Happy lunch

Mom (on top with long hair) and two boys

Summer reading fun!

Today we joined the summer reading club at our local library. I figured that since we're trying to increase our reading, we might as well make it fun for the summer. The boys get tokens for the books they read. Then at the end of the summer, they get to cash in their tokens for little prizes. Then (I didn't even know this), just for joining, each kid gets a free kids' meal at Applebees, a free kids' meal at North Park Clubhouse, and a free scoop of ice cream at Kaleidoscopes. They also get to enter a weekly drawing and a grand prize drawing. There are also scheduled activities for the kids. We're going to try going tomorrow. I'm not sure if Sam is too young, but we'll find out!

Reading

I've been reading several homeschool blogs. The one mom (of 9 kids, plus one on the way) reads to her little kids (age 7 and under) for two hours per day. That blew my mind when I read that! My boys are so active and wiggly that when we try to read books before bed, half the time I think they're not even paying any attention.
So a week or so ago, I decided to try reading to them mid-morning. They sat for about 30-45 minutes, riveted with the stories. I couldn't believe how much time had passed. If I remember right, I was almost late leaving for school because of that! Since then we've had several longish reading sessions. After lunch, before what I call quiet afternoon time, works well as reading time also. Then last night before bed, they sat downstairs on the couch with me for about an hour reading. I'm really amazed at how calmed down they get when we're snuggling on the couch, reading. Here are some of our favorite books from this week:

1. Twenty-One Elephants by April Prince - the true story about P.T. Barnum marching elephants across the Brooklyn Bridge when it was first built, to prove that it was safe to cross.
2. Tuesday by David Wiesner - a hilarious picture book with hardly any words. The boys and I were all laughing out loud at this one.
3. The Snowy Day by Ezra Jack Keats - Isaiah just can't get enough of this one. It's a very simple book with simple illustrations, but something about Peter's adventures in the snow really resonates with him.
4. How I Became a Pirate and its sequel, Pirates Don't Change Diapers by Melinda Long and David Shannon - a great boy story. A lot of little boys imagine being pirates, and these books bring those fantasies to life. Wonderfully funny.
5. The House in the Night by Susan Marie Swanson - a magical night time book with simple yet interesting illustrations.
6. In a Blue Room by Jim Averbeck - Curiously, Alice's room is not blue. Neither is the cup of tea, blanket, etc. that her mother brings her to comfort her before bed. All of a sudden, when Mom turns out the lamp, everything is bathed in blue moonlight. Pleasantly surprising. Excellent use of colors.

If you have any suggestions of books for preschoolers, I would love to hear them. What are/were your children's favorites?

Gooey goo

This morning, our science experiment was making goo out of cornstarch and water. I used 1 cup of cornstarch mixed with 1/2 cup of water. Lots of fun and very easy cleanup.

Underwear and oranges

Sam started going potty at Grandma's house this past week. Even though I hadn't planned to potty train him yet, he seems ready, so we're just going for it, busy as we are! With Isaiah, we spent a solid intensive two weeks potty training, and I planned to do the same with Sam. Apparently he's decided he's ready now, so in the middle of musical season, we're doing what we can. In this picture below, he's actually wearing two pairs of underwear. I asked him if he wanted to wear the elmo pair or the cookie monster pair. He said, "Both!"

The other day we got a Sesame Street cooking with kids cookbook. Tonight we decided to try the Frosty Orange Surprise. First, we cut off the top 1/4 of four oranges. After scooping out the "guts" and putting them into the blender, we added two 6 oz. containers of lemon yogurt and blended. We scooped the orange pulp and yogurt mixture back into the orange cups and froze them for an hour and a half.

Then enjoyed! So easy and healthy.

We decided that these would make amazing snacks for a hot summer afternoon.

Baking with boys

Today was snow day #6 of the school year. I certainly didn't anticipate being home today, but it was a nice surprise. I was flipping through March's edition of FamilyFun magazine and found these St. Patrick's day rainbow cupcakes. Unfortunately, I didn't have a white cake mix, so we just made it from scratch. Isaiah loves the mixer. He said, "Your mixer is on hyper-speed!" The things boys say! Then I had to make sour milk because I didn't have any buttermilk. While I was mixing the milk and lemon juice, the boys were drinking the lemon juice, straight. They were having a contest to see who could drink more. This is how boys like to cook. =) So we divided the batter into six bowls and used the amount of food coloring the recipe said in order to make the right colors. Here's the picture from the magazine.

Mixing the green...

And the red...

All the colors finished... then we layered the batter in the muffin tins, starting with purple and working our way up. (The little one started saying "purple" while were were making these.) We were careful with the layering so the colors wouldn't mix, but...

This is is how they turned out. A little... psychedelic?

You can see the colors in the middle... a little mixed up! Both boys thought the rainbow cupcakes tasted good.

Isaiah-isms

• The other day Isaiah was working on his schoolwork book. There was a picture of an old-time village. He had to find the items in the picture that did not belong in the time period, like the tv, digital clock, etc. Then, there was a question, "Before people had cars, how could they get from place to place?" He said, "Well, you could walk, or ride a cow, (pausing) or a friendly reindeer." I don't think he understood why I was laughing so hard.
• Last night Sam didn't want to take a bath. He was just standing there in the tub fussing. Finally, Isaiah had had enough, and said (exactly in the tone and matter-of-factness he hears when I say it), "That's life, kid. It's not the end of the world." Surprisingly, Sam sat right down.
• Today, Isaiah was filling out his Cars valentines. When it came time to choose one for Sam, he said, "Which one says, like, I love you or something?" He really does love his brother.