Mommathon

I usually write about books that I think are outstanding or books that are favorites in our house. After reading this book that Liam picked out at the library I knew I had to write about it. It is THE WORST book I have ever read to one of my kids and I have read a LOT of books. I am assuming that some adult besides the author read the book before it was published. How did so many people read this book and decide that it was worthy of publication? Baffling.

All last school year I went to class one night a week. There were about six other women in my class and almost all of them are reading specialists. What that means is that they work with struggling readers all day long every day of the week. These women were awesome! The things they knew, the strategies they used with their students amazed me. They were always going to conferences and workshops. These women were definitely professionals! They also intimidated me. Here I am at home with my kiddos all day while the world of education continues on without me. Which is fine, but I definitely am not the expert these women were in the field of struggling readers, especially the youngest students. Going to class was always a bit intimidating. Here these women are getting their degrees so they can have a degree that matches the job title they already have. 90% of what we were learning they already knew because it is what they did all day at school and most of them could have taught the class. Then this week I saw a mom of a student I worked with last fall. She said she had been meaning to call me and tell me how much her child has improved and she wanted to thank me for everything I did for him. She said they had been using some of the ideas I gave them to work on at home and she could tell they were really working. That made me feel so good. I know I know what I am doing. I also know I don't know half of what those other teachers know, but I am getting there.

Over the past few weeks, Colm has discovered the world of board games and card games. He LOVES to play Go Fish, it definitely ranks up there among his favorites. Thomas the Train dominoes is a favorite, too. It is so much fun now that Colm and Liam can play games together. On a side note, who in the *%$& created Candyland? Really. I have never seen a game that can cause such crying and fighting. You get all the way to the top and then, BAM, you get the wrong card and now you are back to the start. That is NOT fun...games are supposed to be fun.

We were out on the town today with a trip to Union Station to see The Hare and the Tortoise Musical. The boys really enjoyed it and Liam even got some of the humor. Colm liked it when everyone clapped after each musical number. We then headed over to Zoom and then onto Fritz's when our tummies started to grumble. It was a good outing for a rainy day.

Whoever is leading Little Angels tomorrow...I want to see THIS kind of enthusiasm! :)

There are some books out there that my kids love that are oldies but goodies. Millions of Cats was published in 1928. It is a great book not only for the storyline, but also because of the repetition to the storyline as well. Kids can begin to predict what is going to happen pretty quickly and can also start to read along even it they can't really read. It also has a good moral and a happy ending. Caps for Sale, published in 1940, is another favorite around here. Again, it is another book that has enough repetition in it that kids can read along and participate in the story. It is also elicits some belly laughing when the monkeys start to throw the hats at the peddler. Lastly, Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel (1956) is the story of how an outdated steamshovel and her loyal owner take on the challenge of digging the new town hall after being shunned because of their lack of modern technology. Even though we have read it many times, there is still the suspense as they dig. Will they get it done in time? It is just a good story. Enjoy!

Today we were at Little Angels at church making our nametags that were in the shape of angels. Oh, what sweet little children with their sweet little name tags. (Insert screeching brake sounds here.) I look over and Liam has taken red and green markers and drawn huge X's through his angel. He informs me that his is a Sith and then Colm overhears and pipes in that his is Darth Sidious. (Insert heavy sigh.) Boys.

My great-grandma died today at the age of 95. She had a stroke about a month ago. It is hard to recover from something like that when you are 95. My great-grandma was a pistol. You didn't want to mess with her. She did not tolerate whining or weakness from anyone. She had an opinion about everything, too. One of my favorite most recent stories about her took place about 5 years ago when I last saw her. We went to visit her on Memorial Day and she wanted to go visit the graves of her parents. My mom and step-dad, Sean and I drove all over looking for the right graveyard. Then, when we finally got to the graveyard that she thought was the right one, she said that she remembered the graves were under a big tree. Do you know how many big trees there were in this HUGE graveyard???? Oh, my! But you don't tell a 90-year-old woman who is looking for her parents' graves no, so we searched all over that cemetary...in the rain! We never did find them. That same day we took her out to lunch. We were at the restaurant and there was a woman there at the next table who lived in the same retirement home as my great-grandma. My great-grandma knew her, they were across-the-hall- neighbors at their retirement home, but my great-grandma would not acknowledge her. Apparently, this other woman was not in the same retirment home clique. Too funny!

I love this time of year when there are TONS of fresh fruits at the store. Today I picked up two new fruits we have never tried before. I got an orange flesh melon and a camouflage melon. The orange flesh melon looks like a canteloupe on the inside and is really sweet. The camouflage has kind of a weird consistency. I am not sure if the one I got is too ripe or if that is just the way they come. It also didn't seem to have a lot of fruit on the inside...mostly seeds...hmmm...I think it is too ripe.

They have stopped making my favorite milk. I went to get some today and the whole section where that milk usually is was empty. It came in glass bottles that you took back to the store so they could reuse them AND they would give you $1.50 when you brought it back. It cost less than $3.00 to buy, so once you got the refund for the bottle...that's pretty cheap milk, especially organic milk. It was from a local farm, so I felt good about buying it and it tasted SO good. It was really great milk. The grocery store said they were looking for another kind of milk that was comparable. We'll see...

Does anyone ever feel like their children do not have the same sense of urgency to get out the door in the morning as you do? I feel like the more I tell them (especially Liam) to hurry the slower he gets. He has plenty of time, too. He just dawdles. Honestly I'm not sure what takes him so stinkin' long. Just get your clothes on, please, so we can get on with our day! Then once we get in the car Colm has about 15 other things he needs to do before he actually plants his bottom in his carseat. Ugh! Just get in the %&^$# car! I was a little frustrated this week. Can you tell?

I have a little under two months to get Colm to realize that he needs to do his business on the pot. Montessori said they will let you have a little wiggle room, but technically they need to be potty trained when school begins. If I could just get him to go #2 I think we'd be okay, but I can't even get him to sit on the toilet. We are going to be purchasing some of that thick underwear this weekend and see if that works. I know I should just let him run around naked and let him pee down his leg so he figures it out, put when you are trying to sell your house you really don't want your kid peeing everywhere.

This is what our house looked like about a week ago.

House no. 3

This is the latest and greatest thing in our house. It all started in May when I started tutoring for my summer class. I tutor on Wednesday nights leaving the boys and Sean for what is now "guy night". Liam looks forward to guy night all week. They play video games, go get custard, go to the bookstore, whatever they decide to do. Liam will ask me all day how long it is until dad gets home when he knows it is guy night. He will also ask me when I am leaving. Oh, the love. It makes me happy though. I love that my boys have their night together and I get to go do my thing, even if it is just doing school stuff.

Since we have zero scheduled activities on Fridays this summer, they are our excursion days. Today's excursion was to Reading Reptile. It is the bookstore for kids that Borders and Barnes and Noble would like to be, but they can't because they are too big. Reading Reptile has a toy area, dressup area, a place to play board games and then there are, of course, the books. They have all kinds of neat chairs to sit in while you share a book and there is even a secret hideaway with a rug and a big pillow where the kids can read. They have craft classes there for kids and movie nights on Fridays. They also have a cat who unfortunately doesn't seem to like kids too much, but he certainly adds to the homey feel of the place. After that we went to Baskin Robbins and had an ice cream cone. I have pics of the ice cream I'll post later. Colm was a mess...I don't think I will ever get the chocolate out of that shirt. Oh, well...that's what summer is for...getting to eat ice cream cones as they melt faster than you can eat them.

We were out to eat tonight (people were looking at our house) and Liam pointed to a picture on the wall and said, "Mom, that person kind of looks like you." So I am searching the walls for a picture of someone who even slightly resembles me. Stumped, I say, "Where, honey". "Over there, the one with the glasses". Apparently I look like John Lennon. Thanks, honey.

One year ago today was the last day I saw my dad alive. We took him out to dinner at this new Mexican restaurant he really wanted to go to. I had never been there, but my brothers had taken him there recently and he wanted to go there again. It was good, but I noticed my dad didn't really eat that much. He was on the downward spiral at that point and had been for a while, but I didn't think that was all the time I was going to get with him. What would I have done differently that night had I known? Did I hug him? Did I tell him I loved him? I am sure I probably did. We had taken him out to celebrate Father's Day. The only thing I can say that I know I would have done differently, had I known, is that I would have tried to take everything in...really just tried to soak up the whole evening. Hug your dad today. Tell him you love him. Soak it up.

I have been using Mrs. Meyers to clean and I really like the lavendar smell, but it is kind of pricy and the cleaners for the countertops leave streaks. So, I am going to start using this. It is WAY cheaper, it doesn't leave streaks, it can clean tons of stuff and as long as I don't go on a freakish cleaning binge the house will smell fresh and not artificially clean or too vinegary. I don't know if I will use it for everything, but I have already cleaned the inside of the frig with it and it looks and smells fantastic. :) I might try some of these, too. Another bonus is if the kids get into it, it is doesn't matter. I don't think any kid in their right mind would drink vinegar water, but if they did, atleast Poison Control wouldn't have to get involved.

I need to get some audio of the conversations that go on around here. Today on the way out to lunch Sean decided to give the boys a lecture on DNA. What is so funny about this (besides the fact that he was lecturing a 5 and a 3-year-old about DNA) is that while he was trying to expand their minds and open them up to the world of genetics Colm was in his carseat screaming about wanting to go to Chuck E. Cheese and that was not where we were headed. Sean and I just looked at each other and chuckled.

Check this out.

I don't like it when I am reading something and there are grammatical errors, spelling mistakes, etc. So I really get annoyed when my own blog has these kinds of mistakes. Who put those there? Who is the dummy that can't type? Oh, that would be me. If you see an error, please be gracious and know that I will reread it eventually and it will get fixed. It's the teacher in me. Those spelling/grammatical things need to be correct or it drives me a little batty.

There is something to be said for taking a class in a classroom with a teacher and students. I have really enjoyed getting my degree on-line. It really was/is the best option for me. However, there is definitely a communication gap when you take a class like this. The only communication you have is on-line. If you have a question, you e-mail them. Then you have to wait for an answer. If you have another question based on the answer they just gave you then you have to e-mail them back and wait. It's not really very effective and you start to feel like you might be annoying the other person. For example, today I e-mailed my instructor to tell her I had snail mailed her a packet that is part of an assignment I am doing this semester. She e-mailed me back to ask me if I sent it to her house. (Why would I send it to her house?) I e-mail her back (a little snippy at this point) to tell her that I mailed it to the address on the syllabus that says "mailing address". She e-mailed me back to tell me that would be fine, she would pick it up sometime next week. Where did she expect me to send it? How am I supposed to know where she lives?

Another example...for another class this summer we have to have a colleague edit an assignment for us. Umm...it is summer and this is an on-line class. So, thankfully Erin (a former teacher) tracked down Amy (a former teacher) for me who has read the book that the assignment is about and she is going to help me. Thank you, Erin and Amy! :)

Fun stuff to do with your kids this summer.

If you do not have this game and you have a kid that is about Colm's age, you should get it. Colm LOVES this game. (Marcia, this game would be perfect for your house.) There are about 20 little doors and there is a special key that opens each door. You pick a card and then you open a door that has the same color, shape, letter or number of objects as the card. When you open the door, there may be a ball hidden beneathe it. You collect all six balls and put them in this special chamber. When you put in the last ball there is a treasure chest that magically opens. Colm can't get enough of it. The game also has another set of cards for a more advanced game.

I hate it when this happens. Have you ever been somewhere and someone says hello to you and you have no idea who they are? That happened to me today. I was dropping Liam off at VBS and another mom was coming out of the church and she said hi to me like we hadn't seen each other in a really long time and maybe like she didn't expect to see me there and she knew my name. No idea. My mind is drawing a complete blank. In my defense, the mystery mom is really pregnant and perhaps her features are rounder and fuller than the last time I saw her. That coupled with the amount of time it has been since I last saw her is perhaps why I have no earthly idea who she is? Maybe. Luckily she realized that I had to scoot Liam off to his classroom so I wasn't stuck there talking to her trying to act like I know who she is while simultaneously trying to figure out who she is. I have a feeling we are going to run into each other again this week. Maybe I will have an epiphany in between now and the next time I see her. Doubtful.

COLM, DON'T TOUCH THE! (crash) pickles. Poor guy..it scared the crud out of him. He knows that if he misbehaves in any way at the store that he has to sit in the cart. (He HATES to sit in the cart.) Even when he knows he is in the wrong he will usually fight me on it. Not today. I think he was so scared from the crashing and the pickle juice in between his toes he was more than happy to get in the cart. I will say that I was very impressed with the grocery-store-employee-teenage-boy who was the first on the scene after the incident. The first thing he asked me was if Colm was okay. I was so impressed.

How have I never been to Steve and Barry's when there is one practically down the street from me? I went there today to check out SJP's new line and they have all kinds of stuff in there. Now, I do know why I have never been there. I thought they just sold sporting goods, but they have a lot more than that. They have some really cute stuff in there and for really reasonable prices. (They also have some really ugly stuff, too.) They have stuff for kids, babies...the whole fam. I got a pair of SJP pants for myself and Colm got a pair of much-needed shorts. I am looking forward to SJP's fall line. There is a sweater/cardigan that I am going to snap up in every color.

Sorry...I was singing this song to the boys this morning as we were getting ready to go to the zoo. It is one of those songs that sticks in your head whether you want it to or not. The weather today was BEAUTIFUL!!! Does it get any better? It was a great day for the zoo! The boys are asleep in the car right now; they are zonked from all of that walking.


Aagh...the life

Supercute!

Now that school is out we are getting to do some of the fun things that we can't do when school is in session. Yesterday we went to Ernie Miller for their storytime. Each week is a different animal/insect theme. Yesterday was ants and spiders. She read a cute book about an ant and they got up and marched around to The Ants Go Marching One by One. She also read a book about a spider. There are always real animals/insents included in the storytime, so she brought out a toad and a tarantula that she walked around with so they could see...but not touch!

I am so happy with the summer program the boys are doing at preschool. The theme is Road Trip Across the U.S.A. and each week they learn about a different state. This week was Kansas. Next week is South Dakota and then it is Florida, New York, Alaska, Wyoming, Arizona and Hawaii. Liam is very excited about the luau they are having on the last day. The trouble I am experiencing is that now that the boys are going to school together, I have to get all of the info I can out of Colm about his day before Liam starts to talk. If Liam starts in on his day, there is either nothing left for Colm to say, or Colm just repeats everything that Liam just said. They both seem to really be enjoying it though and Colm went in his classroom today with no problem. Big boy! :)

Colm had his first violin lesson today AND his first swim lesson. He did AWESOME at both; I was so proud of him! Tomorrow he has his first day of school. Liam also had a first today. I know this may not seem big, but it is in our house...he jumped in the water at swim lessons and got his hair wet. That means he was UNDER the water. And do you know what he said after he did it? Something like this: "That wasn't bad at all. That was fun." Do you know HOW MANY times we have told him that?! He's one of those kids that has to make up his mind to do it on his own. He can't be coaxed into much of anything.

Liam LOVES these books!!! There is a whole series of them. They are about a very witty and funny little guinea pig named Fluffy who lives in Ms. Day's classroom and the adventures/mishaps that occur to him both in and out of the classroom and while he is daydreaming. I must admit, these books are pretty funny.

Time for the company trip to Worlds of Fun and fun it was. It was a beautiful day and the boys had a great time. We spent 99% of our time in Camp Snoopy, but Colm also indicated that he wants to bungee jump and ride one of the BIG coasters. Luckily, he is too small and will be too small for a number of years to come.



Enjoying the last treat of the day...some Dippin'Dots and Icees.

Highly recommended...we went to storytime at the American Jazz Museum. It was SO MUCH FUN!!! It was not your regular storytime. It lasted about an hour, but went by lickety split. The kids danced, sang, wiggled and grooved. It was awesome. There was storytelling in there, too, and it was very participative and jazzy, of course. There was a man who played the bass, a drummer and two singers/storytellers. Unfortunately, today was the last time for storytime until it starts again in the fall. We then went and toured the museum which is also connected the the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum.






(Note: You're not supposed to take pics inside the museum, but I didn't know that until I had already snapped a few. Oops!)


Listening to some jazzy tunes


We were getting hungry, so we stopped by the Crayola Cafe on the way home to eat some tasty treats.

Here are two new recipes we have eaten recently that were especially yummers...

Greek Chicken Pasta
3 cups farfalle pasta, uncooked
2 cups baby spinach leaves
3/4 cup provolone, crumbled
1/4 cup feta, crumbled
1 cup cherry tomatoes, halved
3/4 chickpeas, drained
1/2 cup Greek Vinaigrette Dressing
1 baked chicken breast, shredded and cooled

Cook pasta, drain and put in a large bowl. Add remaining ingredients and mix.

Can be served immediately or you can put it in the frig and serve it cold.



Bruschetta Chicken
1/4 cup Sun-Dried Tomato Vinaigrette Dressing
2 chicken breasts, baked
1 tomato chopped
1/2 cup shredded mozzarella
1/4 cup fresh chopped basil or 1 tsp. dried basil

Bake chicken breasts. Mix everything else up together in a medium bowl. When chicken is done pour mixture in bowl over the top of the chicken and bake about 5 minutes longer. Serve with pasta or sauted zucchini or both. :)