Do You Wanna Build a Snowman? 100th Day of Homeschool and Hostile Toddler Negotiations

Life and Death of a Texas Snowman

On  Jan 10th we received almost 2 inches of snow. I know, for those of you up north reading, you are thinking, big deal, but to us Texans, this is huge! School was even cancelled (in person). Random thought: Does virtual learning this mean that snow days will now be a thing of the past? 

So when it first started snowing, you guys went outside to check things out. You were able to scoop up some good snow for a snowball or 2. 

By noon we had enough snow to make a mini-snowkid. 

In the afternoon, we went back outside. You girls worked on building a snowman with Daddy.

While I took Nathan to a neighbor's house for an outside snow play date. After 15 minutes, your gloves, pants and shoes were wet and cold. You wanted to go home, so we did. 

I took a picture of our backyard. I love the contrast of freshly fallen snow on dark bare branches. There's just so much beauty there. 

Daddy helped you both make an awesome snowman and called it quits with Hailey. Hannah, you continued to stay outside for about another hour before we also called you in. 

The next day, this was what was left of the big snowman. So we ended up repurposing the snow for a 

SNOWBALL FIGHT!!! The snow was perfect. Not too wet and perfectly ball-able. 

After about an hour of play, this was all that was left. Just a little patch of snow. RIP Mr. Snowman. 

 Ok, back to normal life. New Year's Eve was pretty uneventful. You guys did get to watch the neighbors play with some fireworks before bedtime but once you all went to sleep, all the popping and fireworks that was going around the neighborhood did not wake you guys up. 

School 

Hailey, you are still pretty ambidextrous right now. I am trying to set you up to be more right dominant, if that's even possible, but it wouldn't surprise me at all if you turn out to be a lefty.  

The cedar pollen levels were pretty high this week. We spent a lot of time inside. We even parked the cars outside so that you guys could have extra space to play in the garage. 

The few times we tried braving it by going outside proved to be disastrous. Itchy eyes and never ending nasal drainage is a recipe for cranky kids. But, Hannah got a pair of skates from a friend and really wanted to try them out outside. 

You guys learned about soil composition this week in science. We made edible soil by sifting oreo cookie sediments into sand, silt, and clay. 

added some chocolate hummus, I mean, humus (chocolate pudding) along with some chia seed matter to represent the rollie polly eggs. Delicious and educational. 

P.E. time was spent in the auxiliary gymnasium AKA the garage. Both of you big kids have decided that you prefer roller blades. 

Hailey, while the big kids are doing school you like use these mini windows of unsupervised time to explore all of the board games, especially the ones with many pieces. The satisfaction of hearing the ching ching ching of pieces as they strike the floor and ricochet off in multiple directions is very pleasing to you. And when I come to find you and suggest that we clean it up together, I get a very sassy, "No, you clean it up by yourself! It's boring to clean up!" You toss your head back and walk away. I'm usually able to convince you to come back to help clean up, but it does take a whole lot of mental energy to convince a 3 year old to do anything. 

So we've learned to pick our battles. You know how you love to cut paper? Yep, you also hate cleaning it up too. So, Daddy came up with an idea: your cutting corner. You get to go to town and cut all the paper you want. When finished, we simply shake you off and dump the contents in the trash. Win win. 

                                           

We also painted birdhouses this week. We each painted ours to represent a part of the Harry Potter story. Nathan, you created a tower from Hogwarts. 

Hannah, you represented each of the 4 houses on your birdhouse and I represented 6 different stores from Diagon Alley. 

Hailey, you wanted to make a purple rainbow birdhouse. We will have to show everyone our final products next week. We still need to paint a protective coat over them so that the Texas heat and rains don't ruin our hard work too soon. 

I feel like lately, we've all "let ourselves go". So you girls decided to give me a make-over. 

Hailey, you are one to speak...you are the one with the constant bird nest hairdo. I guess that's a thing these days? 

Hummus face is also a great accessory to blue ballgowns. 

Before I end this week's post I just wanted to share some cool things that each of you guys have done this week. Hannah, you planned our 100th day of school celebration. We had a special tea party and gift exchange at the end of the day. Nathan made Perler bead creations for everyone. Hailey, you made paper octopi for all the kids and Hannah, you made a white house model craft kit for everyone to make. I was super impressed with your creativity.  

Hailey, you have officially joined the conversation at the dinner table. Up until this week, you have been a casual listener who would occasionally laugh at funny things but this week, you have been demanding for space to talk. You would yell for everyone to be quiet and then say things like, "my turn to talk!" Nay nay, you stop!" "No, mommy, quiet. I want to talk." Oh dear. We have another kid who loves to talk. Watch out, Nathan.  

Nathan, you have been doing awesome at DDR. While the girls like to play sometimes, I feel like they are still too young to really be able to follow the beat and arrows. (They do like to pick the most challenging songs and then watch us fail at those) Hannah can do 1-3 feet-level songs and Nathan you can start to hit the triplet beats in the more simple songs in standard mode. This has been another outlet for you guys to get your energy out. This coming week, I'm going to break out the Michael Jackson Wii dance game and hopefully cedar season will be ending soon. 

Well, that's all for this week. We are approaching 10 months of social distancing due to COVID-19. The Vaccines are starting to be distributed and hopefully things will start to get back to normal-ish in a few more months. 

Until next week, 

Love, 

Mommy