Green-o-ween

I thought at first we were just being thrifty, planning homemade costumes, but I realized that we were also being very eco-friendly - because our costumes are all about recycling!

I told Caleb that although all 3 of them would have unique costumes, I was pretty certain that he would be the only Coral Reef we would run into this year. I was right!
Caleb made most of the fish and some of the coral on the back. The water part of the costume was from a discard box at the grocery store. Everything was made from cardboard boxes we fished out of the recycling box or craft supplies left over from past projects. The only thing I bought was extra tacky glue - and I had a coupon - total cost: $1.


As it turned out Annalise also was in league of her own - I didn't see any other flowers anywhere.The petals are made of some foam Rob was throwing out and covered with fabric from an old shirt that was already in the Goodwill bag. They were sewn around an oval made of a wire hanger. The green clothes came from Goodwill (and will be reworn, just not together!). Total cost: $2.

Although we saw plenty of other princesses, Natalie was the only Renaissance queen we saw, she is (officially) Queen Elizabeth I, or as the kids like to say "a real queen" and (as it turned out) a famous historical redhead.They asked me to dress her as a queen (and queens wear dresses that cover their feet - very important). I made the dress and headpiece out of scraps - you can see in this picture that the skirt is only in the front:which made it easy to buckle her straps in her stroller without crumpling her costume. Her entire costume was made from leftover fabric, lace, buttons, and elastic - minus a little lace I found on clearance at JoAnn's and some sequins I bought at a yard sale - total cost $.50.

Wordless Wednesday

Annalise and Grandma

Over the last few days I've noticed a trend in Annalise's speech - everything she knows, she knows because Grandma told her.

We were looking at a skeleton, "I have bones in my hand and God put them there...Grandma told me that."

We found an unusual seed, "Grandma told me when it hatches a millipede will come out."

I asked her to come inside quickly, "Grandma wants me to do something outside."

I've started thinking Grandma is her imaginary friend! Or maybe she was mixed up because she got birthday presents from both grandmas and neither of them was here. Regardless Grandma is quickly becoming her scapegoat: At supper tonight she said something along these lines, "Grandma told me to throw my bread on the floor."

Ahem, Grandma and I have some talking to do.

More Birthday

I had planned to have a small party for Annalise with 2 of her little friends, but we have been sick this week and had to cancel. We weren't too sick to eat and open gifts though :)

Chicken Curry Pot Pie is a big favorite at our house and Annalise requested it for her birthday dinner (as did Caleb) except she wanted "Heart Pot Pie" instead of stars.

This is not the cake, my parents are coming down next week and I told her I'd make the cake then, this is just a big cookie with candles.

Caleb has grown some zinnias from seed and after struggling to bloom last spring, he has quite a bush now! We cut some flowers and made a birthday bouquet for Annalise, she loved it!

I so love that backwards s!

Caleb has begun being "reimbursed" for some of his chores. It is a very small amount of money, but he doesn't know that and is very pleased to put his coins in his pigs - the pigs (Give, Save, and Spend) are more of the reason we started this reimbursement program. It didn't take him long to see than a 10th is a very small part of the whole! But so far he hasn't asked to buy anything, so I suggested he purchase his birthday gift to Annalise - I supplemented his money with a leftover giftcard and a coupon.

Happy 3rd!

Zero

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A Few Pretty Much Unrelated Pictures and Assorted Kid Quotes

(73 degrees, let's just say she's excited about the new jacket.)

Annalise: (playing house with Caleb) Do you want some Coke? It has caffine in it.

(Unwelcome visitor in the tadpole bowl - mosquito larvae, they're nicknamed wrigglers, and that is a very appropriate name!)

Caleb: I'm never going to smoke, it's too boring.



Caleb's Friend Nathan (looking at Natalie): All her teeth are PINK!

(Monarch caterpillar apparently eating it's own egg shell - they do that, I just have no way to know for sure that this was his egg.)

Annalise: (in a dark room) Caleb, you need to let your eyes 'just.

(We went through Rob's tie collection and these were two of the "keepers".)

Library Gems

Usually when we visit the library, I let the kids pick out a DVD from their unusual collection. This time we picked out:
"Straight Up: Helicopters in Action" - it is an IMAX film and it is great! It showed helicopters that transformed mid-flight from helicopters to airplanes and showed how helicopters are used in law enforcement, air rescue, logging, and power line repair. The kids liked it, I liked it and Rob liked it.

I requested this one, and was very pleased with it - "Somos Amigos: Professor Parrot Speaks Spanish". It is only 30 minutes long, but covers a lot of vocabulary in ways that were fun and easy to learn. Both of the kids have been trying out their Spanish - although they had to watch is about 3 times to get there. Since I've taken a Spanish class before, I found that it refreshed my memory easily. It covered conversational basics and numbers, but also introduced several verbs and nouns. The lessons included songs, games, and a story.

Our books from the same visit were mostly just ok, but the kids really liked:Grandpa's Teeth - it's a mystery story where Grandpa's dentures are stolen, it's pretty clever. We also checked out Amelia Bedelia and although Annalise didn't catch on to the humor, Caleb understood some of it and they both liked her name :)

Homemade Slip and Slide

Oleander Caterpillar and Moth

Starts out like this:


Ends up like this:

Isn't metamorphasis amazing? :) The moth is also called the "Polka Dot Wasp Moth" - but as Annalise likes to say, "They don't bite and they don't sting." Evidentally they are harmless, but it flew too fast for me to catch. Another cool thing about them is they sing to find a mate. The caterpillar's host plant is the oleander bush, which is used often in landscaping here.

We are also raising a bowlful of tadpoles right now.

Picking Up Toys

Obviously I want my kids to pick up their toys out of their utmost respect for my authority :), but I also want them to have a good attitude about their work and here are a few ways we deal with the issue of picking up toys.

1. I like to say (and I mean this), "I like to help hard working kids." - so long as they aren't slacking (and I don't have something else pressing) I'm happy to help out.
2. Caleb gets a kick out of racing the timer, we've found we can clean their room in about 5 minutes if everyone tries to beat the timer. (This has also helped Caleb understand how long 5 minutes is, he'll want to know how long something is and I can say, "as long as it takes to clean your room...twice")
3. Sorting - I have no idea why kids need to learn sorting at school - Annalise has no trouble sorting toys that belong in a set from toys that belong in a general toy box. When their room really gets messy, I will push everything to the center in a heap and assign toy types (ex. Caleb picks out blocks, while Annailse finds all the Little People)
4. The Age Game - Annalise has to pick up 2 toys because she's 2 and Caleb has to get 5 because he's 5, repeat until everything's picked up - I sit back and relax with this one!
5. One-on-One - Caleb is actually has started feeling proud of a job well done, so he gets a better attitude as the room gets cleaner, but Annalise has a hard time staying focused, so sometimes I will tell her individual toys to pick up.

That's pretty much my arsenal right now, do you have any helpful ideas for encouraging kids to have a good attitude while picking up their toys? I *like* the idea of having them play with one thing and putting it away before playing with something else, BUT I really like to see how they fit multiple sets of toys together too.

Pinkalicious

"I'm Pinkerbell!"
When I bought Annalise a pack of generic pull-ups with pink ballerinas all over, she pulled one out and squeeled, "It's Pink-delicious!"

"Huh?" I said.

"No no no!" said Caleb, "It's Pink-malicious!"

It turned out to be Pinkalicious - a character in a book they had read at a friend's house. So tonight, Annalise became Pinkalicious herself - complete with pink headband, which isn't so visible in this picture, but if you look at the next one carefully, you'll see that not only is she wearing a pink headband with a pink bow, so is the little girl on her shirt!