Pay It Forward Contest

Look at me, running a contest! Any shameless way to get some comments on this blog! Plus it just sounds so fun. Swistle is running a group Pay it Forward contest, where we all put up a contest today and end on Friday. You comment to enter, I use a random generator to choose a winner, and you get a box of goodies in the mail. If you win, you promise to host a contest of your own soon and give away stuff to someone else. If you don't have a blog, I will host a second contest in your name here and you can send stuff to the winner. It will be much fun, and who doesn't love free stuff?

I am not sure what all your fabulous gift package will include. Being that I am Daycare Girl, it is likely to include some small things suitable to give to your child and/or make you feel childish again your own self- perhaps play-doh or a coloring book. It will also include a book from my library, chosen by you, and snacks, and I don't know... other good stuff. Not to worry. You will enjoy it. And whatever you don't enjoy, you can stick in the box for your winner, right?

To enter, you must leave a comment and tell me what your favorite childhood toy was, or the thing your kids/niecephews/whoever are currently enjoying most.

Good luck! And make sure you go over to Swistle's place because there are a ton of these contests running and you can enter them ALL!

Lunchtime Discussion

Oh, the ongoing things they say... makes me tired and also makes me laugh. Such fun days we have.

I made sort of macaroni and cheese for lunch. Bowties, homemade sauce, pureed sweet potato/carrot, and then I also sauteed a vidalia onion, some corn, and turkey sausage and threw that in there too. Kind of casserole, kind of mac and cheese. I like to put veggies in whenever possible, and I can sometimes trick people who don't like corn into eating it if I hide it in same colored casseroles. OH MY the deliciousness of this dish. I did not need to eat a second helping, but I couldn't stop myself.

So I'm cooking...

Tink: Is lunch ready yet?
Me: No, babe, still cooking.
Tink: mm. What are we having?
Me: mac and cheese, with some other stuff in it.
Tink: Oh. I don't like mac and cheese. It makes my tummy hurt.
Me: Sweetie, anything will make your tummy hurt if you eat four plates of it. I think maybe last time you just got too full.
Tink: Oh. yes. I will eat that.
Belle: What are we having?
Me: mac and cheese, with sausage and corn.
Belle: I DON'T LIKE SAUSAGE!
Me: yes you do, but you don't have to eat it as long as you don't talk about it. I know you like it though.
Belle: I'm not going to eat that.
Ariel: What are we having?
(geez, do you people not LISTEN to each other?)
Me: mac and cheese.
Ariel: I don't like mac and cheese.
Me: You would, if you'd ever try it. You like spaghetti noodles, and you like cheese. I don't know why you don't want to try it.
Ariel: Can you put my cheese on the side by it?
Me: No.
Ariel: I'm not going to eat it. Are we having anything else?
Me: Peas, I think.
Ariel: I will eat peas and go to bed.
Me: okay.
O'Malley: WAFFLE! CRACKER! WAFFLE! CRACKER!
Me: O'Malley, are you hungry?
O'Malley: YAYSH.

So I finally get the stuff cooked and on the table. I give everybody a spoonful, except Ariel, who gets one noodle and a piece of sausage a little ways from it. They all hog out and ask for seconds and thirds, except of course my anti-pasta girl who ate her sausage and begged for more. The same sauce is on the noodles, which you like if they're covered in red sauce... I do not understand that girl's eating habits.

And yes, Tink ate four helpings again, and Belle decided oh, she did like sausage after all- THIS is sausage? I like this. I thought you were talking about something else. Snow White chowed, of which there was never any doubt. She's my best eater. And O'Malley rubbed it in his hair, and Sebastian ate his noodles and got mad that I wouldn't let him have more when he wouldn't eat his sausage or corn. He and his sister should get together- they sometimes eat a balanced meal between the two of them.

Now they're settled for rest, and I'm trying to not eat the rest of this stuff right out of the pan.

Doh!

Play-Doh, that is... they decided it would be too hot to go outside today and asked me to get the Play-Doh down around 9:45. I had to talk them into cleaning it up at 11:30. The girls had a great time, and the boys enjoyed going back and forth. Having the playroom to themselves to run the cars around was more appealing to them than squishing spaghetti and building bugs.

It's the kind of day that I think- oh. I haven't sent home an art project in about a week. I should make them do art. But this is art, and it kept them happy and busy for almost TWO hours, and we talked about all kinds of things while they worked. It's just my hangup to think we didn't really do anything if there's not a finished project for parents to see. :)

Did They Eat Tomatoes, Or What?

Ariel: "All the monsters are dead this morning!"
Me: "Oh, really? Did your daddy kill them for you?"
Ariel: "No, they just died all by theirselves."
Me: "What happened to them?"
Ariel: "They ate SO much, and too much food was in their tummies, and then they all died!"

Hmmm. Not sure if this is a happy thing in her eyes or not? :) But at least I don't have to worry about monsters in the playroom this morning.

Summer Curriculum

I totally understand that it makes sense to have the theme for June as "Fun in the Sun". We have that and also a mini-unit on the water cycle coming up. However, our curriculum is based out of Michigan or Minnesota or one of those northern M states where they just don't really get the southern heat we have working here. I'm not having much fun in the sun right now- we were able to be outside less than half an hour this morning before they gasped and sweated and begged to come in.

And July? I'm afraid. It's "Going Camping". ARE YOU KIDDING ME? I can't even think about camping until about October.

Being on vacation last week, and also getting our June box late, we've only done three days of work so far, and it's already the 16th. I'm seriously thinking about working at our own pace, taking the rest of the month to do just the sun stuff, saving the water stuff for July, and saving the camping stuff until the fall. I'd love to actually try to do some kind of family camping thing, but OH PLEASE NOT NOW. I will fall down from heat stroke.

giveaway

Shannon at Rocks in my Dryer is hosting a fabulous giveaway from WOWonline- 20 people are going to win 17 cds. Fun stuff- hope I win!

Splashing

I remember now why I don't do water days very often- MAN they are a lot of work. :) Getting everyone changed, into swim diapers if they need it, finding towels and sunscreen, getting the equipment set up, supervising during the water play, dealing with some who hate it and want to go inside immediately while others love it and scream when it's time to come in no matter how long you've been out, tracking in mud and grass, getting everyone dried off and changed, being behind schedule on making lunch.... I was very glad my sister showed up to be an extra pair of eyes and hands. :)

We are very feast or famine with the water play- either they LOVE it or they very much do NOT. This year it's pretty much big kids vs. little kids- 3 and up love it, anybody younger would rather stand on their head in an ant pile than be wet.

Highlights from the HAVE NOTS:
(not much interesting going on when you're sitting on the sidelines... )
Sebastian stayed like this for a really long time, then gave up and tried to go sit in one of the cars. By then the yard was really wet and he got mud on his toes. He lost it. He hates to be dirty, and he was freaking out about the mud, but also about the water, and he wouldn't let me put him in the spray to clean him off. Poor kid- can't win for losing. :)

Supervising from the porch...

O'Malley gave up on us completely and left the area- he digs the sandbox.

Highlights from the HAVES:
(water! lots of water! stay in it till we're pruny and muddy!)


I had to pry them out of this pool with a crowbar when the water looked like lentil soup. They were in there FOREVER.
Showing off her cute new swimsuit.
Snow White and Ariel- I had to take four shots to finally get one with their eyes open, but didn't it turn out cute?

As far as a review of the spray park, I think it's a pretty good time for forty bucks. It took me almost two and a half HOURS to blow up all the stupid huge animals by myself- I really recommend using a pump of some sort. The only one we have is for our tires and plugs into the car lighter- so I couldn't really go out there and use it. Blowing up three ginormous toys with your own breath power is a lot of work and I had a headache the rest of the day. Also, it says you need to use the hose and put water weight in the bottom of the elephant and giraffe, which I didn't do because they were impatient to get started. The elephant did okay without it, but the giraffe really does need it. It kept falling over and we couldn't get it to work right. But that also might be because I ran out of breath and maybe didn't put enough air in it. Other than that the whole thing was awesome and worked well to keep 12 kids occupied for over an hour- that's a good time. :)

Summertime!

It's hot. It's definitely time to drag out the summer standards of backyard fun. I'm pretty excited about the prospect of O'Malley and Sebastian being the only ones needing swim diapers for the sprinkler. Two years ago we had pretty much everybody in diapers and it was a big ordeal to get outside.

I bought this over the weekend. It's been sitting in the box in the living room and all the kids have noticed it and are asking when we get to use it. I think maybe tomorrow we'll do swimsuits. It seems to have something for everybody and not be too invasive. I have found that a regular sprinkler always scares somebody. Of course, this may as well; you never know with this crowd. It looks fun though!