First Day of School 2016!

First day of homeschool! 

 

Looking forward to a fresh new year! 

We had a special breakfast of waffles and orange juice this morning.

Then we headed outside to take pictures before we hit the books.   

I asked the kids what they want to be when they grow up – it changes every year!   

As of today Claire wants to be a Veterinarian.  

Chandler wants to be a carpenter like Daddy.

Fiona says she wants to be just like mommy.  Aww.  

And I didn't ask Declan ... though if he could express himself it would probably be a paleontologist. 

I had us down for a light day to break us in. And it’s a good thing too.  Helping four kids at once keeps you on your feet! Ack! Last year I had just two schooling and Fiona and Declan were pretty good about entertaining themselves. This year Fiona has some work and I have to keep Declan busy. He did well with coloring and a snack. But it was still someone constantly needing me and frequently more than one at a time! It's an adjustment, but we'll get this!

I Think We Are Ready!

Lesson plans are made.  Bags are packed.  I think we are ready for our first day of school tomorrow!

Declan's bag has been ordered, but it not here yet.  His is dark grey with red lettering though.  These bags are so handy for their schoolwork!  It's a great size for all their books and they can easily pick them up and take them to wherever they want to do their schoolwork with everything they need.  

Declan's bag:

He's just doing some preschool work to keep him entertained while everyone is working.  We have crayons, coloring book, and notebook, stickers, flashcards of insects and puzzles.

Fiona's bag:  

Fiona is starting some Pre-K work this year.  We have Language Lessons for Little Ones, Building Thinking Skills, and coloring book and notebook.

Chandler's bag:

Second grade!  We have a notebook for journaling, Language Lessons for Little Ones 3 and Horizons Math.  He will also be doing Xtramath online.

Claire's bag:

Fourth grade!  She has a notebook for journaling, Language Lessons for the Very Young 2, Editor in Chief, Horizons Math and Life of Fred Apples.  She will also be doing some Xtramath online and has a Orton-Gillingham tutor that she will see twice a week. 

Everyone will also be doing Apologia Zoology Flying Creatures and Mystery of History III along with our homeschool co-op.  Fiona and Chandler will also be doing Spanish. 

It's going to be a busy year!

Two year old for you ...

Me: Declan, say truck!

Declan: Car

Me: Declan, say cat!

Declan: Zelda (our cat's name)

This two year old marches to his own drum.

Pool time!

We got to go to the pool with Daddy tonight!  We had a lot of fun and it felt great.  Declan LOVED getting tossed up in the air by Daddy!

Two years old!

Our dinosaur obsessed, book loving, adventurous, silly, Daddy's shadow is two years old!  How is that possible?  Everyday my baby is looking less like a baby and more like a little boy.  It's bittersweet.  But Declan is such a fun little guy and totally completed our family.  And for his birthday he got his new "big boy bed" - with dinosaur blankets of course!

Those days ....

I worked on organizing the basement today.  Which means my living room looks like I haven't cleaned it in 3 weeks.

And dinner was delayed due to Fiona and Declan throwing some of it down the stairs.

Yes, you read that right.

Mama was NOT happy.

I had a cup of millet on the counter waiting for the water to boil.  I came back in the kitchen to find an empty measuring cup and a very messy staircase. 

I know that Fiona was the ringleader because Declan would have just thrown the whole thing down the stairs. 

Even after sweeping and vacuuming we will be finding millet down there for years! 

I told Fiona that that was supposed to be our dinner and she said in a small voice, "Uh oh." 

Yeah, uh oh. 

Grrrr.

Clean Eating Win!

For the last 10 days I have been doing MoveMore Fitness' Cleaning Eating Kickstart Challenge. I had my official post weigh in this morning and have lost 7 lbs! In 10 days! It was all about adjusting what I ate, not deprivation. No sugar, no dairy, no alcohol, and only whole grains.  I was blown away by how much carbs I normally eat. Even while purposely keeping carbs down and only eating whole grains, etc I still ended up with 50% of my nutrition in carbs a day! How much was I eating before?!  The challenge may be over, but I think this is something I need to keep doing.