Random Tid Bits

1. I never spent my Christmas Bonus until now. I decided to use it to stock up on groceries. The boys have been eating like crazy! They take turns with growth spurts. At the beginning of summer break it was Isaak that was starving, now it's Mica. Mica's the same hight as me now.
   
   
   
   
   Those that have kids, do you feel like you spend way more in the summer on food than any other time during the year?


2. Speaking of food...
   
   I was talking to Travis about garden mulch.
   
   All the sudden Isaak pipes in to say, "I really love the taste of mulches."
   
   Curious as to what Isaak thought mulch was I asked, "What is mulch Isaak?"
   
   Isaak said, "That brown stuff in a cup that comes up from the freezer, that we have to thaw out before drinking it."
   
   I said, "Isaak that is called Good Rich malts. Not mulches. Mulch is the stuff that's in the garden."
   
   He said, "Oh! Well I like malts then." On my grocery store run I bought some Good Rich malts." I so want to refer to them as "Mulches". 


3. Mica's a great kid for the most part. He's always gotten A's in school, but man his lack of effort in tasks at home is more like a D-. I would say it's an age/stage thing, but Isaak's always put in pretty good effort when it comes to home chores. 


4. Here's how Mica loads the dishwasher when there was all that space...
   
   
   
   
   
   
5. We went to visit my parents. They just got back from a week long trip. Isaak starts feeling my Mom's arm fat and says, "Wow you're so muscular!" We all had a good laugh! 

Summer Has Officially Started

School summer that is. June 20 or 21 is the official first day of summer. I always thought it was the 21st, but someone last year told me that it depends on the position of the moon. My birthday is the on the 21st, so I was bummed to hear that it's not the official start to summer.

What to do with the kids for the summer?

Mica's already saying, "I'm bored!" on the weekends. It's annoying because he has a room full of stuff to do. I want to say, "Seriously?" 

I wanted to keep Mica busy with camps, but he's not old enough for some of them just yet. One more year!

We have Mica signed up for a week day camp later on in the summer. Both boys are signed up for a week of acting classes. They start very soon. Isaak is doing a summer preschool with a community center. They're in swimming lessons again.

Today I decided on a new rule for the summer: If they whine about a task I give them (Mica's more of a problem with this) then they get more to do. If they do not complain at all about the task at hand, then they will be give no more tasks. Does that sound fair?

I've thought about starting up the chore jar once again. I never really followed through with it before. I just put a lot of tasks in a mason jar, and the kids pull one out to do. For some reason when I tried it before it never stuck. They are older and more capable now. I told Mica that his tasks are going to get harder, and Isaak's going to get some of Mica's tasks.

I've been trying to give Isaak tasks that help prepare him for Kindergarten today. It was cloudy this morning, so Isaak helped me make banana bread and no excuse bread. Isaak peeled all the bananas. I know he'll have to do this task at lunch time. He'll also have to make his own PBJ sandwich. I'm surprised the school even offers PBJ sandwiches with all the nut allergies. They do. They give the kids their own little container of jelly and peanut butter. The bread comes separate. Here's Isaak making his own and Mica's sandwiches:

Trust me it's not all work. This morning we played the game Trouble. Isaak had a little problem with the trouble part of it. He kept going back to start. I'll be excited when the water pads open up. It's too cold for that yet. Soon we'll be going to South Dakota. Shhhh...the boys don't know about that one yet. We rented a cabin in the middle of no where, we're going to see a lot of sites as well. I won't announce when we're leaving, but I'll certainly tell you all about it when we get back.