Hates Homework!

Ok, so most kids hate homework, but I am having a tough time with Kaleigh. 7 years old and is already grumbling about the homework she has. She has maybe 2 pages a week of homework and reading homeword 3-4 times weekly. It is not that much! I must say, however, that it is more than I ever had. They are giving kids more homework earlier in school these days. Kaleigh gets home and just wants to play with her brother. Usually I give her about an hour and then she needs to do the homework. She grumbles about it then and right before bed when she has to read her reading book. I am thinking I may need to start her right after school, get it done and over with. That way bedtime is more relaxing and enjoyable. I wish there was another way to do this, if anyone has any ideas, please share! I am trying to let her know that doing homeword with a good attitude makes is easier and it goes faster! One of the teachers at school told me to have her write spelling words and do math problems and then let it taper off to less then she will be happy and will not complain so much about what she has to do. Advice welcome on this!!

Cole's Birthday #2 cont...

Photos are of Cole with his cake, curtesy of Grandma and in his cool "Cars" shirt with presents behind him.
More presents came later! The big hits were his Thomas the Tank Engine Coal Station from Omi and Opa and the Culdee and the apple orchard cars from Grandma and Grandpa.

Subbing 3 Year Old Class

Well, today was interesting, I was to sub in a 3 year old class. 7 students in a very tiny classroom. The kids were unusually attentive and they actually were great to teach. The theme for the week was Noah's Ark and we made pita bread boats with peanut butter and animal cookies to go in the "boat". Then they got to eat them. We then did Noah's animal parade, where they each got to use an animal puppet and we walked around the building taking turns being each animal. The kids especially enjoyed a book that I brought about a hampster that makes it onto Noah's Ark.
It amazes me how different three year olds can be. There are a couple of classes that I would definitely not want to sub in. The teachers can't wait for summer and the kids have not really improved! You can really tell which parents discipline their kids and which ones let their children do what they want. It is very difficult for the teachers and the other students. As a parent I would be mortified if my children did half the things that some of these kids do!
That, of course, is why I would not want to teach 3 year olds, most of the time they do not care whether you give a treat for good behavior or tell them that what they are doing is not acceptable. They are still too little to really use cause and effect management. If you tell them they will get a treat at the end of the day if they do well, they forget, if you constantly give them treats for behaving then you have a hyped up on sugar kid!
No win situation. 4 year olds tend to be able to have better self control and can make themselves behave when given the proper incentive.
That is it for today. Glad the day is over and I can relax tomorrow in my normal Support Staff role. : )

Cole's Birthday #2

Well, Cole had his second birthday party with family and close friends. He had a great time and luckily he had a good nights sleep the night before, because the night of his birthday party he coughed and was up a lot of the night. Needless to say mom was up too and so for his actual birthday on Monday, the three of us stayed home, Dad because he always is home on Monday, Cole and Mommy for lack of sleep. Kaleigh went to school. We all then went out for dinner and playing at Chuck E. Cheese. Cole's choice of course. The kids had a blast and we were able to go early in order to beat any dinner crowds.
Sorry no photo but for some reason the blog upload for my photos are not working. Maybe later!

Dog-gone Fun Party!
Well, Cole's Party was a howling success! The only glitch was that the bouncer that we had ordered (A dalmation one to match the theme) did not come! We instead were given a "Dreamhouse" bouncer that had pink flowers on it! So that was not going to fly so the guy left to see if he could bring the right one. The party started at 1pm and at 12:55 the correct one showed up, just as guests were arriving! Then to our dismay the dalmation bouncer was all wet! Carl and the delivery guy did their best to dry it with rags but it smelled musty and it was going to have to air dry a little before the kids went in. So we played games and the kids went in the sand box first. We played "give the doggie a bone" kind of like pin the tail on the donkey. The kids loved that one. Cole now has the doggie poster in his bedroom. We had "pup"cakes and ice cream in dog dishes and the kids wore their doggie ears and Cole got lots of great gifts! As you can see in the photo, he is kind of into Rescue Heroes right now and two of his friends got him a HUGE Rescue Hero Jet! All in all the party was fun and the kids all went home with a lot of stuff! Cole really enjoyed himself as did all the kids. We were very thankful that it went so well, especially after we found out on the following Tuesday, that Cole had an ear infection! He probably had it on the day of the party but it hadn't started hurting yet. Whew!
So that is the party and I did send a letter to the bouncer company, so who knows, maybe they will give us a free bouncer or half price sometime!
Hmmmm, don't really want to do another party for a while......sigh...

Almost 5!

Wow, it seems only yesterday he was toddling around with his cute little face looking up at mine! Well, he will be turning 5 this month and what a cutie he still is! I may be biased (NOT), well, maybe a little...
Anyway, he told me he wanted a doggie party and we started planning. So this is what is happening...
Guests arrive at 1pm, and promptly see on the sidewalk in front of the house paw prints leading around the side of the house (the party will be in the backyard) to the back. They will each receive some doggie ears that they can wear, then they will come in the back and see the big dalmation bounce house. There will be games like "Give the doggie a bone" played like pin the tail on the donkey except...well, you can figure it out. We will also use fishing poles with magnets to play fish for a bone, with cardboard bones with paper clips that have the word "prize" on it and everyone wins, we are going to serve "pupcakes" instead of cupcakes. The "pupcakes" will have paw prints on them and they will be walking across the table. Ice cream will be served in cupcake paper cups and both pupcake and ice cream will be served in a dog dish with each child's name on it.
We also have a bone-shaped pinata and doggie bags to put the candy in. The treat boxes look like little doghouses and they include a mini plush doggie, a whistle, stickers , a bouncy ball and some bone shaped candies.
I hope to get a group photo with the whole gang and I will post so you all can see what I am talking about.
So please cross your fingers or pray (works better) that it doesn't rain on Saturday! I do have a back up plan but it requires everyone to stay in our little house, it would be very crowded and I am sure very loud, two things that irritate me a lot!
I will post how it all goes down!