What we're up to

We're basically trying to ride out this winter. I'm trying to be the mom who does some fun stuff in February besides sitting around crying that there is "nothing to do" but sometimes it's hard. The kids used to play together better, and now, since they are so cooped up, all the traditional games "baby and mommy" or "mean king" are starting to get dull for them...especially for yours truly: the Sammy-Sam. He wants to be outside and he wants to be running and biking and digging and sliding and chasing, and instead, it's still just 40 degrees outside. So....I'm having to figure out some interesting things that they both like to do. For instance, cooking. I figured out that if I made a big blob of pizza dough at the beginning of the week, they could daily make themselves a little pizza lunch. It takes a while, but what else do we have to do, right? Sammy's favorite part is sifting flour onto his dough. Claire, of course, expertly and perfectly rolls out her dough into a little perfect circle. Then I let them put on their own toppings. Sammy usually eats half of them, and then I have to throw a little extra cheese on his at the end, but what the heck?

And this is my newest attempt at dealing with Sammy's, uh, discipline issues. We have to spend soooo much time telling him what he's doing wrong that I just feel sad about him. So, I got this idea the other day to do some sort of positive reinforcement thing with him. He's very into knights and dragons  (we've been reading King Arthur so he now calls his sword "Excalibur") so I tried to invent a little system where I keep these 4 cardboard swords in my cupboard, and when he makes a "good decision" then he gets to put his sword into the magic scabbord (I didn't know what that meant either until I read the King Arthur book).  But, for us, it is essentially a little red pocket that he puts a sword into. If he earns 4 swords before daddy gets home from work, he gets to pick out something from the other little red pocket. One is "do a rock band with daddy" and another award is "bike ride with daddy" but, don't be fooled, there is also a "piece of candy" prize which he has chosen every time so far. :) Anyway, here's hoping for some positive improvement.

Claire, on the other hand is entertaining herself as usual. One rainy afternoon, I told her that I made some folder games for the kids that I tutor, and she was very excited by that idea. Now, when I said "folder games" I was referring to these little lapbook games you can make out of folders that teach reading skills, etc. She thought I meant "game" like candy land or something, so she decided to make her own "folder game". You can not see the actual game she drew because the folder is red and she insisted on drawing it in light pencil, but it's sort of a Candy Land type game where you have to work your way up a lollipop. There are about ten thousand spaces though, and it's a little bit of a "Calvin Ball" scenario where the rules keep changing throughout the game, so it's pretty funny. She really wanted to make her own dice out of cardboard, which was a little frustrating, and then she really wanted the dice to have a holder so we made a little box that hangs off the back of the folder to keep all the little game pieces in. There were also tiny game pieces shaped like gum drops.

So anyway, we're just here...being inside. And we're stilllllll waiting to see if the foreclosure house we put an offer on has gone through.