Hooray for May!

Did you know that Pizza Hut does a reading program for grades K-6 during the school year? I set reading goals with the kids and they work to meet them to earn their coupons for a free personal pan pizza each month October-April. They feel so grownup when I pull up to Pizza Hut and let them go in by themselves with their coupons to pick up their pizzas. This was the last one for the school year and we took them to the park and made a picnic out of it.

{Tommy, Katie, Dancy}

This bunny is still so adorable to us!

Vern's birthday with May 1, so Shad's whole family (minus Cherean) got together to celebrate this seventy-year-old and play Top Golf.

{Vern}

{Shad}

{Levi, Shad, Dan}

Meanwhile, the kids and I hung out with my mom. Samson and Thora "played" Guess Who? together, but Thora ditched out before I snapped this picture.

Tommy and I drew with chalk on the driveway. I drew the Viking ship and beach...

he drew the forest. There are spiders in the trees, but they blend in too well.

Katie tried some leftover wonton soup I had in the fridge from the weekend Shad and I had without kids. She fell in love with it and we discussed that we could find a recipe and make it ourselves. We discovered that making wontons is a buttload of work! Next time we'll do it with another adult to make the process more functional and faster. But we had fun doing something new and listening to serene, traditional Chinese music, the kind that transports me back to the beautiful, peaceful parks in China with the same music playing from speakers hidden in the treetops.

{Dancy, Tommy, Katie}

Just a little bedtime dance party. Sorry it's dark. There was a light on in the room.

Shad finally built benches for our table (which I didn't take a picture of) and we can fit 5 kids on one side! However, it's more comfortable and there's less poking if we spread them out.

{Samson, Tommy, Katie, Dancy, Thora}

Katie puts me through hell sometimes. I don't know if she or Thora in all her threenager glory is my most difficult child. It's a toss-up. If I ever suggest Katie do something (learn to read, play piano, ride a bike), I'm met with tears and made to feel like I'm the meanest person in the world. Katie had already jumped at the chance to try riding a bike in Salvation Army. Then one of her training wheels fell off at home when she was riding with her friend Anna, who rides without training wheels. So I took the other off and announced that we were done with them. Katie spent time that night trying to ride with Anna's coaching. But then a week went by and nothing happened. Then one night Shad and I were both home and had time to teach her, so I suggested that she should do that instead of playing with friends. Cue the tears and guilt trips! After arguing back and forth because Katie and I are both stubborn and stand our ground ("I don't WANT to learn to ride my bike!" "BS, yes, you do!"), Shad stepped in and an hour later he came running into the house so I could come see Katie riding.

Shad asked if we could go out to dinner to celebrate Katie's success, so IHOP was chosen.

{Katie, Shad, Samson}

{Katie, Shad, Samson}

She does smile. Sometimes.

{Thora and Megan}

{Megan and Dancy}

{Dancy, Tommy, Katie}

Tommy bought a toolbox after our Home Depot workshop. Samson carried it out.

Silly orangutan with a bucket on his head!

{Dancy}

We started listening to audiobooks during meals. I used to read Magic Tree House aloud, but now with five kids, the interruptions are too many and it takes me five minutes to get through a single page...let alone being able to eat my own meal. So I tested it out with How to Eat Fried Worms. It took a few reminders for the kids to remember they aren't allowed to talk or sing while the book is turned on, but they picked it up. That's the number one reason I love having book time during meals--no one spends the whole meal time talking instead of eating! And vice versa, the kids have full mouths and don't get bored during the reading. After Worms on CD, I started getting everything digitally through the Libby app on my phone. Just searched "Roald Dahl" and put everything on hold. I'm still waiting for some books that I put on hold April 6! But we've been able to listen to George's Marvelous Medicine, Alice in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass (by Lewis Carroll), The BFG, Fantastic Mr. Fox and Other Animal Stories, The Witches, Matilda, and all but one hour of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. That's one thing I don't like about the digital borrows--they return automatically and there's no delaying it by one hour or one day. Anyway, one day the kids finished their meal and we wanted to keep listening. Someone started coloring, and I had paper plates handy, so I passed out plates, crayons, and scissors.

{Tommy, Dancy, Katie, Thora, Samson}

Katie made a tiger mask.

We're still waiting on Hatchet, The Magician's Nephew, Danny the Champion of the World, James and the Giant Peach, and Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator. Some still have an estimated 8 weeks on them. But my favorite part about the digital audio is that they automatically check out to me and download. I also like listening to my own books on double speed. That way I actually get through them! For the kids I just do 1.25 speed. It gets us through a little faster, but the kids can still understand it easily.