Thanksgiving.

Zac & a friend playing legos under the table.

Chayce keeping busy with paper dolls.

Daddy and baby Payge.

Our friends, enjoying dinner with us.

Happy Payge, with her dinner.

Zach, enjoying his chocolate dipped strawberries. Ha, yeah, you read that right.

Mmmmm, Chayce eating chocolate dipped rice crispy treats. Chocolate fountain anyone?

Recitals

Chayce and Zac are taking dance classes. Zac is in hip-hop, and Chayce is in ballet. They've really been enjoying themselves. Zac has only been in for three weeks, so was just starting to learn the dances when the recital date was announced. I don't think he did too bad, considering.

Chayce is the one in pink with her back to us.

mid- jump, so it's blurry. Sorry.

Paper Dolls

For those of you with little girls who are learning to cut, these paper dolls are adorable and fun...and FREE!! Enjoy!
Click HERE.

A Day In The Life

I've had a few friends ask me how my day usually goes, mainly because they are considering homeschooling. I sat down and thought about it finally. Now, listen--before I do this, please understand that this is a typical day...some days are better, some are worse, just like everyone else's life.
7:30ish: Get up and run, because my husband is awesome and makes sure that if the kids wake before I'm done, they aren't screaming for me. I love him.
8:30ish: Hopefully the kids have eaten and are dressed. If not, I work on that. If so, we start our school work. This may be changing in the future, as I think that I would rather have play time in the morning and school work while Payge is sleeping. I think this will build camaraderie in them, even more-so than now. Plus, I think (think being the key word here, it's not proven) that my kids' creative time is morning, so we should do projects and such or just free play with imagination at work during this time.
What school is to us:

• About 15-20 minutes of Saxon Math 1. Sometimes Chayce participates, sometimes she doesn't. I don't force her to, as she's just four, but there are some lessons she is present for that she just gets.
• While Zac is working on his daily review sheet (a sheet of math problems to work out that we do before introducing the new topic for the day), Chayce and I read through her McGuffey Primer. (for a free copy of McGuffey on the Gutenberg project, click here)
  
• 10 minutes of First Language Lessons for the Well Trained Mind. We've been covering nouns for the past 40 lessons, and are now onto pronouns.
• 10 minutes of hand writing instruction. At first this was individual letters, we are now starting on spelling words and rules in a notebook. We use both Handwriting Without Tears and Spelling Power.
  
• We then embark on our history journey. I never know how long this will take because sometimes the kids really get into a lesson and we start looking more things up and just keep going, and sometimes they are bored out of their minds! We are using The Story of the World by Susan Wise Bauer.

Then if we have time, we play...but like I said, this will be changing--well, no, we'll still be playing after we are done. Just at a different hour. ha!
Lunch around 12:30. The baby naps from 1:30-3:30 on average.
We play more, and clean up, make dinner and say hi to Stephen by 5:30. It really does fly by. Which is another reason to move the school part, so we have more time for loud play, as the quiet play during nap time just isn't, well...it isn't as gratifying as running around and yelling, you know?

As for cleaning up, I do have a system, but it is a mish-mash of a few systems that I have read about over the past few years, so I don't really know which system to give credit to. There are many good ones, I'll tell you that much, just pick one and stick to it. As for my schedule, I suppose I'll give credit to me, since I typed it and put it into a binder for myself.

After dinner, we may read more stories, play more, take baths, visit somewhere, or just each do our own thing. Then bedtime, and we start it all over again the next day. Whew!

Eavesdropping

I have a confession to make: I'm not always nice being patient is a skill I'm still working on. I talk about this with my husband regularly, because I feel honesty is the best policy, and I'm really trying to be an amazing parent. I mean, God sent them here not only for them to be raised, but for me to learn something as well, and so I better work on learning, don't you think? Well, obviously, our son has overheard some of the conversations Stephen and I have had, here's why I think so...

This morning, me: "Ug! I really want to be mad right now. I want to jump up and down and yell, but I'm not going to. BUT, I want you to know that I want to."
(Might I add, in my defense here, that Chayce had just used my stage make-up kit (that is sweat proof--hence, water proof) to create a mural on her bedroom wall, while I was trying to teach Zac math, which for some reason he was having a hard time concentrating on because he'd rather eat, but he'd eaten twice already and it was only 10 am!)

Zac (to me): "Wow, Mom. Just think of how much we're teaching you right now. Oh, and you handled today much better than the other day, so we are definitely giving you enough practice."

AAAAAAAAAAAACCCCCCCCCCCKKKKKKKKKK!! I really think they are out to get me.

Just so you're warned, before the side effects start

see more Funny Graphs

Life Is Good

Wow. I know, it's not Thanksgiving yet, but shouldn't every day be? We've been down with the goobery sniffles, but I can't complain.

Chayce read her first full sentence yesterday! It was so wonderful to sit and listen to her read me a short story. Even better? The camaraderie of my children--Zac was quick to tell her how awesome she did, and that he's so glad that now they can read together. I felt like my heart would pop!

Stephen has been in Atlanta, but the awesome news is, he is ahead of schedule and gets to come home early tonight!

I was cleaning the play room, when Payge came and plopped onto my lap (I was sorting, so I was sitting). I felt so peaceful and was almost excited that I remembered to take time to snuggle her rather than tell her to wait til I was done. Definitely an answer to a prayer I've been praying for awhile--that I'll remember to put them before the chores.

That we have some interviews coming up. We're excited, but I don't know what to think...wow, it seems like it's going slow, but then--is life going to hit me fast and furious soon? Eeek!

God is good. I know he's listening. What is even more exciting is when you know that your spouse is listening, too, and praying for you. I am amazed at the times when I am praying about a trial, and my husband will come to me and say, "I was praying for you, and I just felt as though you needed X,Y, or Z." (which, might I add, is what I had asked for in my prayer) Now THAT my friends, is what marriage is all about. That and spousely cuteness.

And a funny:
Zachary came in and asked me what cuff links were, as it had been in a song we heard. Chayce was sitting and listening to my explanation, and then said, "Wait a minute...then what are duck-links?" (ducklings).