More art - by Nathan

Nathan is really good at quietly entertaining himself.  Sometimes I look up from a chore and realize I haven't heard a peep out of him in a very long time.  Then I anxiously call out, "Nathan?"

"What is it mommy?"  And usually he has been playing with Legos or else drawing.  His specialty is drawing monsters.

I told him he could color in this workbook, only if he held the marker properly

A sampling of his work; he made this while waiting on a parent-teacher conference.

And this is what happens if he finds a sheet of stickers.

The 2nd to the last day of school 2017

Petra twirling before the bus comes

Nathan, sort of dancing in his Pre-school tie-dye shirt

Julia and A at the 5th grade breakfast and awards ceremony

Nathan, feeling overwhelmed by all the people at the pre-school picnic

Some thoughts on delegating work -

I think I spent about 2 hours this morning delegating 2 hours worth of work to the students working in our lab.  I don't know that I'm going to call this one a win.

My biggest problem with delegating effectively is trying to be organized enough to know what tasks can be delegated.

The second problem, of course, is providing the explanation or training required to have the work done properly.  (Which is not even to say exactly the way I would do it.) The up front time investment usually takes a while to pay off.  At home, I am starting see that my workload is actually LESS when I ask the kids for help. 

For example, yesterday Paul hung two and a half loads of laundry out on the line for me.  Shortly after he had hung up the first load, I glanced outside to see some towels, shorts, underwear, and a single Bounce dryer sheet pinned to the line.  What a good little helper.

But is it art?

From the elementary school art show last spring:

Mona Julia

Peekers

The "Ahhhh!"

Late June update

Today I got to have our house locks re-keyed and called poison control.  Good times.

The lock thing was because grandma's travel bag was lifted out of her car in my driveway yesterday.  It had her phone, tablet, keys and a book in it, but fortunately not her wallet.  We all had real trouble coming round to believing that it hadn't been moved by the kids.  But no, it appears to have been stolen.  So today we had a locksmith come over and change out the locks (we got a 2 house discount).  It's really a shame about her phone and nice new tablet.  And it's going to be a while before I'm comfortable working in the back yard while the house is unlocked.

The poison control call was because Nathan put soft soap on his toothbrush instead of tooth paste.  Paul was supervising, so I don't know if Nathan was just distracted or if he thought he was being funny.  Paul was more shaken up about it than I was, but we called poison control to be on the safe side.  The woman we spoke to was very kind and understanding.  Fortunately no harm was done and, hopefully, it was a learning moment.

Otherwise we're doing pretty well.  PJ survived Boy Scout camp and seems to have had much less homesickness than in past years.  Petra just got moved to the loft bed, because it is her turn to use it for 6 months.  She is SO pleased with it.  

We were stuck in slow traffic in the rain Friday evening when Nathan asked, "Daddy, are cars magnetic?"

"Yes."

"He-he-he-he.  All we need is a big stick with a chain and a hook and a magnet on the hook, and we can move the cars."  He had it all planned out, and he totally sounded like a comic villain.  

Julia's birthday

Julia's birthday was yesterday, but I didn't see her because she is away at camp this week as well.  We celebrated her birthday on Saturday and announced that she was going to the Percy Jackson literary themed camp at Camp Kern.  She started levitating about 3 inches off the floor, and did not come back down.  When we dropped her off, she gave Steve and I a quick kiss goodbye and ran (not walked) off to join the other kids playing a game.  I hope her week continues to go well.

 

Julia with the Birthday Brownie she baked herself

PJ and NT trying out one of Julia's toys

Julia and Petra trying out Julia's new umbrella