If You Really Were Interested

For a lighter note on this Wednesday, I thought I would post some of my more recent Facebook status updates.  Most of them have something to do with the kids - and usually something funny.  But also the mundane, the parenting frustrations, and all the bore in between.  In all, one thing is for certain - my kids say the strangest things.

German friends take note:
Ingrid looking at the dinner table: "Where's the seaweed?"
Me: "There is no seaweed. We're having bratwurst and sauerkraut."
Ingrid: "Mom, it's naughty to serve bratwurst and not eat seaweed."

Classical Christmas music is playing in the kids rooms tonight. I hope the soothing qualities and known melodies will calm the otherwise chaotic evening that included misbehaving children with bad attitudes.

Annika brought her class a new classroom fish instead of cupcakes on her birthday. Class fish are the new cupcakes.

Just took apples and pretzels to Ingrid's class for her birthday. Apples are the new cupcakes!

Ingrid: What's for dinner?
Dad: Red Robin
Ingrid: What's a robin?
Dad: It's a bird.
Ingrid: Oh yuck. I hate eating birds. Why can't we eat normal food?

Ingrid: Mom, was today the last day of school?
Mom: No, Ingrid.
Ingrid: *Sigh*, How many more minutes of school do I have 'til I'm done?
Mom: You don't want to know.

Car conversation this evening -
Annika - Mom, how come you're late?
Me - I was at work.
Ingrid - Did you have a lot of chores to do? You know, at your work.
Me - Yes, I have lots to do.
Annika - Oh, are you the janitor? They do lots of work.

3 pm on a Friday and still a pile of urgent work to get done. *Sigh*

Watching the kids drift off to sleep. In 5......4......3......2......1.....And that's a wrap. Summer vacation is now officially.....OVER. Back to school in the AM!

I asked Ingrid if she wanted to start soccer this fall. Her response:

"Can I wear pink and have a pink ball with purple butterflies?"
No, you have to wear the shirt they give you and black shorts and black socks.
"What??? What about a dress instead - with purple shoes?"
No. You wear soccer clothes they give you.
"Really? You have to share clothes? YUCK."
Hmmm...Maybe we'll wait another year.

Unconventional Homework

Morgan and Annika were working on their homework this afternoon.  The assignments were traditional enough.  Morgan's social studies homework included a map that needed to be labeled and colored - the fertile crescent between the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers.  She worked with Woody to find some of the more difficult locations that needed to be labeled - Hattusa, Ur of Sumer and the Tyre of Phoenicia.  After Google'ing and cross checking maps, she completed her worksheet.  That's when the calls started.  First, classmate Jessica called.  Jessica was holding two phones up to her ears to talk to both Morgan and other classmate Josie.  The three were trying to collaborate, especially when they found out Morgan was done.  Morgan suggested a scan of her work or perhaps a web conference so she could more easily point out where Hattusa was located.  They settled on a 3-way call.  Ahhh, technology.

Annika's assignment was a page taken right out of her birthday celebration.  Her home project for September is from American Symbols.  Annika is tasked with researching the history of the U.S. Flag.  In addition to her report, she is to design a physical replica of her symbol, the flag, using a diorama, Power Point, poster, mobile, or a model using clay or perhaps, *LEGOS*(!!).  Guess who had her project done on the first day it was assigned????

Soccer season has started.  Can you see some of the remainders of an awesome Arizona sunset?  Despite the fact that is was 104 degrees at 7 PM...

Season Starts

Nearly 16 weeks of soccer season is about to kick off with the first official practice tonight.  Annika's team is nearly the same as last years with the group reforming again under Coach Michael.  On Saturday morning, the team held an informal practice and get together at the Coach's house in west Chandler.

So here's to a season that will include game time high temps in the one-teens down to game time highs in the thirties.

And Annika?  Is she ready?  We think so.  She certainly hard wired the process of where to  not toss your dirty soccer socks.

Almost There. And She's Excited About It.

Ingrid is decoding words, memorizing whole words and practicing phonics all in attempts to make the leap and join her sisters as readers.  We are very pleased with her progress from the extra help in summer school reading camp to her kindergarten class.  And anytime in between we're working with flash cards and reading aides to add to her learning.  Why not?  She is that enthusiastic about it.  Really.  Really.  Neat.  Grandma and Grandpa - get your webcam ready.  A "fancy" reader may be calling you in the very near future to read bed time books - TO YOU.

Ingrid decodes the words from the "an" family.

"Yuck. I just read the word "bug" "

Ingrid reacts after decoding her FAVORITE WORD OF ALL TIME

Pinkalicious learns the origins of her name.

Dust Storm Fun

With a dust storm blanketing the Valley on a Saturday night, it seemed like a perfect opportunity to walk the mall for exercise.  We took the kids out for Subway dinner in the food court and then walked our way around the mall taking in the sights.  The kiddos enjoyed the pace.  By request, we stopped at Bath and Body to get hanitizer, which really is hand sanitizer.  Annika bought her own pocket hand sanitizer with Chung cash.  She said it was the "in" thing to bring your own.   Annika picked out a tangerine scent.  Not to be outdone, Ingrid picked out a sweet pea hand sanitizer.  She won't be taking hers to school.  Morgan got a whole bath set for her birthday she reminded us, including large and pocket sized hand sanitizer - lemon lime.

With clean hands, we looked at fall candles, bought a birthday present for a party that Morgan will be attending and picked up natural popcorn and frozen bananas for dessert.  By the time we left the mall a little after 8, the storm had passed.

Old Photo Friday

Now that the birthday season is over, I've got my eyes on the next projects.  Erik's baptism is in October and so is Halloween.  Yep, it's costume time!  Have you got yours done?  We'll be keeping our ideas under wraps until the big day.

Today's Old Photo Friday is my dad is this darling cowboy costume.  He's so cute!

Dennis Stevens,   Hayfield, MN

Wednesday Midweek Madness

Folks - it's damned hot outside.  This is our blizzard.  They call it "Red Zone" here.  The Department of Health Services puts out a warning and the schools go into Red Zone.  What that really means is it's too hot for recess so the kids stay inside except to move from place to place.  The kids are coming home with pink cheeks.  Kind of like the pink cheeks when they're out in the cold - only this is flushed cheeks from warmth.  Heat miser.  Go away!!

Our mid week is full of homework, baths, reading, and cleaning.  And dinner planning in between.  We're trying to figure out dinners that don't involve cooking - try not to throw more heat on heat.  Tofu and Kimchi with rice and seaweed.  That's a favorite.  Plus Homemade Korean sushi.  I'll have to keep thinking for the rest of the week.  I keep getting inspiration from my aunt's food blog - yummy fall celery soup, goulash, etc.  And then I walk outside to 100 max-wattage hairdryers pointed directly at my body....

Morgan has a birthday party on Saturday - laser tag.  I think it's her entire class.  These are the creative ideas we use during the heat to get our kids running and playing.  Indoor play areas are big here.  So are pools.  We'll be looking for some ideas for the weekend.  Stay tuned.

"The Birthday Girl"

Yes, she had a great day.

First, the school told parents that they do not want cupcakes or any other sweets brought for birthdays this year.  They don't want to be spoilers, just more health conscious.  I get it and I agree.  We've never brought cupcakes because you have to buy them, Morgan can't eat them, and the others won't.  So it doesn't make sense.   The principal mentioned that the cupcake craze was exponential at the school with some parents bringing 30 gourmet 5 inch cupcakes.  Can you say sugar high????

So this year, I told Annika that we'd have to get creative.  For Ingrid's birthday last week, I snuck away from work and brought sliced apples and pretzels from Fresh and Easy.  I slipped into the classroom, set up 30 cups and filled them with apples and pretzels while Ingrid (the birthday girl) handed out napkins.  All the while, a math lesson was going on.  I quickly handed them out.  They paused to sing happy birthday and say kind words to Ingrid and then I left. 10 minutes.  Easy peasy.

Annika mentioned that Mrs. K's beloved beta fish had died over the summer at her house.  She's had it for three years.  I sent an email to Mrs. K to ask if we could buy the class a new fish and food in lieu of a birthday snack.  Fabulous idea was the response.  So the family went Monday night to pick out a beta fish and food.  Score - it's cheaper than cupcakes or candy, anyway.  Annika got to facilitate the class vote for naming the fish.  She was not called Annika all day, she was called "The Birthday Girl".  Annika loved it.

Meet BLUE THUNDER, class fish.

"The Birthday Girl" requested dinner at Red Robin.  We were happy to comply with the request rather than turn on the stove or oven.  We got an early start - 5 PM and had a fabulous meal with the four kids.  So happy when everyone is well behaved.  "The Birthday Girl" received a free ice cream sundae and was all smiles sharing with Ingrid.  Erik and Morgan chose to share an all fruit smoothie.  We came home, sang and opened presents.  Then baths, reading and bed.  Goodnight, "The Birthday Girl".

Annika's Lego Birthday Party

Today was Annika's birthday party.  The one that I have been working on for about four months.  I vowed not to let it get overwhelming and do most of the tasks early.  Somehow, I still ended up with precious little sleep the last two nights trying to get everything done that I had envisioned.  Well, it didn't all get done.  Did the kids know?  No.  They were busy having fun.  So I guessed I come out on top in the fun category.  For now, here are some of the pictures from the fun day.

After I have a few days to decompress, I will add a source list for some of the great ideas I found.  First, I want to say a special thank you to Matt Bratcher who loaned us all of the cool Star Wars Legos that were used as part of the displays.  There was lots of oohs and aahs, from the kids AND parents, both enjoying the details of Matt's Lego creations.

Back Soon

It's been a crazy two weeks.  I will be back blogging this weekend after Annika's big Lego party.  In the meantime, here's a funny picture from Ingrid's birthday yesterday:



Ingrid's best quote from her birthday party yesterday:

"Ahhww. C'mon Guys!! A word book?? THIS. IS. NOT. EVEN. A. GOOD. PRESENT."

I'm still laughing at it.  Thanks again, Grandma and Grandpa, for joining us for dinner and cake by webcam!

Student Council

Morgan collected forty signatures, plus parent and teacher endorsements to officially throw her name in the hat for student council treasurer.  Next Friday is speeches and voting.  This weekend included posters and stickers.  Since Adobe Illustrator already was running, we kept the style from Annika's upcoming birthday party to create Morgan's campaign graphic, borrowed from other illustrations.  I printed 100 stickers for her to start the week.

Good luck Morgan, we're proud of you!

Sunday Random Randomness

Dear Scholastic,

Have we really known each other for 35 years?  I can't believe its been that long.  As it was then and it is now, nothing goes better with Saturday morning cereal than your newsprint thin catalog of tantalizing kids books.  Our love for reading comes partly from you.

Thank you,

A-mom-who-really-wishes-she-could-order-everything-her-kids-circled

******************************************************************************

Dear Mattel,

Can you re-engineer your doll's center of gravity so she doesn't float like that?  Thank you.

Sincerely,

A-mom-who-can't-believe-her-son's-intent-stare.

*****************************************************************************

Old Photo Friday

Erik is perhaps..., maybe..., just possibly..., by a fraction..., letting go of his fire truck obsession.  Actually, instead of letting go, he's more likely opening his mind up to other machinery.  Namely, tractors.  There are three fields surrounded by our man made lakes in our neighborhood.  The association requires them to be constantly tilled or trimmed.  No sagebrush or tumble weeds.  Therefore, two tractors are a constant presence each time we pull out of the neighborhood.  Great machines require constant comments from our two year old.

It's perfectly normal.  Two of my cousins were obsessed with heavy machinery.   Their parents kept their obsession fed with very nice scaled metal toy tractors, back hoe loaders, front loaders, combines and skidders (bobcats).  The boys slept with these metal toys.  Ouch.  I remember riding in my uncle's car with my cousins and passing a construction site.  There were loud howls of protest that we didn't slow down and check out the bulldozer, excavator, or front loader.

Now we're in that phase more than 20 years late - only with three older sisters groaning if we pull over to look at a tractor.

So here's today's Old Photo Friday.  I'm thinking about my cousins, Chucky and Chad, and smiling about their tractor obsession.  I took this picture with my first camera - a Kodak 110 Instamatic. 

Chucky and Chad with their John Deere in front of the cabins

Next generation, same style tractor - Chad's sons Parker and Caleb