Well, it's mid July, we are on day number 30 for temperature over 100 and summer is just dragging along for us. Chris and I are trying our best to conserve money in an effort to eliminate our debt soon, so we haven't been doing summer attraction type activities like the zoo, Dino park, museums, water parks or amusement parks.
We have managed to go on our first family camping trip. In June we packed up the car and headed to Galveston Island State Park and did a one night stay at a bay side camp sight. We were able to play on the beach, check out the strand and we stopped by the Battleship Texas and the San Jacinto Monument. Our Texas Parks Pass made the trip a bit more affordable because we didn't even have to pay the entry fee at the Battleship Texas. Cool huh?
About four days of our week are spent in a mundane way. We get up and play, clean or go to church where I work two days a week. Then we have lunch, nap or quiet time and then Devon spends two hours doing her eye patch (pirate) therapy. By the time she is done, it is time to cook dinner. And that's our day, exhilarating right?
Now that I think about it, we do go to the library once a week and load up with about 40 books a trip. And we have made a few trips to our neighborhood pool so far this summer. I suppose we could be considerably worse off. So I think I will find a way to refresh our days by refreshing my attitude.
Boy, I just got told........ by myself. Nice.
Showing posts with label Summer. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Summer. Show all posts
Wednesday, July 13, 2011
Wednesday, June 9, 2010
Summer Reading
Summer is here and while we are having lots of fun in the sun, we are also keeping up our school skills. Devon likes to write in a journal everyday practicing writing, spelling and grammar. And of course we read everyday.
This summer we are taking advantage of two different reading incentive programs. The first is Half Priced Books Feed Your Brain program. All we do is keep a log of how much time Devon spends reading. If Devon reads for at least 15 minutes a day, five days a week, then she gets a $3 gift card from the store. She gets to do this every week until the middle of July.
The second program is from the Austin Library. This one is a bit different than what my library did when I was a kid. When I was a kid you read a book then you took a short quiz on the book and if you passed then you got credit for reading the book and you got different things for reading different amounts of books. The Austin program says, the kid gets to make a goal of how many books they think they can read during the summer. When they reach their goal, they bring the log back to the library and they get to pick out a new book to keep.
When I asked Devon how many books she wanted to read this summer, I suggested 30. Apparently that wasn't good enough. She said she wants to read 90! So I wrote down 90 books on her log. I know she can do it, I just think it is funny that she chose that amount. The librarian was really impressed. Now reading 90 beginning reader books is different than reading 90 novels, but we'll cross that road when we get there.
Matthew also gets to participate in the program because if I make a goal to read him a certain amount of books and meet the goal, then he gets to pick out a book too.
This summer we are taking advantage of two different reading incentive programs. The first is Half Priced Books Feed Your Brain program. All we do is keep a log of how much time Devon spends reading. If Devon reads for at least 15 minutes a day, five days a week, then she gets a $3 gift card from the store. She gets to do this every week until the middle of July.
The second program is from the Austin Library. This one is a bit different than what my library did when I was a kid. When I was a kid you read a book then you took a short quiz on the book and if you passed then you got credit for reading the book and you got different things for reading different amounts of books. The Austin program says, the kid gets to make a goal of how many books they think they can read during the summer. When they reach their goal, they bring the log back to the library and they get to pick out a new book to keep.
When I asked Devon how many books she wanted to read this summer, I suggested 30. Apparently that wasn't good enough. She said she wants to read 90! So I wrote down 90 books on her log. I know she can do it, I just think it is funny that she chose that amount. The librarian was really impressed. Now reading 90 beginning reader books is different than reading 90 novels, but we'll cross that road when we get there.
Matthew also gets to participate in the program because if I make a goal to read him a certain amount of books and meet the goal, then he gets to pick out a book too.
Monday, May 31, 2010
The First of Many
Trips to the pool that is!
Devon has been begging, and begging, and begging to go to the pool for the last couple of weeks and today we finally made a trip. I'm a big wuss and I won't take the kids to the pool without Chris. There are a couple of reasons for this. First, Devon can't swim yet. So I don't feel like I could keep Devon and Matthew from drowning at the same time. And the second reason is that people like to drive from who knows where to use our pool. I don't like that. It's a community pool. Meaning the people who live in our neighborhood pay a home owners association fee to get the key to use our pool. When strangers drive out here and hop the fence or beg people who already hopped the fence to let them in it irritates the fire out of me. I don't trust strangers around my kids. Call me over protective, I don't care.
Devon is finally tall enough to stand in the big pool at the shallow end (3ft). So today she got used to hopping in the water and then I taught her how to doggy paddle and kick. She hasn't combined the two together yet, but I bet it won't be long until she does and then maybe I would be comfortable taking them to the pool in the mornings on the days Chris works. We'll see.
Devon has been begging, and begging, and begging to go to the pool for the last couple of weeks and today we finally made a trip. I'm a big wuss and I won't take the kids to the pool without Chris. There are a couple of reasons for this. First, Devon can't swim yet. So I don't feel like I could keep Devon and Matthew from drowning at the same time. And the second reason is that people like to drive from who knows where to use our pool. I don't like that. It's a community pool. Meaning the people who live in our neighborhood pay a home owners association fee to get the key to use our pool. When strangers drive out here and hop the fence or beg people who already hopped the fence to let them in it irritates the fire out of me. I don't trust strangers around my kids. Call me over protective, I don't care.
Devon is finally tall enough to stand in the big pool at the shallow end (3ft). So today she got used to hopping in the water and then I taught her how to doggy paddle and kick. She hasn't combined the two together yet, but I bet it won't be long until she does and then maybe I would be comfortable taking them to the pool in the mornings on the days Chris works. We'll see.
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