Saturday Morning Science

This was the first time the kids had seen Rick since Wednesday (hence why I must answer my children’s occasional inquiry of “is Dad dead?” around this time of year) so I put him right to work as I walked out the door to take Lindsay to her audition at 7:30 this morning.  The kitchen turned into Science Project Central as Tristan prepared and built a home made musical instrument for his final project in Science for his unit on sound due this Wednesday, the day after the final exam for the quarter.  And yes!  There is a serious study guide for the exam that I have to study in order to help him study!  For anyone who hasn’t figured this out yet, homework isn’t just for kids anymore.  As a way of forcing parent involvement teachers go to great lengths to make sure I have more homework now than I did as a student myself.  Part of that is due to the number of children I have of course, that I apparently don’t spend enough time with!!!  I have been up until 11:30 p.m.  working on projects with second graders!  (This might be part of the reason I average 5 1/2 hours of sleep per night).  However, I always try to make sure I stay as far away as possible from the homework and projects so that it is the child’s own.  I don’t believe in parents doing homework FOR kids but I am willing to consult with and supervise the child.  Rick got this duty today as I was gone with another child.  Looks like they had fun.  And I must say I’m impressed with what he got done.

Nathan entertained everyone as the “Great Pumpkin” so the working process would be more fun.

Rick filled the house with smells of apple as he made apple snacks for later in the dehydrator while acting as science project consultant.

Meanwhile, the cat helped Tristan raid the recycling bin for raw materials for a musical instrument made of wood, metal and plastic that would make music by tapping, blowing AND plucking!

 

Looks like it was loud… AND fun!

 

Tristan looks pleased with his horn section.

Apple snacks are tasty before being dried as Kaitlyn becomes a taste tester.

Rick sports his Reds t-shirt from the last time they won the world series 20 years ago.  He hopes his support (of wearing the shirt) will help them win tomorrow’s game.  Rick got Haley involved to help with kids while the hot glue gun came out.

I was surprised (and pleased) when I came home in the early afternoon to find the instrument FINISHED!!!

I was serenaded with “Twinkle Twinkle Little Star” and “Row Row Row Your Boat” in a very original way when I asked for a demonstration.  Good work Tristan!

“Break-a-Leg”

Lindsay and I rose before the sun at 6:30 a.m. this morning.  After a hearty “egg-in-a-pocket” for breakfast with juice and milk we drove downtown.  Parking; not a problem that early on a Saturday and walked over to the School for Creative and Performing Arts for her 7th grade audition.  As a Jr. High student she had four areas to choose to audition in when she registered several weeks ago.  Lindsay decided to prepare a monologue for the Drama Dept., a German vocal solo for the Vocal Music Dept., a violin solo of Minuet I for Instrumental music and she auditioned for dance; a last choice on her list (because she wants to “eat more than apples for lunch”, she says).  She also interviewed with the technical theater department.  This child is very glad to have this day under her belt as she begins her transition from elementary school and hunts for a new school to further her education.

In Cincinnati, all schools are schools of choice so the hunt for a school to match the child and his or her interests and abilities is real and there is some pressure.  We will find out in 6 or more weeks if Lindsay is accepted based on enrollment of course but also on her audition today as well as her academic grades and her standardized test scores which we turned in along with birth certificate, medical records, interview sheets, photographs, sealed letters of recommendation, work portfolio and proof of address.  In just a few weeks, Lindsay will also begin testing for Walnut Hills; a rigorous college preparatory Jr. Sr. High School and if she does well enough on those, it will open the doors to the possibility of attending school there.  She is trying to obtain options so she can make a choice.  Both schools have friends of Lindsay’s who attend but there are other positive and negative points for Lindsay to consider.  One school has a track team and swim team that Lindsay is very interested in (and she is very good at both) but does not teach German in their foreign language dept.  and their music program is not as big or as strong.  Having learned and spoken German since second grade and played violin since Kindergarten but having serious interests and abilities in track and swim she has some choices to make.  The other school has a fantastic array of musical opportunities and also offers German classes but… sports opportunities are extremely limited.  And then there are Montessori Schools to consider as well as others if these two choices don’t pan out.

Lindsay’s auditions went very well… she feels confidant in three out of her four choices and her grades and test scores combined with the talents that she has gives us every reason to believe that the choice of schools to attend next year will be Lindsay’s to make and we will do our best to support her choice.  Alas, we must wait for the results like everyone else.  Wish Lindsay luck as she continues through this process over the next weeks and months. 

BREAK A LEG, LINDSAY!

Dressing Up

What can be more fun than dressing up for Halloween than a whole month of dress-ups?  Why wait when dress-up can be so much fun?  The kids have an entire box of dress-ups comprised of old dance costumes, Halloween costumes purchased from a second hand store, and dress-ups given as both gifts and hand-me-downs.  Haley was a huge fan of playing dress-up once upon a time and so Kaitlyn is not want for more in this department.  A few things are boy appropriate… I made sure.

Nathan gets into the action right off the bat wearing a dragon costume that Tristan used to wear everywhere one autumn just because he wanted to.  And I figured it was warm so what was it hurting.  Kaitlyn plans to be a pumpkin for Halloween as she tries this on.

“Nathan dragon” sits in a bin of magic wands, shoes and hats.  It’s harder to move around as a dragon.  Kaitlyn changes into a ladybug and flies around.

Kaitlyn tries out being a flower girl.  Lindsay sees her and remembers the time she wore this to school in Kindergarten!  Apparently she’d promised her friend she would wear this and could not be talked out of it.  Boy did her teacher get a chuckle out of that one. 

Kaitlyn dresses up as Raggedy Andy but won’t have anything to do with changing her hair color.  Tristan gets into the action when he realizes there is a wig.  He is always wanting to do strange things with hair anyway… I’ll have to keep an eye on that one.

Nathan plops into a huge pile of dress-ups on the floor before they are put away.  Too much excitement for him.  Meanwhile the kitten decides the excitement has just begun!

Sandy gets into the pile of dress-ups and we giggle as she ends up wearing a little mermaid skirt.

The feather boa is of great interest to Sandy as well for obvious reasons.  Sandy really thinks she is one of the kids and will not be left out of anything.  Playing dress-up has been lots of fun.

Dinner and a Show

We are now at the end of the first quarter for school which means… concerts!  During this season of concerts and rehearsals Rick is home for about 10 hours a day… enough to sleep, shower and grade papers or work on our own finances.  Since we have time crunch issues trying to pick everyone up AND eat dinner but still being to call time ON time we make it a little bit easier on ourselves by not going all the way home for dinner.  When I put the two youngest down for quiet time yesterday afternoon I whipped up some fresh bread for a giant sandwich, some magic cookie bars and filled the cooler with milk, water, carrots, homegrown jarred dill pickles and applesauce.  I grabbed cups and paper towels and stashed everything in the car for the outing along with the stroller and extra diapers and wipes.  It was a beautiful autumn evening.  I picked Lindsay and Tristan up at Fairview and then made my way to Over-the-Rhine to pick up Haley and Rick.  Since this neighborhood is near the top of the FBI’s list of the most dangerous neighborhoods in the nation (last year it was #1 over any neighborhood you can think of including in NYC, LA, Chicago or Detroit) I dropped Rick off at the parking garage several blocks away and followed him back to the parking lot on the school grounds so we wouldn’t all have to walk in that neighborhood after dark.  Then we made our way through the streets of the city up to Eden Park which sits overlooking the Ohio River just to the east of downtown.

Pic on left shows an Eastern view of the Ohio.  On the right the view is to the west overlooking the Ohio and shows several bridges linking Northern Kentucky to its counterpart.  Looking at the sky reminds me that the air quality is moderate on this day as most days this season with less humidity.  Sometimes the kids miss recess outdoors due to poor air quality in warmer more humid weather.

We had an hour to enjoy in the park.  We unpacked our picnic dinner.  Everyone enjoyed the pleasant breeze.

The geese decided to join us.

Nathan was curious.  The goose… HUNGRY!  A second later he grabbed the bread right out of Nathan’s hand.  We had to keep on our toes to show those birds who was boss.

Tristan helped by chasing the geese again and again.

 

Here are my 5 sitting on the edge of the stone overlook.

There was a playground nearby as well so the kids got some free time to play in their day.  Kaitlyn is obviously sporting Lindsay’s old clothes here.  The horses on the shirt are the give-away here.  At first Kaitlyn thought I went on a grand shopping spree for her but now everyday Kaitlyn has to hear “I remember when I used to wear that”!  She doesn’t seem to mind too much, though. 

Nathan thought that sliding was so much fun that he went back again and again.

We weren’t sure why this slide had a dead end at the top so the kids climbed up the slide in order to slide down. 

 

Time to leave by 5:45 we made sure to walk past the duck pond on the way over to the car.  As mentioned before hand about danger… there was a stabbing at 6 p.m. that killed a man a few blocks away from the school.  THAT is why we parked in the school’s lot.

We visited Dad’s brand new classroom in this brand new school building.  They couldn’t have picked a better color to paint his room if they’d asked him.  But it would have been nice to have a window… for light anyway.  They cut windows from their plans on the lower level as they saved money by not installing any clocks or pencil sharpeners in the whole school as well!  Rick will spend the remainder of his career trying to sneak upstairs once a day to find natural light at lunch time.

Above, Kaitlyn climbs to sit on the stool on her Dad’s podium at the front of the class.

Lindsay tries out the brand new shiny piano that is her Dad’s.  He is thrilled with this instrument.  And above right Nathan thinks climbing upward is great no matter what these days.

The artistic director slipped Rick our needed tickets and we found our way to the balcony seating in the auditorium.  Haley plays first violin and is first chair this year in Orchestra 3-A!  We are very proud of her hard work.  She gets up and practices 5-6 times a week for 45 minutes at 7 a.m. and has a half scholarship for her private lessons which she takes once a week.  She earns the other half of her money by babysitting.  The violin is very important to her.

Her group, the top performing group on this concert, played Concerto in e minor, A Knights Quest and Brandenburg Concerto No. 3.  While enjoying the music I played referee between the 3 year old and one year old while helping the 2nd grader with math homework.  Good thing we were in the balcony!

Candied Apples

Last week it was Kaitlyn’s turn to help me prepare meals at dinnertime and to set the dinner table.  She cheerfully helped make these delicious apples on Saturday night; a special treat for AFTER dinner. 

First she unwrapped an entire package of caramels and we let them melt in the double boiler on the stovetop with a little water.  We buttered a cookie sheet and Kaitlyn but sticks through the apples after she washed them.  It was quite fun to dip the apples and use a spoon to help cover them.

 

Once dipped and on the cookie sheet we sprinkled the apples with cinnamon and squirted melted chocolate chips in a wavy design on the apples.  We let them chill while we ate our dinner.

Candied apples were a hit!  They were delicious and everyone loved them.  Nathan used some of the caramel for hair mousse! 

What a good helper Kaitlyn was!

Cinderella Saturday

Years ago now, we came up with this name for “catching up” on housework or projects around the house.  I don’t know how this would have gone over if we’d had boys first!  I guess we’d have come up with some other name.  But my boys, who came later on, don’t think anything of the name.  Cinderella Saturday is a fact of life about 4 times a year because regardless of my best intentions, we always need a day to catch up around the house.  It is a day that the whole family pitches in, we throw open the windows, turn on some music and tackle a list of areas that need attention.

Today the kitchen needed to be tackled.  When the kitchen has everything in it, it’s hard to reach all the areas that need cleaning.  In other words, it’s kind of tight in there.  Plus, there comes a  time when really the only thing that will take care of the table and chairs is the hose.  This was not true before we had kids (we vaguely remember this short time period) but we now hold the belief that kitchens should come equipped with a shower head so periodically (like after every meal) it can just be sprayed down.  It would be so much simpler.  As it stands, we dragged everything outside and the kids used rags, scrub brushes and the hose to work the grime out of the kitchen furniture.

The kids had a pretty good time and one of them got super soaked “on purpose”.  As long as they’re helping each other and having a good time in the process then a little extra laundry won’t bother me in the least.  I love days when everyone happily works together.

Inside, the kitchen looked spacious… almost… and we scrubbed walls, floors and windows.  I love my new windows that we have slowly had installed throughout the house.  Cleaning them is so easy!  The process as a whole took several hours.  It is nice to have a cleaner area, especially as the cold season approaches and we spend so much more time indoors.

With the kitchen emptied, lunch had to be eaten outside.  Thank goodness!  An entire glass of milk got spilled immediately by this young lady and our cat, Cindi, came to her rescue.  She IS our kitchen clean-up cat who takes her job very seriously.  The spilled milk illustrates just exactly WHY we might think our inside table needs a hose every so often!