Oh, and did I mention that one of kids actually slept in! This rarely happens - and when it does, it really get ME of schedule!
But this sweet, simple Wednesday proved to me, once again!, that some times we should SLOW down, look around and embrace the moment! And on this day...I am so glad that I did!
When I go to the bank, I always invite the kids to trade in their bills for different amounts or use the coin computer to see how much they've been saving. This money all comes from their chore money.
First stop .... the bank! OH, yes, the bank with 3 children. It's not my favorite but I alway try to make it fun for all! But today...on this sweet, simple Wednesday...it was a patience test for ALL!
First, the boys cashed in their money and picked out a Dum-Dum pop
(which is part of why the bank trips are so cool!),
And now, I had a few other things on my list that I needed to do...and those things ended up taking over 1 hour!!!
YEP!!! 1 hour - we had to wait and wait and wait....
Still waiting..... and it's a long story....
but here's how I made the best learning experience out of the longest waiting game.
When life hands you a newspaper - circle the words that you can read in that newspaper! Brother vs brother! Who has more and who can find "the" or "at" or "Austin" the fastest.
We all sat in front of the window that faced the interstate and try to spot "cool cars" - yellow ones, BIG trucks, ones driving way to fast!
And then we grabbed another Dum-Dum Sucker!
J has been working on Area and Perimeter - soooooo - we used the bank's ceiling tiles to review area. And can you believe that our bank has 456 ceiling tiles in their lobby?
We also measured the perimeter of the area rug in the seating area!
For N, I gave him a piece of paper that had these questions?
"How many chairs?"
"How many cameras?"
"How many doors?"
"How many squares?"
He is 4 - so he got 4 questions!
And his job was to search and find those answers!
(And grab another Dum-Dum sucker while working on this)
MiniM - yes, he was there with us! And I grabbed a few coffee straws and a styrofoam coffee cup...all he worked on was stabbing those straws into the cup and pulling them out. And this task only kept him busy for a good 5 minutes - but I'll take it!
We turned into "door greeters" when the elderly would walk in. And THAT created lots of smiles and verbal compliments which my kids NEED to hear from someone besides me!
But, we never pulled out "Mommy's Phone" (which was SOOO tempting)! It's such an easy thing to give into (and I have)... but I really saw this as a challenge and the perfect time to use the world as our classroom. And slowing down, accepting the situation and just embracing the moment (while asking God for mini-doses of grace and patience), really turned this sweet, simple Wednesday into one we will never forget.
And remember after the bank - we still had to stop at the local pet shop for Guinea Pig food - and what a treat!
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