right now

right now

Mar 17, 2011

kids

I haven't posted much about what the kids have been up to lately - but they are keeping me busy as usual!  Last week was the school Book Fair that we always go to since the prices and selection are great.  Loch is such an avid reader we have to stock up when prices are good, he likes fiction that we can always get at the library too but he also likes to have a lot of non fiction reference type books that he reads and refers to all the time so I never mind spending money on those.  Finn is just beginning to learn to read, so this is the first book fair where he got to select books to read himself instead of me or Loch reading to him.  They always have a great selection of the beginning level readers.

We didn't purchase these, since my kids are pretty keenly aware of this stuff already living in a military family (their uncle is also boots on the ground in Iraq and has flown missions in Afghanistan), but I thought it a worthy comparison to what types of material kids read in other parts of the country... can you tell we live in a 90% military town LOL?!



What saddens me is that save for about 5 families the book fair was a ghost town.  Considering how large his school is, there were a few kids in there that happened to be in the after school care program, browsing, but where were all the parents and families interested in reading and their kids?  It is so important to us that hubby even fanagled his way home early from work so we can all go together.  It would be so sad to see events like this disappear due to lack of participation.  The kids sure seem to want to be there, but where are the parents?

Right after the book fair we had to hustle to Loch's classroom to get him dressed for his school program. The 2nd Graders did a program about Egypt, which is what they have been learning about.  

Loch is 2nd row down, all the way to the left.  Check out the "mummy" behind him LOL - poor kid was messing with that toilet paper the whole program, trying to see and/or breathe!  Apparently the other kids got to help with his costume :)


I asked him what the "lightbulbs" were on their heads, and he replied they are snakeheads, like cobras... really?!  LOL, they did make their own costumes though, so bravo!

Loch is the "narrator"...listen carefully, he's fast!


A sign of the times:  Finn kept calling the mummies "zombies"!  Zombies sure are everywhere these days.



The photo below shows what I have resorted to at home to keep them occupied while I ransack their room, redecorating.  Yep, I got my kids owl poop to dig through LOL!


In all seriousness, this is pretty cool and right up their alley as far as science goes.  It is a "synthetic owl pellet" in a little package containing the skeleton of a starling, which is something that would normally be found in an owl pellet.  They dig through it all, pulling out the tiny bones, and glue together the skeleton of the little bird.  They got as far as retrieving all the bones, the rest will wait until daddy can help them this weekend.  (Little boys and super glue tubes don't mix well unsupervised!)


Finn above, checking out the bones.  Below is the owl "pellet".


For the furry kids, last night was bath night!  Poor Sprocket the Outback Jack looks like a drowned rat, although she loves it.


Marley doesn't care for it much but she puts up with it since she's "the good dog".


I finished the jammie pants for Loch.  Notice the lack of jammie shirt?  Yeah, I'm done with those LOL. From now on, jammie pants for everyone and we'll just use white tshirts or something, those sewn ones are a pain, I'm definitely not ready for v-necks, although with a few more mitered quilt bindings' worth of experience, I may be ready to try the v-neck again someday.  Poor Loch, I went to the fabric store to look for something he'd like, namely chess pieces or math equations - of course there was none of that, so I ended up with dinosaurs.   "Dinos?  Really, Mom?"!  But he is my kind and patient one, happy with whatever he gets, I wish some of that would rub off on Finnegan.


With that miscellaneous update, I now have to do a speed clean of my floors and bathroom and get outside!  With temps scheduled to hit 66 today and 80 tomorrow, I need to put everything indoors on hold and get out in the garden, there's still so many prep chores to be done.  Sunday looks to be cold and rainy so that will be our kitchen painting day hopefully.

12 comments:

  1. That's a shame that more parents weren't at the book fair. We always had a pretty good turn out at ours many many years ago when my children were young!! It sounds like your Loch will be keeping you busy keeping him stocked in reading material. My two were the same way about reading. I can't tell you how many boxes of books that I have here! My son read at a college level when by the time he reached 5th grade...talk about a challenge finding books!!

    Thanks for sharing some kids moments with us...now get out in that garden!!!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Must be that time of year - my oldest just hit me up for book fair money. :-) Even though I'm not invited to go with her anymore ( middle school, almost 13 - need I say more...) I happily give her the money to support her "habit". Nadia's book fair is at the end of the month and since she's still in elementary school, I still get to go with her and look at books. :-)
    I'm so looking forward to warmer temps, then we don't have to bathe our dogs in the house anymore. Garden hose, here they come...

    ReplyDelete
  3. It would be a poor excuse if parents are "too busy" to read to their kids. I think that is one of my fondest childhood memories - trips to the library with my mom, picking out books, and getting to read or be read-to. What a great science project - that would be right up my alley. I got to dissect a cow's eye because my uncle was a vet! Those pajama pants are awesome - dinos and all! Loch is a dear.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Robin, I was the same way, my room was stocked with books at an early age and it hasn't changed - I'd have LOTS of room in here if I was willing to part with my books LOL

    Anke, it's hard to say no to book money :)

    Susan, I've always loved the library, I think I used to go to the public library in town after school most days, it was right near our school and I'd wait for my mom to get off work and ride home with her instead of the bus LOL, the joys of a small town! We read aloud as a family as well, I hope the kids will like it a few years more before they think it's "cheesy"!

    ReplyDelete
  5. Synthetic owl pellet!? That's so cool! Where did you get such a thing?! (By the way, it's technically owl throw-up, not poop!)

    And I think the dinosaurs are cute!

    ReplyDelete
  6. We love the book fairs! And the scholastic book forms they send home too. We're so blessed to have kids that love to curl up with good books.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Dude...if you EVER find fabric with math equations or chess pieces I'll be at your mercy to make a set of those jammy pants for the boy. Disgusting, isn't it.

    Loving the play! and that owl pellet thing sounds fantastic. Those books look perfect for him as well. He just asked tonight if we could go to the library. He's tired of reading "all of those silly books" in school. A good dose of reality and patriotism may be in his future. He just started the last Wimpy Kid book, but we'll look for yours in the library next.

    ReplyDelete
  8. My daughter loves to read and can never find enough books. She does interlibrary loans all the time but has to wait for the books for weeks. We got her an ereader for Christmas so she could download books to read. She's having a blast getting books that aren't out in paperback yet cheaper than paperback prices.
    I remember dog baths outside with our dog in the wheelbarrel. LOL! They always look so forelorn while getting their baths but so happy afterwards.
    My kids would love owl pellets but we can find real ones all over here. I just never thought to pick them up and dig through them to see what bones are in them. Something we will do on our next hike!

    ReplyDelete
  9. Books!!! We love books at our home, too!! The books are everywhere!!

    For the pajama top, you could appliqué a square of the fabric on the front of a t-shirt. Super easy especially if you use wonder-under. You could also use the pants fabric to make a cuff on the sleeves of the t-shirt.

    ReplyDelete
  10. Synthetic owl poop? How awesome is that???!!!! Much more interesting I'm sure than synthetic human poop. LOL!

    I can't wait to attend the school fairs and pageants.

    ReplyDelete
  11. Erin,
    Love all the updates. That's sad about the book fair. When my older two kids were in elementary school, their book fairs were always packed with kids and parents. My son, now 18, has been an advid reader like me (until recently..at 18 busy doing other stuff) and now Claire, who's a 1st grader, loves to read as well. No matter what, whenever my kids have asked for a book, I can't say no. It's a book and loving to read is sooooo important to me. It's been tough being back to school and not being able to read for pleasure. During my Christmas break I read 4 books for pleasure and am itching to read some more. Have to wait until summer and hope the online class I'm going to take doesn't use up all my free time.
    Keep up with the sewing. I hope to jump back into that again one day soon.
    Thanks again for all the updates. It's freezing here so I'm totally jealous of your weather.

    Kim Kirchner

    ReplyDelete
  12. Kim, you are so right about reading, it's SO important. I always tell my kids it's the most important thing to learn, once you do, you can learn about ANYTHING! I hope you find time to get back into sewing, I'm surprised by my new found love of it, I'm just now getting some "me" time to explore my own interests, but wouldn't change a thing about being a mom :) Hope MN weather is kind to you soon - ooops scratch that, you are WI now, aren't you? My parents moved across the river too last year!

    ReplyDelete