October 22, 2011 - Posted by CayleenRae - 0 Comments
My dreams of almost a year ago have finally come to pass.
I have green house hoops!!!
Okay, “House” might be a stretch, but the boxes are covered! I chose to cover a newly planted spinach bed with a trench for winter compost on one side, and the brassica bed that is so happily thriving in this cool fall weather:
With the help of my boys, I hammered a hole in the ground with a hammer and piece of rebar. Then, using a jar gripper for extra gripping power, I shoved the pvc pipe down the hole as far as I could. Did you know that pvc pipe is sold in coils?! I didn’t! Until after I had painstakingly bent straight pvc pipe into rather bumpy curves. Then I found the coils and my endeavour was suddenly much easier. I also learned that the pipe cuts beautifully with a large branch clipper.
After hammering in the pipe, I affixed white row cover material for warmth and frost protection:
Then I wrangled on the plastic cover:
How did I attach the covers? Why, with the very same pipe the covers are resting on! I just cut small pieces of the pipe, sawed a slit in one side, wrenched it open with my beloved dandelion picker, and with much finagling, shoved it over the covers and plastic supports.
Extra protection for the areas the pipe clips go on is a very good idea. I found the plastic and fabric covers to rip rather easily. So I added a double layer of duct tape to the needed spots on the cover. It took extra finagling, but it was worth it:
When I snuck a peek at my babies, they looked quite happy tucked into their new covers:
Ready, Set, Lets see what winter brings!
Update: the day after I installed these was a warm one. I popped my hand inside and it was quite warm and humid. I propped open the ends with sticks and rocks, and closed it again at night. So far, a week later, the covers haven’t blown off and every day moisture is apparent on the inside of the plastic.
October 21, 2011 - Posted by CayleenRae - 1 Comment
Gospel Lesson
This week we focused on gaining a desire to be pure and righteous.
We talked about what it means to be pure. I gave the boys some salt to hold, and we talked about how white and clean it was:
We added pepper. And talked about how sometimes we make choices that make us not so pure:
Throughout the week we read scriptures and sang songs that helped us want to make good choices so that we can stay pure.
Later in the week we looked at the parable of the wise and the foolish man. We talked about how making righteous choices that help us be pure is like building our house on the rock, and making poor choices is like building our house on the sand. When challenges and trials rise up around us, we’ll stand still and remain pure on the firm ground:
Reading/Writing
I find that reading practice with Giant is easy. Reading is simply what our family does!
As for writing, I may slack off a little. He seems to get especially confused in his writing if we attend programs that teach kids to write using capital letters (why do they do this?!) So lately I’m making more of an effort to help him practice his writing (and keep those capitals where they belong) :
One afternoon we were cuddled up reading, and Giant was absolutely fascinated with a little encyclopedia of the world:
He kept reading it for about an hour after his brother (and, okay, me too) had fallen asleep:
After we woke up, Giant had marked the pages he needed me to read:
The boys drew and labeled pictures of their family. I love that daddy is holding Galoot in this picture:
…and there is something about these little people Ettin drew that makes me giggle:
Ettin and some of his letters (oh, I love those crescent moon eyes!):
Giant’s name poem. He wrote something he liked for each letter of his name: (TAbL-table, APL-apple, emuY DOOF-yummy food, Looc-look, Bro-orb, run-run):
Giant had a great time working on word search puzzles:
And he really wanted me to take a picture of his islands (iLinds-islands, PATh-path Thsevinses-the seven seas):
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The week the Classroom On Wheels came to visit our town, and they brought a bunch of fun ideas for easy to create games and puzzles. For example:
Science
We explored stored kinetic energy through wind up propellers. First we tried making race cars:
…but they we a little too finiky. Ettin, however, spent a good hour or two meticulously covering his car in blue tape:
Then we went for simple, and just took the elastic and propeller and popped it into a cup. Helicopters!:
They didn’t actually fly, but the boys loved the fact that they spun wickedly around!
Giant spent the most of one afternoon playing around with magnets:
Math
Child1: “Mommy, please can we stay up a little longer?!”
Me:”No, its bedtime now!”
Child1, starting to sob uncontrollably,”But m-mommy, I-I-I didn’t do my math sh-sheet!”
Me:”Um. Okay, you can go work on your math…”:
Do my boys know how to play me or what?
Music
I’m really trying to bring music into our days a bit more. I love my quiet, but music is important for these little people too!:
Baking
Gingerbread skeletons!
And their own concoction. I’m not really sure what to call it, but it involved beef bouillon, curry powder, bacon bits, and candy hearts:
mmmmm…(Ettin’s):
mmmm…(Giant’s):
They sure liked them. And if I hadn’t seen what had gone into them, I may not have been so grossed out!
These boys love to bake, and this mommy is learning to be okay with having them in the kitchen!
Arts and Crafts
Grandma and Grandpa Scofield sent some really cool craft supplies!
We spent a couple of mornings building wooden trucks:
The boys have been painting and crafting up a storm:
…a Hallowe’en storm!
Ettin, colouring ever so carefully:
Ettin, exhausted by his efforts:
Giant made a Hallowe’en Pinata (filled with a couple Hallowe’en candies and spiders):
And Monsters!!! This was an awesome Hallowe’en craft for these kids! Plastic cup, paint on some glue, add some tissue paper and eyes. The messier the better!:
Though perhaps not entirely age appropriate for babies. Galoot thought the glue was delicious and he was terrified of the monsters.
Physical Activity
Still No Snow!!! Which means we are OUTSIDE baby!
Riding bikes (Ettin can pedal pretty far, but he still needs help starting):
We play at the Church gym with a mother’s group three times a week (so long as there is no one setting up for parties, funerals, or other events):
We had lots of lovely leaves to play in:
And excellent apparatus to practice our gymnastics on:
Balancing forwards and backwards:
(Ettin scooted the whole way on his bottom. It was hilarious):
Hanging and Climbing skills:
Horticulture
We put up a couple of cold frames. Those boys worked hard hammering. And playing.
Man, I love those kids!!!
October 14, 2011 - Posted by CayleenRae - 0 Comments
Monday morning I called the boys over for our Gospel Message. Giant said he’d come in a minute…which made me a little grumpy. My children should come when they’re called, correct? When I got up to haul him over encourage him to come quickly to the carpet, I discovered that he’d been working on his own Gospel Message:
“Jesus Luv/susweLuv/HiMToO” (Jesus loves us we love him too. I asked Giant if the family was him and his wifey and baby, he smiled dreamily and nodded 😉 )
So for the rest of the week our Gospel Messages focused on things we can do to show Love. A rather needed reminder for our family as bickering and contention have become a too frequent event.
Reading and Writing:
Look, letters! My Ettin is drawing letters!
His big brother runs interference for us, entertaining Galoot while I work with Ettin:
Thanks for takin’ the hit, buddy:
Giant read his phonics stories:
The boys practiced their sign language:
Math
With some Birthday money from Grandma Blackmore, Giant bought a nuts and bolts car that took us a good afternoon to put together. Lots of teeny tiny little pieces and horrid instructions (I ended up looking at the picture on the box for guidance). But it taught a lot of great lessons!
Giant also bought a measuring tape. A PINK measuring tape (his very favourite colour):
And, we also got to talk about tithing, and what a tenth means (we used handy nuts and bolts as our counters):
Arts and Crafts
We made some fun cannon poppers:
…and set up a sort of net game trying to shoot the ball into the bowls:
The boys did a lot of colouring. Ettin was meticulous, as usual:
He worked on that blue barn all morning. At one point he was almost crying because his hand hurt so much but he really wanted to finish the picture!
We went down to the library for the story program and the boys made animal handprints:
The boys made many creations out of cardboard boxes. Don’t worry, Ettin didn’t hurt himself:
…or at least that’s what he told me several times as he held his hand and glanced at me with a slight look of fear in his eyes. (What does it say about you as a mom when your kids are more worried about you knowing they hurt themselves than about actually hurting themselves. Probably shouldn’t ponder it too deeply 😉 ).
Robots:
Yay! We got to build one of daddy’s designs:
…Ettin just made his own creation up:
Galoot had a short nap while we were building, but when he woke up he kept himself busy:
“Don’t worry about me mom, I’m good. I’ll just keep cleaning up this pumpkin pie for you…”
Science:
Um, lets hear it for Bill Nye!
We studied magnetism and earthquakes. I learned a lot, thank you for asking.
Horticulture:
Ettin and I planted some bulbs for the spring in our front beds:
…He kept calling them onions.
…”You have y’ots and y’ots of y’iddo onions, don’t you mommy?! We are planting all your babies…”
We saw “y’ots” of ladybugs in the grass as we were planting. I guess we must have woken them up from their winter nap in our grass:
Sorry little guys! Go back to sleep.
What a fun week!
