Homemade Tic-Tac-Toe board

The boys love doing crafts (and all the verbal praise that comes with them). One morning Barrett asked to do a craft and so I went to my craft drawer and found popsicle sticks, and bag of black and white buttons, and magnets. My tic-tac-toe board was conceived! The boys (ages 2 and 4) did very well at this and loved playing with the buttons. The magnets keep the game pieces from slipping around and getting lost. Now they are learning the game and most importantly, practicing taking turns!





On a somewhat related note, I know some of my friends have considered homeschooling. I wasnted to pass along my friend Danielle's blog. She homeschools and posts a lot of interesting stuff about it.

Filthy, Dirty, Slimy, and Sopping Wet!

I have been thinking lately that too often I try to keep the boys from getting dirty, tracking dirt in the house, and not hurting themselves when they play. I mean, they ARE boys and boys are supposed to do that stuff...although I may not give up on not tracking dirt in the house. There IS a line for goodness sake, and boys need to be taught to respect their property and to wipe their feet. While I don't want them to get hurt, I don't want them to grow up not knowing their own limits or afraid of everything. If they take some small tumbles now, it will teach them to make better choices, and that bad choices can hurt. They will try new things and accomplish more than they, or I thought they could, and feel the sense of pride that goes with that. They are learning to use their imaginations because sticks become bridges, and leaves become boats. Even though it goes against my instincts as a woman and mother, I think boys need these experiences to become strong men. All of this stumbling, exploring, achieving, and imagining apparently requires massive amounts of dirt, rocks and sticks! Don't ask me why...I am a girl.

Yesterday, we went for a walk and discovered a shallow creek next to the walking trail. So we went back today, and this time I brought my camera. Barrett and Kyle immediately wanted to throw rocks into the water. What is that about? Is it some innate thing in boys? "Water, I must throw rocks into it." Again, I AM a girl, what do I know about these things? After they fulfilled their rock throwing quota, we all waded, and slipped into the water. smack. on. our. bottoms. They saw a duck and "a million billion" minnows. Then, they heard some trickling water and found a little waterfall. They discovered that they could hold hands and help each other up the slippery rocks. Then, in order to get back up to the walking trail we had to climb up a steep slope of sliding dirt. They amazed me and maybe even themselves with their slope-climbing abilities. Barrett was very proud of himself when he reached the top.

They were filthy, dirty, slimy and sopping wet, but they had so much fun doing what comes so naturally--being boys. I had a lot more fun watching them knowing that this kind of play is good for them and that dirt washes off with a little soap and water.

A Weekend of Our Life

On Friday morning I decided to try to run a couple of errands and have lunch with the boys. I dangled a carrot (a.k.a. the park) in front of them so they would behave. I also tried to make it sound like a Dora the Explorer adventure... "Where are we going? Park! How do we get there? Store, Store, Lunch!" We finally made it to the park and it was hot. They spotted the splash pad from a mile away! Take this piece of free advice: If you happen upon a splash pad in the middle of the summer and you don't have a swimsuit or change of clothes, don't believe 'em when they tell you they are just going to get their feet wet. Those boys were soaked within seconds! I didn't mind. I was really wishing I could get in there with them. At one point, Kyle gave me a hug with his drenched little body--it was quite refreshing.





That night we met Cody for dinner at the Mexican restaurant in Farmersville. I think it was like the 5th meal in a row we had eaten Mexican. Heh heh. Can you guess what this is?


I'll give you a hint in the form of a joke:

What do you call a stuck up raisin?

Give up?

A:Snotty! That's right. It was Kyle who stuck the raisin up his nose this time. We think he put one in each nostril but we only found one. We all took turns looking up the orifice with a flashlight, making him sniff pepper, blow his nose, etc--all to no avail. I wonder where that raisin is...

(I am skipping Saturday because I worked all day but I will include Monday.)

Sunday was Gigi's birthday. Happy Birthday to my wonderful mom!! The boys made her birthday presents this year. We got the idea from Chasing Cheerios. My hats off to preschool and elementary school teachers! I do not know how they do it. I was going crazy trying to keep paint from getting everywhere and I only had 2 kids to deal with! On Sunday, the boys wrapped the gifts all by themselves. I almost bit through my tongue but I managed not to comment the gross overuse of scotch tape. They were so excited, that once the presents were wrapped, they had given them to her within 10 seconds. Gigi had lots of help unwrapping them as well.






We all went for a celebratory lunch at Texas Roadhouse.
This conversation ocurred on the way home:
Me: I'm tired.
Barrett (age 4): Me too.
Gigi: Me three.
Cody: Me four.
Kyle (age 2): Cinco!

Such comedic timing, that one!

Today we made Strawberry shortcake for dessert. Not just any Strawberry Shortcake, the most wonderful, magnificent strawberry shortcake in the whole wide world as good as it can be when you forget to put in the baking powder and salt. It was a little chaotic in the kitchen. The boys were just sooo excited to be making strawberry shortcake just like in this book we have been reading for months and months. The book is called Cook-a-doodle-doo by Janet Stevens and Susan Stevens Crummel. It's about a rooster, iguana, pig, and turtle who make strawberry shortcake but don't know the first thing about cooking. Really cute, educational book with a recipe in the back. Tonight we all took on a character in the book and had fun. Everybody wanted to be the pig (taster) though...ha!