Delk Saturday School

One of the problems at the Delk house is that there is no set place to put mail. It has not caused too many late payments on anything, but it did cause a scuffle with Joe and I the other day.

You see, a few days ago I found a cute yellow envelope addressed to me! I love getting mail! Since this was the first I had seen of it, I naturally assumed that Joe had placed it there the day before since he was the one to get the mail. Inside the envelope was this...



A cute summery card. And inside the card was this...



Clippings for Isaac's ABC chart sent from Grammy Delk!! I got excited, Isaac got excited, it was an exciting time in the house. When Joe got home that night I shared with him our bounty, and he said, "Yeah, that card has been here for a while. I thought you just didn't want to open it."

WHAT?!? Are you kidding me?! To which I replied, "Great, Joe. Now your mom is going to think I hate her or something because we haven't done anything with the clippings yet and I haven't updated the blog with the kids' work." Geez.

All that to say- Grammy Delk, Thank you for the card and the clippings! The kids were so excited to get a card from Grammy, they thought it was your birthday and started singing. (I was bad and didn't get video of that, but believe me it happened!) The reason we haven't done anything before now is because 1. Your middle son is terrible about letting me know when I have mail and 2. I had to wait til the weekend because week nights are busy.

So, here is Day 1 of Delk Saturday School. Isaac used all the clippings and added them ot the ABC chart.



Andy didn't help with the chart, but he wanted to have a picture too.



Abby had the option of getting her picture made, but she wouldn't stop throwing a fit, so she was told to go upstairs instead.

After ABC, we worked on math. I bought a CD of Pre-K curriculum last year and I printed off some of the activities for Isaac to use. This was a fruit number sort. Andy helped.







Great job, boys!!



I'm sure you can hear Abby being annoying in the background.

But wait, we aren't done yet!
Yesterday when I picked the kids up from daycare Ms. Patty (the twins' teacher) told me that Abby made an observation about her shirt. (Ms. Patty's shirt was from the beach- it had a palm tree on it) Abby went up to Patty , pointed to her shirt, and said, "That's a Chicka-Boom-Boom shirt!" Which inspired Patty to get out the book Chicka Chicka Boom Boom and read it to the class. What a smart daughter I have!

So, we made Chicka Chicka Boom Boom trees today for our art/ writing activity. We used construction paper, sticky sided foam board, apples that doubled as coconuts, and markers.
Isaac and Andy got to do the activity first since Abby was in time-out upstairs.



Isaac and Andy adding their letters to their trees.



Isaac and his finished Chicka Boom Boom tree. I didn't get a pic of Andy with his. They are all on my fridge, so feel free to stop by to see them. :)

By the time Abby finished her tantrum and returned to the dining room there were only scraps left for her tree. I can just hear Grammy Pat now, "Oh Jocelyn, couldn't you find another piece for Abby?" Well, no. No I couldn't. If she wanted a full piece she should have sucked up her tantrum earlier.

In all honesty, she didn't seem to notice. I did make her new leaves for the tree, no scraps there.



She was very proud of her work, and so was I. She insisted on getting 2 pictures made, but I am only putting one on here.



What smart children I have! Unless something happens and we are out of town, I really want Delk Saturday School to continue. The Pre-K CD I bought has a years worth of lessons and games, so we'll have plenty to do!

Joe's garden

Joe's garden has done wonderfully this season. Joe would probably disagree since he knows all the plants that have thrived or died, but I know what my kitchen counter tells me. We have lots of veggies.
Joe has already pickled okra and canned 2 jars of tomatoes, with more on the counter just waiting. He also told me that he almost has enough okra for another jar. Travis and Kayla have already enjoyed a jar- not pickled. They know that real okra is fried.

One crop that I know Joe has been waiting for finally came in, but not how he expected.



Any guesses as to what these are? Well, due to the recent drought and high temperatures, they are deformed cucumbers! Joe brought them in and just had to laugh. I don't know if he's hoping for more from the same plant or if they are a bust, but I think it's pretty funny!

So, what does one do with deformed cucumbers? Give them to the kids to play with!



Here's Abby using hers as a camera!



Then she realized that it was food of some sort, so she took a big bite. I asked Joe if they had been cleaned, but he seemed unconcerned. He told me that Snoopy never peed on them in the garden, so they were OK. (It's comments like those that make me worry about his judgment in some things)



Andy decided that he wanted to eat his too.
Abby worked on hers the rest of the morning. Andy wasn't impressed, so Abby worked on his too.

If we do get some non-deformed cucumbers this season, I plan on preparing them they way Gommy Bradley used to. I guess we'll just have to wait and see!

Silly Saturday

Well, I survived my first week at school. All the Delks are home today, and we are enjoying a day of rest. (and cleaning)

The kids decided to celebrate this day by using their imaginations, and Daddy, to become... well... birds. Of a sort.



Abby Bird



Isaac Bird



Hmmm, I feel like watching Peter Pan after this.

As a side note, I know a few people really enjoyed Delks summer school. I plan on doing stuff with the kids throughout the year, but it probably won't be daily. I have, however, created a blog to follow my classroom this year. Check it out!

www.generaldelksarmy.blogspot.com

The Wright brothers have their best day EVER!

Aside from being born, the recently birthed Wright brothers experienced their best day ever yesterday!

Could it be because Benjamin is now off his feeding tube and has taken a bottle for over 24 hours now? Nope!

Could it be because they are both gaining weight like champs and are now both a little over 5 pounds? Nope!

It's because..... Auntie Jojo came to visit them! They are so lucky! Their day started out so average, so hum-drum, so unexciting. But when Auntie Jojo is in the room, it's a party!



I let him know that his adopted Grammy Pat was going to be watching. Ben is a hoot. Always moving, wanting to see what's going on. He also has monkey arms and long fingers. I have decided that he is going to be one of two things... a pitcher for the Braves, or a concert pianist.

I can hear Grammy Pat now, "Why can't he be both?" Well, I guess he can, but that's a lot of training time. And he has plenty of time to decide; we can wait till he's 3.

So, after bring cleaned up a bit, he got to eat first. He's a hard-core bottle drinker. He also has a slight drinking problem that hopefully won't carry on to adulthood.



He did ok in this position, but it wouldn't let him express himself as an individual.



"Um, Mom? It's about me now..." Lots of drooling and forgetting to breathe. (I can understand that. Breathing can be sooo difficult sometimes.) Don't worry, he always remembered after a second. Besides, I'm pretty sure he was doing it as an attention getter. :)



So, after a diaper change to wake the kid back up, Mom (Melissa, aka Aunt Kitty) thought he might do better sitting up. Surprise! He did! Melissa also gave him the job of holding his own spit-up cloth. As it turns out, that was all it took. He just wanted to have a more active role in this "eating" business! And, he's already following directions! That bodes well for later!

So, what was brother doing during all this excitement?



Well, to be fair, it wasn't his feeding time yet, so he had no reason to be entertaining. When the clock hit 8:00pm he woke up ready to go! Which was good timing because Benny had just finished and was ready to have a chat with Auntie Jojo.



We discussed all the important topics; world trade, religion, pop culture, future friends in the neighborhood, the female population available to them...the good stuff.

Then it was Matt's turn to be impressive.



One thing you need to know about Matt, he's an opportunist. He knows he's got a good thing going. Sleep all day, flirt with hot nurses, new rotations of cute girl babies almost every day, food on demand... it's a baby's dream! Basically, he doesn't see the need to get gung-ho with the bottle just yet.

He'll get it eventually when Ben gets to go home to play with his furry brothers. (Racer, Bender and Jasper; cats for those of you who don't know) But, for now he's a happy camper.



Melissa tried bribery, but he might have to be older for it to work. He did do well, and he tried hard. After I turned off the camera he cheesed big time, the punk.

With Matt being the shorter and rounder of the two, and with his facial expressions and impeccable timing, I see him as a future politician or a cattle rancher. I think he would be too cute with a cowboy hat! And I can see him giving important speeches that would save the world. (like enacting President Bartlett's secret plan to fight inflation!) :)

With Matt taking all of Mommy and Aunt Jojo's attention, Ben decided it was his turn to take a break.



I have a feeling this one is just like Abby. The only time he's not moving is when he's sleeping.

Eating turned out to be too tiring for little Matty. He finished his bottle through his tube and went back to sleep.



Thus concluded their best day ever. I like to think this day will stay in their memory for years to come. And if it doesn't, at least I can show them this blog.

Keep growing little guys!

Day 11- Last day of summer school

Ummmm... we didn't actually do anything. But I did start a project that will be included in their Delk School experience.

To start, today I went through our DVD collection and my 5 book shelves upstairs and came up with 3.5 bags of books and 1 HUGE bag of DVDs to take to McKays. I have to re-do my "bookstore" at school since the books I currently have are 2nd-3rd grade level books. I need stuff my new little babies can read! So, summer cleaning is going to help my babies. (at home and school)

While at McKays, I will be looking for easy books, hopefully ones that have easy recognizable rhymes, like Itsy-bitsy Spider, for my home project. If I can't find any in book form, I can print them off from the Internet. No biggie.

My big plan is to make the kids some Reading Baggies that include a book, or rhyme, some manipulatives (like stick puppets) and a game. (comprehension, or matching, etc)

What am I going to need... well, let me show you what I have done so far...

We finished off a roll of aluminum foil, so I yanked the cardboard core away before the kids could tear it up. (or turn it into a wand, sword, beating stick, etc)

Andy had his speech therapy today (he did exceptionally well) and one of the activities he did was read an Itsy-bitsy Spider book that Ms. Jamie had; hand motions and all. So, I decided to turn the cardboard core into a rain stick!



Cardboard core, foil (for the ends), beans (gotta have some rain!), extra scrapbook paper (from the owl wreath), glue, scissors, computer (playing my Broadway station). Ready Freddy!



Beans inside and ends covered! (Kids upstairs getting baths- I did this late tonight)
Cut scrapbook pieces, glue and tape the ends...



Ta-da!! Rain stick! Actually, it looks like a big thing of Mentos. (remember that candy?) I showed it to the kids before they went to bed and everyone got to play with it.

All I need now is a gallon sized baggie, the book or rhyme, puppets, game and the rain stick. Everything goes in the bag and PRESTO! A fluency/ comprehension/ fun baggie the kids can play with, while learning at the same time! (under supervision and tutelage.)

I'll do a new post when the baggie is complete! Hopefully tomorrow. I'm already planning an outing early in the morning to get everything. Don't know what Joe is going to do, but I think baseball might be included. (big surprise, right?)

OH, and one more thing!



New wreath! :)

Day 10- A day at the gym

My church friend, Jennifer Brewer, had the genius idea to reserve the church gym today for a few hours. It big, it's open, it's AIR CONDITIONED! Jennifer has 2 little boys. Cole is between the twins and Isaac in age; Cooper is still a baby.

We had a great time! Jennifer brought her riding toys, and the church has basketballs. We all brought lunches so we had a 'picnic' lunch on the floor. We ended up being the only ones to show us, everyone else had other plans. It didn't matter. The kids had a great time and the moms got to hang out with another adult.

After lunch, Mr. Steve came for a visit. Mr. Steve is the head of the Children's Ministry at East Brainerd C of C. He is also GREAT with kids. He is the 'baby whisperer'. I have yet to meet a child who doesn't like Steve. He joined in the fun and had a great workout... just watch the video!



We'll have to plan better for next summer and do this more often!



Isaac giving a wave. He didn't eat lunch, whined like a baby at the thought of a nap, and is passed out upstairs as I type this. Sigh.



Little Miss Diva. You can imagine how much she liked being the only girl. She was thrilled when Mr. Steve came to play with her.



Caught his face between a smile and a... something else.



Baby Cooper. I think he had fun pretending to be a big kid. :)



A happier look at Andy, and Mr. Steve is getting tired!

Just one more day at home! I'll have to think of something good!

Um... Kristy might have created a monster...

Now I'm addicted! Once my brain latches on to something, it will stay there; at least until it latches on to something else.

So, here are my new creations...



Cute huh? I was going to use a butterfly, but the flower looked cuter.

Now, the next one was a brain fart. I had planned on using the little turtle I have, but the colors didn't match right so I had to be creative all on my own. You know that doesn't always go well. So here it is...



It's.... different. Interesting.

"Interesting" is also the code word Joe has to use when I make him a new dish for dinner and he doesn't really like it. Maybe someone artsy-fartsy will see it and fall in love.

I know what you're wondering, "What is she going to do with these?" The answer is, I have no idea. I'm really just making them for the hay of it. If you want one, let me know. It would be really easy to get some little wooden letters, paint them, then put them on the wreath.

Maybe one day I'll branch out to other things, but until then you're stuck with me making wreaths!