Battleship

Battleship is one of Ammon's favorite games, but it's such a long game and we never seem to get to the end before we get bored. So today when he asked to play it I knew I had to figure out a way to make the game go quicker while getting more ships sunk. I told him we were going to write down 5 coordinates each and check those then switch turns. We also had towels to cover up our ships, so if we needed to look at eachothers boards we wouldn't see where their ships were.



It worked! The game went quicker and was actually more fun. Ammon would tell me 5 coordinates he thought my ships were at, I'd look them up and tell him hit or miss. I also mark on my board all the cooridnates he asks, (even though he does this on his board-just in case) so he doesn't waste a guess asking about the same place twice. Then I'd call out 5 cooridinates for him to look up.


After a few turns, Ammon asked when it would be his turn to write down. I guess I forgot to ask if he'd like to write down his guesses. It was so sweet to see his guesses in the book. If he wrote something backwards, he'd have to re-write it.
We needed to take Simeon to baseball practice in the middle of our game, and when we came back, Ammon wanted to move onto something else. In the end we tied. We both sunk 2 ships and had 2 hits on another ship.


I can't wait until the next time Ammon asks to play battleship. I'll gladly say yes and go get the notebook and pencil!

My Little Red Barn

A few months back I found this adorable felt barn in the $1 section of Target. It sat in Rebecca's toy box without seeing much action.



Then I found a cute barn and animal printout at www.homemade-preschool.com (Click on Lesson plans button on left, then "On the Farm" and Old MacDonald's Farm.)

I put the 2 together along with some animals and Rebecca has been all over this.


We lay the paper animals on the ground, then she puts the plastic ones by the picture. All the while making the sounds that the animals make. We also say the animal names in spanish. And the farmer-well he stands by and makes sure that none of the animals run away.

Saturday's Marathon

Today was one of those Saturdays where you could use an extra hand or two, or maybe an extra driver to get everyone where they need to be on time, but it's tax season, or better know as: single wife season. I thought it'd be fun to document the day so I can look back when they're teenagers and even busier and remember how easy this day was, or maybe I'll look back and think how crazy I was! Either way it's long post and probably boring-read at your own risk!

We started the day early. Simeon had his last indoor batting practice today at the most boring warehouse turned batting cage at Pleasant Valley nursery a few miles south of town. Boring because there is NOTHING to do while he's inside for 45 minutes since it's been winter and cold. Today it was high 20's with a strong breeze. We can go inside the building and the kids can climb on a dump truck, but the thought of a kid falling onto the cement in the oil smelling warehouse and Corrine freaking out at every movement because there is a cat and she is NOT a cat lover, while I make sure Rebecca doesn't fall or touch something she shouldn't, while a handful of boys are swinging bats around. We'll stay in the van! Luckily for us we have satellite tv and dvd's in the van to keep us occupied. Today we were watching Phineas and Ferb. Candace was complaining like normal to her mom about what her brothers were doing. Her mom said "I know Candace. They're just trying to show you how to have fun and to have joy in the journey." I so needed that message to start off this morning.



Then we headed to the University Hospital where we dropped Corrine and Ammon off at the Brother and Sister Club. The hospital puts this group on each momnh during the school year. It's for any child who has a sibling treated at the hospital. Corrine and Ammon LOVE going. Today the exploded their feelings, and loved it. Diet Coke and Mentos helped with that explosion! They always come home with crafts and a prize. Today was lots of talking about feelings so they made feeling pillow cases. Ammon got silly bands on top of his prize today-Toys Story 3 games.



While they were at the hospital Simeon, Rebecca and I went to Hills bank to see what else-baby animals. We got to pet 2 grey hounds dogs which were the calmest dogs I've ever seen in my life! Then we headed over to the baby chicks. Rebecca and I made 3 trips to the bank closer to us to see the chicks this week, so being able to pet one just sealed the deal with her. She LOVES baby chicks. While she was petting the baby chick and I was taking her picture a man was holding an iguana just inches away from her face. If she had turned, she would have met the iguana eye to eye real quick! Luckily for us when we did meet the iguana she liked it and pet it. We also saw a frog, snake, 2 lizards, a sheep and a calf.



We left there and headed to the mall to say hi the the horses (carousel) which we rode last night out here while Simeon was at baseball practice, (at another indoor facility that doesn't have room for 3 kids to play without getting hit by a ball for 1 1/2 hours) and Rebecca despite being scared stayed on her horse next to Ammon on the Dragon the whole ride. We did a quick run through Target to get a wish list for Simeon's 10th birthday coming up too soon. He followed miss independent Rebecca around who had to walk through the store and Simeon thought that would be a great idea. I think he realized real quick why I didn't want her out of the cart. She touches everything and gets stuck at everything and you move 2 inches an hour! Then we had lunch at Subway for boy and me and Taco Bell for girl. After we tried to go to Walmart so I could get new sunglasses because I am one of the worst squinter in the world and the 24 hours I'd gone since misplacing my sunglasses was driving me crazy and I HAD to get new ones. Targets were too expensive for me, but Rebecca feel alseep so we drove to City Park to see the ducks because we were 20 minutes early to pick Corrine and Ammon up.

Rebecca on her horse last night.


Simeon babysat sleeping Rebecca in the van while I went in to get Corrine and Ammon. They weren't ready so it took 20 minutes to get them.
When I got back to the van Simeon said "Do you notice anything different?" He had lost his tooth in the 20 minutes I was in the hospital getting the others.

At this point I should have been taking Simeon to the bowling alley for a birthday party, but he couldn't because of later plans, and so sweetly understood why he had to miss out on the party.

We went home, Corrine and Ammon cut up her playdoh from sibling group into bite size pieces, I wrapped the birthday present fo Olivia and Corrine got packed. We took Corrine to Olivia's sleepover (or late nighter for Corrine). They got manicures and pedicures, made pizza and watched a movie before 4 giggling girls delivered Corrine home at 10pm. She had a blast and has the coolest looking fingernails and toes.





Then I drove home and got 3 kids and myself into church clothes while asking Simeon to go over his talk. Yes talk. Simeon's friend Connor was getting baptized. Johann was baptizing him (he also baptized his little sister Haley 3 weeks ago and Corrine the week earlier.) and Simeon was giving a talk on the Holy Ghost. I heard the talk from the hallway because Rebecca was in a dad mood and dad couldn't hold her and Ammon was being a pickle and sitting still wasn't on his to-do list. I ended up watching another moms kids in the nursery so she could lead the music and her not wanting to sit quietly kids could move around with my kids doing the same thing. We then headed over to their house for dinner.



We came home and I left for a Young Women dinner then broadcast. We had 6 of our 7 girls there, with 5 moms and 3 leaders!! On our table sat a jelly bean boot. The theme for Girls camp this year, which I will be going to, is Boot Camp. Building on our testimonies. (I'm pretty sure that's what it is.) I'm so excited to go, but I hear it's way different from when I went so many years ago. And just fyi-Simeon and I will be in the same small town at camp at the same time. Him at oncology, me at girls camp.

I came home and crawled into bed with my cuddling girl Rebecca. We watched a little tv and she fell asleep cuddled right next to me.

Corrine came to do the door with her 4 giggling friends at 10:00 and she joined us in bed for a while to tell me about the party.

Puppy Love

Corrine LOVES dogs-if they're stuffed! The real life moving, barking, licking, waging their tails, wanting to play ones-she'll stay far, FAR way from those.

She makes collars, leases, houses, food bowls, water bowls and walks them around like they are the real life moving, barking, waging their tails, wanting to play real ones.



Lately Rebecca has taken to "dog sitting" the dogs while the big kids are at school. It's really cute and lasts for a whole 5 minutes after we drop them off at school. That's my type of dog sitting!

Maybe one day all this stuffed dog play will help her to pet or at least be within 20 feet of a real life moving, barking, waging their tails, and wanting to play real one without fear.

A Frosty reward

Ammon is doing a great job reading. It's just getting him to want to read rather than play that's the challenge.
To help him read more I made him a reading chart. I had no idea what we would do when it was full and surprisingly he never asking what we'd do when he finished it. So the day came that he had 1 book left to finish the chart (and he still hadn't asked what the reward was). He'd been asking for a few weeks to go get a frosty for a treat, so that's what we did. We needed dinner that night and dad had a free hour, so we met at Wendy's for dinner and a frosty reward.


Ammon was really cute when it came time to get his frosty. He took his chart with him up to the counter to tell them why we were getting a frosty. But when we got up there, he froze and didn't want to show them the chart. So I showed it off. The lady taking our order was so nice and asked him questions about what books he read and if he liked to read.
When we got home we made another reading chart. This one with more books needing to be read to get the rewards, and this reward is bigger. Cold Stone with a parent.

My Roman soldier in shinning armor

Ammon told me that he was NOT a knight, but rather a Roman Soldier. So my title had to undergo a change from "My knight in shining armor" to "My Roman Soldier in Shinning armor" which really doesn't flow as smoothly-but it's what he really was!


I was taking some up close pictures of Ammon when the light caught the chain mail and it started shinning in the camera and then reflecting up onto his face. So he really was My Roman Soldier in "Shinning Armor"!

Today when Ammon put this Narnia costume on I knew I had to take pictures-LOTS of pictures. My little guy is sadly outgrowing this wonderful costume, and the next time he goes to put it on, it may not fit. That will be a sad day for me.

For years the 3 older kids have loved the Narnia books and movies. They would act out scenes from the stories all the time. Since we didn't have a Lucy, a doll would be the stand in. Now we have our sweet brown haired Lucy to fill the missing roll, but the kids have lost the Narnia vibe. That is until the 'Voyage of the Dawn Treader' comes out in a few weeks!!

Ammon was being his sweet happy self this afternoon and let me sit it the middle of his jousting tournament to document it. After a few passes his jousting stick suffered heavy damage from the deck so he moved on to the skill portion of the day, then the hand to hand combat with the grass.

JOUSTING

Disclaimer-The photographer was not injured while taking these pictures, even though she felt the jousting stick very near more then once!



Fixing his jousting stick after it met the deck and split.

Skill Training-

Somersault and pick your knife up off the grass. This must be done just right or the soldier must practice again and again.

Hand to Hand Combat-




Cleaning the dirt off his knife (Zhu Zhu pet armor plastic knife-if your worried that I'd let him have a real one.) because a soldier knife must always stay in good shape.
In this picture you can actually see the shinning of his armor on his cheek.

I love the days where his imagination takes him to far away places on journeys that his heart longs for. My little Ammon is growing up, too fast I might add. I hope his imagination always stays with him and that he can take himself to far away places forever.

Spring Break 2011

This year we lucked out and got some nice weather for spring break. Sun, blue sky and temps from mid 50's to low 70's most days is awesome for spring break in Iowa.
We didn't do alot this week. We did a little friend time, a little waterpark time, a little rest time (Simeon & Corrine got fevers and colds this week), a little selling of Girl Scout cookies, a little playtime, a little horse show time (Corrine), a little cleaning and a lot of fun time!



Ammon & Darren trying to stay warm in the wind after playing glow goft and having lunch at the mall.


Rebecca caught me taking her picture at the waterpark. She had a great time walking around in the water, but also like to stand on the wall and watch the other kids play.


Simeon pitching to Ammon. I love how you can see his fingers still in their release state from the pitch, and his tongue. He's one of his teams pitchers this year.


All 4 kids on a slide at Fun City. I love how they all want to be touching or helping Rebecca at all time. In every picture of a sibling with Rebecca they are holding her hand, hugging her, or talking to her. They love her so much!

That silly leprechaun

Around here St. Patricks day has become a big deal. Something about a little green man with a pot full of gold sneaking around the house gets the kids excited an creative. The kids each year make a trap in hopes that they will catch him and he'll drop his pot full of gold.


Each year the leprechaun is too fast and sneaky to get caught in the trap, but he always leaves behind some goodies for the kids.
This year I left a note for the leprechaun that we'd be gone most of the day so not to leave too many green treats for us. In years past we've found green drinks, green jello and green snacks. He always leaves us a box of Lucky Charms and gold coins.



He also left these treat bags for the kids. I saw it on a blog somewhere and thought it would be cute. The kids thought they were cute, and the chocolate was great, but rainbow twizzlers didn't go over in the taste department here. I'll have to let him know for next year.



Ammon also helped me make rainbow rice krispie treats that I saw from my sister Laurie's blog. They were super cute and super yummy!

Friendship

This morning I sat down to eat breakfast and was greeted by this sweet teddy bear in the napkin basket.


Ammom has loved on this sweet bear for over 5 1/2 years. It got lost in the shuffle for a while, but has been a best friend for such a long time. Each night teddy is gently wrapped in a blue blanket and cuddled up next to Ammon's cheek, and most mornings he rises with Ammon. Today he was watching over us as we ate breakfast and went about our day.

It was a reminder that childhood is a gift to forever be cherished.

MONKEY PANTS

My mom made me "MONKEY PANTS!!!"

What is the world are monkey pants you might ask. It's a pair of pants made out of material with monkeys on it that my mom and I picked out months ago. Well today as a 'get used to sewing again' project she made me pants. (She's making Corrine and I matching Easter dresses. Or at least hoping to get them done and looking good for Easter.)



I think my mom did a great job on them, especially since she told me she hasn't sewed in years. She even figured out how to put a ruffle on the bottom of the legs! I wasn't much into taking picture right now. I was too excited for my apple and my MONKEY PANTS!!


My buddy George, an apple and my new MONKEY PANTS!! What more could this little girl need!

Where's Rebecca?

One of Rebecca's most favorite games is "Peek A Boo". She has found a few favorite places to hide. She'll stay hiden for a minute or so until you find her, then she comes out with a BIG smile on her face.

Some of her favorite places to hide are:

In the kitchen underneath Corrine's apron. "Peek boo, fish, kitchen"


In the front room behind the couch. "hidden, couch, mom"



In mom and dad's shower. "shower, head"



Behind mom and dad's bed. "mom bed"



Some of her favorite words to say right now: "favorite, self, my, more please, Ammon did it (or add another name there), move, George, help please, coming, running, bathroom, potty, scared, friend."


As I was writting this post, she decided the library basket was the perfect spot to read a book, so naturally all the library books had to be out of the basket!

Expressing Thanks

Yesterday Corrine and I sat down to write out her thank you cards. She was whinning about needing to write them because she really wanted to be playing with the boys downstairs. I told her it was important to tell people thank you for gifts she had been given for her birthday and baptism. After a few cards she was on a roll and ended up writting them all in one sitting.

This morning Corrine gave me a homemade envelope with this inside:



Without any prompting, she made us a thank you card for her birthday presents we gave her. It showed me that even when she was whinning about writting the cards, she understood the importance of them. This got me thinking about how I should write the kids more thank you cards for the sweet things they do to help our family.

Fine Arts Night 2010

Each year our school puts on Fine Art Night. The classes sing songs in the big auditorium at City High school, then we get to see their artwork on display. When we got there Ammon went straight onto the stage, Corrine went to the front rows and Simeon went to meet his class in another room. We just had Rebecca with us for awhile. Rebecca enjoyed watching the kids sing, but she more enjoyed her new friend she made. They read books and played together on the steps by our seats.

Ammon's class sang 3 songs: "Song a Little Song", "Yes, No Song", and he can't remember the last one.


His artwork was a Vincent Van Gogh sunflower.



The kindergartners also made this leopard. Ammon's section is on the far right line, 4th from the bottom.




Corrine sang "I would like to visit the moon", "Golden Rule" and "We're Ready". Her artwork was made out of tin. They used tools to make indentions in the tin, then colored the tin.




Simeon sang both with his class, and the choir. The 3rd and 4th graders sang: "What I am", "Candle in the Water" and their famous "Twist and Shout" complete with sunglasses! The choir sang "Get up, Get up, Get up" and "Flying Free."
His artwork was a glue and oil pastel self portrait.




It's always fun to go see them sing the songs that we've heard them singing parts of at home and to see the artwork they've been giving us hints about!

Goo and blowing up ballons

I'm in charge of Girl Scouts tomorrow and I'm doing science experiments. I wanted to make sure that they would work as I wanted them to, so my science experiment helper Ammon and I did 2 of them this afternoon.

We 1st did the 'blowing balloons up' experiment.


To do this we put 1/2 cup vinegar into a small soda bottle. You then put 2 TBS of baking soda into a balloon. Put the mouth of the balloon over the neck of the bottle without dumping the baking soda into the bottle. Hold the balloon straight up letting the baking soda go into the bottle. The reaction of the vinegar and baking soda makes a gas that blows the balloon up.
Ammon wasn't sure what was going to happen the first time and was a little worried that the balloon might blow up on him. He loved it so much we needed to do the experiment again with a 2nd balloon.

Next we made Goo, or glop, or whatever name you call it. I asked him what color he wanted it to be. He of course said green, so I got out the food coloring and gave it to him to put in the bowl. There wasn't much left so I let him put it all in.
To make the goo you mix 1/2 cup corn starch with 1/4 cup water. Mix it together and you have a solid or is it a liquid? It's both depending on what your doing with it.




Ammon absolutely LOVED the goo!! He was singing how much he loved it. He covered his hands with it over and over again. When we went to wash it off his hands we discovered the error of our way. That much green food coloring stains your skin! YIKES!!! Ammon had leprechaun hands. I decided since I was doing these experiments hours before fine arts night that I better NOT use food coloring so we didn't have 10 girls with colored hands singing on stage!

Ammon and I decided that we should do more science projects together because we had so much fun today!