Ready, Set......Vacation!!

"When do we go to our vacation house?" As soon as it got warm outside this question has been frequent for my 4-year old. At first when he started asking I was confused because I didn't know if he was talking about a grandparents house or something he saw on Curious George. (Curious George has a country house.) Then he said the beach house, and it all came together for me. Last summer we rented a house on the beach. So this summer we found a beach on Lake Michigan for vacation.

So I don't get bombarded with the when question over and over again, I took two calendars and had the boys start counting down the days. At the end of the day the boys X out a day. When we were within 10 days of vacation, they numbered the countdown. I was hoping to teach them a concept of time, and days of the week. My husband laughed a little about it and said that adults don't have a concept of time with a pointed look at me. I feigned innocence even though I'm rarely on time. Although, in my defense, it is very hard to be on time. If your not early your late.

Packing last year for vacation.

Now onto the packing for vacation. I despise taking everything but the kitchen sink. Before kids my husband and I were very light packers. We could both fit into a carry on luggage. Last summer we drove halfway across the country with a van full of clothes, toys, food, electronics, beach accessories, etc. This year to keep things light I started a list a week ahead of time to remember essentials, but to rethink items that aren't really needed. I asked the boys what they wanted on the list to bring. My 4-year old said, "I just want to pack what I want, and then I'll tell you what I packed." My 3-year old said, "Yep." He was agreeing with his older brother. I liked those answers so much I wrote them down on the list.

Packing their toys.

I told each of my sons to pick out 5 pairs of shorts, 5 t-shirts, 5 pairs of underwear, and 5 pairs of socks. They both did this without incident, and put their clothes in the suitcase. I gave them each their little kid bags to fill with what they wanted to play with in the car and on vacation. I told them it had to fit in the bag, so not too big and not too small that it would get lost. Both boys did a good job packing.

I really like making them apart of the preparation. It gets them excited for vacation, and makes them feel like they have accomplished something. They feel grown up when they can do things for themselves. They like to be helpers.

Vacation last year on the beach. 

Meet Your Meat

It takes a special kind of person to butcher a chicken. My husband is this special kind of person. I grew up around butchering animals; however, my husband grew up in town and has recently been introduced to the art of butchering. He educated himself to this skill by watching many videos, and applied that skill a couple of weeks ago. The boys were exposed to the chicken processing.

We processed 23 chickens at my in-laws. My husband made a whizbang chicken plucker just for the occasion. My husband and father-in-law dispatched the birds and plucked them. The boys were present during this process, but they were more interested in the swing set. When they asked my husband what he was doing, he simply said that he was getting the chickens ready for us to eat. They accepted that answer and went back to playing. When it came time to clean out the innards, the boys were too busy playing in the swimming pool. It took a few hours to complete the task with only 2 or 3 hiccups.

I'm very glad that the boys weren't too interested in the process. I don't think I was prepared for a deeper explanation than what my husband gave. We have talked about animals being our food and how we treat them, but it's very different to actually see it. I really didn't think that the boys knew what we were doing until my 4-year asked if we were having chicken for lunch. I guess it made sense to eat chicken for lunch. Unfortunately, the adults weren't interested in eating chicken.

Yesterday I was getting a chicken ready to go in the crockpot when my 4-year old came into the kitchen and asked what I was doing. I replied that I was going to cook a chicken for supper. He informed me that he doesn't like chicken that comes from baby chicks. I was stunned and before I could reply that all chicken comes from baby chicks he trotted off to continue playing. At supper he had bites of the chicken, but said that he didn't like white chickens. It took me awhile to figure out that he was talking about the white feathered chickens that we had butchered. I think this will be an ongoing learning process for both of us.

Father's Day

I gave my husband options to pick from for his Father's Day celebration. I asked if he wanted to go to Minneapolis to the Back to the Fifties car show, or make a trip to visit our dads, or go to the lake for an afternoon picnic and swim. He replied that he would rather spend time in the garage with the boys. I asked what he had planned for garage time. He said he had a plan to make a gravity powered hotrod for the boys.

Pushing it back up the hill

Saturday morning I went outside to find everyone in the driveway. Our daughter was in her bouncy seat, while the boys were riding their bikes. My husband was sweeping out the garage, and gathering parts from various spots. He made a pile of parts in the driveway and said that it was going to be the boy's hotrod. His pile of parts consisted of a wooden ladder we took off the playset, a fiberglass chair that came off a bowling alley bench, and lawn mower wheels. I obviously did not have the same vision that he had. The boys got their tools out and started hammering while they waited for my husband to give them directions. 

I was very impressed with my husband's engineering skills while giving our boys directions. He made them feel like such a part of the building process. While he was finding parts and thinking of the best way to build it the boys used markers to decorate the frame.

We live across the street from the alternative high school, which has a lot of asphalt that covers a huge hill. The boys rode in the car together and took turns driving. They were test driving it for more modifications to be made. A hood, firewall, and paint might even be added. 

My husband has mentioned in the past that he has been waiting since they were born to take them into the garage and build things. I've usually been the one to put on the brakes and say they aren't big enough for what he's doing or building. I realize how foolish that is when I see him teaching them, encouraging them, praising them, and kissing owies. 

Happy Father's Day to all the fathers out there. It's the happy circle that repeats itself, to my father-in-law that taught my husband that teaches my sons, and to my dad that taught me and who teaches my sons as Papa. 

Time Capsule Birthday

Today is my mom's birthday. We got up early and drove 2 hours to help her celebrate. We surprised her with store bought chocolate cake. It was around 9am, but we still had cake with candles. Her little birthday party wasn't complete without a homemade gift from the boys. It was a time capsule.

I took a metal coffee can with a lid and used packaging tape to surround it with paintings by the boys. Then we started adding things to the bucket. I explained that the things they picked should be small to fit in the container and be something that reminds them of Elmo, which is the name that my nephew gave my mom and is what my children call her. The following objects were added to the container:

Tracing of their hands
Drawings of them with Elmo

Recent pictures of the kids with my mom

Printed out information sheet on June 16, 1955

Toy that the boys picked out, which is a small ninja turtle: Michelangelo

The boys enjoyed going through everything with their Elmo. My mom added her hand tracing to the container along with a paperback book she had just finished reading. We put the lid on, and searched the farm for a special spot to bury it. They first picked a spot under a big shade tree, but tree roots would be a problem. Instead, we choose a little tree to bury it next to. We can't wait to do this again next year on Elmo's birthday. It's a great birthday tradition. 

Flag Day

I'm proud to say that my boys can identify the American flag. After they made one for Memorial Day, they point them out wherever we go. They pointed one out today and asked why it was flying low. All I said was that a bad man hurt a lot of people, so to honor the hurt people the flags are flying low. I tried to keep my reply brief and light, but then it gave me an idea for crafting time. The boys drew an American flag and a rainbow.

I showed them a picture to remind them what the American flag looked like. I had them draw the blue square on the paper first, then they drew red lines. They colored everything in, and added gold star stickers.

They flipped their paper over and drew a rainbow. Roy G Biv helped me remember the order of colors in a rainbow. I put the markers in order for them, and they worked on their semi circles.

I explained that the American flag reminds us of where we live and how lucky we are to live here. I also explained that the rainbow reminds us to be nice to each other. All the colors together make one rainbow, and the colors have to be nice to each other to get along in a rainbow.

Whether the rainbow flag offends you or not, it's still very important to teach your children tolerance and acceptance. Your children are always watching you, so lead by example.

Photo to Coloring Book

I've taken coloring to a whole new level. Adult coloring books gave me the idea of taking some of our family photos, and creating coloring pages. I knew this wasn't an original idea because nothing ever is anymore, so I did a Google search. I found this easy tutorial that uses pixlr, which is a free photo editing site without any downloading or fees.

The photo above to a coloring page below

Click here: Photo to Coloring Book

I played around with Pixlr for awhile, but it really only took about 10 minutes from start to finish to make our most recent family photo a coloring page. I probably spent more time than needed playing with the shading.

The boys were excited to see their own faces in a "coloring book." It was a toddler silly, giggling activity when they started coloring hair red and yellow, Andy Warhol style. They used their imagination when they started adding things, like a mustache on their faces. They also worked on their dexterity with the fine lines. Their finished pictures are ones a mother could love.

This activity would be great for a Father's Day gift, which could be why you don't see a finished colored picture. I don't want to give too much away. I've also been wanting to frame some of their artwork to hang in their room. It's artwork and a picture all in one.

Church

What do you say to your 4-year old when he says that he doesn't want to go to church? He followed that up with, "why do we have to go to church?" I really just wanted to say because I said so. However, I don't want our kids to think of going to church as a chore or obligation, so I did the only thing I could think of, I told him to go ask his dad.

We have had our share of situations at church. My 3-year old spilled communion on the floor when he grabbed for it because he wanted to have some, which he promptly did when he was "helping" to pick it up. After this my 4-year old said loudly, "I wanted to eat some." I was mortified.

My 4-year old in his church
shirt, a Hawaiian shirt. Just
like Daddy. 

One Sunday when I thought we were going to get out of church unscathed, my 4-year asked in his loud, whiny voice, "Why do we have to stand up again?" I covered his mouth, and tried not to look at the people around us that were laughing.

My 3-year old doesn't like to sit still during church, but when he does sit up it's very dramatic. He uses his feet to push himself all the way back in the pew. However, when this happens he hits his head on the back. This is followed by crying, and people around us cringing from the bang they heard.

I'm recalling all of these instances when my son goes off to find my husband to ask him why we have to go to church. I try to make sense out of my own theory on church to explain it to him: going to hell is out, guilt is out, instilling values and morals is out, having a spiritual experience is out. All of my reasons wouldn't work on my 4-year old son.

When he came back with no answer, and looked at me with those big eyes I told him we go to church to be together as a family. I told him it's a tradition to go to church. I then explained what a tradition was. I also tried to make it sound really exciting by saying that it's special to go to church. I explained that we have to go to church to find out what is so special. He smiled and continued getting ready for church.

I like that my son asks questions about why we do things, even when I don't want to answer. I also like that church teaches our kids to be patient. It's a test in following directions. The singing, kneeling, standing, and praying is all icing on the top.

We made it through church successfully. I guess every time we go is successful just by showing up.