Camping, Catapults, and Trebuchets, Oh My!

So, we went camping over the weekend at a local campground. We have two lakes near-by and they have campgrounds. The boys got to go fishing, swimming, and play in the dirt! What could be more fun for three boys? We had a really good time sitting around the fire and making smores too. The boys loved the tent! Other than Ryan burning his fingers on one of the roasting sticks, and the whole sleeping on the ground thing for Mommy, it was a lot of fun! However, I can't believe that I forgot my camera!
Sunday afternoon I spent doing lots and lots of laundry, while the boys and my husband spent a good deal of time in the garage making a trebuchet. Last summer they made a catapult and so now they made the trebuchet, a castle and a bunch of little 'guys' and things to launch. It's pretty cool when they can get an idea like that and then make it happen.

Fun with chalk and pipe cleaners

Earlier this summer I bought some pipe cleaners, intending to use them for art projects with the kids. However, they have had no interest in making projects this summer so I've just been following their lead. They wanted to use the pipe cleaners to make their own creations so I said sure! They each made themselves a 'hands-free cell phone' for their ears, and then they just started making a bunch of things... a headband, an alien 'costume', a DNA strand, and a tail. I love it when they are creative. We also were able to spend some time outside using sidewalk chalk. Ryan recently learned to write his name, so he wrote that a few times and then was drawing all over. I "made" Lucas practice some math and then he made a racetrack. Andrew loved scribbling on his big brothers drawings.

Smiley Faces

I made a previous post about our new family rules, and since then we've been trying to come up with a plan for what to do if the rules get broken. So last week after some very bad behavior, I came up with a plan... happy faces. I made each of the older two children a chart with their names on it, and then on the side I listed some rewards that they can EARN. Right now the rewards are going camping, going to the pool, and going go-karting/mini-golfing. If they earn 10 smiley faces each then they get the reward, if they don't earn ten, then they don't go. They can earn the faces by following the rules, and/or by helping another family member. It seems to be working okay so far.
Ideally, I've never been one who was big on rewards, punishments, etc. but to be honest the kids behavior was getting out of control! We had even resorted to spanking on occasion and that's something I try to avoid. So for now we are going to use the charts, and hopefully if things improve we can phase them out later.

Vacation Photos

Well, in better late than never fashion here are a few photos of our family vacation to Mt. Rushmore KOA/Palmer Gulch Lodge. You can see our cabin, the bandlands, Mt. Rushmore, a black bear that was next to our van at Bear Country, and lastly the big boys w/ their fingers up the nose of one of the President's on Mt. Rushmore in Wall Drug.

My toddler just dumped out an entire box of cereal...

onto the floor. Oh yes, he did! And, its not even the first time he's done that this week!

Magnetic Letter Activities

Once a month for the summer, the school sends my 5yr. old a "Kindergarten Packet" with some little activities in them. They aren't required, but they are a good way to introduce kids to what they will be doing in K. My oldest loved them when he was this age, and so far Ryan thinks they are okay. The most recent one had a bag of magnetic letters in it, along with some games and worksheets that can be used with the letters. One of the ideas is to put them on a cookie sheet and find the letters in their name and other family members names, make small words like cat, find all the red letters, etc. A few years ago I hung up a new cookie sheet w/ a piece of ribbon on the wall of the playroom. (You should be able to see it there in the picture next to the chalk board that my DH painted and then framed.) Then I just keep the letters in a bag and the kids can use them whenever they want. They also sent along a letter strip to hang up and letter cards to play a game with. Ryan knows all of his letters, and many of their sounds so he beat me when we played the game! LOL. Of course my little one couldn't be left out of any of the activities!

Family Rules

Over the weekend we made up a poster of Family Rules and hung them up, in hopes of helping everyone in our family get along better. They are as follows:

1. Treat others the way you want to be treated. Be kind to each other, respect each other.
2. Clean up after yourselves, help others clean too.
3. Spend more time together. Family nights are once a week. Spend less time watching/playing electronics alone.
4. Communication is important. Listen to each other. Answer if someone is talking to you. Don't walk away if someone is speaking to you.
5. Use your indoor voice in the house. No screaming inside!
6. Do as you are asked to do.

Today was Lucas' last day of Archery for this summer, and he also had a dentist appointment this afternoon. No cavities as usual! :) Ryan also had his weekly play therapy this afternoon and I think it went well. It's rainy out and I'm tired. My project for this week is to come up with some good consequences if the rules are not followed. I'm also trying to come up with a good cleaning schedule that I can make work so that our house is not such a mess all the time.