Library Summer Days

Today felt like the first official day of Summer - 4 kids at home and hours of entertainment to fill. The novelty of being out of school has already worn off. So, we went to the library. Rachel declared she wasn't going to check anything out until she is done reading the entire Lemony Snickets series - which I bought for her. Granted, she is on book 5 (out of 10 books) and I love that she is reading them, but she doesn't think that she can read more than one book at a time. David's latest passion is Curious George. Sure, the books have been around since WWII, but my kids don't give them a second glance until a movie is made about the silly little monkey. But, today, all the Curious George books were gone and he was in a sour mood. Emma was tired and was trying to rip off my glasses every time I held her. When I asked about the summer reading program, the librarian informed me that you couldn't sign up until June 1 (it was May 30) and the only books that count are ones that you get from the library on or after June 1. I really think the next time we are coming to the libary in when the books are due - not the day after tomorrow. Then she showed us the "self checkout" option of checking out your books. Not really the best option with 4 kids. Of course the kids wanted to do it all by themselves. They took the advice of the librarian to "slowly slide your books on the scanner to remove the magentic strip" a little too literally. Maybe I should be glad we didn't have 15 Curious George books - we might still be there. Then, as we were leaving, Josh wanted to push the button that opens the doors - you know, the handicapped button. David decided that he had to push it first. I came home worn out and vowing not to return for at least 3 weeks. Going to the library is hard with 4 kids. I think going just about anywhere with all the kids is going to be difficult. I think it's going to be a long summer.

The Miracle of Life

When we first moved here, birds were everywhere. Within a few hours, 2 birds built a nest inside our bbq grill the size of a dinner plate. We had to remove it because that would make it rather difficult to grill hamburgers. We noticed an old nest on one of the support beams of our deck and took it down. About a week later a new one was built on the deck and we decided just to leave it. The kids watched with interest as a mother bird sat on the nest every day for hours. Then, after about another week, we could see little baby bird's beaks peaking out. The kids were fascinated. Every day they would get bigger. The second picture is from yesterday afternoon. It's amazing how much they change even after a few days. I went to check on the birds today and they were gone. I noticed a "family" of birds on the grass, hunting for worms. I wondered if this was our bird family. My kids were sad because they wanted to see the birds take their first flight, I did too. I find it amazing that the parenting cycle for these animals lasts less than a month. Or maybe the birds all stay together for a little while longer. So, as long as the birds don't build the nest in our grill or our dryer vent, they are welcome to stay. It provides us all with a bit of entertainment - at least for a little while.

Fiber

Sometimes your kids surprise you. Yesterday I went grocery shopping and I knew my kids needed some cereal. I have a "no artificial colors" rule, so I was looking for something they would like but also something they wouldn't gobble down in 2 days. I opted for frosted shredded wheat - well, you know, the generic kind in a big bag. They like it and it is shredded wheat - pretty healthy. I also got some Fiber one for me. My rule for breakfast cereal is that it must have at least 5 grams of fiber per serving. Well, this one has 14 g, so it definetly makes the cut. It's also lightly sweetened and has honey clusters or what ever to make it not taste exactly like rabbit food. So, today was a lazy sunday morning. I get to sleep in to about 7:45 - which is quite a break from my M-F 5:20 wake up schedule. My kids had already awoken and were getting cereal. David had the frosted shredded wheat. Josh was pouring himself a nice bowl of Fiber one. As I looked at him in surprise, he said "Mom, it's good, I tasted it." So, he didn't actually finish the whole bowl, but all day today, I've been wondering - what will 14 grams of fiber do to the digestive system of a 3 year old? I have yet to find out.

Spelling 101

David just finished kindergarten. It was a big transition moving here because he went from half day to full day and had to learn a lot more material. To top that off, he got bronchitis and was sick for 5 days. I've been helping him at home and he is doing great! He just brought home his journals and writing papers. His teacher firmly believes in kids sounding everything out so that results in some pretty unique spelling. Here is some of his work:

• Bears are sgreeee (scary)
  
• giraffe hf log nakc (have long necks)
  
• tiger r ogr (are orange)

Most of the rest of his school ones were ineligible. For their school journal, they write on unlined paper. Come on, we're talking about kids who just learned to write. Anyway, I have him write a journal at home on lined paper and I help him a little bit with the spelling. But I still let him sound out words as much as he can. Here are a few of my favorites from home:

• My faile haz famle nit (my family has family night)
• I fond a trasr in the moutin (found a treasure in the mountain)
• I got a dinosor. It can bite and ror.

You don't really realize how many little rules in reading and writing there are until you try and teach someone to do it. I also found a few from Rachel from when she was in first grade. She is actually doing well above grade level now. In the past 2 weeks, she has read the first 3 books in Lemony Snickets a Series of Unfortunate Events series. Anyway, here are some of her journals. I won't translate this time - let's see if you can sound it out.

• I love thnasgiving and crismiss. I love all the Halladays and I love school and I love my holl family. I love evrything. I love my bruther.
• Reespeckt mensa love, pashint, and hope. Kinise to othres. reespekt mensa evrething.
• Hope is supthing speshel.
• Joya is supthing happy. Its a happy feliin in your hart.
• Familys are speshl. Speshler then anything. Why are they speshler? thay will take care of us. why do thay take care of us? so we have a home.
• tempels are byoudfell, byoudfeller then any thing. you can git meredr in it for evr onle if you are good. We love the tempel. Tempels are speshel beckus Jesis Crist livs in it. Tempels are byoudufell bekus it is fary speshell! So be good. I want to be mared in the tempels. Temples are graetr then enything. I love tempels.
• Churches are speshell beckas Jeasis livs in them. You go to primary in it. girls war dresis. We like goin thar. I go to chure to larn about Jesis. I take the sakrmint.
• Dads hellp you mor then anything. So dads are graet. Dads are swet. Dads hellp tacke kar of us.
• Moms thake care of us! Moms are nice! Mom feeds us.

Anyway, I thought they were pretty cute. Hope you enjoyed!

Laughing Baby

I thought I better start recording some of the cute and funny things that my children do before I forget. The event that inspired this post was something that Emma did. She is quite mobile now and her new thing is standing on her own. This morning I was busy doing something. Emma was crawling around the kitchen, eating the part of her breakfast that she threw on the floor. I was in the master bedroom (on the main level) and I hadn't heard Emma for a few minutes. This has happened before and she usually has crawled upstairs. I looked around the main level, didn't see her, so I ran upstairs. I briefly glanced around the hallway and poked my heads in the bedrooms - I didn't see her. I ran back downstairs and looked around a little more. At this point I'm thinking she is hurt, or choking, or tangled in something and I started to get really worried. I ran upstairs again and she was just standing there, in the hallway, laughing. It was like she somehow knew - "mommy is running around scared to death and I'm right here!!! ha ha on her" I still don't know where she was the first time I looked. I'm just glad she was safe and sound.