I'm trying to get back into the habit of keeping my blog updated on a regular basis. I enjoy keeping an online journal but all too often I get busy & my blogging takes the back burner. However, I really want the kids to be able to look back on this some day & maybe even share it with their own kids, so I'm going to make a better effort to keep up with things from now on!
A whole bunch of family & friends came over on Saturday to celebrate the girls birthdays. As usual, we had a big cookout & as usual, everyone had a great time! The kids had fun swimming & running around the yard like maniacs! The girls loved their homemade birthday cakes; Jim drew Pongo from 101 Dalmatians on Bella's cake & flowers on Savannah's. They received lots of awesome gifts & had a special, memorable day!
Unfortunately Bella didn't sleep well that night.. Like a kid on Christmas morning she was wide awake at 1:00a, chatting about all of her gifts! She couldn't wait to play with everything & as a result didn't talk back asleep until after 3:00a!
I spent most of yesterday organizing things in the house. I had no intentions of doing any major cleaning, but after sorting through the girls birthday gifts I decided to tackle my bedroom closet - what a task that turned out to be! One thing led to another & I ended up organizing most of the house! We moved a book case into Bella's room - she spent hours placing all of her toy animals on it. We also moved an old nightstand up to the play room & stacked all of the games on & in it. I took our coffee table - which has been stored in the nursery for many years - & put it back into the living room, although it probably won't last in there for long. The kids already have tons of toys stacked on & under it! I threw away a bunch of stuff - old picture frames & paperwork . I moved all of our 'extra' linens onto a shelf in the basement & put boxes of home school materials - things I'll use for Bella when she's older - into storage in the attic. All in all it was a productive day!
We will be moving Savannah upstairs soon. Originally we were going to have her share a room with Bella but we've decided to put her in her own room until she gets a little older. Jim has to do a little bit of construction work first - he's going to make a doorway that will allow Kyle access to his room via the playroom, that way he won't need to go through Savannah's room to get downstairs. We've long since outgrown this house but somehow we're still able to make the layout work!!
Last night we met our new niece Kaylie. She was born on our wedding anniversary, so we're guaranteed to always remember her birthday! At a little over 8 lbs Kaylie is healthy & perfect in every way. The kids were in awe over how tiny she is & hovered over her like bees on honey!
Kyle will 'officially' begin the 4th grade today. I spoke to my brother in-law Ed the other day about Kyle's reluctance to do math work & he thinks it could be that Kyle is simply bored with the repetitiveness that's associated with the work he's doing now. He knows the material inside & out already. But, that being said, he will be learning new things soon - mixed fractions etc - so maybe things will get better. Also, per Ed's suggestion, I'm going to invest in some arithmetic puzzle work books to make things a bit more fun. I'm actually looking forward to getting back into our schooling routine. I enjoy watching Kyle grasp new concepts & learn new things. This year he'll be doing all of his work in cursive writing - which he seems to have taken a liking to now that he's been practicing it for a few months.
In other news, starting in Sept. I will be helping out my friends sister - her little boy will be attending the local school & I will be getting him on/off the bus - which picks up/drops off right at our house. It's just a small job, but it will provide a little bit of money for us & will allow Jim to cut back - just a little - on the amount of hours he works every week. I was trying to get back into providing childcare but kept hitting dead ends so I stopped advertising. I think that people who don't know me personally look at the fact that I not only have multiple children, but I also home school & so they wonder how I'd manage more kids on top of it all. Those who do know me know that I lead a very structured, organized lifestyle. I learned a long time ago that our ship sails best when there's a solid routine in place. The kids often have multiple friends over & I never find it to be overwhelming or difficult. As far as I'm concerned, the more the merrier!! Even still, I'm hopeful that eventually I'll find someone who needs weekly childcare & understands that just because I'm raising my own family it doesn't mean their child wouldn't get treated equally. I've mastered multi-tasking & enjoy having a houseful of little ones!
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