enjoying the process » loving the journey, not just the destination

My sweet little Kennedy just LOVES to sing. You should hear her rendition of Annie’s "We’ve Lost Our Baton" from the Little Einsteins. She nails it! And it’s just cute to watch.  So I took her out for a little photo session in the rain this morning. She was LOVING the puddles- although, I’m pretty sure when I said, "do you want to play in the puddles?" she thought there would be some sort of "poodles" involved because she kept looking for the puppies! That’s what we get for living in Southern California- rain puddles are few & far between 🙂

Enjoy the rain- and maybe even the snow! e.

Well, I received quite a response from my last post. I think I need to address it.  First of all, I hope no one thinks that I am "superwoman" or somehow feels that they need to be doing "more" or that their own schedule just doesn’t measure up. That’s the LAST thing I would want! God created us each differently & some people work better with a strict schedule and some people work better with a more laid back approach. Things get chaotic for me if I don’t have some semblance of order so I’ve found that (and here’s the key:) "FOR ME" this just works better. It works well for my husband- who likes the house clean, likes order, likes me to be happy. It works for my kids… it works for our family- it just makes sense. I think the key is to KNOW yourself, know the needs of your family (Especially your husband!) and do what works for you.  That’s all I have to say about that 🙂

Do you have a trampoline? If not- you should run right out and buy one! It is the BEST purchase we have made for the kids to date! They jump about 2 hours (roughly) per day! It’s great exercise, they don’t argue when they are on it, they don’t complain about being hot or cold, and they come in every so often and want a HUGE glass of ice water! The way I see it, it’s Win- Win- Win situation (anyone know the reference I’m thinking of???)  And the big people LOVE it, too. James goes out (when he’s feeling well- he’s been SO sick for the past 4 days and he’s STILL not feeling well:( )  and jumps all the time, too! As soon as I’m about 4 weeks away from having this baby- I’ll be out there jumping- just to move things along a little bit 🙂

We’ve had a FUN few weeks of homeschooling! Last week we learned about mountains and Volcanos- the picture above is a volcano we made out of modeling clay (I know- it’s not very pretty, but they got the point). We made it "erupt" and the boys thought that was the coolest thing ever.

This week we are learning about the Pioneer days, wagon trains, buffalo, the Great Plains, prairie dogs, etc. and we’ve had such a fun time with this lesson, too. In fact, we have a Pocahontas set that my very sweet and VERY generous neighbor gave to us a while ago. They pulled it out yesterday and played for quite some time. At one point I heard Kennedy yell, "Look out! The giraffe is going to get the bandits!" It was very cute. They were pretending they were headed west to Oregon and a group of bandits tried to steal their horses and food. Somehow Kennedy’s beloved giraffe, hippo, and tigers came to the rescue 🙂

It’s been a fun few weeks. I’ll leave you with scrapbook page I just did last night. I know I’ve posted this picture before, but for some reason I just love it.  Have a great day today!

I have been in an organizing mood lately- maybe it’s because of the pregnancy- maybe it’s just because I’m psycho about organizing… I don’t know.  But I realized my thoughts needed to be organized, too. Like my daily schedule. We have a routine, but I wanted to see it written out- So, I’ll share it here with you. I’ll start with a photo so this post isn’t TOO boring 🙂

Our Day

4:30am-ish- James & I wake up (he wakes up a lot faster than I do) He goes to the office, I prepare for the day- Make his lunch if he’s in the field that day, read my Bible, respond to emails, re-read my lesson plan for the day- get out any materials I might have forgotten, get a cup of coffee, balance the checkbook, put a load of laundry in the machine, fold what’s in the dryer & put away or put in front of the kids’ doors so they can put it away when they wake up (I try to do 1 load of laundry every day- wash, dry, fold, put away) get “caught up” in general.

7am- kids up, get dressed, come down for breakfast, tv time  (**Note: my kids are,    

                      generally, up WAY before 7am- but they are not allowed out of bed until   

                      7am and they must remain quiet)

7:30am- 8:00am- breakfast

8:00-8:30am- kids brush teeth, do chores (make bed, fold pj’s and put away, clean room, help mommy with laundry if needed)

9:00am-ish-

Start

School

.

***Kennedy comes in for the first part- calendar time, prayer, sometimes singing,    story, Bible time- then she goes into her room for room time**

10:30am- Kids Recess- Jump on trampoline, play outside- if it’s raining- board games, toys inside trundle, coloring, writing center, reading, maybe X-box.

11:00am- more chores/ stickers on chore chart (see chore charts)

12:00pm- LUNCHTIME

After Lunch- Free time or help mommy. Play together with mommy, work on awana verses, play outside, play together with each other (boys & K), separate room time, etc-this varies every day- I can usually tell first thing in the morning whether the boys will be able to play together or not.

1:00-2:00pm – Start nap time.  Sometimes Canyon & Cade still take naps. Kennedy always does. If the boys do not take a nap, they may play together or separately, which ever I decide. I usually make them read 3 books each and play one game together first- then they may choose what they want to play. They may play their leapsters and Vsmile on their beds if they do not argue.

4:00pm- Kennedy is awake. By this time, James is usually home so our schedule varies. Sometimes he plays with the kids outside, sometimes he takes them to the park, sometimes we all go out and do something, sometimes we have to eat dinner really early to get to Awana or Bible Study- Every night is different.

So…. that’s an example of what our days look like. That’s all out the window, of course, if we have to go to Target, or take a trip to the library, or the grocery store (rare).

Next post, I’m going to talk about organizing because one of my friends asked me how I organize my school room. It was fun to reply (even though it took me 2 months!). I’ll share more later. I’m late for breakfast! 🙂

Well, James said if I sell my 20D and some of my lenses I could buy a new camera & guess what? I just sold my 20D! So I HAD to buy the camera and printer before the rebate expires (They are offering a $500 rebate if you buy the 5D and the PixmaPro 900 together). Hip, Hip Hooray for new cameras!