Farm Living - It's not the life for us.

Our homeschool playgroup dabbled in farm living a few weeks ago. Ms. Amy had us over to read a few books and do some farm related activities. We started out reading 1.5 books about farming (little Lucy took off running midway through Big Red Barn, grabbing the book on her way outta there!) Then we gathered around the "graph" and plotted our favorite farm animal. The cow won, hooves down. Then we moved down to a picnic table for some snacks while we decorated sheep "masks." We used the masks later, during an ingenuous game of Little Bo Peep seeking her lost sheep.


We also played Farmer in the Dell, a lengthy game with 8 preschoolers. When the cheese finally stood alone, Quinn insisted that he was not cheese, but a tractor driver. No sense in arguing with cheese.


Probably the best fun was a competitive egg race. The girls diligently walked up and down the lawn, careful not to drop the goods. The boys soon realized if you did drop them, the egg became a gooey mess, super cool to play in. So they edged in on S's egg. And bashed that thing up. And she was sad. And little mama A took pity on her, and willingly gave S her own egg. And S was happy again.

Off to the creek we went for some frog hunting, fishing, hiking, and rock throwing. It was thrilling for the Salad. Not so thrilling for me, when later I pulled a tick from the crook of M's arm.
Once again, the least favorite part of my day? Swings. This time, 2 swings for 8 kids. It's hard not to take on "mom voice" and tell your kids, "Ok, it's so and so's turn. Get off." You want them to navigate their way through the world on their own. It's your job to give them the tools they need to be kind, yet firm. Teach them compromise, yet not submission. I guess all you need to know you really do learn in kindergarten.

Take a Hike

Wednesday playgroup decided to take a hike. So one very hot morning, I slathered on sunscreen, pulled hair into piggy tails, packed lunch and snacks and bottles of ice cold water. It was a slow walk for 11 little ones, with many stops to pick up worms, chase butterflies, and find the right "walking sticks." We made it a good distance, before the moms decided to turn around. Perhaps we should have done so sooner, because the walk back yielded many a whine and cry to be carried. Once we made it back to the trail entrance, we took a lunch break. The food brought the group back to life and we spent the next 90 minutes playing and negotiating turns on the 4 swings. We kicked balls and played Frisbee. We blew bubbles and used magnifying glasses on unsuspecting bugs. We climbed on a arched structure that seemed climbable, until you got to the top. But once you did, all hell broke loose. Mostly 'cause the kids could reach the top, but didn't understand when we told them to turn themselves around and come down the other side backwards. And we couldn't reach them, 'cause they were stranded like 8 feet in the air. It was intense. See?
In retrospect, I believe this "play" structure was meant as a piece of art, to be viewed from the ground, feet firmly planted on the earth. Hindsight - it might save your life on the playground.

One fine day . . .

I left the house at 9:00 am. I stopped at Starbucks on my way to the hairdressers. Just before I went into the salon, I called home. Here's how the conversation with R went:

Me: "Hi, I'm about to go in. How are things?"

R: "Uh. Fine."

Me: "Hey, is that a dog barking in a background?" (I'm asking because we don't have a dog.)

R: "Yeah. I mean, it's S. What did you call for?"

Me: "Just wanted to see if everything was ok. Well, I guess I'll let you go."

R: "Um, ok . . . EVERYONE! Put the screwdrivers down!"

Me: "R? R?! What screwdrivers?! R?!"

R: Click. Dial tone.

Me: "Huh."

The Salad Bowl

Our regular library is on hiatus until June 14th, so our Tuesdays have freed up. Last week, I took the Salad bowling. Let it be said that "bowling" for 3 year olds is not as difficult as it sounds. 6 pound balls, rolled down a small ramp onto a lane with bumpers up, surely should yield scores in the 200s. But alas, our average score was a mere 80.333333.

A Week in the Life

Monday is our down day. We have no formal activities, so we usually take our time eating breakfast, lounge around, and then head out for some errands. Always, after the dry cleaners, we walk down to the pet store. After 30 minutes of looking for a green fish and "high 5-ing" the kittens, I was eager to get home for lunch. I had something new planned. A few homeschooling sites I frequent had inspired me to try Muffin Tin Monday. Here's how it looked:
Tuesday, our regular library, had a sign language instructor come. The Salad sat and signed their way through Old MacDonald. It was a little cold outside, but they wanted to have a picnic. So I opened the back of the car and we ate right on the floor of our minivan.

Wednesday, our usual playgroup planned a field trip to Smith Playhouse. It's an awesome old mansion, filled with toys and exciting finds. Except it was rainy, so it was crowded. And loud. My kids aren't big fans of crowded. Or loud. After M melted down 3 times and A once during lunch, another mom took pity on me and suggested burning off some steam on one of the many playgrounds or the giant wooden slide. "Yes," I thought, "they just need some fresh air." Boy, was I wrong. These pictures are misleading because it looks like we are all having fun. Except A wasn't. Having any fun. Instead of fun, she had 47 random meltdowns, stating her toes hurt her and she missed her friends Peter and Billy. So on Wednesday, after 2 hours of crying, I was that mom, who leaves a place, flushed, sweating, near tears herself. Holding the hand of one crying kid, with a second crying kid clinging to her neck like a monkey, with the third crying kid pulling up the rear, wailing she's "Frustrated! She doesn't want to leave. A! Please stop crying so we can stay! You are making me very sad! Very mad!"
Once I got back to the car, I remembered that I had followed our friend Amy there, and now was stranded in West Philly. After a few stretches and deep breathes, I pulled myself together, said a silent prayer and drove off in search of anything that looked familiar. A few right turns later, we stumbled past the Zoo, so I was able to make it home safely.

Thursday, we hung out at home in the morning. But I got antsy being in the house on such a beautiful day. So while the Salad took quiet time, I packed our afternoon snack for an outing. I piled everyone in the car and drove into downtown Media. After a quick Trader Joe's stop, we headed down to the tiny square in the middle of town. There's a small fountain, murals on the buildings, lots of dogs to gawk at, and a foot pedal that when pressed shoots water into your face. A perfect setting for eating grapes and throwing pennies. Friday, we went to our second gymnastics class of an 8 week course. Halfway through class, M got distracted when a UPS truck pulled up alongside the window. S kept checking to make sure I was still there, then played it off as a wave. A pays close attention to the teacher and makes sure to do everything just right. She's going to be an excellent student when she's introduced to formal education.
Saturday, was Peter's 3rd birthday party at the park. Despite swings and cupcakes, the highlight of the day was throwing soft pretzels off a bridge to the fish waiting below. Although the highlight for me was watching 15 preschoolers tear into a pinata. That poor, decorative baseball didn't stand a chance.We took advantage of a member morning stroll at the Zoo on Sunday morning. At noon, after 3 hours of horseback riding, carousel riding, swan boat riding, train riding, tractor climbing, goat feeding and face painting, M had a massive break down. It went something like this "I want mommy! I want daddy! I don't have to pee-pee! I don't want lunch! I want to eat lunch by the polar bears! I want my snack! No! I want the peanuts! I don't like these peanuts!" There was just no pleasing him. So we left. In retrospect, perhaps we over did it?
He regrouped after quiet time and we spent a peaceful afternoon planting our tomatoes. And playing with our beach balls. And squirting each other with the hose. And painting our bathtub with shaving cream.

Dude, maybe we do too much.

Picnics!

We love to picnic. And now that the weather is nice, we can do it outside again! But it hasn't always been that way. We did quite a bit of picnicing on our living room floor this winter. See?
But once April arrived, I was eager to get the Salad and myself as much fresh air as possible. So we went to a local airfield a while ago and had a picnic right next to the runway. I love a good theme, so we watched the small planes take off and land, built and "flew" the model planes the Easter Bunny left in our baskets,
and pretended to fly.
Two weeks ago, we had plans to go to Giggle Gang, but when we got there, we realized I had the wrong date. After a quick regroup, I seized the opportunity to spend the time outside. We went home, packed a picnic lunch and off we went to the park, with Grammy in tow. After eating chicken/cheese stick/grapes/banana chip lunch, we had so.much.fun. We ran down hills. We played football, catch, parachute. We went exploring. We laid in the sun. We put lipstick on each other. We saw one of these. We watched a steady stream of dogs prance by. We drank iced tea. We tackled each other for no good reason.
It was one of those days that I often struggle to have. I struggle to forget about the dishes, the dust, the wash, the crumbs. But on that day, I forgot it all. And life was simple, perfect.

Memory: Goose busters

This post was originally written on March 6, 2010

To soak up as much vitamin D as possible we took advantage of Saturday's 53 degree weather and headed down to the zoo. At the children's petting zoo, a goose flew from a ledge, directly in front of M. On his flight down, a goose wing grazed M's head and threw him into a tizzy. I tried not to let him see me laughing while I comforted him.

We stopped at Potbellies on the way home where the Salad had huge peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and Oreo cookie milk shakes. Yummo.
After "quiet time" (I am using that term quite loosely) S asked me to do a little face painting. I pulled out left over Halloween makeup and gladly obliged. A wanted Pinklicious' face. S wanted a green butterfly and M wanted Thomas. All 3, so true to form.

Before bed, we played an Olympic inspired game called skeeting. I believe that is a Saladized combination of skiing and skating. It has something to do with poles anyway. It's quite dangerous to witness.