September is here! Miss Lila is very excited for her birthday. Instead of counting weeks, we are counting days until she turns four. The only downside, well for Tim and I not for her, is that Tim's schedule is so crazy. Gone are the days of being able to fudge days and celebrate whenever. She really wants to celebrate on her day and it didn't seem to bother her at all that Tim couldn't really be there. I think we are going to try to do the bulk of everything during his few hour window in the afternoon, so he can at least watch her open presents.
It's hard to believe we are in September and as I was lesson planning I realized that I was planning for week 4 of school. It's crazy that we have been in for almost a month. Overall it has far exceeded my expectations. There has been a learning curve for all of us and it isn't perfect by any means, but I do feel like our main goals/reasons for homeschooling have/are being met. Hyrum still enjoys it and we haven't had any issues like we did last year. I think he also enjoys the freedom and extra time he has at home. I enjoy being able to have more time working with all the kids and weaving gospel learning throughout the day. I feel like we are going to be getting into the busy season with conference and holidays, which will make things go even faster.
This week Hyrum gave his first oral report. I opted to alternate social studies and science. It's a personal preference I have, so I can incorporated writing more easily. He has started with ancient history in Egypt. We research Egyptian gods and he webbed and wrote a report. Since we don't have a class to present to, he did it in front of the family and did videos for grandparents. Liam and Lila wanted in on the action too.
He also enjoyed playing outside in slightly cooler weather, getting bitten by insane amounts of mosquitoes, a museum visit, homeschool learning lab, and some narley scrapes. Our local library does an amazing homeschool lab once a week. This week was a culture study of Argentina. They always have food to sample. I was proud that he tried everything and really enjoyed it. A particular favorite was the chimichurri sauce. It is not something he usually gets excited about, but he tried it and thought it was delicious, so we are going to try to recreate it on Monday.
Lila is pumped for her birthday. She is doing so well in her preschool. We do a very simple version four days a week. I've been mostly focused on Hyrum and getting the big things organized. She has really taken to writing. I have a couple of books that work on tracing different types of lines and I feel have really helped her. She has seen her name and works a lot with the alphabet, but I haven't ever sat down with her to formally teacher her writing. She has started writing her name and today she started writing letters to represent sentences. It was a realization that I am going to have to beef things up, because she is quickly out pacing me. She has taken to feeding Liam. Liam is pretty independent, but sometimes he just needs to be fed and she has done a really good job of working with him. She always wants to do what I do or what Hyrum gets to do. It can be good and bad.
Liam is talking up a storm. Google is good to always give us memories and one popped up of Hyrum and the boys are starting to look more like each other. Not only do they look alike, but Liam's talking reminds us so much of Hyrum. We got comments about Hyrum talking and we are getting comments about Liam now too. It does make figuring out what he wants so much easier. It cuts down on some of the tantrums. It's also good for a laugh. I had him upstairs ready for bed tonight, just holding him helping him calm down and asked if he was ready for bed. He popped up, looked at me and said, "No." I laughed and then put him down anyway. He has taken to bouncing on the couch and belly flopping on our bed. We don't let the kids do either, so I'm not exactly sure where he got it. Probably, just one of the things that is written in all kid DNA to explore. We are so ready for a yard and I want a trampoline, so when they start jumping inside, I can point to the tramp and let them jump and flop to their heart's content.
Tim's schedule was crazy. He didn't really see the kids at all. The older two see him briefly as he is heading out the door. He got home late several times during the week and the weekend was nuts. He left early Friday morning for something (probably clinic) and I think got home around 10 from a high school football game. He left early Saturday morning to go see the kids that got hurt Friday night and then left around 1pm for Charlotte to cover an NCC state football game. He was heading to bed around 3:30 in the morning, only to be up for 9am church, followed by 11am clinic for all the hurt college football kids, and a women's soccer game at one. Hyrum commented this week that he didn't like Tim's new schedule and I don't either. Two weeks down, 16 more to go.
This weekend we enjoyed some pool time. Liam was using the steps by himself, which is big. He doesn't really like being in the water, so him willingly being in the water is huge. We will probably only have about one more week of swimming before it gets too cold. The night time temps are dropping, so the water is just chilly.
I have discovered the last couple of weeks that I need to learn the power of no. I am starting to pair back on some nonessential activities that can just add more stress. I feel slightly guilty for not attending some church activities, because I've always said yes to helping and going. But, I've learned that my sanity takes priority because it directly effects my relationship with the kids, meaning the lid needs to stay firmly closed on angry/stressed mama. Tim's schedule is like 18 weeks of nights, which was never easy when it was only 7 days in row. Any breaks I do get will be few and far between and I need to make sure to pace myself for the long haul. Especially, since baby #4 is coming in late February. We finally told the kids this week and the older two are excited, well mostly excited. Hyrum is really upset that his birthday will no longer be first in the lineup. Hyrum will forever be our family baby herald. Tim and I find it so weird to just announce we are expecting. Hyrum was playing outside with some friends and impressively announced it to kids and parents. "Oh hey, did I tell you my mom is having a baby?" Thanks dude!
Well, until next week!
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