Week 2: B is for Back to square one!

I should know better by now! 

I had a super awesome week last week. Our schedule went as planned...but of course this would not last. It happens every year. I set these extravagant goals for organizing our day and they work for a moment then get completely tossed aside once something unexpected happens...this week being, we had family in town. Totally didn't plan for it. I knew ahead of time....but didn't plan.

So we didn't get to alot of our "Fun" activities and I went into, "Get the important things done" mode. Which I hate because it's not as fun. School is work sometimes, but this year that was one of my biggest goals, to make more time for fun. Sounds easy right...unless you're a structured fun kinda person like me! I love fun stuff, I just want to be prepared for it...I mean, I can't make macaroni necklaces and not have macaroni, right! Of course I can throw an alternative together, but ultimately that's how my brain works...."BE PREPARED!!" (I sang that like Scar from Lion King...and now you are too! You're welcome hah) This meme I saw on my facebook feed this week was exactly how I was feeling and I realize I'm not alone! It happens... 

But this year, we're going to try and stick to it a little longer. I know that these new things will form good habits later in life and with the mind set of 21 days forms a habit...I'll give it a solid 21 days before throwing it out! 

So with that, here are some of those things I have added for this year.

Cody has a morning binder with Calendar fill in pages, math, weather and science practice. This gives him something to do while Eisley and I sing through our morning circle time songs of ABC's, Days of the Week and so on. He sings too...just gets antsy and bored because he "Knows it already"! 

Another thing we added for Cody this year are his work boxes. He had them the last few years, but we never found a system that worked because he wasn't fully independent in his book work yet. This year, he loves this! He doesn't have to ask me what to do next, he doesn't have to wait for me to get his work books and he doesn't have to ask me what section, unit, or page he needs to work til (I make a post it note with that info and put it on his work book in the drawer) It's amazing for both of us! Especially since my 3 yr old needs a little more supervision with activities at this time. You can find the drawers HERE:Seville Classics 10-Drawer Organizer Cart, Multi Color

  

Another fun thing we added was our Morning Routine Schedules! At first I thought, would this be something they want?? A list of things to do in the morning? Turns out, YES!! My son loves that he doesn't have to be told. I love that I don't have to hear "Why?", "I don't want to", etc. It really saves us the hassles in the morning and gives them responsibility! Eisley knows what the pictures mean and chooses to ignore the ones she doesn't feel like doing. I'm not surprised, but she is my ridiculously independent child and loves being able to have the option to do it on her own! So yay! Win, win!

We also have our "Verse of the Week" board in our hallway near their bedrooms, so we see it when we wake up and before we go to bed. Helping them meditate on the word! The verses are from Sarah's Sweeties and they are a series of Godly Character Trait Verses, we downloaded all 26, laminated them and go over them in our circle time! This was last weeks verse about RESPECT and it was definitely helpful for us to have this on repeat!

 I didn't get pictures of all the activities for this week because I left my camera at my parents when we were visiting and also we pretty much had half days for Wendnesday-Friday. 

The fun "Clip the Shape" activity can be found HERE!

Playdough is another one of those things that makes me cringe! Even though we have hardwood floors, it is still a pain to clean up...or so I thought. Turns out, this version of homemade playdough was so easy to sweep up and didn't get stuck on anything! (Minus clothes, if it gets smashed in really hard) But I loved it. Playdough anxiety GONE! You can find the recipe I used HERE! I also used coconut oil instead of vegetable oil, so that maybe helping with the non sticking!

 Sensory Bin...we meet again! (You can find the butterflies, blue glass rocks, and butterfly gems at the Dollar Tree!) Eisley loved the butterflies so much she would take them and fly them around the house! I also tried the "Lay a sheet down" method under the sensory bin, which worked for a moment...then the sheet got crumbled and beans escaped and shot everywhere because it was on the hardwood floor..so my next attempt is to tape down the sheet corners and we'll see how it goes!

Butterfly Books from the library for our reading basket and our Life-cycle Mat (Life Cycles Mats (Teacher's Friend) Inspired them to draw their own butterflies and life-cycles!

Brown Bear, Brown Bear was another book we read, I had more activities planned with the use of the book, but they were so fascinated with butterflies this week that we put those aside and found more butterfly activities! We also watch the life-cycle of a Monarch Butterfly on Youtube! I wish I would have got a picture of their faces! They were in such awe of the process! These Brown Bear activities can be found HERE!

Cutting practice,  Lowercase and Uppercase Letter Match were some of our other activities.

This is Spike, he is 1 of the 5 cockatiels we own. They have all become Cody's birds. These birds were mine before I was even married. Angel (16 yrs old) and Spike (15 yrs old) are our oldest and then comes Chulo (maybe 7, he was a rescue) then Talan and Milo who will be 10 yrs old on Christmas Eve! It brings me such joy to see Cody love them and spend time with them the way I used to when I was young. After the kids were born we still played with them but no where near as much as I did before the kids. So it's so nice to know that they get that kind of attention again especially now in this stage of their life when they love to just relax and be taken care of. Cody has such a patient, loving heart. They are a perfect fit! 

My favorite thing from the week! Piano Lessons! Cody has been having lessons with his dad about twice and even 3 times a week when they can fit it in. He loves playing the piano so much that he is so motivated to learn! I don't know how to read music and Cody is already teaching me! I am amazed at his drive to learn things. He gets that from his dad and I'm so proud of him. Listening to him play has been such a joy! I hope he continues and keeps filling our home with this beautiful music!! Curious about what books were in our reading basket this week? Here they are!