Summer Word List

Summer Vacation this year was going to be about learning and catching up on school.  I had BIG plans before school let out, that 3 times a week we would sit down and do worksheets out of our "school" books and continue learning all summer.  Needless to say, that lasted a week.  It hasn't completely gone by the wayside.  Once every 2 weeks (maybe) I have a moment of clarity and we get the workbooks out and practice our numbers, shapes, and for Rosie reading.  This is all done while Lil Miss is taking a morning nap because NOTHING gets done when she is awake.  Lil Miss has spent the summer learning things too!  She has learned how to scurry up the steps when her older sisters room is open and draw on her desk with markers.  She has excelled at opening the dishwasher and spreading my clean dishes all over the house, so I have to clean them again.  Her 20 month old self has managed to learn how to turn mommy's iphone on, delete apps, take pictures, and call Grandma Judy several times.  This is more than my mother understands about her own ipod.  The girl definitely got her father's gift of electronics. 

So back to the summer learning program.... so far not so good.  Rosie is still attending Sylvan this summer to improve her math skills, so we are in a complete brain meltdown situation.  But I can't say I have advanced them way ahead in their skills either.  We have been charting our reading though.  I told the kids if each of them can read 25 books over the summer we will go to a movie.  If one of the older kids read Gigi a book it counts for both of them.  We are almost to our goal.  Rosie has been on a mission to get to the goal first and it excites me that I can find her reading books.  She hasn't gotten to the point of comprehending everything she reads but just getting her excited to read is a start.  This momma was/is a lover of all books.  At Rosie's age, I was reading everything I could get my hands on.  If I was really into a good book I would avoid the dishes by hiding in the bathtub and read in the bathroom so I could finish my book instead of helping with the dishes.  It is hard to get into a routine of school work when we are gone every weekend.  This weekend is the first weekend all summer that we aren't doing ANYTHING.  Yeah!!  Okay it's not that we aren't doing anything, I actually have a to do list a mile long.  It's that we are going to be here, in our house, not traveling.  Pure Bliss.  They have learned a few new words over the summer though.

Silo

Powerline 

Zerberts

Archery

Chiropractor

Terminal

(the place you wait to board your airplane)

Anniversary

Geocache

Volley

Wimbledon

Kohlrabi

Dutch Oven

(the one we make meals in on camping trips NOT the one

under the sheets)

Looney Bin

What the H-E- double hockey sticks! 

(this one took us completely by surprise and Rosie knew she made a mistake as soon as it was out of her mouth)

See the summer isn't a complete waste in the learning new things category.  Yes, these words are quite random and not what you would find on a first grade vocabulary list.  But, they do depict a little bit of what the kids have been doing this summer. 

Camping

Hiking

Discovering new playgrounds

Fort Making

Hula Hooping

Biking

Exploring the Neighborhood

Learning Tennis

Lots of trips to Target

Weeding in the garden

Breakfasts with Eggs and French Toast

Spending the day in our pajamas

And Much Much More...

This week we had a big milestone.  Our baby got to sleep in her very own big girl bed.  We had transformed her crib into a toddler bed, but she ended up in Gigi's bed every morning when I went to go get her.  After 2 weeks of that we decided it was time to get rid of the crib (she never used) and put her in the bottom bunk.  On Wednesday I decided to clean the girls room.  This started with organizing the closet (a complete overhaul from top to bottom) then I got this brilliant idea.  My brilliant ideas usually conclude in two different ways  1.  I tell Nate I have a brilliant idea and spend lots of money  OR 2.  I tell Nate I had a brilliant idea and surprise him with something he probley won't be to pleased with.  I chose option 2 this time.  The kids and I cleared out the girl's room.  We dissembled the toddler bed, Gigi was in charge of picking up all the screws and Bubba, Lil Miss and I unscrewed all the screws holding it together.  Rosie was the DJ in charge of playing energetic music to keep us motivated.  After the crib was out of there.... I had a BRILLIANT IDEA to take the bunk bed apart and make it two separate beds.  This would either involve waiting til Nate got home and asking him to help me (which probley would have ended in him telling me it wasn't a brilliant idea) or putting all my kids muscle into it and taking the top bunk down.  I tested the kids muscles with a few other objects before I let them help me take the bed down.  It really wasn't that heavy.  I grabbed one side of the bed and Rosie and Bubba grabbed the other side.  Gigi was on Lil Miss duty.  In no time we had the beds side by side and the kids were running around with dust rags cleaning them.  (they may have caused more dust than they actually cleaned up)  The end result is one happy little girl in her very own big girl bed.  And she has been in her own bed every morning since... except for the morning daddy let her out and she came to get mommy out of bed.  :-)  Pretty exciting stuff I know.  That's what we do here.