Spiders this week in school

So this year I am teaching first grade. This week we are studying spiders. For anyone who knows me, these are my least favorite of God's creatures. I created a huge spider web much to the children's enjoyment, along with a very large spider. Then that night I found a huge common house spider in our basement of which J trapped for me to bring to school. The kids have been catching flies to feed it and I have promised to release it humanly (of course if it happens to head my direction it will have an unfortunate demise as my arachnaphobic brain doesn't rationalize that spiders are helpful.) I have to admit though it has been theraputic to sit in a room filled with spider pictures, books, and a web large enough to trap a small child. My skin only crawls occasionally when reading to the students. :)

Living with a bunch of boys!

Sometimes living with a house full of boys can be a bit exasperating. Burping at the table and other bodily functions, pointing out that Mommy's pants are a bit low by yelling "Plumber butt!", seats left up on the toilet for my middle of the night visits, among other things that we can't mention....wow do I need some girl power! This house is winning out with the male testoterone and I blame their father!
I do have to say though that it is always comic relief here as well. The boys say the funniest things. J wanted to know why they were in the kitchen playing with the toaster and Roll's reponse "Because I magic-ed it!" When I asked him what he did, here was his reply. "I made magic. I put some money in the toaster and then popped it. No money came out, that's why, I magic-ed it!" Of course my desire is to immediately go and check to see if the money is in the bottom and then to yell at them about placing metal objects (or anything else) in the toaster.
I did check, there is no money, it was an optical illusion. ha, ha

The other day J sent me an email about the things boys do. At the end it stated, Women will read this and laugh. Men will read this and then go try some of them. Well it was accurate. J wanted to try out one in particular where you mix bleach with brake fluid. He is curious to know just how much smoke you can create and how little brake fluid do you need to use? Such a man! It does make me worry about what I have to look forward to with two little growing extremely curious boys!

Okay so now I have to tell on myself...Monday night I couldn't get Rock to get out of the car and was busy unloading packs, mail, etc. J pulled up in his car and wasn't watching as I approached the car. He was jamming to his music trying to catch Rock's attention. I was going to startle him by kicking his car, problem was as I raised my foot to kick the car, my other foot slipped off the curb which is about 6 inches high. I landed on my ankle, lost all balance and pitched backward and then forward again hitting my shoulder into the garage and my lower back into the curb. Of course none of that hurt as much as my ankle. I have never had a sprain before but I knew immediately that this wasn't my normal clumsy stumble. J rushed out of the car and had to carry me into the house. Long story short, Rock got out of the car and I have sprained my ankle requiring wraps, ice, and raising my foot when possible. Of course with working full time and two boys with a winding staircase, I haven't rested it as much as I wish. Now I am worried since it isn't much better although the brace helps and those around me keep warning me that a sprain is worse than a break. I have hopes that it will improve and treat myself to nightly hot baths and massaging my aching muscles. :( J's side of the story? I was being stupid and I got hurt, quit whining!

Raingutter Regatta

Roll joined Cub Scouts this year with myself as his adult partner. I felt with so many things taking me away from the kids, it was necessary for me to do something that would bring us close. Well that was the theory. We have been extremely busy pretty much every Wed. evening and weekends with various Cub Scout related activities. The only problem we have run into is that Roll is a slow warmer when is comes to new things and he is definately not into competitive sports. The first function we had was the Belt Loop Derby where the cubbies learned the basics of volleyball, flag football, frisby, and badmitton. Roll was extremely shy not knowing anyone but did pretty well. Later when they competed against each other it was a whole different story. I felt really bad since he is the smallest kid out there. Even in his own den, he is at least a head shorter than the rest of the group. I am sure that can be intimidating. Last weekend we had the Belt Loop Bananza with several packs from around Europe to include all over Germany, Czhech, and Poland. Roll learned how to shoot and arrow in archery, how to shoot a BB gun, and he earned his Science, Language, and Geography belt loops.
So today was the Raingutter Regatta. Roll actually enrolled Dad's help this week to teach him how to make a proper boat. Dad went online to research a bit but he was really good at letting Roll sand, paint, build, and decorate his own boat. The only thing that Daddy did was the super glue. The ceremonies began with the cubbies receiving their belt loops that they have earned. Next the competition began. There were raingutters set up on tables and the cubbies hold a straw in their mouths and blow the boats sail to reach the other end. The first to touch the other end wins. Roll lost his first race by seconds. His boat crashed just at the end and his referee wasn't watching to fix the boat (Roll wasn't allowed to do this on his own.) Unfortunately Roll didn't handle his loss very well. We had a serious talk and he almost refused to race again. But he did and he won the next two. Somehow though that didn't move him into the next bracket and I believe it had something to do with his attitude. In the end they awarded three cubbies for great sportsmanship, needless to say it wasn't Roll. I do think this will be a good experience and he knows the motto by heart which is to "Do Your Best!" Life can be so unfair to a six year old. :(

Marty Casey and the Lovehammers

This past weekend J and I were laying in bed trying not to wake up when I heard "It'll be you and me, up in the trees, it's a combination for disaster!" I nudged J with a smile and asked if he could hear what I heard. He laughed and stated "Marty Casey and the Lovehammers". Who was singing at o'dark hundred? Rock! When he wakes on his own, he is quite the entertainer! Roll however is more like his mother and needs dropped in a bath of ice in order to really wake up. :)

Batman, Hitting, and Homework

We are so blessed to have our two wonderful little boys. When we are having a bad day or feeling grumpy we can remember the little things the boys say or do and we find we are smiling in no time.
The other morning J called to Rock that it was time to get up. From a distance we heard a small Rock voice call out "Rock isn't here!" J responded with "Then who is that?" the small Rock voice replied "It is Batman!" We muffled our laughs and then J said "Well Batman, please tell Rock it is time to get up!"

So Roll has been in school for awhile now and he seems to be doing pretty well. One problem we ran into was with Roll's homework. His daycare has a homework program that he is involved in. This way he can have his homework done before it gets to late but more importantly he gets help from those who speak German to avoid some confusion we may have or cause. Unfortunately Roll's teacher stated that he was to do his homework at home with Mommy. Therefore when he was supposed to do his homework at the daycare program he promptly told them that he didn't have to since his teacher told him to do it with his Mommy. This was evidently a problem with others as well so the daycare asked the teacher to remind the kids to do their work in homework club.

Last week when I picked up Rock his teacher told me that he had a pretty bad day and that he had scratched another child, pinched, and hit. We talked about it breifly and I promised her I would talk with him. Next we went to pick up Roll were I was told that he too had had a bad afternoon refusing to do his homework. What a day!

I thought the entire drive home and came up with some ideas that I wanted to implement at hom but realized that J and I needed to be on the same page. As soon as I pulled in I jumped out and asked J to go up and talk with me upstairs where the children wouldn't hear. I explained what had happened and that I had a plan. We wouldn't yell or act upset, merely firm and consistent. The plan was that I would create a calendar for both boys. When they come home after we pick them up they will put a sticker on the calendar telling us whether they felt they had a great day, sad day, or mad day. Then if I received a good report from Rock's teacher that he had not hurt anyone, or from Roll's teacher that he had completed his homework....they could earn a star. Each day they recieve a star we can play a game, watch a movie, or anything else they may wish to do special together. If they didn't, Rock would go to bed directly after dinner and Roll would go to bed after completing his homework. On the weekend we will count the stars and if they earned a week of stars we can do something even more special such as going to the pool or to the indoor playland nearby.

So far this is working and although the first day wasn't so great for Rock, each subsequent day has been a great day for him with a star! The same for Roll although he sometimes still has work to do at home. Partly because he likes to do the homework with Mommy but sometimes there is just to much or too difficult for him to complete during their homework time. Let's hope we can keep it up but I will need to remain consistent with the rewards no matter how tired I may be in the evening. We have now created calendars for the morning routine so I hope it works as well.