New Beginnings

Rachel here. Tomorrow is our "first" day of home/preschool. The girls are both super excited, and honestly... I think I am too. I'm anxious to get back to a routine... too much of our time has been wasted on vegging. :) With Emma Grace, we'll be working on the letter 'a' mostly, and Reese will be doing an alphabet review amongst other things. CAN NOT WAIT! Here are our schedules for both Thursdays and Fridays.

Thursday:
700-800 Morning routine
800-900 Puzzles/books/free Montessori time
900-1000 Pre K EG/K4 Reese
1000-1015 Snack
1015-1100 Pre K cont./K4 cont.
1100-1215 LIBRARY DAY/Playground/Play date
1215-100 Lunch
100-300 Quiet time EG/K4 Reese/Computer Reese
300-315 Snack
315-430 Outside/free play/YOGA
430-530 TV/Dinner prep
530-615 Dinner
615-650 Leapfrog Math Video
650 Bath/Bedtime routine

Friday:
700-800 Morning routine
800-845 Puzzles/books/free Montessori time
845-915 Preschool drop off
915-1000 Pre K EG
1000-1015 Snack
1015-1100 Pre K cont./Computer EG
1100-1215 Outside/free play/YOGA
1215-1245 Preschool pick up
1245-130 Lunch
130-300 Quiet time EG/K4 Reese/Computer Reese
300-315 Snack
315-430 BAKING DAY
430-530 TV/Dinner prep
530-615 Dinner
615-650 FAMILY GAME NIGHT!
650 Bedtime routine

Hopefully this week will go smoothly, and it will be easy to work out any kinks. :) HA! Can't wait to share what we accomplish!

Leapin' and Humpin'

Rachel here. Hopefully you caught on that today is Leap Day and also Hump Day... otherwise my title would be all kinds of inappropriate. :) We just got back from the baby doctor... and by "we" I mean EG and myself. We're partners in baby appointment crime. It was as uneventful as usual. I'm up 1 lb from two weeks ago. I was having some random pain in my upper right leg. I thought it was perhaps my sciatic nerve... but I learned that that usually effects the back part of the leg... so that's a no go. It hurt for 2 days and then went away as quickly as it came. There have been all kinds of random pains, swellings, numbness this go round. Such fun. Everything looks great though, and I'm measuring a week small. Next visit... March 15th.
Reese is going through a funk. Or maybe it just feels like it because I'm uber emotional and change moods more than I change the channel on the tv. Last week, while in Iowa, really threw her routine off and that is NEVER good for us. It's been better since she's been back at preschool, but every little thing she does gets to me. At times I feel like I don't get nearly enough sleep to deal with her shenanigans. Hopefully with starting preschool/homeschool again, her little hands and mind will be busy and all will be harmonious again. I also have a girls' weekend getaway next weekend, so hopefully my emotions will be rejuvenated, and I can once again be pleasant. :)
Emma Grace is officially pull up free. She's gone months wearing a pull up just to bed at night with only a couple of accidents. We've now gone about 2ish weeks WITHOUT them at night... just undies, and zero accidents. I'm so proud of her. Potty training has been a breeze with these two... I'm so thankful!

I'll have fun pictures of Baby Boo tomorrow once we get home from our 3D/4D.

And lastly... my Wednesday installment of our new routine:
700-800 Morning routine
800-845 Puzzles/books/free Montessori time
845-915 Preschool drop off
915-1000 Pre K EG
1000-1015 Snack
1015-1100 Pre K EG cont./Computer EG
1100-1215 Outside/free play/Yoga
1215-1245 Preschool pick up
1245-130 Lunch
130-300 Quiet time EG/K4 Reese/computer Reese
300-315 Snack
315-430 SCIENCE DAY/outside/free play
430-530 TV time/dinner prep
530-615 Dinner
615-650 Word Factory
650 Bedtime routine

Enjoy your afternoon! :)

A taste of Tuesdays

Rachel here. This morning I took the girls to a new paint your own pottery place in our local mall. It's different from other pottery shops in that they don't glaze your piece. They simply spray it with some kind of shiny stuff. Sadly this means no plates or mugs... I was really hoping to have the girls paint me a couple of fancy coffee mugs (PERHAPS MY HUSBAND WOULD LOVE TO HAVE THEM DO THAT FOR MOTHER'S DAY... AHEM). This means there are a lot of little figurines in there that we could live without. I did happen to spot large letters though, so I peeled the girls away from the Disney princess statues and got them to agree to painting the first letter of their names. I think they turned out cute, and we had a really nice time out and about. Tuesdays, from now on, are going to be our Field Trip days. We're going to venture out and... well... just venture out because lord knows we could use the fresh air. It's a day to make the effort even if we're just not feeling up to it.

This is what Tuesdays will look like:
700-800 Morning routine
800-900 Puzzles/books/free Montessori time
900-1000 Pre K/K4 at home
1000-1015 Snack
1015-1215 FIELD TRIP DAY/outside/free play
1215-100 Lunch out
100-300 Quiet time EG/K4 Reese/computer Reese
300-315 Snack
315-415 Outside/free play/children's yoga dvd
415-545 Dance class
545-700 TV/Dinner prep/Dinner
700 Bath/bedtime routine

This morning, while the girls ate breakfast... which takes forever and a day, I finished with my lesson planning for next week. Did you know this Friday is Dr. Seuss Day? We're incorporating that into next week's adventures... very excited. Can't wait to share!

Also today I'm 30 weeks... YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY ME! I head to the doc in the morning, so I'll share whatever I feel the need to share then. Thursday we do our 4D... what a week! :)

Back on the wagon

Rachel here. The last few weeks have been totally draining here. My energy level is virtually nonexistent, which means the kids are running a muck. A MUCK I TELL YOU! The only solution is to keep their little hands busy. I'm putting us all on a schedule/routine... you know before it's all blown to hell in two months when Baby B gets here. ;)

So basically here we go... this is what our Mondays will look like from here on out:
700-800 Wake up, breakfast, morning routine... including making beds
800-845 Puzzles/books/free Montessori time
845-915 Preschool drop off
915-1000 Pre K - EG
1000-1015 Snack
1015-1100 Pre K - EG cont./computer EG
1100-1210 Outside/free play
1210-1245 Preschool pick up
1245-130 Lunch
130-300 Quiet time EG/K4 Reese/computer Reese
300-315 Snack
315-430 ART DAY/outside/free play
430-530 TV time/dinner prep
530-615 Dinner
615-650 Yoga
650 Bedtime routine

We'll be using the preschool and K4 curriculum from Confessions of a Homeschooler supplemented with various materials and other sites. I'll start posting what we're up to in the wonderful world of homeschool preschooling starting next week. Here's to busy children behaving themselves! :)