Summer "School" -- Getting Started!

In my Cute Pic Post for April, I mentioned that I was starting to think of doing a miniature version of homeschooling this summer. I've heard it called Home School, I've heard it called Tot School, I've heard it called Intentional Play, but I've decided to call what I'm going to do Summer "School". I'm calling it that because I only plan to do this during the summer and because I hope to teach him something (anything!). Thinking ahead to the future, I can see myself doing something like this every year, so I wanted something that would grow with the boys.

I heard from a lot of my friends (people who read this) that they thought the idea was great, but basically no one had any ideas of where to begin. So I started with Google. And Google was my friend! (Normally Google and I have a tenuous relationship, it tells me I have cancer or gives me tons of answers which don't actually get me what I need but I need it so much, I can't give it up.)

So, this first post (of a long series of posts which will hopefully be weekly, come the summer) is just a place for me to record all the resources I found online and the other things I am planning on using. If you know of others, please send them my way! Or perhaps you see what I'm using and come up with an additional something on your own, please share. This is by no means a I-know-everything-about-this-and-I'm-telling-you-what-to-use list. It's simply me feeling my way through the dark and recording it so I (and you) can benefit for the future.

Websites: 

I do not remember how I stumbled upon these, but it was probably a simple Google search. I have spent TONS of time on them in the last week, and I'm in love. Simply in love!

http://www.1plus1plus1equals1.com/
This one has more stuff than you could possibly hope for and is very overwhelming. There's a newsletter that I've signed up for and a blog to read and an Amazon list of stuff that you could buy (she doesn't make them, just recommends certain things you could use to accomplish whatever the goal is), etc. It's huge, overwhelming, and wonderful.

http://totallytots.blogspot.com/
This especially has great craft ideas. Most are way more than I would want to attempt at this age, but I have gotten some ideas from here.

http://www.handwritingforkids.com/
This specifically has tons and tons of worksheets that I've printed. It's the bulk of "material," honestly. Please see the stack I've printed so far down below.

I bought the following at JoAnnes:

I've pretty much avoided these sorts of things until now, seeing them only as a hassle to clean up after. Having heard somewhere that Crayola Washable is the easiest to wash up after, we got Crayola everything.

I had a coupon so this book was less than $5 and I could barely stop looking through it, it made me so excited!

Here's a sample page of the inside.
I'm not expecting he'll be able to do everything, but I'm excited to see him try!

A few more things:

A portfolio sorter thing I bought at Target. It has 13 sections which is perfect for the 13 weeks we'll be doing Summer "School." And a huge stack of stuff I've printed already.

I've collected everything into a plastic tub that we had just sitting around and will get more thorough into sorting and lesson planning (maybe all that teaching I did at El Centro will really be useful, here! I hadn't thought it would!) will begin after Mother's Day. It's the last big event we host until Thanksgiving and therefore the dining room can become my workroom all summer long (mostly scrapbooking, but will be initially for lesson planning and sorting the weeks). I mean, Book Club still happens every month, but they don't care if it's messy (so great to have been meeting for 3.5 years!) and we don't need the table during those meetings.

Again, if you've found something you think I might find useful, please share it with me! If you've thought of something while reading this post, please share that too! I'm feeling my way in the dark here, and can use any and all support/resources/ideas/suggestions/advice/everything!

Fun Family Outings -- Cottonwood and Galaxy

Saturday, May 4th was a day full of family fun! We went to the Cottonwood Art Festival in the morning (it's free to enter, free to park) and the weather was perfect for it. I had longed for something like the Sunflower festival at Stone Mountain in Georgia and this was EXACTLY what I had hoped for (why the heck it took us so long to go, I have no idea). There were tons of different artists booths, but one actually made me start crying, the art was so good. It was country scenes--winding roads, ponds, lakes, etc, and I was immediately homesick and crying. His stuff was so transporting! We got some lemonade and walked around, simply enjoying the weather; it was amazing. OH! And I learned while we were there that there's a fall one too. :-)

Austin just helped himself to this chair. lol

That night was Tatum's 3rd Birthday party at the Galaxy Drive-in in Ennis. It. Was. So. Fun. I grew up going to a Drive-in pretty much at least once a summer, but this was a fairly unique experience for Seth. He's gone with me once (back home in WI) and probably a few other times, but it isn't a part of his childhood like it is mine. (This place has 6 screens!) I was so emotional and excited about it, we decided to attempt to go to the Drive-in every year with our boys. (just typing that makes me excited!) Even when they're little. We had expected it to be a little rough with the ages of our little guys, but it went great.

We got some yummy (junk) food, sang to Tatum, ate some cookie cake (the BEST thing I have ever tasted in my life), and then hunkered down for the movie. It was chilly that night (surprisingly), so we stayed in the car during the movie. We fed Graham a bottle and then put him in his carseat and he slept the whole time. Austin alternated between my lap and Seth's lap, but was into watching the movie (The Croods), so it worked out really, really, REALLY well. Pretty much as good as we could have possibly wanted! Austin stayed awake the entire drive back to Dallas (about 45 minutes), so he was exhausted the next day, but it was all worth it. SO worth it.

6 screens!

We weren't there quite as early as we'd hoped, but still got a good spot. 

I was adamant that we park next to some of these (it's part of the experience!), but they weren't working!

Graham and I hung out while the other boys got some food.

This kid would finish one of these by himself if we let him! He's always trying to hurry up and finish it rather than keep it around all evening, in case of thirst. 

Our happy baby.

Seth enjoying the nachos.

Graham wanted some. (And Seth literally didn't know he still had cheese on his cheek. lol)

Austin loves watching presents being opened.
He's always thrilled for the receiver. Love the heart of my sweet man.

This was THE BEST thing I've ever eaten.
Happy Birthday Tatum! Thanks for having your party at the Drive-in and for rekindling a love of mine.
Can't wait to start our new tradition, and we have you to thank! (you too, Dani and James!)

Cute Pic Post -- April 2013

April was a good month for us. It was busy, but not too crazy. It was relaxing, but not too boring. We kicked the month off with a bang by going to the Arboretum and spending the morning there as a family (so fun!) followed by a week of Care Calendar meals and a Saturday spent serving some friends. We had a family birthday event, a Day out with Thomas, got great deals at the consignment sale, had a pizza and games night with Kim and David, Graham's 6 Month JCP pictures, Bluebonnet pictures, DeGolyer's Carnival, the PF Pool's Open House and got lots of work done around the house (mostly yard stuff). And we all got sick around the third week, but nothing too terrible, though we did miss a day of church because of it. Oh, and I got to go on a Girl's Night Out and ate my entire dinner by myself (and drank a cosmo)! And wasn't cleaning other peoples' faces, getting kicked, cleaning it up, etc.

Austin started using three-word sentences like he's always known how! "Daddy go bye-bye" and "no Mommy medicine" (when my prescription wasn't ready at CVS) "Austin play outside" etc. It was really neat to see him pick this up. He's showing a lot of imagination in play, where this one's the Daddy and this one's the Mommy or these two Pop On Pals are playing baseball, etc. So cute. He also started showing a lot of interest in learning, so we I am working on spending some intentional time in instruction. I can't exactly say I'm teaching him anything, but I'm constantly quizzing him on his colors (he knows pretty much all of them already, but I'm working on teaching the odd ones like maroon, gray, and dark/royal/light blue etc.), spending time on learning apps on the iPad, and playing "match!" with his Memory game or the flashcards we bought.

All of this learning has got me thinking about this summer and doing weekly themes or something to teach him about. I think having some structure would work better for me for the summer--long days/weeks of no BSF or school--and might help to pass the time easier. Perhaps we take a field trip to the library every Monday and get books on a certain theme and we eat foods along that theme and do a craft (a VERY simple one!) and talk about the letters and colors and numbers that go with that theme, etc. Something to give our days a purpose. I don't want to set my expectations too high because I want it to be fun and make our summer more enjoyable, not more stressful. Does anyone have any recommendations of places I could go to read up on this or find ideas? Again, no frills, easy stuff.

Graham struggled for the longest time to sit up by himself. It reminded me of Austin not crawling. Austin wouldn't stay on his belly long enough to work on crawling, and Graham wouldn't bend at the hips enough to create a sitting position. Every time we would go to sit him down to practice, he'd straighten and stiffen his legs so he was standing. And he's good at standing, but we also needed him to learn how to sit up! Finally, the last week of April, he started giving it a shot and actually stayed that way long enough to play with stuff while sitting up. He's still rolling like crazy and is already ending up in crazy places because he's rolled himself there. 

We had a bit of a Witching Hour appear in the middle of the month, but a cat nap caught early seems to have helped that, thank God. He's also started eating food and is currently up to sweet potatoes, carrots, apples, and rice cereal. I can't remember how often he's supposed to be eating "solids" so I need to do my research again there. It's funny how in just two years I've forgotten stuff like that. And I need to start making some food. Baby food is so expensive! Also, we caved to the hype and bought an amber teething necklace. I can't say if it helps his pain, but it has definitely cut down on the drooling. He used to soak a bib in a couple hours and now it can last most of the day.

We had Graham's 6 Month appointment mid-month and the doctor again stated that his head is fine. Not perfectly flat, but fine. YAY for no helmet! Graham got an oral something and three shots that day and it was our worst shots situation yet. We were alternating medicines and doing everything to make him as comfortable as possible, but the fever and obvious sore legs made for a weepy baby and a sad Momma. I'm tearing up thinking about it. (I felt so helpless, I just became so irritable and sad and weepy and unable to sit still ... it's hard to explain.) But he's recovered now and is back to the perfectly happy baby we love so much.

The boys continue to enjoy each other. Austin will bring Graham a toy and ask him to throw it to him, etc. We have had some sharing issues though, where whatever Graham is playing with becomes the toy that Austin MUST have at that precise moment. Currently I'm telling him to wait until Graham drops that toy and therefore is done playing with it and then he (Austin) can play with it. I don't think that'll work forever, though, because Graham will just hang onto everything and claim to be using/playing with stuff even when he's not. Right? So, anyone have good ideas on how to handle this?

Here are some pictures from April: 
(I should point out that the month started out nice and then was chilly for several weeks before getting nice again. This weather situation and Graham's being bigger than Austin at that age means that he only has about 2 long-sleeves and pants outfits. And I bought one of them last month at a consignment sale! Anyways, you'll see him wearing it again and again and again because it was one of our only options for him to wear! I must have washed it twice a week for awhile. And you'll see Austin alternating between shorts and tshirts to sweatshirts and long pants. One week we had a 50 degree temp drop in like 12 hours. No wonder we got sick!)

My Mr. Helper. 
He loves to push the laundry buttons and watch the water come out as the cycle gets started.

We got a huge Amazon Mom order and Austin had a blast with the boxes!
This was him dancing and singing. Someone give this kid a stage! lol

These two combined to form his "house" and he'd crawl in and tip over backward. Again and again and again. There's a video posted, but I thought this still shot was hilarious.

Our old diaper pail finally bit the dust after 2.5 years and Austin was pretending the box was a basketball hoop. And then he decided to crawl in here and loved when I pretended I couldn't find him.

Another one of those "a boy and his dog" photos. 
I love when he's sweet to her. And he does it totally on his own!

Austin was telling Graham to put the ball in the basketball hoop. He didn't. ;-)

Austin asks to hug Graham probably 5 times a day. He asked for this cuddle.

Sweet baby. Showing off his necklace.

We were reading books and I thought my view was worth a photo. Love having this full lap!

This was one of my favorite outfits for Graham (I bought it special for him which is rare around here since most of our clothes are handmedowns or are otherwise used--from the consignment sales), and try as I might I could. not. get. a. good. photo. of. him. in. it. It's navy blue, white, and yellow. UWEC colors which I'm always a sucker for. I can't hardly see an outfit in those colors and not buy it. Same with maroon and white. ;-)

One of Austin's Easter presents was two pairs of sunglasses. He almost always puts them on upside down and over his ears, but doesn't seem to care--just loves having them on!

On a super nice evening, we ate dinner outside and Graham couldn't stop smiling! See those two teeth?

He doesn't seem as photogenic as Austin is. Never posing for us.

He loves hats. And had to wear this one in the car one day. I love how he actually smiled for the picture rather than the Cheese Face he usually makes when posing.

We gotta have a picture of the baby in the washer!

Sometimes (usually when we're leaving The Y) he asks to ride in the storage compartment of the stroller. 

I bought this hat at a garage sale for 10 cents.
He loves it and was using it as a helmet while riding his bike around the house.

A self-portrait of his Duck Face he gets while sucking on his bottom teeth.

Graham was "helping" Austin with sorting his plastic food. lol. Still cracks me up!

I know it's super blurry, but look at those eyes!
The picture was supposed to be of the shirt, but it became of his eyes.

A cute photo from the doctor's office. Before the shots.

After the shots. A very weepy, pained baby.
He loves the giraffe and finally fell asleep clutching it while I rocked us like crazy.

and then he slept snuggled up to it.

I'm not sure what causes his rosy cheeks to come and go, but the doctor said they'd be worse on cold days and he's certainly right! Seth came home one day and said he looked like Santa Claus!

A gentle wrestling match.

Graham got this for Christmas but was just now ready for it and he loves it!

"Look, Ma! One-handed!"

It took some convincing to get him to put his mouth up and eat, but once he did he was hooked! But was also very aware of sharing. He'd take a bite, hand it to Seth, take a bite, hand it to me, etc. SO sweet! 

Please don't call CPS. It was just for a few minutes and he asked to go in there!

We found ourselves very underprepared for swim season. lol. The shirt cracks me up! 

And what was too small for Austin was too big for Graham. I know the picture isn't great, but you have to just imagine it's actually a video. He couldn't see anything and kept spinning around and around in a circle I laughed so hard I almost got sick.  

First and Last time we try this grocery shopping arrangement. Austin kept pulling food off shelves and the seatbelt was broken, so he'd get out of the car and pull something down. While I was loading all the food onto the belt at checkout, he managed to open a Milky Way and was about to take a huge bite out of it when I caught him. sigh. Maybe we'll try again in the fall.

Our Foundation Man, Kyle, and Seth were going over the numbers and Austin needed to give his approval too. Kyle is so sweet. Austin walked over and bent down to see and Kyle was like "yeah, come on over, what do you think of these numbers?" 

A Falling House

It's fuzzy for some reason, but still funny (and for the record, he did this over and over and over again):