Broken Crayons

We love crayons. The bright colors, the smell of the wax when you open a new box. They are so simple, and so fun! We color with them, like they are designed for, but we do lots of other things too. Remember the old shaved-crayon-ironed-onto-waxpaper craft? How about crayon candles or leaf rubbings?

Then there is crayon paper peeling - this is a huge activity in our house. I will come downstairs to find the entire floor beneath our table littered with tiny flecks of colored paper, and only one page partly colored in.

By the way - yes, my kids are wearing white fabric scraps in that photo - they were pretending to be "Romans soldiers who fight the bad guys" I would explain it more, but I never did get the whole story.

Like every other house containing young kids, our house has hundreds, okay, maybe hundreds of thousands of broken crayons. We are creative - we love to play with our art supplies - but crayons break, that is just part of the reality of life.

There are dozens of websites out there telling you the exact procedure for reusing crayons. Simple. Fun. Recycling.

I thought we were pretty creative with our old crayons . . . And then I saw the work of Herb Williams:

Kinda' puts the tool of preschoolers in a whole new light doesn't it.

Guilt!

I got a text from my sister last night.  She said that she was feeling guilty because she hadn't sent all of her thank-you notes out yet.  This is the sister whose family just LOST HALF THEIR HOUSE in a tornado last month.  Ummmm . . . really . . . you are stressed about mail?  Believe me, nobody has noticed, nor do they care that they haven't received a card.  

Why do we do this to ourselves  ?  ?  ?

They say that the most common emotion felt by women is guilt.  At any given time in our lives we ladies are feeling guilty about at least two things.  I believe it.  Don't you?  Think about it for a second - see I told you, there are a few things hanging over your head right now that you feel guilty about.  Something you did, or didn't do, promised yourself you would do, or wish you hadn't done.  

Personally, one of the things I often feel guilty about is the phone.  I stink at returning phone calls.  Really, I am horrible at it.  I don't know why.  

I have had a "to call" list sitting on my countertop since the beginning of summer.  Wanna' know how many calls I have made?  2 - two measly calls.  Some gals mercifully called me on their own, knowing that I am like this, but I bet there are others who think I fell off the planet or was abducted by aliens. 

I guess it is just human nature but we always wish we had more time, or were capable of being more perfect than we really are.  

So, let go of that unnecessary guilt.   Laugh a little . . .
You have better things to stress about.   Oh, and if you are waiting for a call from me . . . don't hold your breath.

Sisters

If you know anything about me, you know that I adore my sisters.  

• I love spending time with them, talking with them, sharing complaints, excitement, and laughs.  I love that they will drop everything they have planned for the day, simply to listen to me whine about a broken car or sick children.  
• I love that we don't have to DO anything to enjoy our time together.   In the same way, I love that we don't have to say anything.  I love that we can sit together and say nothing, but enjoy every minute. 
• I love our inside jokes     Wear food!  Silver moon boots!  Shake break! - yeah, I know you don't get it, but my sisters do.
•  I love that we can be honest with each other . . . in everything . . . without worrying about how it will be received.  (conversations that go something like this: Sweetheart, that dress is a bit small - wanna' borrow my red one?)  
• Oooh speaking of that , I love the revolving closet of clothes that we all share.  
• I love that we are so entirely different, but still very much the same. 

When we were expecting our youngest I waited anxiously for the day of our ultrasound.  I knew that I'd be happy to see that the baby was healthy, but I was secretly (or not so secretly) hoping to find out that we would have another baby girl.    I couldn't imagine my oldest growing up without a sister to giggle with, so seeing that she would gain a permanent girl-friend made me all kinds of happy.  

It is fun watching my little girls begin to bond.  My oldest has instituted "baby school."  She brings her toys to the baby and lies on the floor explaining in depth what the toy is, how to use it, and why she thinks that it would be fun for a baby.  In this way she has introduced her to books, "jewels," music boxes, string, and dozens of other random household items.  

She hangs her favorite toys  (these are ancient egyptian figurines) on baby's bouncy seat . . .
Includes her in big-kid games like catch . . . 
Shares treasures . . .
Chats and giggles with her . . .
And encourages her to do new things like lifting her head or rolling over.

In the future they will certainly go through rough spots, learning to share toys, or coping with each other's not-so-great boyfriends (yikes!) but in the end, they will giggle and forget what they were upset about in the first place.  They have each other.  That is what having a sister is all about!

School is Cool

September again!  The kids were excited to see their friends again - bouncing around in the back seat of the car for the entire trip.  Check out the necklaces in the photo below.  The kids made them at the breakfast table as a special 1st day of school treat.  They say "school is cool" on the apple, which I didn't think much about when I bought the kits on the discount rack months ago.  Well, the kids thought that the phrase was hilarious, and the two of them chanted "school is cool ... school is cool" over and over (and over and over . . .) on the drive there until I finally turned on the story of Robin Hood and distracted them. 

My little guy just could not contain himself - this photo is funny, but you should see the other 8.  He is hanging out of the frame on most of them.

The kids both said that their favorite part of the day was show-and-tell (one of the greatest elementary school inventions) where my daughter showed off a Pocahontas doll that she purchased all by herself with her chore money, and my son shared the snake skin that he found last weekend.  

By the end of the day I was pooped; juggling a squirmy 4 month old while trying to teach the scientific method to 6 year olds isn't the easiest of tasks.   The kids on the other hand, they weren't tired at all.  They came home and continued to bounce around the house and yard as happy as larks chanting:

School is cool . . . School is cool . . . School is cool!

Nim's Island Activities, Chapters 15&16

~ Learning about the author, Wendy Orr ~

As a final wrap up to our summer book group, the kids were asked to write a letter to the author of Nim's Island, Wendy Orr.  Kids are so creative.  One wrote it in e-mail format (@TheGreatestKid.net), another told of our adventures in opening her own coconut, and several drew pictures.  We found a great Nim's themed education guide showing the parts of a letter, and discussed the difference between written mail and e-mail.    I will be sending off their messages this week.  Perhaps they will get a letter back!

Together we read through Mrs. Orr's correspondence with other kids, and they were delighted to hear that she began thinking of the story of Nim's Island as a child.   We brainstormed some ideas that we thought might become great stories.  I enjoy their originality confidence.

The highlight of our party was getting to eat lunch on a picnic blanket (huge thrills, I know!) in front of the TV while watching the movie based on the book.  

Later we made mixed media ocean scenes, Really mixed media.  They were sticker/chalk/paint/collage masterpieces.  

This afternoon we are going to look at Mrs. Orr's comments on the movie and  flip through the photos on the Nim's Island flicker account one last time, and then we will be done.  It is always a little bit sad to finish a great book.   

How can I help Michelle?

Roof obliterated     Windows shattered    Furniture ruined    Water damage     Children frightened     Pets failing     Fighting insurance     Leaving home     

Searching for safety and trying to go on

I can't help but think about my sister and her family.  The tornado took so much from them, and here I am, hundreds of miles away, snug and safe in my home.  I want to help; to jump up out of my chair and bake them some brownies or help pick up the things thrown around their living room.  But I can't.  I'm too far away.  

I keep hearing the same thing from other people too.  How can I help Michelle?  What do they need?  Is there anything I can do?  

Their needs are so big, but yet so simple.  Right now Michelle's family is holed up in a hotel room waiting for the insurance agents and contractors to decide what will happen next to their home, and their family.  In the mean time, they are trying to keep life as "normal" as they can for the kids.  They are spending more on gas to get to school and work, more on meals because they don't have access to a real kitchen , and more on general necessities simply because they have have very little ability to plan ahead right now.  And, to top it all off, they are fighting their insurance company to receive the coverage that they have paid for.

Our cousin Kerri has come up with a way for us to physically help out from far away.  She is calling it the "BLANKET FUND."  You can read the story of Michelle's family and the blankets, and donate to help them with their daily expenses by clicking here.  

Money won't bring their house back or ease the kids' anxiety with every thunder boom, but it can help them to meet their needs right now.  It is something I CAN do.  Can you?

Nim's Island Activities - Chapters 13&14

~ Preparing for Emergencies ~

"The birds say there's a storm coming. GO TO THE EMERGENCY CAVE."

It is vital that children know how to respond to emergancy situations. Sometimes we get specific instructions, like Jack's warning to Nim above, and sometimes we don't. 

One of the simplest tasks children should learn is calling for help by dialing 911. We practiced this with the removable cell phone that we made for our Nim poster (A simple piece of foam with a few numbers drawn on it, velcroed to Nim's hand).  Each child took a turn borrowing it from Nim and dialing 911. I pretended to be the emergency operator, asking them to state the problem and their address. You would think that the answers would be fairly routine - not with this age group. When asking them to tell their address we got everything from blank stares, to "the United States of America," to "No, I don't wear a dress." Kids crack me up! :o)

We also talked quite a bit about WHEN to call 911 - and when not to. You can see a short sonic clip here that reinforces the idea that 911 is only for emergencies.

Our next safety topic was fire safety.  Isaac's Fire drill was a huge hit.  My kids love seeing other children in videos.  We acted out all of the steps, including touching the doorknob with the BACK of our hands, crawling quickly to safety, and going to our meeting spot.  The kids giggled as they raced from one of the house to the other on their knees.  

We also discussed using the fastest route to get out of the building after the kids watched the cartoon "Exit Strategy."   I printed these fire safety maps and they drew routes for each of the family members to take.    We talked through all of the options - including the silliest ones like "break through the wall to the kitchen" and "jump out the window just for fun."  

Although I didn't use it with the group, there are lots of fun online games and activities at Sparky the Fire Dog and WebTeach.    Hopefully we will have a chance to explore these sites more.  

Our craft for this week was sand candles.  It could kinda' tie in to the topic of fire safety, or preparing emergency supplies, but in reality, the main reason I chose it is simply because it looked like a lot of fun.  Gail at That Artist Woman has posted easy instructions.  

Lapbook elements:

911 shutter-fold book

Preparing for an emergency clip board