What a day today has been

This is just a vent blog, so maybe by unloading everything onto the PC I'll be able to clear it from my head. This is a list of things that happened - on top of everything I was dealing with Charly's continuous nattering/whining, Sarah's crankiness, a headache, snow, and all the usual stuff that happens to make more complicated...

-Charly woke me up at 6:40, couldn't get back to sleep so got up with him at 7.
-did puzzles with him until Sarah was up and then hurried to get everyone ready to get out the door
-dropped off kids with a wonderful friend who was brave enough to walk around the mall with them
-went to xray clinic, discovered I didn't have the form needed and they wouldn't call the doc to get it faxed over
-went to doctor's clinic to get a copy of the form
-went home for cell phone which I'd forgotten, also found the form from the doctor beside the cell phone
-went back to xray clinic, waited and got xrays of my neck (tight, clicking noises)
-picked up kids, neither who had been on their best behaviour for my friend
-went to another doctor appt - Sarah pooped while we were in the main waiting room so I changed her when we got into the office to wait for the doc, just finished when Charly announced that he had to go pee. Off to the bathroom, back, saw doc and got prescription to help me get through allergy season
-accountant's office to sign tax form and pay taxes, discovered I had no cheque with me to pay taxes
-got gas because I had been driving on empty and was nervous that we'd run out of gas at any moment
-headed home for lunch
-Quick check of email
-arranged for lady to pick up package at my house tonight, just after 5pm
-cleaning lady had problems with vacuum - had to empty the main canister to get more suction, and 4 minutes later had to take the vacuum brush apart to see why it was smelling like burned rubber
-started chili for potluck supper that I was hosting for supper
-phone call from brother, needed me to pick up a package for him
-finally ate lunch
-went to Purolator to pick up my brother's package
-went to the bank, paid taxes that were due tomorrow and withdrew money
-got home and then got a phone call from tenant - no heat, pipes leaking, dishwasher leaking
-put Sarah down for nap, got Charly on PC, took a shower, had a drink to calm myself down
-cleaned up the kitchen and livingroom to prepare for supper guests
-add spice & onion to chili that I had forgotten earlier
-doorbell rang at 4:50, guy had arrived to de-thatch lawn
-call repair guy, wait for response at 4:55
-kept cleaning until 5:15, get Sarah up from her nap and for some reason she was very sad about life (teething molars, still tired, didn't want her medicine/juice)
-doorbell - lady to drop off a box
-doorbell - my brother to pick up his package
-making and receiving phone calls trying to get someone to look at the heat for the tenant. Finally got neighbour to go over and turn the furnace on (thankfully a very simple fix as I had hoped)
-doorbell - potluck guests arrived
-Sarah calmed down, we all had supper, kids played very well and I finally got a chance to relax and enjoy some adult, female company - so nice!
-guests left, got kids to bed (late of course), watch 1 TV show, check email & Facebook, off to bed
-2:30 am, Sarah awake demanding her bottle, Charly's coughing,..

I have to thank my friends who helped me deal with the kids and help with the tenants. without their help I wouldn't have gotten the x-ray done until Tues and the tenant would have had to wait much longer to get heat.

current challenge

My current challenge is to find reading material for Charly. I want to find stories, or even paragraphs, containing simple words that he can sound out. So far I've found nothing and have resorted to creating my own. This is definitely harder than it should be. I'll try to post some of them, and kind of keep track of his progress. I've been using a book to help teach him to read, we've completed lesson 19 on phonics. We're skipping the writing part because of Charly's complete lack of interest in writing. He is such a perfectionist that to get him to try something that takes practice is hard. Need to think of a good game to turn the writing activity into :)

More Spring craft ideas

Paper plate lady bug http://www.allkidsnetwork.com/crafts/bugs/paper-plate-ladybug.asp

buterfly from hands http://www.allkidsnetwork.com/crafts/bugs/handprint-butterfly.asp

tissue paper tree :http://www.allkidsnetwork.com/crafts/spring/tissue-paper-blossom.asp

Sickness is the theme of this week

Last week charly started getting a cold. Sunday he ate little and Sunday night he started to run a fever of 100F. Nothing changed Tues & Wed. He is suddenly needing naps again because he's up too early and tired by 2pm. Some days he's fought the naps tooth and nail, other days he just collapses. Wed I took him into the doctor and got him some antibiotics for a possible chest infection. He's not wheazing, fortunately. I am keeping a close watch on his breathing but it seems to be just a juicy cough that he has. Yesterday his nose was running even though he was taking cold medication so I stopped the med thinking it wasn't working. Oops, it was working - his nose suddenly started running like a faucet. So yucky!!! got him back on the cold med and his nose is back down to a dribble. I think his fever stopped today so we'll see how he is in the morning. Today he drank more fluids than previous days, but still no appetite for anything other than chocolates (he had 3 Easter chocolates today).

Last night Sarah started running a fever. She kept rubbing her nose all day today but it wasn't running. She was clingy today - they both were - and went to bed fairly early tonight. I hope her fever doesn't last as long as Charly's.

My nose has bveen running on and off, I've been tired and such, but that can be explained by allergies and dealing with the kids. My neck is a bit better today. 1 1/2 weeks ago it started making a snapping/clicking noise when I turned to the left, then the muscles started to get really tight and sore. Saw the chiro twice and he says the muscles are so tight that they are stopping my neck from oving properly. It feels like the top vertibrae is being fulled too far to the left, I guess from the tight muscles. So I've had my husband give me massages, taking pain killers and anti-inflammitories, and rubbing creams on it, and it is not so painful today. I didn't drive anywhere today which also might have helped, since shoulder-checking is really hard on it. Maybe a couple more days of TLC will get it all better.

Yesterday it was 15C here. This morning it was sunny, by noon overcast, late afternoon it started to rain, and this evening it was snowing and blowing so much that the highways were being shut down, lots of accidents, etc.

Can't wait to see what tomorrow brings!

crafts strike

Well our crafting spree is over, or at least now more challenging. Charly doesn't want to do anything organized, like make animals, and just wants to put tape and glue everywhere. So back to the exploration projects ... easier prep work for me! I've taken pictures of the crafts we did do and I'll post them some time this week (maybe). Need to get more glue and tape. Now to figure out new ideas for exploration.... hmmm, maybe coloured sand, glue and paper. Make it Spring-like by using light colours. Sarah's awake, time to run.

Spring Crafts

So I'm going to try to keep a list of the crafts that we have done and/or ones that we want to do. I plan to do a craft each day with Charly, so the list should be long :) Will upload photos of the crafts as we do them. Since Charly is 3 years old, the crafts are simple ones, and most of the ideas come from other sites.


Easter
-Cut out some paper eggs and let the child put stickers on the eggs. glue the eggs onto construction paper. (See top of photo. Bottom is a water painting with Spring colours in it).
-Chick - An oval for chick's body, triangle pointing down for nose, googlie eyes, cut-out handprints attached for wings, write "Happy Easter" on belly (see photo below)
- Chick2 - medium circle for head, large for body, triangle for nose (looking at side of head, beak pointing upward), googlie eye, triangle and rectangles to form feet, glue on feathers for wing
-Bunny face - paper plate, attach ears, glue on ovals and googlie eyes, circles for cheeks and nose, rectangle for teeth. (see photo - next time I'll make the shapes bigger). Can turn this into a mask by cutting out eye holes and attaching string

Spring
-Spring scene: paint green along with bottom of a piece of paper, glue cotton on to make clouds, paint drops of rain all over, glue on circles and rectangles to make flowers, ovals for leaves - can get quite creative with this- add triangles for trees, etc.
- Umbrella - color a paper plate and attach a straw
- egg carton flowers - egg carton, pipe cleaners, tape, green leaves from construction paper
- bunny ears - strip of paper to make a strap around the head, ear shapes - large white, smaller pink - to attach with tape, can also add sticks or straws to keep the ears upright.



-Spring hat - take a paper plate, cut the middle like a pizza (but not to the edges) forming triangles, fold up the triangles and glue flower-tops to them.
-Paper flowers - made from handprints & paper plate http://www.enchantedlearning.com/crafts/paperplate/flowers/
- paper lilies - paper handprint cut out, fingers rolled out by using a pencil, bend the hand into a circle to form the flower with the fingers/petals circling out, attach to straw, tape on green construction paper leaves
- Prints - can do this with any theme - take a cookie cutter shaped like a flower, dip in paint and press onto paper, use a variety of colours. Or dip into glue and then add glitter (if you dare!). (see picture).
- Carnations -take about 3 coffee filters, colour them, paint them with water to make the colours disperse, wait for them to dry, fold the filters up together to form a flower, tie with a pipe cleaner.
- Rocking Duck -colour a paper plate yellow, fold in half to form the body, attach a circle for a head, with googlie eyes and a "u" shaped piece for a beak, then attach yellow