12 Jun
Free Curriculum
10 Mar
Family Interview
I caught a wild hair today and decide to interview each member of our family. The answers are in order from our oldest member to youngest member.
1. What is your favorite cereal?
Greg: Cinnamon Toast Crunch
Kris: Shredded Wheat (not sweetened)
Tyler: Honey Bunches of Oats
Hayden: CoCo Puffs
Greyson: Cinnamon Toast Crunch
Isaac: Frosted Flakes
Arwyn: ”Cer-e” (Cereal)
2. What is your favorite vegetable?
Greg: Corn
Kris: Broccoli
Tyler: Broccoli
Hayden: “This is hard. Salad”
Greyson: “brown beans all alone” (baked beans with no hotdogs, which aren’t really a vegetable)
Isaac: Carrots
Arwyn: ”I see”
3. What is your favorite drink?
Greg: Lemonade
Kris: Coffee
Tyler: ”Strawberry-Banana Smoothie”
Hayden: “My first favorite is Kool-Aid but I change that to Peach Tea because that stuff is GOOOD!”
Greyson: ”Hot Chocolate”
Isaac: Soda! I LOVE soda!
Arwyn: ”Dink” (drink)
4. What is your favorite toy?
Greg: Playstation
Kris: “Computer”
Tyler: ”Wii”
Hayden: Green Army Bin
Greyson: Legos
Isaac: Drum
Arwyn: ”Tools”
5. What is your favorite TV show?
Greg: Dark Angel
Kris: “Taboo”
Tyler: ”Mystery Hunters”
Hayden: “This is hard. Oh! Star Wars Clone Wars”
Greyson: ”Sponge Bob”
Isaac: Backyardigans
Arwyn: ”TB Show” (TV Show)
6. What is your favorite game?
Greg: Football
Kris: “eh, no favorite”
Tyler: ”Mario Cart”
Hayden: “Snowboarding”
Greyson: You already know what it is, Star Craft! *big grin*
Isaac: Star Wars!
Arwyn: ”no”
7. What is your favorite book?
Greg: Harry Potter Series
Kris: “Don’t have a favorite. I just LOVE to read”
Tyler: “I have to pick between two? Djinn & Charlie” (Children of the Lamp & Charlie Bone series)
Hayden: “Jack and Annie” (Magic Treehouse Series)
Greyson: “Books that tell about weather and stuff” (Science Books)
Isaac: Star Wars!
Arwyn: ”book”
8. What is your favorite place to eat?
Greg: Outback
Kris: “Mexican”
Tyler: Cookout
Hayden: “CiCi’s, you knew I was going to say that right?”
Greyson: “CiCi’s because it has pizza, salad, and brownies”
Isaac: At the park
Arwyn: ”I climbing up your leg. EAT!”
9. What is your favorite holiday?
Greg: New Year’s
Kris: “Christmas”
Tyler: Halloween
Hayden: “Christmas because you get to eat as much candy as you want and you get presents…..*knowing look*…..from grown-ups “
Greyson: ”Trick-or-Treating”
Isaac: Easter
Arwyn: ”no”
10. What is your favorite animal?
Greg: *pfffttt* Lion
Kris: “Giraffe”
Tyler: ”Toucan”
Hayden: “The sloth because I’m like the sloth when I don’t get much sleep. Can I go sleep in a tree right now?”
Greyson: “Rhinosaurus”
Isaac: ”Rilla” (Gorilla)
Arwyn: ”I’m singin and I’m cookin”
11. If you could change your name, what would your new name be?
Greg: Jordis
Kris: “Ivy”
Tyler: ”That is hard. This is hard, hard, hard…. May”
Hayden: “Mack”
Greyson: “Nimo” (said with a long i sound)
Isaac: ”Jay”
Arwyn: ”Be sleeping”
12. If you could go on a trip anywhere, where would you go?
Greg: London
Kris: “Anywhere, just want to be with my family”
Tyler: ”To that place across the Ocean to see the Mona Lisa – the Louvre”
Hayden: ”To China so I can taste all the foods there”
Greyson: “A factory that makes cookies or sodas”
Isaac: ”To a park”
Arwyn: ”Bye-Bye”
13. Tell me a wish that you have made:
Greg: ”Win the Lotto”
Kris: “To be a great parent”
Tyler: ”mmmmmm……ommmm….. that i can….. raise enough money to get a Nintendo DS. I’ve done it several times but I keep spending the money on something else.”
Hayden: ”Everyone is ok in the family and everyone gets the right amount of money and everyone in the world won’t have bullies mess with them. Why can’t people live in peace?”
Greyson: “Jar with a fish in it”
Isaac: ”A star”
Arwyn: ”Ish” (wish)
14. What do you love about Daddy (Greg)?
Kris: “His absurd sense of humor”
Tyler: *laughing* “When he says “shame on your cow”"
Hayden: ”He turns me upside-down and wrestles me. He’s challenging”
Greyson: “fixes the computer”
Isaac: “Star Wars!”
Arwyn: ”Daddy”
15. What do you love about me (Kris)?
Greg: ”Your touch”
Tyler: *laughing* “When you pick at Daddy, being funny”
Hayden: ”You are kind and nice and you cook for everyone and you take us to the park to do schoolwork.”
Greyson: “you do nice things”
Isaac: ”Christmas!”
Arwyn: ”Mommy”
16. What do you love about Tyler?
Greg: ”Her smile”
Kris: “Her desire to help others”
Hayden: ”She kicks me in the head and I punch her and we act crazy and she screams “HAY-den”"
Greyson: ”She gets things for me when I can’t reach. Like when I climb a shelf”
Isaac: ”Santa!”
Arwyn: ”Tyler”
17. What do you love about Hayden?
Greg: ”His quirkiness”
Kris: “His huge heart”
Tyler: *looking stunned* “Om, I guess because he cares about me”
Greyson: “I can’t think of anything! I like playing legos when he lets me live in his lego house”
Isaac: ”Flowers!”
Arwyn: ”Hayden”
18. What do you love about Greyson?
Greg: ”His understanding”
Kris: “His endless questions”
Tyler: *eyebrows raise* “What do I love about him? Well he IS fun to play with when he doesn’t bother me”
Hayden: ”If I keep asking, he will always say OK!”
Isaac: ”Stars!”
Arwyn: ”Greyson”
19. What do you love about Isaac?
Greg: ”His snuggliness”
Kris: “His constant need to love on people”
Tyler: ”Because he loves to cuddle with people when they are watching movies”
Hayden: ”If I give him a nickel, he will do what I want”
Greyson: “I’m looking in my brain and all the things I see are bothering me. I don’t think he has been nice.”
Arwyn: ”NO!”
20. What do you love about Arwyn?
Greg: ”Her hugs”
Kris: “Her love of life”
Tyler: ”She is a gentle sweetheart and I love her very much.”
Hayden: ”She’s cute and she plays with us a lot and she is funny because she says “my diapers off!”"
Greyson: “She plays with me. I love her because she is cute. I really like her.”
Isaac: ”Snowmans!”
4 Mar
Play Dough Recipe
I didn’t have Cream of Tartar and most of the non-edible playdough recipes call for it. I subsituted with lemon juice and it worked quite well today.
I had a couple of kool-aid packages that were eons old so I use 1 on each of the two first batches for color. For the next 3 batches, I used some gel dyes from my cake decorating kit. Leaf Green turned out particularly well.
Here is the recipe:
1 cup of flour
1/4 cup of salt
1 T oil
1/2 cup lemon juice
1/2 cup water
Koolaid or Color (opt.)
Mix on medium heat until a ball forms. Take out of pan and let cool a bit. Then knead until smooth. One of my batches was a bit “wet” so I just sprinkled it with flour and worked it in.
Each batch makes approximately 2 of the typical play containers full.
16 Feb
Time Flies
Sometimes I catch Tyler looking like this and I realize that she is almost 11 years old. She looks so grown:
I realize that I probably have less years with her living at home in front of me than behind me. Makes me a bit teary. I love you Ty.
16 Feb
Video Game Funny
My 3 year old – Isaac – is rather obsessed with video games. He loves the Lego Star Wars in particular.
Tonight, during dinner, we were reviewing our “house rules” such as no hitting and no running. When I asked what happens if you break a rule, Isaac suddenly piped up:
“Game Over”
We were all in stitches!
11 Feb
Can I sue the Wiggles?
I’m just kidding about the lawsuit. But I am pretty sure they are responsible for a recent mess. You see, Arwyn has recently heard a Wiggle song that includes the lyric “mashed banana mashed banana”. She was quite happily singing the song while she looked like this:
Yes, that is banana on her and on the floor!
In case you can’t see the bodily damage:
Do you realize how hard it is to shampoo out banana?
Really, I’m not sure she could have gotten any happier:
She must have been thinking those Wiggles are pure musical genius
After a long bath, we are all cleaned up:
Now, any morning with a banana facial and a deep soak is a good morning yall!
6 Feb
Art Class
On a whim, we decided to try our hand at pointillist painting. Here are the results:
Hayden “storm with hail”
Greyson “sunny day”
Tyler “ladybug on leaf”
23 Oct
My day
People often ask me “How do you do it?” or say “I couldn’t manage 5 kids”… I guess I am busier than most but I never think of myself like that until someone points it out. Not sure why I’m writing this now. My friend Kelly from high school said something recently about how busy I am. Funny, cause I’m sitting here feeling like I’ve had a totally lazy day.
Here is my lazy day: (I’ll try to remember to post a productive day at some point so yall can compare)
Got up and nursed Arwyn. Changed her diaper and got her dressed.
Fixed breakfast for Hayden, Grey & Isaac. Tyler still sleeping. Fixed a bottle for Arwyn.
Greg is home today so I curled up with him and my coffee on the couch this morning. Signed in to Diaper Pin on the laptop to check on the status of things there (a side job for those of you who don’t know)
After watching a bit of CNN and checking the Pin and my email, I cleaned up after Breakfast.
Started a load of dishes and a load of laundry. Folded the one load that was in the dryer.
Went upstairs and woke up Tyler and straightened my room.
Got the boys cued up to watch a History documentary on Pirates called “voyages” that I had recorded the other day. They did the first hour of their schoolwork while watching this video.
I played with Arwyn during this time as she managed to put the Cheerios in her Cheerio play book. She only threw them once and of course, I made her get down and pick them all up. Isaac was busy on the computer playing some Freddy Fish game (thank goodness for small miracles).
After the Pirates, the kids went to the school room and got started on the rest of their work. We broke for lunch (which Greg had cooked). After lunch, Grey and Isaac went upstairs for quiet time.
I read some of Walk the World’s rim and Pedro’s Journal to Tyler and graded some of her math assignments. She read The Corn is Ripe to me while I cleaned the kitchen and threw another load of clothes in.
She took a quick break and I did the same. break from school. I went and checked the mail and found a bill that was wrong. Got the company to drop the incorrect charges. I straightened the living room from Arwyn’s morning play.
School back in session. I had to read a couple of Science books to Hayden and explore some internet links. Kids finished up the rest of their lessons.
We went outside and I tossed a ball to the boys and swung Arwyn on the swing. Came back in a fixed a snack of cheese and crackers for the kids.
Then grabbed the laptop and here I am aobut 30 minutes later. Man…. I’ve GOT to go get dinner done.
So anyhow, that is a non-busy day in my household. When I type it all up… it looks busy but it doesn’t really feel that way. just like what I do I guess.
I’ll try to document what I do for the rest of the evening later tonight and I’ll post what I consider a productive day later ;P
9 Oct
Captain Underpants
I never know exactly what to expect during free play. This particular day, life was a bit comical to say the least. Captain Underpants anyone?
Not to be left out:
