4 little vampires

HAPPY HALLOWEEN! HOPE EVERYONE HAD A BLAST!

LOVE, GRETA, MICKEY, CASEY, AND CHARLIE

Cool side effects of employment

Its the weirdest, neatest, most unexpected thing. even though I am really, REALLY tired from my new job, I am also really, really happy and mellow and a much better mom! even though I basically couldn't move until almost 10 this morning, nobody was fighting, everyone did their morning chores happily (I swear!!!) and there was a good vibe in the home.

I am not all panicky and edgy and freaked out anymore. Isn't that bizarre? Its like, I value my time with them more, I know I get to leave as soon as Steve gets home, so I don't feel all "trapped" or something, I have to get dressed and look cute by 5pm, which I thought would suck, but has been very good for me, and I get to completely escape into a world of adult conversation, but its all still quite wholesome and its not like if I had a job at a "real" bar where I would have to go from mommy and babyland to smokey wasted freaks hitting on me and crude co-workers--these folks where I work are a nice mix of parents and grandparents, men and women, young and old, just there to relax and have a nice time. There is no secret subplot, no seediness, no sleaziness, no creepiness, no one is mad at you, no one is looking to fire you, you don't have to "fake look busy", there is no boss to fear. (Can you tell what kinds of jobs I have had in the past?)
So, even though I am getting home late, and Steve has been fast asleep two out of the three nights I worked so far, it is really neat how good it has been for my spirit.

I don't get paid until Mid-November, so when I see that I am actually getting money from this whole thing, it might really send me over the rainbow, lol ;)

But the kids are liking this new chilled out Mama, and I am, too. I just don't get why I was so edgy and panicked in my own home with my own children everyday, nor do I quite understand why that feeling is completely gone now. But I am really, really glad.

2 dollar costume.

I don't know if any of you have had those throngs of people come trick or treating at your door with absolutely NO costume, and felt a mixture of mild annoyance at the flagrant bypassing of the whole "dressing up" tradition of the holiday mixed with concern and pity that perhaps that kid (or adult!) couldn't afford a costume.

Well, today we got Casey a costume at Dollar Tree. We got him a "Horror Robe" which was labeled as up to age 12, and a foam sword. He wants to be a "vampire" but just basically wants to look scary and have a sweet weapon. Big shock to those of you that know my Casey, he's not gonna be a jolly pumpkin or a little M&M or a Pooh-bear, when there are foam swords around. Greta at age 4 was a ladybug and Mickey at age 4 was a car. But my dear Casey can't stop talking about how he needs "fake bwood" and "scawy fangs".

Then we got a pack of TWELVE pairs of plastic fangs at Wal-Mart for 71 cents. I will add some of Mama's red lipstick and Mama's black eyeliner to make some kind of facial scariness happen.

The end! No effort and practically no cost. I love the dollar store!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Fun Thursday adventures!

Greta's little boat

Casey barrels downhill

Casey up the tree

Run, Greta, run!

Greta, Casey, Julia and Tommy

Scarlet Oak was dull :(

All 7 children!

Whee!

Today was my kind of homeschoolin' day. We got up, ate, pulled the house together: breakfast dishes in the sink, table all wiped down, beds made, floor swept, checked email, baby re-changed and re-dressed, kids dressed, teeth and hair brushed, shoes located and tied, and out of here by 10:45 in the morning to go to an awesome nature center kind of far away with our friends' minivan following us, with a pit stop at little Caesars for 10 dollar lunch that fed 9 people quite well, saw cool animals, played with puzzles and did little nature-fact quizzes, 3 kids had bikes, 2 had strollers, walked on a trail in the woods alongside a creek, made little "boats" out of bark and leaves, played pooh-sticks, climbed a log bridge, laughed with our friends, tried new things like climbing way up in a pine tree and getting covered with burs, raced down the hill sharing 3 bikes with 5 riders, searched for our beloved scarlet oak trees only to find them vaguely brownish this year, took tons of pictures, left on a good note before any injury or melt-down, stopped at Meijer's on the way home and got 2 days worth of groceries, most of them quite healthy items, got home by 5:15 and cut up fruits and veggies and all the kids started playing nicely with their toys while I sat for a minute before cooking dinner.

THIS is what I want to do almost everyday!

When I get my coveted double jogging stroller, this kind of stuff will be even more manageable. If you don't understand why, just come along with us sometime on an outing like this one! Broken wheels, broken saftey clips, no under storage, purses and blankets and drinks all being tipped and falling out of every nook and cranny of the old beat up regular strollers, the thrift store "jogger" I got a few months ago that shuts on the baby and is rigged with velcro...maybe with my first check from my new night job I will finally get to buy this golden ticket to smooth and less frustrating outings, especially of the outdoor variety! I look forward to more nature centers, metroparks, museums and maybe the zoo sometime soon. This was a super nice day.

It is 6:30 and Casey is almost ready for bed. Steve gets home at 8 tonight and then I am going in to work for a few hours. Busy busy happy happy.

I like it now!

As will come as no surprise, life has humbled me again, and I am happy to hang my head and say that the Waldorf Co-Op and the magic Fairy Mamas are super, super nice and we like it now. (((blush)))

We went back last Wednesday, and, as I had discussed, we did not bring Mickey. Thanks to my dear friend who took him for the day, I did not have to worry about him being loved or safe and I felt like a real mom that had a babysitter! Crazy! I dropped him off at her house, he had a little lunch packed, and I got to say things like "be a good boy!" and gave her my cell phone number--woowoo I am fancy now, a real drop off parent, LOL :D

So it went much better last week--I knew what to expect, I knew where things went, and I just felt much, much better. The luncheon was outside, and I didn't feel insecure about the food I brought. I brought bananas, apples, sunflower seeds, and homemade granola from my awesome friend SgtHowie. (I told them I did not make it--but that it was homemade by a friend!) They loved the granola, and all the kids got along smashingly. We had lunch outside, Greta adores the two other "big girls" there, and Casey played with some little age-mates. Charlie was happy as a little lark out in the breezy sunshine, they opened up the tiny house early on, and all was fab.

On the weeks one and three, they do some formal lessons upstairs with the older children, and Greta did not have a recorder for the recorder lesson, so one of the moms asked me if I would like to buy one for her, that she sold them. Of course I said "oh, yes, yes" but I was so worried that it was gonna be like $200 or something. I wonder if I would have cut a check and then cried all the way home, but happily it was 30 dollars and it is an amazing all wood handmade in Germany one. A real instrument, with warm clear tone--nothing like the plastic ones we had a s kids. I was happy to add a nice instrument to our home, and that she was going to learning to play it with her friends.

Downstairs, the little kids were treated to a very solemn and haunting telling of Red Riding hood with Waldorfy props--little handmade felted woolen dolls and silk squares and pinecones, with A Capella singing by the owner of the house who does have a gorgeous voice. they also did a circle time with a little glockenspiel and some darling songs in a pentatonic scale about fall and gathering apples and old women stirring the stew and stuff.

What was especially neat and very, very different was the way in which they conveyed to the little children that "it is time for___" there is absolutely NO saying this whatsoever! So different from school. There will just be some ladies singing in a circle now, and you feel sort of completed to join in. Same with the Red riding hood story--no one tells you it is story time now, but you hear a little glockenspiel chiming in the front room and you go check it out, and a lady is solemnly setting up the figurines and you go sit around her. Same with the craft. After the story, the lady just started singing softly about "I see a lantern's gentle light" and she sort of wafts into the dining room and starts setting out glue and tissue paper and glass jars and little cans of paintbrushes and voila, it is apparently time to make a lantern! No barking no cajoling no harassing involved whatsoever. I was impressed--and Casey and Charlie were truly TRANSFIXED. Also, no judging language whatsoever--not a single word about "good job", "great job", just children working alongside adults, quietly making lanterns. One time, Casey told the lady next to him at the grand dining room table "Is this done?" referring to his lantern which was about 1/3 covered with glued-on colored bits of tissue paper , and the lady simply kept on working on her own lantern and said "I am going to cover mine all the way 'round" and he said "I am too."

In the afternoon, one of the moms who is my friend outside of this now, the one who originally invited me to this co-op, offered to teach me to knit. (the other moms all knit) I was hesitant, because I felt like maybe i couldn't learn to outside in the wind while watching the kids but i picked it up instantly and i am working on a big rectangle that gives me great soothing satisfaction and a cozy calm. I am so proud and grateful to finally know how to knit this one stitch. This is the third time someone has shown me how to knit and the other two times were unnecessarily complicated. This is easy and I love it. I knew I would.

So, this week, my friend babysat Mickey again, which was a lovely surprise because we both agreed that I do not expect her to so this every Wednesday now. So we went back today, me, Greta, Casey and Charlie. It was the week where it is much less formal, and it was super fun again! We played outside alot, shared alot of funny stories of motherhood, knitted, and the kids played. One of the big girls told Greta some true ghost stories supposedly from her own life and Greta was thoroughly impressed. She retold them to me at home in the bathroom as I did my hair to go t my job interview tonight -woowoo--and they seem ridiculous but I acted very reverent and amazed. She felt they were so sinister that the other kids shouldn't ever hear them--so thoughtful. I brought Monterrey Jack cheese, apples, strawberries, bananas and homemade tabbouleh salad. The women raved about it which really surprised me since it was not made in a traditional way. they were really really nice to me today and I feel like I am part of the group now, a nice feeling. I didn't even wear flaxen-wear today, har har. I wore jeans and a plain t shirt and a zip up sweater. (the first two weeks I wore long skirts, no big whoop, i just wasn't in the mood this morning and no one cared)

I was out in the yard with all the people and we were knitting and laughing and I realized it was 2:10-- I had to go! We left and picked up Mickey and ended up coming in to my friends house and hanging out there about another hour. Too fun. She gave me hot tea and I am just THRILLED to say it is cool weather again, I am assuming for good now, and so hot tea was perfect. I also had hot cocoa this morning and I loved it! Y A Y for the coziness, oh happy day!

This co-op is so good for me. These women and their very unique scene really refresh me out of the daily doldrums. I feel kinder to my kids for days to last, and I feel refreshed and revitalized after conversation and handicrafts, homemade soup and pretty music. Seriously. Who woulda knew.

Woody Guthrie, we adore you

Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh! Look at this!

Please, if you don't know about Woody Guthrie, do begin. He was an amazing champion of the working class, a massive, majorly influencial pioneer in music, an incredibly important American, and someone on this website has made some little school-lesson plans based on Woody's songs and life. I think it is fabulous and am going to check it out ASAP.

Really, really cool.

Singapore math is here!

Most of our order from Singapore Math.

The counting cubes that have become a big hit.













Charlie and the counting cubes (or, how I get lunch made!)

Lunchtime.











Casey and his Pre-K workbook.












Casey shuffling his Capital Letters cards.








We got our order from Singapore math, and it is alot of great stuff! We got Textbooks and workbooks for Mickey and Greta, and several Science programs with workbooks, as well as a Word problems math book for both of them, and 2 teacher's guides. We got a little plastic clock, 100 number cubes, blank dice, a measuring tape and a hundreds chart.

So far the kids both like the work--no tears at all. Mickey's first 2 lessons were about measuring things that are one meter long, and some place-value types of things, one, tens, hundreds and thousands and some review about carrying in addition. His science was about what is alive and what is not, and one about the external parts of the body.

Greta's math was about place value also, and really getting the grasp of "What value does the "8" in the number 598,300 have?" (Eight thousand) and so forth. She had to arrange some numbers in order as well. This was all review but that is good, so she doesn't fear the new book. The very next lesson is something she doesn't know, so it will be interesting to see how it goes. Her science was really neat, it was all about matter--how do we know something is matter? If it has mass and takes up space. Is heat matter? Is light matter? Is shadow matter? How do we measure mass? --Stuff like that. She liked it alot. I am glad I got them separate science stuff as his is WAY too easy for her and hers is pretty "out there" for him. With them being three years/grades apart in age, I am lucky that I can apply as much two-kid lessons as I do with the Five In A Row and the upcoming plans we have to do a reading symposium with our adult friends soon.

The number cubes, which we haven't used as we are "supposed to" yet, are a really nice toy. Charlie is flying by me as I type this, with his little "airplane" he made out them. They snap together and are really cool. Much easier to open and shut than Lego, but not too babyish. You know what-- I take that back--we did do a place value thing with them, and Mickey used them to prove some subtraction idea to me. He was wrong, but it was better that the cubes told him that than me--he laughed good naturedly when 11 minus 4 was NOT 8 as shown by the cubes, but of course it was in fact, 7. He was like "Oh." and then we laughed. I used to have certain little numbers facts that often messed me up--and my husband swears that he doesn't know his 7's times tables and hates the 7's... Strange how our minds work.

Casey and I have been working on all sorts of fun stuff, he is now writing several letters and wanting to make us all notes and signs. SO much deja vu of Greta and Mickey at 4 years old, and so funny to me how differently they all got to the points that they were "at" academically at 4. He can make A, M, C, U, X, and O very clearly and so he makes a ton of letters to me that are elaborately taped up and stamped and stapled and inside is a tiny piece of paper that says MAMA MAMA DAD OUOUAOAOA inside it. Yes I save them all. We have alot of fun things for this age, and many mornings we play with woodkins or magnet balls, and sometimes we do little workbook-y types of stuff.

More updates on Singapore Math and Science as we get more into it. We have to take back our Owl Moon and our gazillion other books to the library today. I need to order the next one ASAP but we have another secret freebie--somehow I never noticed that The Tale Of Peter Rabbit is one of the featured books in our series. I love Beatrix Potter of course but was surprised that this "little kid book" was featured, when Greta immediately came to its defense and said that I would be very surprised at how many secret things there are to study in Peter Rabbit. I am excited to tackle this book from a different angle. Next week for sure!