Tuesday - Like "Old Times" {#31days}

Y'all we have like the best friends. Ever since our sad decision of leaving our amazing school to homeschool preschool (to save some money for a new house...), we have had to work at keeping in touch with everyone. It has been great in some ways; chaotic in others. But, these friends have just been absolutely amazing and just so supportive of our decision. (And, yes, I know I can see some of y'all rolling your eyes.. it's just preschool, I know. But, it is what it is for us.)

Last year around this time, Andrew's class had a Community Helpers Assembly. Well, this year, I was planning on just doing a fire safety day or something here at home. Until I got a phone call...

After a few conversations and some emails, Amanda got us invited to join what would have been Andrew's class AND what would have been Alex's class for their Fire Safety Day! How cool is that?! See? We have some awesome people in our lives!

 

FYI - This guy? Not a fan of the fireman crawling on the ground... But, I am glad they do this to show kids to NOT be afraid of the ones who are coming to save us.  

Afterwards, we said our miss yous, thank yous and goodbyes to our friends (and, in my head, wondering why on earth we left such a great place...but knowing the answer just the same)

Such a great day!! Thanks for having us!!

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Homeschool - Week 1 {The Journey Begins}

Well, we have complete 2 weeks of our homeschooling journey for the bigger boys. It's been interesting, fun, exciting, stressful. It has been pretty much the same mixture of feelings for all of us. Whether we had decided to continue to send them to preschool or do this homeschool deal, it's been the same. We are just working off of our schedule instead of someone else's. Which is nice in some ways. Of course, we have had a day or two in which I wondered if that shiny yellow school bus wouldn't mind taking these monkeys to the big kids school for...a field trip? Kidding. Kinda. (They will never ride the bus. I've already burst that bubble. I mean, come on. I rode the bus. I know what happens on a bus. And, these buses...the high school kids ride with the elementary kids. Um, no.)

So, before I share the start of this new school year, let's take a look back at the first day of school last year!

First day of PreK-3 - August  27, 2013

First day of PreK-4 - August 4, 2014

Look at that. Where did that big kids come from? The glasses are just awesome. We go in for a check-up in October to see what's next. He will be 5...FIVE YEARS OLD!!! next month. Gasp! He is such a bog boy... No longer wants anything to do with Thomas. He just wants real trains. Real tracks. He is loving his Legos and will sit at the kitchen table for HOURS building all sorts of things. And, this is killing me just a tad...he no longer can fit in anything that has a "T" at the end. Yep, we shop in the big boys department now. No more 5Ts...it's all XS and 4/5/6 for this guy. And those feet! Those shoes from last year's picture...Alex can't even wear those anymore. Just amazing how much they grow in a year, right?

First day of Mom's Day Out/PreK-2 - September 3, 2013

First day of PreK-3 - August 4, 2014

Yes. I know. This guy doesn't just think he is awesome. He knows he is awesome. He is hilarious. We still have the "terrible threes" days (because everyone know that the terrible twos is just a load of you know what...two was NOTHING compared to three. Especially with this one. Oh. Dear.), but mostly he is still my sweet little snugly guy. He talks nonstop. Wants to know everything about everything (Which I'm sure is all thanks to Sid the Science Kid - which is fine by me. Sometimes.).

Time for school!!


Curriculum: We are using Five in a Row (Volumes 1-3) and Twenty-Six Letters to Heaven (the link goes to another favorite blog that reviews this curriculum and sold me on it. Love Carrots for Michaelmas)

WEEK 1: How to See the World and Make Apple Pie / Letter A

This book was great! So much fun! We "saw the world" via the ever-awesome iPad and made our apple pie.

On the "beaches" of Jamaica having a French baguette and a crisp not-so-Vermonty apple!

Learning about Italy

Making our homemade apple pie - the recipe was from the story, too!

And that apple pie, my friends... That was think that made me realize that I have to have patience to homeschool because OH. MY. GOSH. The flour...oh, the flour... Yes, I knew it could get all over the place. And, it did. So, we also added in a lesson about science. As in, mommy's brain is going to explode all over this kitchen JUST like the flour if y'all don't cool it with the rolling pin. Good thing I had a little bit of Italy left in my fridge for later in the form of my favorite wine... It was fun overall, really. The boys learned about some amazing places and I learned that I need patience. Which I don't have. Can you buy it at Target??

For Twenty-Six Letters to Heaven, we learned about alligators (Which included...wait for it...a trip to the zoo! You had no idea, right?), made some "A" crafts, and did a little something for St. Anthony!

"A" is for alligator! Chomp-chomp!

Made the letter A out of cheerios...which starts with C...better luck next week! Haha!

Are you wondering where St. Anthony fits into the other than the fact that he is our letter A saint of the week?? So, here is the crazy story...

I had originally wanted to do both Saints Andrew and Alexander, but realized that being a mom there is ALWAYS something lost in this house - a forgotten action figure, a set of keys (or two), jump drives, name it... Something is always lost. Well, perfect. Let's learn about Saint Anthony and the little "prayer" that goes along with him:

Tony, Tony look around
Something's lost and can't be found

Maybe there is more to it than those few words, but that is all I know so that is what I taught them. And, really, if anything...it does give a little patience and calms one down enough to actually think where the lost item would be.

Only, I promise there is much more than that. At least for me - and now Jason believes it, too! He had lost his key to the van and some other item I can't think of right now. Well, I was helping him look every where for these things and I had not a clue. So, for kicks, I said the little diddy and suddenly I thought to look under the computer armoire... Why? I have no idea... But, jump back! BOTH ITEMS WERE THERE. Jason is just is complete shock and we are both laughing. Cracks me up still. Catholic "voodoo" what can I say? Kidding. Thank you, Saint Anthony.

Another thing that we did - almost completely accidental - for Saint Anthony was recommended by one of my favorite authors, Lisa  Hendey of CatholicMom.com. In her book, A Book of Saints for Catholic Moms, Saint Anthony was highlighted. For the activity she suggested baking a loaf of bread and bringing it to your favorite priest as a thank you for his service. Well, not only did we bake a load of banana-blueberry bread for him to take home, but we were able to have Father Jaya over for dinner! We have been working on a night that would work for him all year and we finally found a great weekend that worked out. And!! It just so happened to fall on this week! Crazy! Maybe this homeschooling thing is exactly what God's wants us to do right now. Interesting how things just work out like that, huh? The stories he shared with us are just absolutely amazing!! So, so glad that we were able to do this and get to know one of our favorite priests a little better.

Have you had a priest over for dinner? Or your pastor and their family over? I was nervous to begin with, but we had a great time! The stories he shared with us about India, his family back home, and his life as a priest are just absolutely amazing!! So, so glad that we were able to do this and get to know one of our favorite priests a little better.

Father Jaya and Andrew - winners of round 1 and 2 of Go Fish!

Don't worry! I didn't leave out the smallest one! Austin gets to play, play, play with everything he can get his hands on while we get our school work done. Luckily, I have a few tricks I pull out when I need him to be occupied. These magnet toys from Uncle Justin and Aunt Kate are his new favorite things to play with. He has figured out where I keep them, too (in the pantry behind him...). So he will actually go over there and bang on those doors for me to get them out. So funny. Love that little guy!

 

There you have it! The first week of our preschool homeschooling journey! Lots of changes going on here, but were are having fun and learning something new each day.

Mother's Tea/Luncheon 2014

s  In March, Andrew's class celebrated mothers with their annual Mother's Tea/Luncheon. I shared thi sweet picture a week or so ago. Are you ready to see more?

Portions of my invitation - love his artwork!

You may need to click the picture to read this, but it is all about me through Andrew's eyes. Adorable!

Flowers made by my little man. And the place mat, I actually use everyday. Andrew sets the table for dinner and makes sure that I have my place mat. So sweet. The package on the left is a cookie that he made!

The luncheon has begun! All the children brought out their mother's plates and drinks. It was the cutest, sweetest thing!

During our lunch, we were entertains by these little sweeties. Andrew is not a huge fan of singing. But, he seemed to like the triangle. Haha! So cute! (If you are viewing this post via email, you may need to click here to see the video)

 Dessert! I love our little Andrew!!

Five on Friday

Welcome to Friday!!In an attempt to keep this blog as updated as much as possible for family and friends who wanna sneak a peek into our new lives as a family of FIVE (!!!), I thought I'd share five (ha, that's kinda coincidental...perhaps) things with you from this past week. So, let's get this thing going!

{ONE}

You know I have to start with the tiny one... And, guess what?! He is a month old today! A MONTH OLD ALREADY! What?!

Yep. He is one month old already. Crazy how time flies, right? We have an awesome routine and going strong with it. Oh, and this morning he totally woke up at 5am. That's right. Jason did his night time feeding (he always does that midnight-ish one and I do the 3-ish in the morning one) and BAM! A month old and he slept for his mama. Keeping my fingers crossed for tonight! He is quite awake during the day now, too! He love checking out the Christmas tree and he likes his brothers talking to him. He has even smiled at Andrew a few times now. So sweet.

Also, side note: Today my bestie is going to have her baby girl! Please say a prayer for a quick, easy, and safe delivery!! We can't wait to meet our new little friend!

{TWO}

This was the first week the boys got to wear their Christmas gear! So stinkin' cute! I am dying over the reindeer booty. Sorry, I just love it. So cute! 

Ok, and, just so we are clear...Andrew DOES have on a Christmas shirt, but he had to wear his class shirt. You will see why in number three. ;)

See? Cute little Christmas train! And, yes. He LOVES to feed Austin. He did this for Alex, too. Love it! He is one awesome big brother!

{THREE}

The boys wore their Christmas gear for a special presentation at school. The Singing Santa came for a very special visit. It was pretty cool. This is THE Santa, by the way. If you are local, you may have heard of his visits to the malls and such. Very cool.  

 

The boys even got a chance to talk to him to tell him what they wanted for Christmas. And, yes, the orders have already been put in - phew! That's definitely checked of the list...

{FOUR}

This is also the first week of Advent that we are celebrating. So, we have been working our way though "The ADVENTure of Christmas" this week (Thanks, Pat and Terri!). 

 This is a great book for this time of the year! SO much information!

 We learned about the Star - Read a story, put the star on our tree, and made star cookies. Yum!

 We also learned about the tradition of decorating the Christmas tree. Here are the ornaments that have been made this season (so far):

Austin's baby hat and bracelet from the hospital.

Andrew's blue guy and Alex's green guy (painted the inside and added googly eyes)

Alex's ornament from school - Mary and Baby Jesus

Andrew's Start ornament from school.

Andrew and Alex colored some gingerbread men that we will add their pictures to once I get to that.

 Last night, we read the story of St. Nicholas... 

 And, this morning we celebrated his feast day! The boys each got their "gold" coins and a Hot Wheels car. Jason got his special holiday Nerds candy :) 

{FIVE}

Ok this is more of a "What the what?!" thing...

 

I mean...really? DIET Hot Chocolate... "Sensitive Sweets" with just 25 calories... Really? It's the Holiday Season, people. Just stop it. Get your sensitive sweets on January 1st like everyone else - and then drop it by the 3rd week since resolutions never actually seem to work out. LOL Come on... Diet hot chocolate... I mean, puh-leease... 

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Well, there you have it! Updates for this week's adventures! I am hoping that we will get to go out this weekend. Maybe go see the ZooLights or Christmas Parade...? We'll see. Have a great weekend, y'all!!

 

Week in My Life: Tuesday

Hello there, Tuesday. The good thing about today was that it is a school day meaning that even though Jason was out of town for a bit, I got a break. I actually took a nap. Saaa-weeet!

On school days, I get before the crack of dawn (530-ish). It's still dark, quiet, and the world around is just beginning to wake up. It really is a magical time. I wonder how this is all going to pan out once this little mister #3 makes his appearance. Eh, it will still be a magical time. But, I am sure that the coffee will once again find it's 2nd home in the microwave. Haha.

Around 645 on these days, the boys get up and get their day going. Actually, they are up before then, but can't come out and wake up the world until the green light goes off. Luckily, they have learned to be a tad quieter in the mornings. The coffee gets sad if there is noise, right?

By, the time breakfast is over and clothes are on, it is time to grab backpacks, jackets (yep! it is FINALLY cold enough for jackets! 40-something that morning!), shoes, and head out for school.

While in the car we talk about the day ahead of us, work on/say our prayers (we are learning the "Our Father" right now), and listen to a silly and spooky Halloween tale in the car while looking at the Halloween books. They are just so cute to listen to on the way to school! I love hearing their conversations about what they will be doing in their classes. Andrew told Alex about how he was wearing an orange shirt because they were leaning about orange and all the things that go with it. Alex told Andrew about his friends and what kind of snack he wanted to have. He likes to emphasize the important things, you know. Love them!

While they are learning about all kinds of things, I ran out and took care of a few errands - baby shower gift, birthday gifts, stamps - the regular things. Then headed home to just chill.

Eventually the clock tells me to get going. So I grab snacks and fresh ice water (must have the ice!) for the boys. I catch up on some of my podcasts on the way and wondering how their day went.

When I making my way to Alex, I can hear him saying, "My mommy here!!" He has the BIGGEST smile, gives me the BEST hug, and says bye to all his friends and teachers. It is the cutest, sweetest thing ever. After we get to the car and make our way to the car line for Andrew, we chat it up for about 20 minutes waiting for the big boy to come out with his class. Andrew LOVES that I'm usually the 2nd or 3rd car in line. His face lights up and he gives me cutest "I'm a big 4 year old, but I can still wave to you" wave. Once he's in the car and buckled up, I try to get a few questions in about his day, but usually I hear about it through the conversation between the two from the back. Andrew wants to tell Alex all about his day and Alex wants to tell Andrew things, too. It is so sweet. They ask each other stuff and just talk, talk, talk all the way home - or until Alex drifts off to sleep for a bit.

After getting home, the rest of the day begins to wind down as it is now close to 330. Bags are unpacks, lunch stuff in the dishwasher, papers and projects filed or added to the fridge and numerous calendars - you know. All that "mom stuff" you have to do after school. Then there is a chunk of time where we find things on the windows like this guy:

Or we snuggle up on the sofa to watch some more old school Halloween cartoons, like Tom & Jerry:

It was a great day. We missed having Daddy at home with us, but we made it through another day and soon enough he will be home.

After dinner, it was time to get the house back into order, grab our pajamas, and snuggle up some more for story time. And, yes - Halloween story time! We read "Room on the Broom" tonight. SUCH a cute book! We can't wait to watch it on Sprout this coming Monday!

Once the boys were in bed, I cleaned up the kitchen and snuggled up in my bed with my newest book from the library:

Oh, yes! We are big Jim Gaffigan fans in this house - even more so now that we learned he was Catholic, too (and, proud of it)! Score. Gotta love a great comedian!! And, yes - this book is HILARIOUS!! I was dying laughing on just the first few pages. Awesome.

Once I had been able to say goodnight to Jason (and find out that he was going to be home Thursday instead of tomorrow - grrrr) , I was able to get to sleep slowly. I'm a terrible sleeper anyway, but when he's gone it is even more rare... Not. A. Fan. Oh, and being 37 weeks pregnant with your husband out of town isn't all that cool either. Just sayin'

Not that anything is going to happen...or will it?

**Linking up with Adventuroo: Week in My Life 2013**

Weekly Rewind: September 16-21

Well, it was an interesting week at the House, but hopefully it is behind us now and..um, yeah. Parenthood. Gotta love it. That's all I'm going to say on the topic. But, hey, I still love my job and wouldn't trade it for anything (though some days I may look/sound like my hair will be pulled out at any given second)!

Here's a look a what went on this week:

{MONDAY}

 Chillin not like a villain ;)

 

 Looking for Waldo with magnifying glasses - cuteness!

{TUESDAY}

 Showing off their lego building skills

 Playing cars or something outside while I get dinner going

{WEDNESDAY}

What?! No pictures...? Well, that is a shocker...

{THURSDAY}

 I pulled a sneaky move in the car rider line and snapped a pic of my big boy (where the yellow-orange arrow is pointing). Alex and I usually go get Andrew after picking him up, but that little man was out sick. So, it was just Andrew for today. Shhh! No one tell on me! ;)

{FRIDAY}

 Trains, trains, and...

 more trains! 

 Playing outside and enjoying the cool breeze before the storm - it is going to be raining all. day. long. tomorrow. Boo.

{SATURDAY}

 

 It is pouring outside, but there is quite a bit of engineering going on inside! Daddy, Andrew, and Alex are very busy building a train station. 

  During nap time and after the boys were in bed for the night, I got to working on the next project for Austin - diy burp cloths! Fun, right?

Around last Christmas, I bought a stack of bar towels for a project that never happened. I found these the other day while cleaning out the laundry room. Ha! And, I used a ton of my scrap fabric leftover from other projects. And, voile! DIY Burp Cloths! Easy. Peasy. Cut, pin, and sew a straight line. Done! Well, almost. I have a few more that I am going to make. And, yes...some of those are pink. I made 2 sets - one for me and one for friend ;)

Next project on the list: crochet chunky afghan!

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Hope y'all have a wonderful rest of the weekend!