Contentment is a hard thing to achieve I think. At last I feel content, even happy, to have an only child. Over the last couple of months I've realized that instead of hoping that I'm pregnant "this month" I find myself hoping that I'm not or at least thinking "it would be really inconvenient to be pregnant this month". I can't even believe I just typed that out. Me of all people hoping that I'm NOT pregnant. Who IS this person! I can only attribute this new emotional state to God's loving care. There is no way this would have happened without God's healing power.
I was sitting in Madeline's music class yesterday (for ages 0-5) and there was a cute 8 month old next to us. Instead of thinking "I should have one about that age" like I used to, I just thought "what a cute little girl". I appreciate all of the wonderful things my child can do now. She does her business on the potty, she can tell me what's wrong, what she wants to do and how she's feeling in general. Madeline can help me around the house and is constantly learning new things. The best thing of all is we're all finally sleeping well.
So there it is in case anyone was wondering. ;)
Thursday, September 10, 2009
Wednesday, September 2, 2009
The homeschooling adventure.
A couple of weeks ago we got a jump on the school year and started our "school". We hung in there with the chosen curriculum for a week. Then I threw it out because it was just a little too advanced for Madeline. (It was for a 4 year old after all). On Monday we received our new, more age appropriate, material. It is almost too easy for Madeline but I'm going to make it work. Today we did the first 3 days of curriculum.
Our bible verse for the week is Acts 5:29 Obey God. Actually, I believe it's our memory verse for the entire month. Our bible story for the week is Jonah. We got to paint a whale to go along with the story. We also learned that squares have 4 sides and they come in many different sizes. She also did fairly well with tracing lines today. I hope her fine motor skills are improving.
Tomorrow we are going to trace our bodies and then cut out the parts to make a puzzle. Madeline will also practice her cutting skills and trace some more.
I also discovered a really neat site for phonics. Starfall.com. She is learning how to sound out words. She already knows the alphabet (capital and little) and the sounds they make. The 2 year curriculum doesn't even go in to that stuff so I'll be adding all of that in. We learned A words with the other curriculum so we're doing B this week and next and one letter each week after that.
Next year we will use the curriculum we started this year. Madeline is easily on track to start kindergarten at 4 years old. We aren't pushing her at all. She picks things up so easily and wants to learn.
To supplement our schoolwork we are taking a mommy and me ballet class, going to story time at the library, music class at the library, and she'll take an imagination class with Eric on Saturdays (starting in November). If she likes ballet we'll continue that in January. If she doesn't we'll try out gymnastics.
We are very excited to have so many fun things to do this year! Lest we forget we are also going to Disney World in October and again in February!
Our bible verse for the week is Acts 5:29 Obey God. Actually, I believe it's our memory verse for the entire month. Our bible story for the week is Jonah. We got to paint a whale to go along with the story. We also learned that squares have 4 sides and they come in many different sizes. She also did fairly well with tracing lines today. I hope her fine motor skills are improving.
Tomorrow we are going to trace our bodies and then cut out the parts to make a puzzle. Madeline will also practice her cutting skills and trace some more.
I also discovered a really neat site for phonics. Starfall.com. She is learning how to sound out words. She already knows the alphabet (capital and little) and the sounds they make. The 2 year curriculum doesn't even go in to that stuff so I'll be adding all of that in. We learned A words with the other curriculum so we're doing B this week and next and one letter each week after that.
Next year we will use the curriculum we started this year. Madeline is easily on track to start kindergarten at 4 years old. We aren't pushing her at all. She picks things up so easily and wants to learn.
To supplement our schoolwork we are taking a mommy and me ballet class, going to story time at the library, music class at the library, and she'll take an imagination class with Eric on Saturdays (starting in November). If she likes ballet we'll continue that in January. If she doesn't we'll try out gymnastics.
We are very excited to have so many fun things to do this year! Lest we forget we are also going to Disney World in October and again in February!
Thursday, July 23, 2009
Summer Must do's
I think we're probably half way through summer now. The weather has been very mild this year. Since when is 60 degrees July weather? Global warming my rear. Anyway, we managed to do a few new things so far this summer. We were able to fly a kite, go to the circus, take an art class, go to the Independence Day parade, and check out a new zoo. Other favorites were swimming lessons, blowing bubbles, drawing with chalk, going to parks, and going to the library.
4th of July Parade (a week early)
"Tea" party (protest)
Circus (park district put this on)
Art Class:
The park:
[IMG]http://i286.photobucket.com/albums/ll101/chicagoshannon/DSC_3645.jpg[/IMG]
Water Fun:
We have a lot more stuff to do this summer too. We plan on going to the train museum, a White Sox game, a boat ride downtown, and Kiddie Land. Wow! That's a lot to do in the next month!
We will be starting pre-school this year (at home) so we've been practicing things with Madeline in preparation. She's farther ahead then we thought. She knows her alphabet and sounds, even sounded out the word HAT last week. She knows her colors, shapes and numbers up to 16. She can do 1 to 1 counting. The skills we'll be working on to start our school year will be tracing and cutting. She's very excited to start school. It's a good thing since she wants to be an astronaut when she grows up. :)
Another big thing that has happened this summer is potty training. Madeline is TRAINED! She wears a pull up at night but that's it. We're very proud of our big girl (sniff).
4th of July Parade (a week early)
"Tea" party (protest)
Circus (park district put this on)
Art Class:
The park:
[IMG]http://i286.photobucket.com/albums/ll101/chicagoshannon/DSC_3645.jpg[/IMG]
Water Fun:
We have a lot more stuff to do this summer too. We plan on going to the train museum, a White Sox game, a boat ride downtown, and Kiddie Land. Wow! That's a lot to do in the next month!
We will be starting pre-school this year (at home) so we've been practicing things with Madeline in preparation. She's farther ahead then we thought. She knows her alphabet and sounds, even sounded out the word HAT last week. She knows her colors, shapes and numbers up to 16. She can do 1 to 1 counting. The skills we'll be working on to start our school year will be tracing and cutting. She's very excited to start school. It's a good thing since she wants to be an astronaut when she grows up. :)
Another big thing that has happened this summer is potty training. Madeline is TRAINED! She wears a pull up at night but that's it. We're very proud of our big girl (sniff).
Monday, July 6, 2009
One year ago today...
we found out we were going to have baby #2. 3 and a half weeks later we found out we weren't. July is a hard month :(
Monday, June 15, 2009
Madelineisms
We were at a stoplight the other day, arrow turned green, Madeline says "watch out we're coming through"
When told we're going to do new things in art class, Madeline says "awesome".
"Me Madeline Olson"
"Me eating dino's, mommy, seeeeeeeee (opens mouth)"
When told we're going to do new things in art class, Madeline says "awesome".
"Me Madeline Olson"
"Me eating dino's, mommy, seeeeeeeee (opens mouth)"
Friday, June 5, 2009
Redecorating
For a couple of years now I've let the decorating of the house slide. My priorities had shifted and with everything else going on with trying to have babies ect. I just didn't pay much attention to the house. I really, really miss putting out little decorations to mark the seasons and getting a new house thing once in a while. I was actually getting really, really down about it. Things like decorating used to take no effort at all from me. I feel like I lost a piece of myself. So I'm taking it back!
Last week I painted our Master bathroom. Instead of boring builder white it's now a lovely shade of lavender. Ahhhhhh relaxing! I had taken most of our pictures off of the wall last year when we had the house on the market. So I put a bunch of those back on the wall. My family room actually feels like mine again.
I WILL put up fall decorations this year. I WILL decorate for Christmas (more then just putting up the tree), I WILL bake Christmas cookies this year.
My next project is to paint our entry way. It's a dark blue now, same color as the family room. It will be turning into Dutch Boy's "blondie boy". It's a cream with a hint of yellow. Hopefully that will be next week.
Now do I take down the crib in Madeline's old room? That's a hard one. It's been my sign of hope for almost 4 years now. I would like my scrapbooking room back though. I guess we'll have to wait and see on that one.
In any case I'm taking my house back!
Last week I painted our Master bathroom. Instead of boring builder white it's now a lovely shade of lavender. Ahhhhhh relaxing! I had taken most of our pictures off of the wall last year when we had the house on the market. So I put a bunch of those back on the wall. My family room actually feels like mine again.
I WILL put up fall decorations this year. I WILL decorate for Christmas (more then just putting up the tree), I WILL bake Christmas cookies this year.
My next project is to paint our entry way. It's a dark blue now, same color as the family room. It will be turning into Dutch Boy's "blondie boy". It's a cream with a hint of yellow. Hopefully that will be next week.
Now do I take down the crib in Madeline's old room? That's a hard one. It's been my sign of hope for almost 4 years now. I would like my scrapbooking room back though. I guess we'll have to wait and see on that one.
In any case I'm taking my house back!
I've decided
that too much time has gone by since or Disney trip to blog about. So if anyone wants to hear about it let me know. Or you can look at my scrapbook which is scheduled to be done around the year 2015. haha!
I will let everyone know that Eric gained 2 weeks of vacation while we were gone so we're taking another trip... to Disney... for our Anniversary THIS YEAR! We figured 5 years is a milestone so why not celebrate it!
I will let everyone know that Eric gained 2 weeks of vacation while we were gone so we're taking another trip... to Disney... for our Anniversary THIS YEAR! We figured 5 years is a milestone so why not celebrate it!
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