Fun Swim

I took the boys to HS swimming today. The water was cold to me but the boys loved it!

Easter Surprise

Abuelo and Abuela stopped by for a visit yesterday and to give the boys their Easter baskets. It was really nice to see them. Carson was so proud to play a mini piano recital for them and Cameron was his usual happy-go-lucky self.
*Abuelo, If you are reading this, please send me some of the photos from your camera because I didn't get many.

Easter 2011

The boys left their empty Easter baskets out the night before Easter. They woke up at 6am to find out what the Easter Bunny left for them!

You Lose One, You Gain Two

We have been in need of removing a huge Bradford Pear tree from our yard for sometime. Unfortunately that day came on Earth Day.
But, later in the day we met up with friends and planted 2 trees - 1 Maple and 1 Oak.
Hope that makes up for it :-)

Easter Egg Hunt and Games

Today, we enjoyed visiting with friends that we haven't seen in a while. The kids did their annual egg hunt and then they played some games: limbo, sack races and egg races. Fun!

Karaoke Reading

One of the best ways to to teach a child to read is to read to them. The next best thing? Karaoke of coarse!

Interplanetary Hike

After making Easter bunny ears, we explored the solar system by walking through a scale model of it. I made flags with construction paper and bamboo sticks. The flags represented the sun and the planets. From the sun, the 36 million miles to Mercury was represented by 1 step, the 67 million miles to Venus was represented by 2 steps, etc. After walking the 103 steps to walk all the way to Pluto (yeah, yeah...I know Pluto is now a dwarf planet), Carson was shocked to find out Alpha Centauri would be 200 miles away. I put it into perspective and told him "about the distance to Grandda's ranch). I think he got the point!

Last day of co-op

Today was the last day of co-op. The choir and theater classes performed after the last class. That was great!
All three of us really enjoyed the co-op, but we are happy it is finished for now. It really wore us out. Seriously, I don't know how parents find the energy to get ready for school everyday. We struggled with 6 Fridays for 4 hours each!

Hosting Bookclub

I hosted Carson's bookclub at my home yesterday. The kids were so sweet and responded so well so the book.
When it was finished, I asked Carson if I did a good job. Carson said, "Mom, it was so much BETTER that the other moms! It was fun and the snacks were the best! I am so proud you're MY Mom"
Wow! I sure do love that boy!

Such a special girl...

A good friend has been in the hospital for a few days and unfortunately will be in for a few more. The poor thing has a terrible eye infection they need to treat with IV antibiotics.
I took the boys this evening for a visit. The boys loved the children's hospital - especially the trains!
They spent a large part of their visit on the bed with their friend and her siblings cutting and glueing construction paper into various things. The 3 year olds had a giggle-fest taking hundreds of digital pictures. Great family. Get better soon, sweetie!

Wise words of the day

7 year old, "The word DROP wouldn't exist if it weren't for gravity"

Workboxes

I have created my own version of Sue Patrick's Workbox method http://www.workboxsystem.com. Seriously, this is the BEST invention ever! It's like a mini Christmas morning everyday. The kids are getting much more schoolwork done in a fraction of a time.
Each boy has 12 workboxes that I bought at IKEA. I made custom tags with numbers 1-12 and a character for each boy (Harry Potter and R2D2). The boys do the boxes in consecutive order and put the velcro tags on their 'completed' sheet. I also put 'fun' things along the way: 15 min free time, a special book, clay, puzzles, ride bike, tend the garden, game, paint, 15 min computer time, music cd and note that says dance, play dog with mom (3yo favorite), snack (I actually put the snack in), etc.
I put a 'Mom's help' tag on the box if the activity requires my help and try to plan the boxes so I don't need to help both boys at the same time.
Another important thing that I do is put all their materials and accessories in the box. For example, if they do computer work, I put their headphones in the box or if they do map coloring, I put the map colors in the box.  Saves so much time and distraction!
This system is definitely creating much more independence and it gives them a sense of accomplishment that they were not getting before.
This was a bit of effort to set up, but the time I save daily is well worth it.

Pinball game

I took the boys to a kid's workshop at Lowes this morning. They have been looking forward to it for a few weeks. They love pinball and now they have their own that they made themselves. They will probably paint it soon.

Go Texas Rangers!

Went to the Rangers/Mariners game at the Ballpark in Arlington. Carson made a bunch of Rangers signs and held them up. One of them has eye and mouth holes so he can still watch the game while he holds up his sign. He's so practical.

Legoland Discovery Center

We met up with some friends at the new Lego Discovery Center in Grapevine yesterday. The boys LOVED it! It was smaller than I thought it would be. I especially enjoyed the Lego 4D movie.