Books

Spring Break….Day one

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5:43 AM….I hear a whimpering, Jon goes in to check on Santanna, she has thrown up all over 😦

6:03 Jon left for work Tanna is tucked in and has a “bowl”

6:40 I hear someone crying, I go into Avalon’s room…she is also throwing up.

Ahhh yeah, Spring break, Bring. It. On.!!!

The older kids had a blast the rest of the morning setting up a sick hospital upstairs, complete with patient cards with their diagnosis.  I just love seeing them care for each other when they are not feeling well.

We still managed to dye eggs, most of us anyway.

Yes at our house we use our hands 🙂

Egg dying 2013

Both hands.

Egg dying 2013

And sometimes skewers?!

Egg dying 2013

The 2 big kids and I went to the gym and the played while I ran 3 miles and bikes 10.  Still going strong on my training plans for my 1/2 Marathon in May and my Dualathon in April.

Then we went to the Public Library and stocked up for the rest of vacation. We listen to LOTS of books on cassette tape, I mean to the point that is Jim Dale came and ate supper at our house, the kids might not even notice, his voice is just like the paint on the walls.

This is just a small sample of the 36 library books/stories we checked out. The rest are already being poured over in other spaces.

Books

We has spaghetti for supper that was lip smacking delish!!

2013 March 1009 copy

Every Friday night we have a “Friday night movie” Original name I know.  Jon and I are not strict about many things but screen time, or audio-visual time as we call it, is one thing that we really limit.  They get one hour a day and most days it just doesn’t fit into the schedule.  So each Friday night we kick off the weekend with a big bowl of hot buttery popcorn and a movie of one persons choosing.  We rotate through all 4 kids, we get a lot of repeat Pocahontas, Homeward Bound and Disney’s Hercules.

Tonight was Solomon’s choice and he chose Goonies….Love this choice!!!!

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I did forget that there are some “scary” moments, dead guy in the freezer with ice cream??!! and a few bleep words, mostly the S— word but overall what a fun adventure movie for kids to watch!

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HEEEEYYY YOU GUUUUUUUUYYYS!! Have a Happy Spring Break everyone!!

Putting Modesty Aside.

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This may not be going where you think:)
I want to take just a moment and share some parental pride in this post regarding our son, Solomon.
I know that as parents we are all ridiculously proud of all our children, and revel in their accomplishments big and small. This is not meant to be boastful, just a momma sharing her pride.
Solomon participates in the highly gifted education opportunities that are provided through our neighborhood public school, he tests into these with an aloof ease that I wish I had more of as a student. He is also extremely fortunate to have a fantastic, well articulated, very organized and enthusiastic teacher, who expects from her gifted students what they are capable of.
That being said, she encouraged her students to participate in Letters about Literature

What LAL Does:

LAL is a reading promotion program of The Center for the Book in the Library of Congress, presented in cooperation with participating affiliate state centers for the book across the country. LAL invites readers in grades 4 through 10 to enter our annual writing competition.

To enter, readers write a personal letter to an author, living or dead, from any genre–fiction, nonfiction, or poetry, contemporary or classic–explaining how that author’s work changed the student’s way of thinking about the world or themselves.

There are three competition levels:

  1. Level I for children in grades 4 through 6;
  2. Level II for grades 7 – 8,
  3. Level III, grades 9 – 10.

Solomon chose the book The Evolution of Calpurnia Virginia Tate, which I reviewed here, so his letter was written to Ms. Jacqueline Kelley, we edited it and he carried it off to school in his backpack.  As his mom , I of course, was proud and thought he had done a great job.

Last night my husband got an email from Solomon’s teacher that his letter has been advanced to State Level for judging at Level 1, in Minnesota there were 1,265 entires, so this is quite an honor.

The state level results will be back the first week of April, so keep your fingers crossed for him, and I will update when we find out.

Great Summer Read for the Whole Family

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Raiven received this book for her 7th birthday.  We just finished reading “Callie Vee”,the night before school let out for the summer.  However, this would be a terrific summer read out loud book for the whole family. And perhaps inspire some to get their own “notebooks”.

Summary of the book : Calpurnia Virginia Tate is eleven years old in 1899 when she wonders why the yellow grasshoppers in her Texas backyard are so much bigger than the green ones.With a little help from her notoriously cantankerous grandfather, an avid naturalist, she figures out that the green grasshoppers are easier to see against the yellow grass, so they are eaten before they can get any larger. As Callie explores the natural world around her, she develops a close relationship with her grandfather, navigates the dangers of living with six brothers, and comes up against just what it means to be a girl at the turn of the century.

Each chapter in this book has an except for Darwin’s Evolution of Species book, the vocabulary in this book is phenomenal, it has some words that even I had to look up and I feel my vocab is adequate.  My son who is 8 and daughter who is 7, listened intently every night to the chapter we would read.  Even the 1 and 3-year-old listened some nights.

This book really brings to light how far women have come in earning rights and respect in many male predominant fields.  Callie Vee wants to be a scientist and go to the University, her mother wants her to be a domesticated women, typical of this time.  Callie has 6 brothers, so she feels the pressure of her mothers desire.

Her Grandfather is an open-minded, mad scientist of sorts, the relationship that builds between them is empowering and inspiring.

Our family fell into many conversations at the dinner table regarding the topics in this book as well as timeline and historical achievements in women’s lib, and how amazing science and nature are.   Read and enjoy, and feel free to add your thoughts on this book.

Literature advent

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I am finding it more important to teach our children creativity and frugality through well thought out traditions, as well as everyday life. This year I decided that the advent calendar for our house would belong to everyone and be made from things we have at home.

I  had the kids run around and gather all the winter, Christmas, Hanukah, Kwanza, etc. books from their shelves.

I  then wrapped each book in red paper, except for one, the books do not have numbers, giving the child whose turn it is a chance to choose the book.  The 24th book is wrapped in green and will be the last one to be opened…can you guess which one  it is? 🙂

Each night, starting with the oldest each child will take a  turn choosing one book from the shelf, they will get to unwrap it, pass a chocolate to everyone and we will all sit together and listen to the book they chose.  Who reads the book will also be their decision.

Things they will learn from this are that excitement can come from items you have around the house when given a new purpose. Patience and taking turns.  It also gives our family a chance to enjoy some of that precious together time.