Baby Bump Update

I have said it my entire pregnancy how completely different this one has been from the others, however I am still CONVINCED there is another little girl growing inside me! Though, I have developed my sweet tooth that plagued me with both other pregnancies......as a matter of fact as I type I am enjoying a dark chocolate peanut butter cup (from Trader Joes) and a Lindt chocolate ball.  This is a step back from my usual dessert, GF graham crackers, with peanut butter and chocolate chips on top. YUM! After my doctor appointment today, I dont see myself enjoying many more of my deleciible desserts. I am now measuing a whooping FOUR weeks ahead of schedule! I am 31 weeks today and am measuring 35 weeks. So my doc was able to justify an extra ultrasound based on my measurements. We got another peek at our little darling today, and sure enough he/she is measuring perfectly. And I am just FAT!

According to the pregnancy ticker I only have 63 more days left of this pregnancy......WHAT?!? How can that be? Oh and according to my "chart" The baby weighs approx 3.3lbs now and is approx 16.2 inches long. I know those are complete approximations, but it is weird to think that I have a 3lb baby inside of me. When I told Marcus the baby's current size he thought the baby should weigh more based on the size of my belly.......thanks babe! I already know my belly is big! and that was confirmed by my doctor again today! Oh and if I looked correctly at my paperwork after the ultrasound my baby is measuring over 4lbs. So i guess I cant blame Marcus for his comments, they are totally justified!



Oh and, only a few more days until the big trip, I have the girls and myself COMPLETELY packed (well except for our "airplane bags"). We are getting more and more excited as the days fly by! And we are listed for our flight which seems to have plenty of open seats available, maybe even enough to let me sit in 1st class! YIPPEE!!!

"S" is for Spider Webs

We have been plugging along with our curriculum and Kaylee would like to show you some more of her "work".

Lately we have been driving by many cotton fields. We have watched as the crops were planted, grew, and now have been harvested. We have seen the BIG cotton collector tractors thingys driving down the road and in the fields, and we have seen the giant cotton bails sit in the field awaiting a ride, to where ever it is they go after they leave the field. We have talked on numerous occasions about cotton and what it is used for. So one day driving home I saw this one lonely plant that had ALL the cotton left on it, while the others around it were bare. I decided to stop and let Kaylee pick a few pieces to see what it felt like, and try and figure out a project we could use it for.

Here is what we came up with.......

don't ask me why she wanted to kiss the spider

We did this project on a day that Ainslee happened to be spending the night with my mom, so she didnt get to participate. But we also made spider webs by marble painting. (FYI marble painting is an AWESOME alternative to painting, super fun!). Sorry I dont have any pictures of those webs and spiders. Both girls thoroughly enjoyed each web making project.

Our Classroom

I always like seeing pictures from other Homeschool mommas, I can get ideas and suggestions that can help us be better.......we have stolen used many of our ideas from others, so I cant take credit. Our room is still a 'work in progress' but it is getting there. I could use LOTS more storage, and still waiting on hubby to help me hang one more wire (used to hang our letters on the wall).

Here are our shapes.....obviously. And below them is Kaylee's chore chart, which is a modified version of what Confessions of a Homeschooler uses. Ainslee hasn't started her official chore chart yet, she does "chores" but I don't feel like she understands the rewards yet, so I've decided to hold off on her, but the chart has room to grow when Ainslee is ready.

Next to the chart is where I keep some of my supplies and our morning routine supplies. To the left of the 2 drawers is my MESSY desk.

Here is our calendar. I'm not sure if you can see the 2 link chains hanging from the calendar. The left one is our countdown to Washington, each day Kaylee takes off a link. We are SO close to the trip that the stress is starting to build, so much to do......so little time. But we are all ridiculously excited! The 2nd link chain is our pattern chain, each day we add a new link according to the pattern. Surrounding the calendar are our color cards, weather chart, 100's chart, and our personal information sheet (phone # and address).

The bean bag chairs are the ones my mom made for the play room, but we have moved them downstairs and they have come in SUPER handy for circle time!

On the left is Ainslee's desk, she has an alphabet chart hanging in front of her desk. On the far right is Kaylee's TV tray desk. I am still in the process of finding her a more affordable/suitable one. In between the 2 desks are our supplies. Each drawer holds various items, Ainslee's drawer is the bottom one closest to her, I keep a rotation of toys/games in there for her to play with and explore. On the far right, next to Kaylee's desk is her "workbox" system. She has 7 drawers and each day she gets one "work" item in each drawer. I put all necessary supplies in the drawers so if she is cutting and gluing in drawer one, I include the scissors and glue, etc. Some days we only do 5-6 drawers and others they are all full. The drawers can include games, snacks, computer time, etc, not nevessarily all work. She knows to start with the top box and work her way down, she cant move on to the next box until she completes the box before it. After she completes a box she is required to put all supplies back into the box. It is an AWESOME way to stay organized and foster her independence. Most days she can complete most of her work with little or no "help" from me.

I still have some organizing to do with all the stuff on top of the storage system.

Above all of that is where we hang our letters, we started with the vowels and then proceeded with the rest of the alphabet in order. Under that wire rod is where I am planning on hanging a 2nd wire to accommodate the rest of our letters.

And here is a shot of my desk, it is what you would call organized chaos, but also a work in progress. I have so much to do I feel like my desk always gets pushed to the end of the list. But I'm slowly but surely working on it. I would like to hang more things above my desk, maybe make that where we display their work/projects/art but i haven't found the solution yet.......ideas anyone???

So there you have it, a peak into our school room. We love it in there, I am so fortunate to have a room that is so open and accessible to the rest of the house. There are days I can be in the kitchen prepping dinner or doing whatever while the girls do their work, I can be in the living room with Ainslee and still keep an eye on Kaylee. I have to say that Kaylee is SOOOO good about doing her work. She has truly amazed me by her focus, willingness to work and learn and do exactly what I ask of her. It makes me so happy, proud and motivated!

Wordless Wednesday - Baby bump

29 weeeks

the BIG 3-0

I cant believe I am 10 weeks away from meeting this little monster!

"M" activities and more

For the letter "M" we did a few activities with M&M's. Here is Ainslee sorting hers and displaying a LOT of self control by not eating any until the project is complete

Here is Kaylee making a design with her M&M's based on the example I gave her. (notice her smoothie on the left bottom of the pic)

The completed design

Today she was required to match all capital and lowercase letters. She was VERY proud of her completed work.

We are trucking right along with the alphabet, we only have 7 letters left to complete before we move on to our next curriculum. I am trying to get started with her "harder" curriculum with enough time to get adjusted before the baby arrives.

Today I have to say that Kaylee skip counted by 10's to 100. I was so proud of her! She seems to have my love of math, and I am hoping to purchase a curriculum that will help foster that love soon. But for now I just improvise and use as much from the Confessions curriculum I can.

Balloons and Heaven

I have to tell you a sweet, but sad, story that happened the other day. We went to gymnastics and then ran some errands, I was too lazy to pack the girls a lunch to eat while we were in town (I only packed my own), so I had to splurge and get them lunch out. I decided to really splurge and get them Chic-fil-A. Not that Chic-fil-A costs a lot, but we NEVER eat fast food! I figured they always ask to go play on the playground, and I always say no (mostly because of the germ infestation that I can only imagine is in those places). So off we went to Chic-fil-A, they were SO happy, and SOOOO surprised! They ate there lunch and then played with the other children on the playground. This was Ainslee's first time actually playing on one of those, before that day she was scared to go up to the top even with help. As we were leaving the girls spotted the balloons they were giving away, so each of them snagged one. Kaylee was sure to explain to Ainslee how she had to hold on tight, and if she didnt her balloon would "go up up UP very HIGH!" Both girls held their balloons and successfully made it to the car and into my moms house for nap. After nap we loaded up, balloons and all, and headed into town for allergy shots. When we got to the doctors' office, Ainslee carefully pushed her balloon back into the car before I got her out, but her foot got stuck on the string and as I lowered her out of the car the balloon escaped! I tried to grab it, but there was nothing I could do.  I quickly thought of something to say as Ainslee watched helplessly. The first thing that came to mind was "Ainslee that was so SWEET of you to give your balloon to the children in Heaven!" Well that little statement opened up a great big can of worms, that began a discussion lasting 2 days (and counting)! While Ainslee had one single solitary tear running down her face, I attempted to explain to her that there are children up in Heaven that will be very happy to play with her balloon, and it was SO KIND of her to share with the children in Heaven. The girls asked all about Heaven "Where is Heaven?" "Why are the children in Heaven?" "Do the children get to go home after going to Heaven?" "Is Heaven in the clouds?" "Is Jesus and God in Heaven?" etc! How do you explain to a 2 and 4 year old about Heaven? I hadnt prepared myself for these types of questions. I told the girls that Heaven was up in the clouds and everywhere, and that once you go to Heaven you cant go back home. Ainslee obviously listened to the 1st part of that explanation while Kaylee listened to the 2nd part. Ainslee thought about where Heaven was for a few minutes and later said to me "Mommy when we go to Washington on the airplane, I will look for my balloon in the clouds!" I was shocked and amazed at her train of thought and ability to express herself. She knows that airplanes go up in the clouds and she thinks that when we go up there she will be able to get her balloon back. She nearly made me cry (darn pregnancy hormones!). And all Kaylee was thinking about was how she NEVER wanted to go to Heaven because I said that after you go there you dont go back home. This made her really upset and she was confident that she was NOT going there!

Since the balloon incident we have been discussing Heaven A LOT, as well as telling EVERYONE about losing the balloon. It didnt help that every 5 seconds Kaylee rubbed it in that she STILL had her balloon. side note: if it would have been Kaylee that lost her balloon Ainslee would have most likely given her balloon to her sister after seeing how sad she was, but not Kaylee!  Ainslee told my friend K about the balloon at least 3 times. K has decided that when we get to Washington, there is going to be a GIANT orange balloon waiting for her. She is going to tell Ainslee how all the children up in Heaven blew it up bigger and sent it back down for her. K was heartbroken from hearing how upset Ainslee is about her balloon.

Im not sure if I said the right things, or explained it the correct way, but it seemed to work and sink in. The girls responded well. Hope I havent damaged them for life!

Fall Photo Shoot - 2nd set

and here are the rest!

Fall Photo Shoot - 1st set

WARNING!!!

You are about to be showered with a ridiculously huge amount of pics of my girls. I couldnt narrow them down, because well I just LOVE them all so much!!! So I apologize for the bombardment. Just for your sanity, I have divided the pictures up between a couple of posts.

My AMAZING friend, Bethany, did it again! I just cant believe how she was able to capture these shots of the girls. If you want to book her for your own shoot let me know and I can give you her info. If you are on FB, she has a page set up for her photography it is called Little Sugar Photography. Get on and "like" it, and book a session with her......you will NOT be disappointed!