Telling Time (Analog)

Do you know how hard it is to tell time when you're 6 1/2? To make matters worse, try telling him that to learn how to tell time on an analog clock is something he needs to know, when he points out that clearly, analog clocks are for decorative purposes only. Yeah, I know, buddy, you just gotta learn it until I can figure out why you need to learn it.

Therapy...AGAIN

Only this time, it's Tank. Tank is our joy baby. We don't hide that. But when it comes to speaking...he wears on my patience. This kid, I'm pretty sure an speak, but after many evaluations, the time has come for us to go Military on his A$*! Each week we have a therapist who comes to our home to work with him one-on-one for an hour. This week, she brought a gear toy that he had to say a color word to get another gear for his creation. He LOVED this! Of course, Orange was his favorite color. "OW" was for Yellow. "UE" was for blue. "P" for purple. "R" for red. Not full words, but at least we have a beginning sound! We have also decided to enroll him in Preschool in the fall. He will go 4 days a week for 3 hours. This will help IMMENSELY with the whole attachement to mommy thing, and will hopefully offer some assistance with his stubborness on potty training. It will also allow time for me and Turbo to work on school in the morning while Tank is away, then in the afternoon can be used more wisely... *wink, wink* (I have no idea what you're talking about...I was thinking of a nap, myself!)

Longest Day of the Year Bash

With Summer, comes the Summer Solstice: The Longest Day Of the Year. I had been prepping Turbo all week on what that day meant and what we would be doing to celebrate it. When it came time to "Show Off", I asked, "What is today!?" Without a heartbeat missed, he said, "Wednesday." Then ran off. Throwing my hands up in the air, I ranted and raved about how much time I take in teaching him the days of the week, and he NEVER REMEMBERS THE DAYS OF THE WEEK, and now I ask something out of the ordinary, and he replies, WEDNESDAY???? Okay kid...GAME...MATCH...SET...you're going down! I know you know this...no more MRS. NICEMOMMY! On a better note, we did do a little celebration for the Longest Day. Granted, it wasn't 101 degrees outside...more like 75 and cloudy. So much for my plans of pool, slip-n-slides and sprinklers! But nonetheless, the kids had fun! I painted a Twister board onto the grass and we played backyard twister. Even the moms got in on it while the dad's watched...pretty sure they were hoping for another mud pit. We had a water balloon fight, but there was no camera person to be found...we were all in on it! All the kids, at one time or another, got into the pool. Many even brought goggles. Tank couldn't find his, so he improvised. I'd say he problem solved rather well. I took a class on Monday night to help me better learn how to use my camera. Part of what she taught was how to do a long exposure. Totally a cool thing...totally! We used neon sparklers and regular sparklers to do these awesome things! The kids were patient and waited their turn as each exposure was 30 seconds long! Many tried to write their names, but that was pretty hard. Many just chose to do a design. And their designs were awesome! Totally trying this again!

Boy VS Wild Party

Towards the end of the school year, I wanted to throw a party. As the end of the school year wound down, I realized, I hadn't planned a party!! AHH! Pinterest...it's a very good thing...

So we threw a Boy VS Wild Party, complete with an obstacle course that included a pool, mud pit,tunnels and ladders, all a showcase for any athletic ability, young and old.

Afterwards, I made little effort in convincing the GIRLS to eat snakes on a stick, snails, mussels and snake eggs. The boys; however, needed a lot of convincing.

After a BBQ we had smores! Super fun way to celebrate the end of the school year. Totally doing this one again!

Peeps and An Empty Tomb

Because I have boys, because I have crazy boys, because I have seriously outta control boys, I decided to blow up marshmallows in the microwave for science, Easter, and of course to hit home the meaning of the empty tomb.

Have I peaked your attention yet?

To start, we selected an innocent bunny peep.



We made predictions as to what will happen to him when put into the microwave for 1 minute or less.



We commenced experiment.


The peep fell victim to extreme bloated-ness...(okay he puffed up to 300x his size)


Then he deflated once the heat source was removed....man...wish that was true in real life.




We put his squished-nasty self back into the microwave for another minute. He began to burn.



EWW.


Result: Marshmallows, if left in a heat source long enough, will dissolve.


On to the Empty TOMB.

Explaining that the marshmallow is Jesus' body, and was anointed with oil (melted butter) and covered in spices (cinnamon and sugar) he was placed into a tomb (crescent roll). He was in the tomb for 3 days, when people returned to the tomb. What they found, was an empty tomb...just as we found an empty tomb (empty crescent roll)....















THE TOMB IS EMPTY! HE IS RISEN! CELEBRATE HIM THIS EASTER!


I must say, Turbo was pretty impressed. I was actually complimented by being told I was a pretty cool mom. Then he promptly asked if his schoolwork was all done so he could play Star Wars Legos on XBOX...

...I was cool for just a bit...sigh* (but the empty tomb was pretty delicious.)