Easter Egg Hunt!

This year, the boys had the opportunity to participate in an Easter Egg hunt held at Camp Samac by #ScoutsCanada.

The cost for the event was $5, and included an egg hunt,  treat, and a crest for all Scouts Canada members.

The boys each brought their baskets, we were pre-registered, and they joined the next 'big group' out hunting with minimal wait.  As it was a drop-in event, there were several fields 'populated' with eggs, and the groups rotated around, with the fields being re-populated in between.  the kids collected empty plastic eggs, that were turned in at the end for a treat.  The kids had a choice of a variety of mini-bunnies, or a three-pack of cream eggs, etc.

Little kids were encouraged to join the front of the pack....

There were tons of coloured eggs throughout the route

Buddy brought his binoculars to help him find the eggs

The trout were running upstream to spawn:

All in all, it was a great day, and a great event run by Whitby/Oshawa Scouting

Number Line in Action!

While I cleaned up the kitchen this morning, Buddy turned on the computer to the weather website, and then did this on the number line for a surprise for me!

 Also Buddy has been teaching his imaginary friends the alphabet. So far they are on letter G.

Cuppa was just there to help. The camera focused on his fingers instead of his face - I've gotta figure this stuff out.

I didn't even have to look at the computer. Today it is -6°C, but it feels like -12°C.

Blast Off! Number line (almost) Completion!

I've been holding off on posting more about the number line until I had something substantial to talk about, so its been a while. But here I am, and the news is good! We now have a fully functional fun and educational numberline for our school room.

Ta Daaa!!

Ok, its not completely done, but we're getting close. I need to add some trim around the blackboard, and I need to paint our rocket ship, but its like, 90% done, and its hanging on the wall, 100% functional, so now I'm all happy. Here's how it works...

The window on the rocket ship is a magnifier, so when you slide the rocket along the numberline, whatever value it is over becomes 2X as large as teh other numbers. If you are 5 that is pretty darn cool!

Right now our guys are mostly using this to slide the rocket over today's temperature, but I made up a pile of extra strips that we can put different scales and types of number lines on for different tasks or math units. Since the number lines are interchangeable, we can adjust things as we go to match the unit being taught in school. All those extra number lines are stored behind the sliding rocket, when you flip open the number line.

You may be looking at the face of the number line right now, and be thinking, "Man, what beautiful router work. He carved that board to look like a piece of trim out of some Victorian mansion. Truly this numberline was built by a master craftsman." Rather than go into the intricacies of why those grooves are cut in there, I am going to let you live on in that fantasy. Just know that those grooves came at a high cost and that cost included much cussing.

The weather icons are now stored in their cubes which are attached via sticky-backed velcro to the main board. The cubes act as stoppers to prevent the rocket from falling off the end of the number line.

Since the number line sticks out from the chalkboard by a few inches, there is a nice ledge for chalk and a chalkbrush.

Overall, I'm giving this a high score so far. And with only trim and paint to go, there likely won't be much more to report on it. So far most of the feedback from the boys has been that the rocket looks like a fish. Harumph.

Shared on Natasha in Oz in her "Say G'day Saturday Linkup!"

We interrupt this project for Beaver Buggies!

So this post was supposed to be about routering out the number line rail, but instead I'm sharing Beaver Buggies. Why? Because Beaver Buggies are cool, and Buddy made one, and because its freezing in the garage right now so I need to buy time on the whole woodworking thing until its warm enough that I can actually stand being in the garage working.

So here is Buddy with his Beaver Buggy:

He made it all by himself.

So Beaver Buggies are like cub cars, except that all the kids can do for customization is to add stickers and paint.  The rules are super simple... Beaver Buggies are not to race, they are just to drive down the pinewood track. They are for fun, and are non-competitive. I embraced that spirit and actually let Buddy do his car on his own. All I did was to attach the nails that hold the wheels on - and even then, he did two of them while I held the buggy.

Apparently I am naive.

The Beaver Buggies were lined up on the Pinewood track for a non-competitive run, and the kids were encouraged to cheer on their buggies. Dads stood on the sidelines in anticipation. There was a countdown and the non-competitive buggies raced down the track. The father who had aligned wheels and straightened axles on his son's buggy was particularly vocal, shouting to his son that they won EVERY RACE!!!

After a couple more whoops like that the scouter running the non-competitive event started doing silly things with the cars, like turning them sideways on the track, or running them backwards, etc.

Good guy scouter knew where it was at.

After 20 minutes of running cars down the pinewood track, everyone switched spots, and buddy got to go into the story station to hear stories and try to get his pinewood drivers licence. Then it was into Beaver Buggy Bowling where the buggies were mercilessly smashed into Spongebob figures to see who could cause the most destruction in 20 minutes. This proved to be much fun.

We went home tired and happy with new badges and a slightly marred Beaver Buggy. Next year I'll be bringing more tools to beaver buggy building night though. The non-competitive event is a little more fun for the boys when their buggy is competitive.

Insta-shelves for Paint Storage

I need to introduce this post by giving you a feel for what its like working out in the garage right now with snow blowing in under the door, and the digital thermometer reading "low" since it just doesn't work out there in these temperatures.

In the words of Robert Service, the balladeer of Canada's north:

"You know what it’s like in the Yukon  (Toronto) wild when it’s sixty-nine below;

When the ice-worms wriggle their purple heads through the crust of the pale blue snow;

When the pine-trees crack like little guns in the silence of the wood,

And the icicles hang down like tusks under the parka hood;

When the stove-pipe smoke breaks sudden off, and the sky is weirdly lit,

And the careless feel of a bit of steel burns like a red-hot spit;

When the mercury is a frozen ball, and the frost-fiend stalks to kill —

Well, it was just like that that day when I set out to look for Bill."

From "The Ballad of Blasphemous Bill"

Now on to today's project... Quick and easy storage on the cheap.

We used a set of IKEA shelves to come up with essentially this same storage solution in our last house, and then built them again here to store Momma's canning and pantry stuff in the basement. Our plan uses a little more lumber, and is quite sturdy. We tied this shelf to the basement framing to hold everything square and in place. Ikea uses steel crosses to keep things from moving too much.

Here is one 4 ft rack of our version of simple shelving - you can see we need more of it by all the junk in the pic:

So I find myself making shelves.

This round of shelving will need to be a little more heavy-duty than the stuff we built in the past - mostly because it needs to house all the paint cans we own. We own a lot of paint cans.

So without more noise, I present, the paint-can shelf build...

Materials for a 6 foot long shelving unit, 16" deep and 6 ft high with 6 shelves. This list could make anything up to 8ft long and high with additional uprights:

• Uprights - 1" X 4" X 8ft - 6 pieces (I prefer to avoid finger-jointed lumber but the staff at the box stores say its just as good as 'real' wood - local lumber yards still carry non-finger jointed lumber)
• Shelf end bars - 2" X 4" X 8ft - 3 pieces
• Shelves - 1" X 3" X 8ft - 30 pieces (see note above on finger-jointed lumber)
• Approx 200 small nails to hold the shelf planks to the end bars
• Approx 72 - 1/4" X 2-1/2" lag screws to hold shelves to uprights.

Tools:

• A chop saw (AKA Compound mitre saw)
• Hammer
• Drill and bits to match lag bolts
• Wrench for lag bolts

I start by cutting the 2" X 4"s down to 16" lengths. Each 8 ft board should make exactly 6 pieces.
Once done cutting, there are 18 boards, or enough for 6 shelves. (3 boards per shelf).

Now we can start cutting shelving. I ended up making a custom fit for a tight corner in the basement and cut everything a little shy of 6 ft, but that's the beauty of making your own shelves, you can custom fit them. This materials list will work for any length of shelf up to the full 8 ft, but you may want to put in extra uprights and 2" X 4"s if the clear spans are too long.

I saved all my offcuts for a future project.

Nail the boards to make shelves as shown below. A couple tips...

• If you will ever be extending the system, leave yourself an inch or two of space on the end 2X4 to rest the next shelf's boards on. This will save you from having to make a double post.
• Also, keep the shelf boards inside the 2" X 4" by about a half an inch to allow room for a jig to fit over the 2" X 4" - more on that soon.
• Use a scrap or even the next slat to create even spacing between all the boards on your shelf.

spacing the boards with scraps - building the first shelf square and to size - all the rest will be based on it!

Both Buddy and Cuppa came in with their hammers and helped me drive the rusty old finishing nails through the boards. It was fun.

Stack-o-shelving!

As you build the shelves stack them atop each other so you can be sure all the 2" X 4"s line up. The shelving being perfect isn't critical, and there is some wiggle rooms with the 2" X 4"s, but you want it to be as close as possible.

With all the shelves built, its time to do some layout work for the risers. It is critical that all the risers have the same layout for their lag bolts, and that all the shelves have the same receiving holes for the lags to go into, otherwise the shelves will be out of square, and want to lean.

In order to overcome this, I built a T-square type of jig with holes where I want the bolt holes for the risers should go.

Just in from the garage - its cold out there! Running the T-square and lining it up with the layout lines.

All lined up and drilling.

I measured out 1 foot spacing for the shelves, then used the T-square to set the holes in the first riser board. Then I set the T-square jig aside where I wouldn't lose it.

Once the first board was laid out and drilled, I had my template for all the other riser boards for the shelving unit. By clamping the boards to the first one, I could be sure they would be an exact match when it came to assembly time.

All warmed up - no more coat and hat! Using holes in board #1 as my guide for another riser.

With the boards all drilled, I turned my attention to the shelves. In order to match the holes on the shelves, I would need to make the jig work on a corner with an end stop. this way, all the boards would have the holes aligned on both the X and Y axis. I added a simple fence to the jig.

T-square modified to become end-drilling jig

Now I would set the shelf board in the corner of the jig and drill through the holes to make a perfect match to the holes in the uprights.

Lag receiving holes - be sure to make them a little undersized. Pine is forgiving and the lags need some bite!

With the holes drilled we can start to lag together the shelves and supports. For this unit I used 2 lags for every shelf to upright connection. That meant about 36 lag bolts per side. It was probably overkill, but this unit is rock solid. You may be able to get away with fewer lag bolts, but at $10 for 50 bolts, I figured it was worth it.

I like to put on the bottom shelf and one about halfway up to start. This holds things off the floor, and lets me check to make sure everything is going together square and straight. Once all the uprights are attached to all the shelves on one side, flip it over and start on the next side. Note the lack of sanding and attention to detail - this is storage, not a showpiece!

Once all the uprights are bolted on, its a lift and push, and the shelves go in place.

You should bolt the shelves to the wall, or find a way to tie them into the house framing. Also, its a good idea to find a way to add in some diagonal bracing at the back of the shelves. I managed to escape that by building these to exactly fit a little corner of the foundation in the basement, so they are locked in in two directions, and cannot fall.

Time to put something on the shelves. I decided to try storing boys...

Cuppa said he didn't want to sleep up there. Instead he wanted to go to his own bed. So I loaded the shelves up with what they are meant to hold. Now I just need to get all the camping stuff organized!

These are a good afternoon project. I started at about 1:30 this afternoon (missed lunch because I was buying the wood) and had it done after dinner. I likely could have pushed a little faster, but I wanted a tight fit, and to keep things lined up nicely.

Let's see your basement storage solutions!! Post up a link to how your shelves look in the comments! I need ideas for our camping & sailing gear!

On Potty training.

As parents, I think we have done a pretty good job with our boys. They are engaged and interested, respectful and have good manners. They set the table and play nicely and can sit still if taped to the couch, but there is one area where, as parents, we have some learning to do.

It is not uncommon for our boys to not feel like peeing in the toilet. We'll be sitting at dinner, and that aroma starts to rise, and I know right away that someone is enjoying their meal more than they'd enjoy a trip to the loo (my darlin'). What is more mystifying is that between the two boys, the older one is the most likely to make an appearance with a circle of shame in his crotch. The younger one is more likely to yell "HAFTA PEEEEEE!!!!!!!!" as he goes charging down the hall. I can't figure out where we've gone wrong with the potty training.

I would expect that most people's five year olds would struggle with counting backwards, but have mastered going to the bathroom. At our house it is the inverse. We've got smart kids who just don't care about pee(r) pressure.

We have tried nearly everything on this front. Rewards, hugs, treats, privileges, negative reinforcement, shaming, etc. and we just can't get that breakthrough to our kids that this actually matters. Especially in the privacy of our own home where they are comfortable and unjudged. If you want to see wet pants, come watch TV with us for half an hour.

What has been successful was the most ridiculous reward of all. Points.

At some point, when Cuppa was on the toilet, I gave him a high five for peeing and shouted out "Ten Points for Cuppa!!" He beamed from ear to ear, jumped down and ran to tell Buddy that he had ten points. After that, the kids would come to me soliciting and negotiating how many points their pee or poo was worth. I don't know what the points are supposed to add up to. I don't think the boys know either. As long as they go pee in the toilet, I don't care. We negotiate a point value, have a high five, and everyone is happy.

At bedtime, whoever has had dry pants all day gets to snuggle in Dad's bed for a book and a treat. Most nights one boy snuggles with me. We are still working through the Halloween candy we collected back in October. It makes good treats. Advent and Christmas undermined this tradition since there were Christmas specials and stories and treats galore all through December, but I think things are starting to get back on track.

We've been reading Captain Underpants for our bedtime stories lately, and since they are chapter books (with much silliness) the boys are hooked on finding out what happens next every night. I think that missing a chapter is an issue to them. Last night Buddy said, "I better have dry pants tomorrow!" after a particularly suspenseful end to a chapter. I guess they know what's supposed to happen, but its just not clicking.

Night training is a complete and utter loss right now. the other night poor cuppa soaked his 'bedtime underpants" (pull-ups) and his sheets and comforter. I heard him whimpering in the night, and when I reached his room , he was shivering away on a corner of his bed, curled up in a ball, trying to stay warm. We changed him and his bed, Momma snuggled him for a while, and in the morning he oblivious to the whole thing. So much for the school of hard knocks.

I have no idea how to get into night training when we can't get decent traction through the day. We've tried sleep-pees and timers. We've tried with and without pull-ups. They just sleep right through the event(s) every night.

This is frustrating to me. When Chuck was toilet trained, she was 3. We sent her to Grandma's house for the weekend, and she came home wearing big girl panties and proudly peeing in the toilet. In a weekend, dammit! No night time issues, nothing. The only time she wet herself after that was on camping trips when she couldn't get out of her sleeping bag. And she was embarrassed and woeful then, not ambivalent - even proud, like the boys. Maybe I suck as a parent. Grandma tells me she just told Chuck to pee in the toilet and that was that.

I worry for the boys. Cuppa is starting to show signs of skin problems like rashes and eczema, and sleeping in urine can't help that. Buddy is hiding wet underwear and finding ways to sneak away when he pees himself, both at home and school, and I don't want sneaky kids. Momma is up to 5 baskets of laundry a week. The 2 boys make up 4 of those baskets.

So I'm looking for input. After 2 years of trying, how do you move your kids to a fresh start, or get them to understand the need for decent bathroom habits? What worked for you and what were your challenges? What strategies are there to get kid with a chronic bedwetting problem to move into the world of the dry? Please share - I'm getting desperate!