Birthday Quick Takes

---1---

It's Friday, so I'm letting the kids sleep a little longer than usual since I'm going to make them do lots of schoolwork.  We're in the habit of having Easy Day on Fridays, but that is going to change.  It will be easy-er, but not as simple as just Religion and Math.  I know, sleeping longer doesn't really seem to be the right way to get more work out of them, but we'll see.

---2---

I'm also going to try to have a little Friday Fun per Sarah Reinhard's suggestion.  We might play in the water at home, or try to get to the pool.  That is, if the weather cooperates....it looks a bit Mostly Cloudly out there!

---3---

We have 2 successful schooldays under our collective belts, I really wish I knew the secret to keeping everyone calm and motivated.  After 17 years, I still haven't discovered it.  What are your tips?

---4---

I have figured out the secret to keeping their bedrooms clean:  bribery.  After one month (or slightly more) they'll get a treat like a movie.  My Little Princess is desperately trying to save and earn the money for a pretty, pink, Schwinn with fenders and a basket!  She has been trying to pull weeds and wash cars for the neighbors.  I'm thrilled with her industriousness.  I think I'll capitalize on it, and the success of the Bedroom Bribery, to get her to read more.  

She has to read a lot for school, but she NEVER reads for fun---she turns on the Disney channel or Toddlers and Tiaras (yuk).  So, I'm resorting to paying her a small sum for every 30 minutes that she reads.  A real book, not a picture book, which is what she has a tendency to pick out at the library.  She is an excellent reader, if you ask her to read aloud, she's very fluent and doesn't hesitate over words, so I don't think it's a problem of reading being too hard.

---5---

Here's a picture of The Chair, which is sitting in my library, waiting for my daughter to take it to her new apartment.  Don't judge.  It's covered.  It's removable and washable.  And it looks slightly better than a sheet thrown over it and tucked in.  Emphasis on "Slightly".

---6---

These are my new napkins that I made out of cotton jersey.  They're super simple 18x18 unhemmed squares with a contrasting stripe hand-stitched on a la Alabama Chanin.  They're loosely based on the design from this book.  We used them at dinner the other night, and the jersey is so much more pleasant to wipe your mouth with than any of the other napkins we have.  I'll definitely be making more as I find jersey remnants at the store.  The thread used in the stitching is super-strong button-craft thread, so it shouldn't be breaking and coming off!

---7---

Reading for school in their jammies.  Pip has a lot of challenging reading this year--we're doing Boomerang and Arrow from BraveWriter.com,  this year, for the first time.  Meg started rather reluctantly, see #4, but she admitted in a whisper last night that "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone is a good book! Don't tell Pippo."  It's just a guess, but I expect that all the paid reading she does will be the rest of the HP series!  Don't worry, HP Haters:  I have plenty of other excellent books and series for her to delve into, too!  And they don't include witches.

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