Today was a rough day...
Our morning walk began with our (almost) 6-month-old German shepherd puppy pulling me off of our porch. The whole left side of my body is aching, especially my shoulder and hand. Pain is not conducive to a peaceful, happy state for me, so I was a bit off my game for the whole day.
What this meant was that I did chores then rested on the couch while the kids played board games together. We all decided that it was time to purge some of our less thrilling games which resulted in the discovery of an old kid-sized Big Bird that we'd all forgotten about. I think we've had it since the twins (now nearly 8) were 2! This immediately brought on a bout of nostalgia for the twins. I am never more proud than when I watch my children working together and helping each other to learn and grow. Iambe(2) was eager to work on the puzzle, but it was a bit beyond her. The older three didn't take over but rather helped her to complete the puzzle! My heart nearly burst. They went through this many times until Iambe was doing more and more of the puzzle without any aid.
There were games of Memory, Chinese checkers, Chutes & Ladders, and even a few impromptu child-made games.
We were all looking forward to going to the Popcorn Festival parade in the evening, but with rain threatening and my body aching, I decided against the miles of walking. We did get to see the plane flying over our house with the "Gilsdorf for Mayor" banner. Instead, the kids put together their own parade using toy cars, figures, ribbons, and other odds and ends. It was really cute!
While outside watching the plane (and the gloomy storm clouds overhead) I found a dead sparrow on our lawn. All of the children were eager to observe it (no touching) and the differences between it and the fledgling starling we'd found earlier in the summer. They noticed that the fledgling was bigger than the full-grown sparrow, but the sparrow had many more feathers. None of us could really figure out how the bird had died because there were no visible wounds. Annie guessed that it had been overwhelmed by the storm last night. Airius thought maybe the bird had just died of old age. The girls held a bit of a funeral for the poor bird, then it was inside for time with Daddy.
Tonight's Bedtime Story: The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe
Thursday, September 8, 2011
Wednesday, September 7, 2011
September 7, 2011
After a few days of failed attempts to do things we've been wanting to do...
The kids asked for coloring pages after our morning walk in the rain. Callie specifically wanted a coloring page to "teach" her letters (which she already knows), then the rest of the kids trickled in with their requests: a tiger for Annie, a T. rex for Airius, and an Olivia page for Iambe. Callie hasn't had to do a lot of coloring in the lines type work, so I was impressed with her outcome.
The play-work was interrupted when the flower girl dresses for my brother's upcoming wedding showed up at the door. The girls were beside themselves with excitement!
But once the (frighteningly pristine) white dresses were off the girls, they asked to paint the clay figures they'd made from air dry clay a week or so ago. So we did. They'd used the cutters from their Play-Doh set to make shapes in the clay, but Callie also made a free form face. Airius's sculpture was too fragile, with lots of long, spindly pieces, so it broke before he could paint it. He handled it well.
At cleanup time, Annie took it upon herself to reorganize our bookshelf, putting the books which belonged to each child in separate piles and the shared books in another.
Dinner found Airius and Callie back to magnet experimentation, making long chains of metal objects from their magnets then hooking them back up again to make magnet necklaces.
Tonight's Bedtime Story: The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe
The kids asked for coloring pages after our morning walk in the rain. Callie specifically wanted a coloring page to "teach" her letters (which she already knows), then the rest of the kids trickled in with their requests: a tiger for Annie, a T. rex for Airius, and an Olivia page for Iambe. Callie hasn't had to do a lot of coloring in the lines type work, so I was impressed with her outcome.
The play-work was interrupted when the flower girl dresses for my brother's upcoming wedding showed up at the door. The girls were beside themselves with excitement!
But once the (frighteningly pristine) white dresses were off the girls, they asked to paint the clay figures they'd made from air dry clay a week or so ago. So we did. They'd used the cutters from their Play-Doh set to make shapes in the clay, but Callie also made a free form face. Airius's sculpture was too fragile, with lots of long, spindly pieces, so it broke before he could paint it. He handled it well.
At cleanup time, Annie took it upon herself to reorganize our bookshelf, putting the books which belonged to each child in separate piles and the shared books in another.
Dinner found Airius and Callie back to magnet experimentation, making long chains of metal objects from their magnets then hooking them back up again to make magnet necklaces.
Tonight's Bedtime Story: The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe
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