Play Room Reorganization

Our playroom has been a disaster pretty much since the day we had mobile children. Having moved to a neighborhood where there are regularly anywhere between two to five visiting children, it has gone from disaster to state of emergency! As you can see from the pictures, it was time for a drastic reorganization.







Thanks to a bunch of different sized storage bins and a new policy of playing with the contents of one bin at a time the toy room is much improved. Ella has gotten so good at cleaning up after herself, that it took me less than two minutes to clean up a few random items that missed a bin before taking the "after" pictures.

Consumer Debt? Already?

Brenna just got a toy credit card out of a toy purse and said, "Wook, Mommy. Here's your money!"

I think we need to cut up her "cards" now! Think it's too early for a two-year-old to understand the Dave Ramsey "FREEDOM!!!!" scream?

A Splash in Reality

I took a dip in a stream today. It was totally unplanned, and I was totally unprepared. Scott and I took the kids to Dinosaur Valley State Park today. I packed extra clothes for the kids. Ella insisted that she wanted to take her rain boots instead of her crocs. Then she begged and begged and begged to get in the stream. Being practical minded adults, we kept telling her no because the water would come over the top of her boots. Finally, I relented and said I would help her across a shallow part. Well, it got deeper than her boots. I picked her up to help her across the deep part and as you can imagine DOWN we went! I was very irritated. I was irritated with myself for not having clothes for me. I was irritated with Ella for insisting she needed to wear her boots. Then I was again irritated with myself for not insisting she bring her crocs. I was irritated at Scott that he had gone ahead with Brenna, and he wasn't there to help. We got to the car and reality came crashing down on my heart.

I was so busy being a practical minded adult, that I forgot to let my kids simply be kids. I forgot to laugh at the fact that we were soaking wet in a stream in front of an entire cub scout troop. I forgot that since we were already wet, it was the perfect chance to splash around and get even wetter.

I burst into tears when I got to the car at how badly I had handled such a simple situation. After a heartfelt talk, Scott and I have decided that we are going to take outings and focus on FUN. We started out our day with the wrong focus. The focus was simply to fill our day--not to have fun. We are going to try to do a better job of embracing the childhood that our children should have. We are going to join our children in their fun. We are going to be parents that they remember fondly because we have fun with them. Sometimes, I guess it takes a splash of reality to point out the weaknesses in your life.

Handwriting, Reading, Dinner and Dessert

Ella has been complaining that she doesn't want to go to school because it is boring. The teacher and I met this afternoon to have a conference and try to figure out how to help Ella develop a positive attitude about school. By talking to Ella and talking with each other we've learned three things.

1. Ella loves to read, and she loves anything to do with reading.
2. Ella is a little overwhelmed by her choices with math stations.
3. Ella hates handwriting practice because it is "boring and too hard."

Handwriting usually occurs first thing in the morning, so Ella is reluctant to go to school because she knows she has to start her day with the task she finds least enjoyable. After school, I was talking to her about it and I said, "You know, the good thing about handwriting being in the morning is that you know that as soon as it's over, the rest of your day is filled with stuff that you like to do more."

Ella said, "Kind of like dinner and dessert. I don't always like to eat dinner, but I have to eat a good dinner to eat dessert. So handwriting is like dinner, and reading is like dessert."

I Fick It Myself

This morning Brenna came into Scott, proudly held up her waffle and announced, "Look Daddy! I fick it myself." She ate some more of it and then said, "It's cold." Scott took it from her and sure enough, it was freezing cold.

S: Where did you get this from?
B: I fick it myself. Come on, Daddy, I show you.

She walked into the kitchen, pulled open the freezer drawer, pulled out the wrapper and said, "Wight here." She did, in fact, fix it herself. It was just completely frozen. I guess she didn't like the toasted version that was sitting on her plate ready to be eaten.

The Naked Swinger

Earlier today I found the back door like this:


When I went into the backyard Brenna was swinging without her shirt on:


Or maybe with no clothes on at all!!!!


She's so proud of herself.


You know, they used to call Uncle Lane the Naked Avenger when he was in college (yes, it is a hilarious story). I think we can blame this one on him!

Swinging in the Rain

Swinging in the rain,
Just swinging in the rain,
What a glorious feeling,
I'm happy again!



Brenna cuddling with Daddy after the rain:


Gotta love kiddo giggles:

Kindy Sickies Strike

Apparently, Kindergarten sickies can strike anyone even if they have been in Mother's Day Out for the past four years. Poor little Ella is sick. She has croup. She has an ear infection. She has a throat infection. They didn't even bother to run a strep culture because she had to have an antibiotic for her ear infection anyway. She's on three different medications and can't return to school until Wednesday at the earliest.

At least she's been peaceful to deal with:

Riding the Bus

Ella sprang it on me this morning that she wants to ride the bus home from school. YIKES! I'm so not ready for this independence. However, I found her bus number and sent her to school with a note to let the teacher know she'd be riding the bus.

Here comes the bus!



Here she is this afternoon getting off.



She loved riding the bus, but I really missed picking her up after school. She told me that she's going to ride the bus every day and the mornings too. I vetoed the morning idea. She has to be ready quite a bit earlier, and I wouldn't get to walk her to school. I'm going to let her ride in the afternoons if she wants, but I hope the novelty wears off soon. I really missed picking her up from school today.

Herding Cats

I volunteered at school yesterday, and I was able to help Ella's teacher get some materials prepared for future lessons. I was in and out of the classroom all day. It is like herding cats to direct a classroom full of 19 kindergartners all day. Mrs. Webster has the patience of a saint and a song about every activity. They have songs about how to sit in circle time, songs about how to walk in the hall, songs about listening.

Even the simple act of walking down the hall is excruciating. Those little children can't walk a strait line to save their lives. They giggle and talk. They twirl in circles. They get out of line to run their hands along the wall. They simply stop, turn around and talk to the person behind them. And all the while, Mrs. Webster is as calm as can be trying to get them to walk down the hall in a simple line. I watched a group of first graders today. At some point the lessons do actually sink in because those kids actually understood the principle of walking quietly down the hall in a line.

Now for an Ella brag, Mrs. Webster told me that she is doing tremendously well with her reading. She said she could tell that I had obviously worked at teaching her to read. I'd love to take credit for that, but the things Ella knows about reading she has pretty much figured out on her own! I was very pleased to hear that she is doing well in that area though. Now, if we can just keep her talking under control. I told her that if she came home with good behaviour reports all week that she could pay for a special dessert treat in the cafeteria each Friday. Apparently, I can even put a restriction of no desserts except on Friday on her account.

Social Drama

I already have a social butterfly on my hands. It's only the 6th day of school and the 2nd day of getting behavior reports, and Ella already has a sad face for talking too much. Ohmygoodness she is just like me. She talked so much that her teacher had to move her seating assignment. According to Ella, "It is SOO boring. Now I have to sit with all boys. I'm the ONLY GIRL!" She lost her friend priviledges at home today too because she wasn't listening when the teacher was speaking.

There's social drama too. One of the little girls in Ella's class said that Ella was being mean to her. Ella's side of the story is that this little girl is jealous because Ella is making other friends. The other little girl is telling Ella that she's not allowed to be friends with anyone else. I spoke to the teacher at length this afternoon after getting all the details (there were quite a few). Tomorrow they are going to have a lesson for the whole class on being a family and being nice to everyone. Who knew that there could be so much drama in the life of a kindergartener?