Week in Review: curse words, water wall, screen addictions, cousins, Mardi Gras, valentines, etc.

As you know, Eaden and Naia are obsessed with the musical Hamilton and sing the songs on a daily basis. The other day I was telling them you know some of those lyrics are a little inappropriate to just sing wherever. I told them the PG13 definition of bastard and whore and Naia said "but you weren't married when you had Eaden. Oh my gosh! Eaden! I can't believe you're a..." she stopped herself.

So now they know what they are saying and know it is not appropriate to say or call anyone. No point in keeping our kids ignorant of these things. They will come across it all at some point and it is best that they know what is going on, understand, can make sense of the world,...yeah?

All of this came about because the girls wanted to make a music video. It took a lot of takes just to get one decent one. I kept telling them this is serious stuff. You can't laugh when you are saying it. So hard for them :)

I had the kids answer about three pages of questions in their journals for morning independent work one day this week. Here are my favorite three answers for each kid.

Mirek (dictated to me)

What is your happiest memory?

When I first watched Power Rangers.

What was the best day of your life?

When I saw a Mighty Morphin Power Ranger at the Alamo.

Do you want to grow up and get married? Why or why not?

No because I'm already married.

Taven

What is your favorite season?

Baseball season

What is your saddest memory?

When Liverpool lost Coutinho.

Do you want to grow up and get married? Why or why not?

No because I don't like my mouth touching someone else's mouth.

Naia

What is your happiest memory?

Watching videos of when we were little.

What can you do to be a better child?

The splits.

Are you excited to live your life?

Yes!!!

Eaden

What is the best thing about your life?

That I'm able to dance.

What is your happiest memory?

At the beach house with our friends on the pier filming them.

What was the best day of your life?

Our big trip.

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I have added two books to my reading list. Alexander Hamilton by Chernow (book musical is based on) and Pachinko.

Tuesday was our Friday this week. My cleaning schedule is off and I had to clean my sister's house Tuesday. So we had lessons Monday, half Wednesday (went out), Thursday, and half Friday (had to clean my mom's). We did morning work, language arts and math before I left. I had a science documentary ready on Netflix for them to watch and take notes after I was gone.

I mentioned education.com in my last post (or the one before) and I have since realized that there is a limit to free printing. Also, spelling mistakes I have found are so annoying. Proofread the dang things before you upload them people. I still use the site. I guess you get a certain amount of pages you can print for free each month.

I have really wanted to get planting, but I think there is too much rain in the forecast...my seeds would not like it. I am waiting for the perfect time to take off a week for gardening and spring cleaning. We are definitely not going to take off more than a week as we are rolling with our "high tide" and it take a couple of weeks for the kids to get into the habit of listening peacefully to read alouds and doing their work without much complaint. I am not ready to redo that habit building for some time.

Another thing I have been thinking about is printing off my 7 years of blogging and making binders. It would be so fun for the kids to look through (and me). They love that sort of stuff...but it would be a ton of work.

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Lela hiding from me.

"Lela, where are you? Lela?"

...Here I am!

I took this picture from inside through the window. Mirek was pretending he was stuck under the wagon and Lela was trying to save him.

Because I know we will have a million sweaty hot and sticky days soon, we get out when we can. I do not have anything planned for the summer. We will likely spend most of it indoors homeschooling. I know we will take a hill country trip and if our Y opens we will swim. Other than that and some miserably sweaty baseball (for me, Taven doesn't care), that's it.

So...back to getting out. We had a perfect weather day and went to the water wall. You cannot pee in the Williams tower anymore by the way. So Mirek peed on a tree. Hey. Don't let us inside and we will pee outside. Your choice.

Naia found a rose.

I remember working at the library and this man came in with about 10 kids (I had two and one on the way at the time). I said something along the lines of "wow, are they all yours?" and he got really pissed and offended. He said "I take care of them" or something like that. I was genuinely wanting his family myself, not meaning to be rude. So I give everyone the benefit of the doubt when they say similar things to me. It doesn't bother me really.

I was telling that story because I took my kids to the Galleria so we could eat dessert at The Cheesecake Factory. It was a last minute idea I got when I remembered we had a gift card and were nearby. We were not dressed nice, our hair was not brushed, and we likely smelled as if we had been running around outside (we had). The Galleria is a bunch of high end stores that are mostly empty with an employee or two standing at the door greeting people who pass by. However, all my children and I got were stares instead of the "hello ladies!" other customers got. It was amusing actually. I should go back and say "big mistake. huge" like Julia Roberts does in Pretty Woman...but I couldn't buy anything lol.

Morning time with the littles.

Cloud...Updated: Cloud has been missing for 5 days now. She normally sleeps inside but my daughter let her out Thursday night and we have not seen her since. I heard a weird cat sound outside my window that night but I figured it was the stray cat protecting her babies. The stray who has been around for years has also gone missing. We have put up signs and posted a picture on Nextdoor. Not feeling optimistic.

Math.

Daddy and Lela in Legos courtesy of Naia.

Mirek is not the organized sort.

We finally got a 2018 calendar. Space cats.

Mirek came into the kitchen and told me he stole this picture from Eaden and could I take one with my camera too.

My husband is getting frustrated with Mirek and his computer. Even though the kids are not allowed screens until 3, the minute 3 hits, Mirek runs for his laptop and will watch YouTube continuously unless forced to stop. Our other kids do not do that...so he is more of a challenge. He also cannot name many letters and this frustrates my husband as well (not me so much but this is a marriage and we compromise right?). I have set up a "literacy table" for him, but mostly Lela is using it. I am going to add some activities with play dough and... something else...from Pinterest I'm sure. I bought the little leap pad toys for a few bucks at Once Upon A Child, but again, Lela is the one who loves them. It was funny. The other morning, I was reading to Lela and Mirek and I asked Mirek to identify a letter. He said "you just tell me" and "okay I'm going to sing the ABCs and you tell me when to stop." Then Lela pointed to the letter and said "B!" It was the funniest thing. Poor Mirek.

Lela enjoying Mirek's literacy table. This video is very long. Fast forward to about 2:40 to see her sing the abc's.

Where is Mirek?

I surprised him with the first episode in the newest Power Ranger Super Ninja Steel series. I said smile and he tried but was too exited. "But I want to watch mom!" So much for learning letters. These zords and morphers and blasters, it's all just too exciting!

Mystery Science activity.

We were having poetry teatime and Taven was acting silly. He came to the word "folk" in a poem and thought he couldn't say it without saying a bad word. It was pretty funny.