Memory lane
I was looking at some old photos and I cannot believe that this was Adurey only 2 years ago.
And this one was when Audrey was about the age that Isaac is now and Ethan was not quite 3.
Wow. I think I’m going to go check on them in their beds to make sure they haven’t grown any more today.
What our days look like
heartofthematteronline is doing a blog hop this week where families post “A Day in the Life” and I thought I would join in on the fun.
*Disclaimer- This is only the 3rd day we’ve been doing this. A year from now I’m going to look back on this and laugh*
First of all, let me introduce you to my biggest challenge when it comes to homeschooling:
Cute, blue-eyed babe, soaking with drool, toddler who thinks that everything that he spies is his and all he needs to do to claim it is to shriek long and loud! He naps once a day and for much the rest of the time that he is awake, he’s frustrated and cranky because he wants something he can’t have or is trying to do something that isn’t working the way he wants it to. Schooling presents a bit of a problem for Isaac because Ethan and Audrey get to use things that he would love to get his hands (and mouth) on. Today I pulled out some Easter eggs to distract him! It ended up working pretty well.
I’m trying to work our routine to cause the least amount of Isaac melt-downs.
6:45- Kids get up, eat breakfast, clear their dishes from the table, get dressed, make their beds and wave, “goodbye” to Daddy.
We do morning chores. I start laundry and load the dishwasher. Ethan washes and dries the table. Audrey washes the bathroom countertop.
8:00- Ethan, Audrey and I do a reading from the Children’s Bible and we pray together.
Once that is done our official “school work” begins:
Update our calendar and days of the week and do our weather chart.
Table Time in the kitchen for Ethan and Audrey. They think they get to do whatever they want, but I fill their little craft bins in the evening with cutting and pasting projects. They spend a good amount of time on this because they love it and it helps with their fine motor skills.
While that is going on, I play with Isaac. We do puzzles, read books or I pull out something like the Easter eggs pictured above!
9:00- Snack time. While they are eating and Isaac is locked in his booster seat I introduce the number of the day and then I hide some printout of that number throughout the Living Room and have the kids look for them.
If the weather is nice, we take some time to play outside for a while. Some days I let them make up whatever they want to do and some days we play hot potato or variations on other kindergarten level games that we can do with the three of us.
11:00- Lunch/Clean Up
Isaac goes down for a nap after lunch. During that time we’ve been working on our ABC’s: singing, using flashcards, other fun letter games and do work through our Math-U-See Primer book. Then we all grab a pillow and blanket and find a comfortable spot for story time. I’m working through a list of fun read out loud books.
2 evenings a week, Nathan does more in-depth science with Ethan.
By Labor Day, we’ll have finished 10 days of basic alphabet fun and we’ll be ready to add to our routine working on writing the letter and number each week and focusing on letter sounds and starting to put letters together. Reading! Yeah!
Ethan’s First Day of Kindergarten
Ethan had his first day of school today. As I tucked him in tonight, I asked him how he felt about today. He told me that it was even better than he expected! Yeah!!!
Ethan had his requested breakfast this morning. We had scrambled eggs and bacon. Our whole family sat at the table and ate breakfast together at the same time. Eating breakfast together rarely happens! I didn’t have the dishes cleared before Ethan and Audrey were begging to start. It wasn’t even 7:30 yet! I held them off for an hour and then Ethan and I had a little talk about expectations. I told him that I wanted him to enjoy learning and that a lot of the time he would really like it, but that sometimes he might not want to do what I was asking of him, but I needed him to do it anyway. I told him that I didn’t want this time to be full of arguing.
He did really well. My biggest challenges were keeping Isaac happy and explaining to Audrey over and over that it wasn’t time to glue anything yet! Ethan gave me no trouble at all.
Here he is with the easel that I remembered was in our storage room. I printed out some calendar and weather cards and laminated them:
One of the best parts of doing school at home is cuddling with Daddy while learning about science:
I’m very proud of my boy! I’m so glad that he enjoys learning!
What happens when we tell the kids to get ready for bed
I got wrapped up in kindergarten curriculum last night that I lost track of time and then was too tired to post anything. I thought y’all would like this photo those. They did this all on their own. No prompting from Mom or Dad.
Fun with Friends
Ethan woke early this morning full of excitement because his friend, Zachary, was going to be coming over. We had to remind him many times that it wasn’t time for him to come over yet. Audrey was also very excited!
We went to church this morning, got home and had lunch, settled the kids on the couch to rest and then I went in our room and took a nap. I love Sunday afternoon naps. Who am I kidding? I love naps anytime. I just don’t have the opportunity to take one as often as I would like and sometimes the timing is off and I end up more tired than when I started. I digress. . .
Anyway, after nap/rest time, we finished getting the things we needed for supper for when our guests were here. Then, at about 3:30 our guests arrived, Zachary brought his parents, Ray and Dawn. There was Wii sword fighting, playing with the kitchen set, pushing around the Pooh walker and the other walker that Isaac plays with, playing the piano, picnic food for supper, and then a post-supper trek to the park. The boys had so much energy. It was fun to see them play together.
In other news, the cooler weather this morning made my 6 mile run this morning awesome! I had put off my long run from yesterday to today because I had seen that today was supposed to be nicer and I’m glad I waited. I was able to run 50 seconds a mile faster than the last time I ran six miles (not doing speed work) and my average heart rate was exactly the same. That means that I shaved 5 minutes off my total time and I didn’t work any harder. That made me very happy!
We’ve got rythm, We’ve got music
Thanks to Jesse Wagner from Crown, we scored ourselves some free Higher Ground passes. I spent the day scrapbooking with Kimberely, but when I got home this evening, we all headed over to the Higher Ground Music Festival here in Winsted, MN.
Since the tickets to get in didn’t cost our family anything, we decided we would spend a little money so that the kids (and me) could play in the inflatables area.
Waiting to climb the dragon:
Climbing through the last obstacle at the end:
And then I made it through and pointed at the camera:
And then it was time for music. One of Ethan’s favorite groups was there to perform. Audrey and I were excited too.
This is the look of a boy who is at his very first concert:
Guess who else has rythm? He was jigging, clapping and kicking his feet the whole time.
A good time was had by all. It was, afterall, music our kids like that wont drive us crazy 
.
School Supplies, Snuggles, and Slobber
What our days have been full of this week:
School Supplies. The kids are obsessed with the new crayons. A bargain at 25 cents a box. I must admit I’m a sucker for brand new crayons, newly sharpened pencils and pristine notebooks with blank pages.
Snuggles. I mentioned earlier that we’ve been reading the Little House in the Big Woods book. This is what it looks like at our house. Notice the spot that’s just waiting for me!
Slobber. That would be Isaac. I pondered out loud, the other day, that Isaac’s diapers should be more wet with the amount of water and milk he drinks. Then I remembered that he’s been teething. We have three molars and an eye-tooth that have cut through in the last month. It has turned him into a puddle of drool. I changed his shirt 4 times today because of how wet it was. This picture doesn’t adequately capture the drool, but it’s a cute one of Isaac.
My brain is tired
I love Ethan. I don’t think I need to convince anyone of that. However. . . .
I need him to stop talking for about 10 minutes. My brain is so tired from having to answer his non-stop questions, comments, and confessions. This afternoon, while we were driving to swimming lessons, Ethan asked me something and I just didn’t have the energy to come up with a decent response. I told him that I needed him to have a quiet time for a while- no talking until I said he could. When we were almost at our destination, I told him he could talk. He proceeded to say all the things that he had thought of and held back during his quiet time.
Ahhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!!!
First-born guilt
Ethan is in an interesting stage right now. I don’t know if it’s just him, but I think it may have something to do with being the very conscientious first-born. He feels compelled to tell us every single time he does something (or thinks something) that he thinks is wrong.
Some examples:
“Mom, I think I have a drip on my underwear.”
“I picked at my fingers.”
“I scratched my toe.”
“I sat on the ottoman.”
“I might have accidentally talked 3 times after you tucked me in bed last night.”
“I think I’ve changed. I used to be gooder.”
“I accidentally bumped into a boy in the tunnel.” (at McDonalds playland)
“I pulled on the seat belt.”
“I had a bad thought about Alicia running away from bad guys and there was fire coming after her.” (Alicia is a character on Go, Diego, Go)
and my favorite one lately that I just can’t wait until later to share:
“It’s a good thing I can control my body.” (after telling me that he had thoughts about doing something bad)
Because of Ethan’s increase in telling me that he is thinking “bad” thoughts and doesn’t know how to get them out of his head, I taught him and Audrey this verse: “If anything is excellent or praiseworthy, think about these things.” I love hearing my kids say that verse!
It’s going to be lonely here
Ethan and Audrey are with Nana and Grandpa Fritz for a few days. They were so excited this morning. As soon as they got out of bed they wanted to leave. We weren’t planning to leaving until after lunch time. They were a little disappointed that they had to wait. I’m sure they will have a lot of fun! Sherlock, Nana’s dog, will have some excitement.
I’ve been trying to figure out what Isaac and I are going to do to occupy ourselves. I think we’ll take a walk tomorrow. I can’t do long walks during the day anymore because Ethan and Audrey don’t walk that fast and aren’t interested in going for a walk for the sake of getting exercise! I may take advantage of that option tomorrow. I’m a tiny bit tempted to round up all the kid/baby stuff we don’t need anymore and have an impromptu garage sale on Friday while I don’t have kids crying about getting rid of their things. That would be way more work than it would be worth for one day though. Another time, I guess.
Ethan and Audrey, I know you’re having a good time! I love you!
Isaac is keeping my company while you are gone.
amy
