I've posted. I have a million things I've wanted to share, but I just haven't had the time. This is one of those things--my new red Kitchenaid mixer! Yes, my kids are doing things that are more exciting and should be more of a priority in posting, but, well, this post doesn't require as much thought or work. So anyway, back to my mixer :) ...it works great and is so fun to use. You just throw everything in there while it's spinning. No more adding ingredients, mixing, stopping, adding ingredients, mixing, stopping, adding ingredients...you get the idea. Yea! Who wants cookies first?? (Wait, don't answer that because the cookies would all get eaten before they even made it in a box addressed to you! Just being honest.) :)

First day of kindergarten!

Today was Reid's first day of kindergarten. He was at this same school last year for pre-k, 5 days a week from 8am-3pm, and rode the bus, so eventhough it was pre-k, it was just like "real" school. So it kinda took some of the "FIRST DAY OF KINDERGARTEN!!!" excitement out of it. But, the outgoing kid that he is, he was still excited to get back to school and see his friends.

I decided to drop him off this morning since it was his first day. I remember my mom or dad always driving me to school on the first day, so I just figured that's what you're supposed to do. (Plus, I kinda like to see him get in, see his new room, and all that stuff.) Well, I'm not sure why I thought I was needed on this day because he was definitely not having any separation anxiety. In fact, when we pulled into the parking lot, he jumped out and was trying to run into the school on his own while I was still getting the girls out of the car. "I can go in, mama. This is my own school!" he told me over and over. Then when we finally got into the school, he took off, pushing Sloane in the stroller all the way down the hall, directly to his classroom, while Blair and I trailed behind him. He pulled up to his classroom, parked Sloane's stroller at the door, ran in and found a seat and started coloring. I finally got down there, and had to call him back over to me just to give me a hug. Nope, no separation anxiety from this kid!

Quizzing him about his day only resulted in many "I don't knows", which was always my standard answer growing up. Yup, I am realizing what comes around goes around, which my mom gleefully pointed out as well. I am looking forward to his first "real" year of school. I hope he makes as many memories as I have from my kindergarten year.

I remember my first year of school so vividly that it's hard for me to believe that I'm old enough to have a kid going through that same experience. I remember registering for school and not being able to play on the playground because it was muddy from a recent rain. I can think back to walking in the first day of school with my mom, and seeing a lot of kids already in the room. I took a seat and my first assignment was to look through a magazine and cut out pictures of red objects and glue them in the circle that was drawn on the paper. (Ironically, Reid's first color and shape lessons are red and circle too.) I remember my teacher's reward system--earning marbles for good behavior and then getting to "buy" coloring books, toys, and other trinkets with your earned marbles (I even use that with Reid and Blair today). I can recall the moment I learned how to jump rope in P.E. class, all the steps finally clicking together, and singing the rainbow song in music class and holding up my colored card when we sang my color. (I can still sing part of that song today.) I also remember taking advantage of a substitue teacher one day and going across the playground to my best friend's class to play. (Who, me??) Yes, I got in trouble. I remember being so excited when I finally got a pair of under-roos, Strawberry Shortcake I believe, like many of my friends had, and everyone showing them off on the playground. So many good memories. I guess that explains why I still keep in touch with my kindergarten teacher from time to time...she came to my baby shower when I was pregnant with Reid! Man, I hope my memory never fails me...I'd lose so much! I better start writing my memoirs now while I still have it. :)

The ZOO!

Wednesdays during July and August are Way-Back Wednesdays at the zoo. That means everyone gets in for just 75 cents, and hot dogs, drinks, and popcorn are 75 cents too. So, since we haven't renewed our zoo pass yet, I thought it would be a good opportunity to take the kids before school starts up again. (Our total cost for the day was $7 including admission AND lunch!) Plus, a friend let me borrow her Sit and Stand stroller for a week, and I wanted to go before giving it back to her, because there's nothing more irritating than hearing "I'm soooooo tired of walking!" 5 minutes into your zoo visit (and with the Sit and Stand, all 3 kids can be on at once. However, the next morning, my muscles were definitely feeling the strain of pushing over 120 lbs of kids and stroller.). The weather was pretty nice--a little humid (well, VERY humid by local standards, but not even a drop in the bucket by South Texas standards)--but otherwise unseasonably great: overcast and in the 80s!

Reid's favorite exhibits were the bats, the fish tanks, and the chimpanzees, but if you ask him, he says "My favorites were all the animals that we got to see at the zoo!" Blair liked the butterflies and all the flowers that she was just dying to pick. Sloane pointed and babbled the most for the giraffes, the chimpanzees, and the snake, and the carousel brought out a big smile! As for me, I could spend the entire day watching the chimps and the gorillas. At the chimp exhibit, I swear the chimp was trying to tell us something--he would tap on the glass and then clap, and then tap and then clap again. Darn it, if only I knew monkey sign language! Then he went over to another little girl who had one finger up to the glass and he put his finger right up to hers, touching it from the other side of the glass. And then there were several kisses on the glass. (Unfortunately, due to the set up of the exhibit, it's impossible to get a good picture because the flash always reflects off the glass.) But wow, are they neat to watch!


Reid and the one-eyed ostrich facing off. We're told she's pretty mean.
The skunks caught Sloane's attention.
And she was fascinated by the snakes!
Blair's almost as big as the bald eagle!

Fun going round and round.

Sloane really had fun going up and down on the carousel.

Checking out everything once she finally got released from the stroller.
She seems so big standing up there.
Out of everything at the zoo, Reid and Blair had the most fun with the old, empty water exhibit. There used to be sea animals to touch and feel, but now it's empty so they just played with the water and pebbles. I couldn't get them out of it!

A simple night

What a great night... Went to the library to return some books and pick out new ones. Ate dinner (which everyone ate well and was well behaved) and then went for a long 45 minute walk while waiting for daddy to get home from an overnight business trip. The weather was wonderful. Didn't sweat at all. Reid had fun on his scooter, listened so well, didn't complain about being tired at all. Was thrilled to see a yellow "Gamaro" that looked just like Bumblebee (actually, it was a Mustang, but he thinks all Mustangs are Camaros, or "Gamaros"). Blair pointed out every flower (which she says "shower", all f's come out sh's), excited to announce every color she saw. Sloane just sat along for the ride. Friendly Reid stopped every person with a dog and asked to pet it. He always asked what the dog's name was and then asked what the person's name was. And then ran after the dog trying to hug it while it and its owner were walking away. We got home as Jeremy did, and it was cute how excited the kids were to see him. Jeremy brought us some of our favorite liccorice that we always get when we're on the road. The kids had some and then got ready for bed (brushing teeth and going potty) when asked the first time and no one had to hound them to get it done. We read our new library books tonight...Blair "read" the Fat Cat book, half "reading" what the pictures showed and half "reading" the letters, pointing at each letter saying "HIJKLMOP". That's the first time I've seen her really take the initiative in "reading" books. And Reid sat very patiently and listened while she completed her book. Reid really loved his Bug book and soaked in everything we read and learned about bugs. It was so much fun sitting with him being so still and so attentive. I love to watch him learn. It's almost like you can SEE the information flying right into his brain. I love that. And so did he. He thought it was hysterical when I compared myself to a mama scorpion, asking him "Can you imagine ME holding 30 babies at one time!" He made me say it again, just so he could laugh all over again. Finished with Reid's book and rounded up Blair, who was sitting with Jeremy watching Star Wars. They love watching Star Wars with daddy. Then off to bed for all. Simple joys.

Homework

Reid and Blair love doing homework. Reid is the one that really loves learning things and figuring things out, but Blair is the one that always asks to do "homework" (activity sheets). I think it makes her feel older, like her big brother. Sometimes she'll sit and listen to the directions and try to complete the worksheet; other times she jumps down from the chair just a minute after she climbed up there. But in any regards, I found a website that has great learning activity sheets for all grade levels. It goes beyond the usual letters and numbers activities and covers things like drawing wavy lines, cutting straight lines, greater than/less than, follow the steps (for preschool) and even covers science for kindergarten kids.
Check it out! www.tlsbooks.com

This is one groovy gal (in a swingin' skirt!)

I made a dress! Yes, a real honest-to-goodness dress, using a pattern and everything! It promised to be really simple with mostly straight lines and only take an hour, so I decided to go for it. If you can't tell, I'm quite impressed with myself. :) I mean, I've done a bit of sewing (usually just Halloween costumes), but never with a real pattern. Mostly, I just scribble something out, sloppily trace it on to fabric, cut it out, start sewing, and hope for the best. And they always turn out fine, but only for one night's use. But with this dress, we may actually get more than one wearing out of it! Now Blair is requesting one, so another trip to the fabric store is in our future.




For more cute dress patterns, visit www.ManiMina.etsy.com.