I have had many requests for pictures of Annabella. I have been super slow in processing pictures we have been taking, but below is a smattering of some pictures of our princess during her first two weeks with us.
Annabella’s first trip to the zoo.
After her first bath.
Sporting a gdiaper (we have decided to cloth diaper Annabella).
Her first bath.
Just being cute.
Sucking her thumb.
Hanging out with Ethan.
Hanging out with Hayden.
We had Chinese food yesterday. David had Beef and Broccoli and I had Sesame Chicken (the boys, well I don’t remember what they had, I just know it wasn’t Chinese).
After we had eaten to our hearts content, we broke out the fortune cookies. There were four cookies, but only three of them contained fortunes.
Hayden was the first to get his fortune. It read: You will enjoy good health, you will be surrounded by luxury. This said of my child who wouldn’t sleep in his bassinet as an infant unless we first lined it with a pillow to make it nice and cushy (he still craves luxury and comfort to this day).
Ethan’s fortune read: You will sleep well at night. Apparently the writer of this fortune either doesn’t know our Ethan has had trouble sleeping since birth or has an awesome predictive power and our nights are going to change dramatically. (Hmmm, why couldn’t this fortune be for Annabella?)
My cookie was the one that lacked a fortune. I am not sure exactly what that means, but I am taking it as a good sign. At least there wasn’t a fortune that read something like: The big event you are waiting for will never come to fruition. So, I guess there is hope of me having a baby sometime in the near future.
David’s fortune was last and we are not quite sure what it means. It read, You have an unusual equipment for success, use it wisely.
We don’t put any stock into fortunes, but they did give us a great laugh yesterday evening.
We have already begun our new school year. I am anticipating taking some time off when Annabella arrives, so I decided we would go ahead and get started.
The boys have been pretty involved in our curriculum so far. They really enjoy our school time and even ask for it throughout the day.
Below is a curriculum outline for what I want to cover with the boys this school year. We may cover more in some subjects, and less than others, a lot will depend on the boys’ maturity, grasp of concepts, and interest level.
Bible, Language Arts, and Math are our core subjects. They will be studied on a daily basis. Social Studies, Science, Fine Arts, and Foreign Language will be studied two or three times a week.
Bible
Our study of the Bible will focus on three main areas:
Bible Knowledge
We will begin our year using A Child’s First Bible to learn various well known Bible stories.
Memorization
We will be learning the Catechism for Young Children and ABC Memory Verses during the course of the year using this memory system found at Simply Charlotte Mason.
Character Development
We will be using the One Year Book of Devotions for Preschoolers.
Language Arts
Our study of Language Arts will focus on three main areas:
Beginning Reading and Handwriting
We will be using the Explode the Code beginning with the primer workbooks A, B, and C. Although the boys both know their letters and letter sounds, we will be using these books to develop handwriting skills and following directions skills.
Literature
My literature goal for the boys is to expose them to variety of well written and well illustrated picture books through read-alouds. I will choose one book to be read aloud to them during school time, and they can choose others that we can read throughout the day.
Poetry
We will begin the school year using The Random House Book of Mother Goose.
Math
We will be using a variety of different activities including hands-on activities, worksheets, and online activities to reinforce and learn the following pre-K math skills:
Social Studies
Science
Fine Arts
Visual Arts
Music
Arts and Crafts
Foreign Language
I want to teach the boys Spanish, but I am still looking for a good preschool curriculum to accomplish this task.
Hayden loves to “ink” himself and does so every time he gets a chance. I am almost certain he is my child who will be covered from head to toe in tattoos one day.
Today, apparently, Hayden went into the laundry room and got a sharpie marker without me realizing it. He took the marker to the time-out chair, buckled himself in, and proceeded to draw all over his hands, legs, clothes, and even the time-out chair.
After I realized that Hayden was being very quiet, I went to check on him and found a very inked up child. I guess he knew he was going to get into trouble for the whole incident anyways, so he put himself into time-out so I wouldn’t have to. Luckily, no sharpie marks ended up on the walls or furniture….this time……
Hayden: Let’s go play. Let’s go climb. (He wanted to go outside and play)
Mommy: No, not right now.
Hayden: It’s my dream.