Maternity Leave Over...

And we are back into the swing of things at the Ober Homeschool Academy! :) It had been WAY too long, and this mama was itching to get back to work as a teacher to her children! And so we've jumped back into a schoolish routine. I am more laid back about it all than I was before. And during this spring quarter, we are going to use Before Five in a Row as a starting point, rather than any sort of letter-of-the-week type of curriculum (since both of my preschoolers already know the letters and their sounds). We will read the same book every morning (in addition to many others, of course). And each day's activities for the week will tie in to that story. We will also be starting up Forest School Fridays next month (more info on Forest Schools here: http://youtu.be/bAR_OTMxNOs), and will be inviting all of our friends with young children to join us each week! I'm pretty excited about all of the wonderful things we have planned for this next quarter!!

This week, we have started with one of the children's favorites: "Caps for Sale" by Esphyr Slobodkina. Some of our activities this week have included story summarizing, character development (talking about anger), money counting activities, working on rhyming words, and jumping on the trampoline while singing Five Little Monkeys. Other activities included...

{working on word families}

{cutting practice}

{balancing hats on our heads}

{graphing practice}

 
{making banana bread}

{Moon Dough work}

{measuring work with Inchimals}

{and playing with them too!}

Many of the printable, worksheet-type activities were found here.

(And yes...my kids enjoy hanging out around the house wearing either their jammies or just their underwear. We're all about comfort here, and that's the beauty of homeschooling.)

A few more...

{enjoying homemade banana bread on the swing outside}

{princess biker chick}

{he LOVES banana bread}

{big brother teaching little sister how to ride}

{doing what they do best...playing}

 

{typical girl. playing tea party with her baby. super sweet.}

{typical boy. chasing dog. barefoot. outside.}

Some random photos from today...

When she lays on her back, she likes to rub her head. :)

precious nursing moments I hope to never forget!

she still has some hair!! :)

new boots...check! ready for the spring!

one-on-one time with mommy while brother and sister are at school

LOVE it when she smiles and giggles at me!

Haha! I just want to kiss those cheeks off!! :)

THREE months old!!

Dear Sweet Sarah,

I can hardly believe you're already THREE months old!! Where, oh where, does the time go?!? You are finally getting out of that not-so-fun colic stage of babyhood. You are smiling and cooing more and more every day. And we are praising GOD for your sleep! You are SUCH a good little sleeper. You are in bed most nights between 7-8pm, and will sleep straight through until 9-10am!! It's usually a solid 11-13 hours of sleep!! And you've also begun organizing your day time sleep to include one short nap in the morning, one LONG nap (sometimes 3-4 hours) in the afternoon, and one more short nap in the evening! It's so nice to have another great sleeper (your big brother was the same way)! :)

You started rolling over from your belly to your back last week. You don't do it all the time, since you seem to prefer your belly. In fact, I think that's why you've been sleeping so well...on your belly! :)  You definitely seem to be enjoying your thumb more and more! It's SO cute! You are still wearing most of your 0-3m clothes, but will be moving up soon. :) My favorite time of day with you is when you first wake up in the morning. I come into your room and say, "Is that my sweet baby girl?" And without even seeing me, you grin from ear to ear! Then, when our eyes meet, you light up and start "talking" to me! SO precious!!

Overall, you seem to be a very chill baby. Now that the colic is gone, you mostly only cry when you're tired. However, you've just recently started showing signs of favoring mommy over...well...anyone else really. :) You cry and scream hysterically when daddy holds you, and when I hold you, you calm down instantly. It's sad for him, and a little frustrating for us all, but endearing just the same. ;)

A lot of people still say that you look like your brother, and sometimes you also look a bit like your big sister. Personally, I think you're beginning to look a lot like...YOU! :) You are a beauty baby. We all love you dearly and look forward to these next few months of seeing your little personality really develop!

Photobooth Monday...

 {yeah...that's how we roll}

And this baby...

made this mess today...

 {and that's what happens when this mommy forgets to administer reflux meds!}

Happy Birthday Dr. Seuss!

{he got his face painted!}

{It's...the...Cat in the Hat!}

When he got home from the Dr. Seuss birthday party, Isaac told his daddy that he was bummed that one of the other girls didn't do his face painting. And get this...because she was PRETTY! He wanted the pretty girl to paint his face. Oy Vey! They start young! :)

Sarah's new trick...

Just a few days shy of 3-months-old, and she is pretty excited about her new skill!

I was surprised that she actually rolled both ways! :) I love how each stage of life brings new milestones and exciting things to enjoy!! :)

Stormy Friday Fun

I'd say that this stormy Friday has all in all been a good day. We still had our not-so-fun moments, like when the two-year-old decided it would be fun to play in the toilet, or spit a mouthful of water onto the kitchen floor. Or when I stepped in spit up that I didn't realize had come out of the baby's mouth. Or when the four-year-old lost control of his toy and it clocked me in the head. Yeah...even on good days, life with little ones is exhausting! But it's the sweet moments and the little slices of joy mixed in throughout the day that so makes it all worth it!

And there are conversations that I want to remember. Like when we sat down to eat, and Isaac out-of-nowhere said, "I sure hope that MY body doesn't start making milk for baby Sarah!" Where does he get this stuff?!? It led to a nice conversation about the differences between boys and girls. :) Yesterday, walking into Chick-Fil-a, we were all holding hands, and Isaac looked up at me, smiled and said, "We're your kids, mommy!" I smiled back and said, "Yes you are! And I'm SO glad that you are!" He giggled to himself, then said, "I bet Daddy is glad too!" :) Super sweet.

And then there's the cute conversation that took place during a thunderstorm today. After hearing a loud clap of thunder, Isaac asked, "Mommy, when it's storming really bad, is that when God is fighting Satan?" Oh how I love his imagination!! :)

All three kiddos are napping at the SAME time right now! Another round of storms is creeping in, complete with tornado warnings. I'll have the weather radio on as I do my dishes and pray that it all passes by without too much damage. Here are some images from some of the things we've done so far today. Oh...and I'll post a video later. Baby number three just met a new milestone...she's ROLLING OVER!! :) Will post later! In the meantime...here's what we've been up to today...

{walking on packaging like a balance beam}

{stomping on it made LOUD noises like the thunder outside}

{rainy day finger painting}

{they LOVE finger painting}

{in light of the storms today, we decided to make rainbows over water}

{working on measuring things with our Inchimals}

{she's laughing here}

{happy baby girl}

{she actually fell asleep during tummy time! SO cute!!}

Oh Happy Day...

It's Thursday. That means it's one of my "easy" days. The older two go to preschool on these days. And I get a little break. Some days. Today that wasn't the case. Sarah woke up earlier than normal. And aside from being in her car seat to and from taking the kids to school, and to a breastfeeding support group, she has been in my arms the ENTIRE day. She finally went down for a nap around 4pm. And I am SO tired.

Breastfeeding support group sounds kind of funny, huh? Really, I just go to find out how much she weighs and how much she is taking in during her feedings. It's pretty cool, actually. She's about 13.5lbs, by the way. :) My good friend and neighbor goes too, and we put our little ones side-by-side for a photo op this morning. This little guy is two weeks older than Sarah! :) Aren't they SUPER cute?!?

We went to Chick-Fil-a after school today. The kids had fun. But I had issues with Naomi in the play place. She climbed up, but would NOT climb down. Another mom helped her down, so I told her to stay off of it unless she wanted to climb down herself. She went up again, and climbed down successfully. No problem! Then, conveniently, when it was time to leave, she would not come down on her own. Sarah was screaming her little head off (hungry and tired), and I kept asking her to come down. Finally, my sister-in-law went up to get her. I was SO frustrated with her. Had Sarah not been flipping out, I could have made a lesson out of it. Maybe I could have bought her a milkshake and started drinking it myself. And if she chose not to come down, then she'd just miss out on a yummy treat. I just didn't have the ability to do something like that because baby #3 was throwing a major fit on me! Ha!

So then, on the way home, with Sarah screaming in her car seat, and the older two arguing in the back, I went to grab my just-filled lemonade/fruit punch drink. The lid wasn't on tight, and the ENTIRE thing fell and spilled into my lap while driving. Niiiiiiice. I sat there with freezing cold, sticky liquid soaking my pants and underwear. I wanted to cry. But instead, decided to laugh. :)

Then, I put the older two in their rooms for quiet time, but they both fell asleep (hallelujah!). And during my "break" I got to clean the car. :) When things don't quite go as planned in my days, I have the same song go through my mind..."Oh Happy Day!!" :) Love it!