Random Tid Bits

1. I have so many appointments coming up. I don't know how they all got shoved into late summer, but they did. Dentist Aug. 8 (writing this way early), Ears Nose Throat Aug. 26, OB with Mammogram Sept. 16, and I thought Isaak got braces early Aug., but that was just a consultation, so he gets them on Oct. 17. I try and schedule all this stuff when I don't teach. Thankfully the dentist will let me make appointments at 7 AM, so I do that. 


2. School starts for me on Monday. I think I'm ready. I'm just nervous because we have the students punch into a hand punch to get an idea of who is here and who is not.
   
   I have to enter them all. Oh joy! It was actually accreditation's idea that we take attendance. Financial Aid loves it because they have record of when someone's last day was, if they drop out. 
   
   I hate it because I visually just take attendance. It's a breeding ground for germs. 


3. The government makes me want to throw up. Maybe it's always been bad, but I was too young to care a whole lot.
   
   Some don't understand the Woman Marches, Black Lives Matter Marches, and Gun Violence Marches, but marches and protests have been going on for years and years. It's nothing new to stand up for yourself, and publicly show your support to a cause with joining a march.
   
   It's not just one side that upsets me, it's both. We've all gotten really good at pointing the finger, and not the thumb. It's good to admit we're all wrong with different things. Have a discussion about it. Solve problems, instead of divide ourselves up all the more. Aren't we all part of the problem?
   
   I have to say that I'm pretty proud of Senator John S. McCollister. He's a Republican living in a red state. He came out to reflect on something that would not be popular with much of his party. It's much easier to look the other way, point the finger, than to look a person in the eye and have a conversation about important topics. It's good to take ownership, and I for one am proud that he's not a follower, but instead a leader.
   
   
   
   


4. One statistic that many do not talk about when it comes to mass shootings is the fact that the shooters are male. We discuss race, religion, politics and other background details, but leave out the sex as a key factor. 

Even if you don't have boys, it's important to understand them!

I know I've put this on here before, but if you haven't seen The Mask You Live in, it's an very important movie to watch!




5. Another good one is Raising Cain. I read the book, and follow so much of what the phycologist Michael Thompson says! I had all sisters, and aunts growing up, so boys were knew to me. I had to learn to understand them. I see eye to eye with Michael Thompson so much. He did all his early research on girls, once the Columbine Shooting happened he switched gears and researched boys. This is long, so maybe listen to it like you would a podcast.

Drama

I don't know what I'm going to do when Isaak gets to be the same age as Mica. He's only 10, almost 11. His middle name should have been "Drama". All the people that told me that girls are more dramatic than boys, talked more, and cuddled less were wrong when it comes to Isaak.

For Valentines Day they had a dance at school. With Mica's teacher she sent home a letter saying that kids couldn't ask for dates. Isaak's teacher is new, and didn't get that memo. So he asked a girl on the first day.

That girl said, "Yes", then "No" the next day, then "Yes" after Isaak got his friend to help him write her a letter, and lastly "No" the day before the dance.

He went to school looking nice even though his date was no longer his date.

His date said, "Yes" to a new kid that kept calling Isaak names. He wasn't happy. He was all worked up.

When the dance happened he walked around in circles in the gym by himself. A few people told him he should apologize to the girl. Well he didn't do anything wrong. Why should he have apologized?

We heard about it everyday until the first part of March. That's when the girl wrote him an "I'm Sorry Letter".

She said:

It's been a long time since we talked. Well first of all I'm sorry! I didn't choose to go with _____. It was _____ who told me to. This is because I didn't know what to do there was so much going on in my mind that I just said "yes" to everything she said. They were all dares. Can we be friends again? I want it to be just like the old days. I'm sorry!

Thankfully Isaak's mostly drama free now. Although he is annoyed with the girl that tampered with things. He wants to fire her from his friendship club. I guess the drama isn't really free just yet.

5 Boys!

A few weeks ago I watched 3 of my nephews along with my own kids.

A House Full of Boys!

I had Edison (age 4 1/2), Isaak (age 10 1/2), Elijah (age 10 1/2), Mica (age 13), and Evan (age 13 1/2). A house full of boys! My sister and brother in law went to St Louis  to a conference for Emerson (age 6) who has Trisomy 18.

I wasn't very on top of my picture taking game. It's hard when most of the boys don't want their photos taken. I'm also just bad about taking pictures when it winter time, for the most part. It's dark out, and difficult to get good lighting.

Nap Time

I took that Friday off. We ran errands and washed the car before my nephews got there.

The nephews came, they played outside, then came in. Travis got home from work. He asked me to have them keep it down, so he could take a nap. I said, "Ya right! You really think you're going to get a nap in the living room with 5 boys in the house?"

Nap time never really happened for him.

Game Time

The boys like this game called Pandemic. It's a survival game. Different wide spread illnesses occur, and you have to try and keep them under control. The game is team based. Everyone has to work together to win or loose.

They lost. It still was fun!

Sleep Time:

The youngest one - Edison goes to bed at 7! It kind of dampened the fun we could have had. Our house isn't big enough to put him in one wing of the house, while the rest of us hung out. We have 3 bedrooms, a living room, a kitchen with a kitchenet, and a bathroom. Downstairs is an art studio, a laundry area, and a storage room. 

Edison was excited to sleep over! 

Isaak read to him. I always did say that Isaak would be a better big brother than Mica. He's empathetic, and will stand up for people.  He also is a people person. Mica is more independent, bookworm, and goes with the flow - to not piss people off.

Edison said, "Aunt Wissy (Lissy) I have my Whitening (Lightening) McQueen sweeping (sleeping) bag. I’m spending the night for 2 nights here with my brothers." I said, "Yes you are! I think we’ll put the bigger boys outside under the stars though." He looked at me so odd.

We watched Incredibles 2 before bed. Thankfully I won that movie, and it went in Isaak's stocking.

Everything went great as long as Elijah and Isaak were together (10 year olds), and Mica and Evan were together (13 year olds). When they all get mixed up Isaak sometimes gets picked on because he's the younger one in the big kid group. Then he gets sensitive. It helped that the boys had their new and old Kindles. They could share them.

Breakfast:

I made snowman pancakes for breakfast. I knew Edison would appreciate my creativeness. I wanted to do more, but Travis was breathing down my back about spending too long on something we were going to eat anyway.

Basketball Games:

Elijah was supposed to have 2 games, and Isaak 1 on Saturday! I felt a bit like we were going to live at basketball games that day. How do people do it will lots of kids?! My parents were going to help. Then the schedule got switched to just Isaak having a game on Saturday, and Elijah having his games on Sunday. 

We did find out Isaak's team was in too high of a league, for just coming from the Y. We're now lower, and winning games! It's so good to not have that negativity in our lives. The balance of winning some, and losing others is important. 

13 Year Olds:

I am so glad that we could leave the 13 year olds home alone. They got to hang out. We couldn't fit them all in our Subaru. 

What do you like to do if/when you have a house full of kids?

Camp Aim for the Stars

I have to go backwards a bit. A few weeks ago the boys went to Aim for the Stars | Science and Math Camp at University of Nebraska Omaha.

I like that the camp is so parent friendly. What I mean by that is, is that they have a before and after care program, they have a self pick-up for kids that have been to the camp for more than a year - you just drive up to pick your kid(s) up and they get in, their registration is simple and online, you can pay for all of the camp or installments, and the family event is in the evening.

They've been going to this camp for years now. What I like is that they offer different camps within the camp. Examples: Isaak was in Stack it Up! and Mica was in Get Your Game On! The year before the camp names and content was different for the boys.

Family Night was the night before we went on vacation. There are options, so we do things different each year. You can go into the classrooms to check things out. There's also a choice of going into the planetarium for a slightly cheesy movie, or C.A.P.O.W. - Chemistry and Physics on Wheels. C.A.P.O.W. almost seems like a magic show, but it's science. They have their gift shop open. For the camp the kids get a $5 off coupon for anything in the gift shop. We always have gotten something small for the boys there.

Here's their camp t-shirts they got this year:

We actually opted to skip the big fancy presentations, and spent our time in the boy's classrooms this year.

Isaak was so excited to be in Stack it Up! with his cousin Elijah. They built a city with Legos. Isaak had a theater. He had a container where he was collecting fake tickets from people. 

Isaak was really happy that Mr. Miller was his teacher for the camp. He has worked at the elementary school when Mica still went there. He has a boy that's Mica's age and a girl that's Isaak's age. We've had their other oldest child babysit a long while back. We've hung out with them at different times. 

Besides stacking things up with Legos, they also played Jenga and were supposed to have a paper airplane contest, but it rained all day so that got canned. 

Mica wouldn't shut up about Get Your Game On! He was a little bummed that his cousin Evan wasn't with his. My sister Terra signed him up for a different camp. 

Mica's never really gotten into bored games as much as Isaak or I. With his birthday coming up he has been going on and on about games he wants. A few are $45 games! Yikes! He's talked about all these survival games: Risk, Pandemic, Settlers of Catan, and Stratego. 

I bought Risk on vacation to keep them occupied at Travis' Aunt and Uncle's house. 

I got Settlers of Catan on Amazon with a GC I won. 

I've contacted Z-Man in hopes that they'd give me Pandemic to review. I even laid out what kind of a post I'd like it to be. Where I'd go over board games for older kids, and ways they benefit them. I haven't heard back, so I'm betting that's a no go. I kind of wish they'd just email me saying, "Nope", so I'd know to just buy it. I thought with reviewing for ThinkFun, Goliath Games and Tenzi they'd be all over that. My life feels a bit full of rejection these days. Oh well. 

Mica even taught me Othello; saying it would now be my favorite game. It was good he was thinking of me. I did like it.

We spent most of our time in the game room battling it out. 

Isaak got a bit bummed the teacher kicked his butt in Chess. Ha!

What board games do you like the most? Are there any that you've played that we should try out?

Disclaimer: None of these products were given to me to review. I'm only sharing an experience.

Fall Craft: Making an Acorn Gem

My next post is up on ParentSavvy: How to Make an Acorn Gem.

When it's fall I feel like digging a hole, and crawling in it. It's colder, and the most annoying thing is that it's dark when I get up, dark when I go home, so daylight is so limited with taking photos for blogging. 

My whole family got out and about to look for acorn caps for this next craft project. Thankfully we did this before it got too cold.  

At first we had trouble finding acorns. I'm like, "We need them for this next project!" We went to a few parks before we found our stash.

Isaak picked up pinecones as well. He's always been my nature collector. You really only need acorn caps for this craft - nature wise. We found a lot of acorn caps on the ground. The ones that were still attached had to be It really isn't that hard to pry off acorn caps. Many twisted off, and the rest Travis just grabbed a flat head screwdriver to pry them off.

Dig Out the Markers!

We have lots of markers. Some are better than others. I just asked Isaak to get them all out. 

Color the inside of the acorn caps with different markers. 

Some colors show up better than others. If they ware lighter this craft will still work.

Fill the Acorn Caps With Glue

This is where I needed to get creative. I had Isaak get a Lego base plate, add Legos in different spots to help hold the acorns caps. Then I filled the caps with glue. You can use modge-podge if you don't have any glue.

I think an ice cube tray, or egg carton would work to hold up the acorn caps as well.

At first the acorn caps will be milky white, but they'll dry clear enough to see the color.

Isaak loves glitter, so we added some glitter glue to the tops of some.

Isaak and I both enjoyed this craft! The last part you just wait for them to dry.

Dried Most of the Way:

Remember the Glitter Glue? Here's what those ended up looking like:

You can display them in a Mason jar, vase, pot, terrarium glass container, fishbowl or bowl:

Acorn Gems:

I heart the glitter ones:

Neutrals:

Greens, Blues and Purples:

Reds and Pinks:

Perks on This Craft:

• It's for anyone 
• You don't have to pay a lot
• We got out in nature 
• It's colorful
• It gave me time with Isaak
• You can talk about what to collect and discuss colors with your child

What color do you like the most?

Mr. Elbow

Mica is a wonderful child. He gets good grades in school, does things the third time you tell him, and smiles a lot.

He has a few set backs. He forgets things easily, makes a ton of sound effects, and sticks his elbow out a lot.

I sit next to him at the table, and Mica does this elbow stretch all the time. Jab Jab! 

The boy has never been aware of his size. My Mom refers to him as a Pitbull that thinks he's a small little dog. 

I remember when I was pregnant with Mica my coworker that has 7 kids said, "One thing about boys is that they don't like to cuddle like girls do." He may have been right in referring to his own kids, but not mine. 

Are you a cuddle person, or not?

The Time I Failed as a Mom

...maybe I didn't fail. I really don't think I failed.

We were visiting a museum, and there were these big foam pieces. The boys were fighting with them. I'm like, "Well that's not what they are for, but it's the most fun they've had all day." Travis and I let them do it.

Bad Mom! – Possibly! I don't think so.

I have to say I grew up with sisters. I've learned that wrestling is how boys play.

I read a book called, Raising Cain. It's a great read by the way! I'm not the type that reads lots of literature, and follows the literature to raise my children. This book was recommended to me by someone that bought a sculpture from Travis. We connected, so I gave the book a try.

Raising Cain is all about raising boys. It's written by two Ph.D's. The funny thing is, when they interviewed boys in their office, the office below wondered what they did in there. They weren't quite! They let them wrestle, build with Legos, jump up and down on the floor and couch, and they made sound effects. They knew that boys love tools, and how wrestling isn't fighting to them. They also knew that for boys to express themselves they have to be active, while doing it. So many boys are unable to tell anyone how they feel because parents/teachers and so on are always telling them to, "Stop!", "Knock it off!", "Quit making noise!" and so on.

I'm not saying that I never say those things. I do.

The boys had enough of those key words above that day that we went to the museum. It's icy and cold outside. They can't do much running around/noise making that they like to do.

Travis has handed Mica boxing gloves, and Isaak Hulk Smash gloves to battle it out in the cold outside. That only lasts so long because...it's cold.

When we were at the museum and they saw the opportunity to fight with big foam pieces. We didn't stop them. They weren't near any other kids.

It was the most fun they had all day!

Isaak had to go to the bathroom. Travis took him away, while I stood by to make sure nothing happened to Mica. Mica quickly went to a computer screen to see what another little kid was doing.

Another boy came up after mine were gone and treated one of the foam pieces like a weapon. His Mom said, "No No honey. You can't play with those like that! You know better." I was sitting there all guilty like!

No blood, no problem – right?

Are my boys disrespectful? If anyone would have asked them to stop fighting with the foam pieces they would have!

Ask any teacher and they'll tell you they are great kids. Isaak has the gift of gab at times. He's creative and smart. Mica has great conferences. In fact sometimes I wish they'd find more wrong with him, so we could have stuff to work on. They both help cook, clean, take out the trash, bring up laundry without too many complaints.

When I find paper airplanes, and piles of Legos on the floor I don't complain. That means they are creating. If the pile of Legos gets out of hand where it migrates to their dressers, when I ask, they'll pick them up.

What I've Learned Through Having Boys:

1. Boys like to destroy things.

2. Boys need men and women to look up to.

3. Boys make sound effects much of the time. They can be pretty loud.

4. Little boys (Isaak) can be hoarders.

5. No matter if you get into weapons or not, they will make weapons out of things.

6. They make toys. Yep boxes and paper towel rolls are toys. Hand these throw away items over to boys, and they'll find something to do with them.

Craft-tastic the String Art II Kit Review

I'm always on the hunt for crafts that Isaak will enjoy. He loves crafts, but many of them are geared towards girls.

I was super excited to find Craft-tastic the String Art II Kit in a toy shop in Kansas City. Right away I took an image with my phone, and said to Travis, "I have to get this for Issak!" He agreed that Isaak would enjoy it. I emailed the company and they sent Craft-Tastic the String Art II Kit for me to review. 

This set is made by Ann Williams. Their slogan is, Where fun rules! They have a lot of other craft sets to check out!

Instructions:

Inside there is visual instructions. I love instructions like that! So many companies will send instructions that are words only, which I find hard to follow. Even Isaak could follow the instructions.

In this set there are 3 different string art designs that can be created:

1. A Planet
2. A Star
3. A Rocket

They have dots on each template to make up the basic design. The templates are on a black foam type board, which is easy to push stick pins through. Beneath the foam there's a black stiff paper that is put on. They already include the double sided tape. The stick pins go through the foam board, but not the stiff backing.

The Planet

The Star

The Rocket

I was pretty sure Isaak would pick the rocket, which he did.

I would have picked the rocket as well. We'll get to another one during winter break, and the last one during spring break. I like to have special things like this to do when the kids are off school.

There's a plastic tray that everything fits inside. We put it in there to start out with, so it wouldn't slip around.

This craft set is for ages 10 and up.

The stick pins are a big reason that this craft set is for ages 10 and up. I was with Isaak the whole time, so he didn't stick himself. The set also takes a lot of coordination.

Isaak took the stick pin box and dumped them in a pile to make them easier to grab. They weren't all over like the picture shows.

The fun starts:

Push the stick pins in each dot, but don't push it in so hard that it punctures that back paper. Isaak loved doing this! He had trouble with only one. It kept going in at an angle. I helped him with that one pin. The rest he did by himself.

Embroidery Floss Colors:

• Red
• Orange
• White
• Yellow
• Purple
• Lime Green
• Shimmery Teal 
• Shimmery Blue
• Shimmery Purple
• Shimmery Green

After getting all the stick pins in the dots, it's time to choose some colors. Isaak didn't want to follow the box. He picked shimmery blue and green for the rocket body, purple for the sides of the rocket, and orange and red for the flame.

Adding on the Embroidery Floss:

This is where kids need help. This is where I needed help. I'm not very good with making knots. Especially on itty bitty needles, with embroidery floss that ends like to fray. I did it! Make a knot, cut off the shorter end, and weave from pin to pin keeping it taut, but not pulling hard to bend the pins.

Keep the one color within it's confined area.

Knot it, and cut off the short end. Add a new color to the mix. It looks best to use a few colors in one given area.

Almost done...

Blast off...

What we thought:

Isaak loved this craft! He's only 8, but he stuck with it way more than Mica would have (age 11). Mica's not into crafts. I did have to help Isaak with the knots, but I think I would have had to help Mica with them too.

I like that this is a craft that is for boys and girls. They have other options for the future. I think Isaak would also like Craft-tastic I Love Animals Kit, Craft-tastic Ojo de Dios Kit (God's Eyes), and Craft-tastic Yarn Giraffes Kit. There's a ton of sets on their site! They even have craft sets geared more towards adults.

I love that they have a monthly box option. Their how to videos are great as well.

Cost:

$19.99 on their website, and $15.92 on Amazon + on Prime.

Do you have a craft lover in your house?

Check out more craft sets on their website, visit their informative blog, check out Ann Williams on twitter, facebook, YouTube, pinterest, and instagram. 

Disclaimer: I received Craft-tastic the String Art II Kit to review by Ann Williams. This post was written by me. I was not influenced in any way.