Paper Canteen Creations: Back At It!

Tuesday, October 7, 2014

Back At It!

Greetings!!

It's a slow start to the day here my friends as we had such a busy long weekend. I extended the weekend as yesterday was my darling daughter's 10th birthday and it was fun to be able to have the freedom to take the day off and celebrate her!

Such an awesome 10 year old =)

yum!

We started the day out with breakfast in bed for the first time ever. We usually do cake for breakfast but this year the way the days fell we had cake for a couple of days in a row so Kendall specifically said "Mom...will you be upset if I don't want cake for breakfast!?" HA! That just cracked me up. I was not upset, of course, as it was one less cake I needed to make. Instead, Ian went out yesterday morning at the crack of dawn to get the kids pumpkin shaped donuts from Dunkin' Donuts. YUM! We put a candle in the donut, cut up some fruit and added a yogurt onto the tray and brought it to her in bed once we heard her stirring. She LOVED it. It was truly a treat. She then opened our gifts.

Silly baby!!

Believe it or not, I actually had time to make a CARD!!! I was so excited to give it to her. I'm hoping to post a pic and details of it another time.

Newest fairy friends!

A beautiful, vintage necklace.

Once Ty got up he gave her his gifts!

Her favorites!!

HA! Just too cute...

10 birthday roses from Auntie!

Errands before fun!

I let her and Ty have a very relaxed and easy morning. They played with her new fairy figurines for a long time and then watched a little TV. My dear friend Patty generously offered to take Ari so that the children and I could spend quality time at Barnes and Noble so that K could shop in peace without her tiniest brother making a ruckus all around the store. I loved not having to rush them through their selections allowing them to browse uninterrupted for just the right selections for them.

Oh how they LOVE the puppets at B&N!

Really!?!? I was immensely impressed at his choice!

All of their books gathered together! Wonderful choices by everyone!!

When we came home, Ari went for a nap, the kids watched a movie while I played ball with the dog. They ate a Cheesecake cupcake courtesy of the Barnes and Noble Cafe Kids Club (free cupcakes always taste better!! YUM!) Kendall requested tacos for dinner before she headed off to her sewing class! All in all it was a fantastic day!

Today has been a bit slower going. I started the day with my sunrise walk which is just always so lovely. Sometimes on days like today it's harder to get going but I dragged myself out and was glad I did.

We discussed our topic - The Solar System this morning as well as embarking upon our research projects. The children did their new spelling words. I've upped the amount of words to 20. 18 spelling words plus 2 bonus words. We discussed the words and their definitions and they set to work.

Last week we went to the library to gather books for the children's research projects. Today the kids asked to start on their project so I switched gears and set my Solar System lesson plans aside and we talked about what a research project is for them. They are not defending a thesis. They are delving into materials to find all about the topic they've chose. Kendall chose the Mandrill and Ty chose the White Handed Gibbon. We talked about the structure of the report, content, and we talked extensively about how to research and what it means to use "sources" to credit other people for the work and research that they have done. We will then turn this all into our bibliography. I then set the children to work with the books they borrowed from the library. I asked them to pull out any information that they deemed important for other people to know about the topic. I explained to them that they want to write this pretending that their audience knows nothing about their topics. I told them that in addition to written information, they are to include illustrations and/or photos, and that they will be presenting this information orally to our family (Grandparents and Aunts/Uncles included!!) I was happy to see they were excited about this part. As a child, I would have been TERRIFIED to get up in front of my family and say anything let alone present an entire report!!

The pumpkin in the above picture is a series of fruits, veggies, and treats that Kendall is learning to sew in her weekly class! The children also were able to squeeze in their DEAR time before we had to wrap it up for the morning.

This afternoon we had K's 10 year well visit. We went to a local park first where Ian met us. He stayed at the park with the boys while I took K down the street to her visit. Now that she's 10 I wanted her to be able to have her privacy in the pediatricians office as opposed to having her 2 brothers with her - the tiniest of which always causes a ruckus! The visit was fantastic. All good things! Including the fact that my 10 year old daughter is literally 1/2" away from being the same height as me. Sigh!! =)

This afternoon Tyler had archery which he's loves! He's working really hard on his stance and focus. My favorite part is that in 95% of the pictures I took his tongue is sticking out. I know he's concentrating hard when his tongue is out! I do the same thing, as do my brother and father. It's funny.

spider-Ty!

ALWAYS with a friend... =)

crazy beautiful!

never stops moving! and he smells like cookies 90% of the time!

best big sister EVER!

DADDY'S HERE!

hearing test!

It feels like literally YESTERDAY that she was tearing at the paper sheeting on the exam table in her diaper! I can't believe she's old enough to wear a gown now!!