Thursday, August 08, 2013

Our First Day of School!

We officially started our homeschooling journey today! We’ve been doing “school” off and on for a year or two but now that G is a kindergartener there’s no option of doing it of and on anymore! The day went great. I really wanted to make it special and fun since G is not always interested in school activities (especially learning to read and write). Here are some of the things we did and I owe most of the ideas to Pinterest. I don’t have the energy or quiet to think up these clever ideas!

We started the morning with donuts and sang “Happy first day of school!”

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We took first day pictures

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P wanted to join the fun but it’s easier without her so I sent her to bed.

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While I put P to bed the boys started putting stickers on their boxes that we’ll keep their special papers/projects in.

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G was more interested in the magnetic thumb tacks that I bought and played with them while R finished his stickers.

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We read The Little Engine That Could and talked about Philippians 4:13 and how they can do all things through Christ (it was a perfect first day activity because both boys use the phrase “I can’t” pretty regularly).

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They wanted a snack so we worked on sorting, counting, and graphing s’mores goldfish crackers.

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This morning I found this great idea- we used a can to paint circles onto a piece of paper that has Philippians 4:13 on it- “I CAN do all things through Christ who strengthens me.” Tomorrow we’ll fill in some areas that they will need God to help them with this year.

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While I cleaned up the paint they heard P waking up so they played in her crib with her. The lights were actually off and they were shining their flashlights around the room.

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We gave P some goldfish and started working on the secret message. Graham said this was his favorite part of the day. I wrote “I can do all things” on white cardstock with a white crayon. They painted over it with watercolors and the phrase appears. We’ll turn them into necklaces tomorrow so when they say “I can’t” we can put it on and persevere through the work!

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We started our 7 Days of Creation Unit by reading about what God made on day 1 (light). We played a form of I spy using flashlights, talked about light traveling in a straight line, seeing pictures of light going through a prism, and using paint and a straw to put bursts of light on the first page of the creation book they’ll make.

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While we did this P read her own books!

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We began working on their calendar notebooks. These will be done first thing most likely (I could tell they were getting tired by this point in the morning). We worked on some of the pages in July so it wasn’t all new. We started with our big calendar which has an insect theme this month. As we identify the date, there will also be picture of an insect and I’ll share a few facts about it with them. They’re both into insects so they were excited about this! After that we moved onto the calendar notebooks. The boys will use them to keep track of their own calendar, practice their days of the week, write/identify numbers, chart the weather, count our school days, and identify the states as we go through the alphabet. I used a variety of sources to put them together on their differing levels and abilities. G does not like to write so he isn’t thrilled about it, but once he gets the hang of it it should work better. R might not be ready for it yet so we’ll see how he does in the days to come.

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The had a muffin tin snack lunch while I began reading The Enormous Crocodile to them.

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They ended the day with awards that say “We all agree G/R had a super first day of P/K. They liked these too and asked if the next one could be Transformers. I informed G that awards like this won’t be given out everyday. He suggested twice a week. We’ll see Smile

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Saturday, April 20, 2013

Happy Birthday Paige!

The saying is so true that the days are long and the years are short! I'm amazed that we’re already celebrating her first birthday and at the same time can’t believe we survived that first year. Life with three little kids has been chaotic, exhausting, sweet, and wonderful all at the same time! None of our kids are demanding on their own, it’s just the reality of putting all their needs together that caused me to be overwhelmed more often then I wanted or thought I would be.

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Paige is walking! She went from half walking/half crawling to walking full time in a week, quickly learning how to stand up on her own too. All this was accomplished during our visit to Grandma and Grandpa’s house!

She loves cell phones, remote controls, water bottles, plastic bags, and any non baby toy that can be found.

She is still a better eater then her brothers. She is quickly adding more finger foods but still likes her baby food veggies and fruits. She continues to sing while she eats and is learning to drink from a sippy cup. I’m excited about this development since she never had a bottle!

She has always liked riding in the car and slept most of the time on our drive from TN to MD and back.

While on our trip to MD, we stayed at hotels with indoor pools. She was fearful of at first but really enjoyed it once she got used to it

She mimics our laughs and says dada more often. I’ve gotten her to say mama a couple of times!

The day before her birthday we had a few friends over to celebrate. She really enjoyed the strawberry cupcakes. One of her gifts was a doll and she absolutely loves it!

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The morning of her birthday she opened her gifts from us and the grandparents.

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Saturday, March 16, 2013

Paige is 11 Months!

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*She stands a lot on her own, letting go of what she used to pull up on. This skill has quickly progressed to taking steps on her own! I think she’ll be walking by her birthday.

*When she sits on the floor she often crosses her legs and will also rock herself onto her knees and play with toys that way.

*She only says “yeah” now. It’s so funny to ask her questions. She responds with “yeah.” She is such an agreeable child based on our conversations.

*She is up to 6 teeth and is the most bothered of the three when it comes to teething. The boys would wake up with new teeth not having any sleep issues with it. She has some rough nights on occasion where I know they are bothering her.

*Her hair is growing in the back but it is really slow to come in on top. She no longer leaves the bow bands on so it’s going to be a while before she wears bows again.

*She gives kisses. Wet ones!

*Baths and the Crazy Coupe car are some of her favorites

*Her favorite foods include bananas, grapes, cheese, gold fish, and tater tots. She loves to eat and still enjoys baby food but really likes to pick food up herself. She sings while she eats and can get pretty loud!

*She’s getting squirmier by the day

*Shoes and sock don’t stay on very long

*She adores her brothers and their toys. Most of her rattles etc have lost their appeal. She prefers to chew on superheros and any other random toys they leave on the floor. She’s also taken an interest in eating our board books. I guess since the books have been around for a while they are wearing out. She always manages to find some places on them to bite the cardboard off.

Monday, February 18, 2013

Paige is 10 Months!

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*She wears a size 3 diaper and 12-18 month clothes

*She has said “hi” a few times

*She had the stomach bug again. She lost a pound and took a week to recover. Thankfully we avoided a trip to the ER!

*She often reminds us of a dog- she crawls with toys in her mouth, eats food that is under the table, begs for food if someone else is eating or the snack cabinet is opened, pulls stuff out of the trash, and plays fetch with herself

*She sleeps through the night!!! She is in bed by 9 and wakes up around 6:30

*She naps twice a day and nurses 4 times a day. She has learned to put herself to sleep for naptime with minimal crying!

*She loves shopping and smiles at everyone she meets. People always comment on how happy she is and she really is. The older she has gotten and more she’s been able to do the happier she gets

Saturday, January 19, 2013

Paige is 9 Months!

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*She weighs 21 pounds 1 ounce and is 28.5 inches

*She says “yeah yeah” and “dada.” Anthony thinks that sometimes she calling me when she says “yeah yeah”

*Crawls even faster now and often with toys in her mouth

*She has two top teeth giving her 4 total

*She enjoys playing Peekaboo and I’ll Get You (we chase her and she crawls away)

*Spent the night at Aunt Julia’s apartment at her college

*She eats more of the food that we’re eating

*Graham and Reed have started calling her “Sweetie” and she responds to it now

*Her favorite toys include paper and plastic bags

*It finally snowed and she got to play in it and eat it too