Weekly Wrap Up: July 11, 2014

by Meghan // July 18, 2014 // Comments off

The last week we have finally gotten back into a routine form our travels to AR and TN. We got all the hard stuff (unloading, unpacking, laundry, etc) done the afternoon we got home and madly did it pay off! We had the rest of that week to menu plan, get groceries, pay bills, and just get things back in order. The last thing we want to do is find payday loans in Texas, United States. However, if we have too, we will.

The following week we started back on our learning time routine. We did a quick review and a lot of playing. We have spent all morning, every morning, outside playing in the back yard, playing in the pool, eating apples, and playing with the dog. It has been wonderful!

Here are a few snaps I managed to take during this week:

Lexie found a picture of blocks in the back of her Highlights magazine and she wanted to build what they were building. I helped her with a few pieces- but I was amazed at how well she would perceive what they had done. Some of these were HARD!:

We have read more books this summer than I think we did while stuck inside last winter. Mister has really become obsessed with reading books, and of course Bug wants to (read or) be read to all the time.

My children *love* to be outside- we spend most of our time outside when the weather permits. Lexie had a great idea when she wanted to combine their love for books with the great outdoors!

Our sweet Charlie girl:

Charlie Our Springer Spaniel {Quiet In The Chaos}

Charlie Our Springer Spaniel- 11 months old, July 2014

As you know, we *love* the free and fun curriculum from This Reading Mama (we use it with our AAR). Here, Lexie is working on her new sight word, “me.”

The week wouldn’t be complete without baking something yummy. We made (whole wheat, NO refined sugar) chocolate muffins. Lexie just had to lick the spoon. =)

Last week was a lot of fun- during all this fun, we also started potty training Max. I do have some SUPER cute pictures of that, but they’re probably not appropriate for the blog. haha

Monday the painter comes to paint Lexie’s room; then the kids will start sharing a room! *so scary* Just praying they get used to each other and sleep through the night fine. Lexie wakes up needing to potty and sometimes with night terrors, so that could be a problem. After Mister’s room (aka the nursery) the nursery is painted, I can begin decorating, organizing, and playing in the nursery. YAY! Eight More weeks until baaaby!

Beginning Sonlight P4/5 Part I: new schedule/routine

by Meghan // June 2, 2014 // Comments off

Monday, May 26th, we began our Sonlight P4/5 curriculum. You can read more about my first impression when we received everything here and why we chose what we did, here.

I wasn’t sure if we would begin in the summer, or closer to the fall when baby #3 arrives. I have been so excited to get started, and in desperate need of a new routine for Lexie’s learning time, that I decided to start now. I am glad we did!

Had we waited until fall, we would probably be all the way through our current math (which is Singapore early bird) and would begin Saxon. But, since we are starting early, we are just continuing on with Singapore. I am not super impressed with their program, and don’t find it challenging for Lexie at all cognitively; but it does keep us in the routine of doing some math thinking skills so we will continue with it for a bit.

We also began our All About Reading Level 1– to say I LOOOOOVE this program is an understatement. Love love love. Honestly, everything she is doing now she has been able to do for months; almost a year, actually. But it is giving her a great foundation and building her confidence in literacy SO much. Lexie has been sounding out CVC words (like “cat” “cup” “pig” etc) at least since her third birthday, but when I would introduce a reader like Bob Books, she would always say, “I can’t read the words. You do it.” So, while we played around with decoding (and reading by sight words), I didn’t push her. (besides, she has many years before she needs to be a fluent reader!) I just follow her lead on what she is comfortable with at this point.

All About Reading has built her confidence so much, and in just the first week. She has been reading any cvc word I put in front of her, loves the short activities that go along with the program, and looks forward to getting everything out of her workboxes each day! (well, we don’t do learning time every day, but when we do do learning time …)

(In addition to AAR, we are still using our little curriculum from ThisReadingMama. I will talk more about how we incorporate it in my following posts in this series.)

Like many children her age (under 4) her writing and fine motor skills are still developing. Her cognitive development is way beyond her writing abilities, so we are practicing fine motor skills and handwriting (just how to form the letters and numbers, not making them perfect). She does not like to color very much (bummer) and prefers to “write,” in her special books daddy brings home to her. She is still enjoying Logic of English, but we are only using the handwriting portion (because we love AAR).

So here is what our schedule looks like now for days we have learning time (it’s a little detailed ..):

7am- wake/brush teeth/milk and snuggles/breakfast/clean kitchen
(we do our memory work and Bible verse during breakfast)
8am- kids clean up any toys they got out. I get our Sonlight read alouds for the day and potty chair for Max, we all go to Lexie’s room and read while Max plays and practices pottying
9am- Max to independent play, Lexie’s learning time, then independent play for a few minutes while I clean up, get laundry changed over, and do other chores
10am- walk to park, play outside, pool time in backyard, play games, chores, run errands
11:15- lunch, clean up, free play, baths if necessary
12:00- nap for max. depending on our morning Lexie will either have a little more independent play here, or she will go down for nap
1:00- Lexie goes down for nap if she had a low key morning
1-2:30/3:00- everyone is napping, including myself if I am super tired (and at this point I usually am)
2:30/3:00- up and go to the pool, park, play outside, or run errands
That’s it until dinner, baths and bed!

So, you can see learning time doesn’t take up our whole day, or even a whole hour usually. We are also doing some lapbooking (which is SO fun) , on days we lapbook or do puzzles or something during learning time it takes a little longer to complete. But we have FUN and play a lot. On days we don’t do learning time, the kids play out back, either with me or together while I do chores.

I live by routine and schedule; my kids need the structure and so do I. I don’t do chaos well, however we alway have fun! We are always dancing, playing music, singing songs, etc. But we just do it in a controlled-chaos kinda way! 😉

I like this routine, because Max can be involved with our read alouds; but during the time Lexie needs to focus and have my undivided attention Mr. Rambunctious is having his down time in his room. I would LOVE for him to sit in on learning time, but at this point he is way too hands on wanting to be in the middle of everything she is doing; it just makes it harder for her (and me). So we play and learn with Max later during the day through songs, puzzles, outside, and just good ole conversation!

When the baby comes along, his/her naps and feeding schedule will go right along with everything we already do. I am not worried about that at all. I am actually looking forward to it! =)

(I did the red as an example for her, she did the rest) activity from Reading The Alphabet

My second Beginning Sonlight post will be about how I organize all our materials for everything.
My third Beginning Sonlight post will be more details about our Sonlight curriculum and how exactly we use it as well as along with our other programs. Every Sonlight family uses it differently, but we are really enjoying it this way so far; of course if that changes, I will let you know.
And, look for my post on our workboxes!

Pregnancy Update: 20 weeks

by Meghan // April 28, 2014 // Comments off

Last week we went to the doctor for our 20 week ultrasound.

Everything looks good- baby is a little above average on size, but really that is hard for even an ultrasound to know at this point. Heart rate was 154 consistently and baby was super squirmy. S/he was also very shy, covering their face and booty- not only could we not see the facial features but the tech couldn’t find out what gender baby was; legs were crossed at the ankles and hands were on the face the entire time. In this picture you can see baby’s hand, and profile. We will get another ultrasound at about 30-34 weeks. Apparently our doctor likes to do ultrasounds twice- once in the middle, and once towards the end.

I am feeling good. Some days I am up a few pounds, other days I am down a few pounds. So I am still going with no weight gain? =) Belly is much bigger, and baby is kicking, moving all over the place and gets the hiccups a lot! Lexie had hiccups all the time- I don’t remember Max getting them. I just remember how often Lexie got them, and it was what seemed like all. the. time.

We are excited to still not know the gender. We both almost caved the day before the scan, but decided we definitely do not want to know. Our to do list for before pregnancy is sloooowly getting smaller. Very, very slowly. I am not sure that we will get bunk beds built, because A) I still want Max in his crib, and B) I don’t think JTom will have time to build them anyway, with all our projects and his traveling. So, they will probably just share a crammed bedroom for a while. I am okay with that.

In typical second-trimester style, I have more energy than I did during the first ~~13-15 weeks~~ trimester. I do have days that I am wiped out, but overall feel good.

So … yea. That’s it for the half way point. Yay!

Baby and Preschooler Summaries: 18 months and 3.5yrs

by Meghan // April 9, 2014 // Comments off

{I began this post in march, but just now finished proof reading and editing errors. So, It is a month late! =) }

On March 2, Mister will be 18 months- we FINALLY have molars! He has cut the top right, and just finished the bottom right. He is now getting the right eye tooth, and has started cutting the left molars. I have to be honest- I was starting to wonder if we should see a dentist such as Dentist Framingham to see what was going on. The boy hasn’t had a tooth in months! By 18 months, Lexie had ALL but her two year molars. She had a mouth FULL of teeth, poor Max doesn’t. Hopefully by summer he will be about done (of course then it will be time for his two year molars …).

His sleep is mostly good. He takes one nap; I put him down at 12:00 on the dot, and he stays in bed until 2:30-3:00 depending on how long he sleeps. During all the teething his naps have been hit or miss- some days they are only an 1.5 hours, other days they are over 2. I have been rubbing diluted thieves oil on his gums before naps and bed time, and he loves it. The thieves helps numbs his gums.

building a city with unit bocks

Language

I have looked back at Lexie’s 17-18 month summaries, and wow! That girl was talking like crazy (and has never slowed down …). Mister had lots of words, but isn’t using complete sentences. The most he says in the way of sentences at this point is “bye bye, dada!” Everything else consist of one or two words for things he wants.

He signs more and please, and uses words for most everything else. He is bad about wanting to grunt for things- but I really try to make him use his words instead of responding to his grunts.

Physical Development

His physical development is crazy good- especially his fine motor skills. For a boy, he has always had advanced fine motor skills. His gross motor skills are good too-climbing stairs, moving stools, climbing on furniture, kicking a ball. He and Lexie love to “play soccer” in the back yard or in the house. He recently learned to climb the ladder on the playground out back, and is very proud of himself. Lexie is in gymnastics, so naturally she is all the time doing rolls and cartwheels around the house. Mister tries SO hard to do forward rolls like big sister. It is pretty cute.

shape sorter during morning “learning time”

He especially loves to tinker with things; you will often find him putting small toys inside cups, pretending to eat with a spoon, or stashing odd and ends inside a jar. Water is still his favorite activity, and calms him instantly. He will just let the water run through his fingers and is instantly soothed.

Personality

Personality wise- Max Payne is all boy. he never stops. Ever.

He is determined, and gets frustrated very easily. He is very vocal about what he does and does not like, over all is very sensitive, and snuggly. The only time he stops to relax is if he is getting tired. He loves to read books, but a few pages in has to get up and do something, then come back to finish. During playdates he does great- he snuggles me at first, and then is off to play and explore, even in new settings.

mommy and max time

Lexie is most definitely his favorite person; he follows her around and does what she tells him to … most of the time. He is her little minion- she asks him to pick up her toys or hand her something and he just doesn’t so happily. Haha, that probably won’t last much longer.

Overall Max is a joy and my biggest challenge ~~(other than losing the weight I put on while pregnant with him)~~. He gets bored easily and wants to do everything big sister does, even when he isn’t quite capable. That frustrates him. But it won’t be long and he will be doing everything she does and more!

When we decided to get Lexie a violin for her third birthday, and start her in lessons there were some people that told us “good luck with that; a 3 year old in violin. ha.” I am proud my girl has proven them wrong! =) She graduated from her practice violin (which helps young children get used to handling the violin, the weight of it on their shoulder, etc) her teacher made to her real violin. She is learning to play little rhymes on each string/note and where to put her fingers. She knows all her positions and how to hold her violin properly, though she is getting used to the new shoulder rest.

Overall, Lexie is a snuggly, sweet, happy, girl who is very eager to learn. The more she can take in the better- there is no such thing as too much information or reading at this point. I struggle to keep up with her thirst for knowledge and that is where she challenges me- I am always on my toes trying to fill her need and love of learning. I can’t believe she will be 4 this year. Where has the time gone?

Graduating from practice violin to real violin

Spring is here! {2014}

by Meghan // April 4, 2014 // Comments off

{pictures March 28, 2014, on an oddly wind-free morning!}

This winter, Lexie learned to swing all by herself! And, she can actually go pretty high… Then I convinced her (why, oh why?!) to jump out! She is very proud of herself.

Max learned to climb to the top of the swing set by himself this winter. We will spend the spring learning how to climb down …. haha

Look! Green grass! (and a sweet, worn out dog.)

Are you spending time outside this spring?

Pregnancy #3 Update: Beginning of Second Trimester

by Meghan // March 29, 2014 // Comments off

Well, with my first two pregnancies I updated pretty regularly. This time, we didn’t announce the pregnancy until almost 12 weeks, so I haven’t really been writing updates thus far.

We are almost 16 weeks along now; I had a doctor appointment last week and everything was great. The heartbeat was 157 (I think…) and the doctor okayed me to stop the progesterone supplements. My next appointment is in April and we will have the anatomy scan. Here, they only do one ultrasound (what’s up with that?!) at 20 weeks. We had an ultrasound at 6 weeks, to date and confirm the pregnancy.

We will not, however, be finding out the gender. We have a girl and a boy, all babies are September babies and the nursery can be gender neutral. I am good with that. (ok, so if you know me well, you are probably as surprised as I am that I am okay with not “planning” for a girl or boy…) The urge I have to perform a home baby gender test is a little too strong at the moment!

The surprise of finding out in the delivery room with only my husband far surpasses my innate need to plan, design, and decorate. I can’t wait to spend that moment with him. We are also not talking names. To anyone. Or to each other, for that matter. =)

J.Tom and I haven’t even discussed names, because we can’t seem to agree on anything. So, I figure if we wait until we have him or her in our arms, we can whip out the handy dandy name list and we can go from there. I just don’t feel like arguing over names, or listening to other people’s opinions of names when we don’t even have a name semi narrowed down yet. *and I’m not saying that all snotty* If we happen to come up with names before the baby arrives, I will be happy to discuss. But we said this time we want to wait until we have our baby in our arms, and that’s what I am sticking with.

It will be fun.

Lexie is very excited about “baby #3.” We don’t call the baby “the new baby” because that just seems mean to the siblings. So it is baby #3. Max is pretty clueless, of course. He is too obsessed with eating, throwing things, and chasing the dog.

Oh yes, we got a new dog. She’s furry, and sweet, and smart, and precious.

We will room Lexie and Max together. For now we are planning on J.Tom building bunk beds- the top bunk will be above the crib, and then when Max is ready to move to a big bed we will build a bed frame for a bottom bunk. I really like snuggling in the bed with Lexie, so maybe I will just put the crib in her room and take out a dresser…. It is up in the air for now.

It is hard watching my babies all grow up on me! It is exciting, of course. This pregnancy wasn’t originally planned. After experiencing a loss in early December, we decided at the very last minute (literally) to try for baby #3. The timing worked out to being another September baby, which I had hoped would happen, but hadn’t actually thought would happen. Just before our loss and all we decided to wait another year. Funny how God works.

No nausea since about week 12-13. I have 3-4 days of TONS of energy, and then a day or two where I am exhausted and can’t keep my eyes open. I workout a few times a week with T25, or we go for walks on warmer days. No weight gain so far ~~(well, technically I gained back the weight I lost in the fall, but that happened before this pregnancy, so I don’t count it)~~ but I am pretty sure my hips are bigger! How does that happen? … And I haven’t lost the weight from Max, so it doesn’t seem likely that I need to gain much. The doctor is good with that.

Still praying for a healthy 5 more months. I hope to go full term, as usual. Big healthy babies seem more durable when you have a Max Payne running around the house. Poor Mister, he has no idea what is coming! Then again, neither do I.

Pray for me, friends! =)

Preparing for Next Year’s Homeschool: PreK 4/5 Curriculum Choices {2014/2015}

by Meghan // March 17, 2014 // Comments off

Well, for ~~years~~ months and months I have gone back and forth over what we will use for our curriculum next fall. What curriculum, what style suites us best, what will keep Lexie’s fire going, her passion for learning; what will also work for Max so we can reuse some materials, etc.

I have also had to consider what will be easiest to fit into our life, with baby #3 due in September of this year. =)

As you know I have mostly decided on a classical/Charlotte Mason education style for our family because it just fits us (and our love of the outdoors, learning, and books); but I have also been contemplating joining Classical Conversations. There is a community not too far from us that a dear friend is also a part of. I really enjoyed the open house I attended and Lexie did AMAZING sitting in the room with me for the 2 hours we were there. However, I just don’t know if we are ready for it yet.

I love the Charlotte Mason approach to learning. It encompasses everything I believe about education and family uniting. It is Biblically based, and literature rich (so is classical education). It is truly where my passion for learning and educating my children comes full circle.

Charlotte Mason is also what I see in my children. I see Lexie loving books- asking questions about everything we read; wanting to know more and making connections from her books to her world. Max is beginning the same process- he didn’t love reading books at first, but at about 13 months old, he became obsessed with them, just like big sister. When I sit on the floor, he will bring me a book and say, “boo-k,” turn around and plop into my lap. He then proceeds to open the book and I will read. He really likes for me to take his finger and point to everything in the picture and say its name. He loves reading. And that tells me he will also love learning.

I want to keep their fires burning, but I need to do that in a way that will fit our young family’s lifestyle. As a busy mom of soon-to-be 3, there won’t be much time for the intense planning that a combined classical/Charlotte Mason style education can require. So in the fall, (well, really in January probably) I think we will begin with Sonlight’s P4/5 curriculum.

Sonlight P 4/5 includes: read alouds and language arts, science, Bible, rediness skills, beautiful art books and studies, and introduces world cultures. One thing I love about classical education is it begins history at the beginning. So children not only learn there is much, much more to their world than just their immediate surroundings, but they also learn where it all began. Sonlight does an amazing job of choosing wonderful children’s literature and living books to teach every subject, which is where the Charlotte Mason style comes in. Another point I love is that Sonlight is fairly adaptable. You can supplement with as many books as you’d like, whatever math you prefer (although they sell a few great curricula), and you can make it work with just about any style of education, if you really want to. Their book list is what has driven their popularity for years, but as more and more families have used it, the more it has become known for being a wonderful core curriculum. (no, this is not a review and I am not being paid to say any of this!).

We already have a phonics/reading program we will use, which we haven’t started yet. I chose All About Reading because it is so child friendly and hands on, which I think will be fine for Lexie (as I am mostly sure she has a photographic memory) but I know will be great for Mister, because he is my 100% tactile learner. We will use this with our Sonlight, along with Saxon or Horizon’s math, and a few supplemental activities in science.

I have many friends ask me about two things :1) homeschool curricula and options and 2) converting to a healthier, real food lifestyle. #1 is mostly why I am writing this post.

I tell you, I cannot wait to get started next year. We might begin in August, to get a head start, then take off in September-Christmas with the baby coming, holidays, etc., then start back in January. Or we may just begin in january and go through part of the summer… I know me, and I know Lexie, and chances are we will not want to take that much time off. We both crave structure and our learning time together, so I imagine we will get back to it pretty quickly.

One thing I am really looking forward to is not having to plan and print every thing we do in this season of life. Right now, I am using a printable curriculum (that we both love) and we are doing Five in A Row which is Charlotte Mason style, but requires all the planning be done by the parent. So it requires a lot of time on my part. Sonlight has done most of the work for me, meaning I can enjoy my time teaching, learning, and snuggling, all three of my babies this fall.

So, I have to get busy filling orders in my etsy shop, since that is how I plan to pay for this curriculum! haha If you haven’t noticed I haven’t been writing much lately. There is a two fold reason for this. 1) The first trimester of this pregnancy has kicked my butt! Between the extreme nausea and exhaustion, I am just now catching up on household duties! and 2) I have been very busy making baby blankets in my etsy shop. I keep saying I am going to slow down, finish my drapes for the kitchen, and make a few dresses for Lexie, but so far that hasn’t happened. Hopefully soon!

Family

by Meghan // May 23, 2013 // Comments off

Romans 8:16-17 The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him

Although our families are now hours away, they still make a huge impact on our lives (of course). Without them, we would not be the people, and the family we are. I will start with JTom’s side of our family, and just give a little praise for them.

His Mom is one of the most generous women I have ever known. She gives to and serves others every. single. day. I am not sure how she has enough of herself to go around, but there is always plenty. God has truly given her the gift of giving. She loves Lexie and Max beyond words. We are so thankful to call her our Sue Sue. (She raised a son who keeps his bathroom clean, so you know she is an amazing woman!)

His Dad is kind and brilliant. He raised an amazing young man who can do and build anything, loves his family unconditionally, and works so hard. Those are not things someone comes by naturally, they are traits a child grows up with and sees in their parents. JTom’s dad has most certainly set an amazing example for JTom, and can only imagine the impact he will have on Max’s life.

His sister is one of the nicest, most warm-hearted women I know. The impact a sibling has on your life is immense without them your entire personality would be different. She definitely made an amazing impact of JTom’s life and helped build the man and father he is today. She is making that same impact on her own children, and the children of other’s through teaching. I haven’t known her for many years, but from what I do know, she pours out everything she has into her students. She has helped reassure me when I needed it- when I first became pregnant with Lexie and while I was in school getting my degree. She is always willing to help when you ask, that has certainly been the case for me.

My mom has been a teacher for over 20 years; she has literally see it all in education, in children, in family dyamics. The first two things I would tell someone about my mom are A) she has the softest heart of anyone I know. Through example, she reminds me to soften up some. 😉 Thanks mom
and B) she is the best teacher I know. Over 20 years teaching in public school in one of the biggest counties in the state of Tennessee, and she is still fresh. She still works hard to find new lessons and ways to reach her students.

My Dad is the hardest working person, beside JTom, that I know. He is also the most Biblically sound person I know; if ever I have a question about scripture, ethics, or Bible history, he can answer it all and show or quote the scripture to back it up. Through his example I learned at an early age how to budget, work hard, and pray for my family. He is so generous, and always does right by others. He never puts himself first.

My Granny has taught me how to have fun, and encourage others. =) She has always been my sounding board; someone I could tell anything to when things were hard. Her house has always been home, even when I didn’t feel like I had one. She can encourage, lift, praise, and make you laugh in a 23 words sentence (without taking a breath! haha). 😉 She never meets a stranger, and although we all tease her about it, that’s what we love about her.

My brother taught me how to accept. He taught me that there is so much more to the world than the small amount I understood. He showed me that because people are different, because they think outside the box really, en-truly doesn’t make them crazy or weird. Who knew that four years after his death I would think so much like him-question everything and don’t be a sheeple. I think he would be proud.

These are the amazing people that molded mine and JTom’s life and are still making positive impacts on our family. We all have our differences, we all do thing differently, raise our families differently, but that is the beauty of a family. Despite the things that make us different, there are beautiful things that make us very much the same.

These accept the worst of us, without judgement (I hope! haha), and continue to love us for it. We both come from wonderful Christian families, for that, we are thankful.

They were enrolled with all their little children, their wives, their sons, and their daughters, the whole assembly, for they were faithful in keeping themselves holy. 2 Chronicles 31:18

Baby Summary Weeks 35-36

by Meghan // May 21, 2013 // Comments off

Max hit the 37 week mark yesterday, so this is a post for the last two weeks of his life.

To say Max ha started eating is an understatement. The boy is devouring finger foods. Everything from dried blueberries and apples to sausage and sauerkraut! He ate the sauerkraut like it was running away from him! This weekend he enjoyed my cucumber and tomato salad in oil and vinegar … with garlic! We still do pureed foods just because sometimes I don’t have a meal made that doesn’t have dairy in it, but he is eating a LOT more finger foods. I can’t wait for him to try watermelon and cantaloupe this summer.

We still only have two teeth, but I think he is working on the top two. They’re a little white but not puffy yet. He has been napping great! Most days are 2 1.5 hour naps, sometimes a cat nap at 4:30 if he is really tired. But we usually just do early bedtime at 6:30pm instead.

Crawling … well, he is moving about 2 feet at a time before he falls on his belly and decides to roll over. So yes, he is crawling, but not for long distances. He rolls and scoots around a LOT more than he does crawl. **EDIT: he crawled all the way across the living room floor today! I know, it’s a 37 week update, but had to add it! YAY MAX!**

He enjoys being outside, and playing in the water. We have had beautiful, warm weather as of late. So Mama has been laying out while the kids play. He sits in the baby blow up bath tub and Lexie plays in her kiddie pool. Speaking of which, they are finishing our fence! Woo hoo! I am so excited. It should be complete tomorrow morning. They did most of it today. Lexie is so excited, she has been waiting on her fence for a very long 3 months.

Helping mama make the salad …

Last weekend was Mother’s day; we went to church at the Methodist church (which I liked a lot, surprisingly, coming from a full gospel girl. It was really homey). JTom got me a bread maker for Mother’s day- woo hoo! We have already used it several times and LOVE it. way better than doing it by hand, any day.

This past weekend we stayed home and worked around the house. JTom and Lexie got the garden in and JTom got the sprinklers set up in the flower bed. He cut into the sprinkler system and put little sprayers in the flower beds. They’re really cute. Our garden this year is just: tomatoes (roma, big beef, early girl, burly boys, and cherry), red and green bell peppers, cucumbers, zucchini, and butternut squash. We put the bed in on the south side of the house, where they dug out for flower beds. It’s the perfect spot, and J.Tom may cut in some sprayers for the garden as well. I sure hope so.

I got some petunias for the back porch and filled the hanging baskets for the front, like I do every year. Lexie and I planted some giant impatience in a big pot for the front porch; they smell SO good. (I love having a front door that we use to come into the house)

JTom also got some new burners for the inside of his grill, so we can get back to grilling again soon.

Overall it has been a low key couple of weeks. Some how things have seemed really busy, but in all honesty we haven’t been super busy.

How have you spent your last few weeks? Anything exciting happening?

water play

she couldn’t resist; we didn’t have a kiddie pool yet

Mmm blueberries

Our record heat one day last week- 100 degrees here in lil ole York (we had snow on the ground the week before …)

Daddy and Mister

Reading a gymnastics books while waiting on class to start.

My morning Yoga

Mmmm Cucumber!

My Mister’s curls

wearing Daddy’s hat and looking like my cousin Wesley’s twin when he was this age. Like, if she didn’t have on the lace night gown, she would look exactly like him.

wearing daddy’s hat

Learning this week: Winnie the Pooh, coloring, and playdough

by Meghan // May 10, 2013 // Comments off

I am starting a new weekly/bi weekly update series on what specifically we have done this week in our homeschool or learning in general. Fun crafts and things will usually have their own posts, depending on the time and energy I have to blog them.

This week, Lexie is 4 months away from her third birthday! Oh em gee. I really cant believe my baby, my brilliant, strong willed, determined first born is almost three. (Remind me of this when she is turning 13, and 23….).

Last week we started reading our first chapter book- none other than A.A. Milne’s Winnie the Pooh!

How appropriate, seeing how as a child my Memaw video taped every. single. episode. of Winnie the pooh (the new adventures mind you, not these ridiculous computerized versions… And long before Tigger or piglet had their own movies! I had the real deal, let me tell you).

Lexie loves to read, and she absolutely loves to pretend to read serious, big word books. Her little (formerly my own) Precious Moments Bible is so worn, because she brings it to me and says, “what’s this say?” Then I will read it to her, and she goes off and “reads” it to her dolls or the engines. (Yes, the engines are part of our family now …)

Her devotional is literally falling apart. The cover is falling off, the pages are creased and crinkled. She has most of the pages memorized up to this date. It is by far her favorite book in the house.

We’ve had it since CHRISTMAS! It is 5 months old.

You must appreciate her passion for God and reading though…

So anyway, I thought with all these things combined, she would enjoy a chapter book read aloud.

Wow. To say the least.

I have to distract her ~~bribe her~~ so I can stop reading, or we would have the book read in a day. She likes to take the book and pretend she is reading it. What she recites is a mixture of Winnie the Pooh, meets The Little Red Hen, meets the Bible… Quite eclectic, and entertaining.

Lexie has started coloring inside the lines! I know coloring books aren’t developmentally appropriate and hinder creativity. I know. I know.

But she refused to draw! She is my little perfectionist, type A, right brained baby, and drawing pictures is not her thing. Two weeks ago she would shove a blank piece of paper across the table, crying and panicking, refusing to color! “No mommeeeeeee! You show me, you do it! Essie doesn’t know how!”

But give her a coloring sheet and she will color in the lines, draw pictures on top of it, make numbers and letters all over it … So maybe she has a blank paper phobia? (No, that’s not funny because it is a huge possibility.) But I understand her thought process; she doesn’t know how to draw a picture like she sees in books, and therefore doesn’t want to do it. Obviously I want to teacher her to do things out of her comfort zone, or things she doesn’t think she can do really well. Slowly she has started coloring on some blank spots on her papers, so I am going to try blank paper again and see what happens.

Last week we played outside a lot, so I don’t have many pictures of learning activities… But we did manage to squeeze in a little bit of intentional inside learning fun.

We used playdoh to create letters. Then we talked about the letter sounds, and different words that had that beginning and ending sound. It was fun and she loved it. We also cut out shapes with cookie cutters, and worked on her fine motor skills. She had a lot of fun!

We decided Max needed some “playdoh,” but since he obviously puts everything in his mouth, we had to be creative. Another mama online told me about shaving cream in a baggie. I had a really hard time keeping the bag taped to his tray; and eventually he chewed a hole in it… but he had a lot of fun! I added some non toxic paint in the baggie and let him squish it all around.

That has pretty much been our week. We haven’t done any Before Five in a Row in a week or two. I have ordered a printer and am waiting on it so we can do our lapbook/memory book activities to go with the books. Today she found and picked up The Big Green Pocket Book off the shelf downstairs, so we read it. Five times. In a row. Needless to say, that will be the next book we row! haha

What have you been doing with your children this week?