More Sleepovers!

Sleepovers seem to be the big milestone for our family this year.  Nevermind that Henry's friends have had half of their teeth fall out and he is yet to lose one.  Or that we're still working on tying shoelaces (damn fine motor skills), and this summer will be all about tackling riding a bike without training wheels.  So for now, in what's left of this winter, we are all about sleepovers. 

Henry went to his first sleepover last night and the text i just got indicates it was a success.  The stars aligned and Silas was also out of the house for awhile last night.  He was invited to his first sleepover but isn't quite ready.  So instead he went for a "night-time play-date."  We picked him up close to 9 and then at his request he had a "sleepover"  in our bed.  The getting to go to yoga and then dinner with JT without paying a babysitter was awesome.  The sleepover guest in our bed-- not so much.  Imagine this but with a bigger "baby."

Sleep Over

I still remember my first sleep over-- Angela Ballengee's house.  I think i was 5, maybe 6.  I knew it was a big deal because my mom was so excited.  And it was catching.  Henry and Silas had their first sleepover guest tonight and so far so good.  They're still chattering a bit after 9:30 but i believe they'll be quieting down soon for sleep.  They're all three on the floor on a big pile of blankets and looking forward to a morning of plants vs. zombies and waffles. 

I had hoped to make homemade muffins, but with a crazy workday, a flat tire this am, and a snowstorm-- let's just say toaster waffles will fit the bill.  Here's to happy memories and not having to tell them to quiet down again!

Changing Focus

When i downloaded pictures from my camera this morning and they spanned easter to end-of-school activities, it confirmed something i had been sensing, our rhythms have definitely changed this year.  While our focus for the past few years has been firmly on our family and close friends, we've shifted a little bit more outward in the last 6 months. 

Henry and Silas are both enjoying close friendships with school friends that have resulted in drop-off playdates (i time i thought i'd never see with Silas).  And with all of our family friends moving to the burbs, we've developed some close new friendships with neighborhood families we've met through the boys' school.

All to say our center has shifted to very close to home, and yet focused more outwardly than when the children were te-niny.  I've gotten very involved with the parents group at the school (check us out, www.friendsofgoetheschool.org) and we find ourselves spending our weekends at the farmers' market, the playground, swimming at Humboldt beach; all things we can walk or bike to.

So check out the April-June photo album for a recap in pictures!

There were the boys' actual birthday celebrations:

May day secret flower deliveries to make.

 Multicultural day--  the preschoolers represented Jamaica and sang "dei-o" and kindergarten did the Chinese fan dance. 

My Superheros are 4 and 6!

Last Saturday we celebrated the boys' birthday with a superhero bash.  It was tons of fun, honestly.  I think i found the perfect birthday-party-at-home formula.  Drop-off for all the parents that aren't your closest friends so you can focus on the party and not entertaining other adults; add 6 family and friends that know their way around your house, pitch in without asking, and have lots of simple but fun activities.

After briefly flirting with a CareBears party a few months back the boys chose a superhero theme for the party.  I started doing some online research and compiled some great ideas that guided our party*.

It came down to the last minute, but the boys finally let me take their picture, outdoors, in decent light, in full superhero regalia.  I used this, along with picnik to create really simple invites which i printed at home on photo paper i found at the thrift store (4 in stack of paper for .80$!)

Guests arrived and their custom capes were draped over the back of their chair.  They could choose any color arm warmers they wanted, along with a mask.  I intended for them to color and decorate them, but not so much.  There was also batman coloring book sheets, word puzzles, etc. on the table which kept 3 kids totally occupied and happy.  The other 9 ran around like superheros of course!

The party started at 11 am and by about 11:30 we headed upstairs for the Superhero Training Academy.  There was the "batcave" of course, in which each child had to crawl through a tunnel and retrieve a glow stick from the inside of the cave (small tent in a closet).  Another spot was Spiderman's Web-Jumping practice and finally there was "spray the villians."  I think all a hit.  We put the kids into two groups-- the younger ones and the older ones and roughly rotated.

Then it was back downstairs for lunch at almost noon.   Hotdogs, fruit, veggies, cheese and crackers.  Nothing cute, just easy finger-food which provided something for everyone.  Because while almost all kids love hot dogs, Silas does not. ("They make my breath smell stinky.")

I believe there was a little free play and then an impromptu dance party which was a huge hit.  We played freeze dance with two songs and the kids had a blast.  Definitely going to work this into all future parties.  At this point i lost track of time but it was about time to head down for the pinata.

 The weather was really terrible and the only upside was that it was predicted that way well in advance, so we didn't even try to set things up outside.  The cape pinata was awesome, but i need to remember that all those kids are stronger than i think.  A few didn't get a chance to whack it, but all was forgotten by the time they were scooping up candy.
A visit from the cupcake thief who claimed to have eaten all the cupcakes, and then it was time to head upstairs for happy birthday and cupcakes.  We had about 20 minutes after the kids finished eating and i realized i had forgotten one activity.  So up the stairs we went again.  Each kid got a unique superhero card, they had to find 3 more just like it hidden all around the room.  I set it up as a cooperative game, there was no prize for finding them fastest, you just got to keep the cards, and help the others that couldn't find there's yet.  Sorry Owen, we still haven't found your 4th card!

Then back down for good and right on time the drop-off parents came to retrieve their precious little ones.  Everyone got a "goody bucket" with their glow sticks, gloves, mask, stickers, little superhero blank book, and their notecards.  They also got to take a balloon-- one or our birthday traditions.  And don't forget the capes!

*
Superhero images for notebooks and notecards
Goody bag idea
Capes, Hats and Arm Warmers
Invitation idea
Homemade notebooks
Paper bunting
Superhero Training Academy, including spray the villain



 

Right Now

:: celebrating Silas' last day as a 3-year old
:: anticipating his 4th journey around the sun tomorrow
:: planning a whole day in pajamas with nothing on the docket but playing with new toys, friends, and eating the birthday boys' favorite meal, pesto!

Right Now

Inspired by Soule Mama as a way to come back to this space---

Right now, I am...

:: loving JT being here in the evenings. Managed to go upstairs and to the basement without feet pounding on hard wood and shouts of "Mom where ARE you?"

:: checking the seeds we planted last weekend for spouts, as well as the bulbs just starting to peak out of the ground in the front.

:: making lists to stay on top of my FOGS  volunteer efforts and my project plans that multiply by the day

:: inspired by the butterfly breaths and quiet breathing Silas' preschool class demonstrated Thursday 

:: preparing to celebrate the return of spring

:: reining-in the long posts i compose in my head each night so that i might sleep

Wishing all of you wonderful "right nows" for the weekend.

Deep Winter

Think i had to wait for this post until there was evidence that winter would one-day end. We've had a few amazing days of warmer temps, melting snow, and a hint of warm days to come (not for awhile after this blip, but still).


 Now that i've been out of the tropics for 20 years and in Chicago for 10 i've finally found some rthythm with the four seasons. Having a parka has definitely helped. So has looking for food, and projects, and outings that are special to the season. There has been indoor stuff-- lots of painting, pajamas and having friends over.



There have also been outings to the aquarium (and another one with Silas' class tomorrow) and lots of time spent playing in the snow.  Because there was snow, and some more snow, and finally some weather that wasn't too freezing so we got to get outside, build a snowman, a snow cave and do lots of climbing on the snow mountain that was in our front yard.

Planet Explorers

As i was writing my recap of the late months of 2010 i realized there were quite a few detailed posts i missed in all the hubub of November and December.  Back in November the boys and i went with our friends and their three kids to the planetarium.  We had never been before and it was a huge hit with all the kids, ranging from 2 to 7!  Henry and the girls went to a star show with Cullen and Henry while Silas and Walker explored, made a kite, and put together a craft that explored how the earth rotates and is alternately in day and night.  The latter was extremely useful to me-- a very visual person that just never "got" the why of night and day. 

Short digression.  One thing i looked forward to when dreaming about the babies in my belly was learning afresh along with them.  My goal was around ditching all my hang-ups and failings that i experienced with math the first time around and learning with a fresh clean slate.  Of course the learning hasn't stopped with math and definitely not with formal things like math or science.  But as the boys progress in their schooling, it is pretty amazing to learn things with an open mind.  I'm working on encouraging all of us to seek answers together, and follow the boys lead, rather than jumping to answer the things i know (or think i know.)  Not that all answers are bad but i've been trying to work in a lot more "i wonder..." responses when i'm asked "why....?"

The boys enjoyed the more staid aspects of the museum plenty, but they went nuts over the "Planet Explorers" part of the museum.  They got to put on space gear including flight jackets, backpacks, and hats, launch and dock a space shuttle, drive a moon buggy around the moon and scoop-up space rocks, and drive rovers around the space of planet X.  I think another visit will be in order, and i also think i'm going to work on sewing a space suit for Silas, who sure was loathe to return that flight jacket...

Welcoming Winter 2010

 We've welcomed winter with festivities and family and lots of fun. Now we're settling in to the season-- but i'm not ready to see all the christmas lights come down just yet.  This was the first year we formally celebrated the winter calendar by observing the "advent spiral" that many waldorf families use to count-down to the solstice.  Each night we lit a candle (one the first week, two the second, and on), and said a verse focused on which part of the earth we were celebrating-- rocks, plants, animals and humans.  The boys loved the candles and Silas in particular thrived on the ritual.  Although there were nights sibling bickering continued throughout.

We enjoyed an awesome thanksgiving week which included 3 days of solo crafting and elving time for me, and then a 4-day weekend with the entire family. We loved spending thanksgiving itself with our good friends-- friends we've celebrated almost every thanksgiving for the 9+ years we've lived in Chicago. Pretty amazing to gather together now that there are 5 children where there were none. It doesn't hurt that they can all play together in the basement for a good 20+ minutes without intervention.


I spent the month of December working through all the gifts i decided to make this year. I have to say that it was tons of fun, even though i've discovered that zippers are not my forte. I'll try to share some of the projects i tackled in a future post.

We celebrated the week of Christmas with both JT and i's family and enjoyed our first christmas with JT as an official cook. Someone asked me if JT's cooking has improved since cooking school and while i would say that technically he's definitely better, he has always cooked delicious food. What has changed is his ability to manage a kitchen, a meal, and kitchen clean-up. What used to turn into a harried "all hands-on deck" for the big meals has become a pretty orderly day of cooking. I think JT even took a nap this year before the big meal.


As we celebrated New Years with friends in Michigan, we had a super fun time to toast the year and even some quiet time for me to reflect on how it was not easy but we did make the transition to a family consuming less, producing more, and not all operating on a 9-5 schedule.  Plus there was tons of sledding (the first day at least) and a huge kids room for all the big uns to have a sleep-over in!

Swimming!

I have a budding swimmer on my hands! Henry has been taking swim lessons since early Fall and he immediately took to them like, well a fish to water. Something just clicked this time.

Today he swam about 1/4 of the way across the pool and back without his flotation belt on. No doggy paddling, face in the water, holding his breath the whole way, kicking his legs (relatively straight) and doing straight arm circles. I looked up from coloring with Silas and almost couldn't believe what i was seeing.

He has so much fun that when he's not doing something one-on-one with the teacher he's jumping up and down, doing happy faces, blowing bubbles and generally giddy. Contrast this with two years ago when admittedly his lips were blue, but the lessons actually turned him off the water for awhile. We cut that class short and just enjoyed splashing in the baby pool and spending time at Gran and Nonna's beach. Last fall he took lessons at a highly recommended place. Henry enjoyed them and they did great at getting him happy about swimming again. But the teacher was so gentle that the kid was going to be 30 before he learned that real swimming happens (eventually) without a floatie.

Enter the Chicago Park District. Cheap, no frills, but Koz Park was recommended by another parent friend. The pool and facilities are clean and well-kept and the teachers are really, really good. Fun and good with the kids but also really working on the fundamentals with the kids-- and each at their own level. Swim team is right before his lessons and i asked at the end of class what the requirements for swim team are. The teacher told me they have to be 5 and able to swim the length of the pool on their own. Henry is focused on meeting that goal (before he's 6!) I think i can get away with taking some pictures there (it's a little more relaxed than the uber-strict pool we go to in the summer) so i'll try to capture his little swimming self as soon as possible. But i'm one proud mama (and papa will be as well as soon as he gets home to hear the story!)

Halloween

Took a little while since i forgot my camera after Halloween, but here is our holiday recap! This was the best Halloween yet. Both boys were old enough to manage the steps on their own, be excited about trick-or-treating, and choose their own costumes. The both have little panda stuffed animals so some where along the way they came up with both of them being pandas. The more they talked about their costumes they created the plan that i was to be the Mama panda and JT was the "Grandpa Panda." Why not the Dad you might ask-- well naturally because that's Silas' role! We made simple costumes out of old black and white tshirts and the boys helped me sew them.


With Halloween on Sunday they got to wear their costumes three days in a row for their school assemblies and parties, a party at the Smerrys and then Halloween. We enjoyed a rain-free and relatively warm night for trick-or-treating. The kids were almost as excited to hand out candy as they were to get their own. We didn't stay out very long but between the parties and trick-or-treating they have quite the candy haul.


Now, a few more things appropos of nothing but needing to be chronicled. Henry has learned to whistle-- quite well in fact. He claims he can even whistle underwater you just can't hear it that well because of the bubbles. He told me he practices whistling underwater during swim practice-- something he's enjoying immensely. He has really great teachers and is so happy for the entire hour he can barely contain his excitement and regularly jumps up and down with glee. He's made huge strides since last year-- completely submerging his head, kicking his legs, working on doing strokes with straight arms, and generally coming right along. He's still the only one that he won't just jump in but all in good time.


Henry is also doing super-well at school. Constantly working on writing letters and reading words off of his "word wall." He continues to enjoy art and made his first purchase with his new allowance-- blue painters tape!


Silas is loving preschool and in general seems like he's settling in to life a little more. He still throws tantrums but they are considerably fewer and more far between. He still knee-jerk rejects anything new out of hand, but more often comes around quickly and says "i'm just joking i do want to...." He tells us just a little bit more about school than Henry does-- but we still don't get too many details. He continues to love music and enjoys all the songs that he's been learning-- "i'm a little teapot" and "here is thumpkin" are two new favorites.

Fall Gatherings

One of my favorite things about Fall is gathering with friends on the weekends. Over the summer, when the weather is warm, we're all scattered to the winds, on trips, outdoor adventures, and generally busy. With Fall, the options are limited a bit by the cooler weather, and we find gathering at someone's house for a meal, a sleepover for the kids, and wine for the adults is an attractive, and more frequent option.

The other thing we've been taking advantage of in particular this year, are all the free natural art materials to be gathered. Leaves, acorns, and grasses have all been collected, dried, and used in tons of art projects. I love that the boys now see "materials" all around them and brainstorm their own projects even without my input. Silas picked up a nut shell the other day and said --"let's bring this home for a nature collage." Made my heart sing.


We've been talking a lot about the days growing shorter and one way we've been adjusting to the darkness is by lighting our candles at dinner. We haven't done it every single night, because the boys like to insist that all the lights be off, and sometimes i don't feel like arguing. But when we all get on the same page and enjoy our meal with a little candle glow, it almost makes it feel peaceful-- at least until i have to tell Silas to sit down for the 10th time or his plate is going to be taken away.

We're readying for Halloween, putting the final touches on costumes, and preparing to attend Henry's Halloween Assembly and costume parade and Silas' preschool party. We've also got a weekend party and the actual trick-or-treating with friends to look forward to!

The Circus

When i picked the boys up from Brenda's this afternoon, Henry excitedly waved a flyer for Barnum and Bailey's Circus which is coming to some huge coliseum outside of Chicago in November. It made me so glad that we had already "done" the circus in a way that fits just a bit more with our preferences.


The Midnight Circus performed in five Chicago City Parks the past few weekends. The shows were fundraisers for the parks that participated and we had the pleasure of going with the Smerry's a few weekends ago. It was everything i like about the circus without any of the stuff that i'm a little creeped out by. First of all it was intimate. We were in the first row, but there were only two rows to choose from. There were no elephants or vendors, just acrobats, juggling, clowns, magic and other circus fun. There were snacks but no $10 cotton candy of $25 flashlights. And did i mention we walked to it? All the things i love about the city and our neighborhood-- positive, creative, local and affordable.


Oh yeah, even on the "normal" size and quality setting i had to delete a boat-load of pictures twice, because Henry and Silas filled the camera up with a frame-by-frame account. Who needs a video camera!

Transition to Fall

We enjoyed the formal transition to fall this week. We had a heat wave yesterday, but many of the other days it's been cool and a little overcast. The most marked change is how much earlier it's getting dark. Which is too bad because the kids on our block have gotten into a rhythm of hanging out after school. They play spy and then spend big chunks of time doing elaborate art projects that involve lots of pipe cleaners and all manner of things made into "police cameras."


Last weekend we headed out of town to a really lovely family-run orchard to pick apples with friends. It was really perfect, just apples, no parking or admission price, just simple apples. We made the filling for apple pie today with H and V and Henry made up his own concoction that baked-up right into a lovely lemon cake. As he told me-- next time we need to write down the recipe so he can make it again.


This Fall also brought Silas' long sought-after soccer class. Unfortunately by the time reality hit it was a little too much change for him to deal with. He's done pretty well transitioning to preschool but you can tell it's still a lot for him. And adding soccer on top of that was just too much. He managed to participate and have fun by the end of class but by the time the next week rolled around he was resolute. We tried a lot of different angles but ultimately i decided it wasn't worth pushing. He's 3, we'll have time to try again later.