Baby's First Haircut

I'll let her tell you about it:

Cleaning House? Bake Cookies!

by Megan

Mommy and Daddy were gone on Friday night, so the kids were keeping house.  I wanted to have the house clean and surprise Mommy when she came home, so I got up on Saturday morning and baked chocolate chocolate chip cookies.  I told everyone that they could have one cookie for every cleaning task they completed.  It worked like a charm!

An hour later, dishes had been washed and the trash was empty.  Toys were put away.  Mirrors, toilets, toasters, sinks, a shower, and the kitchen counters had been cleaned.  Floors and stairs had been swept or vacuumed.  (Ben and Hannah were actually fighting over the vacuum!)  Ben was in tears when he could think of any tasks he could do, and I had to think fast to come up with something.  When they were done, everyone had earned around 5 cookies.  (It's sadly indicative of the state of our house that there was still a lot of work left to be done.)

Just so no one thinks I was being a lazy tyrant, I'll explain myself.  I didn't force anyone to do anything; they could earn as few or as many cookies as they wanted, or they could do absolutely nothing.  It was up to them.  I wasn't doing nothing this whole time.  In fact, I was chaotically busy.  I had to mix up cookies, scoop them, and bake them, while coming up with age-appropriate chores, checking the kids' work, answering their questions, and instructing them on how to clean mirrors and floors.  After that, I had to do a few chores myself, since I wanted some of my own cookies.  I wasn't making others do my work, I was providing positive and effective motivation.  :)

Beware the Loch Russell Monster!

I just realized that we haven't posted anything on our blog in weeks, though we promised to.  I offer sincere apologies for this lapse and shall attempt to make it up to you by posting about our camping trip to New Hampshire.  I love the roads in NH, especially the Kancamagus highway.  You can tell you're close when you look out the window and rather than the tunnel of trees that you see in CT, you are driving along the side of a mountain, overlooking the valley below you.  It is a gorgeous view. 

This year, it was a bit warmer, so we could enjoy the Russell pond to it's fullest, even though we were worried about the Loch Russell Monster, affectionately known as Russie.  I think the videos and pictures will explain better than I can.

 Amanda

Technology Obsessed Americans?

I'm finally back!  Our internet connection has been out for almost two weeks.  Daddy had a terrible time with AT&T to get it back. 

When I first complained about the lack of internet, Mommy launched into one of her 'evil society' rants.  She said it would be good for us to go without our computer for awhile; that we're just like the rest of Americans who can't be away from their internet for even a minute.  That got me thinking.  Is that true?  Are we addicted to our computer?  Is that a bad thing?

Over the next two weeks, we all repeatedly turned to our computers several times a day to look something up, only to remember with frustration that we couldn't. 
On Friday, there were several things from camping that we wanted information on.  Does Google Maps have a bird's eye view of the campground we were in?  Are there any news stories about the rescue helicopter and vehicles we saw?  How many satellites are there in the night sky?
On Saturday, my great uncle visited.  He said I look like Scarlett Johansson.  I wanted to find a picture of her and see if that was true.
On Sunday, I wanted to check the DMV site to see how driving regulations change when you're over 18.  Am I allowed to drive with siblings in the car now?
On Tuesday, Nathan needed to check his email to find out the time of his first Boy Scout meeting.
On Wednesday, we wanted to check Google Maps again to see if I could walk to the house of the kids I'm babysitting.  (Turns out they're practically our next-door neighbors.)
And so it went.  Nathan wanted to check out some Boy Scout infomation.  I wished I could research the facts behind several books I read.  Mommy needed to know if the insects swarming on our steps were termites or ants.  And of course, I wanted to check my email, post on the blog, and read the news.

So, are we addicted?  Yes.  Is that a bad thing?  I don't believe it is.  The internet is a source of information.  Some of the things we wanted to know were merely to satisfy curiosity, others were useful or practical, and some were educational.  I think our addiction proves that we're curious.  We're used to having a wealth of information, an answer to every question, just seconds away.  I don't like having that cut off.

By the way, I will hopefully be posting every day for the next couple days to catch up.  Expect camping, kittens, and more!

~Megan~

Why Go Camping?

I don't know why camping is such an attraction.  After all, it's completely illogical.  Why would anyone want to pack up half their house, drive out into the woods, get eaten by mosquitoes, covered in dirt, and sleep on the ground?  Yet we still love to camp.  We like waking up on a chilly morning, listening to the birds, watching the sun rise and burn off the mist.  Bacon and eggs fried on the camp stove taste better than ones made at home.  The whole thing doesn't really make much sense.

Last week, some of us took it to an even more illogical level.  We forgot the girls' tent when we went camping at Macedonia Brook State Park, so Amanda, Nathan, Joshua, and I elected to set up our air mattresses outside, alone with the stars, mosquitoes, and wild animals.  (And those evil park rangers who take delight in sneaking up on unsuspecting campers and scaring them to death, but that's another story.)

Our campsite

Hannah and Ben listening to Nathan tell a story

When we got to the campground on Tuesday evening, Mommy and Daddy had the rare pleasure of sitting at the picnic table watching while the kids set up camp.  We put up the tent, unloaded the car, inflated the air mattresses, and filled the water jug while they ate supper.

The next day we mostly just relaxed.  We played Monopoly for most of the morning.  In the afternoon, I got in a little driving practice to run up to Kent to get ice cream, Sprite, and chocolate.  (I know, we were in a weird mood.)  Most of us took naps, read a book, or carved sticks until dinner.  It was a pretty lazy day.

Thurday morning we took a short walk and played around in the brook a little before packing up and heading home.  I think the following pictures will describe anything I missed.

Hannah cuddling with her Daddy

Ben with a Rice Krispie treat

Josh playing with burnt sticks and getting his hands messy

Nathan and I practicing sign language

Amanda coaxing Mommy across a fallen log

Hannah with her hair in a ponytail 

(She took it out shortly after.)

~Megan~

First Day of School

Today was the first day of school for us.  Amanda worked with Ben a bit and Mommy worked with Josh.  Then Mommy had us all doing stretches in the kitchen, which turned out to be rather amusing.  I finished drawing schedules for Amanda and Nathan with my new colored pencils, but I still have to do ones for Josh and Ben.  I think we've gotten a pretty good start on the year.  I tried to interview my family to get some comments on the subject, but no one had anything to say except Nathan, who says, "So far I've had fun.  I look forward to the rest of the year."

~Megan~

Kayak Tipping and Runaway Kites

Mommy gave us a valuable and fascinating lesson on Thursday- how to right a tipped kayak.  We were at the beach, kayaking on the bay.  When Mommy and Daddy came back from their kayak trip, the rest of us thought it would be fun to go out to meet them and hitch a ride.  Apparently, while trying to throw Josh off the back of the boat, Daddy leaned too far over and tipped the kayak.  Fortunately, the water in the bay is only 2-3 feet deep and most of us were wearing our life vests.  

Mommy took advantage of the opportunity to show us something she had learned at camp as a child- how to turn our boat back over again.  It's a lot harder than I expected.  You have to get underneath it and push straight up, or else you only get more water in it and risk sinking it altogether.  Kayaks full of water are heavy.  It took us multiple tries before we got it upright with only an inch or two or water inside.  It was fun though.

On the beach side, we broke out the kites.  The boys each had a new kite, so when added to Amanda's and Daddy's, we could have had five kites in the air at once.  It turned out that one of them was broken, so we ended up with four.  As it was, they had to spread out quite a bit to keep from tangling their strings.  

Kites escaped from their fliers several times, leaving someone scrambling down the beach after them.  Hannah let go of Amanda's once, and Nathan's string broke.  It flew a ways down the beach before it landed, and then he and Amanda had to go retrieve it.  Nathan almost got hands tied up in the string when he tried to wind it up.  I wish I had a video!

~Megan~