12/26/2009

Post Christmas post.

While the snowflakes are flying outside, I thought I’d take a quick moment to jot down my thoughts on this phase of our lives.
Our Christmas was a great one. It’s hard to predict what gifts the children liked best. The early favorites for both girls have been the Strawberry Shortcake dolls, art supplies, GI Joes, and new outfits. While Alex has mostly focused on his legos, and the model car that he’s building with Jory. I’ve had fun playing (and winning, to my surprise) all the new board games that have come into the house. Poor Annabel has turned out to be a sore looser, and generally refuses to play anything unless she’s clearly ahead.
Anyway. We’ve had a nice relaxing week here. We haven’t had any little friends to baby-sit, so it’s been just us. A whole week with “only” three kids has been restful, but at the same time they make me want to pull my hair out. Why is it that group dynamics change so dramatically when you add and subtract little bodies? How can I be at my wits end with three children, but be perfectly happy with six? Who knows.
School in general is going well. We ended up doing 4 days worth this week. We don’t really take time off for holidays like they do in public school. The kids get bored and restless when we don’t do something organized in the mornings, so it’s just better for my own sanity if we all sit down and focus on something together. The other day I sat down and calculated our projected end of school date (for when we’ve completed the 180 days required by the state) to be April 27. Which is alarmingly early. As of right now I’m contemplating extending the year by 10 school days to try to push the end back until mid-May. We’ll see.

12/12/2009

Really?

Really?
Has it really been almost a month? Oy. No real excuse, just a busy time of year for us.
So our fun fall is over, and now the Christmas season has descended upon us. The house is decorated, the cookies are being baked as I write this, and the gifts, well…. 2 out of 3 isn’t bad right?
Right now we are dividing our attention between school, evening activities, and babysitting. School is pretty good. In the last month we’ve finished several Boy Scout belt loops and pins, including art, astronomy, geography, and citizenship. There have been several great requirements that Alex and I have really enjoyed.
Babysitting is going well. Most days I actually enjoying being the mama to six kids, granted I only have my extras for about 18 hours a week. We’ve established a fairly stable routine, and have managed to include our new friends in some of the lessons that we do for school. Emily is in kindergarten, so she is right on track with where my girls are academically. Sweet Abby is 2 1/2, and it’s fun to revisit some of the old lessons with her that my kids enjoyed when they were her age. Corinne, well we just try to keep the beads out of her mouth.

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