Day # 9 Let's Read Something Together...

I suppose since we live merely a few blocks from the Library, we should frequent it more. However, it takes a great deal of effort to load everybody up and head over there. Once we are there, its a constant battle to keep track of 5 little guys who each have different interests and locations they want to be in within the library. Add in the keeping quiet factor, at its no cake walk for me. So, for my benefit sanity, we will be going once a month this summer as a family, and I will run the older kids over as needed; when they need a new book.

 I liked the idea of Time to Read Tuesday's though, so I just tweaked it a bit to suit our needs. On Tuesday's we will now either take a Library trip, work on our monthly book reports, or have story time with me reading to the kids. At some point we really need to make a new story time quilt too. The last two little fellas feel rather left out every time we get it out because we made it years ago and it only has the oldest 3 kiddos names/hand prints on it.

Today was story time with Mom. When the older boys were younger, I used to read a chapter book to them every evening. As they got older and their interests in books varied and their personal reading abilities expanded, I just sort of got our of the habit. I read our children's books regularly to the little boys, but have not yet tried to read a chapter book to them. So, today was the big day. Each of the older boys brought a few selections to the table and we held a vote. After several votes and much discussion, we settled on The Chocolate Touch being our first choice. I managed to get 3 chapters read before the little ones started to get restless. I'd call that success! Sorry, no fun pictures for today...I was a little busy reading. :) What books do you love that we should  add to our summer reading bucket list?

Happy reading, everyone!

Positively Good Behavior & Kindergarten Prep

I am not sure about the rest of the mother population out there, but sometimes my children get the best of me and I have been know to raise my voice... and that is just on a normal day. Add to that summertime with everyone home all day, every day, and then take into account that heat makes me a tad bit more irritable...well, you get the point. Something was going to have to be done about rewarding good behavior, nixing bad behavior and accomplishing all of this in my "inside" voice. My solution? The stop light chart. Over the years I have seen many variations of this in my boys' classrooms. The general idea is to keep your pin in the "green zone". If you can manage to do that, there is a punch or two given on your punch card, at the end of the day. A full punch card earns rewards like a trip to the dollar store, or walking across the street to grab a doughnut or special little treat. The yellow zone means you are quickly approaching the danger zone and need to work hard to keep yourself in "check". Good behavior or doing extra chores can get you moved back up the ranks into the green. The red zone is not a happy place, if you hit red at any point during the day, you must forfeit any card punches for the day, and you have to pay the consequence you reach. I of course, included a picture, because visual aids are my friend. Here it is:

The pouch at the bottom holds their current punch cards. I am loving this system so far, because I use it for all behaviors i.e. coming when called, talking back, finishing jobs in a timely manner, etc. If you do good, you stay green. Any type of bad behavior, and I simply ask you to pull your pin. No need to get upset or frustrated (for me or them) its been a lovely thing. :)

On to happier things... (in a perfect world my children would just do what I had taught them, no rewards/consequences necessary; but I live in reality...hence the charts)
Anyway... my other ongoing project with the VonBon has been doing things to prep him for his big Kindergarten debut this fall. Several months ago we made a Hungry Caterpillar alphabet with both Upper and Lower case letters, to help him learn the alphabet letters and sounds, and also to help him identify upper and lower case letters by placing them next to each other. It has worked like a charm. Soon after we began the caterpillar, we started adding ice cream cone cut outs with sight words on them. The wall started with just 3 sight words, and we have worked our way up to almost 40. Our goal is to have him know all 100 sight words/high frequency words before he starts Kindergarten. We also recently hung up the Days of the Week so he can start to recognize them. I love being able to teach them these things, it is one of the most rewarding parts of being a mom. Here are some pictures of our Kindergarten prep walls:

Days of the Week

Alphabet/Sight word wall

To coin a phrase from the Pioneers: "Use it up, wear it out, make it do, or do without" If you have never been to my house, you wouldn't know by looking at these pictures that all of this is in my living room. I know, not the most trendy decor, but it was the only wall big enough. The bedrooms have dressers and bunk beds on the walls. So for now, the living room is our preschool room. Perhaps one day I will have a house with a designated room just for these types of things, but for now; the living room is our "make it do" spot and it is working out just fine! :) Happy learning everyone!

Watching the Sunflowers Grow...

Years ago, I was reading in a Children's magazine and it had instructions for building a Sunflower hut. The idea is pretty basic, and this year I finally sectioned off a portion of the garden to make it happen. All you do is plant your sunflower seeds in a very large circle, leaving a 2-3 foot section un-planted (this will be your entry way) So far the flowers seem to be growing strong. It will be lots of fun to compare their progress. I didn't take any pictures of just the dirt, but here is a shot of the little guys standing in the middle of the hut.

Forts and Stools progress...

So, for my own benefit (and who knows, maybe yours too) I am going to do a post here and there about other things we have been up to. Most of which are on-going, but don't have anything to do with our Theme Days.

First off, we are in the middle of building out a pretty awesome fort in the back yard for the boys. When we moved in, it was just a big junk pile back there and the trees were all over-grown. This Spring, we decided to cut back some of the trees and get rid of the junk pile that the last several residents had left behind. We were pleasantly surprised to discover a large cement pad under all that stuff; and so was born the idea of a fort. The tree coverage is such that there is shade nearly all day long. The logs for the entry were in the pile of junk we found, and we are in the process of making 5 little benches for the fellas to sit on while they hang out in there. 2 down, 3 to go...

Cut, sanded, and starting to nail

painted, assembled, and ready to seal

Just the right size!

One bench in the newly cleared out fort

Helping Dad cement in the posts for the entry way

Posts are set, complete with hand prints in the cement

5 happy little fellas, ready to enjoy their nearly completed fort

We picked up a little hammock to hang across the two entryway posts, and we are working on a sign to hang on the posts; but for now it is a pretty great hang out spot! More updates on this, later!

Day #8 Making...something

What is it my mother used to always say? Oh yes, "Blessed are the flexible, for they won't get bent out of shape" Apparently this morning should have begun with more stretching...you know, for flexibility. I guess after how smoothly last week went, I just assumed this week would follow suit. All in all, it really was a very good day; I can't complain. It just took some extra work to get to this point. I just need to be more flexible for when my little plan doesn't go according to plan. I always feel behind when I wake up late, and today I woke up late. I hurried to catch up, but with laundry, morning dishes, working out, and little ones to help get ready for the day; there is only so much "catch up" possible. It was 1:00pm before I realized I forgot to put dinner in the crock pot...oops. Once the responsibility part of our day was done, it was time to play. However, some recent changes to our upcoming weekend were affecting Make it Monday's project. So, we ditched the cardboard box car plan and went straight to plan B. Friendship bracelets. Hmm, should have done a trial run myself before gathering all the boys, that turned out to be a hot mess...literally hot, not so much a mess. *Time to take a pause!* It was a group decision to leave all the knotting, weaving, and multi-strand bracelet making to little girls at girls camp. With the AC kicked on and plan C in full swing, we instead made t-shirt bracelets. (A project I have done for myself and taught a friend) making me much more capable of handling with all the boys! Here is what weaving t-shirt bracelets looks like when you CAN listen to and follow instructions: 

                                     

And here is what it looks like if you CAN'T listen and follow instructions, and are simply too young to sit and wait for mommy to help you:

  

Eventually, I was able to get the big boys all set with making their own, and then I could focus on these little monkeys. Despite the fact that we were a bit off schedule for most of the day, we ended up getting everyone a few bracelets made; and dinner is starting to smell super yummy in the crock pot. Happy Monday all!

If you'd like to make your own, click here to find the awesome and easy to follow tutorial we used. 

Day #6 Spectacular Saturday

If the spectacular-ness of a day were based on the number of pictures taken in that day, then I would have to say today lived up to its name. As I sat down to transfer pictures from my camera onto the computer, there were 50 new pictures. It was a pretty spectacular day.
The big boys camped out in the back yard Friday night and although they woke up early, they were extra quiet when they came in. This meant a nice long sleeping in morning for us and the little guys. I was perhaps a bit too relaxed though, because I forgot that our plan for the day was supposed to include heading over to the local Home Depot at 9:00 a.m. Oops! No worries though, after a quick phone call we determined that 10:45 was just as good a time to go make the kids club project for the day. This was our first time, so we got our aprons and projects and set out to build our little organizers. I learned something about my children today...can you see what it was?

If you guessed that all of my children stick out their tongues while they are concentrating on something, you'd be right!

Look what we made, Mom!

The whole Olson crew with their finished product!

With our first successful Kid's Club building project finished, we headed across the street to Sam's to cool off with some Strawberry Lemonade Icee's. It's not unusual to draw a bit of attention to ourselves as we venture out in public with all 5 boys, but today we were a bit more noticeable; decked out in our bright orange aprons. A darling older lady stopped us on the way out and asked where we had been and what we'd been doing to be all dressed up so cute. She was very complimentary of our cute little crew; it was a welcome change.
Back home we decided the fun should not end just yet. So, while I washed some dishes and made sack lunches and crispy treats, the boys loaded up the van with camping chairs and the pop-up shade canopy. In no time, 2 hours later...we were on our way up the canyon to relax and fish at one of Daddy's favorite fishing spots. 

Catching flies to determine what to bait with

Loving fishing day!

Dad with the big boys, tying on a fly

Ready to catch fish

This cute little man was so exciting to go fishing!

Between the descent cloud coverage and the canopy, and the bit cooler weather up the canyon; it was the perfect way to beat the heat and enjoy the late afternoon and well into the evening.
Although the only fish we caught is best described as a large minnow baby cutthroat, we all had a wonderful time. None of us were quite ready to leave when it was time to call it a night. 5 building projects, 7 Icees, 0 fish, and 50 pictures later...it was a pretty sensational Saturday. Full of fun and most importantly memories.

Day #5 Fieldtrip/Friendship Friday

Aah, who doesn't wait all week for Friday? It is a welcome relief around our house. After a busy week of keeping everyone on schedule and finishing everything I wanted to accomplish each day, I am rather worn out. So, last night as we were finishing up our evening, I informed the boys that Fridays were going to be more of a free day. I explained I still wanted them to accomplish their chore charts, but beyond that, our only structured priority would be making sure I taught the 3 oldest their piano lesson. Once those things were completed, they were free to do their own thing until it was time for our Theme Day Activity. They seemed pleasantly surprised, but lets face it, its just easier for me that way! :)
Our morning began with Von Bon and I heading to his final dentist appointment {loud cheering}That kid has been through quite a bit these past couple of months, but all his teeth are fixed up and he is good to go. He was a trooper. We got home in time to eat some lunch before filling out the entry forms for the boys to participate in the local Art Contest going on next week. Then it was time to head out on our field trip. We combined two themes today, and went to the splash pad with some friends. Before we left town we stopped by the learning center to drop off the fellas art contest entries.

The Art contest turned into a family affair; one goes...we all go!

After the important business for the day was completed, it was time to meet up with our friends and get our splash on! Fortunately it wasn't insanely busy {my aversion to crowds has only increased with each child...) After about 90 minutes of splashing and karate chopping the spouts of water, we determined it was time to dry off and head out. To end our fabulous field trip, we headed over to the local grocery store and sat inside the cool store, licking some yummy ice cream cones.

Love his expressions!

Getting ready for some serious karate-chopping action

A rare, natural smile from the G-man

One of these boys is not like the others...I always wondered what 6 sons would be like!;)

 I always look forward to the end of the week, but its been quite some time since my Friday was filled with this much fun with all my handsome fellas. Hello summer! It's good to have you back.