Raif had a business trip down in Louisiana this week and brought the kids back these beautiful Mardi Gras masks. Now that I have them I think we need to do some fun things around here for Mardi Gras. Any suggestions on Mardi Gras activities for the kids that don't involve Quinn showing her breasts or either kid drinking massive amounts of Hurricanes then throwing up in a gutter???
One of my New Year's Resolutions was to do more showing and less telling with the kids. I have a habit of just explaining things rather than showing concrete examples which obviously make a lot more of an impact.
So this last week when it was bitterly cold out I put my resolution into action and while I have told them a million times how ice is frozen water we set up our own science station to prove it.
They each got their own cup of water which we put on the porch and every couple of hours we examined it and watched it get colder and colder. They were so excited when it formed the first layer of ice on the top (which they gleefully broke through with their fingers). But the true excitement came when it finally (after 3 days) formed a solid block of ice. Once that happened we brought it in for the second part of the science experiment. We got out some salt and found out that salt can melt ice and finally we brought out the hot water and melted a hole right through the center. Who knew science could be so fun?
Everyone's definition of torture is a bit different, for some it is NASCAR and some it is opera (and I won't even get into whether waterboarding is torture). For me exercise is torture. I hate to exercise. Hate it, hate it, hate it. I know that some of y'all out there feel great after running and get the runner's high. All I get is a miserable feeling that I am going to throw up and die. And before you go and say that I just haven't done enough of it when I was in high school I ran track and practice after practice for months and months I ran and lifted weights and all that and it always made me feel blah.
Because of my 'love affair' with exercise I have avoided it like the plague for most of my adult life. Pre-kids I didn't have time with a full time accounting job. Post kids I didn't have time because, well, I had kids to run after all day. Then after the kids went to school my excuse was I couldn't afford it.
About two months ago Raif went to the doctor and found out he had high cholesterol and his doctor ordered him start exercising since his form of exercise is his bike and since he really can't ride in the winter he bought this.....
A torture device that comes in a nice lime green. In case you don't recognize this contraption it is actually a bike trainer. Sit your bike's back well up on it and voila you have a stationary bike. Since all bikes work on the trainer I now have run out of excuses and with some gentle prodding from my husband I have started riding my bike.
Honestly so far it has been pretty miserable but I know it is good for me and perhaps it will get me back in those jeans.....
When I was in school I did pretty well in literature and English - those were my strengths (science and math - ugh). But within English I never liked nor did I do well in defining things. I always knew what things meant I just had a hard time telling others. Not to mention the whole 'you can't use the word in the definition' just killed me. I frankly thought it was a ridiculous exercise - writing definitions of things you already knew. Now I realize that it was an attempt to prepare you for having a preschooler (or two in my case).
Hmmm well a jury is....well...ahhh... OK so when people do bad things they get sentenced.... yeah...OK you probably don't know what sentenced means. OK, so let's say that Mr. Mickey steals Daddy's car then he would have to go to court and there is a group of people there that tell him he was bad and make him go to jail. Understand?? No, well, hmmmm let's move on.
Hookah - OK this is a special type of pipe. Well you probably don't know what that sort of pipe is. OK it's like a vase with a tube in it and then you put tobacco in it and set it on fire and breathe in the smoke..... Wow that sounds pretty stupid when you say it out loud doesn't it??? OK next...
Bulbous - That is sort of something that is fat and round in this case the man's nose is bulbous or fat and round..sort of like a light bulb hence bulbous though in our case we don't use round light bulbs we use compact fluorescent which are more twisty rather than round or bulbous......
Anybody have a dictionary handy???
*Before you go and call child services on me we are reading an abridged version of Alice In Wonderland** where the caterpillar smokes the hookah.
**And just for the record I so didn't add the link to EBay so you could buy the Disney version on DVD. Apparently, Blogger, not I thinks you need this. I unfortunately don't know how to get rid of it.
For Christmas Quinn received ballet lessons and today was her first class. After a few tears after I left the room she did a great job. The class is a ballet/tumbling/tap class and so Quinn did all sorts of things - though I think by far her favorite part was the tap part (even though she didn't have any tap shoes) as she ran out of class telling me we needed to buy her tap shoes right now.
Frankly, I don't know who had a better time - Quinn or me watching a room full of 3 year olds trying to dance on their toes and tap their shoes. Unfortunately this high tech dance studio only lets you watch the classes via closed circuit TV so I didn't get any video but just a picture of her at the barre.
There are a lot of things that we are responsible for as parents but I think that one of the most important things that we can give to our children is a love of learning. To that end I think that we also need to instill in our children a love of reading. I love to read, though definitely do not have the time I want to enjoy it but it seems that reading today, especially for the young, has become a chore like homework. In conversations I have had with our neighbors older children they all seem to dislike reading only doing it because they are required to, never reading for the joy of reading. Reading is such an essential part of learning that you can't have someone who is excited to learn if they hate to read. Also in all the studies I have read a child's success in school and in life is directly tied to their reading ability.
So I always try to incorporate lots of reading into our daily lives - not just at bedtime but whenever we can, especially during these cold miserable days when going outside is just not possible.
In the past couple of months, Greyson has started reading on his own and I am so proud of him. He is so excited when he starts a new book (we are currently working through the Bob Book Series). Every night he sits down with Daddy and Daddy reads a book or two then it is Greyson's turn to read to Daddy. On the rare occasions when Quinn gets in bed before Greyson I sneak over and listen to father and son read to each other and it just melts my heart. I think he loves to read so much because we have made reading his special one-on-one time with Daddy. Then after they finish he always comes over and reads a few pages to me. He is so proud of himself and insists on giving me a hug after every page he reads.
As for Quinn, well we don't call her the 'parrot' for nothing. She insists on doing everything her brother does so it comes as no surprise that last week she came up to me and said "Mommy, I want to learn to read too." She already knew all her letters and their sounds so we have started off at the first words. We have gone through all the AT words (cat, rat, sat, etc) and all the IT words. She is also so excited and wants to do her 'letters' each and every evening.
So to Greyson and Quinn - I hope this is the beginning of a life long love affair with reading and with learning. May you enjoy reading as much as I enjoy reading to you.
As you followers of this blog know, my son LOVES to cook and so it should come as no shock that yesterday morning the Japanese Steakhouse was open for business however what was surprising was that they had a new employee. We were greeted, taken to our table and had our order taken by Ms. Syrup. When I asked her where her name came from she told me her name was Ms. Syrup because she is so sweet. (Well sometimes.....)
(the chef's hat was one of my favorite gifts to Greyson this Christmas...I hope he loves it as much as I do).
