Okay, I feel like I've been a little lazy lately, since we haven't had a good art or music time this week.
On Wednesday after we dropped D off at the bus, I took the other 3 to the library for their story time there. They seemed to have a lot of fun, so I may keep taking them there. Later in the afternoon, we made chocolate chip cookies instead of doing a different activity.
On Thursday they got to go play with their cousins. I had all sorts of plans of what I would do while they were gone, but I got a haircut and went to the store and ended up taking a lot longer than I planned, so I didn't have time for anything else before the older kids got off the bus. It really was very nice being able to go and do that without the kids though.
Today (Friday), was really my lazy day. I let the kids play a couple games on the computer while I cleaned a bit and then made some treats for a girls' night out. I also did some laundry while I was doing that. Then I finally had some lunch and took a little bit of a break while they were playing with toys together (and the baby was napping). So I really could have done more, but didn't. I think I may have decided to start potty training H though, since he acts as if he wants to try a bit. We'll see if I stick to it after this weekend or decide to let him stay in diapers for a little longer.
Friday, October 2, 2009
Monday, September 28, 2009
Friday and Monday
Friday was a pretty normal day. We did a music time on Friday and didn't really have an outing day since we had other things going on. I guess you could call the visit to the park on Thursday an outing day since it wasn't our usual park and we spent more time there.
On Monday, instead of having an art or music time, the kids got to go to their cousin's house while I had to go take B to the doctor to get his growth (a mucous seal) removed from the inside of his lip. He did really well and sat still and calm while they removed it. The doctor said he deserved an extra special Christmas present this year because he did so well and didn't have to have it done in the hospital and saved us lots of money. It just totally cracked me up that they were holding onto his lip and cutting it off and he just kept talking. "I don't feel that at all!"
We did walk to the park on our adventure walk on Monday, partly because it's the last warm (okay, hot) day before we get a nice cold front coming through. I am all sorts of excited for the cooler weather, but it will make it a little harder to do things outside.
On Monday, instead of having an art or music time, the kids got to go to their cousin's house while I had to go take B to the doctor to get his growth (a mucous seal) removed from the inside of his lip. He did really well and sat still and calm while they removed it. The doctor said he deserved an extra special Christmas present this year because he did so well and didn't have to have it done in the hospital and saved us lots of money. It just totally cracked me up that they were holding onto his lip and cutting it off and he just kept talking. "I don't feel that at all!"
We did walk to the park on our adventure walk on Monday, partly because it's the last warm (okay, hot) day before we get a nice cold front coming through. I am all sorts of excited for the cooler weather, but it will make it a little harder to do things outside.
Friday, September 25, 2009
Doctors, doctors, and more doctors
It really seems like this week is the week of doctors. We had a normal morning on Wednesday, but in the afternoon I took H and B to the ENT. H's ears looked great and B goes back on Monday to get his growth on his lip removed. The doctor would have done it then, but D was coming off the bus in a half hour, so I needed to make sure I got home. We originally scheduled it for Thursday, but they couldn't get in touch with our insurance company to pre-authorize it and it was scheduled for Monday instead. B is funny. Even though his appointment is at 1:45 on Monday, he wants to go back to school after.
On Thursday we had a normal morning again. After we dropped D off on his bus, we came home and had a bit of a learning time before we went to the park so I could do my visiting teaching while the kids all played. Of course the kids would all come over and want attention as we would start talking, but it was still nice. H cracked me up and came over to me about a half hour after we got there and said, "Mama, let's go." He was done playing and wanted to go right then. I did get him to play a little bit longer though.
We did art time on Thursday and I had them color some dinosaur pictures again. H picked his picture because he wanted to color an ostrich and so his dinosaur was one with a beak and a long neck and walked on two legs. So that was his ostrich. Silly kid.
And as an added bonus, when B and D came home, they had slips of paper from the bus company saying that their bus was changing its (they put it's, so my husband said we should call them and say they shouldn't be allowed to change since they can't spell properly) route. The address they had for pick-up and drop-off happened to be our address. I thought at first that they were going to start picking up all the kids at their houses, but no, they're just picking up all the kids right in front of my house. That's really nice for before the snow starts coming. Now I won't have to get all 5 kids and walk down to the bus stop (or drive, but we usually walk). I can just wave bye to them from my front door. The kindergarten bus still picks them up from the same spot though, so I will have to take D over there, but it's a little easier to get us all over there then. I'm sure I'll be driving him over in the snow. When B was in kindergarten, we only had one car, so I'd have to walk him over to the bus stop. That year H ended up getting pneumonia. Now that we have two cars, I'll be driving to the bus stop when it's that cold and snowy.
On Thursday we had a normal morning again. After we dropped D off on his bus, we came home and had a bit of a learning time before we went to the park so I could do my visiting teaching while the kids all played. Of course the kids would all come over and want attention as we would start talking, but it was still nice. H cracked me up and came over to me about a half hour after we got there and said, "Mama, let's go." He was done playing and wanted to go right then. I did get him to play a little bit longer though.
We did art time on Thursday and I had them color some dinosaur pictures again. H picked his picture because he wanted to color an ostrich and so his dinosaur was one with a beak and a long neck and walked on two legs. So that was his ostrich. Silly kid.
And as an added bonus, when B and D came home, they had slips of paper from the bus company saying that their bus was changing its (they put it's, so my husband said we should call them and say they shouldn't be allowed to change since they can't spell properly) route. The address they had for pick-up and drop-off happened to be our address. I thought at first that they were going to start picking up all the kids at their houses, but no, they're just picking up all the kids right in front of my house. That's really nice for before the snow starts coming. Now I won't have to get all 5 kids and walk down to the bus stop (or drive, but we usually walk). I can just wave bye to them from my front door. The kindergarten bus still picks them up from the same spot though, so I will have to take D over there, but it's a little easier to get us all over there then. I'm sure I'll be driving him over in the snow. When B was in kindergarten, we only had one car, so I'd have to walk him over to the bus stop. That year H ended up getting pneumonia. Now that we have two cars, I'll be driving to the bus stop when it's that cold and snowy.
Wednesday, September 23, 2009
New trades
Our routine is starting to adjust this week, but it's not going to be a huge change. One of the changes this week will be a regular change, but a few changes for this week are for this week only.
Monday however, was a normal day. We did go to the store after dropping D off at the bus, so while not uncommon, it wasn't a regularly scheduled activity. Other than that change, we had our normal chores, reading time, learning time, play time, and art time. I did think it was kind of funny that after art time (just coloring this time), H got out our learning time flash cards and brought them over to me because he wanted to do more learning time.
Tuesday's schedule was thrown off right from the start. B had a doctor appointment at 9:00, so he didn't go to school in the morning like he usually does. I took him to the doctor to have a growth he has on the inside of his bottom lip checked out. Turns out that it's an oral fibroma that might go away on its own, but the doctor thinks we should get it removed. So we have an appointment with the ENT on Wednesday to have him look at it and schedule its removal. The handy thing is that I already had an appointment scheduled with the ENT for H to get his tubes checked, and they were able to schedule B's appointment right after his.
After I dropped B off at school, I picked up the other kids from their aunt's house. By the time we got home, we didn't have a lot of time before we needed to take D to the bus, so the kids basically just played a little bit. After we took D to the bus, we came home and had a learning time, then lunch.
After lunch is where the change came that's going to be more of a regular change. Once a week their cousins will be coming over to play for a couple of hours, then on another day once a week, they will be going to their cousins' house for a couple of hours. That's going to be really nice for their moms because we'll get to do things without the kids: running errands, cleaning the house, taking a nap, whatever. So their moms will get a nice break for a bit and they'll get the chance to play with their cousins.
Their cousins went home just as B and D were coming home from school, so we did homework, which included a story time since we missed it in the morning, then the kids were able to play for a while before dinner.
I'm looking forward to the changes and also am looking forward to getting all these doctor appointments over with so we can get back to our regular routine.
Monday however, was a normal day. We did go to the store after dropping D off at the bus, so while not uncommon, it wasn't a regularly scheduled activity. Other than that change, we had our normal chores, reading time, learning time, play time, and art time. I did think it was kind of funny that after art time (just coloring this time), H got out our learning time flash cards and brought them over to me because he wanted to do more learning time.
Tuesday's schedule was thrown off right from the start. B had a doctor appointment at 9:00, so he didn't go to school in the morning like he usually does. I took him to the doctor to have a growth he has on the inside of his bottom lip checked out. Turns out that it's an oral fibroma that might go away on its own, but the doctor thinks we should get it removed. So we have an appointment with the ENT on Wednesday to have him look at it and schedule its removal. The handy thing is that I already had an appointment scheduled with the ENT for H to get his tubes checked, and they were able to schedule B's appointment right after his.
After I dropped B off at school, I picked up the other kids from their aunt's house. By the time we got home, we didn't have a lot of time before we needed to take D to the bus, so the kids basically just played a little bit. After we took D to the bus, we came home and had a learning time, then lunch.
After lunch is where the change came that's going to be more of a regular change. Once a week their cousins will be coming over to play for a couple of hours, then on another day once a week, they will be going to their cousins' house for a couple of hours. That's going to be really nice for their moms because we'll get to do things without the kids: running errands, cleaning the house, taking a nap, whatever. So their moms will get a nice break for a bit and they'll get the chance to play with their cousins.
Their cousins went home just as B and D were coming home from school, so we did homework, which included a story time since we missed it in the morning, then the kids were able to play for a while before dinner.
I'm looking forward to the changes and also am looking forward to getting all these doctor appointments over with so we can get back to our regular routine.
Saturday, September 19, 2009
Water art and outing day
Thursday was a pretty good day, with our typical morning of chores followed by reading time, especially since we actually were able to get it all done earlier and had it done by the time my visiting teachers came by for a short, but chaotic thanks to D and W, visit.
After we took D to the bus, we went on another adventure walk to the park. It amazes me with how long it sometimes takes to walk to the park, especially when W is riding his big wheel. And it cracks me up that now that B and D are in school and aren't coming with us on the adventure walks, the kids are always looking for monkeys and tigers. When they see them they throw bananas and meat so that the animals won't get us. With that typical choice, it's no surprise that they love going to the zoo and don't seem to get tired of it.
After lunch and a free play time, we did a short learning time, followed by an art time. Sticking with the order of the days, it should have been a music day, but since we had seemed to miss our art times on art days, I decided to let us do art. We took cups of water and some sponges outside and painted pictures on the driveway with water. We were still outside doing it when D, who had run ahead of B, got home from school and saw us and wanted to join in. So we did that for a couple of minutes before we came in and checked backpacks and stuff. After that, we went back outside for some outside play.
If you have any good suggestions for activities to do during art time or music time or even just during play, please feel free to comment and let me know. I'm always up for suggestions so that we're not always doing the same things.
Friday was our outing day for the week, since B and D didn't have school. For our outing, we went first to a park to play for a little while, then we met their dad for lunch. After lunch, we went, of course, to the zoo. We had gone there last at the beginning of the week last week, and since then they had actually gotten a couple of new exhibits, so that was fun. B was having a good time reading a book he has about the solar system, so he spent the whole time we were traveling in the van reading that book and telling me about it.
When we got home, we had some ice cream cones and the kids played outside for a bit. I had B and D go around the block on their scooters while I timed them to see how fast they could do it, which was just over 3 minutes. W decided he wanted to go with them and went even though I had told him not to, so he got to spend the rest of the night in his room, only coming down for dinner.
One thing I like about this schedule is that it gets us up and active. We're always doing different things and not just sitting around. If you know my kids, you know they don't just sit around anyway, but at least it's good for me.
After we took D to the bus, we went on another adventure walk to the park. It amazes me with how long it sometimes takes to walk to the park, especially when W is riding his big wheel. And it cracks me up that now that B and D are in school and aren't coming with us on the adventure walks, the kids are always looking for monkeys and tigers. When they see them they throw bananas and meat so that the animals won't get us. With that typical choice, it's no surprise that they love going to the zoo and don't seem to get tired of it.
After lunch and a free play time, we did a short learning time, followed by an art time. Sticking with the order of the days, it should have been a music day, but since we had seemed to miss our art times on art days, I decided to let us do art. We took cups of water and some sponges outside and painted pictures on the driveway with water. We were still outside doing it when D, who had run ahead of B, got home from school and saw us and wanted to join in. So we did that for a couple of minutes before we came in and checked backpacks and stuff. After that, we went back outside for some outside play.
If you have any good suggestions for activities to do during art time or music time or even just during play, please feel free to comment and let me know. I'm always up for suggestions so that we're not always doing the same things.
Friday was our outing day for the week, since B and D didn't have school. For our outing, we went first to a park to play for a little while, then we met their dad for lunch. After lunch, we went, of course, to the zoo. We had gone there last at the beginning of the week last week, and since then they had actually gotten a couple of new exhibits, so that was fun. B was having a good time reading a book he has about the solar system, so he spent the whole time we were traveling in the van reading that book and telling me about it.
When we got home, we had some ice cream cones and the kids played outside for a bit. I had B and D go around the block on their scooters while I timed them to see how fast they could do it, which was just over 3 minutes. W decided he wanted to go with them and went even though I had told him not to, so he got to spend the rest of the night in his room, only coming down for dinner.
One thing I like about this schedule is that it gets us up and active. We're always doing different things and not just sitting around. If you know my kids, you know they don't just sit around anyway, but at least it's good for me.
Thursday, September 17, 2009
Another single post for two days
There seems to be a trend in my slacking in actually recording every day what we've been doing. But that's okay, since I do get to it eventually and just knowing that I will need to record it eventually still keeps me motivated. Our schedule has become more of a habit and established routine lately, so I think I'd actually keep it up now if I didn't keep up with the blog. But just in case I would end up stopping, I will still continue to record it.
We didn't really do an adventure walk on Tuesday like we usually do. The kids still made up games as we'd walk to and from the bus stop though, so at least we did get some walking and playing in.
Usually we will come home from dropping B off at the bus and then we'll eat breakfast, get dressed, and do our chores. It's amazing how long that can take sometimes. But after the chores are done (basically after all the toys are cleaned up), we have our story time. It's kind of nice because part of D's homework is to read at least 20 minutes 5 times a week, so we get to get it done before he goes to school. Then any other homework he may have (which he usually doesn't, but occasionally he will) we can do after he gets home from school. After the story time, I give them about a half hour to play before we need to take D to the bus for school. And for these last two days, that's exactly what happened.
On Tuesday after we got back from taking D to the bus, we sat down and did our learning time with the flash cards first. W and H are getting pretty good at recognizing all the numbers from 1-100, though of course, W is better at it, since he's older. And I was really impressed when W knew all of the letters except for J and U. He usually has a hard time remembering M and N too, but he knew those this time. So after we did the flash cards, I had him go on starfall.com again and work especially on J and U.
After lunch and another free play time, we had music time. We listened and danced to some music, then left it on while we made some cookies together. By the time the cookies were all done, it was time for the older two to get home from school. It really is amazing how quickly that goes.
On Wednesday after we got back from the bus, W and H wanted to play outside, so I decided that I would let them do that. To make it a little more productive for me, I decided to mow the front lawn while they were playing. Then our lawnmower started smoking, so I put it away and went over to borrow one from my sister-in-law who lives just around the corner, which is basically 3 houses away. The kids decided they wanted to stay and play with their cousins for a bit while I mowed the lawn, which actually turned out pretty well. Their one cousin decided he needed to come home with us when we left, so while they were all running up and back on the sidewalk, we chatted for a bit. Because of that, we ended up having a pretty late lunch and free play.
After the free play, the boys wanted to do a starfall learning time rather than do an art time, so I decided to let them. They were still doing that when B and D walked in the door from school, and kept doing it while I helped B and D do their homework. B also has to read for part of his homework, so he read a story to his younger brothers.
So we had another couple of good days. Usually I keep our outing day on Wednesday (or try to), but B and D don't have school on Friday, so I thought I'd wait and do our outing day then so they can go with us. It will probably be another trip to the zoo, since the kids love that and they have a couple new animals that B and D haven't been able to see yet.
We didn't really do an adventure walk on Tuesday like we usually do. The kids still made up games as we'd walk to and from the bus stop though, so at least we did get some walking and playing in.
Usually we will come home from dropping B off at the bus and then we'll eat breakfast, get dressed, and do our chores. It's amazing how long that can take sometimes. But after the chores are done (basically after all the toys are cleaned up), we have our story time. It's kind of nice because part of D's homework is to read at least 20 minutes 5 times a week, so we get to get it done before he goes to school. Then any other homework he may have (which he usually doesn't, but occasionally he will) we can do after he gets home from school. After the story time, I give them about a half hour to play before we need to take D to the bus for school. And for these last two days, that's exactly what happened.
On Tuesday after we got back from taking D to the bus, we sat down and did our learning time with the flash cards first. W and H are getting pretty good at recognizing all the numbers from 1-100, though of course, W is better at it, since he's older. And I was really impressed when W knew all of the letters except for J and U. He usually has a hard time remembering M and N too, but he knew those this time. So after we did the flash cards, I had him go on starfall.com again and work especially on J and U.
After lunch and another free play time, we had music time. We listened and danced to some music, then left it on while we made some cookies together. By the time the cookies were all done, it was time for the older two to get home from school. It really is amazing how quickly that goes.
On Wednesday after we got back from the bus, W and H wanted to play outside, so I decided that I would let them do that. To make it a little more productive for me, I decided to mow the front lawn while they were playing. Then our lawnmower started smoking, so I put it away and went over to borrow one from my sister-in-law who lives just around the corner, which is basically 3 houses away. The kids decided they wanted to stay and play with their cousins for a bit while I mowed the lawn, which actually turned out pretty well. Their one cousin decided he needed to come home with us when we left, so while they were all running up and back on the sidewalk, we chatted for a bit. Because of that, we ended up having a pretty late lunch and free play.
After the free play, the boys wanted to do a starfall learning time rather than do an art time, so I decided to let them. They were still doing that when B and D walked in the door from school, and kept doing it while I helped B and D do their homework. B also has to read for part of his homework, so he read a story to his younger brothers.
So we had another couple of good days. Usually I keep our outing day on Wednesday (or try to), but B and D don't have school on Friday, so I thought I'd wait and do our outing day then so they can go with us. It will probably be another trip to the zoo, since the kids love that and they have a couple new animals that B and D haven't been able to see yet.
Monday, September 14, 2009
3 days, 1 post
Wow, I didn't realize that I had slacked off quite this much and haven't posted about Thursday or Friday. I guess maybe I should actually check a little more often.
Thursday and Friday both went pretty well. On Thursday we did another adventure walk to the park. It was kind of funny because W had wanted to go right when we did for it, but then didn't remember to start looking for his adventure stuff until we were almost to the park.
Later in the afternoon, we colored some pictures for art time and then played a board game until it was time to go pick up the older 2 from the school bus.
On Friday I took the younger 3 to the library after we took D to the bus. That particular trip made me not want to take them back to the library for a very, very long time, but we did get a couple of fun books to read with them for story time.
After a learning time and play time, we did a music time where we played and danced and sang. They seemed to have a good time.
Today we did another adventure walk after we dropped D off a the bus. We took the dog with us this time, which I don't do often because he's got such bad hips. Whenever we do though, we get lots of looks and lots of comments. He's a very large dog and very pretty. It's more the size that gets us the stares though. When the dog is taller than the stroller I'm pushing, it's not surprising.
For some reason, it took us longer on today's adventure walk, so by the time we got home and had some lunch and some play time, it was time to go pick up the others from the bus. At least they did get some learning time in and we always get story time in the mornings and throughout the day, especially with H. He loves books and is always bringing me some to read to him. Especially "Brown Bear, Brown Bear What Do You Hear?" and "Polar Bear, Polar Bear What Do You See?" He has those two memorized and usually ends up telling them to us rather than having us read them to him. He's very cute and very silly.
Thursday and Friday both went pretty well. On Thursday we did another adventure walk to the park. It was kind of funny because W had wanted to go right when we did for it, but then didn't remember to start looking for his adventure stuff until we were almost to the park.
Later in the afternoon, we colored some pictures for art time and then played a board game until it was time to go pick up the older 2 from the school bus.
On Friday I took the younger 3 to the library after we took D to the bus. That particular trip made me not want to take them back to the library for a very, very long time, but we did get a couple of fun books to read with them for story time.
After a learning time and play time, we did a music time where we played and danced and sang. They seemed to have a good time.
Today we did another adventure walk after we dropped D off a the bus. We took the dog with us this time, which I don't do often because he's got such bad hips. Whenever we do though, we get lots of looks and lots of comments. He's a very large dog and very pretty. It's more the size that gets us the stares though. When the dog is taller than the stroller I'm pushing, it's not surprising.
For some reason, it took us longer on today's adventure walk, so by the time we got home and had some lunch and some play time, it was time to go pick up the others from the bus. At least they did get some learning time in and we always get story time in the mornings and throughout the day, especially with H. He loves books and is always bringing me some to read to him. Especially "Brown Bear, Brown Bear What Do You Hear?" and "Polar Bear, Polar Bear What Do You See?" He has those two memorized and usually ends up telling them to us rather than having us read them to him. He's very cute and very silly.
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