Sick

I have bronchitis. I also have asthma that only pops up when I have bronchitis. So, we're not having a fun week. I am super tired, even with the Supermom vitamins.

I joined Flylady's Body Clutter menu mailer. I paid $9.95 for 3 months. I took the grocery list and went to the grocery store this morning with all 6 kids in tow. Challenging while healthy, very challenging while sick.
I spent quite a lot of money on food, but I hope that next week I will already have most of the staples and it will be less expensive.
The website to check it out is www.savingdinner.com

I probably won't post anymore this week. I want to just go to bed and stay there for a few days. That probably won't happen, but it's a very nice thought.

It is 90 degrees in my house because our air conditioner is not working properly. It is HOT!!

I can't think of anything else to say, nice or otherwise, so I will end this post and go to bed. :)

Accepting Myself

I realized this morning as I was getting ready for the day that I have spent lots of time in the past few years thinking "when so and so happens I will be happy." "When so and so happens, I will live my life the way I want to."

Do you know what I am talking about? I have heard people say things like, " When the baby is out of diapers, we will go on a nice vacation" or "When the kids are all in school..."

Well, since 2004, I have been saying, "When I lose weight, I will be happy." "When I get back to a size 6 or 8, I will be free to live my life." So what has happened is that I have spent a lot of time planning exercise routines, and planning diets, and joining Weight Watchers, and starting Body for Life and buying workout books and nutrition books, etc. It is exhausting just thinking about it!

People always tell me to enjoy these years when my kids are young because they go by so quickly. When my oldest child was a baby, I remember thinking, "You're kidding. This isn't going by quickly!" But by the time I got to my youngest child, I realized that yes, time is flying by and I am not paying attention because I am too busy planning how I'm going to lose weight. It makes me sad. I spent her whole first year lamenting the fact that hadn't lost all of my pregnancy weight. I really don't remember all the details of her first year, you know the little details that you want to remember. But I remember being depressed and upset about my weight.

What would happen if I just accepted my body for the way I am? Just accepted and actually liked my body the way it is right now? So I may not be a size 6, but what's wrong with being a size 12 or 14? It is hard to shift my way of thinking after years of finding acceptance through my looks. I was "good and accepted" if I was thin, but "bad and an outcast" if I was bigger than I wanted to be.

I don't want to think this way anymore. I don't want to waste another minute of my kids' childhood planning weight loss routines and diets.

I want to wake up each day and be happy. I don't want to wake up and dread getting dressed because I have to put on size 14 clothes.

I want to make healthy choices. Not for the goal of weight loss, but for the goal of good health.

I love to eat, and I want to be able to cook and bake and eat the stuff I have made without feeling burdened by how many points/ fat grams/ calories it has.

I want to relax and live life abundantly. No more obsessing over my body. Self focus is tiring. I am sick of it. I want to focus on someone else for a change.

I want to exercise and enjoy it, instead of worrying about how many calories I am burning or quitting a week into it because I don't see results. I want to measure results by my energy level and overall health, not my clothing size.

So here's my new plan:
Relax.
Buy some clothes that are cute and actually fit me.
Get my hair cut and highlighted.
Pray that God will change the way I think.
Smile.

What We've Been Doing

Mommy and Baby Girl are sick. You all know that when Mom and baby are sick, everything goes to chaos. Well, not chaos exactly, but definitely messy. We both have sore throats, coughs, runny noses, and lots of sneezes. Plus fever and general achiness (okay, I'm guessing about Baby's achiness, but that is how I feel so I'm assuming she does, too).

I have been doing lots of reading while lying in bed and enjoying the quiet while the kids nap or while nursing. I have read A Midwife's Tale, based on the diary of Martha Ballard, Better Body Management by Stormie Omartian, and I am currently reading The Well-Trained Mind.

Okay, now it's Thursday night and I have finished The Well-Trained Mind. It is SUCH A GREAT BOOK!!!! I recommend it to all parents who have kids in school, whether public svhool, private school, or homeschool. I love it.

I got new vitamins today. They are called Supermom. Hopefully they will give me super powers and all will be good.

The Girls' Room

I am looking forward to having a clean slate to decorate in our house we're building. This is what I want to do in the girls' room...

1. Bed-sand and paint dd12’s bed off white, then “antique” the bed, making it look old
2. Paint walls lavender
3. Paint ceiling same shade of purple or maybe a bit lighter (Annie, what do you think- should I paint it the same or lighter?)
4. White lace canopy over bed with silk rose garland wrapped around top of canopy
5. 2 Bulletin boards for their papers-white frame, large, cork board
6. Dresser-sand and paint off white to match bed, “antique”
7. Curtains-white or pink eyelet curtains, hanging to floor; white sheer panels underneath
8. Small chandelier to replace light fixture
9. Baby’s crib-sand, paint pale pink, then “antique”
10. Stencil girls’ scriptures around top of walls
11. Fancy mirror

I envision a "shabby chic" look for their room. The bad thing is that I will have to wait a while to decorate the kids' rooms because we are going to finish the downstairs of the house and then finish the upstairs as we get the money. We are going to put the kids in the bonus room above the garage while we finish the upstairs.

I want my house to be practical and pretty. I realize that with 6 kids, 4 of them being boys, I cannot have a romantic, pretty house all the time. So I am going to choose a few rooms to make pretty and make sure the kids know not to mess up those rooms. (master bedroom and bathroom and maybe the dining room)

Yesterday I was looking at the house plans with a friend who was over and she suggested that I make the formal living room a school room. That way I can house all of our school stuff in that room and have bulletin boards and posters on the walls. I can have bookshelves for school materials only and cabinets that close and lock for stuff like crayons, staplers, and scissors. My friend suggested that I get a large square table that seats 8. I love square tables!
I also like the idea of painting part of the room with chalkboard paint. Maybe have a chair rail and from the rail down put chalkboard paint. But that sounds really messy and I don't like chalk. I do want there to be certain rooms in the house that the kids can mess up and it's okay. Maybe chalkboard paint is a good idea. It's a contained mess.

Those are my thoughts this morning. DD12 is making chicken soup for lunch and is putting it in the crockpot. It smells good.
I need to go have Bible Time and start the kids on their lessons.
Bye!

Things to do before I turn 30

I was rummaging around in my "Julie's Stuff" folder last night (on computer) and I found something I had written a while back.

Here it is...

I will turn 30 at the end of this year, so I thought an appropriate list would be
30 things to do before I turn 30
1. Lose 26 pounds-I plan to do this by joining weight watchers. Actually, that’s not true. I learned last Fall that simply joining Weight Watchers will not take the weight off. You have to FOLLOW THE PLAN. There’s the hard part for me-Consistency! So, I plan to join WW, follow the plan, exercise, and lose the weight. I also want to keep it off by making lifestyle changes. I type all of this as I drink my 3rd Dr Pepper for the day. Hmmm…
(side note: Now this number has changed from 26 to 38)
2. Grow my hair out to shoulder length-I have been doing the grow-it-out-cut-it-off-because-it’s-getting-on-my-nerves thing for 3 years now. This year, I am going to get through the it’s-getting-on-my-nerves stage and grow it out.
(my hair is officially shoulder length now!! One goal completed!)
3. Finish reading a list of books I made for myself-thing is, I lost the list, so I need to find the list first
4. Finish up every cross stitch project I have going
5. Cross stitch something for my own walls
6. Get Alex’s scrapbook up to date-she’s 11 and I am only up to her third year in her scrapbook
(She's now 12)
7. Buy the boys’ and baby's scrapbooks so when I get ready to use them, I’ll have them-By reading this, you may assume scrapping is a hobby of mine. I only scrap once in a blue moon. I think the last time I sat down and seriously scrapbooked was February of 2005. This explains why I am a little behind.
(I do have Baby's scrapbook now. Mom and Dad bought it for her birthday)
By the way, if I make each of my 6 children a scrapbook that they can take with them when they get married (not when they move out, only when they get married), what pictures will I have left for me and my hubby to look at?? I am going to have to make a scrapbook for us as well as for the kids. That’s a lotta scrappin’!(what if some of my kids never get married? i will let them have their scrapbook anyway :)
8. Read the Bible, the entire thing~I had better get moving on this one-Every year I make this a goal. I usually get through 2 Chronicles and then quit. This year I may start at Ezra and read from there.
(Don't think this is gonna happen but I will try anyway)
9. Make a master schedule and actually stick to it for the year-I am a scheduling wanna be, I make schedules, then make more schedules, etc., never actually sticking to them for more than a week.
(I no longer want to do this. I have come up with a system that works for me- a big to-do list for each day)
10. Take a trip to Mission, Texas, where we used to live
11. While we’re there, I’d like to drive over to South padre for a day or so
12. Okay, it’s really hard to think of 30 things I’d like to do. Does this mean I’m a boring person, or just pretty content with my life??


If I think of anymore, I’ll add them to the list.

Traditions

Yesterday, I was in Wal Mart buying a few things and I noticed that they have their Fall decorations for sale already. This suprised me because it is 105 degrees outside and Fall seems far away.

Anyhoo, this got me thinking about family traditions, specifically traditions for the fall holidays: Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas (okay, I know it's a winter holiday). I have been thinking about the traditions our family had when I was growing up, the traditions my extended family has now, and the traditions my immediate family has now.

We have not celebrated Halloween since 1999. But this year we are going to have fun and participate in Halloween activities. I am VERY excited about this! Those of you who know me know that I am either all into something or not into it at all. Well, this has been the case with Halloween. DH and I talked about it yesterday and decided that there has to be a way to participate in Halloween fun without exposing the kids to all the scary, evil stuff out there. Besides, scary, evil stuff is out there all the time, not just on Halloween.

On Halloween we always dressed up and then went trick or treating. We have also gone to a few Harvest Carnivals and that was fun. We are planning to do that this year. Our church has a carnival and the kids really enjoy it. We are also going to go to a pumpkin patcha and let the kids all pick a pumpkin, then carve it when we get home. We are going to roast the seeds and eat them. I can't wait to see all the pumpkins line sup on my porch all lit up. I am planning to pop popcorn and make apple cider and we can all sit out on the porch and enjoy it and enjoy the lit up pumpkins. Let's just hope the weather cooperates and it's not 90 degrees! I remember in McAllen, the kids had sweat dripping off of them as they trick or treated. Halloween should be crisp and cool.

When I was growing up, Thanksgiving was a time for family to gather, usually at Meema and Grandad's house or at ours, and prepare a meal together, eat the meal together, and just enjoy being around each other. There were also the football games that the guys watched, but I was wither playing with cousins or in the kitchen with the girls. The girls being my mom, grandmother, aunts, and sisters.
I remember Mom making homemade potato rolls and then having a contest with Grandad to see who could eat them most. We could eat those rolls like you wouldn't believe! I remember eating at least 8, sometimes 9 rolls. I think Grandad always won that contest.

Another memory of Thanksgiving is Meema's homemade dressing. From the smell of the celery and onions sauteeing to the taste of the dressing, it always makes me remember Meema's house at the holidays.
I also remember the cool air of Fall and the brown of the trees at our house. I remember warm sweaters and feeling warm inside.
But I can't remember any other traditions we had at Thanksgiving. If you are a family member reading this, help me out here.

A few things I want to do...
*create a centrpiece with the kids, something that we will use year after year
*"Thank you" place cards for each person- the kids each write something about that person that they are thankful for (on their place card)
*Meema's platter- We used to always use Meema's bicentennial platter to hold the turkey. I inherited the platter when Meema died and I want to start using it that way again.
*Wildlife Tree- Thanksgiving afternoon or the next day, string popcorn, make pine cone bird feeders, etc. and hang them all on a tree for the squirrels and birds to eat


At Christmas time, I remember just being so excited to be out of school. Decorating the tree as a family was a wonderful tradition and also getting an ornament each year to hang on the tree. There was a garland with colored lights that Mom wrapped around the stair rail. That was one of my favorite things. We also had a little gingerbread house that Mom would put on top of the piano. It was one of my favorite things as well. We baked sugar cookies, wrote letters to Santa Claus, set out cookies and milk for Santa and hung up our stockings.
Then on Christmas morning, we woke up early (probably 6 am) and opened our gifts from Mom, Dad, and sisters. We then went out to Meema and Grandad's house to have Christmas lunch with them and visit with our cousins who had come in from out of town. The turkey, dressing, and the rolls were a part of Christmas, too.Later on, we went to Granny and Papa's and opened gifts and visited with family there, too.

A few things I want to start doing at Christmastime:
*I want to make it a tradition to put up the tree on December 1st each year. I want to serve Christmas cookies (prefereably homemade, but store bought if we have to) and hot chocolate (ditto the cookies)
*Let the kids choose their yearly ornament- we already get them an ornament each year, but I usually choose it for them and buy it for them
*Wea re going to start getting each child 3 gifts for Christmas: 1 want, 1 need and 1 character building gift (for example, if one child is struggling with patience, we might buy him a model car or airplane that will take lots of patience to put together)
*Sometime during December I want to put all of the pictures from the past year (the good ones) on a CD or make them into a slide presentation and put on a DVD and watch it with the kids. Ditto for home movies.
*After- Christmas cards - after Christmas, get all the holiday cards together and put them in a pretty bowl on the table. Each night as we pray for our meal, pray for one of the families who sent us a card. Then throw the card away, keeping the picture of there is one
*Christmas Eve (?) -drive through town looking at Christmas lights
*Read the Christmas story from the Bible (we usually do this)
*Sing carols around the piano (last year I learned to play lots of Christmas carols)
*Christmas breakfast- we usually have a big breakfast at either Mom and Papa's house or Grandma and Grandpa's house. Whenever we get our house built, I want to start having Christmas morning at home and I want to plan a Christmas morning menu that basically stays the same each year. Less thought for me and the kids will look forward to it each year.

Typing about all of this is getting me excited about Fall and the holidays!

Brownie Brown, May 2, 2004-August 5, 2006

This evening while I was at the grocery store picking up a few things for chocolate chip cookies, my phone rang. It was dd12. She was crying and out of breath. Brownie, our sweet beagle, had died. He was our 8 year old son's dog. We gave Brownie to ds8 for his 6th birthday.
Brownie had been napping under a large bush in the back yard all afternoon, which was pretty typical of him. He really liked his naps. :)
When ds8 tried to call him and wake him up, he didn't come. Dh went over to him and figured out that he had died.

We're not sure what happened. He seemed to just take a nap and not wake up.

We are thankful that we got to have Brownie, even if it was for a short time. He was a good dog. We miss him already.



Goodbye, Brownie Brown.

Thirteen Things about Gigi 1. I will be 30 years old in about 5 months. 2. I would like to lose 20 pounds before I turn 30. 3. I homeschool our 6 kids. 4. I recently moved to a small town after living in a big city for 5 years. 5. We will be building a house soon. 6. On our first date (me and dh) we agreed that we wanted to have 6 kids and live in a yellow house with a wrap around porch. 7. The house we are building will be yellow and have a wrap around porch. 8. I am addicted to Dr. Pepper 9. I am the youngest of 3 daughters. 10. My 2 sisters and my parents live within 15 minutes of each other. 11. I am a believer in Jesus Christ. 12. I am living my dream come true. 13. Yes, it was my dream to have lots of kids, homeschool, and live in the country. Links to other Thursday Thirteens! 1. (leave your link in comments, I’ll add you here!)

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Gigi's Day and Weight Watchers Progress

Today is already "one of those days."
One of those days where I wish I could...
-go to Starbucks alone
-send my kids to school
-or at least take them to a friend's house all day till bedtime
-go back to bed
-lie in bed all day watching TV and pretending I don't have any responsibilities

I woke up late (surprise, surprise), with ds3 whining that he was hungry, and the other 3 boys hollering in the front yard because both dogs were out of the fence. I turned over and tried to go back to sleep. It didn't happen.

Last night was a slight disaster. We were out of dishwasher tabs, so there are dirty dishes from yesterday's lunch and dinner in the kitchen. The kids and dh watched Spiderman and I took the baby to the park so no one cleaned up the dinner mess. We ate dinner on a pallet in the living room while watching the movie. Baby knocked over her plate, then stepped on my plate, then spilled dh's macaroni, so that's when I took her to the park and let the older kids watch the movie with dad.

We had lots of fun though, so who cares if the kitchen is a mess and I slept in today, right?

Today I am going to write out our actual day. I have it all planned out, but today you get to see the reality of my life. Enjoy.


My Thursday
Town Day

Morning Routine
**I did not even hear dh this morning; I was sleeping like a rock
**No cardio this morning because I did cardio for 45 minutes last night
**No shower this morning
8:30 woke up to ds3 whining for breakfast and other boys outside yelling at dogs.
got out of bed, fixed breakfast (oatmeal with maple syrup and blueberries), then worked on blog while children did Chorepacks

tore myself away from the computer and got dressed, fixed my hair and face, and made my bed.

Then we had Bible Time while Baby Girl screamed in her bed.We prayed that God would help us obey the first time we're told and that Mom would not lost her temper and yell.
-Character Building for Families, Obedience, Day 2

Yes, school did get done. It's amazing. We are just using the stuff we have at this point. But I figure we're a little ahead of the game, since most schools don't start for another week. I will hopefully have all of our materials by next week.
-ds6a and ds6b- K workbook
-ds8- Learning Language Arts Through Literature
-dd12- Saxon math for 30 minutes

11:24 am
Baby falls out of cabinet with coffeepot, breaking the glass. She is not hurt, but Mom is about to have nervous breakdown at this point and there is shattered glass all over the kitchen.

11:27 am
ds8 runs out of bedroom, yelling that dog is out of yard again. The leash we had him tied up with is now apparently broken.

Read a few pages of Secret Garden

11:41 joyfully clean up glass while listening to ds3 scream at the top of his lungs that he needs another snakes (toy) and that he is scared (I knew we shouldn't have let him watch Spiderman).

Lunch (Chicken Pot Pie)
We have no lunch foods, so I am taking a dinner that we skipped last week (on menu) and making it for lunch today
ds3 helped me make lunch; he was so excited and it was fun!

12:36 pm Baby Girl is finally asleep for her morning nap; lunch WAS ready, but we discovered that the biscuits were soggy on the bottom so we turned the biscuits over and put it back in the oven.

12:57 Kids ate lunch and watched Dinosaur while Mom cleaned up and worked on computer

Errands to run:
Wal Mart
Pay rent for Aug.

3:50 pm got back from running to wal mart and to pay rent
listened to ds3 cry the whole time for a drink; gave him a drink and put him to bed
listened to dh tell me that I forgot to do something he apparently asked me to do and I didn't realize it
Wishing that dh could step into my shoes for a week or so and then see what he says about me forgetting things
nursed Baby Girl and now she is up and throwing a tantrum b/c I am on the computer and she is not

3:53 pm turn around as Baby Girl falls backward in kitchen chair onto tile floor
See goose egg and bruise on Baby Girl's head; make sure she's okay
Put her in playpen; order baby gate extension for kitchen gate

4:12 pm kids clean up so they can watch Sound of Music
10 minute Tidy
dd12-her bedroom; ds8-boys' bedroom;
ds 6b-living room; ds 6a-living room;
ds3-whine

DH, if you are reading this, tonight is a GREAT night for me to have the NIGHT OFF :)

Home Management Work for Mom
Put away laundry in Master Bedroom
4 loads by 4
Basic Maintenance
Clean Master Bathroom (floor and toilet)

Finish blog
Daddy Time
Supper Treasure Hunt Pasta Salad, Popovers
Bedtime Routines
Start dishwasher
Check calendar
Make To Do list
Lay out clothes for tomorrow
Brush teeth
Take contacts out
Bedtime! (10:00)- if I would get in bed at this time I would probably be able to get out of bed before 8!


Weight Watchers Progress
This is week 3 on WW and so far I have gained 7 pounds!
Seriously...I have been pretty careful about sticking to my points and I have been doing cardio about 5 times a week. My scale says I have gained 7 pounds. There is something wrong with this picture. I thought my scale was messed up because we moved and I thought maybe it got dropped or something. But the kids still weigh the same, so it's definitely not the scale.
I am not lifting weights so I know it's not muscle gain.
Last week and the week before, I was adding 10 points for nursing. That's the only thing I can think of that would cause me to gain weight. So this week I am not adding in those extra nursing points and I am trying not to eat my activity points. We'll see how this week goes.
Of course, my drug of choice is Dr. Pepper and also chili cheese tater tots. That could be contributing to my weight gain. But I have counted those points, so it shouldn't matter.
I'll let you know how I do this week.

Office Day

Wednesday
Office Day
HM Work
-Menu planning
-Grocery list
-Check kids' schoolwork
-Meet with dd 12 and ds 8 individually
-Think about and plan Quiet Time tape for ds 3
-Email Micala
-Email Darcy re: KONOS
-Call Darlene at church nursery
-Order house plans
-Order gate attachment
-Go through mail and paper piles
-Find WHEEL checkbook
-Straighten up desk area
-Organize my books
-KONOS planning
-Make a list of school supplies needed ASAP and soon
-Plan stops for Town Day
-Clean out one desk drawer or cupboard
-Clean desktop
-Put books in order
-Gather library books & put on bookshelf
-Research Houston trip / THSC conference

Morning Routine
Help dh- Get out of bed when he gets in shower, kiss him goodbye
Cardio for 30-40 minutes (walk outside with kids)
Shower
Get dressed, hair and face, etc.
Make bed
Put away laundry in Master Bedroom

Kids wake up
Baths, Chorepacks
Mommy email and blog

Breakfast and cleanup

Bible Time
-Character Building for Families, Obedience, Day 1
-Work on “Thank You, Lord”

Phonics with ds 6a and ds 6b (Explode the Code 15 min. each)
Put other children in separate rooms

HM Work for Mom
School and Snack
-ds 3PreK workbook
-ds 6a and ds 6b - K workbook and Math
-ds 8- LLATL
-dd 12- Home Ec and Saxon math
-Play outside or in bedroom when finished
Lunch; Kitchen Chores; Recess

Quiet Hour

Read aloud Secret Garden chapter 4

Afternoon Chore Time; Free Time;
Finish HM Work (meet with dd 12 and ds 8);
Finish blog

Put on some relaxing music & Light a candle (1 minute)
Set little ones at the table or in play pen with an activity so they don't undo the work (5 minutes)
Children: Put Away Schoolwork (5 minutes)
10 minute Tidy: Today we’re going to clear level surfaces and straighten things up.
dd 12-her bedroom; ds 8-boys’ bedroom;
ds 6b-living room; ds 6a-living room;
ds 3-play with baby in playpen

Freshen up; fix hair; do one thing to clean your bathroom (10 minutes).

Daddy Time(We usually ride bikes during this time. Tonight I think we will stay home and watch Spiderman. The kids havne't seen it and they really want to.)
Supper Chicken Pot Pie
Kitchen Cleanup

Bedtime Routines
Start dishwasher
Check calendar
Make To Do list
Lay out clothes for tomorrow
Brush teeth
Take contacts out
Bedtime! (10:00)

To do:
Take dh's pants to dry cleaners
Make hair appt. for me and for dh
Get PO box key



Last night we went to some friends' house for dinner. We had THE BEST steak fajitas I have ever had!! They were so good. Then the kids swam and we visited until 10:30 or 11:00. I'm tired today.
Dh and friend want to take a trip to Germany, which is where his wife's family is from. We looked at pictures from their previous trips to Germany and it is beautiful. I would love to go. But I'm thinking it may be a bit pricey to take 8 people across the ocean. I'll have to check on that...

Yesterday was our first day of school. I still need to buy a few things, but we used what we had and the kids did great.

Today we are going to run a few errands, do our schoolwork, and get stuff done around the house.

Kitchen Day

Tuesdays are Kitchen Days, which means that on Tuesdays I focus on my kitchen (cleaning, decorating, cooking, etc.). Here is my schedule and list for today:

Tuesday
Kitchen Day

Home Management Work
-Sweep and mop kitchen floor
-Bleach sinks
-All dishes cleaned and put away
-Unpack all boxes in kitchen
-Finish laundry from Monday
-Polish table
-Declutter for 15 minutes
-Dust (ds#1 can do this)
-Clean out fridge
-Debone chicken
-Make chicken stock (dd #1 can do this)
-Get chicken and rice soup recipe from Darcy
-Make and freeze
-Put away canned goods (ds #1 can do this)
-Organize pantry (ds #1 can do this)
-Light a candle

Morning Routine
Help Corey- pack something for him to eat, kiss him goodbye (this didn't get done today because I slept in till 8 and he left at 6)
Brush teeth
Cardio
Shower
Get dressed, hair and face, etc.
Make bed
Start a load of laundry

Wake kids
Baths, Chorepacks
Mommy email and blog

Breakfast and cleanup
Read Proverbs to children at breakfast table (this didn't get done because they ate while I was still in bed! oops)
Bible Time -Character Building for Families introduction
-Choose a song to learn together


Phonics with nonreaders (Explode the Code 15 min. each)

HM Work for Mom (switch laundry)
School
-ds #4 PreK workbook
-ds #2 and #3 K workbook and Math
-ds #1- LLATL
-dd #1- Home Ec and Saxon math 1 lesson
-Play outside or in bedroom when finished
Finish HM work

Lunch; Kitchen Chores; Recess
*Laundry Switch, fold, put away

Quiet Hour

Read aloud (Secret Garden chapter 3)

Afternoon Chore Time; School Work that didn't get done; Free Time
Laundry Switch, fold, put away (4 loads by 4)
Put on some relaxing music & Light a candle (1 minute)
Set little ones at the table or in play pen with an activity so they don't undo the work (5 minutes)
Children: Put Away Schoolwork (5 minutes) and Start Daily Afternoon Chore Chart (15-30 minutes)
10 minute Tidy: clear level surfaces.
dd#1-hall bathroom; ds#1-boys bedroom; ds#3-living room; ds#2-kitchen; ds#4-help big sister
Freshen up; fix hair; do one thing to clean your bathroom (10 minutes).

Supper (fajitas at friend's house)

Bedtime Routines
Start dishwasher
Check calendar
Make To Do list
Lay out clothes for tomorrow
Brush teeth
Take contacts out
Bedtime! (10:00)

To do:
Think about and plan Quiet Time tape for Gabriel
Email Micala
Email Darcy re: KONOS and soup recipe
Call Darlene at church nursery
Order house plans
Order gate attachment

**I am going out on a limb here, assuming someone cares what my day looks like! This blog is for my personal journaling, for keeping friends up-to-date on my life, and for making my lists, so forgive me if it's boring sometimes. But this may help all of those friends who ask me, "How do you do it?" :) **