Wednesday, August 25, 2010
16 Weeks - Flutters and Heartbeats
Tuesday, August 24, 2010
Cheapo Homeschool Mom
Thursday, August 19, 2010
Weaning Complete
Now can someone help get my stubborn 3-year old potty trained?!!
Tuesday, August 17, 2010
Day 1 & 2 a Success!
And to top off my day, I cleaned out toys (and some junk because my daughter is a horrible packrat!) out of Lily and Schaeffer's rooms. I was able to do some rearranging, decluttering, sorting, and dusting. Yay for productive days!
Saturday, August 14, 2010
Student Orientation at River's Edge
Lily and I attended her Student Orientation on Friday morning at her new school, River's Edge Christian Academy (RECA). This was her first chance to see her classroom, meet her teacher Mrs. Anderson, and meet her 7 other classmates.
{Lily has a loose tooth and continued to wiggle it in all the group pictures.}
Lily was very shy at first and hid behind me. But as soon as her little friend Lexi walked through the door Lily perked up and was eager to play and get involved in the activities.
{Lily and Lexi in the cozy corner.}
It was a really great experience and I'm so grateful that things went so smoothly. Lily is now excited about her first day of school on Monday morning. We have our curriculum, school supplies, backpack, snack/lunchbox, and our lesson plans for our first week. I'm so excited to be working with Lily on all these new skills - reading, math, social studies, weather, date/time, etc. And best of all her curriculum is completely from a Biblical worldview. She will be learning about her Creator God and about all the wonder of this big world that He designed for people that He loves so much. Just thinking from a Kindergartner's point of view, it must all be so new and exciting and it makes me very excited to be walking this journey with her - seeing her world expand before her very eyes, and witnessing her make connections about our Savior and His boundless blessings and love for us.
Some things that I already love about her teacher Mrs. Anderson and RECA and why it's a perfect answer to prayer:
- Mrs. Anderson is sweet, soft-spoken, gentle, loving and very patient.
- Mrs. Anderson explained that she will be doing things a little different from the other K5 RECA teachers by giving the students small breaks every 20 minutes between subjects. If you know Lily, this is perfect for my little sensory-seeking-very-active-can't-sit-still-for-too-long student.
- This one may sound trivial, but it's a biggy for Lily...Mrs. Anderson is incorporating ways for the students to bring with them to school a favorite item from home. This is a huge comfort for Lily to have a familiar object with her. Lily had a preschool teacher and various Sunday School teachers who have discouraged bringing favorite items into the classroom for fear it would be a distraction. Perhaps it's a small thing, but again this is another answer to prayer. I've already seen the excitement on Lily's face when I've told her she can pick out one of her favorite things to take with her.
- Mrs. Anderson is very flexible and has already demonstrated how much she wants to work closely with us parent-teachers. It'll be a perfect match!
- RECA is Christ-centered. Every day begins with devotion and prayer. And all the curriculum is from a Biblical worldview. Dress code enforces modesty and fairness. I love having that one less worry for my little girl.
- RECA is 100% parent-led and run by volunteering parents. Even before the first day of school has begun, I've already witnessed the beauty of this process. All the parent-teachers, mostly moms, in Lily's class have already begun working closely together to supply Mrs. Anderson with extra supplies. Since we are meeting in a brand new satellite campus for RECA, and right now it's the only classroom meeting at this location, we are trying to help Mrs. Anderson have all the things that she would've had at one of the larger campuses. It's awesome to see all the moms pull together, volunteer, and help. Such a cool concept!
BJ will be taking care of morning drop-off...what a blessing that is! And so I won't be there to witness Lily walk into her classroom for her first official day of school. I know she'll do great! (And it also helps me to know that I'll be picking her up very soon afterwards since they fit in all academics, playtime and snack time in only 4 hours!)
Tuesday, August 10, 2010
Friday, August 6, 2010
Trouble Justifying
I did find one very awesome table at Bliss Home (they don't have a photo on their site otherwise I'd give you a link). The table was made of reclaimed wood and the legs were made of reclaimed wood windows. It was a piece of art, but the price tag reflected it. Yesterday I made rounds to about half-a-dozen thrift stores hoping to score big. Nada! I just don't have time to hit the thrift stores often enough. Thrifting is an artform that requires time (and probably not 3 1/2 kids in tow). There's one more used furniture store I want to visit. It's usually packed full of junk and hidden treasures. By the time I got there yesterday the rain was really coming down hard and the parking is on the street near the homeless shelter. The homeless men and women were converging upon all the buildings with coverings and awnings in order to seek shelter. That was heartbreaking to see as I stayed dry in BJ's luxury sedan...which leads me to another reason why I'm having trouble justifying the cost of new furniture...I was reminded so vividly yesterday that so many people have absolutely nothing but the clothes on their backs.
So the hunt continues. Next week I'll be spending some time on Craigslist and seeing if I happen upon something newishly old, affordable, well-loved, and durable.
* The sideboard has been in my mom's family for a long time. Just from the looks of it, and after asking a furniture builder, it appears to be made of several different types of hard woods, but not sure which ones other than oak.
Monday, August 2, 2010
Re-arrangin'
We are in the process of setting up a "big boy" room for Schaeffer and Griffin. They will get to share a room and have their own twin beds. I will be sure to take plenty of before-and-after photos to post here. But for now we are in the research phase. That pretty much involves shopping around for twin beds that won't put us in the broke house, and finding creative storage solutions to stow all their clothing and toys since space is getting a bit tighter for them. I am soooo grateful that we bought a house with large closets in every room!
BJ is in the process of researching high-capacity washer/dryers. He swears it'll change our lives (probably more like his life because he generally does the laundry around here...I know, I gotta good man).
As far as baby stuff, we are covered! I cannot imagine a single baby item we will need except for a 2-3 years' supply of Pampers.