A Month of Thankfulness!

Tomorrow we start November and we are inching closer to Thanksgiving! I can't believe how quickly time seems to be going by this year. The twins will be 5 months old on November 7th, Stella is 18 months and Max is FOUR!

Something that I think is really important to Rob and I in our parenting is teaching our children to be grateful. There are SO MANY adults and kids today that have a HUGE sense of entitlement and it drives me bananas. Instead of being grateful for the blessings that we are given we are constantly on the hunt for more or unsatisfied, even when our every need is filled. We are not perfect and can definitely be guilty of this as well!

In an effort to remember just how blessed we are as a family, we are going to be celebrating November with a Month of Thankfulness and Gratefulness! We plan to show our appreciation for those around us with random acts of kindness and little things that just say THANK YOU!

Some ideas that I have for the month are...

1. Make treats and take them to the fire house down the street. These firefighters are the ones who responded to our scary 911 call with Max last year.
2. Send treats to Mommy and Daddy's coworkers.
3. Give a $5 gas card to someone.
4. Leave a $1 by the coffee machine at a gas station.
5. Donate our old clothes to friends and others.
6. Donate toys we don't play with anymore.
7. Turkey our neighbors with a surprise on their doorstep.
8. Visit the Oklahoma Food Bank and donate canned goods and $ for meals.
9. Pick up trash somewhere.
10. Take a treat to our LifeKids Director at church.
11. Give an offering at church.
12. Make dinner for friends.
13. Take old towels and treats to the local animal shelter.
14. Write a Thank You card to a friend.
15. Send a TS gift to someone just to say we love you.
16. Leave candy for the mailman.
17. Adopt a kid for Christmas.
18. Leave change on a vending machine.
19. Treat our sitter to a sonic drink.
20. Take a coffee to our MDO director.
21. Bring breakfast for our MDO teachers.
22. Leave nice notes on bathroom or dressing room mirrors for the ladies.
23. Make a military care package for a deployed soldier.
24. Take a dinner to a military wife.
25. Pay for the person behind us somewhere.
26. Pray for a friend.
27. Call our grandparents just to say Hi.
28. Tip the teenage boys who helped us take our groceries out.
29. Give a gift to our siblings!
30. Adopt a family for Christmas.

Other little things we want to do are be kind, smile at strangers, teach Max to open doors for ladies and the elderly, put carts back at stores, let someone cut in line, give more hugs, say Thank You to everyone, complain less, laugh more and pray often!

I don't know that we will get close to doing everything on our list but we are excited to show others that we are thankful for them!

Our month was inspired by this!
http://ticklestogiggles.blogspot.com/2010/05/my-birthday-was-awesome.html

What's in the workboxes?

Oh workboxes, how I love thee. Let me count the ways!

I got this idea from my friend Jess over at The Ruby Zebra. I researched it and found her post and the posts from Confessions of a Homeschooler and 1+1+1=1 really helpful in deciding to use workboxes for preschool at home with Max.

Here are some helpful links about workboxes
The Ruby Zebra-Jess's post on workboxes
1+1+1=1 Post on Workboxes
Another from 1+1+1=1
Confessions of a Homeschooler Post on Workboxes

workboxes after I loaded them up!

I fill ours 2-3 times per week as Max generally does 4-5 in a day instead of all 10.

On a PERFECT day *which doesn't happen often* we get the twins settled and get started. I put Max and Stella at the table for breakfast and we start by reviewing our learning board.

Then we start with our first box which is Bible Time. We read a little from the Jesus Storybook Bible and look up our memory verse in mommys bible as well. We also discuss how our memory verse is applicable to our day.

Here is the rundown of what was in our boxes this morning...remember we are on the letter S and all of the printables are from our Raising Rockstars Preschool curriculum.

Getting Ready for S tracing sheet-crayon box is in there too

Workbook-marked to the S page

S is for Spiderman-Puzzle

Cutting Practice with Memory Verse and Scissors

S Vocab Words

S is for Superman! New book from Dollar Tree

Spiderman Math Sheet-Max loved this!

Memory Verse Craft- with needed scissors and glue

Puzzle Sight Word Cards

Loaded up and Numbered! Ready to go!

Keep in mind Max will only do about half of this in one setting and I don't push it. We also have lots other S activities and workbox stuff that we do throughout the week. One craft that was easy and a big hit was S roads and cars.

We simply cut big S shapes out of black construction paper and used a white crayon to mark road dashes. Then Max moved them around in different combinations and shapes and used them as a road for his hotwheels.

We are also doing a lot of Starfall letters this week and Max has figured out how to manipulate through the letters on his own. He really enjoys it!

I really like the workbox system for our family. Since we have THREE younger siblings under Max it helps to have everything loaded up and ready. Even after we are done with school time for the day Max will often go rummaging through the boxes looking for something to do and I know he is going to find good learning fun stuff instead of zoning out in front of the tv. Although we do plenty of tv watching too :)

Always, Jesi

Learning Board

I had a few people ask me about our learning board so I figured it would make a good post!

Here is our Learning Board

The reason I did this is because we have NO extra space in our house. I would love a room dedicated to play and learning but all our rooms are full. So I will show you how I have things organized for preschool at home.

You can see in this picture that we do preschool stuff on the kitchen table. And we like to learn in pajamas :)

Our Learning Board is just a trifold foam core board. I like the foam ones because they stay a little nicer than the cardboard ones. I think it was $4 at Hobby Lobby.

things I let my kids do when daddy is at work

This is the little nook next to our refrigerator...it houses supplies, craft stuff and games/puzzles. Basically most of the stuff we need. I do stash new games and puzzles in the linen closet because if Max sees them he wants them and I try to space stuff out.

This metal paper sorter is great for holding puzzles and our dry erase letter book.

This basket holds crayons, markers, glue, clothespins and clips, art supplies galore! We need more space for this stuff.

This crate is my planning box. I try to keep everything in it that I will use in our daily workboxes. It houses workbooks, all the letter of the week printables from our RRSP curriculum, flash cards, magnet letters, construction paper, my bible and my parenting devotional. Also my RRSP binder that I am compiling with Max's completed work!

The learning board components are SIMPLE!





They are just page protectors taped on with double sided tape. The weather strips and our calendar on the backside I got from the DOLLAR TREE! The printed materials are all from our Raising Rockstars Preschool curriculum!

Maybe someday we will have a playroom and a little more space. For now this gets the job done and makes it a little bit easier to keep an eye on the little ones since we are in the same space!



 

Chocolate is for Kids

Chocolate is for KIDS MOM!

making chocolate cake for daddy

such a good helper

taste tester

but NOT for babies MOM!

Pudding Party

Instant Pudding

+

Random Kitchen Utensils

+

Permission to Make a Mess

=

Happy Kids

The joy of teaching kids ANYTHING is that they learn through play!
Always,
Jesi

Never Say Never

A lesson I REALLY need to learn.

I love looking back and seeing how God can bring things full circle. There are so many times when I have said "never will I" and  God has said "oh really?"

When I was young I never understood stay at home moms. My own mom worked full time and did an awesome job being a mom and working. I didn't really understand WHY you would go to college, get your degree and then "just" stay home with kids. It flat out didn't make sense to me.

me as a working mom

After Max was born I understood why there were women that chose to be stay at home moms. But I never wanted to be one. It took a few years of listening, prayer, job changes and pressing into God to desire it for myself. It's not always easy and it's a financial sacrifice to live on 1.5 incomes but I truly feel it's where HE wanted me. I quit my job when we just had Max. Little did we know that just a short 2 years later we would have not 1 more child but 3 more children. God was lining out HIS plan before we ever knew what was gonna hit us! Never say Never.

working as a stay at home mom

Twins, twins, oh my sweet twins. I cannot tell you how many times I made joking but cutting remarks about twins! I would laugh and say "If I ever have twins I am giving one away!" Of course I meant it as a joke! Because I never in a million years imagined we would have twins. Never say Never.

would you give one of these sweet things away? Me either!

School, school, blessed School. I have NEVER wanted to homeschool. I have lots of friends who do an awesome job at it. Not me. I have several friends who are organized and involved and love it and the whole time I am thinking "that is really great for them but never for me"

Funny story...Max is one of the kids who will have to wait until he is practically SIX before kindergarten because of the birthday cutoff in our town. SIX! He is a smart cookie and we did 2 days per week of Mothers Day Out last year and treated it like preschool. This year because we suddenly have four kids they will only be going on Thursdays so I can go work at the dance studio. We don't have the $$$ to put him in a private preschool and most of them are absurd schedules anyways. I have no desire to pack up 4 small children to drop him off for 2 hours and then turn around and do it again. No thank you!

ready for school last year

So I picked up a bunch of pre-k workbooks and some writing tools so that we could start some preschool work at home. So the other morning I asked him if he wanted to do some school? "I DON'T WANT TO GO TO SCHOOOOOOOOOL" Max is a homebody. He is very social and LOVES playing with other kids but he LOVES being at home. I reminded him we had school stuff at home. "HOMESCHOOL? YAY!" He yells. I busted out laughing. God loves to get me everytime. I would have the one kid who requests to be homeschooled.

can you believe this kid loves home?

No, I am not commiting to being a homeschooler. But we are going to do Preschool at Home this year. I just feel like Max is MORE than ready and needs to start doing SOME structured work in tracing, adding, sight words. My friend over at The Ruby Zebra is a GREAT homeschool mom so I plan to pick her brain a little since she did preschool last year with Ms.B. I stumbled across this preschool set up so that is what we are going to be doing for the year amongst lots of play and lots of babies! Max is pretty convinced he is a Rockstar and I love that it is very scripture focused so I think it will be a good match for some "school" with Mama and Max. If I only do preschool with all four of our kids that is still FOUR kids that can get good use out of some planning and directed activities.

Little stuff, Big Stuff.

I will  never...I would never...that's not for me. God can't, God won't, God would never. God CAN, God WILL, God MIGHT! Over time God can change your heart and your mind to new things! Never say Never!

Always,
Jesi~not ready to call myself a homeschooler~haha

Funday Monday

If you need a little fun for your toddler at bathtime I wanted to recommend these

These fun little doodads are the perfect way to spend some time on a Funday Monday. Max really loves picking out 2 and seeing what colors he can create. This morning it was red and blue to make a lovely purple bath. These are a splurge that are definitely not a neccesity but for $3.99 and approximately 15-30 baths full of fun I thought it was a good choice. And Max agrees.

I got mine at Target in the baby aisle! Have a funday monday!

Jesi and purple splashin Max

Funny Punkins

Tonight Rob had class so Max and I had some time to do something fun. He came down HARD and FAST with a horrid high fever on Monday night and it would not come down throughout the night. We ended up having to do multiple sponge baths in the middle of the night to bring it down from it's ugly 103-104 range and he still woke up burning like a fire.

SO off to the pedi we went where we tested NEGATIVE for the flu *yippee* and positive for strep with drainage in the left ear and an early infection in the right ear. *not yippee worthy*

Since getting on meds and officially bumping up to the big boy world of CHILDRENS tylenol and motrin versus the baby infant versions we have our feverish boy under control and he is back to bouncing off the walls.

Since fall has finally fallen Max has developed a LOVE affair with the PUNKINS and he shouts whenever we see them. We got our own BIG PUNKINS about two weeks ago and they were sitting so loverly on our porch. I have to admit I was kinda nervous to CARVE one of our punkins for fear that Max would melt into a screaming hysterical mess that *I* his own mother would so brutally hurt his beloved punkins. So I showed him some pictures of Jack O Lanterns to broach the subject and he was overly excited about the Funny Punkins.

Off we went onto the porch to make our punkins funny. I had a butter knife, a small spreader thingy and Max insisted on bringing the corkscrew. Scratch that plan, our punkin was a good 3 inches thick. So we came back inside for a Sharp *knife in Maxinese*, then we needed a bag for our guts, then we needed a spoon for our guts. # trips in and out and we settled in for Funny Punkin Making 101.

Our Funny Punkin

Don't let him fool ya, he refused to touch the guts.

Draring with the Shappie.

*Drawing with the Sharpie in Maxinese*

Cute Boy

We got one BIG punkin!

Heartbreaker, I tell ya.

This is how a 2 year old boy stands nicely by the pumpkin.

Checking out the detail work.

And yes, he is KISSING the punkin, not licking it, kissing it. I swear.

Home Sweet Home

It's our first week with me staying at home with Max. I have to say that so far I am loving it! Today he was a challenge for a good part of the late morning/early afternoon but overall I still love being home with him and working on making our house a home. It's nice to catch up on housework and get things organized. My dining room table is actually cleared of clutter and sewing stuff. My dishes are done and waiting to be unloaded. Laundry is a different story but we are working on it. I know those seem like small things but they are things I always struggled to keep up with when I was working full time! After a long day at work I didn't want to CLEAN my house! Now I just squeeze it in throughout the day.

We also started our Toddler Homeschooling this week. Max will go to public schools when he hits kindergarten but since he is accustomed to the structure of school I wanted to incorporate some learning into our week. This week we are learning about the Jungle, the letter B, the number 2 and the color green. It's been fun so far. We have gone on a Zoo Trip with new friends to see the Jungle animals, watched the Jungle Book movie, read our monkey and animal books, waterpainted, played with bubbles, made Monkey Munch and colored with green crayons and markers.

It's such a blessing to be home and get to do these fun things with Max. It will be an adjustment to our life and schedule but I feel confident that this is God's place for me right now. And there is no where else I would rather be than in His place.
Always,
Jesi