Preschool

I'm getting really excited about starting our homeschool preschool next week!! Last year I started researching homeschool preschool. I was greatly encouraged and inspired by a few sources: my friend Meghann Boothe who runs Happy Kidz Childcare from her home, Confessions of a Homeschooler, Tot School, The Letter of the Week, No Time for Flash Cards and ABC Jesus Loves Me.
Last year, when Levi was still taking an AM nap, Wyatt and I would do "school", and we started going thru a letter of the alphabet and spend a week or 2 on each letter. We would only do it 2 or 3 days a week depending on what else was going on (or if I allowed myself the luxery of an AM shower or not). Wyatt really acclimated to it and would often ask to do "school" or a craft. We made it fun, and just did alot of coloring pages that I would print off the internet. I really didn't know what I was doing. And really Wyatt was my first inspiration for even attempting homeschool preschool...one day he said, "Mommy, I want to do a craft". I was totally unprepared and had no idea where to begin doing a craft w/ a 2 yr old. I was a Business Major in college. I worked at Wal-mart thru highschool and college. I hadn't nannied, or babysat much, never worked in a daycare. I said, "Ok, what kind of craft do you want to do" (kind of wondering where he even learned the word craft!). He said, "A craft w/ squares". I did know that I had taught him what a square was :-). So I attempted a "craft w/ squares" and it looked pretty pathetic, but he loved it! From that point I realized that I needed to be a step ahead and figure out what I was going to do to challenge and teach this 2 yr old who LOVES to learn!
Thru much research and recommendations, I found the websites I mentioned above along w/ the others in my side-bar that list the websites I love. I now feel more prepared to do offical homeschool preschool this year. Wyatt is 3 1/2, and alot of families send their child off to preschool at this age. I am sooo excited to being doing it at home! My friend Jami said something that stuck w/ me. She said that one of the main reasons she homeschools is Deuteronomy 6:7--You shall teach them dilligently to your sons and shall talk of them when you sit in your house and when you walk by the way and when you lie down and when you rise up.
Sure there are many good Christian preschools, and there is a different scenarios and financial situations for each family, but this is what we are doing and will take it a year at a time. But I'm so excited for the opportunity to teach my children about the Bible, and about letters and numbers.
This week as I was getting materials ready for our first day of preschool next week, we did a few crafts to just have fun and keep the boys busy and not watching tv! All 3 were a Story and Art from here. I just checked out the recommended book from the library (reserved it online, so I didn't have to keep 2kids quiet while looking), and then we read the story and did the art! It was so fun! I highly recommend it!
And Levi does start out doing the Story and Art w/ us, but often doesn't last the whole way thru the Art, or else he would decide to be creatively artistic in his own way which is fine :-) and you can click on the picture to make it bigger if you want.

Couches and Houses

Last Saturday, we had a "family work day"...let me explain...

We had been up in PA for 2 months for Adam's summer job as the basketball and athletic director at Trails End Camp near Lake Wallenpaupack, PA. The camp is only 2 hours from my parents' house and where I grew up, so we got to see lots of family and old friends. We had a great time while we are up there, but it's quite an ordeal to get up and back. You know how many extra bags you take on a weekend trip now that you have kids, well, take that times 8 and that's how much stuff we had to pack, unpack, and then re-pack, and unpack (and repeat that 4 times on a smaller scale each time we went between camp and my parents' house for a week at a time). So when we came back to NC, other than furniture, we were pretty much moving back into our house all over again. (and mind you, we were only in this house for 3 months b4 we left for PA). All that goes w/ moving as well, like emptying your pantry and fridge, etc. So if you need any tips on moving, I consider myself an expert as we have lived at 4 different addresses in 2 1/2 years, and have gone to PA for the past 3 summers.

All that as background as to why we had to have a family workday last Saturday...

The outside of our house was a MESS! We have probably 50 trees surrounding the house. Oak trees...horrible for allergies, produce tons of leaves in the fall and tons of stringy, polleny stuff in the spring. All 4 of us put on some yard work gloves and got to work. The boys and I picked up 4 wheel barrowfuls of sticks...well, we can't really call them sticks b/c they were big...more like branches and even tree limbs. You would have thought a major storm had come thru--unless of course you're used to living the woods (which I am not). While we did that, Adam tackled the gutters. We have a MAJOR bug/mosquito problem, and were advised to check the gutters for standing water that can cause more bug issues. Sure enough, tons of oak tree "gunk" and soggy stuff and water. What a mess!! Then I tackled the weeds in the one flower bed that we had worked on back in May--you couldn't even see the flowers we had planted. I was amazed that being gone just 2 months turned the outside of house/yard into looking like it was abdoned and overgrown! We had made arrangement w/ the neighbor boy to mow the "lawn" (here in NC hardly anyone has a nice lawn. It's more like dirt, spotty crab grass, and red-clay dirt). I can only image how it would have looked had he not mowed the lawn a few times and moved away some of the very large branches in order to mow.

Oh and this is just a rental house mind you. But we do have to live here, so we need to try to do what we can to keep our kids from getting too many welts and crazy reactions from these crazy bugs! (see picture of Levi's ear in past post).

So back to the title of this post...Couches...after all the manual outside labor, my feet, legs, back, were worn out by the boys' naptime. I put my feet up and laid down on our couch. And then it hit me...I had NEVER lied down on this couch since we moved into this house in March! Seriously. I had sat on it. I had read stories to the kids on it. I had folded laundry on it. Wow--it was REALLY comfortable! I should do this more often...wait...when?? ha ha!! I usually sit in the recliner when the boys are sleeping b/c I have to log into my computer and do my work for my job. But I think I will be treating myself to 5 min. w/ my feet up on my couch now that I have expirenced the comfort and how it feels to actually RELAX! ha! :-)

well, this is getting long, so I'll close w/ some pictures.
Ocean City, NJ. Wyatt at Camp. Adam and my birthdays

Free Stuff!

I wrote a post about this awhile back, but I just have to mention something about it again. I just redeemed my 8th, $5 Amazon.com gift card. I have earned 8 of these since I started doing Swagbucks in January 2010. In 8 months, 8 free gift cards! All I do is use Swagbucks.com like I used to use Google or Yahoo for a search engine. There are other ways to accumulate Swagbucks, but I have only done the search engine. I would be earning even more if I used some of their other options, but I just don't have time. All that to say, that if I have "time" to use Swagbucks just as a search engine, then you have time too! :-) And if you have more time, you can go crazy and use it more and earn more!
If you have never heard of Swagbucks, it’s a search engine that awards you points randomly and in varying denominations. SwagBucks can then be redeemed for a variety of prizes, including great gift cards, as I already described.
For more details click here.

This week they are celebrating Back to School and giving out more than normal:
If you sign up between and Sunday at midnight, use the code BackToSchool. You'll receive 30 points at sign-up, and an extra 40 points for using the code.
To sign up click here.

It's so easy, and so worth it! And you can use multiple gift cards at once. I save my gift cards to use $25 at one time, so I get free shipping on Amazon.
Even if you don't sign up, now you know what you are missing out on and can't say you didn't know! :-)

And of course some pictures of the boys. They are very into there homemade juice popsicles!

Proverbs 31 with personal examples

I found this note in my Bible that I had written a year ago when the boys were more like babies. I often read thru Proverbs 31 and try to work on being a virteous women the way the Bible describes.
The following are things that I have a hard time with/have to work on:

1. Driving 30 min one-way to Super Wal-mart when I was used to a much shorter drive when we lived in FL. (She brings food from afar. Prov. 31:14)
2. Getting up in throughout the night and early mornings during baby/toddler stages. (She rises also while it is still night. Prov. 31:15)
3. Lifting my heavy boys who didn't walk until 14 months old. I must have a really weak back. (She makes her arms strong. Prov. 31:17)
4. Choices of what to do during the boys' nap time (She does not eat the bread of idleness. Prov.31:27)

Some of those might seem silly, but the verses really encouraged and challenged me.

Here are some pictures of what we've been doing lately up here in PA:


4th of July at Camp


Going to the trampoline in the lake at Camp


Wyatt "swimming" all by himself!


Doing a craft from No Time for Flashcards


Their first amusement park ride at Dutch Wonderland


Levi's Favorite Ride

Changes

Changing crib sheets is still one of my least favorite tasks. If you've never done this, it's quite an ordeal in itself and you usually end up sweating and thinking that you should invent something that would surely be more simple! ha! But today I had a flashback to just a little over 1 1/2 yrs ago, and realized how thankful I was to just have ONE crib to change the sheets on today!
I just had to laugh and shake my head when I remembered how just that short time ago I had TWO BABIES, both in cribs, both in diapers, neither could feed themeselves, etc, etc! Sometimes I think back and realize just how crazy it was. This picture is of Levi at 7 months old, and Wyatt at 21 months old. 21 months old...that's usually the age that the older sibling is when a new baby is born. And even then, people say that is "close in age". Well, for us, when the older sibling was 21 months old, we already had a 7 month old! C-R-A-Z-Y for sure! And belive me, when they are babies, a few months makes a HUGE difference. I really think that it's no so much the # of children that you have that make it "harder", it's how close in age they are and of course multiplied with each add'l child! I don't know how you mom's with 3 and 4 kids do it!

But in this picture, the AM started off w/ both boys leaking thru their diapers and both sets of crib sheets and mattress pads needing to be changed. So we were playing musical cribs along with the AM bottle feeding while I changed each set. Alot can happen during the time you are struggling to change crib sheets, so being confined to the other crib is a MUST. (I learned this the hard way)
We have made it thru alot of changes in the last year, so this summer has been much more enjoyable.

Here are some milestones that seemed HUGE for us and have made the summer in PA less stressful:
-They are both walking...WELL! For those of you know who have picked up my kids, you know how hard it would be to tote them around camp. This year, they enjoy to walk and run and don't ask to be carried hardly at all!
-They are both able to feed themselves! YAY! Now, I usually get to eat most meals myself.
-They both crawl up into their carseat! Huge timesaver and alot easier on my back!
-They are understanding the concept of danger for the most part. Again, a HUGE thing which you understand if you have young kids! It's so great to be able to say, "Stay in the back yard b/c the front yard is too close to the road" Before, they had no concept of distance or why roads are dangerous.
-There is only one child in diapers! And the other one can do the whole process by himself!
Man, I'm going to get really lazy and selfish w/o having to do all those things for them anymore. Guess I'll get bored...yeah right!! But it is much easier and more enjoyable! Praise the Lord!

Here is a picture of the boys and I with my Pop-pop (their great-Grandpa). He is a retired Dairy Farmer up here in PA.

(Trying to) Have Fun!!

Alot of this post comes from the following sources:
Professionalizing Motherhood by Jill Savage
Life as MOM blog (To Be More Joyful article)

I was really challenged by what I read in both of those places and wanted to post what I am trying to work on! I really want to have more fun with my kids and my family as whole. And just LAUGH more! I'm not sure what specific point it happened, but I either "grew up", got too busy, got to distracted with responsibilities, etc, etc, but I have stopped laughing like I used to! Please laugh along with me in understanding of the following points :-)

•Many times “fun” means “mess”. This is the first reality we have to come to grips with if we are going to have fun. If we don’t have the right perspective, this will feel like an interruption to our day. The right perspective, though, is that it is an ESSENTIAL part of our day. Having fun with our children is part of being a mom. And dealing with messes is sometimes a part of having fun.

•I am way too practical at times when I need to be spontaneous.

•Have the attitude of “sure, why not?”

•Life with kids is a life that is destined not to go as planned. You can react with anger or you can respond with grace, and even humor. Learning to respond with grace and humor is an act of replacing well-though-out plans with a bit of spontaneity.

•Cleaning your house [and, presumably, maintaining any other semblance of a normal life] while children are growing is like shoveling your driveway while it’s still snowing.

•If we don’t accept that life with children will include disorder, we will always be frustrated b/c we feel out of control. We can become obsessed with unrealistic expectations and allow them to steal our joy.

•There are some things I am trying to learn to accept (as a homemaker with more than 1 male under our roof):
1.It will always be noisy at our house.
2.The toilets and bathroom floors will rarely be spotless.
3.Physical activity is going to rule the day over quiet occupations.

Levi Singing

This video clip is special to me b/c I wasn't sure when I'd see the day that Levi would let me sing to him (let alone sing by himself). He used to say, "Mommy, no sing". He is our stubborn, strong-willed child. He was very hesistant and most times against me doing anything w/ him that was educational. "Mommy, no count. Mommy, no sing" But low and behold, one time when we were trying to play hide-n-seek, he closed his eyes and said "I count" (emphasis on I). He started counting. I figured he had heard Wyatt and I do it enough that he might make it to 5, but he counted all the way to TWELEVE!! Then just recently he started singing all by himself! Makes me happy! He just turned 2 in April. Here are some of his songs!