Letter B! And a 7 Month Old.

We worked on the letter B last week.  I decided it would be easier to blog our whole week in one post.  Unfortunately, I didn't get pictures of everything we did, but I'll share some of our fun things.  So here we go!

This week, I introduced journaling.  We "wrote" a lot about the BEACH (my favorite place to be!).  The way we did this was by having the boys color a picture and then telling me exactly what words to write down.  I encouraged them to use full sentences, which was hard at times, but I think they will catch on quickly.  T LOVES journaling.

 

 L worked on squares.

 

T fed the Bunny some carrots.  I would write a number on the bunny's belly and he gave the bunny that many carrots.

 

L sorted Bugs by color.  This was his favorite activity and he has taken them out several times since. (He really does where clothes sometimes.  I promise.  Lol)

 

 We did a few other things, too (but don't have pics of on my computer...).  The best game of the week was Balloon Blast!  I wrote numbers and shapes on the sidewalk and let the boys throw water balloons at whatever number/shape I called out.  We also made butterflies out of capital B's and tissue paper. (This is not my picture, but this is the project. Here's the website it came from)
Princess had her first play date, complete with dress up!  Oh my, how adorable are these two together???  And what makes these BFF's even better is that they have very similar names.  As in, almost identical.  I see lots of fun (and confusion) between these two as the years go by.

 And one more picture, because my sweet little princess is growing up!  7 months old!  Already?!?  Her big accomplishments are 3 teeth, all along the bottom (with more coming), she's crawling, pulling up on things, and responding to her name.  She is probably the most popular kid on the planet because she smiles at anyone who looks at her.  It's fun walking through a store or church because everyone ooo's and aaah's over her and she EATS IT UP.  She has started on solid food and LOVES it.  I mean absolutely loves it!!!  We are slow to introduce things because I want her breast fed as much as possible, but so far she's tried peas, banana, apple, and mushy carrots.  When she eats, she always says, "ummm mmm mmm ummmmmm."  Oh, another big accomplishment this past month is that she now sleeps in her own room instead of Mommy and Daddy's room.  She does great in there.  She's so much like her biggest brother.

The Rest of Week F

I wasn't able to update the blog each day, so here's a quick peek at the rest of the fun things we did this past week:
Feather painting

 

 

 This was T's math one day

 

 I have two kids in Awana this year!  L is in Cubbies and T is in Sparks!

L working on his F flag

 

 Writing in shaving cream

T's F flag

 

 L's turn to draw shapes in shaving cream

 

 Princess watching her brothers and being a little ham

 

 We made puffy paint and made Fish with it, but I forgot to get a pic

Meal Plan

This week, we are having:

Ham and potatoes
Chipotle Chicken
Tortilla soup made from left over chicken
Pot Roast
And J will grill out.  Yum!

Still haven't started planning out all meals, but I'm just happy to had dinners for the week. :)

School was good again today.  L had a harder time, but that's to be expected.  It will take him awhile to get into the routine.  I also skipped morning chores because I'm hoping to get to the grocery store today.  I didn't think I could get to both.  Back to school.  I should say that I get most (all?) of our school projects from pinterest, but I'm really bad about saving the pin and giving credit to whom credit is due.  If I stole your ideas, THANK YOU and I'm sorry!  So, we are on F.  T worked on his book and did great, but didn't ask to do more today.  It was a lot of coloring and that isn't his favorite.

L worked on a flower picture (because it begins with F).  T did one after he finished his book.

 

 We did some science today.  I made up papers for them to predict whether objects will float (F theme).

 

 L absolutely loves water, so he had a blast.  T loved it, too.  L didn't really do the paper, but he did say his thoughts (usually after he put the object into the water; he doesn't like being wrong).  Please ignore our recycling in the background.  T made those "decorations" hanging on the wall. 

I let them watch a few youtube videos on a frog's life cycle.  Double science lessons today! 

http://www.pinterest.com/pin/474003929501133127/ This one was made by a 2nd grade class.

http://www.pinterest.com/pin/474003929501640913/ Another one, not as cute though.

http://www.pinterest.com/pin/474003929501640670/ This is a cute little song they enjoyed.

 

T did a little bit of math from his math book.  He never finished the second book last year, so we will slowly make our way through it.  He gets a little bored with it after a while, so we are in no hurry.  L didn't do any math.  He reached his limit pretty quickly today.

 

Little L is 3!

My sweet little guy is now a 3 year old!  I can't believe how fast these kids are growing.  Unfortunately we didn't get a lot of pictures from his party (forgot my camera), but we celebrated at my community's lake.  It was fun but he got overwhelmed by the end.  He told his grandmother, "I don't want to be the birthday boy anymore."  Lol!  Poor kid!  I try to ask the kids some questions on their birthday.  I don't know what I did with last year's answers, but here is how my L answered this year:

Favorite Food: Snacks
Least Favorite: Carrots
Favorite Toy: Nemo (He just got this for his birthday.  He's played with it twice)
Favorite Game: wrestling
Favorite TV show: JoJo's Circus (this changes weekly)
Best Friend: Daddy and T
Favorite Place to Go: Chick Fil A
Favorite Color: Blue
Favorite Book: Cars
Favorite Song: Veggie Tales
Future Career: Fly Helicopter     


The following day was Princess' half birthday.  At 6 months old, C can sit up by herself (she's even pushed herself into a sitting position twice!).  She has started scooting across the floor, gets on all fours and rocks, and has had a taste of banana and a baby mum mum.  She loves both and so badly wants to eat more!  Poor girl has to wait until we get back from our vacation, though.  This momma doesn't want to deal with those types of dirty diapers while we are gone (breast fed poo washes out, but once babies start solids, you have to dump and get it off first).  She also loves hair, her thumb, and people.  She is not a fan of diaper changes and being away from her Mommy.

We are in the process of planning for school (something else that has to wait until we get home from the beach).  This year, I've decided against a curriculum.  Well, actually I did buy a reading curriculum, but we didn't buy math, language, or anything else.  I came to the realization that one of the main reasons we chose to homeschool is because I don't want these boys sitting at a table doing papers all day long, so why would I do that at home?  Plus, we feel convicted to pay off our car and not buying curriculum will save us money.  That makes extra work for me, but I've had fun putting together games and projects to do in place of paperwork.  I will try to keep this blog posted on our fun stuff.  But you know me and blogging ;-)

New Schedule

As I said earlier, I've reached the point where I'm completely overwhelmed and ready for some order in my life.  After talking with friends who seem to have it all together, and reading blogs of Christian homeschooling mothers, it seems like the people who have happy, productive, intentional lives are the ones who have daily schedules.  I'm kind of torn on this.  I like flexibility.  I like going wherever I want, whenever I want.  But something isn't working for me.  I am wondering if this is it.  Maybe I NEED more order to my life.  Maybe all this freedom and flexibility is actually causing me more stress and less real freedom (because if I have a time and place to do stuff, I'll have more free, fun time available instead of always feeling overwhelmed)?  I don't know, but I'm going to find out!  My friend and I sat down today and put together a schedule of how I'd like my day to run.  It's going to be hard because I'm not a very disciplined person.  I am still willing to try, though.  I figure, if this doesn't work, it's ok.  What I'm doing now isn't working anyway, so what's the harm in trying ;-)  So, here it is!  My new daily schedule!

7- wake up!
7:30- head downstairs and make breakfast.  After we eat, the kids will clear the table and then have quiet play while I finish cleaning up.
9- morning chores.  The boys have chores but we don't enforce them.  I will start.  I will also come up with daily chores for me.
10- school starts!  I will have a very specific schedule for school this year, too.  That's to come in another post.....
12- kids get an educational show while I get lunch ready.  Then we eat, clean up, and head upstairs where we rest from 1-2, or later if needed (like by L)
2-4- catch up on morning chores or school work.  Once that's done, it's time for free play.
4- afternoon chores (in other words, get ready for Daddy to come home...)
4:30- dinner prep.  The boys can pick another tv show or play on the electronics.  I hate that they will have all this screen time, but at this point in life, I'm going to just accept it and not beat myself up for it.  I have three children, my oldest isn't even 5.  I will show myself grace.  Lots of grace.  And someday, when life (hopefully) gets a little easier with the kids, they will have less tv time.
5:30- DINNER.. Yum.  Everyone helps clean the kitchen after.
6:30- time to head upstairs and start the bedtime routine.  Brush teeth, diapers, books, devos, kisses, water, good night! 
7:30- lights out!
After the kids are in bed, I would like to do a 15 minute clean up with my hubby, then prepare for the next day (review what's for breakfast, dinner, any outings, whatever) and then finally, kick my feet up and relax. 

Tomorrow, I want to spend some time figuring out what chores need to be done, by whom, and write it all down.  That way, when we start this schedule, the kids and I will know exactly what to expect.  I also want to be more specific in my meal plan.  I've done well planning dinners, but I think I need to start planning all meals and snacks out.  That took extra work up front, but it definitely made my week run smoothly.  So, there you have it!

The Past Three Days

Forget goals, we are back to just surviving.  But here's why:

T woke up "dizzy" and had an upset stomach, so off we went to our second home, the doctor's office.  Turns out he has strep throat.  Again.  Have I mentioned our recent history with strep?  6 weeks ago, T had a terrible case of it.  A week after that, I came down with it and was absolutely and completely miserable.  So sick!  A week after that, my sister came to visit and guess what... got strep.  That's when I decided to take L in to see if he was the carrier, even though he had NO symptoms whatsoever.  He tested positive.  Yay!  We know why it's going around our family and we can finally get rid of it.  Right?  WRONG!  A week later, we were visiting Stacy and had to make a trip to urgent care for...you guessed it, strep.  Thankfully I wasn't as sick this time as last, but sick none the less.  A week after that, I had to take Princess in for a tick bite and she was put on antibiotics.  So we are up to five weeks in a row of someone being up on antibiotics.  But I was happy because we went a whole week without someone coming down with strep!  We finally beat it once and for all!  Then comes this week, and this appointment, and strep again.  Exhausting.  At this point, I am SICK AND TIRED of strep going from person to person.  So after T's test came back positive, I asked them to test C.  She's negative.  I scheduled an appointment for L even though again, he was acting perfectly normal.  Positive.  Two down in one day.  I also scheduled appointments for J and me.  I had mentioned having everyone tested last time I had strep (two weeks ago), but this time, J decided to give in and go this time.  I had my appointment first.  Negative!  Yeah!  J is the ONLY one who hasn't been on antibiotics.  He has felt fine, no symptoms, nothing.  His test came back...POSITIVE!  The man has been getting us sick for the past SIX WEEKS!  He's lucky we love him so much ;-)  I afraid to "jinx" it, but hopefully, prayerfully, this is the end of strep throat for our poor, poor family!  C is still on the antibiotics for that tick bite, so I'm currently the only one not on them!  I'm a little worried they pasted it onto me and it just hasn't had time to settle before my test yesterday.  But I'm praying THIS IS IT!  So, that's why I haven't been setting goals or blogging.  I've spent my days at doctor's offices and pharmacies.  Today's goals are:

1. give kids medicine
2. don't get sick
3. enjoy my family
4. don't get sick
5. make dinner

and a bonus goal again- don't get sick!!!!

July 23

I did well on yesterday's goals.

1. swim lessons went well.
2. laundry-check!
3. Hubby was pleased with the amount of dishes I did (I HATE dishes!!!!  Hubby has always done them, but with his crazy work load lately, he's asked me to step up and do a few.  Ick)
4. Made ham and potatoes for dinner.  I was planning to make something else, but accidentally forgot to take the meat out of the freezer.
5. I packed most of the bag last night for swimming today.  So my list wasn't completely done, but I'm happy :)
I also did my bonus goal.  Well, half of it.  I stuff a lot of diapers.  Again, not all, but most.

Today's goals:

1. Be on time for swim lessons, and then stay late to do extra swimming.
2. Wash diapers AND one load of laundry.
3. Make dinner.
4. Pack bag for tomorrow.
5. Dishes :(

I'll be honest, swimming is done, dinner is done, the diapers are drying and the regular laundry is in the wash.  I added them anyway!  I've also done a few dishes.  I know I need to do more before J gets home (in the next 15 minutes...), but it's a start.  I'm really tired again today.  Thankfully, Princess slept 8 hours last night.  Meaning.... this Mommy slept 8 hours!!!  I'm praying she has another amazing night!