Yesterday we finally got to do some good solid work learning about Time Zones. Again, the Enchanted Learning website has proven itself to be a real shining star as far as little worksheets are concerned. We learned when and why the 24 world time zones were invented, and how that affects us here and now. Steve told us about how when he was in Wyoming, they were on Mountain Time, and it seemed to be the neglected time zone as far as Television was concerned---nothing really came on when it said it was going to, and we also talked again about NewFoundland Time, and about the cities that do not participate in daylight savings time and how odd it kind of all is!
They continued work on their basic arithmetic, and we finally finished the Christmas Thank you cards! Day after day of layered glue, glitter, more add-ons...now I have to make envelopes with them and mail these things out before spring : )
We did more with Roman Numerals, and hopefully their rediculous (to me) "inability" to read a standard analog clock will finally be a thing of the past! (we did Roman Numeral clock-games and for some reason that was ok)
We went bowling with our friend Beth and her son Dionte, which was very fun and funny. Casey got to bowl, of course, and memories of last year bowling league came up...how was that a year ago? It feels like a few weeks...and yet a lifetime. We went to a cute cute tiny bowling alley by our new house, but it was expensive! Nowhere has decent rates for Saturday or Sunday, and with three kids it adds up fast.
Greta is done with Charlotte's Web and I am anxious to see if she likes the Beverly Cleary books which I want to steer her towards, as much as I did as a child. I feel like a bit of my affinity for the 1950s stems from those books, along with Nick at Nite and hours of thumbing through my grandma's vintage Good Housekeeping magazines!
Today they were so quiet and so serene, just making stuff and playing together at the tablem that I just let them do their good work of childhood, and did the breakfast dishes, put them all away, chopped up everything for Chili and had it all cleaned up and simmering by 10 am! VERY ABNORMAL---but great. They were making all sorts of stuff out of craft supplies, and being super pensive and it is sunny and gorgeous and every single thing within sight is covered in ice, sparkling sparkling ice...I did not have on my jazz or any music, no TV, just 4 happy little ones working and doing their thing. It reminded me so much of the rare quiet art classes I had back at Liggett, where we were "allowed" to just use the medium provided and do what we wanted...it was so perfect. Even the dawn dish soap had a blue light-shadow that stretched across the whole sink from the sun beams that pour in the entire long-side of our house. It has been raining almost continually since August, so I didn't even truly realize how much sun comes in a south-facing house in the northern hemisphere. It is all day long. SO so so beautiful.
After chili lunch, which Steve was so, so happy to see instead of more bread bread bread, I put Charlie to bed and took Casey outside to "sled". I pulled him all over the property, and up and down the sidewalks. I told Greta and Mickey to yell if Charlie woke up. So after at least 30 minutes, we came in, and I could hear Charlie SCREAMING. The oldest 2 seemed so oblivious, I was quite surprised. So now it is 2 oclock, no naps yet, and I just dont get it! I am going to lay him down again in a minute here and start shushing everyone again.
We may or may not be fixing the minivan instead of replacing it, but until we have money, we can't even diagnose it. A few more weeks, at least.
They continued work on their basic arithmetic, and we finally finished the Christmas Thank you cards! Day after day of layered glue, glitter, more add-ons...now I have to make envelopes with them and mail these things out before spring : )
We did more with Roman Numerals, and hopefully their rediculous (to me) "inability" to read a standard analog clock will finally be a thing of the past! (we did Roman Numeral clock-games and for some reason that was ok)
We went bowling with our friend Beth and her son Dionte, which was very fun and funny. Casey got to bowl, of course, and memories of last year bowling league came up...how was that a year ago? It feels like a few weeks...and yet a lifetime. We went to a cute cute tiny bowling alley by our new house, but it was expensive! Nowhere has decent rates for Saturday or Sunday, and with three kids it adds up fast.
Greta is done with Charlotte's Web and I am anxious to see if she likes the Beverly Cleary books which I want to steer her towards, as much as I did as a child. I feel like a bit of my affinity for the 1950s stems from those books, along with Nick at Nite and hours of thumbing through my grandma's vintage Good Housekeeping magazines!
Today they were so quiet and so serene, just making stuff and playing together at the tablem that I just let them do their good work of childhood, and did the breakfast dishes, put them all away, chopped up everything for Chili and had it all cleaned up and simmering by 10 am! VERY ABNORMAL---but great. They were making all sorts of stuff out of craft supplies, and being super pensive and it is sunny and gorgeous and every single thing within sight is covered in ice, sparkling sparkling ice...I did not have on my jazz or any music, no TV, just 4 happy little ones working and doing their thing. It reminded me so much of the rare quiet art classes I had back at Liggett, where we were "allowed" to just use the medium provided and do what we wanted...it was so perfect. Even the dawn dish soap had a blue light-shadow that stretched across the whole sink from the sun beams that pour in the entire long-side of our house. It has been raining almost continually since August, so I didn't even truly realize how much sun comes in a south-facing house in the northern hemisphere. It is all day long. SO so so beautiful.
After chili lunch, which Steve was so, so happy to see instead of more bread bread bread, I put Charlie to bed and took Casey outside to "sled". I pulled him all over the property, and up and down the sidewalks. I told Greta and Mickey to yell if Charlie woke up. So after at least 30 minutes, we came in, and I could hear Charlie SCREAMING. The oldest 2 seemed so oblivious, I was quite surprised. So now it is 2 oclock, no naps yet, and I just dont get it! I am going to lay him down again in a minute here and start shushing everyone again.
We may or may not be fixing the minivan instead of replacing it, but until we have money, we can't even diagnose it. A few more weeks, at least.
Tomorrow I start babysitting my 9 month old niece again. We need the money, but I am afraid of how it will all work out. She needs this super quiet naptime, two of them, and I do not get how Charlie's naps will fit in, or if Casey will even be having nap at all. Without the hope of taking them somewhere, with no car, I get a bit panicky. I am trying, trying everyday to have a serene heart in everything that I encounter, and this babysitting will be a true test of a skill that is only really in development phases! There will be crying, there will be disruption, but it still beats delivering pizzas in the slushy snow, or working some cash register with snotty teens at night...so I am grateful.
2 comments:
JOY! Your mom has vintage Good Housekeeping magazines from the Fifties!!!??? Do any of them have articles on 'modern living' or, even, dare I ask, modern, atomic, space age floor plans? ahhhhhhhhhhh, my mind is drooling at the very thought... Or even from the Sixties or Forties? I'm trembling as I write this...
Well, my dear, it was my Grandma---and it was 1952 that grasped my heart firmly...the beauty and style of every flippin inch of the thing, the colors, the fonts, the hair, clothes, makeup, shoes, eyebrows, advertisement, ALL OF IT I was just gone, baby!
You or I need to get some off ebay, huh? Whens yr birthday?
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