2014 Rolls on In!
Well here we are, almost halfway through January already! Where to begin?
Back to December- we had a lovely holiday season . . .
Birthday Party- this is our sweet boy whose Grandmother (primary caretaker) died on Thanksgiving day. He really struggled with behavior (well more than usual) in December, but came back from vacation okay.
Little Lady Bug (as we call her, or Lovey), turned 3 months old! Started doing lots of smiling, giggling and sucking on hands! Oh and crying and carrying on every time she has to go to sleep. That I could do without.
Christmas was a nice day- peaceful and calm morning and then friends over for Christmas dinner. Followed by packing and cleaning for PA!
We had a great trip to PA, to visit with Jer's mom. I pretty much did nothing for the entire week, other than hold Heidi . . . she wasn't going to sleep in the pack n play AT ALL (other than nights), so daytime was holding, holding, holding. Would have been over-the-top frustrating at home, but since I had nothing else to do . . .I managed! The kids loved playing with their Gramma Gordon and even got to experience some snow! It was SO cold, they could only be outside for about 30 minutes a day. YIKES! I learned that I'm not a good enough parent to live up north! You ladies are WAY better than I am in that department . . .my parenting and sanity depend on the phrase "go outside."
And now we're back in our routine. I changed up a few things for school this spring- added a few different reading programs for Shannon, since we were all hating 100EZ lessons. I'm glad we've done it and I think we may push through to finish, but it was going to be the death of me AND her! So now we are doing one or two of those lessons a week, spread out over 5 days, Explode the Code and some Funnix. Funnix is a computer based program, actually written by the same people as 100EZ but without the "funny" letters. So the style is the same (I like) but not as weird. Plus it's cute and fun. That's helped attitudes lots! We are moving along in math, Shan is in her second math book (Singapore Math for K is two books) and she's working on number bonds and pre-adding. I love to see her little mind make the connections!
Our boys are doing okay, it's a challenging group this year, for sure. We are expecting two more in the next couple weeks, which will bring our total so far, to seven.
Hmm, what else? I didn't set a lot of goals at this point, mostly because I feel like my "new year" is in August, when the new school year starts. But I've been doing lots of thinking about what I want to change for this year and will implement as I figure out where I need to go. I am doing some different Bible reading, which is refreshing. I'm actually doing some plans on my ipad, something I NEVER thought I'd do . . .I love my paper Bible! BUT it's working for this crazy lifestyle, so I'm going to be thankful and just not dwell on the form!
My brain is fried at this point of night lately, so that's it for now (this post has taken me days because of the lack of functioning brain cells!).
Back to December- we had a lovely holiday season . . .
Birthday Party- this is our sweet boy whose Grandmother (primary caretaker) died on Thanksgiving day. He really struggled with behavior (well more than usual) in December, but came back from vacation okay.
Little Lady Bug (as we call her, or Lovey), turned 3 months old! Started doing lots of smiling, giggling and sucking on hands! Oh and crying and carrying on every time she has to go to sleep. That I could do without.
Christmas was a nice day- peaceful and calm morning and then friends over for Christmas dinner. Followed by packing and cleaning for PA!
We had a great trip to PA, to visit with Jer's mom. I pretty much did nothing for the entire week, other than hold Heidi . . . she wasn't going to sleep in the pack n play AT ALL (other than nights), so daytime was holding, holding, holding. Would have been over-the-top frustrating at home, but since I had nothing else to do . . .I managed! The kids loved playing with their Gramma Gordon and even got to experience some snow! It was SO cold, they could only be outside for about 30 minutes a day. YIKES! I learned that I'm not a good enough parent to live up north! You ladies are WAY better than I am in that department . . .my parenting and sanity depend on the phrase "go outside."
And now we're back in our routine. I changed up a few things for school this spring- added a few different reading programs for Shannon, since we were all hating 100EZ lessons. I'm glad we've done it and I think we may push through to finish, but it was going to be the death of me AND her! So now we are doing one or two of those lessons a week, spread out over 5 days, Explode the Code and some Funnix. Funnix is a computer based program, actually written by the same people as 100EZ but without the "funny" letters. So the style is the same (I like) but not as weird. Plus it's cute and fun. That's helped attitudes lots! We are moving along in math, Shan is in her second math book (Singapore Math for K is two books) and she's working on number bonds and pre-adding. I love to see her little mind make the connections!
Our boys are doing okay, it's a challenging group this year, for sure. We are expecting two more in the next couple weeks, which will bring our total so far, to seven.
Hmm, what else? I didn't set a lot of goals at this point, mostly because I feel like my "new year" is in August, when the new school year starts. But I've been doing lots of thinking about what I want to change for this year and will implement as I figure out where I need to go. I am doing some different Bible reading, which is refreshing. I'm actually doing some plans on my ipad, something I NEVER thought I'd do . . .I love my paper Bible! BUT it's working for this crazy lifestyle, so I'm going to be thankful and just not dwell on the form!
My brain is fried at this point of night lately, so that's it for now (this post has taken me days because of the lack of functioning brain cells!).
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Mom
I'm glad your one boy is doing better. I had to smile at the Legos for his birthday. The Lego company seriously must make a fortune .. boy sure go nuts over them!
Heidi is such a doll baby .. looks just like your other ones. You can tell they are all siblings! I'm glad you had a good trip to visit Jeremiah's mom. Yeah ... we honestly don't play much outside in the winter. I think it will be easier when the kids can bundle themselves and go out without me, but for right now, it's SUCH a process, I just don't make the effort very often. It actually takes me awhile the rest of the year to remember that going outside is an option again! I really made a pointed effort to get outside every day with the kids this past year before winter hit, and it was SO wonderful. But yes, big different between living in the North and the South. You adapt!
Yeah, we hated the book by the end of it .. but same here, glad we did it. Sophie and I have worked through a little of it, and I'm just not sure if it's a good fit for her. I'm just experimenting now with different types of books and styles since she's still so young. I seem to remember you asking me before if she was starting kindergarten in the fall. The answer is yes. Not because I want to get her ahead or anything, but I seriously don't feel like I have a choice. She does all of Landon's school with him, so while she's obviously not reading or doing the math he's doing, she pretty much does a lot of kindergarten level work at this point. She is definitely farther ahead than Landon was at this age with letters, sounds, numbers, and adding. She's DYING to do regular school, and just plows through all the work books. So, we are just going to go for it. I'll adjust things as she gets older. I would have flipped out a few years ago not having an exact plan, but I'm getting better at adapting and changing things up to fit our family. Aren't you proud of me?! :)
Way to go changing things up to get when you need! I just revamped my Bible time, and it was so needed and so necessary!!!!
Talk to you soon! Love!