First 3 weeks of "preschool!"

I can't believe how fast August is flying by! We are at the end of our 3rd real week of preschool(homeschool). Taylor LOVES school time. She begs for it all the time. -Literally, all the time. First thing in the morning, after breakfast, while outside playing, when we are at the store, in the bath tub, getting ready for bed, etc. I think she really loves it:)

In the past 3 weeks we have done A TON of stuff. And I can't believe how fast she learns! She already knows her entire alphabet, uppercase and lowercase(she does get a little mixed up sometimes but practice with it all will help her). She knows her numbers 1-12(sometimes up to 15, depends on how she feels that day) she knows all colors and shapes.

We have made our own calendar that we go over every day. We made clocks to show the time of Lunch, School, and Bed time since those are about the same every day. We are working on our days of the week. Then moving to months of the year. She loves to write, anything. She can write her name, when she wants to.



What we need to work on for the next month(if baby Denver doesn't make a surprise appearance!) :

Letter sounds   -tons of fun games for this. Example: Do a treasure hunt for toys/books/etc that start with the specific letter sound of that week/day/whatever.

Journal Time   -I LOVE to write, and always have(along with reading:). I would love to some how pass this down to Taylor and the boys. I'm thinking of getting a journal(pad of paper) just for Taylor. And maybe Daily/or every other day, have a topic for her "write about". Maybe I will write down whatever she says, or maybe I will let her write it down or draw pictures about it. I WOULD LOVE to do this for activities like nature walks, have her draw things we see while out on walks etc. Could even turn this into an activity for at the grocery store. Get her in a cart with pen and paper and let her draw things she sees while I grocery shop.

Sorting    -By colors, shapes, amounts. -I have egg crates put up for this! Can't wait to start. Going to use pinto beans for counting and sorting into groups. Then use lego's or blocks or gravels(big/little)for sorting as well. Should be fun!

Patterns  -Recognizing patterns and creating/finish patterns. Could use cut out shapes(scrap paper would be neat!), legos again, beads(really need to buy some of these!), and regular patterns on paper.

Pre-Reading skills. - I will post pictures of what we do when we do this!

Theres more. But for now I can't think of the rest! :/ I will add them later though!

Don't sweat it.

I have this problem where I over thing everything. From bills, to birthday gifts, to what the kids need for NEXT summer.  I've always been this way, but its starting to drive me crazy. I worry about money constantly, but there is no reason to worry. It always works out.

I'm going to start praying every time I want to "over think" everything and I'm giving it all to God so I can enjoy the children and life that God has blessed me with. I know everything will happen according to his plan and me worrying 24 7 isn't going to help things one bit.

So, my new motto is "Don't sweat it". Lets just enjoy life, and let God handle all the unknown. Everything will always work out.

Fun with flash cards.

Over the weekend I went with my sister, mom, and step dad to look at wedding dresses for my sister. Its actually alot of fun :) And it only took 3 dresses! The 3rd was PERFECT! I'm glad she found a great wedding dress!

While out riding around with David and the kids(we went to look at the church my sister plans to get married in) I saw the big sign up at the school by our house. It was letting everyone know that Pre-K registration for 3-4 year olds is going on now. And it hit me. BAM. Taylor could actually start SCHOOL this year. I mean real school. As in back packs, leaving me in the mornings, being at school etc. I've planned on doing preschool this year with her anyways, but I guess it didn't really hit me. My baby girl is starting school. :(

And she LOVES school at home of course. We do school everyday, whenever she wants to. It's not really school. We just play, color together, paint together, draw pictures, practice our letters and numbers and colors and shapes(she has them all down, so now moving on to different things. Letter sounds, numbers higher then 13, etc.) She loves her little work books and every day she learns something new. May not be anything major, but to her it is. Today we played with flash cards while Ryder was napping.

I laid out 4 random cards at a time. And I would ask her where is letter K? And she would look at them and hand me the letter K. We done all the uppercase and then all the lowercase. She knows them all! Theres a couple she stumbles on but with a little more fun practice she will have them down with out any trouble. I'm starting letter sounds with her, its a little more difficult for her. B,C,E,D,P,M,&N give her trouble. They all sound close to each other(E&P M&N etc.) Since she loved playing the flash card game I'm just going to work on letter sounds with the flash cards.

Here are some pictures of the flash card game :)

The little things

Life goes by SOOO fast. You don't really realize it till you have kids. But it flies by. And life with two children only twenty months apart is super hectic, so it feels as if it goes by even faster, if that's at all possible. Every day is a run on from the last, filled with tantrums, screams, tears, fights, hugs, kisses, and sometimes me locking my self in the bathroom long enough to pee and just take a deep breath before returning to the madness that is my house :)

But as these days run on and on and on together, we forget the little things. The snotty kisses we get and the mommy I miss you comments. We forget how our children used to be babies, and now look at them. Walking, talking, and driving each other crazy :) But life is so full of demanding things, especially for mothers, we honestly forget the little things that make everyone happy.

Ice cream cones for desert one night. Extra long bubble baths with toys & splash fights (which ends with one of them screaming because it gets in their eyes). Or, as in the picture above, playing cars on the porch. Ryder laughed so hard and had a blast playing with that little car. The little things always make us happy. 

So as life goes by, hectic and crazy and the days running together, take a second every little bit to remember those little things. 

My little moments from today? - Taylor telling me she missed me and loved me very much(while crying because it was Ryder's turn in the tub). Ryder giving me big snotty kisses and a huge hug because he didn't want to go to bed yet(he was crying because it was bed time, and it's night 5 of No Binky, and he knows he can break mama's heart) But still, even though it's rough with him screaming etc. that hug and those kisses made my entire day. Just like that little toy car made his day.

Painting beans

While letting the kids paint today I had an idea to paint the pinto beans I had put back to use for a counting game. (Have a bag of pinto beans, and an egg crate, and permant marker. Write the numbers in the bottom of the buckets and then have fun with the kids putting the right number of beans, beads, etc. into the buckets. also good for sorting colors, shapes, etc.)
Anyways. I had just planned on using the regular pinto beans to count out into the right buckets with the kids. Then I thought I could go a step farther and paint the beans, then we can sort by numbers, and colors in the same game!

Of course, with the kids helping they aren't perfect! But they loved helping and once they are in bed tonight I will finish them up and then have the game ready for tomorrow! 

Preschool

Taylor is going to start preschool this year. So I've been making lists of things to buy for home schooling. And I had it all set out to start around August 13th. That would give me time to get everything, and get organized, and have it all planned out. But as soon as I bought the big work book, page protector, and her folder, she was off! Everyday she asks for school. So, for the past week we have been doing school. We have most of the supplies, and she is LOVING every minute of it!

I hate wasting money, and since we will have 3 children going through these materials at some point, I am trying to find little ways to help save money/.materials/etc. So here is how I do work sheets. I put each page in a page protector and then put tape at the top, and then put them in her little folder. I let her use dry erase markers on the page protectors and so far its worked great!

Of course preschool is also ALOT of fun activities. I have a few activities planned out for the week, and we do them either once or twice(or more!) times that week. This week are doing activities that deal with counting and numbers and sorting.

Again, I'm all about saving money when possible! I used white paper and a marker to make the counting mat. Then we used cheerios(that both kids ate while we were doing the activity!) to count out each number. It was a lot of fun and Taylor LOVED it! I plan on putting that paper in a page protector as well, and having a big binder full of fun little things like this to help teach her things. 

I'm working on making bingo games for both. Each game will be with either numbers, shapes, colors, or letters. And as Taylor learns more we will add in small sight words, and things like that. For Ryder I'm thinking about making a special game with pictures of cars/trucks/planes/etc. And then I will of course have to make a special one for Taylor. But you get the idea. Just fun ways to teach them things-and save money at the same time :)

Our 4th of July

Taylor will be 4 this year, and Ryder will be 2. And neither had EVER seen fire works. David worked at a different place all the other years and wasn't off on the 4th so we were never able to really do anything fun at all. This year he had the whole day off, and I knew I wanted the kids to have a great 4th of July.

I added the photos but now I don't have time to get them in order, or the right way :/ So here is how our day went!

We went to the parade. (The kids FIRST parade!) And they loved it! The fire trucks, loud cars, and of course the CANDY!

Then we went to eat and come home for naps. Went back around 8 30 and found a spot to watch the fire works at 10. The kids were GREAT! And had a blast with glow sticks, pop corn I made, and of course watching the fire works. Ryder tried to sleep through them tho...........

David and Ryder at the parade.

Me and David :)

My Taylor Grace

David and his youngest brother Adrian

This is DURING the fire work show. Ryder laid down right when they started and David decided to join him. Ryder was almost asleep but David was watching the fire works lol

Before the fire works

Getting ready to leave to go see the fire works

Kids playing with glow sticks

Right after the parade

Waiting on fire works. David was either doing the duck face or trying to give me kisses..

Me and Taylor during the fire works

Ryder playing with the necklaces

He fell over as soon as the fire works started

Taylor fishing after the parade to win a prize

She got a shark!

Cheesing before the fire works

Patiently waiting on the parade

About to grab some candy

Taylor excited because she had "money"

And finally the last picture, Taylor grabbing up some candy :)

Pictures from our weekend.

Over the weekend David's mom Ann came in to visit. And some how again I didn't get a picture of her with the kids. I MUST do this next time. But for now, here are some pictures from our long weekend!

Ryder plopped down in daddy's lap when Daddy was playing with Taylor. It was really cute :)

Taylor and Ryder went swimming every day of the weekend, but Ryder is a handful. We have to force him to stay in the floatie because he thinks he is a big boy and can just swim on his own.

Both kids playing together in mamaw's yard. Holding hands.

Ryder, holding his ears in the durango. Taylor has the Veggie Tale DVD in the car, and makes us keep it on the theme song so she can sing along. He got tired of it after the millionth time. :)

Taylor sitting with Daddy and watching Cartoons. 

The kids hugging each other. I love pictures like this and moments where they hug on each other. 

Ryder playing Sunday afternoon.

Ryder found a new "hat". He really thought it was a hat. 

Taylor resting while in the pool.

Manic Monday

Mondays. Everyone talks about them, about how rough they can really be. And honestly as a stay at home mom Monday's aren't really too much different from any other day for me. I still do the exact same things I do all week and weekend. 

But yesterday, I had a Manic Monday. Before 8 AM I had swept my kitchen 4 times. Ryder was in time out 5 times, and Taylor had had 2 melt downs. ;/ It just wasn't a great day. 

I kept telling my self, cout down to nap time- count down to bed time- todays not a good day. Tomorrow will be different.

And then, while Ryder was napping and Taylor was watching cartoons, I was thinking all of that again. And then I felt horrible. I'm their mother! I shouldn't be counting down all the time till times when they are asleep. (Granted, they are much better behaved when sleeping, most of the time). 

And just because its a hard job, that never ends, I shouldn't let it get me so down that my patience is gone and I'm just holding on for David to get home so I can go cry because I can't handle them anymore.

God gave me these children. And He knew ahead of time all the things I would face. And He knows that I can do it. And you know what? I made it through the very long rough day. And my being grumpy didn't help the situation at all. My new goal : Try to always be happy. OR to at least not get into the grumpy moods where I let every little thing drive me crazy. They are my children, we will get through this rough phase, and hopefully I will have my well behaved children back :) -SOON. lol

You can tell just by drivving by my house that we have children. The back yard is fenced in with a swing set and a billion toys all over the yard. The vehicle in the drive way is a huge Dodge Durango-Seats 7(8 if needed) and fits 3 car seats perfectly across the middle row. The front porch is covered in random out door toys.

Step inside and hopefully you smell my wonderful wax burner-candle warmer whatever it is. But you will see right away that children are indeed living here. Toys in EVERY SINGLE ROOM-even rooms that the kids are not in. Such as the master bath room. David is the only person who is in that room. Yet I find toys in there all the time. My living room is a mess just about every day. No matter how many times I clean it, toys are still every where, sippy cups on just about every table, children's DVD's on the book shelf. No No's on top of the book shelf-remotes, air freshner, controllers, gum, binkies, etc.

Sit on the couch and you will find cheerios in the cushions, and a random little boy shoe sticking half way out-we still can't find the other! Glance into Taylors room and you will see a million toys covering the floor, random clothes hid under the bed and stuffed in the dresser, because she loves to play dress up and can't reach the hangers to hang the clothes back up. Step into my laundry room and you will see laundry. Everywhere. Clean clothes hanging up and folded ontop of the dryer. My home made laundry detergent covering the shelf above the washer and dryer. Random clothes and towels and wash rags folded neatly on my huge storage shelf. Glance to your left into Ryder's room you will see again toys everywhere and a ton of baby stuff sticking out from his closet. -I'm running out of room!

Go into the bathroom and you will see a bath tub full of bath time toys. Tons of baby wash, bubble bath, etc. hopefully put up high where they can't reach them and squirt them out everywhere. Kids tooth paste and tooth brushes in the sink. and 3 different potty chairs. :)

If you happen to wonder into my kitchen, again you will see toys in random places. Under the cabinets, under the high chair, and under the kitchen table. The table is usually covered with crayons and paper. A sink full of dishes, that never ends, and possibly a couple diaper bags waiting on the deep freeze to be cleaned out and everything put away.

The master bed room? Toys in there too. And a ton of thigns we try to keep from the kids- DVD's, David's video games, my E reader and all chargers to anything at all.

Hopefully you will leave happy, and hopefully you will have had a great time. My life is a crazy mess all the time, I've got a 3.5 year old, almost 2 year old, and another on the way. My house is never spotless for long and toys are yes, everywhere. But this is my life and my house and I love it-even when I'm complaining about cleaning it all- I still love it, maybe just a little less at that time:)

It seems like I always have something to worry about. Money, groceries, cleaning, kids, husband, family, my self, and any other thing on my to do list every day. I'm always in a rush to hurry and get something done, just so I can move on to something else to do.

Today is different. Its not too hot outside, all my windows are open and the nice breeze is making the house smell amazing.(Don't ask me about the weather this weekend, Friday-Sunday the temps are 101+) Anyways. back to today!

Today I am happy. Yes, I still have things I need to get for the baby and for Ryder's birthday party-IN AUGUST! I Need to calm down. Stop fretting over things that are months away. And just be happy and enjoy what God has gave me now.

Don't worry, I'm glad it's my life and NOT yours too!

When I was growing up, I always had the same two "dreams". I wanted to be a writer and a mother. I dreamed of writing best sellers and having a house full of children. I can't remember a time where my dreams were ever anything different.

David's dreams? From the time I met him, he was 18, his dreams were to be a game developer. But, in his senior year he thought about going to school to be a veterinarian. I was 16 at the time and I remember planning out our lives.

He would become a veterinarian and I would be a famous writer. We would own a huge chunk of land and build a custom dream home(I even made the blue prints:) and then we would have four children, a boy-girl-girl-boy. We would have super nice cars, to go along with our dream home. We would have tons of land for the kids to explore and play on, swing sets so big it would be like a park. We would have everything we ever wanted. -That was part of our dream.

But, God stepped in. (He laughs at our plans!) And he set our lives on different tracks. We got pregnant with Taylor. I never once was upset about the fact. Even though I was seventeen and most people (alot of people) think its the end of your life to get pregnant at that age, I was so excited. I had always wanted to be a mother, and here God had given me a daughter! David and I got married after I turned 18 and we got married in our apartment living room. -VERY small apartment, I might add. Only a few people were there and we had a cake from walmart. I wore jeans and a maternity shirt(I was 8.5 months pregnant!) And David wore jeans and a nice shirt. No big fancy wedding, just a preacher and my parents and a couple close friends and we were so happy. We still are, almost 5 years later.

There was no question, I would be a stay at home mom. David worked at EZ Rentals, horrible hours and days. But we paid all our bills and took care of our beautiful baby girl. We got a bigger apartment and my dreams of being a writer were obviously put on hold. As was David's dreams of game developing and becoming a vet. Our new dream was having another baby. Someone for Taylor to grow up with. A best friend for her. Thankfully God blessed us with another baby! While I was pregnant with Ryder, we done paper work for Habitat to get a house. Then my step dads parents were wonderful enough to give us land(wonderful land) to build our home on. The land is right infront of my mom and step dads, and my step dads parents live behind them.

They gave us land! And we were getting a home, OUR home! Maybe not custom, maybe not be exactly how we wanted it, but its OURS! We moved in 2 months after Ryder was born.

Now, in June of 2012 we are expecting our 3rd, and final, baby. Another boy! We are all thrilled and excited and everything else that goes along with this.

No, we do not have a ton of money-I complain ALOT about us not having alot of money. But, in reality we all have everything we need and so what if we have to save up for a long time for the big things that we want? We have our little family, and our parents, and we are happy. We never have the newest stuff, but again we are happy.

I am a stay at home mom. I am very proud of that. I know people who think I am just beyond crazy, wasting my life away staying at home with my children- and cloth diapering and home schooling? They think I'm bonkers for all of that!

My job is my life. My children are my life. My day starts at 6 am. Kids up randomly through out the night, up early for breakfast which is spilled all over the floor every single day. Dishes that never end, laundry that never ends, and toys that NEVER stay put up. Sick kids, cranky kids, happy kids, loud kids, screaming kids, snuggly kids- I get to spend every moment with them. They rely on me, and no one else, for everything. Yes, David helps out alot. But I'm MOMMY. No one will ever understand my children like I do! :)

I know people who say they want more then what my life is. Thats great! I used to want more too. But then God gave me this family. And now I couldn't imagine my life any other way. Famous writer? Maybe later. Right now I'm loving my life as a stay at home mommy to my children.

So from now on, when people are giving me funny looks in walmart, or just commenting on face book or something about my life etc. my new response : Don't worry! I'm glad its my life and not yours too! :)

Getting Ready For Home School!

Over the past few weeks I have been doing a ton of research online about preschool home schooling. From what I've read its simple. Preschool is just a time to teach letters, numbers etc. Taylor already knows all the letters and the numbers to 15 or 20. And I know she LOVES to do school time. So, I am starting on August 13th with home schooling full time with her. AND with Ryder!

I already have the year planned out. And I know that we will be doing Letter Of The Week for sure. I'm going to let Ryder sit in with us at "school time" and let him color etc. along with Taylor. I'm going to work on teaching Taylor everything first, and once she is busy on her own I am going to work with Ryder some on his letters and numbers. Its never too early to start, and I think both will have a lot of fun!

I already have a huge stack of papers with lists of things I need to buy, things to look at online, etc. I'm super excited to get started, but these next couple months will be me planning out what we are doing when :)

My water babies.. -Photo of the day

Mom got a pool and the kids love it. We go down every evening and let them swim. Taylor loves to get in the floaties, she calls them her boats:). Ryder on the other hand thinks he can swim and wants to wonder around the pool, without arm floaties. He wouldn't keep them on even if I could find them ;/ lol 

Its just a phase! Right?!

The past few days I have been reminding my self that kids are just going through stages. Life will not always be like this. One day they will not act like this. Etc. Etc.Etc.

Ryder has hit the terrible two's I do believe. He will be two in August. But I think it has started early. In the past week he has started tell me NO and pointing his finger at me. He shoves, hits, bites, and throws anything and everything at ANYONE. WHERE DID MY SWEET LITTLE BOY GO??????????

And Miss Taylor has been super whiny/mean lately. I think it may be where Ryder is taking up so much of my attention. So I've been trying to have a few minutes everyday with just me and her. Its helped some. But still. She still trys to kill her brother, and destroy the house in the middle of her tantrums. But, its just a stage. Right?

There's the 3 of us. The kids doing funny faces! I know they are going through phases, and testing limits. I just pray for patients and understanding as we go through these stages. And that they don't last long, :)

Kids bible time.

Every morning after we eat our breakfast I've started Bible time with the kids. I lay out a blanket on the floor and they have to stay within the blanket. (Ryder is still having issues on this part, we are working on it tho!).
Taylor is getting really excited about Bible Time. And she is learning alot as well :)

This morning was a great Bible Time morning. For a week we are just reading about how God created everything, and Adam and Eve. Sometimes we wonder on to Noah and Ark(Which Taylor loves) but I want to spend a few days on small parts so they can remember and understand each part better.

Today our conversation went like this :
(On the first page we read about how God created EVERYTHING and how God is good. Here is the conversation- it started toward the end of the first story)


Taylor - God is good.
Me - thats right. And who made everything?
 Taylor - God did.
Me- Who made the stars?
Tay- God!
Me- Who made bubby?
Tay- God!
Me- good! Okay, who are these people?
Tay- Adam and eve?
Me- yep! And where do they live?
Tay- in the GARDEN!!
Me- Right! Which garden?
Tay- Eveden?
Me- Eden, but thats close enough..
Tay- they disobeyed god
Me(surprised she remembered the word)- thats right. What did God say to them?
Tay- not to eat that fruit!!!!
me- right! but they did didnt they?
tay-thats not good.
me- nope. So they Disobeyed God and they got into trouble. What happened?
Tay- Ummm
Me- they used to live where?
Tay- in the garden if evened.
Me- Eden. Butyes. And then God sent them away because they got in trouble.
Tay- God is good.
Me- Yes he is, and he wants us to obey what he says. And Adam and Eve did not listen to him. They ate the fruit and got into trouble.
TAy- I dont want in trouble..
Me- You're not in trobule. But if you don't listen to God, or mommy and daddy then you will get into trobule.
Tay- But God can't help me blow out my candles.
Me- Okay?
Tay- No, I do it all by my self. I'm a big girl. I blow out my candles all by my self.
Me- Okay, I'm sure God will let you blow out the candles all by your self, but only if you are good!
Tay- I being GOOD!!!!!!!!




So, as you can see we just roll with whatever happens. While we were having this discussion and still going threw the few pages we went through, Ryder was busy dumping his cheerios into a bowl, then a plate, and then eating them with a fork. We did sing our Noah song at the end because Taylor loves hearing about Noah and the Ark. Ryder did help sing by saying NOAH at the right time. :) All in all they are learning about the Bible and having fun at the same time :)

Weekend Review

I know, its Tuesday. But David had another 3 day weekend and I didn't have much time to get online yesterday. So here is our weekend recap :)

Saturday- My parents came back from the beach. The kids were very excited. They got a new T Shirt, and each got a boat set for their pool, and they got shells. Here is Taylor refilling their pool along with the boats and a few other random toys!:)

Sunday- David and I have a date:) We saw the Avengers(SUPER good movie by the way). We then ate out and went to walmart. We of course bought stuff for the kids. A new sprinkler was the high light. Of course, both kids were afraid.

Sunday night we bought a canopy for the back yard. The kids love being out side, but there is NO SHADE. And since I'm prego I'm going to need shade this summer while out playing with the kids. We bought one at the dollar store. Took about 25 minutes to set it up. We enjoyed it for an hour that night. Next morning we were outside about 30 minutes before it was about to storm. Come in for lunch and naps and the canopy falls apart with the storm :/

So now I'm looking for a more sturdy, easy set up canopy. :/ At least it worked for one night.......... - Not worth it lol