First Day of School, 2015

I'm still trying to wrap my mind around both of my boys starting school today. Desmond for the very first time. So far we have homeschooled the "Pre-K" year and then our kids go to a local school for Kindergarten on up. This saves us money on those Preschool years and gets me using my teaching degree. It was a challenge when I first homeschooled Malakai because I was doing all the lesson planning while juggling everything else and halfway through the year I was pretty sick while newly expecting Aurelia.  We've lived and learned and are trying something new this year with Desmond. We are using a homeschool curriculum called Sonlight recommended by a handful of friends. Everything is planned out for me and it's largely book-based, which we love. I didn't have to do any late night planning while the kids slept, I didn't have to stress when Aurelia was a challenge at nap time and only napped half an hour because everything was ready for us when we were able to get to it.

My plan of action for having a kiddo in full-day school away from home is to prep as much as possible the night before. Malakai has his routines written out and posted (I started this to motivate him to wear clothing when he was a 3 year old and it just stuck). His clothes are put out, his lunch and snack for the next day (or two) are packed and ready, his backpack is stocked and set out and we are ready to roll for the following morning.

The hardest part is waking up at 6am after being up several times the night before. Aurelia's constant teething (she's working on her 8th) and frequent ear infections have trained her to frequently wake and need comforted back to sleep. However, even with a lack of good solid sleep, waking up before the kids really feels great in terms of being able to get myself ready for the day before needing to help them get breakfast and move forward with their to-do's.

It was so nice feeling like we got ready on time and even out the door early. We took some pictures with our cute little signs and loaded up the beloved mini-van. All of my good feelings unraveled when I had to navigate walking 3 kids 2 blocks with a vase full of flowers in one hand and a heavy bag of school supplies in the other while pushing a stroller and making sure the boys didn't get hit by a car because there were no sidewalks. Thankfully I kept my composure and we all lived to see the 1st grade. Malakai sorted out his supplies into the marked boxes (I'm so thankful he loves stuff like that) and disappeared into his classroom. Desmond gave the flowers to Kai's teacher because Malakai was too shy and then I lost him. I figured he was fine for a moment so I could at least say goodbye to Malakai, who didn't want a hug. Des was getting in to the toys, of course, and I'm just ever so thankful he didn't tantrum about not getting to stay and play with them.

We made it out the door, chatted with some friends on our way and headed home. Desmond said he didn't want to do "preschool home" yet which was fine because it was 9 am and I hadn't even had coffee yet. He played sweetly while I got Aurelia down for a late morning nap and we had 30 minutes to ourselves to go over our memory verse, days of the week, a few stories and work book time before she woke up again. By then he was asking for more and more school work. Thankfully I have a few extra workbooks that are only 90% colored by Malakai so he was able to hunt for some pages to finish while I prepared lunch.

It was odd to have Malakai gone for so many hours, but somehow they just flew by and it was nearly time to pick him up. We played together, the 3 of us and the house was eerily quiet for early afternoon.

Ben came home early so he could greet Kai at pick up since he wasn't able to make drop off. When we saw him he looked a little pale and a lot tired. He said he didn't feel well because he went in circles too fast on the tire swing. We sat in the shade for a bit while Des played on the play ground. I chatted with his teacher and he perked up enough to play a bit and cooperate for a few more first-day photos before we headed home and vegged out for their daily ration of screen-time.

{not feeling so hot}

 {got his groove back}

{annual photo by the pillars}

All in all, first day of school conquered. Hope yours went well too!

still around...

Hey all... just in case you're wondering, I'm still blogging here. Goodness, it's been a long time. Spring has passed us by all too quickly and I can barely find time to get the regular things done around our home with all the extras going on lately. It all comes on at once!

If you follow along with us on Instagram or Facebook, you may have seen some of what has kept us so busy. Here's more of what we've been up to...

Aside from our normal weekly schedule of getting Kai to and from Kindergarten in the afternoons, visiting with both sets of Grandparents at least once a week, squeezing in play dates, and attending church functions 3 times a week, we've found room to cram some special activities in as well.

Spring is such a busy time all of a sudden with a kiddo in school. It seems they pile on events all at once. Last week Malakai's class had a field trip to Public Works. It was an open house day so there were a LOT of other field trips and families as well. I was able to take Malakai while Ben's mom watched Desmond and Aurelia. It was such a treat to help out with his class and have some time to just focus on him. It was also nice to connect with other parents, since Aurelia was born on the 3rd day of school I haven't been in his classroom as much as I had envisioned.

The following day we had a Jog-a-thon fundraiser for the school so I packed up all 3 kiddos and joined the other Kindergarten parents and students in the rain to help count laps as kiddos dashed around the track. It was such a blessing because although it had been rainy and was pretty wet, the rain let up for the hour that our kiddos ran. Desmond wasn't too into it, which really surprised me. I talked him into doing one lap around with Malakai and they walked huddled together the whole way around. Malakai did 19 laps in one hours, which I think is close to 2 1/2 miles.

We've spent a lot of time at our pediatrician's office lately. Unfortunately all 3 kiddos have been suffering ear infections. Aurelia has had 2 in the last 2 months, Malakai had one and Desmond had a double. Keeping track of medicines has been fun. I've been really thankful for my collection of essential oils right about now for general sickness, ear discomfort and seasonal discomforts alike.

Sadly Malakai will need surgery to have ear tubes put in to keep him from having so many ear infections. I had hoped we would get past this season with no more infections, but he had another right after allergies hit. I'm wishing we had done this last year, but we thought for sure he'd mature out of it. After school is out we'll get it all taken care of and pray that ear infections will be a thing of the past for him!

Lately I've been spending a lot of time gardening. We have quite a bit of green in our little veggie garden! I have 5 different lettuces, 2 tomatoes, onions, carrots, red peppers, cilantro, basil and strawberries clustered in big and small containers. We've already enjoyed a few salads out of our garden, the basil is new within the last few days, and sadly the birds got to the few red berries I had, but I'm hoping to beat them to the next round!

The only thing growing faster than our little veggie garden is our sweet daughter. She is doing so many new things! She's doing this hilarious scoot crawl and she is FAST. She is able to get into a lot of things and I've found myself cleaning the floors much more often. She loves to spit her food, even when she likes it. 

We've also been getting outside and taking advantage of the great weather we've been having as much as possible. Playing at the park or in our own front yard has been a lot of fun. Aurelia loves to watch the big kids play so we will often sit on a blanket together while the boys play on the playground. Her new favorite thing is to pick and try to eat the grass now that she can crawl to it. 

She used to hate the feel of grass but today I set her down so I could carry a watermelon in from the car and she was very excited. 

Hopefully I'll get to updating again here sooner than I have been. I have so much more to share and I still have a few informational posts about essential oils in the works too! 

Off to School: Malakai's 1st day of Kindergarten

I've been so anxious about today for weeks. I was fearful that I would be in labor or stuck waiting to be discharged from the hospital after giving birth when Malakai's 1st day of school arrived. For a long time I convinced myself I would be okay but it built up and I realized it was just as okay to be sad about the possibility of missing such a big milestone. An even bigger step for us than some because we've homeschooled up until now. Malakai has never gone to day care or preschool outside of the home. For years he has attended church between 1-3 times a week and this summer he went to a week of VBS and Day camp, but school is so much bigger!

Nobody thought that I would still be pregnant at this point, we were convinced we'd have a newborn on his first day of school. Although I have been almost as anxious to meet our little girl, I am pretty relieved that I was able to focus on Malakai so intently for his first school experience.  He was so ready to go. Daddy was even able to take a little time off work to see him off...

{this kiddo LOVES green!}

Desmond was just as excited about seeing Malakai off to school, of course he had to wear a back pack too! 

We got to the school early enough to take a few pictures around the buildings

{this boy's facial expressions are just darling to me}

He kept asking, "can we go to my class now?!" but we were still early so we waited outside and took some more photos until the teacher came and let us in. Malakai sweetly listened to instructions of what to do first and excitedly followed through...

Once we unloaded his school supplies and found his cubby we said our goodbye's so he could go do his "morning jobs". We each gave him a squeeze and headed out the door. Not a tear was shed, we were all just so happy and excited for our big boy today. 

And my big Kindergartener was just as thrilled about school before and after class... He talked on and on about the things they did and the kids he met. When he went to VBS and Day camp this summer it was like pulling teeth trying to find out what he learned and what he did, so I was pretty shocked at his eagerness to share his experience. 

I'm so happy for him and this big milestone! Happy 1st day of school Malakai!

Mrs. P's Homeschool Preschool- week 1

Last week I started homeschooling my boys. To answer the most often asked question- I don't know if I'll continue to homeschool them into grade school years. At this point, that is not my plan, but I'm keeping myself open to God's calling on the subject. For now, I'm putting my degree to work  and throughly enjoying it. Thankfully, my boys love it even more.

side note: for those who don't know, I have a BA in Elementary and Early Childhood Education and was licensed to teach K-5 in the State of Oregon. I started on my M.Ed when I got pregnant with Malakai + decided to stay home full time. 

I felt like I had all the time in the world when I started really planning (not just pinning) at the end of July. We had no big plans for the entire month of August and I figured I'd start school when everyone else did after Labor Day. I planned my brains out, was going to start on August 19th at one point to have the curriculum line up with holidays and then decided I was overdoing it and pushed it back to September, and then finally landed on this past week. I don't know what I was so worried about, I think I just really wanted to get it right and I was a teensy afraid of ending our summer too quickly. Thankfully, preschool is short and flexible...especially when homeschooling. 

I had originally drafted a schedule with school work interspersed throughout the day Monday-Wednesday and Fridays. Then I kept whittling it down further and further until it was flexible enough to just do calendar time and memory verses some days (like Thursdays when the boys spend their mornings at Grandma + Grandpa's house...I know, I'm spoiled). After doing it for a week I'm happy with how it turned out and glad that I planned extras because Malakai has been asking for "more schoolwork" every day. 

We are basing our lessons on curriculum from ABC Jesus Loves Me and then I'm throwing my own thing in and taking some of their stuff out (like the letter books and all the DVD's). I'll throw in some basics I taught in Kindergarten like gluing, cutting, sitting quietly and grab some ideas Pinterest as well. I am mostly using the 4 year old curriculum with both boys, but throwing in colors, shapes, and manners from the 2 year old curriculum as well. Desmond is loving school time, his favorite part is getting stickers.

We start our day after breakfast, often still in PJ's and go into the front of our house where I've set up an are for "Number wall" which is when we update our calendar (people, run to Target and grab up all their adorable classroom supplies from the $1 section), talk about and practice the number, shape, and color of the week. We also update the weather and sometimes do our memory verse before going back into the family room.

Next we practice our memory verse, sing a song or two, review the Bible Story and possibly do a craft to go along with it. 

We take a break for play but all this week Malakai has wanted to do more school work so I'd give him a letter writing worksheet or have him paint or color something. 

Then we'd practice letters, shapes and colors with worksheets, activities, stories, etc. I'd save most of the "desk work" for when Desmond is napping and Malakai is done with quiet time in his room.

{singing "Deep and Wide" and Kai reading the Bible to Desmond}

Once a week we do a focused gross motor skill, a focused small motor skill and a visual perception exercise. All of these ideas so far are from the ABC Jesus Loves Me curriculum. For gross motor we played a game outside after nap time called "put out the fire" where I drew flames and a ladder. The boys had to hop up the ladder to dump water on the fire. They wanted to play over and over again. Later that day when Ben got home they wanted him to play, I came to get them for dinner and they had all the neighborhood kids (all much older) playing with them, it was a big hit.

{playing "put out the fire"}

We also get a lot of books at the library. The curriculum has a book of the week, so we get those for the 2 year and 4 year curriculum, plus whatever the boys want to pick out. 

On Mondays I introduce the new subjects for the week, Tuesdays we do activities to reinforce, and by Wednesday I let the boys run the show to see if they can identify them. Then Thursday afternoon and Fridays are for review, catch-up, play dates or other outings. 

With how well it has gone, I wish I had started doing preschool earlier. Having structured activities has really helped my kiddos to not get stir crazy or too wild. It helps me to structure my day a bit more and while we are surely busy, they are more preoccupied for me to step away for a moment during play time or while they are coloring/writing to start a load of dishes or laundry. I know that the school year always starts off with a high and can get pretty dismal as the kids get used to the routine, and even bored with it, but I'm hopeful that my boys will continue to like homeschooling and we'll enjoy it for the rest of our school year. 

Grad

Today my little brother graduates from High School. It's blowing my mind. We're 11 years apart so I remember his entire childhood. I'm sure my mom is beside herself at this point, he's her last kiddo to graduate and go off to college.

{circa 1992}

I'm a bit of a mess, but I can blame that on pregnancy...right? Ben has been saying "Cody is graduating from High School this week." for days now and I just told him to be quiet. I wasn't ready to think about it. Today when I found these photos it hit me and now I'm a goner...

This is what Cody looked like when Ben met him 6 years ago. 

{5th grade graduation, 2005}

Cody has probably changed the most out of the three of us over the years. Just two years later...

{December 2007}

Some of you may remember when I took his senior photos in September. This year went by fast!

My sister Amanda graduated two years ago, I was 8 months pregnant with Malakai. Funny how their graduations have coincided with my pregnancies. I just realized that it's a distinct possibility that I'll be pregnant at her college graduation too. Photos of our family events are going to make it look like I'm always with child. 

{June 2009}

{September 2010}

Needless to say I'll be packing some tissues (I totally cried at Amanda's graduation) and of course our cameras. I'm so proud of you Lil Brudder Cody, congratulations!

Love,

updates...

On Thursday evening while I was cooking dinner I started to feel a tightening on my left side from my back around to my hip. I figured it was just stretched ligaments and muscles and leaned on the counter to take some of the weight off. Then it suddenly tightened up was so painful I fell on the floor. Ben rushed in and supported me for a minute. The pain subsided for two minutes and then returned again. Ben immediately called my OB's office and we awaited the call from the on call Doc. About ten minutes went by and the pain didn't come back. I explained it to the Dr. and she thinks it could possibly be kidney stones. She said that I either had passed it or that I would feel the pain again as it passes. She ruled out contractions, and since the pain was gone I just relaxed like she told me to.
Ben looked it up online and apparently kidney stones are more prevalent in pregnancy than any other time. That night I emailed with a gal from the bump who had experienced kidney stones three times! What she described didn't sound like my experience. Apparently the pain I had is similar to when the stone passes into the bladder, but then you feel more pain when you pass it out...which never happened. I have an appointment with our OB on Wednesday and will chat with her about it then.

Last week I officially withdrew from school. I was working on my Master's degree in the evenings. The plan was to take a year off once baby arrived, but a lot of complications with the program basically forced me to leave sooner. I'm glad I did- I feel so much more relaxed and at ease. I feel like I can really focus on getting our house together and getting ready for baby!

On Saturday Ben, my mom, my sister, and I registered at Target. It was a lot of fun, but also fairly exhausting. We were glad to have my mom there to offer advice. Even though it's been 16 years since she was pregnant, she is known for keeping up on things like recalls, safety, and sales. I also registered at Babies R Us (#84492299) and can't decide between two travel system sets. I HAVE to have the crib from BRU though- which is a bummer since the nearest one is two hours away!

The family shower is tentatively set for the Saturday before Mother's Day in May. I have to communicate this to my MIL and have her contact my mom to get the planning started. I haven't had any offers from friends and I'm worried that I won't be able to invited them to this shower because of how many people it would be. My family alone is huge, but we're combining both sides. On top of that, many of my more distant friends have expressed interest in being invited to the shower...


Today Ben and I are home sick. He's been sick for almost a week now and I got his bug as we thought I would. Sore throat, cough, sinus congestion...all the fun stuff! I've been sleeping on and off all day and resting on our lovely new couches.