Wednesday Again

It's Wednesday again.. this seems to be my new blog day.   So for a quick update on my goals:  I have moved the Christmas boxes to the basement (by I, I mean my husband.. lol). There is now room in the closet to turn it into a toy closet (insert evil laugh).. where all the toys of the house will be held captive until the smaller inhabitants can clean up after themselves!!! (more evil laughing)... well maybe I won't go that far, but I am still trying to come up with a plan for toy rotation.   I'm working out how many toys will be allowed in the playroom, and in different areas of the house, how often I'll switch out toys... all a work in progress.

My closet is cleaned, I'm caught up on the laundry and it feels so good to be able to walk in with out stepping on clothes that may or may not be clean.

I failed miserably on my goal to wash the floors.  I just didn't get to it, so it will be my only goal this coming week.

Tot School. 

I think I've mentioned before that things have really slowed down in terms of tot school.  I did both Mm and Nn last week.  I basically skirted through them.   We didn't even do letter art for N.  But I really wanted to do Oo for oceans this week because we are taking a trip to the aquarium and I just thought it'd fit perfectly together.  Anyway, we did read the letter books for both letters.  Free downloads from here.

We did manage to squeeze in M is for mountain.  It turned out very cute, although I totally forgot to snap a pic.  There is a finished product on No Time For Flash Cards.  That's where I get most of my letter are ideas.

Munchkin really loves his Tot Time Notebook.  Check out the website and downloads here.  I started out using dry erase markers, but he takes all the tops off and they roll all over and he is too tempted to color all over himself.  Now we use dry erase crayons.  They work out much better.  I am in the process of putting together a Notebook for Little Bear.  By his age I'd already taught Munchkin his shapes and colors.  I get so caught up trying to get Little Bear to talk and say words that colors and shapes kind of get the back seat.

Believe it or not I still haven't found the perfect place in my house for tot school and yes, we've been doing "school time" for over a year.   I need a place to do art work, intentional play with learning toys, and table work or skill practice.  We tried the playroom for a while.  Should have been perfect... not so.  It's too distracting and since the boys are used to doing anything they want in there and there are more toys than either of them need, they have 0 attention when we are in there.  I thought about our upstairs guest room which doubles as my craft room.  However all of our tot school things are stored downstairs, and lugging supplies and learning toys up and down was way to inconvenient.  Basically I'm to lazy to do it up there.  The kitchen seems to be working out and the table would be best,  but I've already left two marks from crafting.  Sometimes they sit at the island in our kitchen.. the granite seems to be able to hold up to art work, but Little Bears booster doesn't sit comfortably so he can't reach the table.  Then I end up putting his tray on, but it's too small to hold most papers.  We do have that little table that was perfect for Munchkin, I suppose I could try and see if Little Bear can work there comfortably too.  As I'm typing I'm getting an idea to split up tot school and do different activities in different places.... hmmmm.

Well gotta run... I here some random banging coming from the playroom which really needs a good cleaning.  Have a wonderful rest of the week. :-)

Overwhelmed!

Well, as you know I'm expecting again, and I have totally been milking it.  The laundry is behind, I've let a lot of my organizing tasks go undone.. and let some areas I've organized turn back into an chaotic mess.  Story of my life.  I read a blog post over at The Scott's Crib about goal setting and just reading it made me get overwhelmed.  However, goal setting is important and I understand this.  I also understand that I am not at my usual energy level.  So whats a gal to do?  Well, I'm going to give myself 3 weekly goals.  I thought about 1 or 2 and it didn't seem like enough, and I didn't want to set a goal a day because some days I can barely take care of myself, let alone two boys and the house.

I thought about starting on Sunday... but that would just be my way of procrastinating.  So the idea popped in my head today.  My goals start today!

So by next Wednesday, it will be my goal to:

1.  Catch-up on all the laundry.  This may seem easy but it's seriously out of control... seriously!!  Catching up to me is washing, folding, and putting away.  I am very guilty of washing loads and loads, and piles of clean close accumulating on the floor until I can't tell whats clean and whats not.

2.  Wash the floors.  I initially have myself scheduled to do this every Friday... I don't care to admit the last Friday it actually got done.  I have done a bit of spot cleaning of the sticky spots... but seriously my floors need a good sweep, mop, and shine! Note to self: find a good natural floor shining solution.

3.  Move the Christmas boxes to the basement.  I did do a good job of storing my Christmas stuff all neat and organized.  However, it currently is stored in one of the closets under the stairs.  It is the closest closet to the playroom and I've been trying a system of swapping toys.  My husband and I have been guilty (in the past)  of indulging our inner child and purchasing a new toy or toys  on a whim.  This all ended around Munchkin's birthday.  I realized we had created a monster when he through a fit because he got a gift he didn't like (all I can say is thank the lord it was given to me a few days later while we were home alone, so no one was able to see the Munchkin's monster like behavior)  anyway... that was the last toy that came into our house.  It also was the beginning of the removal of toys from the playroom.  These toys need a home, while they are in exile, and we won't need the Christmas stuff until December... okay okay.. November.

So these are my goals.  Hopefully I can achieve them... hopefully.

Pregnancy Update: 

I am currently 15 weeks, 5 days pregnant.  Baby should be about the size of an avocado in a few days.

Here's how my senses have been affected so far.

Feelings:  I am still quite nervous, it's been a rough road and I find it hard to go a whole day without thinking something might go wrong.  I only feel flutters every couple days... I wish this kid would hurry up and start pounding so I can feel more relaxed.

Sights:  I'm starting to pop.  My husband and close family members have been able to tell for a while.. I think to strangers I just look like I have a huge gut.


Tastes: My cravings are simply unhealthy foods, can't stomach the smell of spinach... and lots of meat.  I'm always wanting some kind of meat.

Sounds:  Next Friday, I have another appointment.  This means I'll get to hear Jelly Bean again, and maybe even see him (maybe her.. it'll be a surprise.. but I really think it's baby boy # 3)

Smell:  I have a super human sense of smell, and most things I smell are offensive to me : (.

Have a wonderful and relaxed day.. I'll be back next week to let you know how things are going.  Do you have any goals for this week?... let me know!!

Tot School - Letter L

Munchkin was 36.5m

Little Bear was 18m when we did these activities.

We had loads of fun with the letter L, we actually did these activities about 2 months ago, just before my break.  I'm so sorry but I forgot where I got this letter search (if you've seen it leave a comment pretty please).  Munchkin did pretty well with it.  He was able to correctly stamp all upper and lower case L's, but wanted no part of tracing them or trying to write his own.  He preferred to scribble.

We used our Tot School Notebook with printables from here.  I love that he is doing more intentional coloring these days, for the longest he just scribbled over the pictures. Of course I did catch him in a good mood and that has a lot to do with how our tot school goes.

This was our first time practicing cutting on a line, I printed these bug cutting strips from here.  Up until now I've been giving him scraps and letting him go to town.  I think he did pretty well. 

 I'm letting him do more and more gluing, but we still worked together to make this L is for Lion.  Check out No Time For Flash Cards for great letter art activities.  This is actually something I really struggle with.  You'd think as a second grade teacher I'd be totally used to messes and backwards feet, but it slightly drives me up the wall.  I know that I need to let him be more independent when it comes to art.  This is something I really need to work on... I don't want to stifle his creativity.

I glued the first foot... and had to hold my hands behind my back so I wouldn't "fix" the other three.

Little Bear is getting in on tot school more as well.  Last week I introduced him to green.  He really loves dot painting.  I don't expect him to identify the colors  yet, I just want to expose him to them.  Plus it's easier having him in his chair and occupied while I work with Munchkin.  I printed the color book from Memorizing the Moments.    

I even let Little Bear get in on the letter art action.  I put dots of glue to the paper after he colored it.  I then guided his hand to place the the pieces on.  Then I had to pry the little pieces from his hand.

This week we are working on Letter M.  Check out some other great tot school post here.