Emo Kid

This morning I was last minute in charge of our 10:30 art class at the clubhouse.  I had the kids color a ghost or skeleton with white crayon onto black paper and then add googly eyes.  While they were busy, I read them a couple of Halloween books.

After lunch I let Luke play his Zelda game.  At one point he got angry and was yelling at Isabel to stay away from the cord.  She then started screaming because Luke grabbed her and pinched her.  I just ignored them both, turned off Zelda and put on a Scholastic Halloween movie.  Luke sulked off and wrote this poem…

Nobody likes me.

Nobody cares.

Nobody asks me to be friends.

We used to play.

But now we’re board.

Fun used to live.

But now fun’s dead.

What a little emo kid!  I’ve been feeling pretty lazy this afternoon, so right now I am counting down the minutes until it is time to go to our friends house for dinner and then trick-or-treating.

Trading Math for Cookies

This morning we went to the library. In the car we listened to Shel Silverstein’s A Light in the Attic poems. We got a BUNCH of stuff and like always, Sylvia managed to almost get us kicked out. When we got home, Luke and Isabel went through the loot. Luke is now reading Hatchet and another Magic Tree House book.

After lunch, Luke wrote more about his story where there are tubes you crawls through with rats, spikes, and bombs in them. Gee, where do you think he got that idea from? Couldn’t be his obsession with video games. Isabel did a lot of coloring in her coloring books today. She enjoys coloring things in neat and perfect whereas Luke enjoys plain white paper to create creatures on.

Isabel and I read her spelling book together. Ryan, Isabel and I made pumpkin cookies instead of doing Math since our copy machine isn’t working (don’t worry Joey, something minor, I just don’t know what button to push.) This evening we received a Halloween package from Grandma and Grandpa Vincent with candy and coloring books in it. Isabel and Sylvia got right to work coloring pictures while I posed for Luke. He colored a portrait of me. It was so much fun watching him, so serious, every few seconds looking up at me from his paper. He has been coloring pictures lately that he wants to sell on the internet. Just like how his Uncle Justin does. See justinspaintings.com.  I told him that in my blog I will post his pictures. So coming soon, Luke’s pictures!!!

Halloween Booklets and Note about Ryan

This morning I woke up early because I had a lot to do.  Exercised, cleaned out the car, dishes, spelling lists, and I made Luke and Isabel Halloween booklets.  I just Googled Halloween worksheet and found all kinds of Halloween word searches, crossword puzzles, mazes, word scrambles and coloring pages.  They loved it and worked on them for awhile.

I read them a Halloween book, The Spider and the Fly, and made sure they did their Math and Writing.  This afternoon they watched a scholastic Where the Wild Things Are cartoon and a Bill Nye the Science Guy.

Note about Ryan.  From now on in the afternoons I will be watching my good friend Ashley’s 3 year old, Ryan.  So when I mention him you’ll know!

A Saturday at Daddy’s Work and a Halloween Party

I had to work today to make up for a day missed. I brought Luke and Isabel in with me. They were there for the first few hours I worked. Then Sabrina and Sylvia brought us Taco Bell for lunch.

Luke and Isabel liked playing Forza 2 on the Xbox 360 (see pictures below). Luke also loved playing Tennis on the Nintendo Wii.

After the kids left my work, Sabrina took them to a Halloween party at our Community Center.
Luke is Link, from the Legend of Zelda; Isabel is an Indian Princess; and Sylvia was a Ballerina (not pictured).

Good spelling deserves Pizza Hut

We got right to work today.  Spelling test, they both got perfect scores, so tonight we are getting Pizza Hut.  Joey and I don’t really like Pizza Hut, but I guess Luke has seen Pizza Hut commercials and thinks he is missing out on something special.  We did calendar, BOM story, I read them a couple of books, and then we went to the Marchant’s house for lunch and they played with their friends Aden and Morgan.  The one thing we didn’t do on our list that I guess we will do later today is “Aiming.”  Luke wants to give us another aiming lesson.  Cute.

Alphabetical Order and “Bee Craft”

We cleaned the schoolroom this morning while listening to a book on tape. Isabel learned alphabetical order today. I wrote body parts on 3X5 cards such as, back, ear, spine, hand, etc., and had her put them in order.

I then read them a story. Luke wrote sentences incorporating his spelling words. Isabel practiced writing M and N. Luke started his new math lesson, adding money. Luke had us do a “bee craft.” He told us to draw a picture of a bee on one paper. Then draw the bee’s head on another paper, the bee’s thorax on another and the bee’s abdomen on the last and label them. I need to let him be in charge more. He LOVES teaching us things.

The Pastor’s Wife, Choking Back Sobs and Just a Note

Yesterday was another MOPS meeting. I took Isabel’s friend Morgan again and left Luke with his friend Aden. They got to go dressed up in their Halloween costumes. For the moms, we had a speaker, Jennifer Laughrun, fellow MOPS mom and wife of one of the pastors at the Hope Baptist Church that we meet at. I thought her talk was WONDERFUL. Here are the notes I took…

THREE MUST HAVES FOR FAMILIES

1. FAMILY IDENTITY Let your children know they are identified with a family. They will be more secure, safe, healthy, and as teenagers they will want to be at home more.

-Use phrases such as… “Our family doesn’t…” “Our family always…” “Because we’re a family.”

-Develop unique traditions

-Tell stories in your family of how mom and dad met, what so and so did as a baby, etc.

-Develop an awareness of God’s purpose for our family by praying together as a family. GOD IS THE CREATOR AND MAINTAINER OF OUR FAMILY.

2. FAMILY UNITY being part of a team

-Use phrases such as… “Let’s work together and get this done.” “Because you’re part of a family.” “We’re better together.” “I could not have done it without you.”

-Step back and let them do it.

-They need to know what their responsibilities are.

3. FAMILY FUN

-Set up your home to be ready to play.

-Let go of trying to keep your house perfectly clean!!!

– Play games with your kids that you played as a kid.

-Board games are a lost art.

This morning we went to the library. Luke read comic books the whole time, Isabel did puzzles quietly while Sylvia jumped on the beanbags, pulled books off the shelf, ran as far away from me as possible and during each one of these activities she was constantly yelling and screaming with joy. Every time I pick up my order it feels like Christmas. We got some fairy tale books for Isabel and I to read together, Hatchet and some Stinky Cheese Man book for Luke, more Bill Nye the Science Guy DVDs and the movie Bridge to Terabithia.

After the library we had our art class in the school room at the clubhouse. Kollen was in charge of the activity and did a wonderful job. Edible playdough for the little kids, and making pictures with glue and colored rice for the older children. We let them play on the playground afterward and then home for lunch.

This afternoon while Sylvia slept, Luke and Isabel listened to a few Halloween books on tape. We then watched Bridge to Terabithia. On one of our road trips a month or so ago we had listened to the book in the car. The movie was almost exactly like the book. That’s usually pretty rare. I was bawling! It was so sad, happy, touching. I wanted to sob out loud, but choked it back not wanting to alarm my kids. hahaha.

Just a note. When I write about what we do for school each day, I mostly blog about things that we’ve planned or that are very concrete. You have no idea how many things we do each day that can be considered learning that I don’t write down. Just yesterday alone, in the evening I taught Luke how to use a knife and he chopped up a green bell pepper (chef skills!) Isabel made bracelets for her girl cousins (craft and friendship skills!) Isabel and I sang songs together while I played the guitar (American Idol skills!) Luke went with his dad to put sprinklers in a friend’s yard (landscaping and service skills!) okay, so Luke mostly talked about Pokemon with some other boy there, but at least he saw his dad as an example.

VOLCANO!!!

After breakfast we went out and made the stereotypical science fair project, A VOLCANO!!! I’ve always wanted to make one of those. Luke and Isabel (and Sylvia too) had fun piling dirt and mud to make the mountain and decorated it with leaves for little trees. I let them pour in the water, red food coloring, baking soda and then vinegar. In my opinion, it was pretty lame and I sure didn’t learn anything about volcanos, but the kids loved it!

Getting ready for the Volcano:

The Volcano!!!:

Luke and Isabel got cozy on their bean bags and listened to an audio book called, The Greatest Bible Stories Ever Told: Children in the Bible. Luke then read us a Veggie Tales book and I read them a Dinosaur book. They did their writing, Luke, his Take Five Journal and Isabel practiced “K” and “L”. After lunch, they did their Math (Luke had a test) and I passed out their new spelling words for the week.

Art with Ivory Soap and Coffee Filters

This morning I read two BOM stories to Luke and Isabel. They then did their Math and watched a Bill Nye the Science Guy on Flowers. My friend dropped her 2 year old off and we all went to our art class in the school room at the clubhouse.

Kollen, Monica, Hisu and their children were there. I was in charge today, so I had the older children use a nail to chisel a picture, design, or words into a bar of Ivory soap. They then used water colors to paint in their creations. The little babies got to color with marker onto coffee filters. We then sprayed water on them and watched as the markers blended together and created a tie die appearance. By twisting a colorful pipe cleaner around the middle of the coffee filter they created a butterfly!

They played on the playground and we read a story. Kollen and I switched kids so that Luke and Aden could play together at her home and I had Isabel and Morgan. Everyone is switched back to their rightful place now and Isabel and Luke are watching a movie while Sylvia naps and I clean (and write this of course.) Luke still needs to practice piano, Isabel has dance class, and I need to read a bee book to them, since that is the bug of the week.

BYU – UNLV Football Game

My sister Laurie, her husband Kyle and their five kids visited us this weekend. Also here was my younger brother Stephen, affectionately known to most as “Norm” and to some as “Sledgehammer.” The main purpose of the visit was that all the boys were going to the BYU – UNLV football game here in Las Vegas on Saturday night. On Friday night, the BYU football team held at fireside at the church on Alta and Towne Center. I met my Dad and Norm there. It was really good. Kayle Buchanan and Kellen Fowler spoke, there was a piano solo by Reed White and we also heard from Coach Mendenhall and his wife. After the program it was fun to see the Brown boys get autographs from the BYU football players.

The game Saturday night was fun. Luke was pretty bored for a lot of it but he enjoyed looking through the binoculars, watching bats and bugs fly in the lights above the stadium and playing with his cousin Todd. He also got a salty pretzel. I feel that even though he was bored it is good for him to go to a cultural event like that, just for the experience of it. BYU won 24-14. 🙂 Pictures below.

Playing video games with the Browns at our house:

In the parking lot at the game:

Heading in to the game:

Luke looking at bugs through binoculars:

Our view: