Back to normal

I LOVED our Thanksgiving break. Four days of family time, relaxing, shopping, getting the tree and the house decorated, playing, visiting extended family, everything! It was fun!

But

I am glad to get back to normal today. Whatever that is!

I have only one daycare kid today, so it's not completely normal, but nice all the same. This morning we got up early, worked on schoolwork, had a play date, ate lunch, read a few books, watched some TV. I'll start working on supper in an hour or so. Tonight is dance for Danae. I'm just glad for normal.

I think I need breaks in routine to appreciate the quietness of my day-to-day.

O Christmas Tree

It was Christmas tree day today! We went to Pioneer Trails Tree Farm again this year. Last year it was somewhere around 30 degrees so we really appreciated the 50 degree weather this year!

The people at Pioneer Trails have this tree thing down to a science. Once we had the tree picked out, it only took a few minutes to get the tree shaken, tied up, and paid for and we were on our way home. If you live locally and go there, be sure to print a coupon off of their website for $3 off!

It took us a long time to find the right tree. We started out looking at one kind of tree, but ended up with the same kind we had last year. The first kind we looked at were just way too big. This one fit in our van once it was all wrapped! I was so glad to not have to tie it to the van. That made me really nervous last year. The one we ended up with looked smallish in the field, but it goes to our ceiling. Lucas had to cut off the end of it to make it fit with the angel tree topper.

Here are some pictures of our adventure!

I'm a proud mama

I try not to spend a whole lot of time going on and on about how smart I think my children are because I find that annoying in other people, but this is my blog and if you don't want to read about the genius my child is, just ignore this one :)

We bought Math U See curriculum for Danae about a month ago. We have been working through the Primer book and most of it has been really easy for her (mainly counting, which she has been doing since she was 2), but focusing on math has made it so that she counts all the time. She's as into numbers as she was into letters a year ago.

She keeps saying things like, "Mommy! Two and Two equals Four!" and "Mommy! Three and Two equals Five!"

Well, today my grandmother gave her hair clips. There were six of them - three pairs. While I was busy doing something else, she kept insisting, "Mommy! Two and Three equals Six!" I held up my fingers and showed her how two and three do not equal six. She was ADAMENT that two and three equaled six. And then I saw how she had her hair clips laid out.



Now, obviously, we needed a quick explaination of how Two TIMES Three equals Six, but still. Proud mama here. I don't know if every mother feels this way when their child is "getting it" but when you are your child's teacher this is a huge deal.

So yes, Danae. Two and Three do get to Six one way or another. :)

A Great Thanksgiving Day

Thanksgiving day was hectic this year, but it was completely worth it! Today we slept in, which for Danae meant 7am (which meant 7am for me!) and then hung around the house until around 10:30. I read to the kids, we watched some tv, they colored, cut and taped for awhile. I tried to keep things low key because I knew the rest of the day would be busy.

We headed off for Grandma and Grandpa D's house first and ate a fabulous turkey dinner with all of the trimmings. There were fourteen people at that dinner. It was a fun morning/afternoon of eating, visiting, football, playing pool...you get the idea. Grandma made homemade bread. There is nothing better on earth than my Grandma's homemade bread.

My grandparents live one hour from me, but only 2 miles from each other so in the late afternoon we headed over to Grandma and Grandpa K's house. There were (if I counted correctly) twenty-six people there. It's a small house. It was loud and it was much chaos, but it was so great to see everyone. I only see several of these people at Thanksgiving, and that doesn't happen every year because our plans seem to be different every year.

The fabulous news of the day is my children did not become wild people today. I never know what will happen when we run around this much.

Danae asked me today why she had so many grandmas and grandpas. I told her because she is one lucky little girl. :)

Such a fun day!

I *heart* Pinterest

I was introduced to the wonderful world of Pinterest a few months ago. I am sort of crafty, but I love how on Pinterest I can find these ideas and the directions and I don't have to come up with these things on my own or search the entire web just to find one construction paper craft.

I try (operative word is try) to do one organized craft a week with the kids. They play with construction paper, markers, tape and crayons every day, but I try to have one thing that's organized so they can take it home and their parents can try to find somewhere to keep it ;)

For Halloween, we made pumpkin seed pumpkins, which turned out well and then today we made construction paper turkeys. The turkeys were a bigger kit because they can be played with. There are two little girls gobbling away in Danae's bedroom right now.

Here are links to the directions. I did take my own pictures, but these are better :)

http://www.crafts-for-all-seasons.com/thankful-turkey-craft.html

http://www.allkidsnetwork.com/crafts/fall/pumpkin-seed-pumpkin.asp

How to approach this week

It's Thanksgiving week! Part of me wants to cram as much learning into this week of daycare kid-less days as I can and part of me wants to be a lump on the couch and enjoy the break. I think what will happen is probably a mixture of both. When the kids are older and complain about schoolwork (because I am sure that day will come), we will for sure take this week off, but this year Danae still thinks that cracking open a workbook is a fun experience. Especially if it's Math!

We ran a little behind last week so we will probably do some catch up and then do what we get done this week, depending on what Danae wants to do. I do have one fun craft planned, but we'll do that tomorrow.

We do plan to get our Christmas tree this week and I am very excited about that! The weather is supposed to be pretty, which will be a nice improvement over last year when it was FREEZING. I'm sure the kids will also enjoy it more. There were lots of tears last year. Ahhhh, memories! :)

Christmas Shopping

I LOVE Christmas shopping for the kids! Today Lucas and I left the kids with mom and took Toys R Us by storm. I bought a few things through the year as I found sales and scored an AWESOME stash of (used but in great condition) Thomas the Train stuff for David so I didn't have a whole lot left on the list, but we had fun picking out a few more things. And then we ate out at Red Lobster. YUM! A date and shopping all rolled up into one great package - my kind of morning!

I have a couple more things to pick up for the kids - stocking stuffers and an ornament for each child - but we're pretty much done with their shopping. And then I have one little bitty baby to buy for, but he or she won't be here until right before Christmas so I have to wait on that. (Impatiently wait!) Otherwise, I can just about call Christmas shopping accomplished. Good feeling!

Thankfulness

First, I have to stop and say that I cannot believe it's November. Where did 2011 go? I'm just getting used to writing 2011 and it's going to be 2012. Craziness!

But since it's November and the month of Thanksgiving, I have been coming up with one thing to be thankful for every day of November until Thanksgiving. Actually, I came up with most of them before I began and have them on a spreadsheet. Yes, I am that person. I admit it. I embrace it. I am THANKFUL for it! :)

I have also been making a conscious effort to remind my children to be thankful for the things that they have. Next month begins the toy festival, also known as Christmas, and it's so easy for them to get the "gimmies" while perusing the Fisher Price and Toys R Us catalogs.

I am really not so good about doing unit studies on Pilgrims and Native Americans and all of that with paper bag costumes and construction paper headdresses. We did make paper turkeys and attended a Thanksgiving dinner with my mommy's group. And next week I will break out the Thanksgiving books so we can talk about what the holiday means and some about Pilgrims and Native Americans and who they were. Maybe next year I will develop some sort of themed learning quality. Good thing my children don't know what they're missing ;)

This year I just want them to learn what thankful means and about the God we are thanking. That's enough. More than enough.

So THIS is what normal feels like

Lucas has worked strange shifts for the last two years. He was either working days, but not off on the weekend or working second shift. About a month ago he began working for a company that only has a first shift and they work Monday - Friday. That means he is home for the day at 4:30. We eat supper together and then spend the entire evening with each other. I knew we were missing out on family time before, but this is truly wonderful!

The kids anticipate daddy coming home, which makes my heart all warm and fuzzy. We get to get together nearly every night of the week around the table. Last night, Lucas played cars in the basement with the kids for quite awhile. I loved hearing their squeals coming from the basement.

I know that no family is really "normal," but I am enjoying this kind of normal a whole lot.

Dancing Danae

Look at me posting two days in a row! ;)

We enrolled Danae in dance class in September. Initally, I was concerned that she wouldn't go in the room without me, but during registration they held a mock class and for her first time, she did great! From that first class on, she has enjoyed tap tap tapping away with the other little girls.

Yesterday was parent observation day so we were able to watch what she is doing in dance. They do 20 minutes of tap, 20 minutes of ballet, and then 20 minutes of tumbling. She says tumbling is her favorite.

There is just too much cute in that room! Seven or eight little girls with pink leotards and skirts are simply adorable. It's fun to see their different personalities.

The part of dance I didn't expect was mommy time! While Danae dances for an hour, I get to sit and sip Diet Coke and talk to the other moms. I love Monday nights so much!

I'm such a bad blogger

I start blogs with the best of intentions, but tend to lose interest. I am going to try to keep up now and blog every couple of days so I can record some of the fun things we are doing as a family.

So a quick update on us! We had a fabulous summer. Vacationed at Sesame Place, met up with some friends in Philly, went to St. Louis, and went to Iowa again for another friend's wedding. This fall we went to pick apples again and get pumpkins at Detwiler's. These are things we do every year. I am loving creating traditions with our children! Can't wait to go get our tree again this year!

Danae and David have both reached their half-year mark. So Danae is 4 1/2 and David is 2 1/2. Danae is almost halfway through her preschool year and we are talking about what Kindergarten will be like for her. David very much a two year old and is testing my patience at every turn. He isn't doing any formal schooling at this point because he isn't interested. Danae was at his age, but we're going with what his interests are. He will begin his first Preschool year in the fall when Danae begins Kindergarten.

Lucas began a new job, which has been wonderful. He works days, Monday-Friday. It's so nice eating dinner together and having family time in the evenings and weekends. I don't think the novelty of this is going to wear off any time soon. He is also going to school full time online through Liberty University. His major is Christian Counseling.

I am still working at the church 10 hours a week doing secretarial work and then I have two full time and two part time daycare kids. Between work and teaching Danae and just keeping up with life and parenting, I am pretty much always busy!

So that's us in a nutshell for now. I will try to keep up with this better!