What an interesting adventure!
Kiya is a great reader and can polish off a chapter book in a couple of days. Her favourite right now is Geronimo Stilton. Geronimo is a mouse and a modern day adventurer, he goes on quests and visits far away lands. He also has a sister named Thea and she is girl side of the series. The text is quite interesting to read, as I have read through a couple as well to see what she talks about. It is attention grabbing as the words are colourful, there are exerpts on the page about something interesting and there are also some full page colour pictures to show what the author is describing. The librarian at the school turned Kiya on to them and we have purchased a couple for her, she seems to enjoy the Geronimo series better than the Thea series but in my thoughts, hey she is reading so who cares. Kiya is also assigned 30 minutes of reading a night, and she spends those as the last moments of her day before bed. It is a great wind down tool except I have no found she is asking for 5 or even 10 more reading minutes. How do I say no to those?
Mylee is reading as well, which at 5 makes me clap my hands, dance a jig and hoot and holler. Last night I started to read a book and she took over. Now there were some difficult words in the book so I read those but she was reading like a champ. I can't believe how fast she has picked stuff up. Mylee loves school and is working more with the senior kindergarten level assignments than the junior, so maybe I shouldn't be surprised, but she sits there and finger points and it warms my heart. Her bookshelf is full of level one readers and each day we try something new. Who knows maybe she will be another big reader in the family.
Darryl and I love to read and find that we spend a lot of our time doing this. Normally to wind down from a crazy day or just for some quiet time. When I read, I get lost in a book, I find myself relating to one of the characters and follow through their lives like I am standing right beside them. I also can't put a book down, if it is an interesting or gripping series I normally have the book finished in a few days. And there are some series that reading until 4am happened quite often.
I am constantly reminded that reading builds so much in a child and I have to agree, though I don't think it is only children. Some people need to get lost in their imagination again and have some fun and a book is a perfect outlet for this. So happy reading!!!
Thursday, February 7, 2013
Fondue Night
Fondue night got cancelled. Mommy was not prepared and yes after exercising I didn't want to over indulge so I was definitely on Mylee's hitlist.
That is until I thought up a great idea. I had picked up Hotel Translyvania (awesome movie) for the girls, which they have seen in theatres, and we decided to head over to a friend's house. I brought popcorn and jammers and they sat and watched the movie as I visited and researched.
By the end, Mylee was exhausted and had her mini bedtime breakdown and was out cold in seconds, and Kiya was still talking to me at 9pm. And to think my crazy brain told me to feed them chocolate at night...this might need some rethinking and might be a Saturday activity instead.
So from chocolate to movies and back again we wish you sweet dreams!
That is until I thought up a great idea. I had picked up Hotel Translyvania (awesome movie) for the girls, which they have seen in theatres, and we decided to head over to a friend's house. I brought popcorn and jammers and they sat and watched the movie as I visited and researched.
By the end, Mylee was exhausted and had her mini bedtime breakdown and was out cold in seconds, and Kiya was still talking to me at 9pm. And to think my crazy brain told me to feed them chocolate at night...this might need some rethinking and might be a Saturday activity instead.
So from chocolate to movies and back again we wish you sweet dreams!
Exercise
Okay don't shoot me, but I love to exercise. My body doesn't but my brain goes into happy endorfin mode as soon as I am done and I feel like I can conquer the world.
That being said, holy cow am I sore. I started my work outs on Monday, thinking Monday, Wednesday and Friday and they are an hour long. Tuesday evening I had a hard time moving, and my torso was screaming bloody murder at me. So I learned two things about myself;
1. Exercise is great, but don't plan on doing anything major the day after you do it until you get used to the stiffness. Walking downstairs was a chore and a half.
2. I work out better at night than in the morning. I thought with Mylee in half day school I could work out while she is gone. Um yeah....no....the lightheadedness and not breathing is really a horrible feeling to have. So after the girls have gone to bed, that is when I will exercise.
I also decided to curtail the carbs, not so much stop eating them all together but more when I eat them. So breakfast and lunch can be full of carbs, but dinner is meat and veggies. So no more pasta dinners, no more rice and my favourite potatoes, instead I am going to put mine away and save it for lunch the next day. And truthfully it isn't so bad. I go to bed comfortable, not overly stuffed and I wake up hungry and want to eat breakfast, which is a first for me too. I really hate breakfast foods.
So that is my plan. Will keep you updated as I go along!
That being said, holy cow am I sore. I started my work outs on Monday, thinking Monday, Wednesday and Friday and they are an hour long. Tuesday evening I had a hard time moving, and my torso was screaming bloody murder at me. So I learned two things about myself;
1. Exercise is great, but don't plan on doing anything major the day after you do it until you get used to the stiffness. Walking downstairs was a chore and a half.
2. I work out better at night than in the morning. I thought with Mylee in half day school I could work out while she is gone. Um yeah....no....the lightheadedness and not breathing is really a horrible feeling to have. So after the girls have gone to bed, that is when I will exercise.
I also decided to curtail the carbs, not so much stop eating them all together but more when I eat them. So breakfast and lunch can be full of carbs, but dinner is meat and veggies. So no more pasta dinners, no more rice and my favourite potatoes, instead I am going to put mine away and save it for lunch the next day. And truthfully it isn't so bad. I go to bed comfortable, not overly stuffed and I wake up hungry and want to eat breakfast, which is a first for me too. I really hate breakfast foods.
So that is my plan. Will keep you updated as I go along!
Weekends
Weekends at our house can either be really crazy busy or fun and relaxing. Last weekend we spent most of the day in our pajamas, I was doing laundry and the girls were spending time together. Normally it would be about a half hour of being in the same room before the "Mommy, she..." starts but this Saturday was different. I found myself enjoying the quiet or background noise of whatever was going on in the house.
I started activity nights to get the girls to understand each other, spend time together and learn something new, and I think there has been a drastic improvement in our quality time. Kiya shows her sister how to do things on the computer, reads to her, and has a little more patience with Mylee's antics. Mylee is starting to listen better to her sister, use her words more instead of her whining, and overall there is an increase in her patience level as well.
I believe they spent a good ten hours being around each other through movies, the computer, books and LEGO, and I think even some crafts. Sharing is something I try to preach every chance I get and I believe they are starting to understand that what is their's can be each other's as well we just have to set some proper boundries.
Saturday was a very healthy and happy day at our house and I found myself peeking in on their activities. It made my heart glow knowing that though they are four years apart my girls can find some commonality in their lives.
Sunday was a whole other story, but I will take what I can get.
I started activity nights to get the girls to understand each other, spend time together and learn something new, and I think there has been a drastic improvement in our quality time. Kiya shows her sister how to do things on the computer, reads to her, and has a little more patience with Mylee's antics. Mylee is starting to listen better to her sister, use her words more instead of her whining, and overall there is an increase in her patience level as well.
I believe they spent a good ten hours being around each other through movies, the computer, books and LEGO, and I think even some crafts. Sharing is something I try to preach every chance I get and I believe they are starting to understand that what is their's can be each other's as well we just have to set some proper boundries.
Saturday was a very healthy and happy day at our house and I found myself peeking in on their activities. It made my heart glow knowing that though they are four years apart my girls can find some commonality in their lives.
Sunday was a whole other story, but I will take what I can get.
Friday, February 1, 2013
Baking Night
Man did my house smell yummy!!
Kiya decided to use her Easybake Oven for her activity on baking night and made chocolate and vanilla sugar cookies. She had to measure obscure amounts which I was greatful for as I was looking for a math activity too. She had a lot of fun measuring and learned from the mistakes that she made. Then she ate the fruits of her labour, well she ate the vanilla one. The chocolate cookie she gave to her daddy which made him feel very special. One thing I love about Darryl is how he "bigs up" his girls, always praising when they do something wonderful and encouraging when they try really hard and don't quite hit the mark.
Mylee was my little helper as she can't use the oven or other appliances herself yet. So as a team we decided to make tea buscuits. So off we went measuring and pouring in the mixer, turning it on too high and the cloud of flour dust covered the counter. Now some people get really icky about that kind of thing but I giggle, I mean really, it is only flour and it can be wiped up really easy. Then as I was measuring the wet ingredients, I made Mylee crack the eggs. I had to laugh as I watched her because she would crack the egg and let it fall through her fingers like I do when I separate my whites and yolks. And she is awesome at it, she has practised so many times that there are now no shells when she does it. Mylee wasn't too impressed with the texture of the dough but helped me roll out our balls and then did the eggwash painting all by herself.
The tea biscuits were very yummy, I ate a couple for breakfast this morning and there is nothing like a warm tea biscuit with butter and strawberry jam on it. Even Darryl took one for breakfast and he never eats breakfast.
I have to admit, I miss the kitchen, I miss school, and I miss learning the yummy recipes, but last night gave me so much love and happiness that I might do this a little more often then once a month or whatever our calendar says. I mean...really for fondue night we could actually make some lady fingers to enjoy with it.
Happy Baking!!!
Kiya decided to use her Easybake Oven for her activity on baking night and made chocolate and vanilla sugar cookies. She had to measure obscure amounts which I was greatful for as I was looking for a math activity too. She had a lot of fun measuring and learned from the mistakes that she made. Then she ate the fruits of her labour, well she ate the vanilla one. The chocolate cookie she gave to her daddy which made him feel very special. One thing I love about Darryl is how he "bigs up" his girls, always praising when they do something wonderful and encouraging when they try really hard and don't quite hit the mark.
Mylee was my little helper as she can't use the oven or other appliances herself yet. So as a team we decided to make tea buscuits. So off we went measuring and pouring in the mixer, turning it on too high and the cloud of flour dust covered the counter. Now some people get really icky about that kind of thing but I giggle, I mean really, it is only flour and it can be wiped up really easy. Then as I was measuring the wet ingredients, I made Mylee crack the eggs. I had to laugh as I watched her because she would crack the egg and let it fall through her fingers like I do when I separate my whites and yolks. And she is awesome at it, she has practised so many times that there are now no shells when she does it. Mylee wasn't too impressed with the texture of the dough but helped me roll out our balls and then did the eggwash painting all by herself.
The tea biscuits were very yummy, I ate a couple for breakfast this morning and there is nothing like a warm tea biscuit with butter and strawberry jam on it. Even Darryl took one for breakfast and he never eats breakfast.
I have to admit, I miss the kitchen, I miss school, and I miss learning the yummy recipes, but last night gave me so much love and happiness that I might do this a little more often then once a month or whatever our calendar says. I mean...really for fondue night we could actually make some lady fingers to enjoy with it.
Happy Baking!!!
Music Night
This was a difficult activity to achieve as the noise level in our house doesn't go very high, so musical instruments were questionable. Sitting and listening to music is something we do on a constant basis so that really wasn't a special time to spend together, so I reached out for help. Thankfully Joanna answered my call and in she walked with 2 guitars.
With Mylee receiving a guitar for her birthday we wanted her to experience the full pleasure of playing music so we asked Joanna if she could teach her some chords in her spare time, eventually she would pick it up and be able to play a song but we weren't expecting a masterpiece all at once. Kiya is learning the recorder at school, which puts a whole new spin on music for her as well. Kiya is learning the notes and beats in school which will help her in many areas.
When we asked Joanna to teach Mylee she set to work on a lesson plan, a chord a week (maybe more depending on scheduling) and well Kiya joined in too. Joanna brought over the 2 guitars and Kiya got to strum and learn on a real guitar as well, with Mylee playing her birthday present. Both girls learned the C chord and we all learned the girls have to work on curling their fingers. Not only was it not loud, but Joanna did such an amazing job keeping them as focused as possible.
Then she turned to me and said "Okay, your turn". And of course I jumped at the chance. I remember learning some chords with Alex in the hallway of the Champlain college dorm rooms as that was the communal space. He taught me a couple chords and I was able to play a song. Some of it came back that night and well I might just be able to put some more fun stuff into my world than I thought.
Thanks Joanna for all your help in my new project! The girls really love spending time with you and promise to practise for next time!
With Mylee receiving a guitar for her birthday we wanted her to experience the full pleasure of playing music so we asked Joanna if she could teach her some chords in her spare time, eventually she would pick it up and be able to play a song but we weren't expecting a masterpiece all at once. Kiya is learning the recorder at school, which puts a whole new spin on music for her as well. Kiya is learning the notes and beats in school which will help her in many areas.
When we asked Joanna to teach Mylee she set to work on a lesson plan, a chord a week (maybe more depending on scheduling) and well Kiya joined in too. Joanna brought over the 2 guitars and Kiya got to strum and learn on a real guitar as well, with Mylee playing her birthday present. Both girls learned the C chord and we all learned the girls have to work on curling their fingers. Not only was it not loud, but Joanna did such an amazing job keeping them as focused as possible.
Thanks Joanna for all your help in my new project! The girls really love spending time with you and promise to practise for next time!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)