Summer Fun, Week 6

Seriously, how did it get to be Week 6 already? What a crazy week it was, too...

• Monday (7/11), any plans we had for the day were thwarted by severe thunderstorms and an 11 hour power outage (10:50 a.m. to 9:50 p.m.). Thankfully our house stayed relatively cool, and we were able to get outside and play a bit in the afternoon, after the storms let up. The girls were really frustrated in the morning because it was dark outside too, and they couldn't see well even with window light to color, read, etc. Also thankfully, Bill was home for the afternoon, so the burden of entertaining everyone was shared. We went out to dinner at Noodles and Company so I could avoid opening the refrigerator. They had been predicting that the power would not be turned back on until 11 pm Tuesday! Thank goodness they got it on ahead of schedule.


• Tuesday (7/12), we had a science lesson, in which we finally planted our upside down tomato plant! I found this planter that lets you plant a tomato hanging upside down from it, so you don't have to stake the plant or find garden space. I thought the kids would enjoy planting it and caring for it. We talked about what plants need to grow. They took turns putting scoops of potting soil in, and also watering it. Hopefully it will produce some tomatoes, and I won't kill it.


• Wednesday (7/13), we did two "lessons" to make up for missing one on Monday. In the morning, the girls did a math activity by filling out pages in some preschool workbooks that dealt with shape, same/different, and patterns. They were pretty easy for Megan, but just right for Rachel, who did a great job with them! Later that morning, we made stretchy dough for "art." It consists of flower, vegetable oil, water, and a little food coloring. They had fun working at my counter stretching and rolling out the dough, and using various tools and kitchen implements to decorate and poke at it. This afternoon, after naps, we headed to Cascade Township Park to play. We haven't gotten to the park much lately, and this was a beautiful day, not too hot, but sunny. Megan and Rachel always love playing on the playground, and even Daniel got to participate by taking a ride in a baby swing! (I think I forgot to mention that this past weekend, we put him in the baby swing on our swingset for the first time. He positively giggled with delight!) I tried to get the girls to go on a "nature walk" with me at the park, but it was cut short due to much complaining. Mostly by Megan. I miss the days when we'd walk along trails and she was content to look around and chatter with me. Hopefully her mood was just a fluke today. The day was capped off by yet another power outage, right as I was getting the girls ready for bed (7:30 pm). This one lasted only 2 1/2 hours, thankfully...our house was getting hot because I had had the air conditioning off for most of the day.


• Thursday (7/14) we didn't have any "lessons"...it was a crazy day of shopping for birthday cake ingredients (which I had planned to do the night before until the power outage made me doubt the reliability of the refrigerator), making the birthday cake, and prepping crock pot chili and my first attempt at skillet cornbread for dinner. I'll digress here to say that the cake turned out great (I tried a new recipe from the Whimsical Bakehouse book I got for Christmas), the chili was good, and the cornbread was terrible. I am learning so many new things....I never knew that there is actually a difference between "true southern cornbread" and so-called "Yankee cornbread", or sweet cornbread. Apparently, Southerners like their cornbread sans sugar, tasting like sand. I didn't realize the cast iron skillet recipe I'd gotten from a Google search was the southern kind, and not the sweet kind. Oh well, I'll try again with a sweet recipe soon. Back to the point....we had a fun afternoon with some of our playgroup friends (the Huysers and the Lenters) getting ice cream at Sundaes at the Cottage and then playing in the fountain at Tassel Park. A big thanks to Dee for picking up the girls and taking them to the ice cream shop because my cake wasn't done in time. (Daniel and I met them there shortly after.) The girls really had fun running wildly through the fountain...must have been peer pressure, because last year, when we came by ourselves, they would haltingly stick toes in and run through so as to avoid getting wet.


• Friday (7/15), we squeezed in a quick cooking activity before Grammy and Gaga arrived to babysit while I focused my energies on decorating Rachel's birthday cake (a box of crayons, as you will see in an upcoming post). We made "birds' nests," a treat that Megan made with her kindergarten class on one of the days that I got to come in and be the helper. They are basically made with Rice Krispies, chow mein noodles, butter, and marshmallows, with jellybean eggs in the center of the hand-formed "nest." Fun to make and fun to eat!


• Saturday was Rachel's birthday part, followed by a barbecue at our friends the Tays' house for dinner...a long but enjoyable day. I'll pick up the birthday festivities in the next entry!


• Sunday (7/17), we squeezed in one more lesson, which we had run out of time for earlier in the week. The girls got to squirt big piles of shaving cream onto their art table and practice writing letters in the mess! Rachel is doing a great job of approximating the letters of her name. Both girls enjoyed this messy but fun activity.