Autumn Amazing Race

What a beautiful day! I make the bed and look out the window and ponder a great day out doors...only to see two kids on their iPods on the couch, watching netflix.

Challenge #1: Good morning Manns children! Today is the Autumn Amazing Race! Your first challenge is to get dressed and head outside. Take your iPod with you. You must use leaves and sticks to create a work of art. Once you have completed this challenge, send me a photo and wait for your next challenge.

Rory made a bird's nest

Challenge #2: Great Job! Now find a family member and take a photo of them beside a piece of harvesting equipment.

Kennedy found some burrs before I even gave her the challenge!

Challenge #3:  Search the yard for the most beautiful fall tree and take a photo looking up at it while lying underneath it.

Rory's Beautiful Tree

Challenge #4: Show me the math question 7+8 using acorns.

Challenge #5: Find a burr patch, take a photo of 5 stuck to your shirt.

Challenge #6: Show me you are ready for winter. You can use any winter clothing or toys you can find.

Kennedy is ready for snowboarding in the winter snow!

Challenge #7: It is almost hunting season! Find a spot that would make a really good blind and take a photo from there.

Challenge #8: Text a Grandma to help you write an acrostic poem about FALL. Take a screen shot OR Write an acrostic poem.

Challenge #9: Walk to the closest field and take a photo of yourself posing as a scarecrow...or take a photo of  an actual crow.

Challenge #10: Come help dig out the Fall decorating supplies!(my kids)

Cohen joined mid afternoon and proved to be the most creative...he gets top award for his ready for winter photo:

The YES year

Time for an update. I just realized I haven't wrote for a very long time. I have nothing exciting to offer my opinions on and nothing to rant about, but that is okay. Sometimes the best thing in life is just being. I just read over my Summer Bucket List and smiled remembering the completion of ALMOST every single one of those things. What a summer. I can't remember a summer with as much fun as this one.

The thing about summer is that it ends. My favorite month is September. I was so excited to finally turn 30 last year (I am the baby in our little circle of friends) and I vowed that during my 31st year I would live my life like no other year. I would conquer my anxiety issues and I would teach my kids that trying new things can be fun, exciting and worthwhile. I promised myself on Sept.8, 2013, that I would say YES to everything. This included kayaking which was a serious issue when you consider my fear of water. Because I use this page as my little online journal I want to highlight some of the BEST things to have come from my 31st year.

1) I had my first ever teaching job. I worked with a man who I admire and respect despite our different teaching styles. I am sad to not be sharing a classroom with him again. In fact, I am very anxious to not have a class to attend or to prepare for this fall. I know that everything happens for a reason and I am excited to see what this next year has in store for my career. I told Steve that if I did not have a job this fall that it would mean I was meant to be an author. He rolled his eyes but YES, maybe I should start on this crazy venture after all. Get all the stories onto paper...

2) Kayaking. Wow. This is one awesome sport and so good for the soul. Kim asked me to come kayaking one day. I said YES. Whether I was watching Rory master the blue kayak we bought or smiling as Kennedy pulled a friend behind her in it, or whether I was bumping into Kim and learning how to relax when there are little waves - this sport has become a new favorite.

3) Lazy Friday: Okay this has always been an important day in my life, but I have come to appreciate the wonderful people in my life even more this year. We are so lucky. For those that don't know, Lazy Friday is our tradition out here in Firdale. The thing about Lazy Friday is this: There are no rules. We are lazy. Sometimes Lazy Friday is just us ladies. Sometimes it is everyone in the neighborhood. Sometimes we even have Lazy Friday on Sunday! The most important part though is that we are together. It doesn't matter what kinds of fun and excitement we have planned during the week, there is nothing better than the text message "Lazy Friday tonight?"  "YES!" No matter who hosts, it is like coming home...A sigh of relief as we relax in my unorganized kitchen, or on Tammy's front step, at Kim's kitchen island, or in E6 at Shady Oaks. Kids, laughs and good eats.

4) Hockey Hair. I have become a more relaxed parent this year. They are kids. They are not perfect. Kennedy's nails are not always painted. Sometimes her hair looks like a rat's nest. For almost the entire month of July she wore the same dress. Ew. Rory decided on hockey hair and I have no problem telling people that YES he likes it and YES, I like it and no he is not getting a hair cut. So stop asking. I love his love of sports and enjoyed MANY Wheat King games and Penguin games (on television) with him this year. I guess in my 31st year, I also fell in love with hockey.

5) Baseball. I was terrified to take our little rec baseball team and put it back into a league. With good friends helping out and their constant encouragement, I was able to watch our little Rookies go from not knowing which way to run around the bases to one kid making a double play at our wind up YES! (high five). What a great group of kids and a great group of parents!

6) Fitness. I don't ever want to be posting what I do for exercise each day but I made a goal to become more physically active and to encourage my kids to be a part of it. I bought a beautiful new bike and I started running. YES, I will run in a glo-run this fall. My kids have done a triathlon and are doing their second in Portage on Sept.7.

7) I became an auntie again. 'nuff said. Let's hope that my 32nd year brings some more nieces and or nephews. I need to make more time to head north to see this precious gem. I am lucky to spend many hours with my other niece who turned 1 during my 31st year. YES I would like a nephew and maybe some more nieces Scott and Jeff!!!

8) I bought a ride on mower for the first time! This wasn't really something that I said YES too...but it was awesome anyway. I am now in love with mowing grass. "Regan, would you like a ride on mower? YES, I would, thank you."

9) By accident, a pumpkin plant became planted by my front door. Normally, I would have pulled it. I said YES when my kids asked if we could keep it. It has now taken over the entire front of my house. It is an hilarious addition to my YES plan. I can't wait to see if we actually have pumpkins this fall. This has been a lesson in patience and laughter...Going with the flow.

I have done so much this year. I am so excited for the next year. I have many goals. I want to take my cross country skiing coaches course, I want to watch more hockey, I want to conquer my little world with more YES answers. Nikki just asked me to play Rec Soccer. Normally, I would have shied away from such an idea...but YES has become a pretty powerful answer and I have learned that it is exciting to try something new. I also want to learn how to hook up the camper without help....wish me luck!

Summer Bucket List

1) Read some novels that are for ME.
2) Read Sharon Creech's Ruby Holler to the kids.
3) Teach Kennedy to play some piano.
4) Play guitar with Rory outside under the tree.
5) Build a pergula (sp?) on my deck. (Help Jeff!)
6) Strawberry pick with my kids and niece.
7) Go to see "Wicked" with my kids and Mom.
8) Force my Mom to watch the Wizard of Oz prior to #7.
9) Swimming Lessons in Carberry for the kids.
10) Take the kids golfing with Uncle Jeff and Auntie Jodiene.
11) Cheer for Kennedy at the Carberry Fair.
12) Camp with just Rory at Shady Oaks while Kennedy and Steve are away.
13) Buy a kayak. Kayak with Kim.
14) Watch the rest of Season 2 OITNB
15) Camp at Spruce Woods for the first time ever.
16) Hit up the Spray Park with my niece and kids.
17) Make homemade iced tea.
18) Watch Rainbow Stage's Little Mermaid so that Kennedy can see her character from Little Mermaid Jr.
19) Make fancy cupcakes.
20) Dig out the charcoal pencils and have some fun drawing with the kids.

In Defense of the iPod: The Farm Kid/Technology Balance

I wanted to write a piece about why I let my almost 7 year old take his iPod everywhere. His 9 year old sister does too. It is very easy to find article after article about how bad screen time is and how kids are needing to be more active and so on and so on. I agree with many of these articles but have found my own voice on the subject on the fence post of the argument. Technology bad? Technology good?

Well my friends...technology here.

Like it or not.

We live in a world where one to one devices in schools is not a far off fantasy worthy of laughing at but instead already happening! Why wouldn't I let me kids carry the devices that power their future? 

Now, before you get all upset with me...you need to know some important things.

A) My kids are very healthy...they play outside and imagine and create and run and jump and act.

B) My kids read. They read everyday. They read in our living room, in our bathroom, in the yard, on the deck, while they are camping, to their cousins, and sometimes...when they don't think I can see them...they even read to each other. They do well in school.

C) My kids have friends! Good ones! They get into trouble, they bicker, they invent, they celebrate.

D) AND I know this is going to go against every recent article I have read about how to be a good parent....they have IPODS that they can take where ever they want! They take photos, they make movies, they (eeek!) Play MINECRAFT (Parent of the Year is WAY too hard for me to win)...they text their grandparents, they have even been known to send spelling words to friends that live a distance away. They dance and sing. They YouTube musicals coming to Winnipeg and Google the Goldeyes' schedule. They find their favorite authors' websites and listen to stories downloaded from itunes. These are resourceful kids. AND I can brag. Because they are mine. And parents love to brag about their kids. Including me.

I do not believe that Technology Bad (said in cavewoman voice). I think that with every new change in our lifestyles comes hesitation and skepticism. New things are not easy. And these new things are changing fast. It is exhausting to keep up. Texting is evil - beware of Minecraft addiction - your kid's brain is going to mush. Maybe our kids' brains are working in different ways. That doesn't necessarily make it bad. Or maybe it is! I don't know...but I do know Apple is here.

 

SO instead of getting all worried that my kids are doomed to an anxiety filled, deaf, and robotic existence, I plan on making these my priorities:

1) Teaching  iPod etiquette (it doesn't go into the bathroom, you may not take photos of people if they don't want their photo taken)

2)  Teaching how to find the information they need in a safe and responsible way. What sources are reliable? You cannot believe everything you read.

3) Self Regulation - Vitamin D comes from the sun. Get outside. 

It is all about balance. Find the balance that makes you happy. I promise I will not judge you for your choice in not allowing your child technology yet, if you promise not to judge mine making science videos about how the baler works. 

Love That Boy

I am reading a book to the grade 4s that was inspired by this poem. The book is called Love That Dog by Sharon Creech but I was drawn to the poem.

Love That Dog by Sharon Creech

Love This Boy by Walter Dean Myers

Love that boy,

like a rabbit loves to run

I said I love that boy

like a rabbit loves to run

Love to call him in the morning

love to call him

"Hey there, son!"

He walk like his Grandpa,

Grins like his Uncle Ben.

I said he walk like his Grandpa,

And grins like his Uncle Ben.

Grins when he’s happy,

When he sad, he grins again.

His mama like to hold him,

Like to feed him cherry pie.

I said his mama like to hold him.

Like to feed him that cherry pie.

She can have him now,

I’ll get him by and by

He got long roads to walk down

Before the setting sun.

I said he got a long, long road to walk down

Before the setting sun.

He’ll be a long stride walker,

And a good man before he done.

Rory is the scientist of the day tomorrow...we debated all weekend what to do. Then I re-read the newsletter (I hadn't lost it yet) and realized that all of our really cool ideas did not fit the criteria. We debated learning the science behind the hockey stick and then we were going to be paleontologists. The project had to be related to water. Behold...we made it rain! He was a bit nervous to be on video (unlike Ms. Dee) but ran and put on a dress shirt and the more we talked, the more excited he became, and the video turned out better than he ever imagined. He is all giggles about our slow motion rain drop. ALSO IMPORTANT: He is finally getting the hockey hair-do he is after and wants everyone to notice that he has a slight flip behind his ear now. My favorite part of this was Rory taking ownership. He so often has to listen to Ms. Science Experimenter boss him around when we do stuff like this and he thoroughly enjoyed telling her she had to stay out of this one. The satisfied look he gives me through the kettle handle when we catch the rain drop is the look that made this night so special. Love This Boy. Like May clouds like to rain.

She will prick her finger on a spinning wheel

Sleeping Beauty.

She is currently sleeping in her bed with a makeshift eye cover (not sure what the real terminology is here), that is made out of a headband and a piece of felt.

I should really just buy her an eye mask at Ardene's.

She wants to do sports. She comes to baseball and she tries her very best. When I asked the boy and her tonight what they thought they could work on...her answer was "my throwing...and my batting...and maybe my catching."

True. But, she did her best and I am so proud of her.

But Kennedy thinks outside the box...and that is what makes me even more proud. No one tells her what to like, or how to behave, or what she can or can't do (even me!).

So, she told me she was writing a play. Okay. One more pack of paper to spread all over her Cave of Wonders. I can handle that.

After I emptied her back pack, I noticed 5 or 6 scripts that have been printed off and stapled together. "Where did these come from?"
"Mr.M printed them for me."

Next day...she takes loose leaf and markers to her drama practice in Portage. Along the way, she informs me that she needs a spinning wheel. Do I have one? Uh...no.
Then perhaps we can just order one off of ebay?
uh...no.

But she doesn't give up.

Then maybe I could just use a bike wheel and make my own?

(Me...smiling at the thought of throwing her some tools and telling her to dismantle Dad's bike)...why yes! What a GREAT idea!

Next day...I get home from school and she is on the deck with the wheel in her hand. A grin a mile wide.

I then get a text from Grandma Early: "Kennedy asked me to buy some brown spray paint so I have it."

Oh dear.

I hear she has loose leaf posters up all over the school.

Tonight, in the tub, she took her crazy hair and started making the parts around her ears point in on her cheeks. I told her she looked like she had a moustache. How was I to know she was trying out a costume idea for Malificent!?

Steve is quite concerned. He keeps asking if there are any adults involved with his little production of hers. I am not concerned. This kind of learning and experimenting and problem-solving is EXACTLY the type of thinking that more of the world needs. Go Kennedy!

Regan Manns - Raise-A-Thon - Central Plains Challenge Walk & Run

Regan Manns - Raise-A-Thon - Central Plains Challenge Walk & Run

I am walking for 3 people. I am walking for Kennedy's friend who is far too young to be suffering with cancer. I am walking for my cousin. I am walking for my sister in law who keeps her Mom's memory alive. Help Central Plains Cancer Care by sponsoring Kim, Tammy, Michelle, or I (OR all of us) in the annual Walk and Run a-thon. You can donate online by clicking the link above. THANK YOU!!!