Well what to do in April when the weather simply will not accommodate but dream of flying kites and educate the kids on proper tornado safety. Amazingly enough this lined up perfectly with a surprise tornado warning siren that was done during extreme weather education week and that we did NOT know about in advance. So we got to experience first hand going into our sub basement and discussing how to stay safe there until the all clear was given!

We used our scout book and their very timely arrow points to make a grand total of THREE different kites – diamond, sled and barn door. Yup we even looked those up and found more single string kites to do topic cards to put on our poster. We were on the ball! And to top it off, we also bought a brand new (and very decently priced) TURTLE kite from Sam’s Club. Now for a good day with a nice wind to trial fly them all. You can find the actual instructions we used for our diamond kites HERE. The scout book was a bit too vague.

Of course we also did a whole mini unit on tornadoes, being as we are in an area where they do occur. You can find our tornado lapbook HERE.

Of course we had a list of links we used…

• Facts thanks to Kids Kites HERE.
• MyBestKite.com has amazing history and individual kite information resources HERE.
• KiteMan has a great LONG list of interesting kite facts about kites and history around the world HERE

And books…

• The Kite That Bridged Two Nations by Alexis O’Neill based on a true story about the bridge across Niagara from the US to Canada HERE.
• The Story of Kites by Ying Chang Compestine HERE.
• Let’s Fly a Kite by Stuart J. Murphy where we even got a chance to deal with symmetry HERE.
• I Face the Wind by Vicki Cobb HERE.

We did borrow a nice line up of wind and tornado related books and used most… I will include all of what we borrowed used or not…

• What Makes a Good Tornado Twist? by Mary Kay Carson HERE.
• The Wind by Craig Hammersmith HERE.
• Wind Power by Kathy Allen HERE.
• The Magic Schoolbus Presents Wild Weather the Nonfiction Companion HERE.
• It’s a Disaster! Tornado by Jessica Rudolph HERE.
• Fueling the Future Wind Energy by Elizabeth Raum HERE.
• Tornado! by Judith Bloom Fradin and Dennis Brindell Fradin HERE.
• World of Weather by David Adler HERE.

And video of course…

• The Magic Schoolbus Takes Flight HERE

Hopefully these items will help out in case of wind and kite interest!!

So having Daddy take off first thing in the morning is NOT the way for this family to start their Saturday on the right foot. Of course Mommy is much more of a task master first thing in the morning; laundry was put away, bedrooms cleaned and children dressed all before breakfast made it onto the table and all before 9 am! Of course Echo was unimpressed by this display of organization and after her breakfast and numerous attempts at play and pacifying through cuddling was sent back to bed for an early morning nap (she WAS up and fussing before 7 am this morning which super early for her). But Ken had a bachelor party to go to – paintballing out by Edmonton I guess. 

The twins and I made an agreement for the day – if they sat down right after breakfast and did their picture for their Summer Adventure file for their boat experiment that would be ALL of the organized schooling for the day. 

Boat adventure

They did come up with their own project today – making a kite… this time it is more a decorative thing as they used this and that around the house, but they had fun doing it! They came up with everything but the string on their own. They remembered the need to have a tail and string and even that the string should go onto something that is round to be wound up. (an old ribbon bobbin) Of course they had to decorate it and a piece of my ribbon left over from another project was used for the tail. They actually have a kite of their own (thanks to Kathy), I just don’t know where locally to fly it… and of course Kathy warned us it is not a very high quality kite… but at the age of 7 a kite is a kite is a kite! 

Making their kite TOGETHER

Attempting a fly

Great on the details just wouldn't fly

Emanuel wanted a kite of his own but Trinity opted to make a new boat… this one is more like a raft with a cork in the middle to “look pretty,” oh and we had to add some ribbon for style of course! 

Trinity and her boat/raft thing, note the pretty ribbon and her name TWICE

Oh, I forgot to mention last night – Kristen and Fydo came early to game night bearing gifts – a microwave stand! I got my counter space back!!! So sweet of them! As I am sure you can see from the picture I have already taken advantage of the shelf space for my ribbon and barrette making supplies. Well at least for now! 

Microwave stand!!!

I made up two more boutique bows with the surrounding loops… of course I put the barrettes on for RIGHT handed people… which of course is fine for MOST people but a royal pain for yours truly, the resident lefty. I used the peace sign ribbon I bought at Michaels on sale so of course there really is an UP to it… BUT at least they are relatively cute. I am hoping to make another one later with multiple surrounding loops just to try it out. 

Still not won over with this bow style

Ken got home after we had finished dinner. Worn out and glad to be home. Apparently paintballing was fun. They ran, they shot, they crawled around on the ground. Certainly not my idea of a fun time but I am glad he enjoyed himself. No pictures as not only did he forget the blue camera (old grindy) but it wasn’t especially a camera friendly atmosphere. As it is he has a few welts on his arms and back that look a little nasty.

I have to start my final preparations for our time at my mom’s during Chris and Chris’ wedding. Since we are going to be gone for a few days we need to pack quite a bit. I have been trying to wear my shoes for my outfit from time to time. We plan on leaving for my mom’s on Thursday night. That was the kids will be settled and calmer on Friday and onwards. I am still short a pair of dress pants and some dress socks for the boys but other than that… well we are about as ready as we will ever be.And now for some cute pictures… enjoy!

Twins in the backyard... blowing bubbles

Baby in the lawn chair

Silly sisters

Cutie Patootie

And just cuz the face is so priceless