Photo a Day: Color

My kids LOVE to color and draw. Like, every day, all day long. I love that they love to color.

This little gem is what Brock brought home yesterday from school. I think he was a little embarrassed, but I think it's really funny. It says "I had a bad day when I got hit by a train. I went to the hospital. I am tired of watching TV but I am better."

I asked him about it. I was all, "Were you supposed to write something that was real?" And he said, "We could write anything, so I made up a story."

The train says "Choo-choo! I can't stop!". The little guy (Brock) says "Ah!" The brown squiggly is the train track. The different colored squares are the train cars. And then there's a dude roasting a marshmallow by a purple tent. You know, because people are always camping out by train tracks, right?

Photo a Day Thingy: Up

Oh, my poor, neglected blog. *sigh* We've all been sick for like, a month. Now that we're finally, FINALLY, getting better (although Jake just started getting sick today - grrr), I figured I should try to find a few minutes here and there to blog.

And what better way to do it than to jump onto someone else's idea??  If you're looking for originality here, you're NOT GOING TO FIND IT! Ha ha! Nee-ner, nee-ner, NEEEEEE-NERRRRR!!!

I was lurking around someone else's blog the other day. Because let's face it-I've moved from "commenter" to "lurker". I still read people's blogs, but I don't comment, which is so sad. Who doesn't love comments? Anyway, I was lurking, and there's a blog that that girl follows, called Fat Mum Slim. She's all about photography, and blogging, and has about a trillion followers.

So, she does this thing called a photo a day. She comes up with a topic for each day of the month. And then I think you're supposed to take these fabulous artsy pictures and link to them, and then everyone can see them, and all that fabulous stuff.

But.

I am not a photographer, no matter how much I want to be. A lot of my pictures are pretty crappy. Therefore, I will NOT be linking them to the hashtag, because people would be all, "This chick must be on crack." However, I still think pictures are important, especially pics of my kids. I'm hoping by doing this it will 1) get me back in the habit of blogging, and 2) get me back in the habit of taking "everyday" pictures.

Because I discovered this near the end of March, I'm going to do a little of March's list, and a little of April's, and sometimes combine some of the ideas. Well...we'll just see how this goes, shall we?

So here are the lists. March:

And April's:

Today I chose to do "Up" from March's list. I have two interpretations. First, this one:

My kids are always, always climbing up on the counter.

And here is my other picture. Brock drew/colored this for last Mother's Day (2011). It's a picture of Paradise Falls, which is in the movie Up. He's such a good artist - it blows my mind.

So there you have it. UP.

Hot Fun in the Summertime

It's weird. I feel like I've been having a super lazy, laid back, just kickin' it kind of summer, but then I look at all that we've been doing, and it's been kind of jam-packed. I feel very oxymoron-ish. You know, jumbo shrimp, and pretty ugly. Busy summer. Or maybe the oxymoron is calm summer. Either or.

I mentioned in passing that Jakob took an art class at the beginning of the summer. They learned about mixing paints, and about different artists like Van Gogh and Picasso. Here's one of Jakob's masterpieces:

When I saw it, I was like, my 5-year-old painted that?!? I was impressed. He also did a clay thing, where they pushed different items into the clay to create molds and texture, but it was so brittle that it broke. Doh.

We've been playing outside, a lot. Especially the boys. This means that even though the boys are pretty good about keeping the doors closed behind them, sometimes they forget. So the ever-curious Ivy was leaning out the door, and either tried to step out onto our stairs or just fell out, and over the edge onto the cement. Don't worry, though, her forehead caught her fall:

Poor thing. I've been wanting to get a rail for forever, and I just haven't gotten around to it. Maybe that will happen this year (you know, now that the threat has passed-I doubt Ivy will be hanging out of the door again).

We got a swing set, which the boys have been loving. Pete's parents came to visit us a couple of weekends ago, and Pete and his dad put it together. The first day they kept doing different poses down the slide-on their bellies, with arms folded, backwards, as a train, etc.

I love this picture, of Jake's little grin. And it looks like Troy had just fallen off of his swing. Pure awesomeness.

We started swimming lessons for the two older boys yesterday. No pictures yet, mostly because they don't allow the parents to stay close by ("Go up to the viewing area! I'm the pool Nazi!"). But hopefully I'll sneak some in soon. Jakob stays busy during the lesson splashing around and wiggling a ton, and Brock stays busy refusing to do anything the teacher tells him to do, and will only go in if he's attached to her like a baby koala to its mom. I'm glad I pay money for these things.

And today we went to the park, and had a picnic with my sisters and mom. Here's my Brocky-foo-foo eating some watermelon:

It was fun to just go and play. It's been hot hot hot, but the kids don't seem to notice as they're running around being crazy and cute. Here's a little slide show for the picture pirates:

Like I said, I think it's going to continue to be a good summer.

Books 101

* rap rap rap* Now, now, class, I know that it's almost the end of the semester, but we still have a few literary classics to go over. For instance, this beauty by the very famous Jakob, titled "Ironman". Notice his cover page. Even by itself it can tell a story. It shows how Tony Stark, in the middle, makes the Ironman suit on the right. But wait, there's more!


The first page sets the scene: Ironman is Tony Stark. Very straightforward, class. Jakob lets you know exactly who his characters are through (obviously) characterization. And to top it off, he has a picture of Tony. Such description!


On this page, Jakob starts building the plot: But he got in a suit. You can see Tony, in the suit, standing at the mouth of the cave. What attention to detail!


Then, tragedy strikes our protagonist: And he died. Not to be confused with "and he djed", which would be pronounced "duh-yed". Note the symbolism that Jakob uses here, with the blank page. Death means emptiness, a sparse future. Deep stuff here, class.



Then, hope for our main character, and furthering the plot: But he was Tony. Now he is Ironman. See how Jakob makes our hero grow, and change. And can you see the determination in Tony's face. He will not be defeated!


Then, Jakob says so much, without saying a word. Notice how he mixes up his literary usage, first with the page with only words; then, the page with only pictures. Jakob has the reader guessing at every turn. Will he become Ironmonger (on the left)? Will he become the evil that could be his? Or will he become Ironman (on the right)? Can he defeat Ironmonger? Or will he be something else (the question mark in the middle)? Notice how Jakob makes his readers think, and ponder. He twists the plot. The dramatic climax! The intrigue!


Then, Jakob pulls the story all together: Ironman is good. He shows him flying and jumping. A beautiful conclusion to his epic story!

Well class, that concludes our discussion on Jakob's "Ironman". Next semester, we will be discussing one of Jakob's earlier works, "Moo Cow".

Is That Your FINAL Answer?

Helping Jakob with his kindergarten homework has definitely opened my eyes to how strange the English language is. And how things may seem to only have one answer, and yet can have several.

Example 1: The number one. Jakob had to write "one" in his homework. He wrote "won". I had to tell him that yes, that's how you spell it, but not for the number. When I spelled out "O-N-E", Jakob said, "But 'o' doesn't say 'wuh', 'w' does!" And don't even get me started on "eight".

Example 2: "of", said "uhv", not "off". What's up with that?

Example 3: A section of his homework deals with word families. They kind of stretch it for some of them. The paper was listing "-ag" words, like "bag". There was a picture of a witch: a hag. Who calls witches hags anymore?

Example 4: What rhymes with "fish"? A bowl or a hammer? (These are pictures, by the way.) Oh wait. A bowl is also a dish.

Example 5: There's a page that has pictures of things that begin with a letter, in this case "p". And there's always one that doesn't start with that letter, and the kids don't color that one. So on the page there was a policeman. Jakob didn't color him along with another picture that didn't start with "p", because he called him a "cop", which very obviously does not start with "p".

Example 6: A picture of a doctor with a dog that has its leg bandaged up. Underneath it has "_ e t", where you fill in the first letter. Well, is it asking about the doctor (the vet)? Or is it asking about the dog (the pet)? Either one would fit. Same with a picture of a taxi, with "c a _"; it's a car, but it's also a cab. Hmm.

Example 7: With opposites, a picture of a treasure chest. It says underneath, "It is not open. It's ______." So, is the opposite closed? Shut? Locked? Your guess is as good as mine.

Crazy homework aside, Jakob has continued to bud into quite the artist. Here's a picture of his new obsession, the Bionicle guys:


In this next one, the one on the left is a "to do" list for Pete that he made. Jakob must think that getting dressed ("git clothes") and enjoying life ("have a blast!") are top priority, along with working ("go work") and eating ("pizza" with backwards z's). On the right are, obviously, the Ghostbusters.


One of the boys' new favorite movies is "Horton Hears a Who!" Below is Horton, holding the clover that the speck lands on. The speck at the beginning of the movie floats by Horton and says "Help!"


And this is one of my favorite things Jakob has made. In school the kids were to trace their hands and glue them onto the reindeer head as antlers. Jakob, always thinking outside the box, did his whole arm for one side. Always an original thinker, that one. I was so sad because I thought I had lost it, but I found it! I couldn't fit the whole thing onto the scanner, but you get the idea.


I wonder if all my kids' homework will be this adventurous.

School Days

Jakob has been doing pretty well in school. (At least, as far as I can tell. But we have Parent-Teacher Conference on Wednesday; don't know what kind of story I'll get then.) He's so funny. He draws all the time, and most of the subjects are Iron man, or some derivative thereof. As promised, I scanned in a couple of pictures. This first one is Iron man fighting War machine, but I think War machine is a good guy...




And then this one cracks me up. They did a dot-to-dot in class, and it made a house. Instead of a simple, red-brick with white picket fence type house, Jakob turned it into a Monster House (of course with Iron man in it or on it or fighting it).

Yes, a very creative child. He's been learning more and more, and will ask me all day long about words that rhyme, and what does such-and-such word start with, and how do you spell this or that, and what do these letters spell. I make him think through what a word starts with and tell me, and he's almost always right except when it comes to words that start with "c". Like "cake": he'll say, "Um, "k"?" (Why do we have the letter "c", anyway? "k" and "s" do just fine. Somebody's sick joke taken way too far...)

I think part of the reason he's been so into letters is he's part of a program at school called Title One. They sent a letter home a few weeks into school, basically saying that they think he (and apparently most of the other Kindergartners) could benefit from some extra help. I'm like, my son is a resource kid? (Not that resource is bad, but the connotation is.) The letter kind of reminded me of what Mindy said in her post about "teacher-speak". This is where they say, "your child isn't working up to his or her potential", which can translate into "lazy". That kind of thing.

But actually, now that he's been in the program, I'm liking the results. They get pulled out of class for 20 minutes a day in a small group; there are two other kids in Jakob's group. So, essentially, he's getting a lot more individual attention at school than he otherwise would.

Now, though, I know better what to do when my other kids go to school. Jakob kind of knew his letters, but not enough, apparently, because-silly me!-I thought that's what they'd be learning in Kindergarten, not having it be a prerequisite to entering. I think Jakob's being in Title One has made me a lot more aware of his education, and I've been trying to supplement at home in a few ways. And really, his learning curve has been exponential. I just hope his teacher thinks and says the same thing at Parent-Teacher Conference. If not, I hope she can give me some tips on how to help him, which will also help his brothers and sister out in the future.

Brought to You by the Letter O

Old Man Hair:



Ivy's hair was looking like a comb-over. And she has a big old bald spot in the back. So I gave her a hair cut.



My kids' first haircuts leave much to be desired, and Ivy proved she was part of the rule, not the exception. So now it's kind of a bowl cut, but it will grow out and look a little better soon enough. I hope.




Ouch!

Guess we won't be getting our family pictures taken this coming Monday after all.



Troy was playing in my turtle collection, more specifically with the one on the left. It has a light underneath the shell that the boys find fascinating. Apparently Troy was playing with the light switch and pulled the turtle down on top of himself. He has a nice shell shaped bruise on his face.



Here's another look:




Olympic Bowlers We are Not

We took the kids bowling. Pete killed the rest of us with the impressive score of 97. And...we were playing with bumpers. And...I came in last, under Jakob and Brock.



Troy wanted to help me improve my form and my score, but I was past hope this time around.



I taught Jakob that you need to dance after every ball you shoot (roll?). He has some sweet moves, especially in his day-glo bowling shoes on the ultra polished floor.




Ooooh, hands!

I love it when kids discover their appendages.




Only the cutest kid ever!



Brock's going to be such a heart throb when he grows up.




Ott in the making:

Jakob could draw all day long. When I can steal the "big computer" from Pete, I'll have to scan in some of Jakob's masterpieces. (The scanner is hooked up to the new computer. I'm on the lowly old computer right now.)

Now if only we can get to Sesame Street...