11 years ago
Wednesday, August 20, 2008
All Dressed Up
We finally took time out on Saturday to find a place to get haircuts for Josh, Jon, and Jordan. They were getting pretty scruffy! Here they are Sunday morning about to leave for church. Aren't they a handsome bunch?
Saturday, August 16, 2008
Friday Field Trip!
Well I've finally downloaded and edited the photos from our Friday field trip! This Friday we went to the American Museum of Natural History. Jeremy rearranged his work schedule for the day so he could join us, which was good since I wasn't sure about carrying the stroller up and down the subway steps with my sore toe! We had lunch at McDonalds first, while Jeremy finished up a conference call (reception is sketchy in the subway tunnels) then we were on our way!
Here are Josh, Jon, and Jordan on the subway. Some of the subway lines are nicer than others. This was not one of the pretty ones.
We just got off the subway. Jordan is showing off his Star Wars toy from McDonalds.
Jon likes to play class clown. I guess he's not sure where the rabbit ears should go.
Here are the older 3 in the hall showcasing all the birds found in New York. I'm thinking we'll have to get some binoculars for the boys and go bird watching in Central Park one of these days. I'd much rather see them alive rather than stuffed and behind glass. Very educational, though.
Joey, my good actor. You'd almost think from this performance that he's actually a sweet little angel. Behind him are various stuffed rats, and maybe a beaver.
Josiah has found his toes.
Jonathan learning about Native Americans.
Okay, this is what they came for. From the minute we walked in the museum doors, all they could talk about was wanting to see "Dum Dum" (or Gum Gum as Jordan calls him). If you've seen Night at the Museum you'll know what they're talking about. Well, they finally found him and posed for a picture...
Joey's turn...
Behind the statue the wall curves up to the window and my children (and the other groups of school-aged children there) had to scootch up this wall and then slide down. Over and over. And over.
This is, in my opinion, the coolest exhibit we saw. It's called Scale of the Universe or something similar, and it compares sizes from galaxies down to electrons going by one power of 10 at a time, using that big round structure in the middle as the basis for comparison. If that big structure is the sun, then Jupiter and Saturn are the size they are shown. Joshua loves space and was very interested in this part.
Joshua reading the displays...
You can't leave Joey out of a picture without him insisting that it's his turn...
Having fun with the steel supports that just happen to have kid-sized holes in them...
More fun with the supports...
Still more fun with the supports...
We like to do things backwards. This hall is supposed to be the main entrance, but because we came in downstairs from the subway station, we came here last. The dinosaur skeletons are enormous. The sheer size of them is totally lost in the pictures.
Jonathan and a smaller dinosaur.
Joshua.
Sweet, loving brothers. They're like this all the time. Really. No REALLY. Oh, alright.
I put the camera on the floor at Jon's feet to take this picture. Look how tiny the dinosaur's head is. That shows that it's really far away and hopefully gives some idea of how long his neck is.
Since the museum is on Central Park West, we decided to walk to a playground for a bit when we left. We stopped to take some pictures by the lake. This is where we've taken the boys rowing twice now.
Isn't it pretty? You can almost forget that you're in the middle of the biggest city in the country.
Daddy and Joey, with Joshua in the background.
Here we are at the playground. This playground has a really cool water feature that we'll have to come back and try. We didn't do it this time, since I didn't have towels or extra clothes and we had to get back on the subway.
Here are the boys climbing on a fort-like structure.
Up goes Joey...
Hey, guys, look at ME!
Josh and Jon on a different play structure.
We had a great time! We joined the museum so that we can go back as often as we'd like to over the next year. I plan on using it for both history and science field trips, and just focusing on a small area of the museum at a time (the place is huge...we only saw maybe a quarter of it).
Check back later to see what our next adventure might be!!
Here are Josh, Jon, and Jordan on the subway. Some of the subway lines are nicer than others. This was not one of the pretty ones.
We just got off the subway. Jordan is showing off his Star Wars toy from McDonalds.
Jon likes to play class clown. I guess he's not sure where the rabbit ears should go.
Here are the older 3 in the hall showcasing all the birds found in New York. I'm thinking we'll have to get some binoculars for the boys and go bird watching in Central Park one of these days. I'd much rather see them alive rather than stuffed and behind glass. Very educational, though.
Joey, my good actor. You'd almost think from this performance that he's actually a sweet little angel. Behind him are various stuffed rats, and maybe a beaver.
Josiah has found his toes.
Jonathan learning about Native Americans.
Okay, this is what they came for. From the minute we walked in the museum doors, all they could talk about was wanting to see "Dum Dum" (or Gum Gum as Jordan calls him). If you've seen Night at the Museum you'll know what they're talking about. Well, they finally found him and posed for a picture...
Joey's turn...
Behind the statue the wall curves up to the window and my children (and the other groups of school-aged children there) had to scootch up this wall and then slide down. Over and over. And over.
This is, in my opinion, the coolest exhibit we saw. It's called Scale of the Universe or something similar, and it compares sizes from galaxies down to electrons going by one power of 10 at a time, using that big round structure in the middle as the basis for comparison. If that big structure is the sun, then Jupiter and Saturn are the size they are shown. Joshua loves space and was very interested in this part.
Joshua reading the displays...
You can't leave Joey out of a picture without him insisting that it's his turn...
Having fun with the steel supports that just happen to have kid-sized holes in them...
More fun with the supports...
Still more fun with the supports...
We like to do things backwards. This hall is supposed to be the main entrance, but because we came in downstairs from the subway station, we came here last. The dinosaur skeletons are enormous. The sheer size of them is totally lost in the pictures.
Jonathan and a smaller dinosaur.
Joshua.
Sweet, loving brothers. They're like this all the time. Really. No REALLY. Oh, alright.
I put the camera on the floor at Jon's feet to take this picture. Look how tiny the dinosaur's head is. That shows that it's really far away and hopefully gives some idea of how long his neck is.
Since the museum is on Central Park West, we decided to walk to a playground for a bit when we left. We stopped to take some pictures by the lake. This is where we've taken the boys rowing twice now.
Isn't it pretty? You can almost forget that you're in the middle of the biggest city in the country.
Daddy and Joey, with Joshua in the background.
Here we are at the playground. This playground has a really cool water feature that we'll have to come back and try. We didn't do it this time, since I didn't have towels or extra clothes and we had to get back on the subway.
Here are the boys climbing on a fort-like structure.
Up goes Joey...
Hey, guys, look at ME!
Josh and Jon on a different play structure.
We had a great time! We joined the museum so that we can go back as often as we'd like to over the next year. I plan on using it for both history and science field trips, and just focusing on a small area of the museum at a time (the place is huge...we only saw maybe a quarter of it).
Check back later to see what our next adventure might be!!
Friday, August 15, 2008
My sweet little Josiah
Since Josiah doesn't make it into many of the pictures on our outings, I decided to film a clip of him to share. He is such a sweet boy! He is really grabbing at and showing interest in things now, and he loves to laugh!
Wednesday, August 13, 2008
Well, most of the day was good anyway!
We had a pretty good day today. The boys got all their schoolwork done in an appropriate amount of time, Joey actually fell asleep quickly at nap time, and everyone worked together to get chores done after dinner. So we decided to go out for a bit after dinner. We took the boys to one of their favorite playgrounds, where we started out on the swings. I took a couple pictures before the camera battery died (of course the back-up battery was dead as well!) and here they are:
Joey. Please excuse the tomato sauce decorating his outfit. This was right after a spaghetti dinner, after all. He's still awfully cute.
Jonathan. Since we still have a few kiddos who would sneak out naked if we let them, I worry about making sure they are dressed, not necessarily matching.
Jordan. He loves this particular playground because this is where he first learned to swing. Here he is showing off his swinging skills.
Joshua. He prefers to stay as close to the ground as possible. This does NOT include falling and landing on it. He played on the swings for a bit then was off to the playscape.
Daddy joins the boys swinging. Actually, I participated as well, but I'm usually the one behind the camera so you'll just have to take my word for it.
I love this photo! I wish it had an audio track. Joey loves to be pushed up really high like this and then let go of...he squeals and laughs like crazy!
After having a great time at the park, we continued on to the AT&T store so that Jeremy could get some sort of cable thingy that will allow us to download movies onto his i-Phone and play them on our tv. It was about a 20-block (1 mile) walk each way. This is where the day went downhill (not literally) for me. I have 2 children in a stroller, and 3 everywhere else. Meaning the 3 on foot, in spite of my careful training, still feel the need to crisscross back and forth across the sidewalk narrowly missing getting run over by the stroller, while kicking their feet out to the sides and generally not paying any attention to where they are in relation to anybody else. It was at the end of one of these gleeful kicks that Jordan came down right in front of me and I managed to catch my little toe on the back of his shoe. I'm sure it's broken. We still have about three blocks to go...to get to the store...then 20 (a mile, remember?) to get home again. Jeremy did offer to hail a cab for me, but I went out tonight with the goal of getting some exercise, so I toughed it out. Let me tell you, it hurts. Hopefully it won't be worse tomorrow.
Joey. Please excuse the tomato sauce decorating his outfit. This was right after a spaghetti dinner, after all. He's still awfully cute.
Jonathan. Since we still have a few kiddos who would sneak out naked if we let them, I worry about making sure they are dressed, not necessarily matching.
Jordan. He loves this particular playground because this is where he first learned to swing. Here he is showing off his swinging skills.
Joshua. He prefers to stay as close to the ground as possible. This does NOT include falling and landing on it. He played on the swings for a bit then was off to the playscape.
Daddy joins the boys swinging. Actually, I participated as well, but I'm usually the one behind the camera so you'll just have to take my word for it.
I love this photo! I wish it had an audio track. Joey loves to be pushed up really high like this and then let go of...he squeals and laughs like crazy!
After having a great time at the park, we continued on to the AT&T store so that Jeremy could get some sort of cable thingy that will allow us to download movies onto his i-Phone and play them on our tv. It was about a 20-block (1 mile) walk each way. This is where the day went downhill (not literally) for me. I have 2 children in a stroller, and 3 everywhere else. Meaning the 3 on foot, in spite of my careful training, still feel the need to crisscross back and forth across the sidewalk narrowly missing getting run over by the stroller, while kicking their feet out to the sides and generally not paying any attention to where they are in relation to anybody else. It was at the end of one of these gleeful kicks that Jordan came down right in front of me and I managed to catch my little toe on the back of his shoe. I'm sure it's broken. We still have about three blocks to go...to get to the store...then 20 (a mile, remember?) to get home again. Jeremy did offer to hail a cab for me, but I went out tonight with the goal of getting some exercise, so I toughed it out. Let me tell you, it hurts. Hopefully it won't be worse tomorrow.
Monday, August 11, 2008
Figuring out the laundry dilemma
For four weeks now, laundry has been a major headache. You see, all I've ever known is having a washer and dryer in the laundry room in your house. Laundomats, when you could find them, were for washing clothes while traveling, lol. I never realized how spoiled I was to be able to do laundry whenever I wanted to, with minimal disruption to whatever else we were doing.
Here we have a laundry room in the basement of our building (which is GOOD; many buildings don't) that has about 10 washers and dryers. At first I thought this was great, I could do all my laundry at once by going in the middle of a workday when everyone else is at work. Not so, turns out many people in our building have maids who do their laundry during the week. This meant that getting more than one washer at a time is rare, and I'm used to doing about 15 loads a week! We also have limited hours to do laundry: M-Sat. from 8am to 8pm, so no more laundry late at night when the kids are already in bed.
I was dreading doing the laundry today, but it's been over a week and Jeremy just got back from a long trip with a full suitcase of dirties, so I had no choice but to tackle it again. Guess what? I went just after 8am when the laundry room had just been opened, and was able to snag 6 washers. I was done (about 13 loads...I lost count) by about 12:30. Whew! At least now I know when to do laundry...I hope that going first thing in the morning always works and wasn't just a fluke today!
Dragging all the children to and from the basement to switch loads is pretty crazy, but I guess it's just all part of the adventure!
Here we have a laundry room in the basement of our building (which is GOOD; many buildings don't) that has about 10 washers and dryers. At first I thought this was great, I could do all my laundry at once by going in the middle of a workday when everyone else is at work. Not so, turns out many people in our building have maids who do their laundry during the week. This meant that getting more than one washer at a time is rare, and I'm used to doing about 15 loads a week! We also have limited hours to do laundry: M-Sat. from 8am to 8pm, so no more laundry late at night when the kids are already in bed.
I was dreading doing the laundry today, but it's been over a week and Jeremy just got back from a long trip with a full suitcase of dirties, so I had no choice but to tackle it again. Guess what? I went just after 8am when the laundry room had just been opened, and was able to snag 6 washers. I was done (about 13 loads...I lost count) by about 12:30. Whew! At least now I know when to do laundry...I hope that going first thing in the morning always works and wasn't just a fluke today!
Dragging all the children to and from the basement to switch loads is pretty crazy, but I guess it's just all part of the adventure!
Sunday, August 10, 2008
Our first week of school is over...we are under way!
Well, since we just completed our first week of school, I figured this would be as good a time as any to post our school plans for the year! This year Joshua is in 4th grade, Jonathan is in 2nd, and because New York's age cut-off is December 1st instead of September 1st as it is in Texas, this will be Jordan's Kindergarten year!! Here's what we're doing:
Joshua...
Math--Math-U-See Delta
English--Finishing Rod & Staff English 3 (we started in Feb.) then moving to R&S 4
Spelling--Spelling Power, currently in list C
History--Story of the World 2: The fall of Rome through the Renaissance (with Jonathan)
Science--Apologia's Zoology 3: Land Animals of the 6th Day (with Jonathan)
Latin--Prima Latina (with Jonathan)
P.E.--no set plan yet, but we're going out and playing active games, etc. for 45 min. before lunch every day
Writing--Writing Strands (waiting for it to come in, though!) We're also writing a letter every week--starting with relatives, then we'll look for pen pals!
Piano Lessons once a week with daily practice
Reading--30 min. assigned reading daily (linked to history or science, usually) and 30 minutes reading books of his choice daily
Art--Drawing With Children, and experimenting with other media as well as some art appreciation (not fully defined yet, lol!)
Bible--studying a chapter each week, and memorizing a verse each week
Jonathan...
Math--Math-U-See Gamma
English--First Language Lessons, second grade
Spelling--Spelling Power, currently on list A
History--same as Joshua
Science--same as Joshua
Latin--same as Joshua
P.E.--same as Joshua
Writing--Writing Strands (waiting on this...I forget the exact name, but it's the level below what Joshua is going to do)
Piano lessons and practice
Reading--same schedule as Joshua, but with some different selections that match his reading level (approx. 4th-5th grade)
Art--same as Joshua
Bible--same as Joshua
Jordan...
Reading--Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons
P.E. with everyone else
Bible with everyone else
Math--no set curriculum as of yet, but will work on basic kindergarten-level skills
Whew! That sounds like a lot when I try to type it all up! It really isn't as much as it seems, though. We work about 4.5 hours a day. Jordan's schooling takes maybe an hour, not counting the P.E. we do all together.
Our current plan is to have a field trip day once a week. I'm starting with Friday, but if we find that our destinations are more crowded on Fridays, we might rearrange our schedule and go out on a different day. This past Friday we went to the Central Park Zoo. The boys had a great time, and I survived taking all 5 of them on the subway with no other adult help! :)
Joshua...
Math--Math-U-See Delta
English--Finishing Rod & Staff English 3 (we started in Feb.) then moving to R&S 4
Spelling--Spelling Power, currently in list C
History--Story of the World 2: The fall of Rome through the Renaissance (with Jonathan)
Science--Apologia's Zoology 3: Land Animals of the 6th Day (with Jonathan)
Latin--Prima Latina (with Jonathan)
P.E.--no set plan yet, but we're going out and playing active games, etc. for 45 min. before lunch every day
Writing--Writing Strands (waiting for it to come in, though!) We're also writing a letter every week--starting with relatives, then we'll look for pen pals!
Piano Lessons once a week with daily practice
Reading--30 min. assigned reading daily (linked to history or science, usually) and 30 minutes reading books of his choice daily
Art--Drawing With Children, and experimenting with other media as well as some art appreciation (not fully defined yet, lol!)
Bible--studying a chapter each week, and memorizing a verse each week
Jonathan...
Math--Math-U-See Gamma
English--First Language Lessons, second grade
Spelling--Spelling Power, currently on list A
History--same as Joshua
Science--same as Joshua
Latin--same as Joshua
P.E.--same as Joshua
Writing--Writing Strands (waiting on this...I forget the exact name, but it's the level below what Joshua is going to do)
Piano lessons and practice
Reading--same schedule as Joshua, but with some different selections that match his reading level (approx. 4th-5th grade)
Art--same as Joshua
Bible--same as Joshua
Jordan...
Reading--Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons
P.E. with everyone else
Bible with everyone else
Math--no set curriculum as of yet, but will work on basic kindergarten-level skills
Whew! That sounds like a lot when I try to type it all up! It really isn't as much as it seems, though. We work about 4.5 hours a day. Jordan's schooling takes maybe an hour, not counting the P.E. we do all together.
Our current plan is to have a field trip day once a week. I'm starting with Friday, but if we find that our destinations are more crowded on Fridays, we might rearrange our schedule and go out on a different day. This past Friday we went to the Central Park Zoo. The boys had a great time, and I survived taking all 5 of them on the subway with no other adult help! :)
Trying something new...
Those of you who know me well know that I am not very media-savvy, but I'm trying hard to expand my horizons and learn some new tricks, so to speak. Here is my first attempt at a video here, which is really a slide show of still photos from our outing yesterday to the NY Aquarium and Coney Island. This presentation (if it works, lol!) is in honor of Peepah (my dad) who gifted the boys our Zoo and Aquarium membership for the next year!
Maybe next time I'll figure out how to add text and/or music...we'll see!
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