Megan's Homeschool Day in the Life (with a 1 year old, a 3 year old, and a 4 year old)

I love reading the Day in the Life Series over at Simple Homeschool. When I saw that anyone would be able to link up Friday with their own "Day in the Life" I thought why not? So on Wednesday I painstakingly kept track of our every move (and I mean EVERY move). It's not something I want to do again but it was interesting. After looking back at the day, I thought that it was pretty typical with only a couple of things out of the ordinary. That's how it goes. Every day is different, a new adventure. On this day, not one of my kids picked up a pen, pencil, or crayon, which is definitely odd. There was also no t.v. watching...again odd. Lately we at least let them watch t.v. at night before bed. We have no bedtime for the girls, it's a free for all! Anyway, here was our day.

8:00 - Wake up, make coffee, and prepare breakfast (I'm not much of a chef in the morning so I microwave pancakes).

This is where Eaden usually sleeps.

8:45 - Storytime (the kids pick out books and I read to them for as long as they want) and coffee.
9:20 - Kids start picking up their own books and doing their own thing so I start to clean the kitchen.

Taven loves when his sister's "read" to him.

9:40 - Get dressed and brush our teeth.
10:00 - Head to the dairy farm and farmer's market.

11:40 - Return from errands. The girls play book delivery (ride around the house on their bikes delivering books) and Taven lays down with milk.
11:50 - I start preparing lunch and give the kids a snack to hold them over (a lime - that's what they wanted - and pickled green beans).

Lime face

12:10 - Lunch is served and I clean the kitchen again.

12:25 - I ask the kids what they want to do. Naia says play ring around the rosie and Eaden says a craft. I tell them to play ring around the rosie while I figure out a craft.

They make a bike fort instead.

And they go out back to look for worms.

1:00 - We start a craft.

The craft is too hard for Taven so he decides to do other things.

 

1:35 - We are done with the craft and the kids say they want cereal (I pretty much let them eat when they want). I give them cereal and tell them to go play upstairs so I can clean (and rest).
2:00 - I head upstairs to check on the kids.

2:05 - Kids are fine so I head outside for a break. Now normally about this time a break means beer. Since I'm pregnant I have to settle for this.

2:20 - The girls kick Taven out of the bedroom. I read stories with him.
2:40 - The girls let Taven back in the bedroom and so I cook myself some eggs and eat some radishes (so exciting.)
3:00 - The kids say they're hungry again. I boil them some soybeans and clean again while waiting for the water to boil.
3:15 - Soybeans are served and the kids take them back to their room (what's going on in there?) Again I clean the kitchen (I know this seems excessive but it's done in little spurts lol) and figure out what's for dinner (pizza).
3:30 - Get Eaden ready for tumbling class (brushing my kids' hair is a chore).
4:00 - My husband gets home and I take Eaden to tumbling. We run by the store after to pick up some flour.

6:15 - We arrive home and I start dinner.
7:00 - Kids and husband's pizza is served. I put my pizza in the oven and, of course, clean again.

7:20 - My pizza is done and I sit down to watch American Idol (yes I watch American Idol).
8:15 - I put Taven to bed and head to my bed (I read, surf the Internet, and/or watch t.v.) At this point the girls can pretty much do whatever. However, if they want food, they have to get it themselves. My husband is watching a movie so they cannot watch t.v. They play games on the touchpad for a bit, play some made up game with flash cards, run around, etc. I think they probably fall asleep somewhere in between 10 and 11pm.

Good night!

Texas Style Sledding and the Poo Poo King of Harris County

As you probably know, we don't get much snow here in south Texas and I've been mighty jealous looking at everyone's sledding pictures. So we decided to take matters into our own hands and do a little Texas style sledding. By the way, Taven's crying in the background because he wanted every turn to be HIS turn.

Speaking of Taven, I now call him the Poo Poo King of Harris County. He poops, not kidding, about eight times a day. Now I think if my girls pooped this much I would remember. He's almost two. Does your two year old poop this much? It's not some short phase either. He's been doing it for months. My main concern is the whole cloth diaper thing. I've almost given up. I use them rarely. I only have eight diapers and I do not have a dryer. I can't keep up!

New Pants!

I finally got to sewing again! I moved the machine downstairs into my room which has been great. I really don't know why I didn't do it sooner. That's where the ironing board is and I can leave the double doors in my room open while the kids run around outside. Unfortunately, Taven is growing out of my favorite pattern. Guess I'll have to make some Quick Change Trousers for the new baby. Going to try a shirt/dress for the girls next...

Linking up with Fabric Tuesday and Sew Cute Tuesday

Photos From the Week

We made it to the library! We had planned on going for a nature walk after, but I could tell it was about to rain. So I told the kids to go run in the woods by the library real quick. No trails, just thorns, lol. We did see some rabbits though.

We finally got our shell encyclopedia and were able to identify our shells.

And we made it to the Swap Shop at the zoo to trade them in!

It poured all day Wednesday.

Our t.v. watching was down considerably this week! It worked out wonderfully. When I first told the girls no morning cartoons they quickly created a game where they pretended to watch t.v. Poor souls. However, I will say that their attention spans improved dramatically as far as listening to longer stories goes. So happy!

The t.v. watching game proved to be quite boring and fort building commenced. Taven is never allowed in the forts/palaces/tents, etc. 

We ate healthy! With added olive oil, butter, and salt, of course.

 Well I did go out to eat Chinese Wednesday with my parents and my husband brought home takeout on Friday. But check out my fortunes!

When the weather cleared, we got outside.

 I finally let Naia open up the play dough kit she received for her birthday (in October).

We melted crayons and made some new Texas ones!

See you next week!

Top five goals for the week (keeping it simple) 1/30 - 2/5

So my list of goals helped last week (only the rain prevented me from accomplishing one) so I figure I'll keep it up.

• Fix camera - Like I said in a previous post, Taven broke my nice camera. Around Thanksgiving he threw it down on the floor, and well, it doesn't work. So now my pictures suck.
• Read a book, for myself, a novel. (I've been reading nonfiction lately, and mostly skimming).
• Get rid of plastic bowls and buy 3 bamboo bowls (for kids).
• Tell stories (made up ones) every day, kids too.
• Sew something - I really want my girls to wear the nice pretty clothes I make but so far they only want to wear their hand me downs and stuff they picked out from the thrift store (like leotards over and over). I know Taven (and the new baby) will wear what I make but I have mostly girly fabric...I need to find a pattern of something the girls like and make that over and over. Unfortunately, they always want to wear pants and they always want them to be stretchy tights. Not the easiest to sew...and neither are leotards for that matter.

Here's a beautiful skirt you might remember I made last year sometime. They've worn it maybe twice, with a leotard of course.

This Moment

A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor, and remember. Thanks Soulemama.