The Balcony Garden

A mid-summer update on the garden on our small balcony. In the late spring, I planted two tomato plants, a bowl of basil, and geraniums in the flower window box.

A mourning dove nested in the flower box almost immediately. She legit wouldn't move and allowed us to get really close. She had two eggs in her nest and by the time we returned from our beach trip, she and her babes were gone leaving just dying geraniums infested with aphids. So, we dumped the box and started over with some white lantana.

 

 

Meanwhile, my tomatoes turned into trees. I did a much better job this year preparing cages for them so they are doing a lot better than last year and just this week, some are finally ripe to enjoy.

The kids got tiny marigold seed plant kits back in the spring and we planted them in a small pot. It has taken months but we have a few blooms.

Kip plated cucumber seeds at the garden party event at his school in the spring. We re-potted it in a large pot on the balcony and it is climbing like crazy. We have TONS of blossoms but only three little cucumbers have appeared. Obviously, this pot is much too small for a plant like this but if we get even one edible cucumber from this, I'll consider it a success.

My first basil bowl was a flop so we planted another variety and it is doing okay. Growing stuff is hard in general (we're just guessing as we go) but this year has also been tough with all the smoke coming into our area from the fires in Canada. I'm sure the plants feel the stress of that more than we realize. 

The kids' garden in the backyard has really struggled to take off. We aren't sure if it's the soil (very sandy) the shade (this area is super shady most of the day) or animals (some bunny or bird eating the plants). It's likely some combination of issues. It's still cute and a fantastic project, we just think there are a lot of external forces working against its success. We feel like the pumpkins should be sprawling by this point, no? Did we plant too soon?

Those aren't weeds in the front, they are wildflowers without blooms.

Summer 'Worky' and Library Reading Programs

Kip's teacher didn't assign any summer homework but we assigned a little summer work to keep up with his kinder skills and stay ready for first grade. Because Kip has a hard time with academic expectations, we've done our best to keep things simple and low key. 

He has to do two pages from this summer bridge workbook which has a variety of skills throughout (and takes him about 5 minutes to complete if he focuses). We have him write his name at the top of the page for each day (to writing practice, spelling last name correctly, and remembering to put his name on his work). He has to read aloud one book of his choice (for reading practice) and complete a couple of pages from a math workbook. Some days are more of a struggle than others, but he has stayed consistent, and I can already tell it has proved a benefit in preventing slides. 

He even started using the proper pencil grasp!

We continue to read aloud to him, and he is starting to enjoy listening to chapter books like the Henry Heckelbeck series and Junie B. Jones.

Sometimes he enjoys reading aloud to Ivy!

 

Both kids are registered for the summer reading program at two local libraries. 

 

One program is through the neighboring town (population ~45,000) which has a much larger library and much more organized program. However, there are no age brackets. Each kid has to log 25 hours in the app. I have to scan the ISBN numbers on the books and input the amount of minutes read each day. For an older kid plowing through chapter books, this is easy. Imagine logging board books that take 1-3 minutes to read? x 2 kids. There is no way Ivy will finish this program. We are trying our best with Kip since we can usually get about 15-30 minutes a day of either us reading to him or a combination of him reading to us. The other issue with this program is the prizes. When Mandy and I were kids the prize for completing the summer reading program was a ticket to the Six Flags amusement park. Our family went to the amusement park ONCE a year - at the end of summer, we when got our tickets from the reading program. That prize was a HUGE motivator and incentive for participating in the program. 

 

For the program Kip and Ivy are in, these are the prizes:

 

 

For every 2 hours read they get one crayon. Yeah, that's right. A crayon. When they finish the program they will have a completed box of crayons (like the kind your get a restaurant). For what? We don't know. We have to complete the program to find out. Now, if my five year old is disappointed in receiving a crayon after reading for 2 hours...how does a fifth grader feel? I'd feel like I don't want to participate in the program. Look, as an adult, I know it's not about the prizes but for a kid...it kinda is.

Okay, so what about the raffle? Each kid earns a ticket for every 30 minutes read. So at the end of the program you'd have 50 tickets, right? Plus an extra 25 IF you finish. So 75 tickets to enter in the raffle. Below are the prizes they will raffle off. Cool if you win one, but what are the odds of that?

 

Because this program feels so steep, we also registered the kids for the program at our local town library (population ~10,000). We've done this program two years in a row now and it's a flop (a lot less organized, a lot more lame) but at least they set achievable goals for younger ages! Each kid needs to log 15 books either they read or have read to them. Every 5 books earns a small prize (think Oriental Trading...or random SWAG like a lanyard from habitat for humanity). They have to be library books and only Ms. Maryann can check and authorize prizes. So if you go to the library and she isn't working that day, tough luck. Zero other staff can help you.

 

Okay, so now that I've officially snarked on the library programs. I'll say this, we are grateful for our local libraries and the staff that work there. It's not personal it's just bizarre. I assumed wrongly that there was some kind of national summer reading program with consistent standards that somehow matched ages. And I realize the prizes come out of a budget and that will vary from location. But remember the Pizza Hut Bookit Program? Is it that hard to get local businesses to partner with the local library? I don't expect a free amusement park ticket but I think more than a single crayon is as reasonable expectation. I do want the kids to be excited about participating, not disappointed and discouraged.

Weekending it

Loads of fun this weekend. Lots to share.

On Friday evening, Mandy and I took Kip to his first ever live musical experience. There is a brand new theater company in our town and they had their first show this past weekend. It was Seussical, the Musical! When Mandy and I were seniors in high school they did this show at our school and we saw it twice and really enjoyed it and subsequently bought the official CD and memorized all the songs. We loved it. When I saw the local theater was doing this show, we both wanted to see it and bring Kip too. He, of course, put-up a fuss about going (as he does with anything new) but we convinced him and he turned around with some excitement. Fortunately, the kids had just binge-watched Horton Hears a Who multiple times so he was familiar with most parts of the story. 

He brought a friend, Mr. Eagle. And we let him buy a couple of souvenirs (clover pens - like the ones the speck of dust is on where the whos live), one for him and one for Ivy.

 

We ended up leaving at intermission because it was 9 pm and Kip was tired but we loved what we saw and Kip stayed engaged the whole time. I'm excited for other shows and maybe, maybe one of the kids will want to get involved in the company. 

On Saturday, Dan and I took the kids for a bike ride. Ivy loved riding in the trailer solo and Kip kept a great pace on his bike. It was a beautiful sunny day with low humidity. Perfect bike weather.

In the afternoon we met-up with one of Kip's classmates and his family for some splash pad fun. The kids had a blast.

Sunday we had church in the morning and then Mandy packed us lunch and we went to the pool. Another beautiful sunny day and we didn't get rained out for once. 

Early evening, Dan and I took Kip to Chuck-E-Cheese for a classmate's birthday party. This was the first time Kip had been to Chuck-E-Cheese. HE LOVED IT. No surprise. Endless race games? Yes, sir. He had a blast and never even noticed he was the only boy at the party. 

And yes, Kip in a bow tie is his chosen signature look.

Peeks from the Week

Busy week this week.

Kip had a short sports camp at the school in the mornings. 

Kip got a haircut. I got my REAL ID. And we got rain 4/5 days.

The kids went to the library several times this week. I'll have to do another post about it but I'm just so confused by the summer reading programs for this generation. Why isn't it broken down into age groups? Is it reasonable to ask a 5 year old to read 1500 minutes to complete the program? 

Anyways, our town library had a fun live animal event and a wooden plane craft and racing. 

Both kids are in swimming lessons at the YMCA. The first week Ivy was miserable in a large class with a lot of kids that liked to splash. She as really uncomfortable and wasn't getting anything out of it. We decided to switch both kids into a private session with one of the really great instructors and it is working out SO much better. Kip is making huge progress and Ivy is getting more than 3 minutes of instruction time. Definitely worth the extra cost.

I feel like summer is slipping away! AHHHHH. But it's only been one month!

Kip's Amazing Train Layout and Lemonade Stand

When we went to Stratsburg back in June the kids managed to come home with a bunch of junk toys from every single store we went into. There was this unspoken expectation (mainly from Kip) that they would get something at every store even if they did not necessarily find something they really wanted. I remember this feeling as a kid, you wanted something so just pick anything. We couldn't reign it in or have deep conversations in the middle of a crowded tourist shop about saving up for something or making sure it's something you want. Dan and I learned our lesson on that trip and our bank took the hit. So, our new strategy for all future trips is to give each kid the same set amount of cash for their own spending. They can buy whatever they want with it but when it's gone, it's gone. 

The weekend before our trip to Cape May we participated in the city-wide yard sale. The goal was to get rid of some stuff and to get some spending cash for each kid to take and spoil on souvenirs during our trip. For added earning bonus, Kip got the idea to have a lemonade stand AND charge guests admission to his "amazing toy train layout." 

This kid, I tell ya...his imagination is wild and his ideas of what is reasonable or achievable are hard to harness as a parent. We want him to explore and dream big but we also don't want him to set his sights too high because when he is disappointed, the whole house shakes. Somehow we convinced him to only charge for one and settled on free lemonade with a reasonable admission to his layout. He worked on invitations and took them to school the last week - inviting his teachers and classmates. Woof! 

Mandy and I spent over an hour with him on a Friday afternoon setting-up his layout, making sure it was worth the cost of admission. It was his design, we just helped. He combined his Lego Duplo track with the Lionel Ready to Play New York Central set and the circle track Stratsburg train he got on our trip. I elevated that set on the color blocks for some added flare. All the trains ran all day long during the duration of the yard sale so it was really something to look at. Kip would blow the whistles and other interactive features on his ready-to-play set whenever guests were around.

Auntie Jagee arrived that night and was a huge help over the weekend with both the yard sale and convincing Kip to flip the approach and charge $1 for the lemonade and then extend the invitation to see his layout for free. Look at this cute entrepreneur and his business partner, Ivy. 

Jagee's strategy worked out well and nearly every adult coming by to see the yard sale stopped to get some lemonade and most were easy to convince to come check-out the layout. A bunch of people were super sweet to Kip, ooohing and ahhhing over his layout and talking about how they made layouts in their basements when they were kids. It was really nice to see such encouraging strangers.

One of Kip's little school friends stopped by and his kindergarten teachers actually came as well!!! Ugh, I'm just so grateful for people who show up for him in his interests.

And let me tell you, the kids made BANK!!! Lemonade stands draw a lot of generosity. One guy jumped out of his car handed Kip a $20 bill, didn't even take a lemonade and said something like "gotta support the entrepreneurs" before getting back in his car and driving off! His teachers gave him $15. Like, what??!! When we counted it all up, he made $137. 

Us adults made about $200 from the whole yard sale. Mandy got $100 and Dan and I split the other $100 for each kid to get $50 to spend on our trip. Our set cash for souvenirs approach worked smashingly! Each kid spent what they wanted on what that really wanted (no demanding junk from every store we entered) and both returned home with money still in their pockets. Kip was happy to have that leftover to combine with his lemonade/layout earnings to purchase an expensive Lego set to start building his "little" Lego train set collection. Lots of great lessons all around and memories to store as well.