Summer Bucket List, Week 4

We have a Summer Bucket List, thanks to Kelly over at Little Wonders' Days.  This is simply a list of fun things we want to do or accomplish this summer.  We just completed our fourth full week of summer.  To review our previous weeks go here, here, and here.  This week was a full week of summer adventure.  We checked off bucket list items left and right and had a lot of fun!


1.  Visit 10 parks to play and picnic:  Friday between a couple of other activities we took a break and visited Q Pond's playground and also picnicked on string cheese, lunchmeat, grapes, munchies mix, and water.  The playground is an old-school playground.  The metal slide was too hot, but the boys climbed on the jungle gym and tractor tire, played on the swing, spun on the merry-go-round, and bounced on the bouncy platform.  Braedon led his brothers on a 'hike' through the short trail.


3.  Fishing:  Since I am late and writing this on Monday, I should probably not include yesterday's activities, but I'm going to anyway...  Yesterday we went to a family birthday party at East Lake.  The party included fishing and a short boat trip around the lake in a fishing boat.  We didn't catch many fish, but had fun practicing our technique.  And Colby pointed out this was the first time he had ridden in a boat.  Hmmm, I guess it is.  Yay!


12.  Library activities:  It seems we lived at the library this week.  But you know that wouldn't bother me one little bit.  This was our library's 100 year celebration, so the librarians had big plans for various ages throughout the week.  Monday we watched Gnomeo and Juliet as the free movie in the children's library.  Thursday we were excited to see the magician as part of their summer story hour series.  It was the same magician as last year, but he is quite entertaining.  Friday the boys had their caricatures drawn by an artist brought into the library.  He had several backgrounds for the kids to choose from and then sketched their heads and faces onto the body/background they chose.  We also started working on our library reading programs.  The older two get to enter their names for weekly prizes once for every book they read.  Brody gets a free book for every ten books that are read to him.  We'll be back to the library at least once this week for story hour's balloon artist.


24.  Go on a hike:  We hiked around Grade Lake on Monday.  This is a 2 mile trail, with the trail on the back-side of the lake through the woods.  Colby and Brody had walked this with me last summer while Braedon was in summer school.  This was Braedon's first time on this trail.  It was misting, windy, and chilly on the day we hiked, but we didn't feel any of that in the trees.  I learned that Braedon can identify deer tracks as he found several on our hike.  The path has wild black raspberries nearly throughout.  They weren't quite ripe, but we may go back this week and see if we can pick some.  There were also mulberries, but the berries I found were on the ground.  The boys refused to taste them from the ground, even though they were whole berries, in perfect shape.  The trees appeared to be too tall to pick from.  We had packed a lunch of sandwiches, trail mix, and water into a backpack and took turns carrying it.  


25.  Go to a movie as a family:  Wednesday our local theater offered two matinees of Kung Fu Panda 2.  Following our hike, we caught the 2:00 showing.  I love when we can go to the local theater.  It's cheaper than the bigger theaters in other towns.  The couple who runs it worked to renovate it a few years ago and the money for admission and concessions is going to a local business, not a chain.  It only has one screen, but the seating is great.  I saw several other families enjoying the show and I know there were others that came to the 10:00 showing as well.  So glad this is available to us.


(38.  Family Pictures by Jamie were scheduled for Saturday at East Lake, but we got rained out.  This may not be rescheduled until the end of summer.  Disappointed, but necessary when we had torrential rains and lightning.)


Other things we did that were not on the original list:
*Volunteering:  Colby, Brody, and I cleaned up after the youth rodeo as a cub scout service project last Sunday.  
*We had friends over last Sunday.  Ron had friends over to paintball.  Some of them brought their kids to entertain our kids.  Fun!
*Ron has gone in with a group of friends to purchase season tickets to the Iowa Raceway in Newton.  Three of his buddies couldn't attend Friday's race, so he took all three boys with him.  He sent me some pictures of Brody falling asleep halfway through the second race.  He was sitting on Ron's lap with the noise reduction headphones on and just drifted off and slept through the rest of the race.


Who knows what this week will bring for us.  The first part of the week I'm going to try to get some housework done that I've been neglecting.  So we will try to get some of those 'around the house' bucket list items checked off.  Thursday and Friday look full of fun in town and then we are into the big holiday weekend.  Woo Hoo!

Love the Library

I have always loved the library.  In my youth I would walk to the public library several times a week and spend hours devouring books.  I often forget and neglect to utilize the library as much as I could.  What is more frugal than a free book.  I never really read a book more than once anyway.  Nowadays there are also movies available, no rental fee.  And who can forget the scads of programs offered to all ages.

This summer our small public library has reading rewards programs for all ages, story hours, craft times, interactive classes, and contests.  It offers monthly book discussions for adults.  It offers free internet.  The librarians can help you find the books you are looking for and if they are not on the shelves there, they will order them from a neighboring library.

This week is our local library's celebration of 100 years serving the public.  They have some extra-special activities planned.  This afternoon they are offering a free children's movie complete with popcorn.  Friday they will have an artist there to do caricatures.  Fun!

Don't forget to utilize your local library--it is just about as frugal as it gets.

Random Thoughts

May was a busy month and it appears that will be stretching into June.  The blog has been feeling deserted.  Whenever I come to post, I have so many things swimming around in my head that I want to post about that I can't seem to get anything down.  So in an effort to clear my head, today I bring you Random Thoughts, Volume 1 (I'm sure there will be more since I am often a random person).

*Joplin, MO has been on my mind a lot in the past ten days.  It feels near to me as we are about a 45 minute drive from Missouri.  Granted it would probably take us 5 hours to get to Joplin.  Regardless, it still feels like something like that could happen here.  Thankfully, I am able to do something.  Another mom in our small town is from Joplin and her family is still there (all are fine).  She and several other community members (many of us part of a mom's group) have organized a drive for supplies.  We will be packing up a semi Sunday through Wednesday of next week and shipping supplies to Joplin.  We have concentrated on toiletries, cleaning supplies, and survival supplies and hope that we make a difference in the lives of families down there.

*My cousin went into premature labor on Sunday and it looked really bad for awhile for both mom and baby.  Thankfully, things turned around in 24 hours and the baby was born safely, about 6 weeks early.  Both mom and baby are doing well.  In fact, he is doing so well that the doctors took him off oxygen yesterday.

*My sister is having a garage sale this Saturday.  This is a great excuse for me to de-clutter and get rid of some stuff.  I have done some de-cluttering, but I just hate it.  I need to do more.  Who needs two dozen shirts?  I mean, my boys would have to dirty several shirts a day and I'd have to be more than a week behind in laundry to really wear that many clothes.  Both of those instances have occurred, but not simultaneously.  Right now the boys are tackling their toys.  Hopefully we can get rid of some stuff so that there is less to take care of.  None of it is coming home.  I will drop whatever is left off at the thrift store on the way home.

*Cub scouts are also having a day at Adventureland this Saturday.  We're excited about that.  I haven't decided if I will be brave enough to don a swimsuit.  Normally I do there, but since there will be so many people I know there I haven't decided yet.  It's supposed to be warm, but the rain chances keep creeping up.  Maybe the chance of rain will keep some of the crowd away.

*I've gotten myself re-involved in two local groups this week.  Clarke County Moms is a group of moms that come together for playdates and to build supports for each other and other moms.  We did some of their activities last summer, but things got too busy for me with some college classes I was taking and then with work and I haven't been to any of their activities for some time.  I took all three boys to the park and picnic day yesterday and we are planning to attend more in the coming weeks.  Also I have been a member of Fiction Addiction (a book club) since its development this winter, but have never actually attended a meeting due to work conflicts.  I like to say I play along at home, as I read the books, but miss out on the discussion.  I went to the meeting last night even though I hadn't read the book (The Hour I First Believed by Wally Lamb).  I had fun and am excited to attend in July.  Our book for July is Something Borrowed by Emily Giffin.  I'm a few chapters in and will actually be able to discuss this book.  Woo hoo!

*I cleaned my van out this morning.  I threw away a garbage bag full of junk.  It's embarrassing to have trash fall out of the van when we get out, but for now we are trash free.  It really needs a good vacuuming, maybe I'll get that done tomorrow.

*We've started our Summer Bucket List and I'll blog about that in a separate post.  I'm trying to decided if I will blog a certain day of the week about this or just randomly.  It will probably be random, because that's just how we roll.

*It's past time for me to make lunch, so I guess I'd better get to it.  The boys have managed to empty out their toys into a carpet of stuff in both rooms so I might just have to play the mean mom and just start shoving it into garage sale boxes...  <sigh>

Gardening with Kids

Gardening with kids is a way to kill two (or more) birds with one stone.  Growing and harvesting your own food helps your budget and creates a bit of self-sufficiency for your family.  Having your children assist you in the garden builds the teamwork within your family, creates great family memories, and teaches children where their food comes from.  When children grow their own produce they are more likely to eat the fresh fruits and vegetables they need to be healthy.  Making gardening a habit at a young age begins healthy habits for a lifetime.

It is just the beginning of planting season here in Iowa.  So far we only have a few hills of potatoes planted.  Good Friday is traditionally the day to plant potatoes, so if you are looking to start a garden, this week is a great one to begin to make plans.  Other early plants to sow include lettuce, radishes, snap peas, and onions.

My family has been gardening together for six years (at my best estimate).  We are vendors in our small local farmer's market.  The boys are very much a part of that, and probably don't remember a time when we were not a part of the market.  My seven year old is a natural and cracks me up as he makes up little songs to sing when he is in the garden.  He's already asleep so I'll have to share the song he created during last year's onion planting later this week.  His dad and I can't remember it.

My preschoolers just completed a week-long unit on gardening.  One of the books we read is a Caldecott Honor Book by Janet Stevens called Tops and Bottoms.  To fully understand the book the child would need a bit of background knowledge about gardening, but I was able to supply that with a bit of discussion and some visual aids (vegetables) just prior to reading the story.  In the story a clever hare tricks a lazy bear three times over the course of a season of gardening.  It covers the parts of plants, the work involved in gardening, and several types of vegetables.

Other fictional gardening books include:  Planting a Rainbow and Growing Vegetable Soup by Lois Ehlert, The Carrot Seed by Ruth Krauss, and The Tiny Seed by Eric Carle.  Since nonfiction is so important to young children, let me also recommend these books From Kernel to Corncob and From Eye to Potato by Ellen Weiss.

Happy Birthday Dr. Seuss

Tomorrow is the birthday of Theodore Geisel.  He was born in 1904 and wrote children's books under his own name and the pseudonyms of Theo LeSieg and Dr. Seuss.

We have a Dr. Seuss theme in preschool this year.  We've been enjoying the many works of Dr. Seuss.  Tomorrow we are wearing stripes and silly socks.  Thursday we will make Cat in the Hat hats and green eggs and ham.

My first and third graders are participating in Read Across America Day tomorrow.  Both of their classes are having Read-Ins.  They are bringing some of their favorite books, a pillow, and a snack.  Colby also has a striped shirt picked out.  For a portion of the day they will relax and read for enjoyment.  I love that!

Take a few moments to share a Dr. Seuss (or another wonderful author) book with your children tomorrow!

Fairy Tales

When I was a kid I had very involved parents and grandparents.  Reading was a important part of our time together.  And reading then involved 'classics' like Dr. Seuss, Little Golden Book stories, and fairy tales.  As time goes by parents seem much more concerned about electronics and technology.  In my youth we had four channels on our antenna tv.  There were no dvds, computers, or even vcrs.  We played and used our imaginations (more on that in a future post) and we read books and told stories.  Technology is here to stay and it does have a place in the world of our kids, but sadly those true classics--fairy tales--have taken a back seat.

Yes, Disney has made sure that certain fairy tales are kept alive, but many others have fallen through the cracks.  Today we started our weeklong unit on fairy tales and nursery rhymes.  I love telling and retelling the stories of The Three Little Pigs, The Three Bears, The Three Billy Goats Gruff, Red Riding Hood, Jack and the Beanstalk, and all those other gems using various books, flannel board props, puppets and, masks.  All of these stories require the storyteller to use voices for the characters (children are just delighted by this!) and have repetitive parts where the children can join in or retell.  These stories will be lost without being told in the oral tradition that has kept them alive for centuries.

Nursery rhymes used to create a foundation for reading skills like phrasing, rhyming, and alliteration.  Sadly, many of the children I work with are not able to recite more than a couple of nursery rhymes upon entering preschool.  I also tend to neglect them, which is why I include them in our fairy tale theme.  And we make sure to repeat them often and bring them to life with activities that they can move to or create with.

Today we did a simple, spur of the moment, activity with Jack Be Nimble.  Each child took turns jumping over a candlestick (toilet paper roll with a sliver of construction paper flame) as we recited the rhyme with their name inserted.  We stacked a small block or two under the candlestick to make it a bit more challenging as we went along.  It was interesting to see the various techniques used to jump nimbly over that candlestick.  Some took a running start.  Some stood near the candlestick and jumped (sometimes landing with one foot on either side of the candle).  The rest of us applauded each attempt while we waited our turns.

We also provided puppets and flannel board pieces so that the kids could retell stories.  We had lots of bear voices and naughty little Goldilocks pranks going on during free play.

And I always enjoy the kids' faces when they realize that The Little Red Hen is not going to share her bread with her lazy friends.  That is so unfair in the eyes of a four year old!

So parents, grandparents, and other folks here who love children, please share those stories with your kids.  Make it fun.  Use the voices.  Make it exciting, scary, funny, as appropriate.  And tell them again and again!  (PS It's okay and wonderful if the stories are different from time to time--that's how it has been generation to generation.)

Wowie wow wow! My love of Junie B. Jones

I have taught preschool for over twelve years, essentially my whole working career.  I consider myself somewhat of an expert on books for preschoolers and have some ideas for future posts about that.  But I have recently discovered a new friend--Junie B.

Barbara Park has created this enthusiastic little character and written a couple dozen books tracking her adventures through kindergarten and first grade.  Junie B. reminds me quite a bit of Ramona Quimby from my youth.  However Junie B. is much more enthusiastic and speaks in a language that is true to life.  I have had friends tell me that can't handle Junie B. because she is a brat.  Well she might be a bit of a brat, but so are many other kids that I love.  You gotta love a kid with spunk.

My boys love listening to Junie B. Jones and their mom loves to read about her.  Here are some quotes from  Junie B.

Each book starts the same:  "My name is Junie B. Jones.  The B stands for Beatrice.  Except I don't like Beatrice.  I just like B and that's all."

Junie B. on the baby's room:  "Mother and Daddy fixed up a room for the new baby.  It's called a nursery.  Except I don't know why.  Because a baby isn't a nurse, of course."
...from Junie B. Jones and a Little Monkey Business

Junie B. on rules:  "Me and Mother had a little talk.  It was called--no screaming back off, clown.  Only I never even heard of that rule before."
...from Junie B. Jones and the Yucky Blucky Fruitcake

Junie B. on her baby brother:  "His name is Ollie.  I love him a real lot.  Except I wish he didn't live at my actual house."
...from Junie B. Jones and That Meanie Jim's Birthday


Sometimes the characters from Junie B. sneak out in play at my house.  Meanie Boy Jim appears whenever a brother is not playing the way another brother likes.  And Cry Baby William has made an appearance or two as well.  (PS she does end up liking both Jim and William as they redeem themselves later in the series.)

If you have children you love that are in early elementary school I would recommend Junie B.  I love that Colby's first grade teacher reads a bit of Junie B. everyday.  She says she normally gets through to whole set by the end of the year.  He has heard a few of them a couple of times, and other than he has a hard time not giving things away, he doesn't complain that he has already heard the book.  I love that the boys look forward to our chapter before bed and so do I.