Cookies, Art class and dentist

What a day!

N and C were at the house by 8:20 and we got right to work on school.  I had all the kids on a laptop working on math facts, identifying body parts and states.  N also practiced some spelling.  About an hour later, we all got dressed to be outside and headed to the troop Cookie Moms' house.  We loaded up our wagons with cookies and headed to the high school to sell cookies to the kids going to lunch.  The first lunch group bought only 1 box and we were really bummed!  We had about a 30 minute break until the next lunch so we hit a couple houses.  We only sold 1 more box.

We headed back just in time to hit the 2nd lunch and we did great!!  We sold 58 boxes of cookies in 45 minutes.  Everyone thought all the girls were cute in their uniforms.  We had some extra siblings (Andrew, N and another brother and sister) and they were great helpers too.

When the kids went back to class we headed back to the Cookie Moms' house for lunch.  The kids sat around one table and ate while the mom's sat in another room.  The ages ranged from 3 to 14.  They were fabulous.  Everyone was polite, had good manners and ate their lunches.  Then they went outside to play tag and Duck, Duck Goose.  It was so wonderful to look outside and see such an amazing age range playing so nicely together and including everyone.

Then we headed to the library for an art co-op class titled, Anamorphic Art.  Click to see a definition and some examples.  

Here is what the kids did today.  

Skylar's ice cream cone - see it in the reflection?

Andrew's - he was just having fun making reflections.

Cairn's - she figured out how to write her name so it would be correct in the reflection.

After the class, we headed to the library park to play outside and meet some friends.  We didn't play outside long because it was getting a little chilly so we went into the library.  We signed up for the spring reading program and picked up some books. 

Then Cairn had a dentist appointment to check a sore gum.  She has been complaining about it for a couple weeks. so I finally took her in to get it checked.  One of her permanent teeth is coming in and pushing on another permanent tooth and a baby tooth.  It isn't supposed to come out for a couple years but because it is pushing on a permanent the dentist wants to get it out.  So I have to schedule another extraction for Cairn in March.  She just had 2 other teeth pulled at the end of last year.  They will pull both the upper canines because they suspect the other tooth is doing the same thing but might not be as far down so not bothering her yet.

We finally headed home again (we left at 9:30) for dinner.  First, we had to clean out the car when we got home though - it was a mess.  Everyone was plain exhausted by the bedtime.

Whoa...rough

I didn't get to post yesterday because of that darn thunderstorm.  I ended up having to lay down with the kids in Skylar's bed until they fell asleep so that made me super sleepy and I went to bed after that.

Nothing really happened other than school.  Cairn had her Microsoft class again and this time I planned better and had Skylar do some schoolwork on a computer in the store.  It was a super huge screen - she loved it.  Andrew liked it too because he could see what she was doing without having to get so close he bugged her.

After her class we came home to finish up schoolwork and everyone did it without much attitude and then Cairn cooked dinner.  She made Taco Soup.  I need to watch her a little more closely.  She made it SUPER spicy so spicy that I couldn't eat it.  Dad came home and ate some but he couldn't finish his bowl either.  Not sure what I am going to do with it so I froze it for now.  I ended up heating up some cans of soup for the kids to eat since they couldn't eat the soup.

Then we tried to get to bed on time but the storm didn't allow that.

Today, we were out the door by 8 AM to get Oreo to the vet.  But before that, we had to watch the trash man pick up our trash.  We even know his name and he gets out of his truck now, walks over to Andrew and talks to him.  Then after he goes around the cul-de-sac, he honks this special honk just for Andrew as he leaves.  Andrew won't go inside until he hears that honk.

At the vet, even the doctor commented on how big he was and said he will be a big boy.  He weighed 6 pounds and 10 ounces today which is bigger than another cat that is a year old that we met at the vet today.

After the vet we came home to get going on schoolwork but that didn't happen too well.  Everyone was cranky and off task.  I don't know if it was the lose of sleep or the being off schedule.  Either way, I did some yelling today and I don't like to yell.  We did finally get it all finished but not happily.  Luckily, tomorrow is a new day.

Here are the pictures that the kids painted.  This was for Cairn's art lesson about Renaissance art and how they used egg yolk in their paint, called egg tempera.  This creates a shiny surface.  We don't have eggs in the house so they said we could use glue.  I only gave the kids red, blue and yellow - the primary colors - so they could all work on color mixing.  Cairn did a fantastic job of mixing colors.  Skylar and Andrew had fun discovering.

Cairn's is titled "Sunset at the river"

Skylar's is titled "Colors meet"

Andrew's is titled "Mushroom and volcano"

Ordinary Tuesday

Which really isn't all that bad.  I kind of enjoyed it.  The kids had talked me into letting them have some play time in the morning again and then starting school at 9 AM.  I went with it at first because I was able to get some computer work done or the kitchen cleaned up or something accomplished.  But when I called the kids in they always gave me a lot of this...

"aHHHHHHHHHH moooooooooommmmmmmmmmm, can't we have a feeeewwwww more minutes?"

"I didn't get to play as long as Cairn because I just woke up, can I play for 30 more minutes?"

"I am still hungry."

Today, for those kids that were awake, I said, "Wouldn't you like to get your schoolwork finished and then have the rest of the day of uninterrupted time to play or do what you want?"

They went for it and so we got right to work by 8:15 (for those awake).  Cairn got right to work on her math - today was congruent shapes.  Andrew and I read a book about the season Fall.  Skylar woke up around 9 and since we were all in the classroom she came right in and got straight to work.  In the end by 11:45, everyone was finished with their schoolwork.

Cairn started writing her Book Review, and learning  about an artist during the Renaissance, and working on some Spanish.  Andrew and Skylar read "The Tale of the Flopsy Bunnies" with me.  Andrew really listens during our stories.  He understands a lot of things that Skylar struggles with either because she isn't really listening or she just doesn't get it.  I didn't really like the story much, it was a little rough at one point.  I was just thankful no one asked me to explain it.  If you know the story, I am talking about the part where Mr. MeGregor throws the bag on the floor in such a manner that it would have hurt the Flopsy bunnies.

Skylar worked on writing her numbers to 20, drawing a picture of a royal family and piano practice.  Andrew started some phonics lessons today and he loved it, geometric shapes, drawing curvy lines and sorting in different ways (by color, size and shape).

After lunch we headed to Andrew's piano class.  He isn't too sure about the big kids in the class.  He keeps a wary eye on them but he does everything the teacher asks.  He jumps right in.  Today while I was testing Skylar on her different notes, he was shouting them across the room and he was right - even some that he doesn't officially know yet.  Well, we got into class and the teacher asked what a new note was and he knew it.  She was impressed.

After piano, we dropped off our items for consigning and then headed home in the rain for some playtime and I cooked dinner.  Everyone was happy with their playtime because I didn't bother them to get some schoolwork finished.  I made a big deal about it at bedtime.  "Didn't it feel good to get all your work finished and then you played all afternoon?"  I noticed how different their attitudes were when I asked the girls to come do something for Girl Scouts.  They didn't complain because I hadn't been on them all day about getting their schoolwork finished.  If I can keep up my part of the schedule by getting them on to school in the morning then maybe they will do their part and get it done.

Something new I am going to try.  I want to take a picture of the kids with a piece of schoolwork that they want to share on the blog.  Hope I remember.

 Skylar drew a royal family for her art lesson today.  She was working on adding detail so she added crowns and fancy clothes.

Andrew is showing his geometric shape matching.  He put circles inside the circle and squares inside the square.  Not only did this practice naming shapes, matching by shape but it was a good fine motor activity.  He had to peel off the stickers and place them inside the correct shape.

Cairn didn't want to do a picture today.

School and then crazy evening

It was one of those days that looked to be slow and steady and then quickly turned into another one of those days.  We got right to work on schoolwork and everyone wanted to do their art lesson first.

Skylar's lesson was about color mixing - yellow and red make orange, etc.  This was another of those simple lessons that she has known forever.  Cairn's lesson was about primary, secondary and intermediary colors.  So I was able to teach Skylar about primary and secondary - she got that pretty quickly too.

After art, it took everyone a bit to get settled back down and on task.  We had "recess" at 10:45 in the front yard - trying to get the kids to ride their bikes.  As I was standing there on the driveway I noticed my car looked funny so I started walking around it.  I had a flat tire.  So I called Dad to tell him so he could come home early since we had an evening full of activities.  He told me to fill it up.  As I was getting the hose down, Andrew walked over and took the cap off the stem.  When I arrived with the hose, Andrew said, "all ready for you Mom."  Then we worked and worked trying to get the air in.  I gave up after a bit because I needed to get the kids back to school.

We finished up school about 2 PM after much fighting with Skylar.  Cairn and Andrew were finished about 12:30 but Skylar was in one of her moods.  When school was finished I sent everyone outside to the backyard so I could vacuum and get ready for my Girl Scout Leader Unit Meeting.

We were also having a friend over to see the new kitten.  Around 5 PM, we were in the front yard so I worked on the tire some more.  I jacked it up really high and was then able to get the air in the tire.  The stem was bent.  Pulled the car out so I could see if I could find the problem.  No luck.

Dad got home and I ran off to my meeting with Andrew and Cairn in tow.  Dad got Skylar to take to piano since I couldn't take her.  My meeting was uneventful except that Andrew fell asleep on my lap about 7 PM. He was exhausted.

Everyone wanted Oreo to sleep with them at night so Skylar got him first.  Andrew would get him next if he slept in his bed all night long.  (usually he comes in and sleeps with me.)  He said he would/could do it and he did so Oreo got moved to his room.  Andrew couldn't wait to get home to sleep with Oreo.

Park, it's working and art show

Yesterday, I explained to Cairn how we were going to do spelling using a visual spatial technique - draw a picture that represents the word to her. I have no control or input in her picture.  It has to be completely hers.  She worked on a couple yesterday and quickly learned how to spell them.  So today, she worked on some more words - in total today she did 15 cards.  She LOVES IT - she is constantly asking me to quiz her.  While she was doing her cards I was researching more techniques to use and they said spelling the words backwards too is very beneficial to visual spatial learners.  So I turned to Cairn and asked her to spell one of her words that I knew she had done a card for and asked her to spell it backwards.  She did it without batting an eye.  She looked so proud afterwards.

 Here are some of her cards.  For some of her words that we didn't know the definition or I couldn't come with a good definition for her we would look them up online and she would figure out a picture.  We couldn't come up with any picture for "though" and I remembered reading about breaking up words into their parts, highlighting vowels vs. consonants, so I wrote "though" in different colors highlighting the digraphs and the vowel blends - she can spell it now and it hear it spell it outloud she spells it broken into the different colors.

 This morning before school and before the rain started we rode our bikes to a new park.  Andrew rides in the chariot behind me while the girls ride their bikes.  As soon as we get to the park, Andrew jumps on Skylar's bike and starts practicing.  He loves to ride.

 We put some chalk in the chariot and before we left we did some review - Skylar musical notes and beats and for Andrew his letters and numbers.  I didn't get a chance to do anything with Cairn because we had to get home.

 At home, we made popcorn for snack/lunch and then made new play-doh.  Andrew's speech therapist made him some when he graduated and she adds a packet of jello to make the color and make it smell good.  So we tried it today - we love it!!

On Wednesdays, we empty the trashcans and cat litter buckets before Dad gets home so he can put the trash out at night.  As usual, we had done the trash but tonight we had to leave for the Art Show.  The garage smelled super super bad since it had been warm lately.  We had to prepare ourselves to get into the car.

READY!

 We went to the Wildlife Experience tonight for a homeschoolers art exhibit.  Both of the girls had paintings in the exhibit and they both received certificates.

 Dad came too to see the show.

Dinner time has been a struggle for us for quite some time.  The kids start bugging me for snacks around 4:30 and then they get grouchy, irritable and just obnoxious by dinner.  Finally, Dad and I talked and we decided to have the kids eat earlier so tonight we moved dinner from 6 PM to 5 PM.  Oh boy, did that make a huge difference.  They all were happy throughout the afternoon, they sat down and ate dinner without arguing or meanness.  They all finished their dinners within a reasonable amount of time and it was relaxing.  We did go out for the art show and when we came back they were all hungry again.  They of course wanted more dessert but I said more dinner first and they came up with cereal.  I don't care - I just liked them eating a really good dinner without much fuss.  Dinner will be served at 5 PM now!!