Happy Highlights

I have some happy highlights from the past week or so to share.

 

One was a very successful math activity.  Logan is really good at adding and subtracting large numbers, and he multiplies small ones.  Annie is good at adding and subtracting small numbers.  They haven't had a lot of practice with word problems, so I thought I'd see how they did with some.  These were custom made, though.  I gave them a scenario: You are Christmas shopping and have X amount of money.  Then I let them choose what gifts they were going to buy for each family member and we attached a price tag for each item.  They were adding up costs and subtracting them from their money.  Then they had to figure out what they still had enough to buy.  I also had Logan multiplying because he also was buying the same gift for several people.  It was several problems in one, and we 'went shopping' several times with the same scenario for half an hour.  They thought it was super fun!  We moved onto a second scenario: space.  We made some creative situations involving how much farther the space shuttle had to go to get to the moon, and distances ground workers had to travel to get to a landed shuttle, etc.  They sure were excited to solve problems that they found interesting.

 

Another happy moment happens whenever we have a library day.  The library trip itself is fantastic because we find dozens of books to use for the coming week or two and I spend a long time reading to the kids while we're there.  Once we get home from the library, the kids can't wait to go through the books and they generally spend the rest of the day looking through them.

 

This is what our living room looks like on a library day.   

I was able to get a really nice nap this particular afternoon while they quietly filled their minds.

This picture isn't really one of the moments I wanted to highlight because I meant to include it in my post on parenting.  This is what they were doing while I was writing that post.  I snapped a picture because I found it ironic that they were doing this dangerous stunt while I was writing about parenting.  (I also redirected this to greater safety...)

Yesterday we had an unhappy moment that resulted in a positive one.  We'd had a busy morning that involved a long doctor's appointment and grocery shopping.  When we arrived home we had a car to unload, a very messy house, a sick mom, and bickering cranky children.  It was one of those intense, unpleasant moments in parenthood, especially because I didn't feel well.  Thanks to our system (mentioned in my previous post) I was prepared to handle the needed discipline.  The kids had earned several chores during the course of a short time, so they were set to work.  I worked on settling my stomach and putting away the groceries.  Because they'd earned so many chores, our house was 100% straightened by the time they were done, and they were feeling better because they'd worked hard.  This was my math: 1 busy morning=chaos (people and environment), chaos=naughty children, naughty children=extra chores, extra chores + naughty children=order and peace (cancelling out the chaos)  YES!

Today I have a couple of moments to share.  Annie has been really excited about reading this week and is making steady progress.  We had reading time as usual this morning and then set about a normal day.  This afternoon during down time, Annie begged me to help her read a book, and she did great!  I am so excited that she wants to read.  Teaching her has been much easier than teaching Logan because she doesn't have the anxiety getting in her way.

The second moment today was also Annie's doing.  She decided to unload the dishwasher for me just because she wanted to be helpful.  This is not an easy task for a child that can't reach any of the cupboards.  I snapped this picture as she was working (she also washed the counter).