As part of a writing assignment, my first grader needed to come up with 5 adjectives to describe me.
I’m going to admit, I was a tad nervous while he was writing and chuckling to himself.
But in the end I was the one chuckling to myself when I read through the list.
Epic.
It’s a 1st grade thing.
And just to clarify…it means I’m super cool.
Just in case you thought I had it all together…
I present to you my son’s birthday cake…
And no, he’s not the world’s oldest person…
just completely forgot about candles until it was time to light them.
Well, I didn’t plan on being away from here for a week but that’s just how things turned out.
My husband and I were furiously finishing a project I had said yes to (more tomorrow) and only finished about 30 minutes before the completed products were due. Nothing like cutting it close here 🙂
A week ago the awful tornado in Moore, Oklahoma struck and killed so many.
The following day, the meterologists were telling us to expect huge storms with tornadoes a real possibility. Needless to say, everyone around here was on edge.
Before school, the kids and I brought a mattress downstairs and placed it by the tub. We then practiced getting into the bathtub and placing the mattress on top of us. It wasn’t exact but we did the best we could.
We also gathered bike helmets, important papers, a first aid kit, and a pair of shoes for everyone. We always have our bike helmets handy when it’s tornado time, in case things start to fall on us. It’s probably silly to have them but it always makes me feel better knowing they are around.
Around 1 pm things started to get rainy. At 2 pm Caroline and I headed over to the elementary school because the wind was picking up and really raining. Apparently, every other parent had the same idea since it took me until 2:30 to get the boys. By this point it looked like a hurricane outside and my middle one started to cry. He was saying, “The tornado is going to get us.”
In our run from the school to the car we got soaked so everyone changed clothes once we got home. We turned on the tv and ate ice cream. Hey, it seemed incredibly reasonable to me, if the power goes out, the ice cream will go bad. Hence, we must eat the ice cream. After all, no one was in the mood for a frozen tuna patty so we went with next best thing.
I sent the kids to play while I continued to watch the weather reports on tv. All regular programming was ignored for constant weather reporting which just added to my nervousness.
Thankfully, there is no big ending to this story. The weather passed us by 4:30 pm, my husband came home at 5:30 to ask if it had even rained at the house. I will disclose here that I was ready to slug him at that point as my nerves were just about shot. We had frozen pizza for dinner, again ignoring the frozen tuna for something better, and continued on as normal.
Everything was normal except for the fact that my four year old whining,”I wanted the tornado to come,” and I was busy pricing portable storm shelters online.
For the last 4 years, my family has all gathered for a week in Florida.
Since we are all spread out – Texas, Michigan, Illinois, Louisiana, Kentucky, and Canada – it’s a wonderful time for us to come together and have fun.
Last year we started, what my boys hope, is a new tradition – Minute to Win It Night.
The boys loved watching Minute to Win It on tv so I thought it would be perfect for them to set up a night where everyone plays the games.
The boys spent a week of their summer, making posters, choosing teams (red team vs blue team), watching video clips, choosing the games, gathering supplies, and emailing everyone.
Take a look at how our Minute to Win It Night went.
Getting Forked – roll a quarter into the prongs of a fork – good game
Ready Spaghetti – place spaghetti noodles through a soda can, carry the can from one table to another table while holding the spaghetti noodles in your mouth – okay game
Breakfast Scramble – Take the front covers of cereal boxes, cut each box into 16 pieces, and then race to see who can complete their puzzle first – good game
Hut, Hut, Hike! – Bend over and hike toilet paper rolls between your legs and through a person’s arms 15 feet away – Hilarious game
Marshmallow Match – Throw mini marshmallows into a bucket that is on top of a player’s head – good game
Rapid Fire – Player must shoot rubber bands to knock a triangle stack of 6 cans completely off a platform – good game
I’m pretty sure good times were had by all.
To me, the best part of the night is it involves everyone in the family, kids, adults, and grandparents. Truly lots of fun.
And family, you better start training for this year – word on the street this year is that there are new games a comin’!
My kids think I am the biggest buzz kill ever.
If they had their way they would watch tv and play video games constantly.
But…insert evil witch cackle…they don’t have their way.
I believe kids need time to be bored.
There, I said it.
B.O.R.E.D.
I think being bored leads to creativity.
If technology is always an option, kids never have to imagine, pretend, and create.
The other day after they had been turned away from the computer I walked downstairs 20 minutes later to find my kids like this…
And this…
And this…
Apparently they were playing “Attack of the Zombie.”
See, creativity at it’s best.
The dog may have been questioning them, but me?
Nope? Proud momma.
Can’t wait to see what they dream up today.
(Just a little “Happy Birthday” shout out to my little zombie Andrew!)
I have to confess something.
I hate sleepover parties. Really hate them.
I know I should love them as a mom and love that my friends have kids who want to come to their house but alas, I hate them.
My son turned 11 over the weekend and wanted a sleepover party with his friends.
He requested a 24 hour party which I quickly shot down. No way Jose.
We compromised on a 4 pm to 10 am party.
At about 4:30 pm on party day, after the 5 guests had arrived, my husband and I looked at each other and said, “Only 17 1/2 hours to go!”
In all actuality I think it is the stress of hosting 5, 11 year old boys who want nothing else then to knock each other over for the entire length of the party. Oh, and maybe the kids who only speak at one volume, LOUD, that tends to drive me up the wall too.
For the beginning of the party we took the boys to the park near our house where they played soccer, tag, basketball, and grounders (chase on the playground set, no one touching the ground, with the person who is “it” closing there eyes while they were chasing the others – basically a recipe for disaster.)
Once it hit 6:30 and no one had broken a bone my husband and I called the party a success.
After pizza and a rousing , “Only 15 hours to go,” it was time for a video game tournament, ping pong, and cake.
After coercing them into taking showers the boys settled on the couches to watch Goonies.
I remember loving this movie when I was younger.
What I didn’t remember were the drug jokes and curse words throughout the movie. Good chance I could receive a few calls from moms today.
After the movie we tucked the boys in at 11 pm and …wait for it……they feel asleep immediately.
For those of you who have never hosted a sleepover you will not understand what a gift this is. No one had to utter 45 times, “Boy, it’s time to go to bed now.” Derek and I kept saying to each other, “Do you really think they are asleep? Can’t be. Are they planning something?”
At 7 AM my husband and I were awakened by what sounded like a herd of cattle coming downstairs.
We uttered, “Only 3 more hours.”
After a breakfast of pancakes, more video games, and ping pong we heard that wonderful sound we had been waiting for – ding dong! A child pick up 20 minutes early! At 10:05 when the last boy had been picked up Derek and I held are hands up in victory. Although only morning we climbed back into bed and vowed never to host a sleepover again.
We were feeling good and proud of ourselves until Andrew announced, “For my 8th birthday I’m going to have a sleep over too because that was so much fun.”
So now I’m standing firm on our vow. We are not going to have another sleep over for at least 2 weeks. And for those of you counting, that’s only 236 hours till the next sleep over. Lord help us.
First up on the fun filled weekend was Caroline’s preschool Easter egg hunt.
We were asked to fill up the eggs with things other than candy.
I thought that meant stickers and silly bands.
Others thought it meant money.
Next up was the Mary Poppins show – Caroline’s first big broadway show to attend!
Immediately after sitting with her in the theater and explaining how only big girls are able to go to the theater a couple walked by with a 1 yr old. And believe me she noticed.
Easter egg dying at home was next!
Then off to the neighborhood Easter egg party and egg hunt with grandpa.
Two lacrosse games were next on the weekend agenda.
We woke up Easter morning to hollowing winds and tornado warnings. After spending some time in the closet we came out to our fence down in the neighbors yard.
After things had calmed down a bit we had an Easter egg hunt. Thank goodness the Easter bunny had the foresight to hide the eggs in the house.
And finally church with the grandparents…
Fun fact: Caroline is wearing her great grandmother Caroline’s pearls. And yes, shoes are totally optional on Easter.
Hope everyone’s Easter was wonderful!
The last time I talked about Caroline’s super hero party it was concerning the scavenger hunt, bean bag toss, and the chest letters they received.
Today it’s, “Exploring the City!”
When I looked on pinterest for Caroline’s super hero party I came across party decor which had buildings with it. I thought, wouldn’t it be fun for the girls to be able to play in the buildings?
Otherwise known as, “Cardboard Boxes are so Much Fun!”
One of the missions the kids had to complete was, “Explore the City.” This simply meant, bring out some cardboard boxes and let the kids have fun.
A week before the party, the kids and I drove around gathering big boxes that had been discarded in the new subdivision they are building near us.
We then set up a painting station on our driveway and got to work painting the boxes.
I used regular house paint that we already had so the cost for this project was $0.
Caroline wore her painting outfit – yellow pants, old white shirt, and a pair of the boys’ old water shoes – always looks like she’s a retired Floridean 🙂
Everyone got in on the action.
Once the boxes were dry, my husband cut out doors and windows in each box.
And here are the final results –
Every Super Hero town needs a City Hall…
the Movies…
A Jail to put the bad guys…
And the library!
The cardboard boxes stayed in our house another week before they were completely destroyed.
Good fun!
2:50 pm today officially marks the beginning of spring break for everyone here and we are excited.
Since we are staying home all week, the kids and I brainstormed some activities they want to do:
I’m not sure how much I’ll be posting next week because, well, we’ll be having fun.
Have a Great Weekend!
I believe in encouragement at school.
Really, I do.
But this is getting ridiculous.
This is from the 1st grade happy basket…
this is from the 1st grade Treasure Box…
and this is from the 1st grade End of the Month Box.
Seriously?
Little trinkets and figures come home with my first grader everyday and quite frankly I’m kind of hoping he gets a few marks in his folder soon so we can slow the plastic assault on our house.
If this carries on into second grade there won’t be any room left to sleep in his room.