Last Day of Summer

Last Day of Summer

August 31, 2011- I don’t care what the official calendar says, August 31 is the end of summer.   As far as I’m concerned, Sept-Nov. is fall.  December 21 is NOT still fall- it is WINTER!     To celebrate, I took the kids to a small, local icecream place.    The ice cream is made at a little dairy farm about 10 miles down the road.   It’s delicious!

Silly Girls!

(Nathan, utter horror in his voice)  “MOM!  MOM!   Lyra’s shoe is LOOSE!!!  She might FALL!” 

After icecream, we went to visit some friends who have new kittens.   Lyra is SUCH a little Fairchild- she loves cats!   She couldn’t get enough of the kittens- squeezing them, squealing in delight, kissing them.  So, so, so precious.

Kissing the kitten.  Yes, I did rescue the kitten after this.

Mary, also a good little Fairchild, loves the kittens too.

A Day in the Life- August 23 2011

I thought it might be fun to blog about a day with four young children & homeschooling because I know that someday I’ll look back and not remember how busy and hectic this time can be!   Mary is 7yo, Nathan is 6yo, Savannah is 4yo and Lyra is 17  months.

2:00am- wake up to Savannah’s feet in the middle of my back & Nathan scrammed up against me too.  Kicked them both out of the bed and sent them back to their rooms. 

7:30am- drag myself out of bed.  Exhausted because I’ve been having trouble sleeping.  Didn’t shower first thing this morning, which is rare, because I was just to tired to get up at 7am.

7:30-8:15am:  Fix myself a fresh ice water & get a strawberry nutrigrain bar.   Check email.  Switch laundry & do breakfast dishes.

8:15:  Head upstairs with all the kids.   Lyra falls and bangs her head.   Two seconds later Nathan drops my cup of water from the top stair.   Full cup of water & ice come splashing down and making a big mess.  Spend 10 minutes comforting Roo and soaking up all the water.

8:30-9:00  Supervise kids getting dressed, cleaning & tidying rooms.  I clean both upstairs bathrooms, make our bed, chase after Lyra.  Finally put her in “baby jail”- the extra crib in the big girls room so that I can finish my work.

9:00  Put Lyra down for her morning nap and get started with the big kids school.

9:00-9:15  Work with Savannah on her preschool workbooks while Mary & Nathan complete their handwriting and logic assignments.

9:15-9:45 Spend 1/2 hour working with Mary & Nathan on a math lesson- teaching them to see groups of tens.   Savvy doing tanagrams.

9:45-10:00 Phonics with Mary & Nathan.  Savvy working on puzzle.

10:00-10:15 Mary working on her spelling and writing assignments while Nathan works on starfall.com.   Savvy working on a teddy bear matching game.

10:15-10:30 Daily Geography with Mary & Nathan and then read 6 pages of “My First Book” to Savvy.

10:30-11:00 Read History assignment out loud to three big kids.

11:00 Get Lyra up from her nap, send three big kids out to play.

11:00-11:45 Fix lunch for me & Lyra, check my email, switch laundry.

11:45-1:00 Lunch for big kids.  While eating they listen to these songs from Wee Sing America (Yankee Doodle Dandy, Marine Corps Hymn, I’ve Been Working on the Railroad) and then their Suzuki Music.   Review CC memory work.  Clean up lunch.  Wash all four faces & hands.   Supervise clean up of living room.   Sweep & Mop the kitchen while the big kids play “store”.

1:00 Put little girls down for a nap.   Shower quickly & get ready to go.

1:55 EARTHQUAKE!!!!!   Very scary.   I had started a load of laundry earlier and thought maybe that I hadn’t balanced the load well.  I jumped up and felt the whole house moving under my feet and all the dishes were rattling.    I felt sick for probably an hour afterwards- almost like motion sickness. It was a very odd feeling.

2:00 Barbara arrives.  Rush out the door with Nathan.   Stop to pick up a check from a friend, lose time because of a traffic detour and then getting off at the wrong exit.  Barely make it to the doctor’s office in time.

2:45-3:45  Nathan’s appointment with the allergy doctor.   She prescribed an epi pen in case of another bee sting.

4:00-4:25 Rush over to the GCUMC Consignment Sale to drop off my items.

4:30-5:00 Target

5:15 Meet lady to buy timeline cards I need for Classical Conversations.

5:30-7:30  Fun time with Nathan.  Dinner at Panera and then play time at Toys & Co.

8:00 Home.  Firetrucks & ambulance next door.   (everything’s okay though!)

8:30 Finally, everyone is in bed!

8:45 Nope- Nathan just came down- he lost another tooth!  He was thrilled, we took a picture & shooed him off back to bed.

I seriously hardly ever sat down all day long!  And I didn’t even get everything done that I wanted to get done.   I didn’t get science done or grammar done- I’ll have to catch up on those tomorrow.  Didn’t get the laundry folded either.

Pie

Blackberry Pie- Yum Yum!!!