A Day In The Life

 No two days are the same around here. But today has been eventful and the night promises to be magical, too. So it was the perfect day to write one of these posts today!

I think I might have mentioned before that we have been home schooling almost all summer in an attempt to keep the kids busy, and therefore, sane. Tuesdays and Thursdays are my days. Mondays and Wednesdays are Quijote's. And since today is Thursday, we have a nice long weekend ahead of us after that. Tonight will be extra special because we will also be waking up past midnight to drive to the outskirts of town so that we can watch the meteorite showers. 

But I am jumping ahead! School has been a good way to retain a sense of rhythm, if not by any means a strict schedule, like my dear husband might prefer. I think he has been right to establish a routine, though. It has been good for us all, not just the kids. A parent will wake up on their assigned day, (I wake up much later than Quijote!) and then proceed to wake and force the aforementioned children to shower and get dressed, and feed them breakfast. If the parent in question is me, then cafecito and a watering session are decidedly in order, and since the poor children have somehow been convinced that it's an honor to hold the watering hose, on those two days each week I will usually end up having my morning coffee while they water. It is a treat!

Today, after our early morning watering/gardening work, the kids asked if they could fill their little kiddie pool and have a little fun. Since the whole point of Summer school has been to keep them entertained and happy, I happily conceded. I think maybe they expected me to say no, though, like I say no to their requests to skip a shower or eat doughnuts for breakfast, but to my mind, those rules keep them healthy and are therefore more rigorously enforced. The kids were surprised I said yes, though, and were incredibly happy to march their recently showered selves back to their bathroom/closets to change into their bathing suits. Mr. E, who it must be said was the mastermind of today's events, first made sure to set up the pool and hose, so that the water would be ready when they got back. All on their own, they changed, set up the floaties, wiped our dusty outdoor furniture, and brought out their fruit baskets (only fruit and other healthy snacks allowed in the middle of the day, unless it's the weekend) and thus the party started. 

They splashed and sprayed and generally had a grand old time. And then they got hungry and decided to eat their fruit by the side of the pool, basking in the sun. The morning sun, thank goodness. After eating fruit, they were still hungry, though, so we decided to go back inside for lunch. But not before we collected some goodies from the garden! Miss E decided she wanted to make a salad in celebration of our very first little pepper ripening without getting eaten by whatever has been eating them from the start. 

We ate a quick lunch of hummus, cold meat, onion and okra (because I've been putting it in everything lately) and fresh baby carrots for the kids, before getting back to our lessons for the day. Usually we (when the kids are with me) have writing, natural sciences, then Spanish, and finally Music (Daddy does Math, Chess, and History.) But today we skipped music in favor of the morning fun. Also because I tried using an app the other day and it went horribly, so we needed a break from that..LoL. Oh and today we also did a little yoga- Mr E never changed, so he just did everything in his swimsuit! haha!

Throwback to that day when we had an ugly ugly moment of truth about that app that was supposed to make things more interesting and fun. I'm going back to using the book my sister's husband gave to Miss E. So much better. They learned so much that way- I don't know why I tried to get creative... But yeah... taking a little break. We'll go back to it on Tuesday... heheheh...

Then we went over Spanish pronouns, the verb to be in present tense, and some vocabulary. 

The projector we got with Christmas gift money (shout out to Quijote's uncle!) has been very useful!! We watch videos all the time for school and both Q and I teach with its help pretty much every day. 

Yes, this, embarrassingly, is our Spanish level at the moment. But at least we have cool gadgets! I used a well known computer app to draw myself, so they could follow along, and they said it didn't look like me. I told them it's because this is me as a kid! And about how my Mom used to make us puffed paint t-shirts for everything in the world, and how even Dad once made me a tshirt to sleep in. And how, actually, come to think about it, I still have this pajama shirt my Dad made for me! I showed it to them. Miss E wanted to keep it, which I would have loooooved to let her do, but the puff paint is finally starting to peel, so I'm afraid of needing to wash it... But gosh... it was fun to have the excuse to tell them one of my "when I was your age" stories...

See? He drew me on my pajama shirt. 

Mr. E decided his girls would have pig tails after that. 

We also went around the house taping labels to things! I can't believe how much they loved this! And now whenever they see a label and I notice it, we practice the word, even though the lesson has been over for a while.

Here's our Natural Sciences lesson. We're studying plants right now, so they drew and labeled plants and their parts. 

Miss E was done super fast and was starting to get bored... So Mr E and I did a collaborative effort. He drew his flower and I labeled it with a yellow marker so he could trace each word with a different color. It's faster than dictation.

And since we were on quite the sylvan mood, we also decided to decorate some paper for future letter writing. The other day when we got news of our pen pals having gotten our letters, the kids were super excited and ready to write again, so we're doing prep so we can respond right away. And it was a great way to end our school day. 

Speaking of flowers, today I decided I love the zinnias after all. They have really gotten going now, and I am making myself a new bouquet every few days! It's been so great. I have really enjoyed them the last couple weeks or so. The okra, as I mentioned, is also giving fruit every single day. I don't even know how to cook and eat it, so I've just been frying it. We discovered that the young okra are much better than the huge ones, which get a hardened, weirdly stringy skin that I dislike. I'm going to try pickling them maybe? not sure what to do with all of it. A lot has gone bad, sadly, before I got around to doing something with it!

More flower pictures:

We also at some point watched this song about the planets (because though we've mostly moved on from this topic, I did want the kids to memorize the planetary order). The song has a silly part which Miss E refuses to sing because it's too silly, but Mr E excitedly yells rather than sings. It's too funny! And of course a crazed dancing party also often ensues..

So much energy...

Quijote came back from his errands around 3 or 4? In the early afternoon. I don't remember when exactly. We had been so busy! He and the kids cuddled on the couch for some lazy time. I was uncharacteristically invigorated by the activity and decided to do more prep for the rest of the school year. Quijote started us on Google Classroom, and after having watched a few tutorials on youtube the other day, I felt like today was a good day to add materials to our "classrooms."

Before dinnertime, Miss E headed to the garden to pick things and make her salad. She included okra, carrots, basil, and the pepper that was today's trophy and the cause of great merriment. Then Quijote included her salad in his dinner prep and added it all to our chicken tacos. I wish I had paid more attention to this, because she had styled the salad like a flower, using lettuce as petals and the colorful veggies and garnishes as the center of the flower, and it was both so beautiful and so reminiscent of our day! But alas, I was distracted and did not get a picture of her work of art. But I at least have a picture of the yummy meal:

Something else I've been trying to do is read with the kids, but I completely spaced on it today. We're reading several things right now. Miss E is reading Harry Potter independently, and I'm reading the Borrowers series with them both (we're on the second book at the moment- thanks Nana for the books!) and Mr E has gone through a crazy amount of short storybooks in the past few weeks. He has many favorites: the work of Mo Willems (The Pigeon, Elephant and Piggie, that one with the squirrels -haha! it has tons of jokes that he keeps telling us over and over- and so on), and of course he was at some point going through all the Hilda books with his sister, and they've also both been reading all the books they can get their hands on, both new and old, that have anything to do with camping, space, and star-watching... The other day I even caught Mr. E reading through my birding book! I was so proud... And well, I'm sure I'm forgetting a good few. There's just been so much reading, it's hard to keep up with it! So, so much reading. 

Also lots of TV. They are all watching TV right now while I write this, and Quijote wants them to read up or watch videos or somehow prepare for tonight's meteor shower, so I bet there will be a bit of that too. 

That was our day! Ooooffftaaa. I hope we have energy for our middle of the night fun! I am so happy that even with all the stuff around us, we've still managed to have our own adventures. Today was a wonderful day. 

Un feliz dia

Pues resulta que ya estoy más vieja. Cada día, si voy a ser honesta, pero acaba de pasar mi cumple así que ahora es oficial: ya tendría que redondear a 40, no a los 30. Boo. Jaja. De alguna manera nos la arreglamos para hacer fiesta varios días. Hubo comida, botanas, postres, regalos, llamadas…

Aquí en casa mi marido y mis niños se pusieron las pilas, aunque la verdad es que yo planeaba tener un cumple más bien tranquilito. Los niños hicieron regalos a mano, tarjetas de cumpleaños, todo empaquetado y empapelado. Mi marido encargó ropa, accesorios, y hasta un carrete especial para mi jardinería. Y un día antes de mi cumpleaños los niños ya estaban dale que dale con que cuando íbamos a abrir los regalos! Así que en pijamas y todo, pero nos pusimos a abrir regalos y tengo que admitir que se sintió genial, la sorpresa! Después prendimos el radio y los niños y yo bailamos, cantamos, y demás. Y al final les pusimos el proyector en su cuarto, y ellos vieron una película mientras el Quijote y yo platicamos con sus amigos en videochat.

 

La mañana de mi cumpleaños me llamaron mis suegros y platicamos un rato. Mi suegra también me manda un regalo y una tarjeta de cumpleaños cada año sin falta. Muchas gracias, suegra!

 

Yo nací el día del cumpleaños de mi Papá, así que en México hubo pachanga! Desde por allá me llamaron para cantarnos las mañanitas (que es el happy birthday en México) y hasta la cucaracha y demás! Y luego llamaron cuando llegó más gente para hacerlo otra vez, lo cual me dio mucha risa. Entre yo, mi mama, y una de mis tías, tomamos fotos muy lindas que ya puse en FB pero que quiero recordar. Para la posteridad, como digo siempre! 

Esa soy yo en el telefono!

Tambien tengo las fotos de la cuarta generacion, pero no logre subirlas. Al rato vuelvo a intentar. 

 

Todo el día la pase comiendo muy rico. Y encima me llevaron al nuevo Starbucks que acaban de abrir muy cerca de nuestra casa. Por la ventanilla, claro. Y hubieron pastel y pastelitos. Y hasta soda y papitas (las papitas con salsa Valentina son terribles para la salud pero como me encantan!)

Todavía hoy he estado recibiendo texts y llamadas de amig@s y familiares, y checando FB. Fue todo muy lindo y lo pase mucho mejor de lo que me imaginaba que pudiera ser posible en esta situación. Y pues estoy muy agradecida. 

Que el Creador nos conceda muchos mas, juntos y cerca, o lejos y conectados, pero nunca separados!

A Whole Lot of Crafting

The reason we even had to make space and clean up before we could even hold VBS at home is that a week or so before we started VBS we had already had our very own little crafting craze.

Now you might not know this, but we have had a Calico Critters house for a few years. Nana gave it to Miss E for Christmas maybe 3 or 4 years ago, and we have had so much fun with it. My brother and sisters gave us tons of furniture and Miss E has slowly also added a lot of accessories and furniture. This toy/game set has been the gift that keeps on giving. We never tire of it. It's open ended play, so there's always some new story line to follow. They go to school, or work, or they go camping; they build a tree house; they become world renowned chefs; they go shopping; they become scientists... Not to mention the fact that the small size means Mr E can be a dragon or a dinosaur and properly scare the inhabitants every once in a while! The poor critters are attacked by alien or otherwise fantastical creatures on a regular basis, as a matter of fact, but their attackers always feel remorseful afterwards and promise to stay on as well behaved pets.

Miss E has also always had Barbies. Mostly, she has butchered them, though. They existed to have their hair cut, colored, or curled. They had bathing suits painted on, stickers glued on them, and generally tortured in this egregious manner for many years now. Between family and friends, many a Barbie doll has been sacrificed -ahem- gifted, to the almighty goddess of arts and crafts that is my daughter. Princess Barbies, ballerina Barbies, professional Barbies, younger looking Barbies, mermaid Barbies... I had never seen her actually play with the dolls like she does with the Calico Critters (well, the mermaid did go on vacation with us but was promptly lost) and I had seen too many dolls end up in the give away pile after a room cleaning session. So a couple weeks ago, I told Miss E she had to pay for her own Barbie when seemingly out of nowhere she decided she wanted a fancy "jointed new Barbie doll with dark skin and long black hair" (though I know now, after many play sessions and the conversations that happen during said sessions, that it was in fact the fault of a certain YouTuber Miss E is allowed to follow.)

Regardless, she did extra shores for a while, and when she was very close to her goal, she found money in her closet (which used to be my closet) and instead of claiming it was hers, she gave it back. I was so proud of her, especially because she had worked so hard to get enough money for something I usually just buy for her if she wants it. She really really wanted this Barbie, and the money would have covered not one, but probably two or three dolls, and yet she gave back the money. I know it was hard for her to do, so I was so proud of her. I decided that it was time to buy the doll. Have I mentioned how proud I am of her?

The doll came, and she was wearing pajamas. It was time to make outfits. Miss E and I have been hand sewing rag dolls, so she knew it was doable, but then she also wanted a bed, which I had no idea how to build. To the YouTube! This happened:

We followed the directions I found online and recycled a dollar store foam board we had used as a Girl Scouts cookie sale sign. Miss E painted it and decorated it. Dr. YouTube was right, for once, and it actually looks like wood now that it's painted! And of course, the doll needed a coat, which was super easy to make, also with leftover material from my stash -it's felt that was leftover from when I made a tree prop for her school play.

Mr E brought his hydra dragon puppet, of course, and the legos and magna tiles, and soon the dinning room table was looking a lot like a small apartment.

She made a TV and a laptop with clay...

He built separate quarters for his legendary creatures...

Ah yes, they also found a YouTube video showing an origami school bag that would be just perfect... so Miss E and I made one each by stopping the video here and there so we could follow along. Mr E was not interested in folding, but he was happy to take the one I made. It's still around! Origami can be surprisingly sturdy!

And that was the start of a crafting craze of epic proportions. We had been trying to save up cardboard boxes to make a box fort, but the kids decided making a house full of rooms instead would be equally fun.  There was cutting, gluing, painting, coloring, sewing, clay molding... And taping. They loved having pretty tape to work with, and used it on everything!

At first we only made bedrooms and a living area. Now we have a kitchen and bathroom, too. We'll have to make a better table because this one keeps getting knocked over and all the mini dishes (which we took from the calico house) are sent flying and it's crazy.

Mr. E's panda bear joined the girls in the living room couch every once in a while...

Miss E wanted a hat that looked like her favorite winter hat. I also made the outfit and the felt tennis shoes! I made the jeans from an old shirt and the top from  leftover fabric from another project. The sweaters are all made from old socks!

I eventually got tired of being the blonde girl with the blue marks on her face and got myself a doll, though mine doesn't have flexible joints. Her room is also not covered in stickers haha!

Bottles for the dresser made from beads.

And a couple more outfits and shoes! Mostly all Miss E's ideas that I tried to make with or for her. She also wanted them to have earrings, so we looked it up, and all you have to do is push a pushpin into the ear lobes. The "earrings" are actually sewing pins cut to only have a little bit of wire to attach them to the doll.  I'm especially proud of the cute tennis shoes though.

The house has grown a bit. But the boxes are still looking messy to me. They do all fold up so we can fit everything under a bed, but I think we might re do it if this continues to be fun.

Below are the bedrooms, with our closet in the middle.

And Miss E even learned how to use the sewing machine!