Avi - 03/31/2021

Avilene ate two servings of whole wheat toast and two servings of mangoes for breakfast. For lunch she ate two servings of ground beef with marinara sauce on two servings of whole wheat noodles, ate a small serving of cauliflower, and three swervings of fruit salad.  

First picture; Every time Lauralea or I get something out of the freezer Avi and Nora want us to hold it to their bare tummy. (You can see Nora's as her shirt lifted and waiting. Ha.) And they are trying not to react or make a sound. I can tell Avi is holding her breath. Ha. They were both very very brave and never made a sound or wiggled. :)

Two puzzle pictures: I've mentioned this several times, but it's worth repeating because it works almost all the time!! Avi was kind of wandering, not engaged in anything, and looking disinterested. So I looked at the puzzles and chose the tray of puzzles you see on the table. (She hasn't done puzzles for a long time.) I don't ask them if they want to join or to choose something. I just take it to the table and start working on it. In less than a minute she asked me which puzzle I was gonna do, said she wanted the "Lion King" and sat down and started working on it with me. I continued for a few minutes and then just backed away because she was engaged by that time. 

Next picture: So is Avi getting Art supplies out of the Art cabinet? Nope, looking for eggs that Atley hid. If you happened to read Svea's Blog already I mentioned there that the kids have been hiding eggs every day since I got them out. Geez, they've hidden eggs over and over and over and they're still excited about it. Lots of fun. Nora will occasionally join these two, but they don't care. They'll continue to hide and search even if it's just the two of them.

Avi - 03/30/2021

Greetings! Just a heads-up for everyone. I'm getting my second covid shot today!! CHEERS!! So Lauralea will cover for me in the middle of nap time. Consequently there will be no Blogs today. Blogs will resume tomorrow, March 31. Thank you.

Avi - 03/29/2021

Avilene ate bites of bran cereal and no raisins for breakfast.  For lunch she ate chicken, bites of whole wheat pita bread, ate avocado, two servings of cucumbers, and ate pears.  

First picture: We did a toy, book, and puzzle exchange this weekend and Avilene was checking out the tape measures when I took this picture. She had it pulled out - you can see some on the floor behind her - and I guess she thought it was a LOT! She asked me; "Hey Gary! Does this stop or just keep going!?!" Ha. It's a 6' tape. I guess I'll have to show her the 30' tape from the garage when we're outside!! 

Next picture; The kids were moaning because we don't have pictures to color in this art exchange. I've put this in the Blogs before, but I'll mention it again. Offering them art supplies and opportunities for free-draw encourages creativity more than just pictures to color. Although they can obviously be creative in how they color as well. Avi was using some of the stamps I got for easter art. 

Last picture; The kids played with the Easter eggs again this morning. In this picture Avi is busy hiding eggs while Nora and Atley are around the corner in the Preschool Room waiting for her to get done. The three oldest girls probably hid the eggs at least 2 or 3 times each. 

Avi - 03/25/2021

Avilene ate two servings of cream of wheat cereal and ate 3 pieces of dried plums for breakfast. For lunch she ate turkey burger, half of whole wheat tortillas, ate sweet potatoes, and cherries. 

Science with Lauralea today. The theme was "absorption." We did three different experiments and in the first experiment we had 6 different materials and the kids guessed which material would absorb the best. Svea won this round and she was SO proud of herself!! She was the only one who guessed "cotton balls." We had paper towel, toilet paper, two different types of cotton material, sponge, and cotton balls. 

This second experiment involved guessing how much water this diaper could hold. (Svea donated a diaper for this experiment! Thank you Svea! My bad for not asking permission from Parents first!! So now I'm asking forgiveness!) Lauralea used a measuring cup and they all guessed 3/4 cup of water. We knew it would be a LOT more because we used the material out of a diaper during a past Science class. The answer was 5.5 Cups of water it absorbed before it was totally FULL. And heavy!!  

The last experiment (and it involved some "waiting time") was putting some water in a bowl, choosing a color to add to the water, and then adding a Tablespoon full of "basil seeds." Basil seeds are tiny tiny seeds. After absorbing some water they ended up having about the same texture as "water beads" and so we're gonna send those home with the kids. (They are non-chockable and safe.) They are still soaking in the water and we're gonna see how much water they will absorb. 

Avi - 03/24/2021

Avilene wanted no waffles; apparently the ones she was eating when she got here was enough. Ha. She did eat three servings of fruit salad for breakfast.  For lunch she ate two large servings of whole 30 chili with meat, peppers, tomatoes, sweet potatoes, and tomato sauce. She ate whole wheat dinner roll and tropical fruit.  

I've mentioned several times in the Blogs we've been working on Spanish words for various colors. The three oldest girls have really been enjoying that and working hard to remember. However, I decided we needed to get the proper pronunciation before we got too far along. We've used Alexa a little bit, but using my computer is much quicker and efficient. You can just poke the button over and over and listen to the proper way to say it. (And we've been butchering a few of them, which is one me.) The girls were doing the Spanish word for "Purple" and the pronunciation hit their funny bones and they were laughing and laughing. It was really really cute and funny!! 

Picture: "Hey Gary, I wanna snuggle." "Hey Gary, can we snuggle." "Gary, when are we gonna snuggle?" 

Picture: The three big girls playing the matching Farm Animal game again. They do so good with it now; taking turns and making positive remarks when someone is successful. (We draw straws to see who starts and they like the fairness of that!) Svea asked if she could watch and she got into the "congratulating part of the game!" She was fairly unbiased until Avi had a good streak and Svea said, "Good job Avi; you're the best." Ha. So cute. 

Last picture: The girls are looking at an assortment of pretty "eggs" I got so we could hide them. There are 22 eggs in this basket and the girls had a blast looking for them this morning. I hid them first, then each of them took a turn hiding the eggs. 

Avi - 03/23/2021

Avilene ate most of cinnamon/raisin English muffin and ate grapes for breakfast.  For lunch she ate pork roast, two servings of whole wheat toast, ate beets, and applesauce.  

I called the IRS on the land line, had it on speaker phone, and of course I was on hold. It was loud and music was playing. Nora said, "That's a nice song." Hahahaha. Actually it was kind of peaceful, soothing, and relaxing - totally out of character for the IRS - but still funny. Cal later added as it continued to play, "Gary, that's your song." Ha. 

First picture: As soon as Avilene arrived she got the three smallest kids to the chair and got started going around and around. But she keeps an eye out for Cal and doesn't go any faster than he can handle. She's pretty careful about that. Second picture; The four girls wanted to do some dot painting again today so they worked on that and several other art projects. We've also been learning the Spanish words for different colors and the three oldest girls know 6 colors so far. 

Last picture; Three girls playing "Farm Matching Game" again today. They all like playing this; although Nora probably likes it the least. However, I'm proud of her for continuing to play it. It's Avi's game and she's played it the most and understands more about using a little strategy. Also I've mentioned in the Blogs that we're making a habit of telling others "good job" when they succeed. Avi was on a roll this morning and told Nora, "Nora!! Say good job Avi!!" Hmmm...that isn't quite the spirit of what we're teaching here. Needless to say that didn't help much. :)

Avi - 03/19/2021

Avilene ate oatmeal and no dried cranberries for breakfast.  For lunch she ate tilapia, whole wheat elbow noodles, green beans, and bites of applesauce.  

First picture is from yesterday afternoon when Avi and Atley were taking turns pushing and riding in the strollers. Haha. I'm surprised those cheaply made strollers didn't collapse!! Ha. They were saying, "Push me as fast as you can!!" They were having a blast and it was pretty hilarious to watch too. 

Next picture: Avilene contemplating her next move in the matching game; this time playing Gary. No one else was wanting to play - although Atley played a couple games shortly after we were done - so I played and her job was to say the colors and species every time one of us picked up a lid. Haha. I doubt if I could beat her even if my colors were 100%. She said, "You don't remember the animals easily!" Hahahaha!! That hit my funny bone. First game she smoked me; second game was a tie. Good enough, I'm done for now. Haha. 

Next Picture: Avi was giving Miles fast rides in the chair and she momentarily stopped when I took this picture. She was asking him something -  and I like her body language - she has her head resting on her hand like "ok, you just think about it and I'll wait for your answer." Last picture: Nora and Avi were tickling each other. But they were taking turns! Haha. "Ok, it's your turn to tickle me."

Avi - 03/18/2021

Avilene ate two servings of blueberry bagel and ate peaches for breakfast. For lunch she ate two servings of hamburger & sausage pizza with meat, peppers, pineapple, olives, and tomato sauce. She ate whole wheat pizza crust on the side and pineapple on the side.  

This first picture is left over from yesterday afternoon when the kids were enjoying the spring-like weather. Avi and Atley were getting kind of rowdy on the airplane and I like how Avi's butt is off the seat and I also like the big grin on Atley's face. 

Next picture: Nora's just laying on Avilene!?! Yes, but there is more to the story. Lauralea and I were watching these guys and it was pretty impressive when Avi actually did two or three "push-ups" with Nora laying on top of her. That was pretty cool Avi and not real easy!

Next two pictures: Avi made an envelope and Atley was putting some little beads in it left over from yesterday. They had it taped up pretty good and I added some extra tape. In the second picture the girls were doing some dot painting on pictures that I printed. 

Last picture: Atley and Avi playing Avi's Farm Matching Game. I think there are 10 possible matches. Anyhow Atley got on a roll - some of it was lucky and some of it was a super job of remembering - and she got 9 matches in a row. I was very impressed and pleased how Avi took it in stride and even thought it was kind of cool watching what happened. Avi got the first turn, made a match and then never got another turn. It was definitely not the usual game! 

Avi - 03/17/2021

Avilene ate whole wheat toast and grapes for breakfast. For lunch she ate pork roast, whole wheat tortillas, two servings of carrots, and three servings of fruit salad. (Just a strawberry/mango mix.) I noticed Atley was kind of pouting after seeing and listening to Avi and Svea when they arrived with St Patty tattoos. Atley said, "I wish I could be cool like you guys!!" :)

Today was a fun day with "Science with Lauralea." The theme today was "rainbows." So many different ways to make rainbows. I'll just give you a brief explanation of the pictures I took and you'll get an idea what we did. Picture: 1. We used a flashlight and water in a glass to create a rainbow on the wall in a dark room. The light from my camera temporarily messed it up, but I like Nora and Svea's eyes. Haha. We also made a rainbow using a flashlight and old CD disc. Picture 2. Black construction paper submerged in warm water, nail polish drop into the water, after a few seconds bring the paper out of the water. The end result is pretty cool and it's getting more cool as the paper dries. I took picture (5) to give you an idea. (Sorry these are out of order!)

Picture 3. We did two different experiments with the kids mixing the "ingredients." They were similar, but I'll list them. When we were done we'd put them in two different jars and they'd separate into a nice rainbows. a.) vegetable oil, corn syrup, food coloring, water, marble, grape, lego, And mix.  Next one - b.) Styling gel, karo syrup, dish soap, olive oil, water, food coloring, alcohol, mix together.  Picture number 4. This was simply some skittles arranged in a circle on a plate with a bit of water and we watched the process. They asked if they could take the skittles home. Haha. No. I heard you all talking about eating lucky charms and chocolate money for breakfast already so that's enough sugar! Haha.

Avi - 03/16/2021

Avilene ate raisin English muffin and a few dried plums for breakfast. For lunch she ate half of her chicken, no brown rice, most of broccoli, and two servings of mandarin oranges. I rewarded her with an extra serving of mandarin oranges because she worked so hard to eat her broccoli; which she announced she did not like after one bite. Avi forms very strong opinions about things, and in this case I'm talking food, and she doesn't like to try a nibble if she's sure she doesn't like it. She really did not like "Science with Lauralea" last week because we were "taste testing" many different things. She told Lauralea afterwards, "I didn't like Science this time!" Lauralea said, "That's ok, you'll probably like it more next time." 

The first two pictures are left over from yesterday afternoon. Avi asked if she could us the fly swatter to hunt some flies. Ha. It's a good time to hunt flies early in the spring because they don't move so fast. Ha. And now you know. Next picture; Atley asked if she could use the "roller magnetic thing" and then Avi used it. It really is a pretty cool little tool for picking up pieces of metal leftover from my work project; putting metal siding on the garage. They have been finding quite a few pieces with the shorter grass before it starts to grow. Good work and thank you Atley and Avi! 

Next picture: Avi was the "police" and she had these three girls in "jail." Nobody looks too distressed and Nora seems like she might meditate her time away in lockup! Haha. Last picture: Playing Avi's matching Game again. Look at Avi's serious concentration and poker face. Ha. She's so competitive and she's dang amazing at this game. She concentrates and remembers the location. Even if I wasn't color-blind, she'd smoke me in this game. We've been working on expressing "good job" when our friends do well. Avi did it this morning (for the first time) on her own without prompting. She said, "Good job Nora." That may not sound like a big deal, but it's a big deal! There was even a hint of sincerity! Ha. Way to listen to my words and try to apply them Avilene. That's a good life lesson. 

Avi - 03/15/2021

Avilene ate cheerios and banana for breakfast.  For lunch she ate ground beef, bite of whole wheat pita bread, bite of avocado, bite of tomato, and ate half of fruit cocktail. Atley was telling a story at breakfast and it went something like this. "One time when I was a baby I ate Lexi's (their dog) food!" Oh yum. "Mom had to squeeze my cheeks really really hard!!" Haha.

I took these first two pictures at the breakfast table when Avi kept crossing her eyes. I took two pictures as she was doing one eye and then the other eye. I have a life long friend that can hold one eye stationary and move the other eye back and forth. 

Next picture: Maybe you saw Svea's Blog, but Avi and Atley were the ones who started rolling up like a burrito in the Olaf blanket. Avi was getting ready to "unroll" when I told her I wanted a picture. You know Avi, she waited about 2.3 seconds before she said, "Are you done with the picture!?! It's getting hot in here!!" Haha.

Last two pictures; Avi did some activities and some art work. She was writing out the "ABC's" and looking at the alphabet poster like you see in the picture. She'd make a few letters, then "mess up" on one, letter and that would frustrate her. She'd ask if she could put that paper in the recycle and start over. She did several of the letters and then moved on to some drawing. 

Avi - 03/12/2021

Avilene ate two servings of brown rice and One raisin for breakfast.  For lunch she ate three servings of salmon, ate whole wheat dinner roll, bite of cauliflower, and ate fruit cocktail. 

This first picture is from outside yesterday and all six kids were under the umbrella. (Svea was holding up the side on the right and Avi was on her way out.) Everyone is having so much fun outside getting fresh air. It's awesome. 

Next two pictures: We did some dot painting - which they haven't done for a long time - as I got a book of new dot painting pictures. Here's a sampling of what they did. Everyone did both sides of their paper even though there is just a picture on one side. Avilene's is on the bottom left.

Last picture: This time it was Nora covering Avilene. This doesn't happen too often because Avi doesn't usually slow down enough or lay still enough for this. You can see Avi's feet sticking out and she's also waving. 

Avi - 03/11/2021

Avilene ate whole wheat English muffin and two servings of mandarin oranges for breakfast.  For lunch she ate ground beef, two servings of whole wheat elbow noodles, ate peas, and applesauce.  I'm not exactly sure what brought about the conversation about our "heart," but Atley informed everyone "I know when your heart breaks." Oh really, when is that? "When you're NOT in love." Then after a few moments she added; "When you die." :)

Today was Science with Lauralea and the kids were super excited as always. The theme was "our tongue" and "taste buds." Lots of tasting today! As you can see in the first picture we had a partially completed (ha) diagram of the tongue and we briefly told the kids where their taste buds are located. So we started by having them plug their nose and experimented with them deciding if they could taste better with their nose plugged or unplugged. Then we moved on to lots of tasting. "Is it sweet, salty, sour, or bitter?" And they had to guess what they had just tried. Here are some/most of the ones we tried: mandarin orange juice, coffee, lemon juice, soy sauce, salt water,  sugar water, pickle juice, grapefruit juice. The general consensus: Mandarin orange juice was the favorite and Coffee the least favorite. (It was "instant coffee" mixed too strong and it was nasty. Ha.) Except Svea "loved the lemon juice." Then in the second picture we moved on to the "Tea experiment." They smelled each of the teas and could choose to taste one or mix some together. They had their own little cups and you can see the syringes in the cups of tea. Thank you again Lauralea. 

As soon as Science with Lauralea was over the three big girls got out some paper and started drawing "the taste testing" process. It was fun to watch them draw and express their perspective in this manner. 

Avi - 03/10/2021

Avilene had no French toast; ate two servings of strawberries for breakfast.  For lunch she ate a large serving of Hearty Paleo Stew with meat, broccoli, cauliflower, sweet potatoes, green beans, carrots, and tomatoes. She ate saltines and tropical fruit.   

I love asking the kids questions and hearing how they perceive things around them! So I asked the 3 oldest girls what their parents do at their job. 

Mommy; "I don't think she does anything!" Then Avi said, "She's not a Fireman or anything like that!" :)

Daddy; "Help people at jail."

During Story Time we read the book, "Madeline." Do they grasp what this book means at the end? I doubt it, but I had to ask. The story ends with all the little girls crying and I asked about that. Atley was the only one with an answer and it was SO typical of concrete thinking. One line in the book says this; "They went home and broke their bread (an ancient phrase), brushed their teeth, and went to bed." Atley said they were crying "because they broke their bread." :)

These first two pictures are from yesterday. I was introducing Avi to some "subtraction" puzzles/cards and she totally nailed this activity. I showed her how she could cover some with her hand and count what's left. Then with the smaller numbers she just did the math in her head. :) The following picture; Avi used tape on paper to make these letters and then cut the letters out. Check out the "A." Like I just said, She cut out the letters after she'd made them!

The next picture is from yesterday when the three girls were jumping off the igloo and using the pink cozy corner rug for a hat. Ha. Last picture; Playing the matching farm game that Avi has been sharing with us. Thanks for sharing the game with us Avi; everyone has really enjoyed it!!

Avi - 03/09/2021

Hi Everyone!

Just letting everyone know there will not be a Blog today. I am leaving shortly to go get my first Covid Vaccine!! Yes Cheers and thanks to everyone who has been so concerned and helpful to make this happen. Lauralea will cover for me while I'm gone. Blogs will resume tomorrow on the 10th.

Avi - 03/08/2021

Avilene ate kix cereal and a bite of fruit cocktail for breakfast. For lunch she ate two servings of ground turkey, ate toasted whole wheat sandwich thin, ate tomatoes, avocados, and two servings of cherries. 

Well I could only get one picture downloaded to Avi's Blog. I'm having issues with the picture/computer "thing-a-ma-jiggy!!" I'm also resorting back to pre-technology terminology!! So there's a new word for any of you youngsters!! Haha. Sorry, Lauralea always tells me I think I'm more funny than I really am. Obviously her noted insights aren't slowing me down at all. Ha. I'll get this figured out, but for today the Blog will probably be shorter. 

We did a toy, book, and puzzle exchange this weekend and the kids were loving it like always. I had a picture of Atley, Avi, and Nora playing at the Doll House. However, it was not what you might call a traditional way of playing there. I asked what they were playing and they called it "deliveries." (This is not the first time they've played this game.) Atley is usually the delivery person and she is stationed on one side of the Doll House and makes deliveries to Avi and Nora. This game has definitely been made more popular by Covid. :) Maybe the girls need to patent their version! 

Avi did lots of art work, a couple preschool activities, and played the game that she brought from home. The girls really had fun with that game and it's perfect for them; following rules and taking turns. The only problem Avi ever gives me with these games is wanting to go first every time, but she knows that's not the way it goes and she's getting better with it every day I think! The activity in the picture below has been one of Avi's favorites and it's similar to doing puzzles.