It's a BOY!!

Blair gave birth to a beautiful baby boy today! Thomas William is Blair's latest blessing! And he's a cutie! Congratulations B family! Can't wait to meet him! Vincent is so excited to have a new playmate!

Anna reciting poetry

Here's Anna reciting her first poem of the year, George Washington by Stephen Vincent Benet. I had to record in 2 parts so that the file was small enough to download from my Blackberry. Enjoy!

Part 1:




Part 2 :

The preschool math lesson that was never taught/completed .....

... because Catherine was too logical and smarter than the teacher (who shall remain nameless).

Today we were working on the concepts alike and different. On the first page she had to circle the objects that were alike. Each row had 4 objects (like 4 kites) and she had to circle the 2 that were identical.

EASY.

The next page she had to cross out the one item that was different from the other 3 objects in that row (3 penguins with ties while 1 penguin wore a scarf).

EASY.

The next page she had to match the items that were alike or went together (pen with paper, fork with plate, paintbrush with paint, etc.).

EASY

Slowly the exercises are building up to this one and this is were I was stumped. Ready? Remember, I went to graduate school and couldn't explain this to Catherine (who just turned 5 two days ago). Ready?

Which one of these does not belong?




Attempt #1: Catherine, which one of these doesn't belong? She couldn't tell. So I thought I would prompt her with easy questions.

Catherine, what do you do with a hat? She doesn't know.
Catherine, do you wear a hat? No, she says she isn't wearing one.
But you do wear a hat, right? No, she says she puts them on her head but doesn't wear them on her body.
But your head is on your body, right? Yes, it is.
So you DO wear a hat. No, hers is lost.
But people wear hats, right? What people?

*sigh*

Attempt #2: How about a tie? What do yo do with a tie? Do you wear ties? No, she doesn't.
But people wear ties? Yes, they do.
So people wear ties AND hats?! No, she's never seen people wear cowboy hats with ties.
Well, no, they don't have to wear them together but ... Oh! So ties and hats don't go together! Do I cross them out?
NO! Don't cross them out!

Attempt #3: Catherine, which of these things do you wear? Socks. I don't have any ties and I lost my hat.
Okay, but what do people wear? Which people? She wants me to be more specific?
Daddy's (I wince as I say this hoping she gets it)?? Daddy wears socks and ties. He only has baseball hats and not a cowboy hat.
Okay, but let's pretend he has a cowboy hat. Would he wear it? No! And starts laughing at the idea.

I was getting ready for attempt #4 when Anna came up and asked me if I was ready to go. Perfect timing! Lesson to be continued ......

*EDITED* Just came back to add more. I read this to Craig tonight. I was afraid it would be boring and that I would be the only one to find humor in my story. When I got to the part of "which one does not belong?" I paused to allow Craig to answer.

Craig: The tie.
Me: WHAT? Are you serious?
Craig: Yeah, the tie.

At this point I'm thinking he's just trying to give me a hard time.

Me: Why the tie?
Craig: Because the other 3 hold volume and the tie doesn't.
Me: What? You think a preschool math book expects a child to see that one can not hold volume? What about 3 can be worn and one (the vase) can't.
Craig: That works, too. So what's the answer?
Me: What's the answer? Are you serious?
Craig: Yeah, what's the answer?

Me: The book doesn't come with answers. Its preschool! The answers should be obvious.
Craig: Well, I thought it was the tie.

And he walked away.

**Maybe this latter part isn't funny either but its cracking me up. Maybe tomorrow I should ask Catherine, "Sweetie, which one of these is different?" To which she'll reply, "The tie, mommy." ROFLOL! Because up until 5 minutes ago I would have shaken my head and said try again. Maybe she actually does get it and is just an out-of-the-box thinker like her daddy and not square like me!! **

LOL!!!

10 Surprising Things About Me Meme

Colleen tagged me and this is probably a good way to get back into blogging. So here it goes!

1. I didn't learn English until I was almost five. Today, none of my kids speak fluent Spanish. :-/

2. I prefer to always wear skirts. But about 4-5 years ago I never thought I'd own enough skirts to wear them fulltime. I only take a break when I'm pregnant since I don't have enough maternity skirts. My kids now think I look funny in pants/capris. LOL!

3. When I pick up a good fiction book, I can't put it down. I will stay up until 5am to finish if need be.

4. I don't read much fiction since starting homeschooling and having so many kids. See #3.

5. I wish I had prettier cursive writing. My handwriting isn't ugly. It just isn't as pretty as I'd like. I notice handwriting when reading cards. My friend, Beverly, probably has the prettiest. I'd link to her but she isn't blogging at her blog!! *hint ... hint* ;-)

6. Growing up money was very tight. We NEVER ate out. NEVER! No drive thru, restaurants for special occasions, etc.

7. We eat out way too much. My 22 mos old can "read" take out signs. "M" is the first alphabet letter my kids learn.

8. Growing up my dad took my sister and I to the library every week. I love books and love to read.

9. I don't take my kids to the library at all. We amass to many fines. My goal is to build my own library. We currently have 10 bookshelves full of books. If Dave Ramsey, Laura Schlessinger, Gregory Popcak, Ray Guarendi, Rush Limbaugh, etc. recommend a book, I probably have it.

10. My favorite store is Half Price Books. Some of Craig and mine's/my/our first dates ..... (just learned about nouns in the collective possessive ... how do I write Craig and I .... besides saying our??) Some of our first dates were to Half Price Books. We would spend hours there. I usually hit the out of print books while he stayed in the how to/wood working section. Now, I'm lucky to get 30 mins.

I tag:
Jennie at Far Beyond Pearls,
Brenda at Life As We Know It,
Michelle at Familia Hinckley,
'Neen at All This and Heaven,
and
Kristin at A Catholic Riddle.

Thanks for getting me back here, Colleen!