Making Discoveries - 1000 Hours Outside

We are halfway through our 9th week of participating in the 1000 Outside challenge and we are currently at 131 hours and 15 minutes spent outside. The past couple of days we have not made it outdoors due to Jordan's basketball game and wet weather; I'm holding out hope that we'll get at least one hour today. I was surprised by how much time we actually spent outside. When the weather is nice we are out there a lot longer than I thought, but when the colder temps hit we hunker down in the house and there's little to no outside time. We have gone from 3-6 hours a day in October down to 0-2 hours a day by the end of November, I'm sure the earlier nightfall plays a part in that also.

With the colder temperatures some days it is harder to encourage the boys to get out of the house, when I would rather stay toasty warm inside. Once the snow comes they'll be more excited to head out and play. When we can see a reason for the cold it tends to make us more accepting of it. Plus with snow comes many fun games and creations. We have been making an effort to bundle up and get out, even if I may be watching the clock to reach an hour. Once I get the kids out there it doesn't take long for them find something to do and the time passes quickly.

While staying toasty warm inside suits us just fine, we have seen some neat things during our outside time we had been missing. Once a week the younger two and I head to the park while Jordan is at basketball practice, last week we were greeted by about 50 Canadian geese. As we walked towards the play equipment the geese walked away from us and many went into the nearby water. Half the geese took to the water, while the others found us not to be a threat. This lead to a teachable moment of why birds don't freeze in the cold water. The boys kept checking to see how many geese had stayed in the water. There was on funny little guy who kept waddling up to the water's edge, stared at the water and waddle back towards the grass. The boys were waiting to see if this little one was actually going to follow the others into the icy cold water (he didn't by the way). We also walked down the pier and noticed the ice that had formed around the pillars just above the water. On the way back to the playground Joey noticed that there was ice on the sand and a little bit of snow, even though there was no snow elsewhere at the park.

While walking with Homeschool Campers on a trail near their home Jordan had discovered a set of deer tracks and near them a set of coyote tracks. We also explored an area where some deer had recently bedded down. There was also a lot of play with the ice and breaking the ice. Our friend Elder Cracker Jack had figured out that if you stick your hand in the hole in the ice the pocket of air there is a few degrees warmer. Jacob grabbed a piece of really cool ice from a hole one of the other children had made, it had formed a neat twist below the surface.

Jacob's ice find

Deer tracks

Coyote tracks

While I could have taught my boys these things sitting comfortably in our warm house, there is just something about discovering things in a hands-on way that helps them make the connection. I love seeing them get so excited about discovering something new. If we hadn't taken the challenge and had not made a point to be outside, we would have missed these awesome opportunities


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Preparing For Christmas

The end of fall is quickly approaching although here in Michigan it has felt like winter the past couple weeks. The end of fall means the end of our Fall Bucket list (if you haven't seen it you can find it here). We have done very well with it and only have one more item to complete, which should be done by this weekend. We will soon be creating and starting our Winter List.

We have a couple other activities that we are doing around here aside from the bucket lists. We are in the process of decorating for Christmas, the tree went up yesterday and they boys will decorate it this evening. The window clings have been changed out and lights have been strung around our house. The loud obnoxious singing/dancing Santa and the giggling reindeer are on display (loud and obnoxious, but also a lot of fun in moderation).

We will start reading our 22 days of Christmas books starting tonight. I wish we had 25 Christmas/snow theme books, but 22 will do. One of our books has a collection of stories, to split them up I used some extra books and taped the title of each story from the collection on it the cover before wrapping them. Most of the books are geared towards the younger two. Jordan and I will be reading A Christmas Carol together, it is more age appropriate for him. The younger ones are really excited to choose their first book, although the are the same books we read about this time every year. I think its the mystery of which book they will get. They will be alternating on who gets to choose, also which ever one chooses is the one who reads the story that night. There are a couple really long stories that I will take over the reading of.

This past Sunday was the beginning of Advent and this year we have decided to make a point to celebrate it. We picked up our Little Blue Book at mass over the weekend and will be working our way through it. Also our wonderful friends over at Homeschool Camper helped us find a cute little site called Holy Heroes that teaches children of all ages about Advent; we will visiting the site daily. Last night the boys and I created an Advent wreath using construction paper. We traced out hands and cut them out to make the evergreens, everyone rolled paper to make one of the candles.

We are also attempting to do a Christmas Around the World. We'll see how that goes.

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Living Like an Orange Rhino

T'was the night before my son's first game. Every creature was scurrying about. All were trying to get tomorrows school clothes laid out. Every child should have been in bed; and Mama was trying to remember her Orange Rhino and not lose her head.

This night has the makings for a really bad bedtime story and I'm sure if I wasn't so frazzled I could finish the whole thing in rhyme. This is how our evening after 5 days of relaxing has been going. The whole 5 days has been great, until we left Grandma's house late. This weeks laundry stacks were larger than usual (How my boys had gone through more clothes lounging around than they do going to school all week is beyond me.) so not everything had time to be dried and we left later than I would have otherwise liked. Okay not sounding too bad yet, it happens and we've managed through it.

The younger two were to be getting ready for bed and preparing for school the next day while I unloaded the van. Jordan was to bring me his dress clothes so they could be pressed. I quickly ran the last load up to the dryer at our laundry room (were I was eyed by a skunk about 6 feet away from me), to return to the two younger ones laughing and chasing each other through the house half in pajamas (honest I was literally gone for 3 minutes) and the cat following me through the house meowing at me for who knows why. Jordan brings me a pair of dress pants that are a size too small with 4 dress shirts he claims barely reach his wrists and every brightly color tie he owns. I like to plan ahead and had him look early last week to make sure he had dress clothes that would fit; he confirmed that he did and he was all set for game day. Now he tells me this is all he has, mind you its 9:30 on a Sunday night. Being determined that I know he has clothes that fit after all I had just bought them a few months back. Hallelujah! There in the back of the closet is his dress slacks. Okay the shirts barely fit but aren't that short and will get him through the day (this kid grows like a weed). The ties on the other hand would not match any of the shirts by anyone stretched imagination, so off to his little brothers room to find a tie. We find a tie although he is not happy about it being "a little kid's tie" opposed to having to tie it yourself; but it matches and is long enough. That's one crisis averted; and I did not yell :)

Next I ask about his shorts that need to be red per the school colors that he has reassured me for the past couple weeks that he does in fact own a pair, so there was no need to go shopping. I asked for him to get them out and have them with his school things so he wouldn't forget them. He was not able to locate them in his drawer where he thought they would be and had suggested they may be in his gym locker at school. Now I have not seen any red shorts for any of my boys since the beginning of September. I inquired how they "may be" in his locker, doesn't he know. I asked if he worn them within the past few weeks, his reply "Um, NO". So why would they be in the locker if he has not taken them to school? "Um, I don't know. They're not in my drawer. I thought I had a pair" UGH!! So then it was back into his brother's room to go through the box of off season clothes and finally finding one single pair of red shorts that just reach his knees in with Joeys' summer clothes. Someone from up above sure is looking out for us tonight. Second crisis averted, and still I did not yell. Although I could feel it right there waiting to be released upon my disorganized child.

Next was to wrangle the now dressed for bed younger two boys. While my attention had been on Jordan they thought it was a great time to pick a game to spread out on the floor and start playing. While I cleaned up the game one was sent to brush his teeth while the other laid out his school clothes. As luck would have it, tonight the toothpaste was empty and instead of saying anything he just hung out in the bathroom styling his hair. Toothpaste tube replaced and now two little guys fighting over the sink at the same time. *Sigh* Everyone is finally dressed and brushed and lead into bed but wait...the child with the very stylish hair never laid out his clothes. I volunteered to pick his outfit, but he was not going to allow that after all I had told them they were responsible for picking their own clothes. After a couple really mismatched choices he came up with one that matched close enough that I would allow it for wear at school. Third crisis (although it was a mini one) averted, and still I did not yell.  I could feel the yell bubbling over ready to fly out of my mouth from my building frustration this evening, but I controlled it.

After minimal trips to the bathroom for needs that were "forgotten" before being tucked in, I am proud to say all were sound asleep and finally prepared for their days tomorrow. I headed over to the Orange Rhino Facebook page to toot my horn for keeping my cool when before I would have let my angry words fly without a second thought. TOOT! TOOT!

This morning we wake feeling like we can take on the day. Jordan finally makes his way to me 10 minutes before we are to leave the house and says I think these pants are too short too. Sure enough about 2 inches of his ankles are showing. He stays to watch his still slumbering little brothers and finish gathering together what he forgot to last night, as I run to the store down the street. A was very blessed that there was one single pair of kaki pants in his size. I race back so he can change and get him off to school late. Not exactly how I planned my too early on a Monday morning after a long weekend. That makes another crisis averted and I still have not yelled (although we definitely had a nice talk the whole way to school). Just to play it safe, I hunted down another couple pairs of red basketball shorts at the thrift store after taking the other two to school and will drop off a pair with him at school; the way things have been going the ones he took to school will end up being too short.

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A Second Turkey Day

The down side to spending Thanksgiving at someone else is house is now leftovers, I love leftovers and cold turkey sandwiches. We remedied that by having the boys make a turkey dinner as our "Boys cook dinner" from our bucket list. They seem to have mastered breakfast for dinner and I thought they were ready for more of a challenge.

Joey wrote up the list of what we were going to have and who was in charge of which item. Jordan would get the turkey, deviled eggs. and the cranberries. Jacob would handle "Pink Stuff" (a fruity, whipped dish Grandma makes), mashed potatoes, and the rolls. Joey took the stuffing (it's his favorite), gravy, and corn. I was given set the table and make the Jell-O.

Jordan being in charge of the turkey also meant he was in charge of taking the "extras" out of it. He thought I was messing with him when I told him he had to stick his hand in it and pull out what was left. He was a trooper and fished all the goodies out. We kept things simple and just buttered the bird and put it in a turkey bag to cook. The hand mixer is a favorite cooking tool for my boys and Jacob was excited that it got to use it twice. They were totally in charge of their items, the located all the ingredients, did all the measuring and mixing; I oversaw just for safety reasons.

We had arranged for Papa and Grandma to come over and enjoy the wonderful meal the boys were preparing. They brought a pumpkin pie we devoured after mass.

After a fabulous dinner we headed to church for a special night for Jordan and Jacob. Our church gives the children who will be making the First Holy Communion a necklace with a wood cross for them to wear when attending church. Also the students who will be making their conformation receive a necklace with a wooden dove. The boys received their during last nights mass. The purpose of the necklaces is for the congregation to be able to recognize these students are at an important point in their journey with Christ and to pray for them.



We had also completed our activity of keeping a thankful jar for one month. We started on October 28th and continued adding to it daily until November 28th (Thanksgiving). On the 28th just before bed we went back through and read all the things we were thankful for. Our jar was so full we had to squish down the papers to fit more in by the end of the month. We had a wide variety of things from God, Jesus, and Mom, to colors, paper, electricity, and toilet paper. I'm proud that my boys are thankful for even the little things, because our lives would be really different without them.

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Thanksgiving Weekend

I hope everyone enjoyed their Thanksgiving and time spent with those dear to you. We spent ours with just about 50 family members and my cousin's friend from Honduras (it was his first Turkey day celebration), while another 40 of us of us were not there physically, they were in our thoughts. I love having a large family!! Aside from all the yum-o-licious food my favorite part if watching my boys spending time with our cousins. Life really does get in the way too much and we really don't see our family enough.

Black Friday-while I love all the great deals I did not go out shopping; we spent our day in a sunnier way (there will be more great deals throughout the seasons). We had plans with our friends over at Homeschool Camper to help them with part of their Fall Bucket List by helping paint Peanut's room (We did manage wiping down and priming the walls, painting will be done later by the Campers). One of the highlights of our visit was walking down a trail near their home. The boys and I love walking trails, but the ones we frequent are becoming "old" to us. I was a bit nervous when I heard there were hunters set up nearby, but Mamma Camper reassured us that we would be in no danger as long as we were near home by the time the sun was on the horizon. Also as a precaution for those of us who were not wearing a neon pink or neon orange coat, were accessorized with squares of orange paper on the backs of our coats. All the kids had such fun playing on the bits of ice that was on the path as well and stomping through the ice.

While on our walk (which didn't feel like it was an hour long, we were having so much fun) we marked another Bucket list activity. When I added Fall Family Photo to our list I had not thought about "who" was going to take the picture. Mamma Camper was kind enough to handle that for us and I was able to be part of our family picture. We were bundled in winter clothes so it didn't really look fall-ish (It's Michigan sometimes winter coats come out in October though). I thought we could do a play on words with it and pretend to actually be falling as a family; everyone else pretended but I was the one who had lost their balance and really was falling. We seem to be getting good at putting twists on some of bucket list activities so we can mark them off. I honestly don't know which picture I like best.

I have really enjoyed spending time with my kiddos these few past days. Actually spending time with all 3 of them at the same time for the whole day. While our schedule has kept us busy visiting with many who are near and  dear to us (and loving every minute of it); we have been able to finally slow down. While we weren't doing anything all that exciting, we were all doing "nothing" together and at our own leisurely pace. I feel that slowing down has given us a chance to enjoy being in the moment, as all too soon it will be back to our crazy rushing around everyday. Today we marked off another bucket list item (the post will go up tomorrow about it) and had the grandparents over here for a bit. We still have one more day to veg out and enjoy our "nothingness" and plan on doing just that.


Orange Rhino Update: I had been doing very well and had not yelled in the past 3 days at all. UNTIL... about 5 minutes ago when one of my lovable boys is still fighting sleep at almost 11 pm :( I'll take the 3 days and be proud of myself for that, but now my goal is to make through the 3rd day (and beyond). It's (and I) am a work in progress.


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It's Turkey Day!!!

Happy Thanksgiving from Learning Life With 3 Sons!!!

Thanksgiving is a day we spend as a family and with extended family. This is why I won't go shopping today. Regardless of how great the deals may be, I feel the employee in the stores should also get to spend this time with their families. Also why there will be no blog post today. Enjoy your family, traditions, and of course way too much food. We will see you tomorrow.




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Tuesday Tantrum - The Drop-off

I just need to vent. Its one of those things that if it happened occasionally I could deal with it, but it happens every morning Monday through Friday; and yet I am always surprised that it happens. My boys attend a public school, although I hear this is an issue parents deal with at all types of different schools.

I'm talking about the morning drop off policy. Most days I think I'm the only one who has read them. On paper they sound great, it should keep things moving smoothly. There is one way in and one way out. The drop off line is clearly marked as are the safety zones for the students to walk in. They even have it marked off as to where to pull up so multiple families can drop off their children at once. Sounds great doesn't it. They have taken all the thought out of it. Pull up behind the car in front of you, let your child out and be on your way.

This is not what happens when I drop my boys off, I would love it if it did. Instead every single car feels the need  to stop in the safety zone directly in front of the door. Granted some parents get impatient with this and let their children out four or five car lengths behind the offending caring, but that leaves the children to walk between the other cars waiting to get in front of the door.

Once the offending car gets in front of the door little Tommy doesn't jump out. Oh No, he had no clue it was their turn and now needs to gather his belongings. Once little Tommy is out of the car the mom (or dad) rolls down the window and reminds little Tommy of things he needs to know for that day. While little Tommy and his mom have taken a good 2-3 minutes in front of the door, there is a line of approximately 15 cars still waiting for their turn to stop in the safety zone. Just to top things off, the parent then has to sit and watch little Tommy walk the four feet into the building. UGH! It drives me bonkers!

Not to brag, but I give my boys a heads up with a "hey, we're going to school" starting when they grab their backpacks. So they are not surprised once we get to the school. Once we're in the dreaded drop off line I tell them to grab their stuff, although they know it will still be a couple minutes before they will actually get out. I try to use the drive to school to give them any reminders they may need for the day. ("Remember this week you're goal is not to talk when your work isn't finished"). I end up letting my boys out of the van even though we're not in the safety zone or proper drop off zone, but are right behind little Tommy. On the occasions that little Tommy's car moves before I let my boys out, I pull all the way down to drop off marker and have my boys walk the safety zone to the door; you know lead by example. Yeah, that's as great in theory as the policy itself; little Suzy's mom then takes advantage of the spot I left open right in front of the door and starts her 2-3 minute ritual. I can't seem to win for losing.

If you are like Little Tommy's parent, could you please do the rest of us a favor that would make our morning run a bit smoother.
Just some helpful hints.

Pull up to the end of the line, so we can all drop off our kids. The couple extra feet they have to walk isn't going to exhaust them before class.

Directly in front of the door is suppose to be a No Standing Zone so kids whose parents walk them into the building can get there safely.

Try to have your child be ready to exit your car; backpacks for a great way to keep all their school stuff together and are easier to carry them an armful of papers and band equipment.

Talk to you kids on the way to school, tell them then that Grandma will be picking them up, or put a reminder note in their lunch box or backpack.

If you are concerned that your child can not walk safely into the building on their own, please park (in the designated spots) and walk your child into the building.

Just a side note, please correct me if I have been misinformed. When there is only one exit, if you chose to turn left you stay to the left side of the driveway. Also turn signals would be nice when used by the people who sit in the center of the driveway.

Anyone else have to deal with drop off issues like this? Is it just me? Did I read them wrong and have been getting unjustly upset by everyone else doing what they are suppose to do?

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