My "preschool"

As I have mentioned earlier on this blog I have had to "talk myself out of" opening a preschool in my house.  I know it is something I would really love to do.  This last year I basically have had 3 preschool age children, so I have been able to have an outlet on all my preschool starting desires.  I pulled out all my old curriculum and supplies from my collage days and took a trip to the dollar store.  It has provided us with a great summer.

The next few paragraphs are only for people who probably have preschoolers at home and/or really care to know about what I am doing.

One thing that I love about preschool is the centers, and a good way to do centers in a preschool with out a lot of extra adult helpers is an "invitation to play".  This is where all of the materials are set out, with no real instructions, but something the kids kind of have to do themselves.  There can be A TON of different goals and objectives that you, the teacher or parent, might have in mind and a ton of different ways to facilitate it.  Here is a great blog post with some ideas.

Anyways, most days my kids watch Super Why at 8:00 and Dinosaur Train at 8:30 - during this hour I put Madison to bed, clean up breakfast and the house, get ready myself, and plan or prepare for the days activity.  Also during this time I often set up an "invitation to play", when the kids are done with their shows they come upstairs and see materials on the table.  Sometimes they ask what to do with it, other times they just start exploring.  It is great because in one simple activity I can make it developmentally appropriate for all their different age groups and can foster different levels of exploration through simply adding different manipulatives at different times, to different kids.  I am rarely involved (it works best that way), some days they play for up to 2 hours on any given activity, sometimes it lasts 2 minutes - hey you win some you lose some.

Over the summer I took some pictures - I have wanted to do a post like this for a while.  I had PLANNED on taking pictures of the table BEFORE the kids got to it, but that rarely happened - so I am sorry.  If you really care (because you want ideas) on how to have your table look, click on the link I put earlier. 

Anyway, here have been some of our favorites:

mixing paint colors in bags.

There were several levels for the shaving cream activity.  Sparkles, glitter, water beads, water - we played for about 5 minutes before adding the next "ingrediant"

This is our favorite activity.  Water beads.  If you do this one - work up to adding all the different things.  Just start with plain water, a bowl, and a scopper.  Add the different bowls and cups and food coloring on different days or much later in the exploration.  There are so many different things you can do with water beads - take your time to explore all the different levels - GREAT SENSORY play.  (You can find them at craft stores or Dollar Tree) (If you don't know what they are, they are clear beads that disapear in water, they are smooth, and bouncy, and just a lot of fun).

Oh, and most mornings I have a question the kids answer.  It is mostly a sneaky way of getting them to practice writing their name every day.  But it also gives them some self awareness.

Well, there is a sneak peak of my preschool.  Hope you enjoyed it.

Swords

I am the cub scout master and I had a summer camping cookout and mini Olympics last week.  I made some swords out of pool noodles for our fencing match.  They have become a great toy in our house.  We had a giant family sword fight one night.  It got intense!

Jason and Brock really went at it and Brock WOULD NOT BACK DOWN! 

Jason doesn't really have ANY mercy when it comes to stuff like this.  Notice he has TWO swords and Brock has one! :)

It used all of our energy for the night - we were all pretty sweaty and tired afterwards.

First Day of School

We are year-round out here, so school for us started on July 25th, however Kindergarten didn't start until August 2nd - so we got a little bit longer of a summer.  School has been... an adjustment, for all of us.  Brock was so excited for school, he has been counting down days for almost a year.  The first two days he loved it.  On his first day when we went and picked him up he said, "Noah did you and Megan take care of Madison for me while I was gone?" Noah said yes, then Brock said, "Thanks, I really appreciate it."  Then he yelled up to Megan, "Thanks Megs for helping Noah take care of Madison."  It was so cute.  Then, Madison started fussing in the car and Brock leaned forward and said, "you don't need to cry Madison, I am home now."  It was all so funny - he was acting just like Jason does when he comes home.

 Noah wanted in on the picture action.  Noah has done really good with Brock being gone.  But I know he is pretty upset about it - he just doesn't verbalize it.  He has to do homework everyday with Brock - and he wants "real" homework, coloring or something I made up doesn't cut it for him.  So I had to go and buy some preschool worksheets (trace the A, find the picture that start with B, etc) which I am totally against, just to please him.  I feel strongly that preschoolers should not do worksheets.  But he is so happy to do real homework right along side Brock.  He also gets all ready and showered and everything right along side Brock.  And has a little backpack that he quietly packs things into when ever Brock takes things in and out of his - it kind of breaks my heart.  But he is doing great with the whole "biggest brother" thing - he takes it very seriously.  But does get bored in the mornings and doesn't really know what to do with himself.  Him and Megan are sometimes like water and oil - but we are working on that - and that is a post for another day.

Brock wanted a picture of his back pack or 'pack pack'

Here he is in line - and I was minutes away from crying - he never saw me though.  I have had to talk myself out of home schooling several times and think it will be something I am tempted to do all through out my children's education.  But I am pretty sure (almost positive) I never will.  I know he will do great, and I am so excited for him.

Afterwards we went to Arctic Circle with some of our friends that started Kindergarten that day too, Isaac and Kylee. 

We are now into day 7 with Kindergarten and it has gotten a little more difficult.  The excitment has worn off and he is stuggling a little.  He doesn't like his rushed mornings.  He just wants to play and relax.  After school last week he said, "mom, can I tell you something about school?", "Sometimes it is hard to leave you everyday and go to school where there are so many kids."  I had several thoughts , 1) so many kids?  Are you kidding, it is not like our house is quiet and calm.  And 2) I agree, this is stupid, you don't have to ever go back.  But what I said was a lot of supportive, understanding things that got him excited to go back.  Sometimes saying the right thing is not always saying what I WANT or FEEL - that is a new part of parenting to me; having to step back and go against my natural mothering instinct because that is what is best.   He comes home and is usually happy and playful for the first hour and then after that he cries and fights with Noah and Megan the rest of the day.  Which is so sad for me because they miss him so much when he is gone, so then I am extra hard on him, and then he gets more emotional and introverted - its a bad cycle.  I know he will get used to it - but thanks to year round, this is his last week of school and then he is off for three weeks.  So I will go through all of this again in October.

But besides that his sweet teacher has been very involved and very complimentary of Brock.  She called me one day just to tell me a cute story about him.  She said he is very mature - the most mature in the class - I am not totally sure what that means... but her stories were very sweet and made me happy about his teacher.

End of a Era

It has been over 24 hours since I last nursed Madison.  She is officially weened.  It is kind of a weird feeling... being done.  I have been nursing or pregnant for a little over 6 years straight - nursing each of my children for a few months into my next pregnancy.  We are officially not pregnant again, and don't plan on being for... maybe never... maybe ten years... maybe 3 years.

It is weird.  To be honest I actually can't believe it.  After I had Madison I told people she was our last...for now.  I said it so much, it was more like I was trying to convince myself, because having a baby every year was just what I knew.  I couldn't really fathom NOT getting pregnant again.  But the feelings just wasn't there, instead they were replaced with satisfaction, completion, and wholeness.  I am not even particularly sad that my baby is growing up.  I am excited for the next phase of life.  I may have a baby, or two, again... one day.  But for now I can honestly see not, something I wondered if I would ever feel.  I loved having babies, I figured I would have to stop having them out of financial, physical, or emotional necessity, and just be sad everyday that I didn't have a baby to cuddle.  But I really don't feel that way.

I have loved nursing and I did cry a little last night when I just put her to bed with out nursing her.  There is almost nothing better in the whole world than your baby holding onto your finger while you nurse her or holding onto your shirt.  I will never forget those tender moments.  But, to be honest, most of my anxiety about not nursing or being pregnant comes from very, shall I say, temporal concerns.  I feel I now have to step up my game, as I have no more excuses to, well...eat snacks at church, take a nap everyday, go to bed at 9:30, not exercise because I have to keep up my weight, down a pint of ice cream every night (probably shouldn't have done that anyways), or just generally pass things off I haven't wanted to do as "it is not the phase of my life to ________".  I guess I should have a cleaner house, I should organize all my corners of boxes, clothes, and other junk, I should probably make dinner for people who I owe dinners too.  And as for my body, I wonder what will happen.  For a little too much information, I know I will miss my boobs, I am sure they will not be the way they were at 22 when I started this whole charade. 

I feel like I have a big year ahead of me (well, a big 20 years ahead of me).  Trying to redefine myself and my life, normally, when I am done nursing, I have 4 or 5 months until my next baby is due.  So I just "vegg" after my kids go to bed, getting baby stuff ready, doing a few small projects while watching Dawson's Creek or Friday Night Lights.  Now I feel like 8:00 (which used to be my "done" time), now will become time to "get stuff done".

Pair all of this with the fact that Brock started Kindergarten this week, and I have myself my own emotional roller coaster.  But at the end of this first 5 years of motherhood I can report that I am satisfied with the way I spent them, our days were ours, and I had no obligations to anyone but my children and my husband, I have no regrets.  I can honestly say, I lived everyday to the fullest, and enjoyed every minute, even the horrible ones.  Sometimes I picked my children over dishes, but sometimes dishes over children, but that is ok - because that is what made our home more peaceful and beautiful.  My decisions were intentional, purposeful, and all in all I lived in the moment while all of my children were young, something I wanted to be able to say, and I can.

24th of July

My sister Ashley got these CUTE outfits for my girls for the 4th and 24th of July.

We spent the evening at my Aunt Leslie's house having a BBQ and playing some games. She just bought a new house with an incredible backyard with some waterfalls and a pond. 

  Above is my neice, Audrey, with the girls.

 

Sometimes I just can't get enough of Noah.  I love his little looks - he is so inquisitive and thoughtful about things.

All the grandkids and cousins spent most the night around the pond.

Then we headed back home and did fireworks with all our neighbors.

We were even serinated... perfect!

Girls day

Last week my mom took the boys for a sleepover, so the next morning I asked Megan what she wanted to do.  She said, of course, the zoo.  So we packed everything up and got all ready to head out the door by 8:30 so we would get there before it got too hot.  Then... it started raining.  I told her we could still go, but it would be rainy, or she could pick an indoor activity.  She decided to go with the aquarium.  Good choice.  We had to alter our plans a bit because it doesn't open until 10:30 - so we put Maddie down for a nap and played with some play dough. 

Madison just insisted on walking around the whole aquarium by herself.  She thinks she is so big.  She is fully aware when she is being treated like a baby - and tells me quite clearly she wants to be one of the kids.

These girls are SO MUCH FUN - and both at some of my favorite ages.  So far my favorite "mothering" time was the summer/fall of 2009.  That was when Brock and Noah were at these EXACT same ages as the girls are right now.  We had so much fun, we just played and played and played, with little care about anything else but eating, playing, and napping.  I didn't have a house or yard (just a tiny apartment - pretty easy to keep clean, enough) or demanding calling, so almost my whole life was just about the boys! However, I did notice that personalities are quite different, especially between Brock at 2 and Megan at 2.  On our outings I don't think I ever had a tantrum with2 year old Brock Brock - and at the Aquarium we probably had 3 with Megan.  Sting ray wouldn't swim towards her to pet it, she wanted to look at the sharks longer, and she didn't want to leave, etc.  I specifically remember Jason and I at Discovery Gateway when Brock was two and watching with pity as toddlers would throw tantrums when it was time to leave - oh, we thought we were just "such good parents" - hahaha - it has pretty much nothing to do with us - it is all about the kids!  Oh - the judgments young parents make about other peoples kids - they always come back to bite you! (Although I will say I KNOW I was a better mom with Brock than with Megan - I just had the time to be, I was always 100% consistent with Brock - with Megan I am probably 80% consistent, I I know that 20% does account for a lot of her misbehavior - but their very nature is also just different).

I also had just the girls one Sunday while Jason took the boys to church.  The two opportunities have really made me consider putting Noah in preschool so I can have it on a consistent basis.  However Noah and Megan are really enjoying their time now that Brock started school last week (post to come).  We will see, I HATE these kinds of decisions.

Day to day

Just some random pictures from our summer.

We spend a lot of time in our backyard:

We spent most days pretty lazy, sans make-up, "outfits", or hair product.

It is always a mystery how Brock and Noah will fall asleep in their room.  They play around for almost a half hour after we put them to bed (no matter what time we put them down).  It is rare they both fall asleep in their own beds.  Lately they are both on the floor together - with all their bedding.  This night Noah fell asleep in Brock's bed.

Megan loves to have tea parties.  She is getting quite an imagination, she has a baby dragon imaginary friend (first imaginary friend in our house).