Friday, August 22, 2008

Back to school, back to school.........

Did you say that like Adam Sandler in Billy Madison???? I love that movie!!!

We went "back to school,back to school on wednesday and everyone had a GREAT day!!!

Amelia got the same kindergarten teacher Tyler and Liv had last year and Tyler and Livie got a teacher who taught kindy last year and who moved up to teach 1st this year. They are all very happy!

Big Kindergartner with her new bac-pac.


Does she look like a first grader!!!??


OMG! Another first grader!!!


Heading into kindy class.



Lined up for class.


End of the day.



It's so strange for me taking pictures of my kids in front of the same school sign my mom took pictures of me in front of. Amelia is even in the same kindergarten classroom I was in 20+yrs ago!!! Don't even get me started on my 5th grade teacher now being the receptionist in the office and RECOGNIZING me when I came to turn in paperwork for the kids......CRAZY!!!!!!

Thursday, August 14, 2008

Summer Time Fun

As our summer rolls to an end I reflect on the summer fun we've had.


We planted a garden with Daddy. Even though we planted late our garden has produced some very yummy tomatoes and snap peas, not to mention the GIGANTIC cucumbers currently growing!!


We enjoyed the new rope swing Daddy made and hung from the tree in our front yard.


We helped Daddy wash the cars and had great fun getting Daddy wet in the process!!


On somedays we just hung out.


We took swim lessons, now we have 4 little fish!!


We went to Six Flags Discovery Kingdom EVERY week with our cousins.


We played dress-up and acted goofy.


We went for hikes.


We ran through the sprinkler.


We danced with umbrellas.


We drank from the sprinkler.


We got a new puppy.


Overall I think we had a really great summer.

Monday, August 11, 2008

Mama Monday -- Daily Schedule/Routine

One of my daily blog visits is to ">this blog. Every monday she does a post called "mama Monday". Today I decided to link to my blog because I LOVED the subject. For those that know me well know I'm all about schedules and routines!!!

I am a SAHM to 4 kids and the bookeeper/office manager for my husbands homebased landscape construction co. my kids are twins almost 7, a daughter almost 6 and a daughter almost 4. Tyler & Olivia are in 1st grade fromn 8:25-2:45, Amelia is in kindergarten from 8:15-11:40 and Emily goes to preschool Tues & Thurs from 8:30-12:30.

On Tues & Thurs while Emily is in preschool I aide in the other kids classrooms (Tues in Amelia's, Thurs in Tyler & Livs) On Fridays Emily spends the morning and early afternoon with grandma & grandpa...this is her special day. On Mondays grandma & grandpa pick-up Amelia from school and she spends the afternoon with them..this is her special day. On wednesday grandma & grandpa pick up the twins and they stay with them until after dinner...this is their special day.

With those activities being said here is how are regular routine/schedule goes.....
times vary daily, but we ALWAYS do the same things in the same order.

7:00-8:00am Wake-up, eat breakfast, shower, get dressed, make beds
8:00am head out to school
8:30am-10:00am Errands....Mondays are grocery day, Wednesday is random errand day and on Fridays I return back home and do the business books for the week.
10:00am-11:00am snack time & free play for Emily. If Em is playing well independantly, I check email, read blogs ect. Otherwise she and I play games, read ect.
11:00am-11:15 15 minute clean-up (I set the timer for 15 minutes and we pick-up until it buzzes, when the bell rings we are done even if things aren't completely cleaned up.)
11:15 we walk to pick up Amelia at school.
11:30-12:30 Our lunch hour. This includes the girls helping to prepare lunch and cleaning up after lunch..if we are home I ALWAYS make a hot lunch.
12:30- 1:00 TV time...they can watch one show.
1:00-1:30-2:00 Outside free play. During this time the girls can only play outside..inside is off-limits. We may go for a nature walk, go to the park or the girls just play in the yard.
1:30-2:30 art/craft time. I usually do some scrapbooking or we do a craft project together...some time these are on going projects that we work on everyday until we have a finished project.
2:30-2:45 15 minute cleasn-up time
2:45 we leave to pick up the twins at school.
3:00-3:30 snack time and TV time. One show only.
3:30-4:30 Free play. The kids can play inside or outside..the choice is theirs. During this time I'm making dinner preperations, returning phone calls, booking appointments for DH, doing some house cleaning...laundry, sweeping ect.
4:30-5:30 Homework time. The older kids work on their work from school and Emily works in activity books I have for her. If the older kids don't have homework sent from school I do some homeschooling fun activites with them that coincide with what they are learning in school and we do some reading.
5:30-6:00 DH usually gets home around this time. I start making dinner...usually with the girls helping me. They set the table, help with mixing ect. Unless they choose to play with Daddy. Tyler usually has free play with Daddy or he can watch TV.
6:00-6:15 15 minute clean-up time.
6:15-7:00 Dinner. We use dinner time to reconnect as a family and talk about our day.
7:00-7:30 We do dinner clean-up..everyone has to help.
7:30-8:00 Bedtime prep...bath, shower, brush teeth, get into jammies ect.
8:00-8:30 Into bed, story time, off to sleep.
8:30-11:00 Steve and I have our chat time, we watch TV or we work on the computer.
11:00 Bedtime for Steve and I. We always go to bed at the same time unless he is staying up late to work on a landscape plan or do a landcape quote.