Summer Work Goals

A couple of weeks ago, I shared our summer fun list. We also have a list of goals for the summer.

Jack
1. Read a chapter book each week and write a book report about it. I found a good template for book reports on Pinterest. You can find it here.

2. Complete his summer school work binder. I printed a variety of math, writing, and English worksheets from education.com. This is an awesome resource for worksheets categorized by grade level and subject. You have to set up an account, but it is free. This is the second summer we've used this website for Jack's summer work packet.

3. Help around the house more. He is now responsible for putting away his own laundry, cleaning his room each morning, and (with Harry's help) making sure the playroom is clean before we go out for the day.

Harry
1. Learn to write his name

2. If number one works out well, learn to write the rest of the alphabet.

3. If the first two go well, start Hooked on Phonics Kindergarten. (I think 2 and 3 will become fall and winter goals!)

Addie
1. Get potty trained!!! It's day two of trying. I have to admit it's partly for selfish motives. This is earlier than I potty trained the boys, but I think she might be ready, and I have $15 in Amazon gift cards that Purex sent me for Mother's Day. I really want to use it to buy Shadow of Night for my Kindle instead of using it for diapers.

Whole Family:
1. Keep the house clean (This is mostly my goal, and having Jack pitch in more is helping. But I'm not doing a super great job with this...)

2. Do an art or science activity with the kids each week. This is going okay. Last week we made invisible ink from The Dangerous Book for Boys. I guess we have until tomorrow to do something for this week!

3. Do something fun as a family, all five of us, at least once a week. This isn't really work, but it is tricky to work out with Cory's schedule. This week, we went to see Brave.


Last week, we were able to check watching the cinematic gem, Scooby Doo Meets Batman, off of our Summer Fun List.

Why I love gDiapers

Why I love gDiapers.:

Addie wearing her super cute, gray ruffley gDiaper for her six month photo.
(The picture was taken at Sears, if you couldn't tell ;)



Addie wearing the same super cute, gray ruffley gDiaper at twenty-six months!

Summer Fun List!

Memorial Day weekend, I had the kids make a list off what kinds of fun things they wanted to do this summer. I am just now getting around to sharing it. We are going to do our very best to do as many as possible. Here's the list!

1. Swim (We have already done this, but we will definitely swim more!)
2. Go to Aunt Jane's house (I should probably let her know...)
3. Go to Aunt Elaine's house (I'm sensing a theme.)
4. Go to a National Park (Yeah Jack! And he actually said "parks.")
5. Go to the zoo. (We have already done this. You can read about it here.)
6. Camp
7. Do the Summer Reading Program at the library.
8. Watch "Scooby Doo Meets Batman. (This is one of Jack's. If anyone has a copy to lend us, let me know please!)
9. Go to the circus (This was Harry's. I'll need to check if it's actually possible.)
10. Have a water balloon fight

They had a few other suggestions that pretty much couldn't happen (like go to Disney World - I wish!- and buy a real magic wand that really does magic) so I decided not to include those on the list :)

Something Tells Me It's All Happening at the (rest stop right by the) Zoo

On Saturday, Cory and I decided to take the kids to the zoo. Harry had been asking to go the zoo since he was in the hospital, and, not able to talk yet, could just mouth the word "zoo." We decided to go in the afternoon since Cory had worked all night and needed to sleep some before we left. We loaded up the new truck for its first big trip and set off. We were nearly there, about twenty-five miles away, when we stopped at a rest area. It's almost two hours to the zoo from our house, so the kiddos were asleep. Cory got out of the car, just as Jack was waking up. I started to call to Cory to wait for Jack, when Cory took off running. I noticed that a group of people were gathered around the emergency contact pole (the thing with the blue light that contacts 911 when you press a button.) I looked to where Cory had run, and saw a Budget rental truck flipped on its side, and on fire. I hustled Jack back into the car. (This all happened in about a minute.) The truck had exited to the rest stop right behind us and crashed as we were parking. Cory told someone to get a fire extinguisher. A teenaged boy ran to get one and started putting the fire out. Cory kicked out the windshield, and Cory and an off duty paramedic (from a town right near us. It's a small world!) pulled the woman from the truck. Cory finished putting out the fire. The woman was awake and aware. She said she was driving home to St. Louis from her brother's funeral in Ohio, with the truck of his belongings. She was exiting to the rest area when the breaks stopped working. She swerved into the grass, through the picnic area and lost control of the truck, crashing into a tree. She was pretty banged up, and likely had some broken bones, but it looked like she would be okay. Considering that there were a lot of people around, including a family with little kids picnicing in the area where she crashed, it really could have been a lot worse. Thank God two people who knew what to do in a situation like this arrived at the rest area right when the crash happened! The paramedics and fire trucks got there about a half hour later and took the driver to the hospital. We waited for the State Police to get there, about another half hour, to make sure they didn't need anything from Cory, and we were on our way to the zoo again!




Now to the less terrifying part of the trip. Due to the unexpected rest stop delay, and running into some traffic (where we witnessed a fender bender,) we had two hours at the zoo instead of four. We made the most of it, though. The kids saw all the animals on their must see list. The boys were thrilled that they got to see two different types of cobras, though I think they were expecting the snakes to have their hoods out and be doing some sort of snake charm dance. (Instead, they were asleep.) They loved the penguins, though Addie seemed unsure about the temperature and odor of the penguin house. Harry's favorites were the cheetahs and the elephant. Jack's (and my) favorites were the penguins and puffins. Addie liked the pink flamingos and the baby camel. We saw almost everything, had perfect weather, and had lots of fun! (Side note: We saw a little boy wearing a trach collar while we were there. I wanted to hug him and his parents, and show them Harry, and tell them it was all going to be alright. They walked away before I could be a complete weirdo, though.) Then we finished off at my favorite touristy restaurant, The Old Spaghetti Factory. The kids were excited by the balloon maker who made swords for the boys and a flower for Addie (who later decided that she should have chosen a sword too. "I need fight.") Addie also discovered that she likes mizithra, and all three kiddos like spumoni. Despite a rough start, we had a great day!

My little monkeys checking out the gorillas.





Harry was so happy to be at the zoo!









Addie running away from the fake cobra.

Little Slugger

Jack had his first hit of the season at his baseball game last night. It was pretty much right in front of the plate, and he looked a little shocked after he hit it. After a moment, he took off for first base. He made it, but instead of stopping, he didn't even pause and went straight for second base, despite his coaches telling him to stay at first base. His hit definitely wasn't a double, but he nearly made it before being tagged out. When Cory went over and asked him why he kept running, he matter-of-factly said, "Because I wanted to have a home run." It was such an awesome answer, that Cory didn't have the heart to tell him that he should have stopped at first. He just told Jack that he had done great. Later, after the came and a celebretory half price bakery treat and pack of gum from Walmart, I tried to nonchalantly mention that next time he should stop at first base and wait for the coach to tell him if he should keep running or not. It felt kind of wrong though, like it might be soul crushing for a little kid not to go for a home run every time. So I guess we'll see what he does next time he gets a hit. I don't think I mind if he's the kind of kid who gets tagged out for going for a home run every time. It's seems like a good philosophy to apply to life in general. And who knows, maybe he will get a home run.

Honey Bunches of Oats Winners

Congrats to the three Honey Bunches of Oats Winners! Entries #3, #5, and #4. Laura, I will give you your coupon next time I see you! Mami2jcn and JC, I will be emailing you for your addresses so I can send you your coupons. Enjoy!!!